Published at 25th of June 2020 10:59 am

Oneshot

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Ah, um… where am I? 1

I was just… uh, huh? What was I doing, again?

More importantly, who am I?

I don’t know why, but I seem to be lying on a bed.

A strangely luxurious bed with a canopy.

I can’t seem to remember, but I don’t even know who I am in the first place, so it’s useless to think about the reason.

Let’s get up for now.

There seems to be no pain in my body.

“Giddy up”

I said.

Saying 「giddy up」 … It reeks of being old.

No, that’s not the point I should be surprised about… what’s with that voice just now? Me? Was my voice always this high? It’s like a girl’s…

I should have been… a man.

Though I can’t remember my name, but at least I know that’s true.

I was fifteen years old.

I remember having taken the high school exam.

I can’t remember the name of the high school, though.

When I got up on the bed, as expected, it was a room I can’t remember.

I took a look at my own hands. Small.

Moreover, when I looked at my hair hanging down, it was glittering gold and was quite long.

Maybe a little longer than my shoulder.

Absolutely not my hair.

My hair was black and not long enough to hang on my shoulder.

Because I’m a man.

It’s supposed to be a ridiculous and unthinkable situation, but it’s strange that I’m so calm.

Maybe, I’m so surprised to the point that I couldn’t believe it’s actually happening and remained calm.

It’s a very stupid thought, but isn’t this the 「reincarnation in a different world」 kind of thing common in web novels?

For now let’s collect more information.

I went up to the edge of the bed and tried to get down from it, but my feet wouldn’t reach the floor.

The bed is strangely large, but not huge.

It’s because I’m too short for my feet to reach.

My height is just a little over a meter tall, probably.

It looks like this body is around 8 to 10 years old and is perhaps in the lower grades of elementary school.

Looking around, the room seems to be about 20 tatami mats big.

Of course, the floor’s not made of tatami mat, but of a pale pink short-haired carpet.

I’m not sure about the pattern of the carpet, but the color makes it feel like this is definitely a girl’s room.

If this is a reincarnation, a common pattern is to be hit in the head or be shocked at the sight of someone and be unconscious for a few days to regain the memory of the previous life.

With this young body, if I fall asleep for a couple of days, my physical strength may run out and I may not be able to walk after.

Well, it doesn’t start if you only think about it, so let’s look into the room for now.

Ah, yeah.

It’s too much like what I’ve thought that it’s sad.

I couldn’t even get up on my own while falling after walking for only two steps.

Like a newborn calf, I move slowly on my hands and knees.

It seems that my current limit is crawling on all fours, and I should immediately do something about it.

Ah, the clue to breaking the current situation is approaching.

From the outside of the door, I heard a rattling noise.

There was quite a sound when I fell, so someone would have heard it and rushed to me.

The possibility of the theory that I was sleeping increased more and more.

“My Lady! You shouldn’t walk yet!”

Oh, an aunt with dark brown hair in a maid costume helped me.

「My Lady」, huh

As expected, I became a girl.

That aside, even though I don’t know the language she’s currently using, I could understand it easily.

It’s really a reincarnation system, huh.

It’s a template for reincarnation that I understand this world’s words.

“I’m fine. My legs just got tangled up.”

Well, I can speak properly even though it’s a mysterious language.

“Why was I2 sleeping in bed?”

It’s first time I [boku] said is “I [watashi]“!

Just now I [boku] was trying to say 「What’s wrong with me?」 in Japanese!

However, in the mysterious language, the “I [boku]” became “I [watashi]“, and moreover, I could understand that too!

Maybe I have an automatic translation function?

Let’s try to speak again in Japanese this time.

“It seems like I don’t have any power.”

Waa, I can’t speak Japanese.

Ah, I’m starting to tear up.

This body is the one who wants to cry, yeah, it’s about to cry, wait, isn’t this myself!

My lacrimal glands are loose, probably because this body is a child!

Oh, the aunt picked me up and put me on the bed.

While hugging me lightly, she said “You don’t have to worry, My Lady. Marie is on your side.”

I feel calm when I touch this person.

Auntie (perhaps her name’s Marie) waited for me to calm down and gently said, “I’m going to call a doctor, so please wait a moment.” She ran to the door and shouted “The Lady has woken up”, went back to the side of the bed and grabbed my hand.

I feel that this Marie is familiar to me as she holds my hand.

Marie, Marie… oh yes, she’s my nanny.

Apparently, as I first thought, I was reincarnated, and with some kind of trigger led me to remember the personality and memories of my previous life, and I fell asleep due to the shock because of that.

Since I could remember Marie, I could probably remember other things too.　

When I thought so, I was relieved a little.

After a while, a doctor-like man in his 40s and a well-dressed young woman with hair of the same color as me came into the room.

I’m sure this woman is my mother.

When I was examined and questioned by the doctor (I didn’t think I would be asked “How many fingers are there?”), a scene I didn’t know emerged in my mind.

I fell into the pond trying to help someone on the verge of falling into it.

Someone… Yes, “Vannie… was Vannie all right?”

The words that suddenly went out of my mouth made the doctor smile in satisfaction.

“Do you remember falling into the pond? Are you painful anywhere?”

After asking some questions

“I don’t see any physical problems. If you eat something that is easy to digest and take a good rest, you will be able to recover tomorrow so that you can walk.” the doctor said.

Then the doctor explained things to my temporary mother and left the room.

“Seri. I’m glad you woke up. I’ll let you eat something light immediately.”

Marie left the room as soon as my provisional mother said so.

Most probably, they will bring me something like porridge.

Temporary mother, or rather, I found out while looking at her.

This person is my mother.

Apparently, my memory has returned because of things I saw and heard.

“Mother, what happened to Vannie?”

While I was talking to my mom (this also seems to be possible with translation magic), I remembered various things.

My name is Cellulose Ballard.

I am the eldest daughter of the Count Ballard family with territory to the west of the kingdom, and I have an older brother who is three years older.

This place is a mansion in our territory, and my father and brother live in a mansion in the Royal Capital.

My father is an officer at the Royal Castle, and my brother entered the Royal Academy this year.

The day I fell, my mother’s old best friend, Marchioness Gerrard and her only son, Vannie, were visiting our house.

The kingdom’s ranks are in the order, from highest to lowest, of Duke, Marquis, Count, Viscount, Baron, and Knight. Knighthood used to be only for one generation, but later it has become hereditary.

It seems that my mother and Marchioness Gerrard have been close friends since their school days in the Royal Academy, and even after they got married and had children, they still continued to exchange letters.

The Marquis Gerrard’s territory is on the other side of the Royal Capital from ours, and it’s a big trip that takes one week just for one way, so it’s been five years since they had met outside the Royal Capital.

Vannie is one year older than me, and even though I only met him for the first time, probably because of the carefreeness of children or because of Vannie’s friendliness, we immediately closely called each other 「Seri」 and 「Vannie」.

However, I’m not as friendly, so it’s more accurate to say I was made to call him Vannie by himself.

Vannie has that self-righteous and selfish attitude of a noble.

When he heard my mother call me “Seri”, he said, “I will call you 「Seri」 so you should call me 「Vannie」.”

Vannie seems to think of me as his henchman or something being younger than him, and while my mother and his mother were sharing stories, he pull my hand and forcibly brought me to explore the garden.

Originally, I seemed to be an indoor and quiet type noble lady, but the flowerbed in the garden was made by my mother and me (Of course, the gardener did the actual work we were just instructing him). Vannie was pulling me around and explaining the flowers.

And then Vannie said he would find and catch a fish in the pond by the corner of the garden.

The fish in this pond are similar to Koi in Japan, but when the fishes hear the footsteps of people, they would gather in the middle of the pond.

Unlike Japan, there is no custom here of feeding at the edge of the pond, so the bait is thrown in the middle of the pond.

Even if it is called a pond, it has a certain depth of water, and since it is about 10 meters in diameter, one cannot catch fish unless you go by boat.

However, even if I told him to stop because it’s dangerous, Vannie wouldn’t listen, and rather ignored me and really tried to enter the pond.

So I went in front, trying to stop him, was hit instead by Vannie who had too much momentum to stop, and fell into the pond.

It was Vannie who hurriedly grabbed my left hand and tried to pull me up, but the bottom of the pond seemed to be too deep and Vannie couldn’t lift me up with his child’s power.

On the contrary, my waist and right hand sank further into the pond, and my whole body sank even more.

Desperately pulling my left hand, I asked Vannie to call an adult instead.

Vannie was hesitant for a while, but realized that it was impossible for him to help me on his own and ran to call an adult.

After that, I sank even more that the surface of the water came to my mouth.

What I remember, or more likely, that’s all I can remember.

My mother told me that after that, Vannie brought a gardener who was nearby, and as I was drowning, that gardener saved me.

At that time, I was conscious and I was saying something to Vannie, but I can’t remember what I said.

Well, maybe I’d thanked or complained about him.

Vannie, who felt responsible for drowning me, said he will be by my side until I wake up.

But because he shouldn’t see a soaked girl (me) change clothes, and because it was an accident originally caused by his selfishness, Vannie’s mom grounded him in the guest room.

It seems that he had to reflect on his wrongdoings in the room.

The day after I woke up, my fever went down and I had an appetite, so I was able to meet Vannie, saying I was already fine.

Vannie seemed to be very worried about me, and with his eyes and nose all bright red, he clung to me while apologizing.

He’s naughty, but also a straightforward and kind child.

“I’m really sorry. I’m sure compensation will eventually come.”

Vannie said, squeezing my hands.

I didn’t get hurt so he didn’t need to worry.

Well, that’s fine too.

It seems that Vannie originally visited our house to meet me.

I wondered why and it turned out that it’s because of his engagement with me.

I’m still around 9 or 10 years old, but having a fiancee at this age is common among aristocrats.

Rather than politics, the engagement is based on the friendship between my mother and Vannie’s mother, in short, it’s about getting closer to each other through their children getting married.

… Wait, whaaaaattt!?

No, marriage is impossible for me!

The me of right now is mentally a man, so I can’t marry another man!

That’s not funny!

Partly because it’s only meeting first this time, the engagement story wasn’t settled yet (it doesn’t have to be set up forever, though), and the next day, Vannie and his mom returned to their territory.

On the way home, Vannie smiled and said, “I’m looking forward to seeing her again at the Royal Academy.”

I have regained the memory of my previous life (maybe), but I still behave as a Count’s daughter because of my memory as a Cellulose.

Then, three months later, my mother informed me that my engagement with Vannie has been made official.

Apparently, the other day’s incident that put my life in jeopardy was redeemed by him successfully helping me.

It’s as if some sort of coercive force is working.

No way.

Reunion at the Royal Academy? Fiance since childhood? Isn’t this really the 「reincarnation into an otome game world」 trope common in web novels?

Wait, wait, wait!

Engagement between aristocrats, Vannie having a higher rank, and going to school with me, isn’t my standing totally the villain’s role as a rival?

I have never played an otome game so I do not know it in detail, but the common pattern is that Vannie got absorbed in the commoner heroine whom he meets at school, and I will be accused of harassing the heroine leading to death penalty?

This is bad.

Originally, Vannie didn’t have any feelings of love for me, our engagement was obligatory (he said he would make up for it), and the heroine could be his first love, so, awesome!

I’m fine with that and since our engagement has little political meaning, it’s a story that I hope to happen to break the engagement, but banishment or the death penalty is a problem!

What should I do to get rid of the engagement?

Because no matter what you do, the force of this world will work, so let’s just think about minimizing the damage.

That’s right, there must have been a pattern where you could enter a monastery as the last resort for a villainous daughter.

No matter what kind of otome game this world is, as long as you can navigate properly, you may go down the path of entering the monastery.

A monastery doesn’t seem very liberal, but at least I won’t have to marry a man.

Okay, let’s aim, monastery!

It was only after I graduated from the Royal Academy and had married Vannie that I learned that there was no force in this world at all.

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1 Cellulose is using 「boku」in Japanese, which is a male pronoun for oneself

2 Cellulose is using 「watashi」 in Japanese, a female pronoun, in conversations

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