Chapter 5
bsmwsp ch 5
After experiencing events similar to the ones I’d mentioned, I approached the world differently . Because no matter how angry I got and hopped around like mad before any of these things happened, I wouldn’t be able to avoid misfortune .
Anyway, this was something that had already happened as well, so not planning anything was surely the way to go .
In other words, as I patched up my problems when they showed up, I’d be able to live at least one day to the fullest .
“Hmm . ”
That’s how it was supposed to be!
“Hooh . ”
For some reason, I couldn’t stop sighing today .
I flipped over my body while lying on the bed, but no matter what I did, I still felt uncomfortable, as something was stuck on my back .
Well, it was actually my mind that was troubled rather than my body .
“……”
I eventually got out of bed . Looking out the window, I could see that there was still quite a while before night arrived . In that moment, I wished that instead of feeling down in my human state, that I could quickly turn into a black swan . I ended up going out, propping myself up on a hill next to the lake .
「You’ve come out early, Your Highness . 」 (some geese)
“Yeah, mmhm . ” (Catherine)
As more geese that had been floating on the lake approached to greet me, I waved my hand at them, indicating it was enough .
I’m not in the mood to receive your hellos, you know .
So then why did I even come out to the lake? Well, it’s not like I had anywhere else to go to .
「Madam, you really did come out . The geese told me, but I didn’t believe them . 」
“Selene . ”
No secrets could be kept in this lake .
Perhaps news traveled faster here because everyone floated and darted around in the water .
Selene arrived and sat next to me . I spread out a couple of branches from a dry bush for her to sit on .
「You don’t look very happy, Your Ladyship . 」
“……Mm . I don’t?”
「You’ve been like this since Lady Rebecca came and went yesterday, no?」
She caught on quickly .
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The me who’d been trying to keep a straight face gave a sideways glare at Selene .
It was probably her keen astuteness that got Selene turned into a bird .
As the first person to figure out that Rania was a dark sorcerer, Selene was someone I couldn’t seem to hide anything from .
「Do not worry so much . It’s not the first time Lady Rebecca has said such things, after all . 」
“I know, but……”
Since she was my daughter, I couldn’t help but worry .
Sighhhh .
The sigh that I had been holding back flowed out once more .
In fact, the reason my heart was so depressed was because of those girls .
Rania and Rebecca .
My daughters in name were examples of the evil female characters that appear in novels . Even if I could adapt to everything else, it was hard to accept this part of my new life .
We’re the same age, how could they be my stepdaughters!
Everyone had their own priorities, and so I didn’t mind the fact that I’d been sold off or cursed as much, but I had something I valued much more .
In my past life, I grew up alone without siblings, much less parents, so I had many romanticized expectations to have my own loving family .
It would be great to have a friendly and attentive husband and a dependable son, but a lovely daughter was surely the best for a mom!
Soft, chubby cheeks, innocent, shiny eyes, and plump, chewing lips .
“Oh oh!”
That’s right . Oh oh it is . Read this at littleajummas . wordpress . com or you are a Rania
Just thinking about that made my heart so full that I felt choked up from emotion .
Perhaps because of those thoughts, whenever I read a novel, my favorite scene wasn’t when the male and female protagonists got together but when their children appeared in the extra stories .
When I read about small, cute girls that resembled their mothers in the story, I would smile as I were reading about my own daughter .
‘That’s right . I’m feeding this baby milk and changing their diapers with my novel payment, so this counts as my daughter!’
And when I read about children who successfully grew up holding their mother and father’s hands, I felt an immense sense of pride .
For me to wish that for my own childhood…was too shameless, so I was content to read about it .
“……Is what I wanted, but this, well . ”
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One is a psychopath, while the other is a mean woman with a twisted inferiority complex .
At the gap between reality and my expectations, I woke up from my fantasies .
Even if I gave up everything else, this was my last wish .
What sin did I commit for it to be like this!
I didn’t wish to become rich or to meet a handsome prince like other people did .
I just wanted a normal life with a pretty daughter, spending each day full of love and joy, could there be a worse bolt out of the blue for me .
“If I knew this would happen, I would’ve wished properly . ”
「Huh? A wish?」
“Oh, no . It’s nothing . ”
I tapped the confused Selene’s beak and stood up, dusting myself off .
If I knew that the last wish I made at the zoom would come true like this, I would have wished for that .
……Please give me a pretty daughter .
Why wasn’t I able to say those words?
I touched my black blouse with a touch of regret on my face .
Anyway, I was going to transform into a black swan soon, so I needed to go back to bed and rest my eyes a little more .
“I will go back for now . Go and catch some carp . It’s carp season after all . ”
「About that, I did catch one earlier but, well, turns out that one was a human too . I was wondering why it was so big . 」
“Hey, that’s not something you can say while smiling……Hold on!”
Quiet .
I didn’t try to explain to Selene and just put a finger to my mouth .
Selene looked around, afraid it was Rania or Rebecca who had come, but it wasn’t them .
No, to be precise, whatever I heard wasn’t human .
「……Your Ladyship, what is going on?」
“Wait a second……Didn’t you hear that just now?”
「What do you mean……」
“Look, just now . It was the same sound!”
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Rustle .
At the repeated rustling sound, I lowered my body once more .
There was something hiding among the reeds .
I pushed Selene behind me and carefully approached the sound, step by step .
“……Is there someone there?”
I called out at first, but there was no response .
Though my appearance was human at the moment, I was the ruler of this lake’s ecosystem, so if there was no answer, that only meant one of two options .
It was either someone who’d just been cursed, or it was an ordinary animal .
「Her Ladyship is calling for you but you dare to ignore her? Come out . Or else I will go over there and find you myself . 」
“No no, it ’s okay . ”
And, for some reason, I felt like it’d be the second option .
After placating Selene, I sneakily approached where the sound came from and bent back a couple reeds .
“It’s okay, you can come out……Oh my!”
I covered my mouth with the hand that had pushed aside a few reeds .
It was definitely a living creature I’d never seen before in this lake . A small, white, and adorable being was looking at me, blinking its red eyes .
“……Why . It-it’s a baby swan!”
I can’t believe you didn’t read this on the littleajummas blog . How could you .
Oh my god .
My breath stopped for a moment because you aren’t reading this on littleajummas, are you?
My breath stopped for a moment, and I could only keep looking . It was trying to hide itself within the reeds……no, it was so small that it didn’t even have to try . It sat crouching, its head tilted to the side, looking cuter than a doll .
“Look at it, it’s a swan . That’s definitely a swan!”
「Yes, it looks like it hasn’t been long since it hatched……Perhaps its mother is nearby? Or did it lose its way?」
“Shh, it looks frightened . ”
I carefully lowered my body to the little swan that had been cowering at Selene’s prattling . Fortunately, it only blinked its eyes and didn’t look like it was scared of me or was planning on running off .
“Why is a swan here? The only swan on the lake is Sir Lemington and his wife! Did the two of them already have children?”
「I doubt it . A short while ago they were fighting a great deal, blaming each other for getting themselves cursed . And so for the two of them to then meet up and have a kid after that, it seems a little……」
“R, right?”
It was a misconception that the cursed humans in this lake were only depressed or peaceful . Rather, maybe because they had been changed into animals, their mood swings were now wilder, and that their romantic relationships as human beings were nothing compared to them now .
They seemed to have a tendency to do whatever they wanted, perhaps because there were less restrictions and no one to judge them, and a desperation from the uncertainty of ever breaking from the curse .
In fact, I had only been here for 3 months, but I’d already witnessed a married couple divorcing and three new couples forming .
「……But should I ask Sir Leamington just in case?」
“No . If the answer’s no, what are you going to do then . And can’t you see the baby’s scared? I don’t mean to speak ill of him, but you know how Sir Lemington is sort of rough-looking . What if the baby cries after seeing him, who’s going to take care of that?”
「Th, that’s true, but-」
“First we need to calm down the baby . We can’t accidentally cause it trauma by uselessly meddling in those sorts of things, we’ll ruin its future then . We absolutely can’t be too excited . We have to set a good example as the adults, got it?”
「……Your Ladyship, I think you’re the most excited out of all of us here . 」
She hesitated but still ended up saying what she wanted to say . I pretended like I didn’t hear her .
Ergh, that keen sense of hers .
I could feel that my cheeks and the nape of my neck redden, and my fingers had been tingling from the start .
“Ah……”
Exactly where did such a thing like you fall from?
Soft, white, baby feathers covered a body that had yet to grow proper plumage .
I hadn’t seen a baby animal like this one in a long time .
As most of the cursed people in the Lake Perdium were exiled, young animals were rare . To be precise, if any of them wanted to have children at some point, they had changed their minds because of the curse……Anyway, it was a baby .
A baby, this was what I’d been wishing for!
“Since it hasn’t talked at this point, it probably isn’t a person . Just a newborn swan . ”
「I agree . It would have said something if it were a person . And no matter how terrible Lady Rania is, I don’t think she’d curse such a young child . 」
“Yeah you can tell, right?”
「……Exactly why are you liking this so much, Your Ladyship?」
“What do you mean, I’m not . ”
I belatedly tried to behave myself, bringing my hands to my cheeks to cool them down .
There wasn’t anything in appearance that could distinguish cursed humans from normal animals . If the animal didn’t speak then we had no idea of knowing if they were animals or cursed people . Apparently, some cursed humans weren’t able to talk for up to several years because of the shock of being turned into animals .