Chapter 2

Chapter 2. I Became the Duke's Illegitimate Son (2)

Three days later.

Right after the other maids went off duty.

"WAAAAAHHHHH!"

Right in front of Kanna, whose face had turned deathly pale, I once again cried my lungs out with gusto.

If it did not work in one go, then all I had to do was keep doing it until it did.

Every time Kanna took the night shift, I screamed and wailed at the top of my lungs.

Of course, as time passed, people paid less and less attention, but they no longer left me alone with her at night.

And the looks directed at Kanna gradually became strange.

"Do you think the Young Master and Kanna just don't get along?"

"It only happens when Kanna is the one in charge."

When Kanna was not around, the other maids whispered among themselves more and more often.

"Could it be that she does something wrong when she's alone with him?"

There were even maids who started speaking ill of her in subtle ways.

And after I burst into tears for the fourth time,

Kanna was finally transferred elsewhere.

That was exhausting.

Clearing my burning throat, I bade Kanna farewell in my heart.

Go somewhere and drop dead.

That day, a new message window appeared before my eyes.

[The crisis situation has ended. A new 'save point' has been set.]

Yes! Yes!

It popped up. This was a save point.

Just as I thought, dying did not always send me all the way back to the beginning.

Once the deadly situation was resolved, a new save point was created at that moment.

Thank goodness. Truly, thank goodness.

If I had to go all the way back to the starting point every single time I died, I would have given up on everything.

Starting over as a baby every time would have been a hell beyond hell.

"Oh, the Young Master is smiling."

"It's not that strange smile from before."

"Did he really hate Kanna that much?"

The maids whispered among themselves, but I did not care in the slightest.

At last, my peaceful baby life was about to begin again.

But that hasty thought was shattered in less than a day.

"Starting today, I am the new maid assigned here. My name is Luisil."

The maid who had newly arrived in Kanna's place was glaring at me when no one else was looking.

A chill ran down my spine, and every fine hair on my body stood on end.

It might have been my imagination, but she did not look like an ordinary maid.

Of course, there was no way things would end just because Kanna was gone. If one weapon broke, they could simply use another.

Unless the person ordering the murders from behind the scenes gave up, assassins would surely keep coming.

I kept a close watch on the new maid.

But unexpectedly, the new maid made no unusual moves.

Her expression did not darken, nor did she do anything strange.

And even on her first night shift, she merely sat quietly in a chair and passed the night.

Was I mistaken?

I let out a sigh of relief.

That made sense. There was no way an assassin would slip in disguised as a maid every single time.

Having stayed tense all night, I was finally able to relax.

I need to stay careful, but I can't keep living this tense every single time. There is no assassin. At this rate, I will not even grow properly.

And after that comfortable stretch of time had passed.

Three days later.

I was kissed by a pillow again. My nose got blocked too, naturally.

Damn it.

I died again.

[You have died. Restarting from the autosave point.]

Already the second time.

If there was one saving grace, it was that the point I returned to was different.

"Kanna's assignment will be changed starting today."

I stared blankly at Kanna as she said her farewell.

The pain of death did not become any easier to bear. Even though I was a baby, supposedly too young to feel pain properly, and even though all that happened was that I suffocated to death.

I did not want to experience that suffocating helplessness and emptiness of dying ever again.

But.

Damn it, as if I would give up.

Once I died, I could at least figure out who the culprit was.

And if I knew who the culprit was, then at the very least, I ought to be able to stop the next death.

The next day, I glared right back at Luisil when I caught her secretly staring at me.

"Oh my, how adorable. The Young Master is staring right at Luisil."

Luisil's glaring eyes widened into circles, and the maids began whispering.

"It seems the Young Master has taken a liking to Luisil. Would you like to hold him once?"

At the head maid's words, Luisil walked over to the crib.

No! The opposite!

Watching Luisil lift me into her arms, I had no choice but to use my final weapon.

"WAAAAAHHH!"

"Oh, what do we do?"

"My, perhaps he is not used to her yet. Give him to me."

Once the head maid took me back, I stopped crying.

Time passed. Nothing changed.

Three days later.

Once again, Luisil ended up working the night shift alone.

There was no reason anything would be different anyway.

I burst into tears again.

"WAAAAAHHH!"

Crying that repeated every three days.

In the end, the new maid also had no choice but to leave.

After that, yet another maid was replaced.

And strange rumors began to circulate through the manor.

"Did you know that every maid whose assignment was changed ended up quitting?"

"It seems all of them vanished after they quit."

"Vanished?"

"Some of them left with their entire families, and there were also girls no one could contact anymore."

"Surely not...?"

One of the whispering maids murmured with a pale face, and another quickly shook her head.

"They cannot all be dead, can they? They probably just left the territory because of something."

"But they were all people who left from here..."

The whispering maids glanced at me, lying in my crib.

All of them disappeared? Did someone take care of the aftermath?

There could not be many people in this ducal house with that kind of power...

Every person who came to mind was someone I, an illegitimate son who was still insignificant now and would remain insignificant for a long time, could never hope to touch even at the tip of a toe.

---

"So you are saying she could not even make an attempt this time either?"

"Yes. Just like before, the baby started crying, and she was ultimately driven out."

"That makes three times already..."

"It may be a coincidence, or perhaps the child was frightened by the killing intent of those amateur girls."

"Or there may be another reason. He might have awakened a different ability."

"It is still far too early for his Awakening Day."

"Well, it is only a hypothesis."

"Then shall we continue?"

"No. Three times was already too many. Rumors seem to be spreading already, so let us stop sending in maids here. Next time, we shall use another method."

"Understood."

"We should at least let the child experience the world for a few more months."

The secret conversation came to an end.

And with those words, a soft laugh drifted out from the beautiful room.

---

Freedom!

After the third maid left, peaceful nights finally continued.

The maid who came in after that did not try to kill me.

Peaceful nights. A soothed throat.

At last, I could happily eat, sleep, and relieve myself.

But I could not keep enduring things forever with the same method.

There was no helping it.

I would have to become a genius.

"Uaaah, ab-beu-beu."

"He's babbling already."

"Abeu-abeu."

"But isn't he babbling for rather too long?"

"Uuu. Buaaah."

My throat had been damaged badly from all the crying I had done. It hurt so much I could die.

But I had to start speaking as soon as possible, even if it was only one day earlier.

So today as well, I kept trying to babble.

"Abeu-abeu-abeu...."

---

As time passed, I was finally weaned off milk.

My mother had not nursed me herself, and I had a wet nurse instead, but that was only natural for a great noble house.

Tch, this baby food tastes terrible.

The baby food I tried for the first time did not taste nearly as good as I had expected.

The babies I had seen in my previous life used to gobble it down.

I suppose the era is different, so food culture may simply be underdeveloped.

At this rate, I might have to grow up and go into the spice trade.

And so, while eating baby food, I assumed I would continue growing up nice and healthy.

But perhaps it was nothing more than a fleeting spring dream.

When had it started? I gradually began to get sleepier and sleepier.

I was sleepy.

The time I stayed awake grew shorter, and fever began to spread across my face and body.

I was in pain, but the drowsiness continued.

Something was wrong.

The maids forced food into me, but I threw up even what I ate, lost strength, and began to waste away little by little.

Startled, my mother summoned the physician and also called for a priest, but neither the physician's treatment nor the priest's holy arts could heal my aching body.

"Why in the world is the baby sick!"

"I am sorry. The illnesses of very young children have not yet all been identified..."

The physician kept wiping the sweat welling up on his brow with his sleeve.

Healing magic may have been advanced, but the physician was obviously nothing more than a quack who did not even understand cleanliness.

Just as expected of the Middle Ages. The infant mortality rate here had to be atrocious.

Time kept passing, but not only could he not cure me, he could not even identify the illness.

"Uah, it hurts, abeu."

At the crying sound that escaped me like a groan, my mother stroked my face with a pained expression.

"If only you could tell us where it hurts...."

At her words, I cried out again.

"Abeu, it hurts, it hurts."

My stomach hurts! My guts feel like they are twisting! Damn it, there is something wrong with the food!

Unlike the physician, I knew why my body was hurting. But no matter how loudly I screamed, to everyone else it sounded like nothing more than a baby's cry.

On the final night, when all strength had left me,

my mother, who had stayed awake by my side for days, looked at me and murmured softly.

"I am sorry. I could not protect you."

She too knew that my illness was not a natural sickness.

"You are this sick, and yet the Duke does not even come to see you."

My mother let tears fall as she looked at my feeble face.

I could not answer her words.

Because the moment she finished speaking, my breathing stopped, as though someone had switched off the power.

[You have died. Restarting from the autosave point.]

I died again.

A moment later, once I recovered my senses, I bit down on my lips.

Damn it! I got far too complacent!

Genius my foot. At this rate, I would need to become an alien instead!

Having returned to the moment right after the third maid had been driven away, I desperately practiced speaking.

If I was too late, it was over. No other words were necessary.

I needed only two phrases.

And in the end, I pulled it off.

"Ah, here, eat this. It's your baby food. Hoo, hoo, it won't be hot. Here, num-num."

That day, the moment I was fed baby food for the first time,

I caught the spoonful of baby food the maid offered with my mouth.

And then I spat it out with all my strength.

Ptooey!

Baby food splattered everywhere. The startled maids hurried over.

"Oh dear, perhaps baby food does not agree with him yet?"

Of course not! It was far worse than that.

Now then, it was time to show the fruits of all my efforts.

I gathered strength in my belly.

Placed my mouth and tongue where they needed to be.

Took one deep breath.

And then I shouted with all my might.

"Num-num!"

All the maids looked stunned.

"No way?"

"He just spoke, didn't he!"

"Did he not call for his mama?"

"I'll go bring my lady!"

The startled maids ran around in every direction, rushing off to fetch my mother.

A moment later, when my mother came running into the room, I shouted again.

"Num-num!"

My mother and the maids lit up with delight, but I had no intention of stopping there.

Besides, "num-num" did not mean Mother.

"It hurts!"

"Num-num hurts!"

At the same time, I raised my hand and pointed at the baby food splattered all around.

A child holding up his tiny finger and speaking nonsense from his very first words.

My mother, the maids, and even the servants throughout the manor, once they heard the news, were all dumbfounded.

To think that the duke's son, in his first words, had said not "Mama" or "Papa," but "Num-num hurts."

It was more than enough to set yet another strange rumor going around.

But fortunately, my mother did not take her child's words lightly.

Her expression hardening at once, she snatched up the bowl of baby food that remained and gave an order to the maids.

"Fetch the physician... No, fetch the alchemist!"

"The alchemist, my lady?"

"There is one in the territory, is there not?"

"Ah, yes, there is, but..."

"Did you not hear what the child said! Bring him at once!"

The maids looked startled and asked again, but my mother, Amanda, the duke's concubine, merely repeated the order.

"Quickly!"

"Y-Yes! At once!"

Her status might have been that of a commoner, and even now she was no more than a concubine, but being the duke's woman was by no means a light position.

The maids hurried out in a rush, and my mother gripped my hand tightly.

Urgh. She's holding it too hard. The blood is not circulating.

"It hurts."

I had no choice but to use the first words I had learned all over again.