Chapter 2 : Tunteuni Is Reborn

The God gently stroked Tunteuni’s head and looked at her with concern.

“Because you’ll have a new body, even your memories of where your real Mommy and Daddy live and what their faces look like will be erased.”

“Then… will all of Tunteuni’s memories disappear?”

“No, only some of them. You’ll still remember moments you shared with your family and things your parents said to you.”

“Then it’s okay!”

She could find them by piecing together all the memories she had made with Mommy and Daddy.

“Tunteuni can do it! Tunteuni can find them!”

“Even so, I’m worried. You’re so weak…”

Tunteuni thought carefully about the God’s words.

He couldn’t mean that she was weak herself.

Tunteuni was a very strong baby, just as her nickname suggested!

Then…

“That’s wight! Tunteuni’s Mommy and Daddy are weak. They cried all the time whenever Tunteuni had a fever!”

“…Hmm?”

“So Tunteuni needs an ability to pwotect Mommy and Daddy!”

Tunteuni clenched her two rice-grain-sized fists with determination.

The God had been about to tell her that he couldn’t give her any special abilities, but the corners of his eyes softened into a gentle smile instead.

“What a kind child you are. Very well, Tunteuni. I’ll give you an ability that will help you become strong.”

“Woooow! Tunteuni! What is it?”

“It’s the ability to make things that are frightening no longer frightening at all.”

“…What’s thaaat?”

“You’ll gradually understand once you arrive in the human world.”

Tunteuni didn’t really understand what it was, but since the God had given it to her, it must be something really, really good!

She bowed her little head to express her gratitude.

The God answered kindly.

“I pray that this ability will be of great help to you as you change your destiny.”

“Yeees!”

“And can you see that over there?”

Tunteuni looked down at the world beneath the sky, in the direction the God was pointing.

Inside a small attic, a child lay curled up without even a blanket.

“Gaaasp! That must be sooo, sooo cold!”

“The child spent too long in a cold place and passed away just a little while ago.”

“Then will that child come to the baby stars, too?”

“Yes. From now on, the child will be able to stay somewhere warm by my side.”

The God quietly held out his hand.

A small light rose from the child’s body.

It floated up into the sky and gently settled in the palm of his hand.

“The child is happy because it isn’t cold here at all.”

Only then did Tunteuni’s expression brighten a little.

The tiny light gently touched the tips of Tunteuni’s fingers, too.

As though it were saying hello.

“Your soul will enter the body of that child, whose soul has departed.”

Tunteuni looked down at the world again.

Looking at the small, cold attic where the child had lain all alone, she asked in a tiny voice,

“If Tunteuni goes there, will the body be able to move again?”

“Of course. I’ll help you so that you can live.”

Tunteuni waved at the little light.

And so, Tunteuni opened her eyes once again, reborn as a five-year-old little girl named Ariena.

Where… where am I?

When she suddenly opened her eyes, Ariena found herself lying in the attic of Count Rheinfeld’s estate.

Ariena, a little girl with pink hair and blue eyes, was the youngest adopted daughter of the Count Rheinfeld family.

With the God’s help, Ariena could now think as well as an ordinary five-year-old child. She looked around her surroundings.

As she took in the tiny room, which was covered in dust and had not even a proper bed, Ariena’s expression drooped sadly.

Her memories weren’t very clear, but…

I think Tunteuni’s room had a pink bed fit for a princess.

There was nothing like that here.

But that was okay.

As long as she could meet Mommy and Daddy again!

The little girl, who had once been Tunteuni but was now Ariena, bravely opened the door and stepped outside.

Let’s go find Mommy and Daddy!

How many steps had she taken down the stairs, her little feet going pat-pat-pat, before a magnificent garden filled with flowers in full bloom appeared before her?

Woooow! It’s so pretty!

She was fiddling with the sleeves of her worn-out clothes and looking around when she suddenly spotted someone.

Huh? There’s a person!

An elegant, beautifully dressed woman was having tea in the garden.

She thanked her maid for serving the tea.

Most of Ariena’s existing memories were hazy.

However, judging from the few memories she had left, that woman appeared to be Countess Rheinfeld, the person who had adopted Ariena.

So that person is Ariena’s Mommy now!

Could it be… just maybe… that Ariena’s Mommy was also Tunteuni’s real Mommy?

Ariena wasn’t in Tunteuni’s original body anymore, but Ariena was also an adopted daughter.

Maybe Tunteuni’s Mommy had adopted Ariena!

She tried to picture her mother in her mind.

Our Mommy had…!

What color was her hair again?

What about her eyes?

All Ariena could remember was that her mother used to smile…

Tunteuni has lost so many memories.

She felt a little sad, but Ariena decided to be brave.

If I can’t remember, I can just go and ask!

She would find out whether this woman was really Tunteuni’s Mommy.

With that thought, she hesitantly approached the Countess, took hold of her sleeve, and spoke in a very cautious voice.

“…Mommy?”

The Countess’s gaze fell upon Ariena.

She slowly looked the child up and down.

From her pink hair to her blue eyes and even her tiny fingertips.

She examined Ariena as though she were an appraiser evaluating an object rather than a child.

The woman’s gaze was colder than Ariena had expected, and the little girl shrank back slightly, fidgeting with her fingers.

“Um… awe you Tunteuni’s Mommy?”

The woman responded with an elegant question of her own.

“…Tunteuni?”

“Yeees, Tunteuni. I heard it inside Mommy’s tummy, and every single day…”

The woman stared at Ariena for a moment before saying something Ariena couldn’t quite understand.

“Well, I did find a strong and healthy child.”

Then… did that mean she really was her Mommy?

Ariena cautiously tugged at the woman’s sleeve again.

“Um, then… Mommy. Ovew thewe…”

There were so many things she wanted to ask.

Had Mommy been living well without Tunteuni? Did she miss Tunteuni? Had she cried a lot?

Ariena even wanted to wipe away her tears.

But…

The Countess abruptly knocked Ariena’s hand away from her sleeve and whispered,

“Ariena.”

“Yeees?”

“Can’t you be quiet?”

Perhaps Mommy was tired.

Ariena pursed her little lips.

The words she had wanted to say to her mother never made it out of her mouth. They simply disappeared.

“Okaaay.”

Then she added in a very tiny voice,

“Tunteuni can be weally, weally quiet.”

Countess Rheinfeld glanced at Ariena and murmured coldly,

“Keep your mouth shut. Don’t cause any trouble, and stay as though you’re dead.”

“……”

“Until that day.”

What on earth did she mean by that day?

No matter how hard Ariena searched through her memories, everything remained hazy.

She wanted to ask the Countess, but she had been told to stay quiet, so Ariena couldn’t say anything.

I wanna become fwends with Mommy and Daddy.

If they became close, she could ask whether they were really Tunteuni’s Mommy and Daddy. If they were, she would become super, super close to them and make them happy.

And if they weren’t, she could ask them how to find Tunteuni’s real Mommy and Daddy.

But it seemed they had other ideas.

The Count, too, passed by Ariena every day with a face just as cold as the Countess’s.

So Ariena carefully saved the bread delivered to her attic each day, saving as much as she could until she could finally give it to Daddy when he left for work.

“What is this garbage?”

“That’s the bwead Tunteuni got this morning. I saved it. I wanted to give it to you…”

“I don’t eat burnt bread that smells like this. Tsk.”

Daddy left for work at a place called the Imperial Palace, looking thoroughly displeased.

On top of that, the more Ariena wandered around the estate and caught the Countess’s attention, the angrier Mommy became.

“Why do you keep causing trouble?”

“I’m not doing that…”

“I told you not to be a nuisance. Stay quietly in your place, as though you’re dead.”

Ariena’s head drooped.

That’s stwange. In the fairy tales Mommy and Daddy read to me, everyone became super kind if you behaved well.

No matter how hard Ariena tried to get close to them, Count and Countess Rheinfeld seemed to dislike her.

I guess they aren’t Tunteuni’s real Mommy and Daddy…

Her real Mommy and Daddy had always said such warm, comforting things to her.

And it seems I don’t have a big bwother hewe, eithew…

Even innocent little Ariena understood that her real parents would never treat her so coldly, even if she were an adopted daughter.

Just then, Countess Rheinfeld roughly grabbed Ariena by the shoulder.

“You seem to have forgotten something, so let me remind you.”

The Countess’s eyes were icy as she stared directly at Ariena, and the little girl froze stiff.

When she had been inside her mother’s womb and Mommy teased her every day for being a scaredy-cat, Tunteuni hadn’t realized just how timid she was.

But now, looking into the eyes of an adult filled with malice, she was genuinely terrified.

Ariena looked up at the Countess with trembling eyes.

“No matter what you do here, it’s pointless. In one week, you’re destined to be offered as a sacrifice to Monster Island in place of my precious daughter.”

Monster Island.

A sacrifice.

In an instant, the image of a beast with a mouth full of sharp, pointed teeth flashed through Ariena’s mind. She vaguely remembered seeing a terrifying creature like that in one of the fairy tales Mommy had read to her.

Ariena’s entire body trembled.

The Countess spoke in a frigid voice.

“You’ll never be able to leave Monster Island. Not until you die.”

Then… if that happened…

If she had to stay on Monster Island forever, how would she ever meet Mommy and Daddy?

She had come all this way to find them, but what if she never even got the chance to cross paths with them?

“Exactly one week from now, you’ll be sent to Monster Island. Don’t even think about running away. Catching a little brat like you would be child’s play.”

After finishing her icy warning, the Countess walked away.

Left alone, Ariena lowered her head.

She could already feel tears welling up in her eyes.

The God had said that Tunteuni would have a hard time, so he was going to give her an ability.

It must be a wonderful ability, so she absolutely wasn’t going to cry.

But she couldn’t control her emotions, and tears began to gather in her eyes.

At that very moment, an ivory-colored light flashed across the back of her hand.

Ding!

A small chime rang in her ears, and a window appeared, floating in front of Ariena’s eyes.