Chapter 3: A Change in Environment
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Several months (probably around six) had passed since my diet (or rather, my mother’s milk supply) improved.
One day, my mother didn’t return at her usual time. I was waiting, doing squats while holding onto something to stand, when a strange man entered the storage room.
"Auh (Who are you)?!"
The suspicious man picked me up.
"Such a filthy child…"
"Auh auh aah (Shut up…)"
The man treated me like some dirty object and carried me out of the storage room.
Had the suspicious man just ranked up to a kidnapper?!
"Auh ii au au (Where are you taking me)?"
Of course, the kidnapper didn’t answer. It’s not like he could understand baby talk, after all.
That said, this was my first time outside. The air of freedom tasted so sweet.
Outside, there were fields stretching out as far as the eye could see. Wheat, maybe? It looked like it was almost harvest time, the fields gleaming a golden color.
I could see a few people working in the fields, but my mother wasn’t among them.
If she doesn’t come back soon, I’ll really end up kidnapped!
The man placed me in a wooden box in a carriage.
Okay, maybe I am dirty, but is this really how you treat me as a person?
Then again, I suppose this world doesn’t exactly recognize "human rights."
After a while, we arrived at a large mansion.
Suddenly, they stripped me naked.
I didn’t have any plans to scream "Pervert!" or anything. After all, I’m a baby.
A woman who looked like a maid dipped me into a tub of cold water.
It’s freezing! You should try getting into this water yourselves—my heart almost stopped for a second!
She scrubbed me so hard my soft skin turned red. It really hurt.
"Hmm… Silver-blue hair and golden eyes. It seems this really is the Lord’s child."
The man who had brought me here said that.
Meanwhile, the maids didn’t stop working, drying me off with towels and dressing me in baby clothes.
"Alright, let’s go."
The man picked me up again. This time, he held me properly.
He carried me into a luxurious room.
"My Lord, I have brought Master Toma."
Master Toma?
The man who had brought me here looked like he was in his fifties, dressed in a tuxedo, with his brown hair slicked back. He seemed like a butler.
As for the man referred to as "Lord," he appeared to be about sixty, with silver-blue hair streaked with white, and golden eyes.
"Is this my child?"
"Ninety percent certain, my Lord."
"Tsk."
It seemed I was indeed this old man’s child.
Still, clicking his tongue after hearing I’m his child? What a terrible person.
The look in his eyes said he didn’t even see me as a child.
He probably never lifted a finger to take care of me. Just a lazy aristocrat with no sense of responsibility.
"I only indulged out of curiosity, but it appears she bore a child with my blood. Make arrangements for them to live in the annex."
"Understood, my Lord."
We immediately left the room and exited the mansion.
We entered another mansion, a fifteen-minute walk away. It was smaller than the previous one, but compared to the storage shed, it was still quite grand.
Inside, there was a beautiful woman, probably around eighteen years old, wearing a dress. The moment she saw me, she burst into tears.
"Oh, Toma… I’m so glad…"
The moment I heard her voice, I knew.
This woman was my mother.
She wasn’t wearing her usual rags, and her once dull hair was now shining blonde. She was dressed up with makeup, which is why I didn’t recognize her at first.
But those emerald-green eyes, as clear as jewels, were the same ones I remembered from my mother, so there was no doubt.
"Lady Alyusha will now live as the Lord’s concubine."
"Yes…"
So, my mother’s name is Alyusha. And now she’s a concubine, huh?
That old Lord was around sixty, but he still laid his hands on a young woman like my mother… That’s not just perversion—it’s downright wicked
From that day onward, my mother and I left behind our life in the storage shed. Our living conditions improved drastically.
The annex was home to many concubines.
Thus began a communal life with women who shared a similar fate, along with their children.