Chapter 05: Father and I

Now then, since I could stand up now, my bed was changed to a considerably lower one. One which was safe for me even if I were to fall down from it. Although it was common to have high fences on beds for babies, I moved around a lot, so I quickly learnt how to climb down the bed.

The chair and table that brother used along with the picture books and toys he brought here were left as they were, so I wasn’t bored even if brother wasn’t here; and it was a bit gloomy, because Hannah was always by my side with a severe expression on her face, but I wasn’t lonely.

She read the book that brother read for me several times, and I began learning words little by little. Although I have been reincarnated, this didn’t seem to be a world with magic, and the general knowledge I had didn’t seem useful in this world. The only things I could do was train my body and build up my knowledge.

However, it became a little unsatisfying for me to just be in my room now that I was able to stand and crawl. I wanted to move in a much wider place. A chance came to me when I wished that.

One day when I woke up from my nap, there was nobody in the room. Recently, Hannah would usually be in the room with me, but it seemed like she had to do something elsewhere. The windows were opened because it was hot, but the wind which was stroking my cheeks felt different than usual. Perhaps, I thought and looked at the door; I saw that it was opened slightly. My chance is here!

I hyped my sleepy self up, carefully got off the low bed and waited on the floor.

I wormed my way across the floor, put my head through the gap in the door and forcefully crawled out of the room. It was dangerous, so good kids shouldn’t copy this, but I managed to safely get out of the door. I sat down once and looked around. It was just a corridor, but it was wide enough for a maid to push a cart past me. It seemed like I would collide with her somehow if I go right, so let’s go left. But still, it was wide.

I found out later that my room was at the end of the East Wing, and mother’s room was close by. It seemed that people rarely tended to this place after mother died and it became a somewhat desolate place.

So why did Sebas, brother and father show up here? Sebas came to this wing a lot because he was worried about me, brother became curious about me when he came to mother’s room to calm down, and father came here during quiet times when no one was around so that he could chase after memories of mother.

You’ve never thought about seeing your baby even just for a little, did you? Honestly.

By chance, it seemed like I was crawling towards the middle of the wing and I would sit down occasionally to rest; then a pair of expensive leather shoes entered my field of vision. It seemed like I’ve crawled towards someone while in a daze.

But, the owner of those shoes didn’t say a word.

Right, I’ll pretend I didn’t see them.

I changed my direction a little and proceeded past the owner of the leather shoes.

“Wait,” they suddenly called out to me, and I carelessly stopped for a moment; but since I’m a baby, I don’t understand the meaning of ‘wait’. Yup, I felt like I was acting like father, but let’s ignore this feeling. I resumed crawling at a fast pace.

“I said wait.”

I can’t hear you because I’m a baby. I pretended not to hear him and continued crawling. Ooh, are those stairs over there? I can manage to get down from a low bed, so I should be able to handle the stairs soon.

“Wait!” This time, the voice shouted from above me. At the same time, my back was pulled with a jerk.

“Daau.”

“I told you to wait, didn’t I? Did you not hear me, you?”

It seemed like he’d grabbed my clothes from the back. I tried to move my arms and legs just to be sure. I’m not running anywhere.

“Daau.”

I want him to release me, but I also didn’t want to be civil towards him.

“Daai, daau, eei, aa,” I continued to state my displeasure.

“What the heck do you want to do?”

“Eei.”

I want to walk! He won’t leave me alone, would he? Then, he continued to grab the back of my clothes and lifted me up with a jerk. It was like he was holding a kitten. Hah? It hurts, you know.

“Uurts!”

“You……”

This might be the first time I’ve seen him this close. This person had long blonde hair tied in a ponytail after all, and he had almond eyes with light violet pupils. I quickly averted my gaze, relaxed and sighed.

“Claire……”

What about mother?

“Like this, Claire also always made a face that said, ‘you’re hopeless,’ at me…… Always……”

Isn’t it because you’re a really troublesome guy?

“Daai,” I replied to him.

Father was startled and realised something; he gently put me on the ground between his legs so that I wouldn’t run away. Hey, if you don’t want me to run away then shouldn’t you hold me or something?

“Someone-!” Servants suddenly appeared from out of nowhere when father said that.

“This is, she’s here.”

Can’t you just call me Leila?

Father lowered his eyes to look at me, and at the same time, the servants also lowered their eyes towards me.

“Ah, she looked like she was going to fall down the stairs so I captured, er, caught, no, restrained her. So, take her back to her room.”

At that moment, Hannah quickly ran towards us while wiping her hands on her apron.

“Leila-sama!”

“Did you take your eyes off her?”

“I’m sorry. Ojou-sama takes a lot of naps, so I was helping out in the kitchen.”

Hannah paled and bowed. What are you angry about? You don’t even come to visit me, to begin with, and I’ve always spent my days with nearly no one except Martha.

I got a little angry and hit father’s legs.

“Dai, daii, maa.”

“Leila-sama, thank you very much.”

“You said thanks, but what’s she saying?”

Father looked puzzled at Hannah’s words and Sebas approached and explained, “She is telling you not to be angry at Hannah.”

“Ridiculous. She’s only saying dah.”

“You can somehow understand what she is saying from the way she speaks and her expressions. Now, Leila-sama, come here.”

Sebas held me up. Hah, good grief.

Then, the servants, who had gathered here, began to cause a commotion. They stared at the Master standing at the top of the stairs; and beside him, a baby with his hair colour and eyes. No matter how you look at us, we are parent and child.

“Dau daau.”

I want to play outside a little more. Towards me, who was saying that father coldly stated, “Take her back to her room.”

“Daai,” I said and looked away and sighed. What a good for nothing adult, you are.

“Claire……”

“Leila-sama really has the colours of the Marquis House, but she looks exactly like Clair-sama,” Sebas replied to father’s murmur while coaxing me. I know that Sebas has always wanted to say this to father.

“Fuu, dai, eei.”

I gave father a sideways glance and abruptly laughed while shaking my head.

“Claire also, and then……”

Father really is a pain in the ass.

“Ok, take her back to her room.”

In the end, I was taken back to my room.