Eh?
One day, as I opened my eyes, something strange happened to me. I couldn't freely move my body, couldn't speak clearly, and was only able to make meaningless sounds. Not to mention, as I lifted my right hand, all I saw were two small clenched fists that I don’t remember forming.
How small? As small as a baby who had only been born for a few months. It made me want to check my physical condition, but in the end, I gave up because my palms couldn't even reach my head because of how short they are.
A little while later, as I kept moving around. A young woman, or maybe even a girl? approached me and asked. . .
“What's wrong, dear?. . .”
Then she effortlessly lifted and held me close to her ample chest.
That's impossible.
I don't remember my name. But I’m sure that I’m a 25 years old adult woman who is about to graduate from college and working part-time as a cashier at a mini-market. So it's impossible for a seemingly seventeen-year-old girl to lift me up with ease.
I wanted to slap myself in the face and make sure that I wasn't dreaming. But since I couldn't even move my hands freely, I had to accept the fact that my life had just become something that could be used as material for a novel.
As far as I can remember, after finishing my part-time job, I took a shortcut through a dark alley between some high-rise buildings. But before I could get out of that place, someone hit me from behind and knocked me unconscious.
Judging from the development of the situation, it's not wrong to assume that I'm experiencing something that has become a very mainstream theme in many web novels. A reincarnation.
After realizing my abnormal state, I quickly checked my surroundings to figure out where I was. In stories with reincarnation themes, the environment the protagonist enters is usually a new and completely different one from their previous life. From the alternate world, the future, the past, or even different planets altogether. Usually, everything would be very different.
However, since the furniture and decorations on the wall looked like something I had seen in a museum, being reincarnated in the same time period as before or in the future was ruled out. The only options left were either the past or parallel worlds or another planet.
Since I didn't understand the language spoken by the people around me, I decided that there was no point in choosing between the past in another country or a different world from the one I knew.
Regardless of how much I think about it, I’m just a baby who couldn't take care of myself. All I could do was cry when I was hungry, cry when I needed to go to the bathroom, cry when I was cold, and cry when it was hot. As a baby, all I could do was cry.
But when I cried, I didn't feel bad at all. It was very different from my crying in my previous life which made me feel really bad.
As I cried, the woman I identified as my mother always came to me, not with an angry or annoyed face, but with a happy face that she made to look angry. Just like a child. After giving me a gentle scolding. She took care of my needs which I know was very troublesome.
In just two weeks, I had already come to consider her as more than just a biological mother. When I was with her, I just felt inexplicably happy. Although my mind was already an adult, I did not feel uncomfortable receiving the baby treatment.
Wait a minute, I am a baby. So it's normal.
And even though I'm also a woman, I have no problem at all when told to breastfeed her. In fact, you could say my most enjoyable time was when I’m being held in her chest and sucked its contents.
It's a pity that I couldn't experience it much after half a year has passed. And after almost 2 years, she finally completely stopped giving me her milk and just feed me many strange-tasting foods.
When I tried to ask for it again, she never even entertain me and just hit my head even though I had used all my ultimate begging tactics to ask for it. But none of my efforts worked.
After another year had passed, I finally know the answer to the question "where was I reincarnated?" is. It had only one option left. I was in a parallel world. Because even though sometimes I encountered familiar country names, the language I heard felt like something I had never heard before. I still need a map to make sure of it though.
I’m not a language expert, but I know what English, Mandarin, Hindi, Spanish, French, Arabic, Russian, Indonesian, or Japanese sounds like. I can only speak 2 of those languages. But I at least know how to identify those very widely spoken languages.
Two and a half years after I arrived in this possibly parallel world, I started to understand what people were saying, although I could only repeat simple words like mama and some object names. After all, understanding a language and speaking them are two different kinds of skills.
But my limited language ability is enough to give me some basic information about where I was and how my family was doing.
The place where I live is called Amteric, and the place where I am is a small territory near the border called Velmy. My mother's name is Anneliese, but whether it's in my head or from my mouth, I always just call her "mother" or "mom".
And basically, she is a concubine of this country’s crown prince. Although her status is that of a crown prince's second wife. The person who should be my father only ever came a few times, and even then, he only came to visit my mother so they could wrestle in the bed. He never even came to see me and just looked at me from afar.
So let's just assume that he is someone else. A future king, but I don't consider him my father.
Based on the rules in this kingdom, As my father ascends the throne. I should have the right to advance as a candidate to be queen later on. But because my mother is a commoner and I am just a child born of a concubine, my opportunity to grab power is close to zero.
Of course, I don't care about all of that.
Besides, it seems that my mother is also not very well-liked by the nobles of the kingdom.
Although my mother and I are legally part of the royal family, we do not live in the palace. Instead, we live in this small region that is more like a small remote village.
This kingdom practices feudalism, so my mother could be considered wealthy since she has a whole region to manage. However, since the land given to us is only a small village, the taxes generated are not significant.
That is why besides our house and furniture given by the king, there are no other luxurious belongings that we can call personal property. Because of that too, we do not have extra money to pay for servants other than those already provided to us and paid for by the state.
When I was finally able to walk, I also realized that my mother did not just sit around and enjoy the services others provided. She also worked hard to manage her territory alone, even though she was just a commoner.
My life as a princess is not at all what I imagined. It is not glamorous, I cannot just order people around, and of course, what I want cannot be immediately granted.
But that kind of thing is not a problem at all.
Although there are some difficulties here and there, overall my current life now is much better than my life before.
My life is fine and everything is going smoothly.
The main reason I feel that way is probably because I'm still a young child. My age now is probably around three years old, so even if I do something wrong, troublesome, and annoying, my mother always forgives me.
She even praised me when I could do simple things and smiled happily when I called her "mama."
I had a blank period for a few months, and it seems there is no culture of celebrating birthdays here. So I can't actually determine my current age until someone decides to tell me when I was bornt though.
My mental age is much older than hers, and sometimes she acts like a child when playing with me too. If I were still in my old body, honestly it would be more appropriate to treat her as my younger sister.
But even though she's young, she's really mature. Much more mature than I was at the same age. When I was her age, all I did was waste my parents' money buying unnecessary things. Then played with my friends without regard for time and made my other mother worried.
I even used to argue with my father and curse at him even though I knew I was in the wrong. After that, I shamelessly asked for something from them, even threateningly while speaking disrespectfully.
I even played the queen and bullied my underclassmen.
If I could meet my past self, I really want to beat her to a pulp.
My past self is so different from my current mother.
There are currently no servants at home because they went to the other city to buy supplies for everyone. Because the items they need to purchase are quite a lot, our two servants went along with three guards from this house.
The remaining people were just two scary-looking guards at the front gate, and also an old man who was responsible for taking care of a small garden behind our house. And because non of them were suited to perform household tasks. My mother, who is literally the queen of the place is forced to cook food for me.
If I can, I wanted to help her too. But she said something about how playing with fire and sharp objects is too dangerous, and only allowed me to watch. Of course, I didn't know if that is exactly what she said, but at least I knew what she was trying to convey through her gestures.
Moreover, with my current body, what I can do is very limited anyway. Even with a chair, I cannot reach the cupboard to get salt and sugar or anything. And my body is so weak I probably going to drop anything that I held with these tiny hands.
While continuously looking at the recipe left by the maid, my mother clumsily cooked. If it were me in the past, I might have become impatient and scolded her. But the current me can appreciate that what she did was proof that she really cared about me.
From her pace, it seems like my food is still a long way to go. Some people worked faster when no one is looking at them, so I decided to leave and give her some space.
I went out of the kitchen and headed to the library, which also served as my mother's workspace. There were many piles of paper scattered on the table. I had thought about helping her, but once again not only I’m still unable to speak the words. . I of course still unable to read the writing too.
Although I could understand a few words, when it came to writing, I was completely illiterate because I didn't even know the basics. With spoken words, I could see the speaker's expressions and what they were pointing at. But that couldn't be applied to writing.
To train my reading and writing skills, I will ask my mother to read me some books later so I need to look for good material first.
Don't know what's counted as good though.
About half an hour later, my mother come to get me. At exactly the same time I was finally able to find a book that she can read to me too. She approached me while carrying a small bowl, but when she tried to pull me to a chair and feed me. I refused to walk and raised my hand to ask for the bowl in her hand instead.
To make sure she wouldn't misunderstand and think that I wanted to be carried, I quickly spoke with my limited vocabulary.
"Eat . . .myself."
She blinked a few times, but then immediately smiled and lowered her body.
"Don't make a mess, okay..."
“Um. . .”
I nodded, and she gave me the bowl.
She had a lot of work to do, and although I couldn't help. At least I should not waste her time. If she could finish her work faster, she could also rest faster.
My mother returned to her desk and continued her work. Meanwhile, I sat in the corner of the room while eating. She looked at me again and asked
"How does it taste?"
"Gud. . . ."
Honestly, It's really bland. She is far taller than the child me so I find it hard to believe that she can't even take some salt and sprinkle it on my lunch. Did she forget it?
Unlike the strange-tasting food usually made by servants, this food really has no taste. Strange is still better than no taste at all.
I don't know what the name of the dish I'm eating is. But one thing is clear, this dish shouldn't taste like plain water. But I won't complain.
Who would have the heart to complain to someone who gave you food that they made with great effort? If I were to buy it from them, I would certainly complain. But I am just receiving her generosity. I am not giving her anything in return for her effort.
Don't take someone's kindness for granted, is one of my mottos.
That's why I won't complain.
As soon as I finished eating, I quickly left the room without bothering her.
This time I will explain the second reason why I prefer my current life.
Apart from having better relationships with my family, my economic situation here is also much better.
If counted in terms of value, the items in my old world would probably be more expensive than the super spacious house that is almost equivalent to a castle in my current world. But in the long run, our is more secure.
Our income, although not much, is stable. If the population increases, our life would become better too.
Although we are just a country bumkin, we are still part of the royal family. So even if there are people who don't like us, there won't be any cases of bullying or the like. And if someone cheats us on something, it means they have cheated a member of the royal family.
Security is guaranteed and our needs are fulfilled. If I were an otaku soldier sent to another world, I might say that my life consists of eating and sleeping, and my hobby, while everything else is something in between those three things.
At this rate, I think being a shut-in NEET is fine too.
“No! No! No! No! No! . . .”
In my previous life, I was already a useless person. If I become useless again here, I will only become garbage. And garbage is meant to be thrown away. Besides, I have no reason to burden my mother who has worked hard to raise me.
I don’t need to be the most decent person in the world to want to show some gratitude towards my parent.
Since I was still not allowed to leave the area around the house, usually when there was nothing to do. I would explore the house on my own. My house looks like a vampire's castle and has many dark rooms. So exploring it is kinda fun. It's a little bit scary, but scary is fine too. Because In fact, I love horror stuff. In my previous world, I even collected many horror movies.
Two hours later, my mother came out of the library heading toward the kitchen while carrying my bowl. While I too, already finished my adventure inside our big house.
As soon as she saw me in the hallway, she approached me, squatted down, and matched her height to mine. Her facial expression was not like her usual self. This time, she did not have the gentle expression that I usually see, but rather a serious expression.
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