I’m the Strong Youngest Daughter Here to Save My Family from Darkness - Chapter 1

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Chapter 1
1. Prologue
Prenatal Diary 1
Week 6.
I think my husband has lost his mind.
All I did was tell him we’d been blessed with a second little angel.
And all I did was tell him the magic tool confirmed our angel is a girl!
He grinned like the happiest fool in the world, then suddenly started crying like a madman.
“I’m crying because I’m so happy… Ridiculous, right? I’m going to be a good dad. The best dad for our daughter.”
And then, starting the very next day, he began bringing home everything meant for little girls in the Empire: dresses, ribbons, dolls, the works.
Ugh, seriously!
Stop buying shoes. She’s going to be a long way off from walking yet.
I told him, you idiot!
“…So is the dress okay? The one she’ll wear at her coming-out ball when she turns twenty.”
…Do you think that’s okay?
This guy really is a complete idiot.
Still, I’m pleased, because I think our daughter will look lovely in a pink silk dress.
Prenatal Diary 2
Week 18.
Our youngest daughter, I named her Tuntuni, so she’ll grow up sturdy and strong.
But my husband keeps teasing me that I have no talent for naming.
It’s driving me up the wall!
(Oh, Tuntuni, Mommy didn’t mean to say that about you. Don’t misunderstand!)
But is my little one a timid one?
The moment something startles her, she kicks and then quickly tucks herself away.
Somehow that little coward act is so adorable.
Tuntuni, it’s all right if you’re timid.
Mommy will protect you for the rest of my life.
I’ll block out every scary thing in the world.
I can’t wait to see you, my darling girl.
Prenatal Diary 3
Week 20.
So you’ve been keeping a diary behind my back.
And who’s this “guy,” anyway?
Your husband, obviously.
└Forget the diary and stop snooping. Go out and buy some tomatoes. I want tomatoes.
└Yes, my lady!
Ugh, seriously!
I said buy tomatoes, not buy a tomato farm!
Childcare Diary 1
Three weeks since Tuntuni was born.
I finally have a moment to write something.
Our precious daughter has finally come into the light of this world.
She was born a premature baby at seven months, so she’s still very weak, but that’s all right.
She giggles so happily whenever she sees her daddy’s face.
Her eyes sparkle as though someone planted stars in them, and every time I see her wiggling little hands and feet, my heart aches.
She’s so clever and so pretty, our Tuntuni.
Childcare Diary 2
Three months since Tuntuni was born.
Every child in the Empire receives their name on the day they turn one year old.
My husband is making a fuss, insisting that on that day he’ll give Tuntuni the most wonderful name in the world.
What name would suit our Tuntuni?
[Mom! How about Pavlov Diagoras II for my little sister’s name?]
└Son?
This is your mother’s precious childcare diary, you know.
And since when is your little sister a Demon Beast?
What kind of name is that?
Our son clearly has no gift for naming.
[No!! My little sister Pavlov Diagoras II wouldn’t think that at all!!!]
Childcare Diary 3
Tuntuni is eight months old.
Lately, my Tuntuni has been acting a little strange.
Somehow, she keeps staring at empty air and curling her little body in on itself.
She runs a fever often and wakes up in pain at night.
Every time I see my baby bearing it so bravely, the tears just come.
I’m not supposed to cry. What am I going to do?
Even now, my Tuntuni reaches out to me with those tiny hands.
She must be in so much pain, yet it feels like she’s the one comforting me.
My good baby…
We’ve called in every doctor of note in the Empire, and they all say she’ll be fine.
They say babies have weak immune systems, so fevers can come often.
Yes, it’ll all be fine.
Let’s just focus on getting ready for Tuntuni’s first birthday.
Childcare Diary 4
People are strange.
The doctors are strange, too.
They keep saying the most ridiculous things.
They say Tuntuni’s heart has stopped.
Our baby, and it was finally going to be her first birthday.
We’d set out the birthday table, invited everyone to celebrate, and even picked out a lovely name.
They tell me the face that used to giggle, the little hands that peeked out at me, are gone now.
They say Tuntuni’s body, once so warm, has been placed inside a cold coffin.
I couldn’t believe it, couldn’t bear to let her go like this, so I stood in front of it for a long, long while.
The day of our baby’s funeral.
I had saved the pretty little flower-embroidered shoes meant for our outings together, and I put them on her feet so she could walk comfortably on her way to the heavens.
But then…
Tuntuni’s feet were so small.
They were so, so small that the shoes hung loose on her…
Right there, I broke down all over again.
I should have gotten a smaller pair.
What if this foolish mother made her path to the heavens uncomfortable?
If I’d known it would turn out like this, I should have named her sooner.
I should have shown her more of the world.
No, I should have just kept holding her and telling her I loved her.
My baby, who died without ever hearing a proper name.
Did it hurt when your heart stopped?
My baby was so timid, too.
Didn’t you feel scared, making your way to the heavens all alone, without your mother and father?
I promised I’d keep you from being scared, but this foolish mother couldn’t even keep that promise.
I’m sorry, Tuntuni.
Mommy’s just so, so sorry…
* * *
“Get up. It’s been a whole month already.”
“…”
“You’ll die like this, too. You haven’t eaten a proper meal in ages.”
It had been a full month since the baby’s heart had stopped.
After burying the little one in a nameless grave and finishing the funeral, his wife began to waste away, slowly and steadily.
The mansion, once so loud and bustling, fell silent in an instant.
In the bed that had once been filled with the baby’s warmth, his wife lay curled up, her tears having long dried away.
“It’s not your fault, love. Our Tuntuni…”
The man, who had been trying hard to hide his reddened eyes, went on.
“Let’s think of it this way: she left us for a while because she has something left behind in heaven.”
At her husband’s words, she murmured with vacant eyes.
“Heaven. Yes, our baby must be in heaven, right? But, darling… I just can’t do it. I miss our baby so much.”
With those words, she barely spoke another word after that.
The same was true for the man, and for his son.
Everyone knew it.
Once a baby is lost, there is no way to ever return to how things were before.
From that day on, darkness settled over the mansion.
It was the beginning of a long darkness that perhaps would never lift.
* * *
Pure souls who pass away before they turn five gather as stars in the sky.
There, they wait to be reborn.
Baby No. 1, ‘Tuntuni,’ had glimpsed the light of the world only briefly before returning to the stars, and her soul was utterly dejected.
‘Heeng, my body’s gone…’
Seeing Tuntuni, the most miserable she’d ever been, the god who looked after the baby souls spoke.
“Tuntuni, you need to stay here a little longer. In about a hundred years, you’ll be able to meet a different mother and father in another world.”
“But…”
Watching her small shoulders droop, the god murmured.
“Why do you look so listless? Is it because you wanted to be born as a child of your original mother and father?”
“Yes!”
“But you and that family have already severed your bond.”
“….”
With her wobbly little fingers, Tuntuni picked up a diary lying on the floor.
On the cover of a notebook just like Mom’s diary, someone had scrawled in crooked letters: ‘Tuntuni’s Dream.’
“Look at this, god!”
[Mom sang me the lullaby with the ‘sway-sway, peep-peep’ part. I want to hear it again.]
[Dad let me touch Eoheung the tiger, Ppiyak, and Paengal, and he said he’d raise a Sama-gwi for me too.]
[Big brother gave me shoulder rides, hugging me tight.]
“This one! I wrote it after I came to the Baby Star, so I could remember the letters! Mom, Dad, and Big Brother are all in it, and I want to go back to them!”
Above all else.
“I’m also curious about the new name Mom and Dad will give me.”
The god, deep in thought, muttered.
“Well, if you’re that set on it. Truth be told, mending a severed fate isn’t entirely impossible. There’s a puppy in the neighboring star-village who got a human body, you know. Coco, I think his name was.”
“Wow! Then I want to go too! Like Coco!”
“But, listen. Even if you return, you can’t be born as the daughter of those two. You can only be reborn in a new body.”
“Does that mean the mom is different?”
“Even if you go back to the human world, your family won’t recognize you as Tuntuni. And since you’ll be born in a different body, you might not be able to find them right away either.”
Tuntuni fell into thought.
Then she mumbled softly.
“Then, can I still meet Mom and Dad again?”
“You won’t recognize them right away. But since you’ll be in the same world, you should be able to meet them.”
Tuntuni wiggled her tiny fingers.
Mom and Dad might not recognize Tuntuni.
Tuntuni might not be able to find Mom and Dad right away either.
Still.
It was better than never meeting at all.
Even if it took a very long time, all she had to do was find them somehow.
“It’s okay, I’ll go!”
“Finding family is no easy task. For a small, fragile child like you, it could be extremely dangerous. Are you still willing to do it?”
She had only experienced one year of the world.
Tuntuni’s timid shoulders curled up tight.
But at the same time, the warm voices of her family reached her ears.
“Once our Tuntuni can walk, we’ll take a trip, just the two of us.”
“What? I’m coming too!”
“Mom, I want to go on a trip with Pavlov Diagoras II too!”
“Still not giving up on that name, son? Anyway, the trip is only for us women.”
The low, muffled voice of Dad, which she had heard just before her heart stopped, also came back to her.
“Just once… if only we could hold our baby in our arms again…”
Summoning her courage, Tuntuni clenched her two fists tight.
“Yes! I’ll go! Mom and Dad said they want to see Tuntuni again!”
Even if there are plenty of dangerous things ahead, it’s okay.
Tuntuni wants to see Mom and Dad again.
And after that, I want to make them smile the happiest they ever have!

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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