Chapter 4 - Volume 1 (1/2)

Volume 1, Chapter 4: I became a 2 year old

“……This is, not good.”

There was no one around….. I was largely conscious of the small sound of a sweet voice that could be heard from one of the relatively smaller rooms within the mansion.

In that room, there was a faint odor of paint remaining. And along with a big, brand-new canopy bed, there was a tiny little dresser that could be used for children playing house.

At first glance, there was no one in here, but that was wrong.

Although glass, in this world, was a precious material, this room was furnished with a full-length mirror so large as to make you wonder at its price.

And standing small and quiet in front of it was a little golden child.

That’s right. It was me.

I was now 2 years old, and I was dumbfounded upon getting a proper look at my own appearance for the first time.

My Mother was a very beautiful person.

Her silky blonde hair was soft to the touch, and whenever Mother would carry me in her arms, I would bury my face in her hair.

On my first birthday, I met Father for the first time. I wondered if he was busy with work. He seemed to be sorry about not being able to come home too often.

Father was also a great looking person. I’d say he was in his mid twenties or so?　He exuded an attractive aura, with his considerably handsome looks and reddish blonde hair.

Being the daughter of these two people made me look forward to how I would look like in the future.

Although a prince-sama would be hoping for too much, but at the least I would have good enough looks to have an heir to a reasonably good household fall for me. And while having such lower middle-class thoughts, I felt relieved from the bottom of my heart, that my future would be without hardships.

And so back then, when I was still a baby, seeing myself reflected in the dresser mirror while being carried by Mother, I had thought to myself that there wouldn’t be a problem since I was a baby this cute.

……Or, so I had thought.

“……This, can’t be happening.”

No no, it wasn’t as if my appearance was bad or anything. In a way, it was as I had anticipated.

But it was a future expectation years away. It would have been fine if I had started to blossom at around age 10, and until then remained as a wee little sweet child….

When I tilted my head, my gold colored hair that was without any curls, smoothly moved as if flowing.

Wasn’t this……exactly the color of my former body…the color of my fur…?This wasn’t blonde hair at all. It was more like gold threads.

My skin was like a normal white person’s, but I couldn’t see the pores of the skin. What was up with this….

As for my looks, I inherited all the good parts from my parents. My small cherry blossom lips and golden long eyelashes were very pretty and lovely to see.

If that was all it was then, overlooking the fact that my looks were rather showy, I would have felt glad for being born well…and that would have been the end of it, but the problem began here.

On my body…there were no flaws.

Veins, skeletal frame, muscles. Without exception, some form of [Flaw] in the appearance would accompany the growth of all living things in the world as a result of lifestyle habits, fatigue and sleep conditions, etc.

That alone would still have been acceptable. Being appreciated and complimented with the saying [You’re Just Like a Doll], would simply have had a more literal meaning to it.

But I wasn’t a doll. To be frank, I didn’t like this kind of doll.

My gaze was too strong.

The color of my eyes was a pinkish light gold that resembled both Father and Mother.

My eyes that should have been of a gentle hue, pointlessly emanated a strange intensity, or should I say, an odd light. As proof, it was bad to the extent that when I fixedly stared at a maid-san that should have been familiar with me, she would flinch.

This wasn’t right. A scary two year old like this didn’t exist.

What happened to my body during the past year? Was it the hair after all? Was it the fault of this demon’s hair? Shaving my head bald or something may have been a solution, but that would have been putting the cart before the horse. Because I wanted to make a living in this world as a human girl.

I thought that maybe the humans of this world wouldn’t notice anything wrong with my appearance.

But I knew. Having [Knowledge] from the world of my dream, I could understand.

And that made me shudder.

“……This isn’t the appearance of a human being.”

Within the first room of my own that was given to me after turning two years old…I couldn’t do anything but blankly mutter those words to myself.

＊

From that day onward, my goal became [To Live Like a Human Would].

Coming from a normal person, it would have meant to become a proper and praiseworthy human being…or so I supposed, but the goal I spoke of was in the literal sense.

Since my outward appearance was out of place among human beings, to deceive the other humans, I would behave in a way so that at the very least, I would be considered a normal human being on the inside. It’s the rational lifestyle of a feeble demon lost amidst humans.

Thinking back carefully, I seem to remember that Father appeared to be shocked when he saw me being dressed up on my 2nd birthday. So he was scared back then….

I felt bad for Father, but there was no other way than to have him get used to it. I would try snuggling up to him like a cat the next time we meet. It’s my area of expertise after all.

Now then, it was the month after I turned 2. On the first day of the month, it was decided that the three of us, Father, Vio and I, would be having an outing.

And once again, at the end of spending long moments being treated like a dress-up doll, I was made to don an extremely stylish attire.

It was a gothic dress made out of a deep blue satin fabric with excessive amounts of lace.

……This wasn’t children’s clothing. It was like it was designed for adults to wear. A dress meant for adults that was tailored to doll-size.

Just saying, wasn’t this more expensive than an adult’s dress?　I won’t be able to wear it by next year you know?

Good grief…while I may be 2 years old, our household’s sense of economy was a cause for worry.

“Yuru, what’s wrong? Do you feel unwell?”

Mother inquired in a concerned voice as I was brooding inside of the carriage we were in.

“Y- yeah”

I ended up causing Mother to worry. But that made me happy.

When I smiled with those feelings in mind, I was tightly hugged close by Mother.

I’ll put the matters of economy on hold for now.

Leaving that aside, I was very much looking forward to today’s outing.

“Mother, are we there yet~?”

“Just a little further, Yuru. Once we get there, will you properly behave?”

“I will~.”

It may have seemed like I was conversing rather normally for a 2 year old, but in actuality, if I tuned down the language correction ability of a demon, I would sound like this.

“Moooothew, arew there yeet?”

“I weel~.”

A two year old’s lisping was adorable. And sly.

At any rate, Mother. Even though you told me to behave well, if I was to try moving on my own, someone would immediately snap me up into their embrace, so I wouldn’t even be able to run about you know?

Even now I was being held by Mother after all.

I could understand how they would become overprotective, seeing as how I came back to life after being stillborn, but this was too much. If it was a normal child, she would end up becoming unable to normally walk you know?

Even at home, the most I did was to transport food into my mouth with a spoon. Furthermore, since my sense of taste was weird, if I were to be negligent with my food intake, they would snatch away my spoon to feed me.

And as for the purpose of today’s outing, it was because a [Children’s Magical Power Examination] was being held at the magic academy branch of this town, for children 2 years old and above who wished to undertake magic education.

Magical examination…magic. That’s right. Today’s purpose was to examine my aptitude for magic.

Fantasy is all about the magic, right♪?

It wasn’t everyday that you’d be born as a demon, but the sole acquaintance I had back then was a muscle-brain by nature, not to mention violent, who ate up all the demons that likely had intelligence, so I had all but given up on any opportunities to learn magic.

Upon arriving at the magic academy, this time it was Vio-san who held me in her arms when we got off the carriage.

“Vio-san, I can walk you know?”

By the way, the words I spoke just now really sounded like this,

“Biosa, I, can wal…k?”

Well that doesn’t matter, but the Vio-san who could perfectly understand this kind of baby talk sweetly smiled at me.

“No, Yuru-ojousama. I must beg your pardon, for it is too dangerous outside. Also, please feel free to call the likes of me without honorifics.”

You’re amazing Vio-san. As expected of the eldest of the three maid girls. She was only 19 years old, tall, black-haired and a beauty too.

Passing through the main entrance, we saw a wide courtyard.

I thought that a day like today would have been a holiday, but there were a fair number of students that were in their teens. Girls and boys talking intimately to one another as they walked side-by-side. Must be nice~….

If possible, I would like to enter this academy, and not just for the magic.

Apparently, Father, Mother and Vio were all students of this magic academy.

From what I heard from the nostalgic talk between Mother and Vio, it seemed that there were two kinds of schools in this country.

The first kind was the school for children without magical power.

There you could receive a normal general education, so to speak, on subjects such as literature, arithmetic, history, morals and etiquette, and if you wished so, you could also learn fencing after school.

That was the entirety of a 6 year education starting from the age of 7. Even though 20 year olds were considered to be adults in this world, wasn’t the educational period too short?

The second kind was the magic academy, but here you would be taught lessons on magic on top of the general education you would receive at the normal school.

They must cram students’ heads full of lessons…or so I thought, but it turned out their educational period lasted 10 years. Moreover, they even had uniforms and a guaranteed social status as a student.

There’s quite the difference huh~. But after listening carefully, it seemed that the children with high magical powers were more numerous among the nobles, so it must be something that couldn’t be helped.

For that reason, I wanted to enter this magic academy.

There were classes for nobles at the normal school as well, but I want to experience a normal bittersweet love~.

Nobles would make their debut into high society at the age of 13, but it was kind of like a marriage interview, which sounded wearisome.

I didn’t want to experience a grade schooler’s love, but at the least, a middle schooler’s love.