On the gentle slope of the embankment, the tall and short green grass was lush.
From behind, came the sound of the grass rubbing against each other, and the scent of green grass entered my nose.
Lying in such a place and stretching out my hand towards the sun, I [Leo von Bartofalt] was struck by intense heart palpitations.
It’s not sweating from the warm sun, but the cold sweat that won’t stop.
My heart was beating painfully, and I was sweating uncomfortably.
“What, what? Just now.”
Maybe it was because I sat up in a hurry, and the grass that caught my clothes was pulled up from the ground. But as the wind blew, it flew away.
Just when I thought about how strong the wind was, an airship that seemed to hide the sun passed right above me, covering me in its shadow.
The wooden airship that looked like a rectangular box was an airship that visited the territory regularly.
Obviously, it should be regarded as commonplace in normal times, but after seeing it today, my eyes were left wide open, and I couldn’t hide the shock in my heart at all.
It’s like seeing it for the first time.
I pressed my chest and found that my heart was still beating strongly. My heavy breathing could not be calmed down.
I stood up and looked in the direction of the airship, and there was a sea.
If there is any sense of disobedience, it is that the angle of looking at the sea is different.
“What’s going on. Why—”
I moved forward slowly and then fell down.
I checked my body and found that my hands and feet were surprisingly small.
Obviously this must be my own body, but somehow it feels very small. It’s really an incredible feeling.
Rather than caring about these, it was more important to confirm the situation first.
I stood up and walked forward, and then ran slowly towards the sea.
My heart was in a mess.
Although I felt that it took a lot of time to use the child’s feet, I finally reached the destination.
The view seen from the fence installed to prevent falling is the same as usual.
“Yeah. Same as usual – the island is floating in mid-air.”
Islands floating above the sea.
Even though the island is floating today, I don’t know whether to be happy or sad about it. The impression that came to mind was clearly that the island was floating above the sea.
Obviously this is impossible, but I still wanted to confirm it anyway.
Something was wrong from the very beginning.
The image seen at the moment of reaching out to the sun was like a person’s whole life. That was the life of a man who lived somewhere that wasn’t here.
Although there was nothing particularly worth mentioning about the experience, it still looked very happy. If it was asserted that this is a dream or hallucination, it had a vivid and wonderful sense of reality.
I clearly saw the man’s life, but I can’t remember his name.
I covered my head with both hands.
With such a vivid memory, why can’t I remember the name?
There is a feeling that it will be far better than the five years I have lived—all that I have experienced at the age of five, and I will experience it in an instant—recalling it.
I didn’t understand why, so I sat down where I was. There is a feeling that the memories from the past and the memories that came back are mixed and rubbed together.
I leaned against the fence and looked up at the sky.
“…I… what happened to us?”
I don’t understand myself, who I am asking this question.
….
Since it was getting dark, I went home.
Although I recalled that I escaped and lay on the embankment because I hated going home, I still wanted to go back before nightfall.
When I made up my mind and went home, I found my father waiting there.
He was standing in front of the gate like a King Kong.
“You stupid son!”
The door opened when I was hit on the head with a big fist and covered my head with tears in my eyes.
What I saw behind the door was my mother.
“It’s finally back. You, why do you always run away or do other things when the wife comes over?”
My father [Barcas] was a lord—a baron.
The aristocrats that popped into my mind just now should all be wearing high-quality clothes and having a slender figure. Or the kind of fat man, but my father is a muscular and bearded tough man. He was wearing a shirt, brown trousers, and high boots, and he didn’t look like an aristocrat.
My mother is a concubine named [Ryushi]——the daughter of a knight family who became the foster child of the Bartofalt family.
She wasn’t wearing a gown either, but she was wearing clothes similar to those worn by women in small towns or villages.
The wife my mother referred to was my father’s main wife.
“No, very…sorry.”
Were they aware that my appearance is different from usual? My parents brought me to the house with subtle expressions—not a mansion but a warehouse.
Then, a woman in a gown looked over from the opened door.
She didn’t come out of the mansion, and more than that, she treated me coldly.
She was dressed in a gown and decorated with jewels, and beside her was her eldest son [Rutart] and eldest daughter [Melcer].
Only those two were legitimate—that is, the children of the main wife.
Standing behind them was a tall, handsome man in a suit. The long-eared elf looked at us with a sneer.
“Really, a half-educated child is no different from a beast.”
The woman squinted her eyes and arranged her hair, which fit the image of an aristocratic woman very well. My brother and sister are also different from me, wearing clothes that cost a lot of money.
After my mother apologized, my father took me to the warehouse.
Until reaching the warehouse, my father had a patient expression.
“…Reflect in the warehouse. The meal will be brought over later.”
After I listened to him and nodded, I found that there were already people in the warehouse.
He’s the second son in the family, my older brother [Nix].
My second brother, who is two years older than me, is reading a book under the light. When he saw my father and I come in, he showed a surprised expression.
“You’re stupid too. They’ll leave after bearing with it for a few days.”
Looking at the second brother who turned his eyes back to the book, the father put his hand on his head and said.
“Nix, teach Leo to read.”
Although the second brother showed a super disgusted expression, he still made room at the table in the warehouse and put another chair nearby.
After telling me to sit down, he gave me some advice.
“Wake up if you have fallen asleep.”
After seeing me nodding, my father walked out of the warehouse and went back to the mansion.
After only the two of us were left, the second brother gave me a book that even I could understand.
I opened this dilapidated book that had been flipped through countless times and found graffiti everywhere.
In the warehouse.
I was reading a book while chasing away the bugs that gathered under the light.
Feels a little weird.
There were unknown languages in my head. It was very different from the writing on this book in my hand. Rather, I think it’s more useful over there.
What I was worried about was taken by my second brother as words that I couldn’t read.
“Think about it for yourself. If you don’t know how to think about it, I’ll teach you.”
Time passed quietly.
The only annoying thing, or the only thing that hindered my reading were the bugs that gathered around the light source.
“—I say, brother.”
My wording surprised my second brother a little.
“Brother? Didn’t you still call me brother[1] this morning?”
Although I hurriedly tried to change my words but the second brother seemed to have found the answer in his heart.
“Is it the time to try to be brave? Forget it, I don’t care. Compared with this, what don’t you understand?”
I shook my head.
What I care about is how we are treated.
Questions surfaced one after another about things that I had never cared about until now.
It is understandable that males should be valued, but why are we the only ones who are thrown into the warehouse? There were also sisters besides us.
Even so, my sister was not in the warehouse. Obviously she was also born to the concubine.
“Why are we the only ones staying in the warehouse?”
“Yesterday he still called me brother…” Second Brother said to himself, then put down his book and looked up at the ceiling.
“Because Ma’am hates us.”
“Because we’re mothers—are mother’s children?”
The second brother folded his arms and put his hands behind his head, leaning his body against the back of the chair.
“Do you think there are other reasons besides this? Even if it is a child born in the concubine, it seems that if you have to leave a girl in the warehouse, you would still hesitate, but this is how you treat men.”
Starting with this, the second brother talked lightly about the situation at home.
But rather than telling me, it felt like complaining to me, the younger brother who belonged to a concubine.
The seven-year-old second brother seemed to be dissatisfied with many things.
The Bartofalt family was a family that owned the territory of the floating island.
However, it used to be the quasi-baron family, which was classified as the knight family. Although we were not real noblemen, we still had the family background of a feudal lord. As a knight family, we seemed to be living in peace.
Afterwards, with the passage of time, it gradually developed, and when my grandfather came back to his senses, the Foster House appeared on the island. It also welcomed the knights who came to take office, and the scale gradually increased.
The preparation of the territory had been promoted, and the farmland and jobs had also been increased-this also meant that the population that had be supported had increased, and the size of the territory had barely reached the size of a barony.
…then the situation was communicated.
Then the investigators from [Holfat Kingdom] came over.
It seemed to be something from my grandfather’s time, and the investigator judged that the size of the territory was comparable to that of a baron’s house. The investigator went through the formalities of promoting our family to a Baron’s family on the spot, which made the grandfather panicked. After all, he never thought of becoming a Baron.
Speaking of this, what appeared in my mind was the knowledge in the revived memory.
Since he was promoted, shouldn’t he be happier? Moreover, is that something that can be simply determined by the size of the territory alone? That’s the same as being promoted, doesn’t it require more meritorious deeds – martial arts? I can’t help but have such doubts.
“Isn’t it good to be promoted?”
The second brother didn’t seem to understand much, but from the appearance of his father, it can be inferred that it was not a happy event.
“If you say that suddenly, you can only complain that it’s troublesome. Also, once you become a baron, you will be required to make contributions corresponding to the baron. This is why our family is so poor.”
The kingdom required nobles to make contributions in line with family status.
Speaking of which, I remembered one thing because of the recovered knowledge.
Families barely reaching the size of baronial houses that still had room to spare.
Families with ample resources would naturally have no problem, but those who did not would suffer from making these contributions. Therefore, it seemed that even if the size of the territory was shoulder to shoulder with the baron family, there were cases where they silently called themselves the quasi-baron family.
In short, the country lords and nobles on distant islands were only treated as quasi-barons.
My father was asked to behave in accordance with his family status, so he fell into a situation where he had to marry a noble woman.
However, the woman called Madam was usually not in the territory.
The eldest son and eldest daughter also only came to the territory occasionally.
“…Old—didn’t father marry his wife? Why isn’t she usually in the territory?”
“It’s very common for women born in a baron family or above. I really hate it. If I want to marry a wife, I will definitely marry a wife from a family below a baron. Even though noble women don’t think much of us at all. Here it is.”
“Is that common?”
“You should study hard now. Otherwise, you won’t be able to get married until you are twenty years old. If you still fail to get married in the academy, you will be dragged directly to become the step-husband of an old woman. That’s disgusting. Ok?”
…I couldn’t hide my surprise.
Although there were still many things I wanted to inquire about, such as “college” and the like…but I am more concerned about the word “husband”. Don’t women generally become second wives, or have to marry before the fixed age for death?
“Then, that, brother?”
“You can call me brother. What else is there?”
“…Aren’t men generally the pillars of the family? By the way, what does it mean to be forced to an older woman?”
The second brother tilted his head.
“It’s literally. Women who can’t get married, women whose husbands run away, women without husbands. It doesn’t seem decent to have only lovers. That’s why there are many old women who recruit young men as step-husbands.”
The second brother answered my question very calmly.
“Generally speaking, don’t men have a higher position?”
With his knowledge, he generally assumed that the male position was stronger in this situation. However, it didn’t look quite right.
“Women are more powerful, and you can understand it when you see your father. He can’t disobey that guy──Madam, you can see it too.”
Judging from the fact that he changed his name after referring to Madam as that guy, the second brother probably hated Madam very much.
It was a great topic to inquire about.
“I always feel that you are weird today.”
Suspected by my second brother, while smiling wryly, I turned my gaze to the book, and strange sweat began to flow from my body again.
It’s so strange… How should I put it, this world is so strange.
Perhaps because of the strange knowledge I got, I can only feel a sense of disobedience about everything in this world.
I read the book in silence for a while. Then I remembered what my second brother said.
Rather than saying that I heard it somewhere, it was better to say that what he said also had a very strong impression in my waking memory.
“College… Holfat Kingdom? And the lady’s servant is an elf? Eh? Could it be…”
After I kept mumbling to myself like this, I was scolded to death by my second brother.
“What’s the matter.”
“That, that, the man in the suit. That elf is the lady’s lover, right?”
Because I don’t know what tone to use to speak to my second brother. So the tone is not very stable.
The second brother didn’t seem to mind, but just looked speechless.
“Don’t ask things that should be taken for granted. Come on, learn quickly.”
Sub-humans—the elves are lovers, or servants who stay by women’s side… I know this kind of situation. Rather, I remember it very clearly.
I slumped over the table.
“…This is the world of the otome game.”
The muddy memory and consciousness gradually became clear.
At the same time, I also noticed that this was an otome game with a super casual setting.
The second brother hit me on the head.
“Don’t sleep! I said, what happened to you today? Did you get hit on the head?”
I raised my head and looked at my second brother.
A twitching smile appeared on his face, which made the second brother move back a little in shock.
“Why, what’s the matter.”
“…Brother, the world is full of unreasonable things.”
“Ah, well, that’s right.”
The second brother, who didn’t know how to answer, turned his eyes to the book as if running away, and continued to study.
He never thought that he would actually experience reincarnation in a different world.
And it was still in the fantasy world of swords and magic… But, I’ve never heard of an otome game world where women are superior to men.
I put my head in my hands.
“It sucks ahhh!”
Seeing me yelling like this, my second brother also complained.
“What are you doing! Who will calm this guy down!”
I, [Leo von Bartofalt], am a former Japanese who was reincarnated into the world of otome games.
…I would rather be reincarnated in a more ordinary world.
But I can’t die because I was reincarnated in the otome game… please forgive me.
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[1] There are two different ways of calling brother in Japanese, one is a more respectful way and the other is a more casual, he usually used the first way but now used the second one.
