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 .

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 . ”

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!”

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 .