CH 3

It had already been more than half a month since Licht didn’t come to visit me. I shouted for joy inside.

‘Just like this, don’t come to visit me forever.’

Even if it wasn’t an experiment, he must’ve brought me here for a clear purpose, so I prayed earnestly every night, knowing it was an impossible wind.

‘Let Licht forget me like this.’

At least until I have the ability to stand alone, I hope he will forget about my existence. 

The people I had known so far had never been the ones who would easily give up my existence. In order not to be noticed by them on the continent, for now, staying in the Myo World was the top priority.

‘Myo World is a place where only the Myo Clan people live together.’

At least while I’m here, I’ll be able to avoid those demonic beasts.

I remembered the white robes I had seen before I lost my sight. They, who weren’t beastmen but ordinary humans, attacked the palace and kidnapped me. 

At the age of four, my mana developed and I lost my sight as a result of the experiment, but I was certain that those who cared for me didn’t have another pair of ears on their head.

‘Because it’s said that the standard that distinguishes between beastmen and humans is a pair of ears that rise above one’s head.’

I barely swallowed the sigh that reached my throat.

First of all, the state of being unable to eat, walk, or speak on my own without any power of a helpless baby was so frustrating that sometimes I wanted to scream.

“Your Highness the Princess. Did you not forget that today is a bath day?”

The nanny hugged me with a loving hand. My face was distorted at the sound of the ‘bathing’ word.

“Aaang!”

“Even if you don’t like it, you have to be patient.”

Apparently, the nanny was planning to put me in the baby tub today. I started to wrap my body in the nanny’s arms.

Could it be because of my memories of being confined in a laboratory in my last life?

I couldn’t stand my body being immersed in a liquid like water. Along with the instinctive reluctance, I cried so much that I was out of breath as I thought of the drug that filled the test tube.

Because of this, the nanny and maids were also often bitten on their hands.

Instead, they thoroughly wiped my body with a towel moistened with lukewarm water, but there was a limit to maintaining cleanliness with that only.

“It was as if you were going into poisonous water, but when it’s like this, you’re so gentle as if you’re going to go to bed. You seem to hate water more than us, who are cat beastmen.” One of the maids who helped prepare the bath by my side grumbled.

The nanny was still struggling to appease me, who was expressing my refusal by waving my arms, while the other maid was checking the temperature of the water.

That’s why no one but me noticed the presence of an intruder who suddenly appeared in the bathroom.

My eyes widened as I waved my arm and slammed the nanny’s shoulder.

The uninvited guest who invaded the bathroom was Licht, who hid one hand behind his back. His face, who looked at me and the bath products on the floor in turn, suddenly became serious.

“You hate it?”

The maids, who were busy moving to finish the bath as quickly as possible, hardened on the spot. “Y-Your Majesty.”

Licht, who didn’t even give a glance to those who were polite, walked up to me.

“You don’t want to take a bath?”

If I could, I wanted to nod my head.

Since I haven’t been able to move my body freely yet, I said with earnest eyes, “Uaang”. I let out a babble and stretched out my hand.

After that, Licht’s eyebrows gently folded, and what was hidden behind his back came out in front of me. “Then, what about this?”

A strange silence flowed into the bathroom. 

I was at a loss for words while watching Licht confidently put that thing out. Each time that fishing rod shook, a model of a butterfly that was attached to the end of a transparent line moved back and forward.

‘What else is that…’

Losing my words in absurdity, as my eyes were chasing the butterfly that was flying dizzily in front of my nose, Licht spoke to me. 

“Do you like it?”

Suddenly, the word ‘toy’ that appeared in the conversation between Mir and Licht a week ago came to mind.

‘Is that a toy?’

I knew what a toy was, but I’ve never had it in my last life.

As I followed the swaying butterfly in the nanny’s arms, I stretched out my hand.

“Auuung!”

Anything would be better than getting in the bathtub right now. It was a toy that somehow made me feel dirty, but it was better than a bath. 

Fortunately, Licht seemed to have interpreted my desperate hand gestures positively.

Still, a clumsy hand clasped my buttocks.

“Why don’t you like taking a bath?”

“Auuung.”

There was a sign of concern for a moment on Licht’s face at my babbling, more desperate than ever.

“…If you don’t like water, do you want me to wash you with magic?”

Is he a genius?

I slammed Licht on the shoulder with both fists as a sign of agreement. He first saw my passionate reaction, then his face grimaced as if he was about to laugh.

“Everyone, out.”

The beastmen who hesitated at his short, stern command took a step back and withdrew from the bathroom. 

Licht carefully laid me down on a thick towel on the floor, exhaled a shallow breath.

“It takes a lot more work than I thought.”

“Uaa.”

“When will you be able to speak properly?”

And to his question, which was more like he was talking to himself, I traced the memories of my past life.

It was about a year after I was born that I was able to break free from babbling and speak a proper language.

Even though my teeth weren’t fully grown so my pronunciation was unclear.

“I heard that the kingdom where you were born holds a special banquet on the first year of a baby.”

“…”

“Shall I do it?”

Your first birthday banquet. A voice with a deep echo passed through the corner of my long-dried heart.

If it hadn’t been for the tragedy of that day, obviously I would’ve enjoyed that hospitality.

I turned my head, resisting the urge to put my hand in my mouth.

‘You don’t have to.’

Licht, who was making eye contact with me, stretched out his hand. As the cool body temperature touched my forehead, the mana of an unfamiliar person permeated towards me.

His mana resembled the fog after rain.

As thin mana like a silver thread enveloped my body, refreshing energy swept through me like a wave.

Licht smiled contentedly and tapped my nostrils with his fingertips.

His nails were noticeably shorter than last time.

“From now on, take a bath with me.”

“Uaa.”

“Be a good girl.” Licht, who was smiling faintly, got his body up.

Then he whispered as he squeezed the toy that had been lying on the floor tightly in my hand. 

“This is a bribe.”

Huh? Bribe?

I closed my eyes and grabbed the slender fishing rod in my hand.

It was only after half a year had passed that I realized the true meaning of the bribe that Licht said.

***

These days, Licht seems to be busy preparing something.

He came to see me once a day, and for the next day, he didn’t even show the tip of his nose.

Not only Licht, but in the entire palace, the atmosphere was somehow bustling.

‘What’s going on?’

One more month passes, and it’ll be exactly one year since I stayed in the Myo World. 

Until then, I was just a helpless baby. There have been quite a few changes in my body. My head and chest circumferences became equal and my waking hours increased.

The biggest change was…

“Mamma.”

Thanks to the growth of two milk teeth on the top and bottom of my mouth, I was able to speak a language of one or two short words. Hearing and sight senses, which were unstable, were also perfected, and I started eating baby food twice a day.

There was only one problem.

‘Why is it so difficult to turn over?’

Unlike the last life when I succeeded in less than six months of being born, this life has been seriously messed up.

Was it a side effect of developing my mana 4 years earlier?

Moving the muscles of my body felt more difficult than it was in my past life. I was so inexperienced in handling my body that I could grab something with both hands and dropped it immediately.

There was a time when, without thinking, I applied strength to my whole body, and then when the magic was about to come out, my heart almost fell off.

It seemed that the maids were also worried about me, or that they were trying to find out more about humans. It was yesterday that one of the maids taking care of me went to look for a beastman who traveled between the continent and the Myo World, but she came back with contemplation.

[The development of her body is much slower than other human babies!]

[Instead, she learned how to speak.]

[But Madam… Usually, around this time, human babies can crawl and walk freely. Wouldn’t it be better to tell the chief and bring a member of the continent?]

[Let’s just wait and see.]

I should succeed in turning over quickly so that I could ease their worries.

It was the time to raise the strength even more to turn over, not forgetting to be careful not to leak any mana.

‘This time, definitely!’

Groan, I was giving my whole body strength so much my face turned red, but I didn’t hear the small sound of the door opening.

A ghost who approached without a sound stopped near the cradle.

Unlike Licht’s, a clear mana reminiscent of other stars in the night sky approached me.

Unable to overcome my growing curiosity, I turned my head, and my eyes met the child I was seeing for the first time.

She was a lovely girl with a compact appearance. She was similar to Licht, but her color was a bit darker that the walls stood out.

“…”

“…”

The child with such impressive round eyes looked at me without blinking her eyes even once. The navy short hair, which looked good, fluttered around the child’s shoulder. 

I quietly raised my gaze.

As the tall, triangular-shaped ears that towered above her head came into view, I suddenly had the urge to reach out and touch them.

I opened my mouth, controlling my impulses with a deep breath.

“Hewwo.” (Hello)

“…”

The child who stopped in the place where the moonlight permeated and stared at me was still motionless.

When I looked closely, it seemed that the focus in her eyes was slightly out of focus.

‘Considering she has mana like Licht, is she also a member of the royalty?’

But I heard that all the royals living in the main palace are princes.

She was a pretty girl who looked like she had just been six years old. She just stared into my eyes, without saying anything back to my baby greeting.

I made eye contact with the child without avoiding her gaze until the end because there was an itch.

“…!”

Then she pricked up her ears, which had been flattened all along. The child blinked her eyes as if she was saying hello to me. I followed her and blinked my eyes.

A faint smile passed over the corner of the child’s lips, who seemed to be dazed.

“…Hi.”

As soon as the child who gave me a belated greeting licked her lips towards me, a large hand protruding out of the darkness lifted the child who was just clinging to my cradle, as if it was snitching her.

“Noha.”

Licht, who had not cast a shadow for two days, frowned with one of his eyes.

The child, called Noha, had her eyes twitched in vain, even when his vision suddenly increased.

“Why are you here?”

Despite annoyed Licht’s scolding, Noha’s eyes were always on me.

I smiled broadly as I looked at her dreamy eyes filled with curiosity about an unfamiliar existence. Noha’s ears on the top of her head twitched.

Noha, who had been muttering, finally opened her mouth.

“…I want to see.”

“What?”

“The human baby that Brother brought.”

(t/n: it is ‘형’, which is said by boys who want to call their older brother)

…Huh? Brother?

I felt my mouth open and looked up at Noha, who was caught in Licht’s hand.