The Softest And Cutest Of The Dukes - Chapter 1

CHAPTER 1

“Where am I? Who am I?”

I opened my eyes and the world was unfamiliar. Stunned and stiff, I swallowed dryly and looked around, trying to recall my past.

In my first life, I was abused by my biological father and died at the age of fifteen. Ironically, in my second life, I found myself transmigrated into a book. I was possessed by the Emperor’s love interest and struggled to survive.

I became a wizard and fought by the side of my stepbrother, the crown prince Lancelot, and in the end, I managed to survive. But, just before the original story’s happy ending, I am struck by the sword of my fiancé on the day of the coming-of-age ceremony.

In the blink of an eye, space warped and I was sucked into it. When I opened my eyes, I was falling from the sky.

For a moment, I’m too scared to cry out, but the shock of landing on something with my butt forces me to open my eyes and get up. As I noticed the gazes fixed upon me, I took a step back hesitantly and clumsily waved my hands to keep from tripping over something, and then I saw it. Short, chubby hands and legs.

“Ah… This can’t be. This can’t be.”

I looked at my body and fell over in shock.

That’s all I remember. When I regained consciousness again, my body remained unchanged, and I furrowed my brow in confusion.

There was a saying that if one’s mana is completely depleted, they would usually die, but there is a one in tens of millions chance of survival. Little did I know that I would personally experience it.

As I let out a deep sigh, I sensed a strange presence.

“Whoa, you’re awake.”

“…….”

“I see you’re still groggy, just give me a minute.”

The blonde woman said with a smile, then poured me a cup of water. 

“Careful, careful…….”

The woman helped me to my feet, supported my back, and lifted the cup of water to my mouth. I was so thirsty that I drank the water in small sips.

Gulp, gulp, gulp.

Without thinking, the water didn’t go very far into my mouth. 

“Right, that’s good, are you feeling better now?”

I nodded, never expecting to receive such praise for barely drinking water.

“Thank you.”

“Oh my! You’re quite good at greetings. You’re so adorable, what should I do? Ah! First things first, I need to introduce myself, so please wait a moment.”

The woman who patted me on the cheek and then pinched me lightly walked out the door without telling me her name. Once she was gone, I covered my face with my hands in frustration and fell on the futon with my hands covering my face in frustration.

‘Aish, this life is ruined!’

After burying my face in the covers for a while, I felt a strange sensation and turned my head sideways.

I flinched and quickly turned my head the other way, realizing that I hadn’t realized who had entered the room.

I didn’t know what to make of the intense gaze of a young man with dark hair and blue eyes, but I couldn’t remain oblivious. I had to find out where I was and get back to my brother.

Swallowing hard, I scrambled to my feet, clasped my shaky little hands together, and bowed my head.

“Ah, hello there…”

“…….”

I greeted but heard no response from the other side. The frozen blue eyes pierced me, but I wasn’t scared. Although it did look a bit like my brother.

“If you look so fierce, the child will be startled and start crying.” 

“I’ve never seen anything like this before.”

The man beside me shook his head, and the one who was staring at me bared his white teeth in a short reply.

My shoulders involuntarily shrank at the sound of his dry voice. Without even realizing it, I took a step back, and as I did, my foot got caught in the blanket, causing me to stumble and fall backward.

“It seems falling is your hobby.”

“Indeed, babies don’t have good control over their balance initially.”

The blue-haired man standing next to the man watching me said, and he raised his hand to wave.

Struggling, I managed to flip myself forward, breathing heavily and looking ahead.

Tsk-tsk.

My stomach rumbled, and the dark-haired man frowned.

“I’m sorry…”

As I thought about it, I realized that I had starved myself to fit into a dress for the coming-of-age ceremony. That’s why my empty stomach, filled only with air, began to growl, causing my face to turn red. I quickly apologized.

“I don’t see why you’re apologizing for being hungry. Give something to eat to that child right away. We can interrogate her later.”

The black-haired man, perhaps acknowledging one point, requested to provide food before any further discussions. He then turned and walked away after.

Witnessing this, the blue-haired man approached me with a bright smile and gently pressed his fingers against my cheek.

“Aww, kids have such nice skin. You’re so cute, I can’t help it. Sweetheart, my name is…….”

“Vance Christopher shut up and follow me. We don’t have time to dawdle around there.”

“Okay, okay.”

Leaving the name Vance Christopher, he followed the dark-haired man out the door. He looked back at me the whole way out, his gaze intent.

“I guess Mr. Vance like you, although he usually has such an expression. Oh, and by the way, my name is Jenny. I already told the kitchen, so they’ll be bringing you some soup soon.” 

Jenny, the blonde, smiled at me and didn’t leave me alone until the soup arrived.

“Ah, no, I don’t want to.”

“Even if you don’t want to, you still have to wash up.”

Suddenly, she removed the pajamas from my body and carried me to the bathroom. Panicked, I flailed my arms to push Jenny away, but it was a pointless gesture.

Easily subdued, Jenny sat me down in the bathtub and unleashed an assortment of bath salts to wash my stiff arms and legs. Even as an empress, I bathed alone.

“Oh, come on, behave yourself. You’ll feel good once you’re in the warm water.”

Splish-splash-

As I nodded, Jenny smiled and gently laid me back, proceeding to wash my hair with shampoo.

“Awww, you’re so cute. I love doing this.”

Pleased, Jenny washed me until I was squeaky clean, then wrapped me in a towel and left the bathroom.

As I stepped out of the warm water, I shivered and clung to Jenny.

“Cold.”

“Are you cold? Let me get you dressed.”

She dried me off and dressed me.

“They said it’s the clothes the young lady used to wear, but it’s amazing how well they suit you. Fortunately, they weren’t discarded.”

Young lady? Does that mean there’s another baby in this house?

I shook my head, and Jenny dried my hair, combed it neatly, and tied it up with a hair tie.

“This is the one the lady used to use. I can’t buy a new one right now, so I brought her old one.”

“Lady?”

“Yes, a young lady. The master of the house has a daughter, though she’s left home now.”

“That’s a lie…”

He didn’t look like a father with a married daughter. The face I’d seen earlier put him in his early to mid-twenties at best.

“It’s not a lie. There is indeed a young lady who was already married and a splendid young lord. It’s no secret, so there’s no need to keep it a secret, hmmm!”

Without me asking, Jenny told me what she was so excited about.

First of all, the head of the family, the handsome man from earlier, is Duke Joshua Panteur, father of one daughter and one son, Erika, who is twenty-one years old, and Eugene, who is thirteen.

I scratched my head at the unfamiliar name.

‘Duke Panteur? Panteur….…’

Since we spoke the same language, I assumed that this was the continent of my country. I decided to find my mana and go to my brother’s place once my body was back to normal.

But there was no Duke Panteur on the continent that I knew of. 

‘Then this is either a budding noble or someone impersonating a noble.’

It was extremely rare for a rising nobleman to become a duke without first becoming a baron or viscount. Unless they were the emperor’s favorite.

Seeing me shake my head in thought, Jenny reached out and cupped my cheek.

Jenny’s hands on my cheeks stopped when the food arrived. The white cream soup was topped with crumbled bread.

Mmm.

My stomach screamed at the sight of the soup. The air danced in my empty stomach like an empty cart rumbling.

“You must have been very hungry.”

I ducked my head as Jenny slipped something around my neck. A bib.

No. I’m past the age of this stuff. A bib. I grabbed it and tried to pull it off, but it was too much for my weak little hands.

As I struggled to remove the bib, suddenly a spoonful of cream soup approached, and I stopped moving.

“Can I have some of that?”

I asked, looking at the creamy white soup, and Jenny nodded. 

“Of course. Here you go! Ah, be careful.”

“Ahhh…….”

No. This is not me.

I don’t know if it was hunger or my youth, but my brain seemed to have degenerated at the same time. I can’t help but open my mouth like a clam in salt water.

“Oooh, oooh, my baby, you’re eating the soup, good girl, good girl.”

It’s an instinct. I can’t help it, toddlers are impatient. Tired of being hungry, I gulped down the bowl of creamy soup Jenny was feeding me.

“Yum.”

When I was full enough, I yawned with my mouth open, but quickly covered it with my little hand.

“It’s okay, it’s a child’s job to eat and sleep, so get some rest before the patriarch comes to interrogate you.”

Interrogation. She told me to get some sleep and then said he was coming to interrogate me. I couldn’t decide whether to sleep or not. I was so nervous that I kept my eyes open, but before I knew it, I was fast asleep.

* * *

Duke Joshua Panteur, the ruler of the eastern part of the Savannah Empire, has had a busy day.

day. He ran a rough hand through his dark hair, and the shoulders of his aides cringed.

Their hearts thudded in their chests as his long fingers tapped the desk.

The small noises in the silence made their blood run dry. They even thought it might be better to express anger or curse, just to relieve the tension.

“Does…… it mean this child is the child of the prophecy?”

“Yes, it may be.”

“But the prophesied child has been born.”

The one that would save the continent, the one that would push it into the darkness.

They said there would be two.

“That must have been something the Temple bastards said to try and sway public opinion.”

He was sweeping up the one who had opposed him. 

In an instant, something fell, as he was thinking about how to cook the Count. It landed squarely on the Count, killing him instantly.

The child, meanwhile, moved about unharmed, as if she were a wind goddess.

Even Duke Panteur, never one to be surprised, widened his eyes.

The tiny child, with a face barely bigger than a fist, was soon flapping her arms and stumbled backward. But she got right back up and looked around.

‘Ah… This can’t be. This can’t be.’ she said, and she looked like she had the world at her feet and fell backward again.

Upon witnessing that sight, Count Panteur, without even realizing it, grabbed the child. He who covered the child’s body, stained with soot and wearing tattered clothes, with his cloak, embraced her and brought her home.

“Oh, Your Highness the Duke, what can this be?”

The only thing she had was a necklace of tarnished gems around her neck, so when his aide asked him, the Duke Panteur was at a loss for words.

This was a new situation for him, so he took a moment to collect his thoughts before answering with a serious expression.

“…… is a sticky rice cake.”

“What?”

“It’s a baked sticky rice cake.”