Chapter 3 …

 I Am an Adult (3)

Having memories of a previous life did not always mean one’s personality or disposition stayed the same.

A person’s temperament was influenced not only by memories, but also heavily by the innate nature they were born with.

For example, “Arven,” one of Arvian’s past lives, had been someone who absolutely hated physical contact with others since childhood.

There had even been a life where stress made him physically ill, and another where he wrapped his entire face in bandages because he hated showing it to people.

“Young master! Just one spoonful. Just one spoonful, please!”

“Buh.”

And in this life…

“Arvian” was probably a gourmet.

‘There’s nothing I can do about this either.’

No matter how many countless lives he remembered, it was impossible to resist the innate temperament a body was born with.

Especially when he was still a baby!

‘What am I supposed to do when this rice porridge is slimy and fishy and tastes awful?’

At first, for the nanny’s sake—and for the growth of this body—he tried somehow to swallow it.

But no matter how hard he tried, his throat simply would not move.

The child’s body itself refused to accept food that tasted bad.

In the end, Arvian had no choice but to obey what his mouth and tongue demanded.

He shut his mouth like an iron fortress and desperately rejected the weaning food.

“Buaaaah! Bbuahhh!”

And demanded something else.

Give him the formula milk he had been drinking!

“Haaa… what should I do? I never imagined you’d refuse it this much.”

The nanny swallowed a sigh.

She had raised three children of her own and this was already the second child she had cared for professionally. Before Arvian, she had helped raise no fewer than four other children through their early years.

She possessed a great many polished childcare techniques.

Among them were methods for handling babies who refused weaning food.

‘And yet not a single one works on Young Master Arvian…!’

There was the method of waving the spoon around like a butterfly or bee to distract the child before slipping it into the mouth the moment they let their guard down.

There was feeding while the child played with toys.

Pretending to eat together.

She even mixed formula milk into the porridge!

And still he would not eat it.

‘Was I too hasty? No. It’s definitely time.’

His digestion had improved enough that he no longer needed his back patted after feeding, and he could now sit up on his own.

He no longer pushed food out with his tongue either, so based on all her years of experience raising children—

It was definitely the right time to begin weaning food!

As proof, Arvian always accepted the first spoonful without issue.

The problem was that he rolled it around in his mouth as if tasting it carefully before spitting everything back out.

“Young master.”

“Buh?”

“You’re hungry, aren’t you?”

“Dya!”

“You really don’t want to eat any more?”

“Dyaaa!”

As though he understood every word, Arvian spread his arms wide with a bright smile.

In the end, the nanny gave up on feeding him another spoonful and began preparing formula milk while continuing to talk to him.

“Young master. You can’t keep doing this… If you want to grow big and strong, you need to eat weaning food too. It’s full of nutrients.”

“Boot, buuu.”

“You may dislike it because the taste is different. It’s alright since we’re not in a hurry yet, but you need lots of practice beforehand. That way, later on, you’ll be able to eat many delicious foods.”

The nanny glanced at Arvian and burst into laughter.

His face was filled with such obvious dissatisfaction, as though he truly hated the idea.

He was still far too young to understand speech.

Yet somehow, it felt like she was having an actual conversation with him.

Finally, she raised both hands in surrender.

“You win today. But I’ll challenge you again tomorrow.”

“Buitbu.”

“You must be starving, right? Here, drink as much as you want.”

“Kyaaaaah!”

The moment the bottle was placed in his hands, Arvian immediately gripped it tightly and began sucking eagerly as if nothing had happened.

“Pyaaah!”

Before long, he completely emptied the bottle and happily shook the empty container.

“Young master, honestly…”

The sight of him was so angelically adorable that the nanny could not help but laugh.

Several days later, a major change occurred in Arvian’s life.

He still stubbornly refused weaning food because of his picky palate.

However, since it was now time for him to begin rolling over, Arvian was moved from a cradle-style crib into a low bed without surrounding rails.

‘At last, the time has come.’

Inside the cradle crib, no matter how much he struggled, there was very little he could do.

At most, he could turn his head to look around the room or watch the people entering it.

But once he graduated from the cradle and came down lower, things changed.

Now he could move his own body and inspect places he wanted to see.

The nanny had briefly stepped out.

This was his chance.

‘Of course, I haven’t successfully rolled over yet.’

But now that the bed had changed, it seemed about time to try.

He had diligently trained his fine motor skills using dolls for the sake of smooth development, so perhaps it would not be too difficult.

Arvian inhaled deeply, then slowly exhaled.

First, he carefully turned his head to the side.

‘The key is center of gravity. Shift the center of gravity as far outside the body as possible. Use the arms and legs too….’

Then Arvian stretched his arms and legs sideways.

Wiggle wiggle.

His fingers and toes extended with all their might.

“Gghhhng.”

His body tilted slightly sideways.

Arvian squeezed his eyes shut and put strength into his entire body.

His body trembled little by little, teetering as though it might flip over at any moment.

The important things in rolling over were proper force and technique.

Once you succeeded once, doing it a second time was easy.

Even if that first time had been in a previous life!

Thunk!

At last, his body flipped over perfectly.

He had exerted so much force that blood rushed bright red into his face.

“Puha… hhuuu.”

Arvian lifted his head and opened his eyes.

Then he looked around.

He had succeeded in rolling over!

“Kyaaaa!”

An excited cry escaped naturally from him.

It was only natural to be happy.

This weak and fragile baby body had finally gained at least a minimum level of mobility.

‘Then shall I move?’

Truthfully, there was something he had wanted to check the moment he could move on his own.

Arvian turned his head and looked toward the bookshelf across from him.

The shelves held not only picture books and fairy tales for very young children, but also children’s biographies and history books.

‘Those are probably the best sources of information available to me right now.’

Arvian stared at the tall bookshelf standing in the distance.

It almost felt oppressively gigantic.

‘The distance between me and the bookshelf is quite far. I need to steel myself.’

The bed had intentionally been placed far from the bookshelf so that even if it fell over, the child would not get hurt.

The count and countess had made a wise decision to protect their child.

But thanks to that, Arvian now faced an incredibly long journey.

“Hooo… haaahhh.”

After taking several deep breaths and firming his resolve, Arvian lifted his head.

Using both arms to prop up his shoulders, he pushed his body forward with his legs.

“Hup! Ha! Hup! Ha!”

Huff! Hah! Huff! Hah!

His tiny feet and chubby legs wriggled clumsily.

The blanket beneath him crumpled and slowly slid backward little by little.

Arvian’s mind was filled with only one thought:

He wanted to inspect the bookshelf before the nanny returned.

If someone was present, he would not be able to freely explore the room!

‘It’s extremely clumsy and weak, but my body is definitely moving.’

Thinking that, Arvian hardened his determination once more.

‘Just a little farther!’

And after squeezing out even the strength he used for drinking milk—

Arvian’s body steadily advanced toward the bookshelf.

The distance he managed to travel was…

Approximately one hand span.

“……Haa.”

Faced once again with the absolute limit of what he could currently accomplish, Arvian abruptly stopped moving.

A sigh escaped him.

He had only made it this far, yet the remaining distance was still enormous.

Even though he had merely rolled over and crawled a little, all strength was already leaving his arms and legs.

“Hh, uu, uuu…!!”

Suddenly, he felt wronged.

The Demon King was supposedly dead, so why had he reincarnated again only to suffer this humiliation?!

“Hwaeaaaaaang!! Hwaeeng!”

In the end, Arvian burst into tears.

The crying echoed throughout the previously quiet mansion, and before long people came rushing over.

The first person to run into the room was Countess Dayvriel.

“My goodness, Arvian!”

A child’s body was often heavily ruled by emotion.

Even if he understood logically that this was the natural unfairness he had to endure after reincarnating, somehow it still felt unjust and brought tears to his eyes.

“Hic. Hic….”

“Oh dear, were you scared because you were alone? My baby.”

“Uuung. Ung.”

Holding Arvian in her arms, the countess gently patted his back until he calmed down.

Once he seemed calmer, she looked down at him slightly.

The sight of him stuffing his tiny fist into his mouth and chewing on it was so cute that she smiled without realizing it.

He had cried for such a long time that the corners of his eyes and even the bridge of his nose had turned bright red.

Yet to her, even that looked adorable.

‘Besides….’

Though she had rushed over in alarm, the truth was that seeing Arvian filled her with even greater joy.

‘Our Arvian finally succeeded in rolling over!’

Why did children grow so quickly?

It felt like only yesterday he had been a newborn who could barely open his eyes.

“I’m sorry, Arvian. Mommy was wrong. So stop crying now, alright? There, there.”

“Uuuung.”

“Oh my, so pretty. You really did stop crying?”

The countess gently wiped away the tears around Arvian’s eyes after he calmed down and lifted his head.

Then she smiled softly while gazing into his jewel-like clear eyes.

This tiny, precious child had never even stepped outside this room yet.

The fact that she was reflected in those eyes felt miraculous and deeply precious to her.

“Uung. Euuung.”

“Hm?”

As they exchanged gazes, Arvian suddenly grabbed her clothes tightly with his small hand and turned his head while grunting.

“Uung. Awoo! Buuuu!”

“…?”

Looking carefully, she noticed he was staring toward the bookshelf while repeatedly clenching and unclenching his fingers.

He kept making fussy noises as if wanting something, and when he realized he still was not moving anywhere even after time passed, he looked back at her again.

After hesitating briefly, she asked him:

“…Do you want to go over there?”

“Awoong!”

“You want to see the books?”

“Dyaaaah!!”

His reaction was almost like an answer.

‘Come to think of it, his head was facing that direction when I came in too.’

Did he want to look at the bookshelf?

That couldn’t be possible.

Arvian was only five months old.

The countess looked back and forth between the bookshelf and Arvian before cautiously walking closer to it.

The moment she did, the previously frustrated and squirming Arvian broke into a bright smile while looking at her.

“Kyaaaaah!”

Exactly!

His adorable shriek sounded as though that was exactly what he was saying.

“Arvian. Do you want to read books? Should Mommy read to you?”

“Kyaa! Kyaa!”

Arvian excitedly slapped the books on the shelf with his palms while shouting happily.

The countess’s eyes widened in shock.

Now she was certain.

Arvian really had been trying to move toward the bookshelf.

Because he wanted to read the books there!

‘He’s only five months old. Could it be that our son…?’

The countess smiled brightly and said:

“Just tell me, Arvian! I’ll read you absolutely any book you want!!”

And then—

Countess Dayvriel would soon come to regret those words.