I’m the Strong Youngest Daughter Here to Save My Family from Darkness - Chapter 2

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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 2
2. Tuntuni Is Reborn
God gently stroked Tuntuni’s head, gazing down at her with concern.
“Because this is a new body, your memories will fade, including where your real mother and father live and what their faces look like.”
“Oh, so Tuntuni’s memories… will all disappear?”
“No, only a few will remain. You’ll still recall moments spent with your family, and the things your parents said to you.”
“Then it’s fine!”
All I have to do is gather up the memories of Mom and Dad and find them.
“Tuntuni can find them!”
“Still, I worry. You’re so weak…”
Tuntuni turned God’s words over carefully in her mind.
He couldn’t possibly mean that I’m weak.
After all, Tuntuni is a baby who is incredibly strong, just like her name says.
So then…
“Yesh! Tuntuni’s Mommy and Daddy are weak. Every time Tuntuni gets a fever, they cry and cry.”
“…Hm?”
“So what I mean is, Tuntuni needs an ability to protect Mommy and Daddy!”
Tuntuni clenched her two tiny fists, each no bigger than a grain of rice, with great determination.
At that, God’s eyes, which had been about to say he could not grant an ability, softened into a curve.
“What a good child you are. Very well, Tuntuni. I shall grant you the ‘Ability to Become Strong.'”
“Wowie, strong! What is it?”
“It’s an ability that makes even the scariest things feel not scary at all.”
“…What’s that mean?”
“You’ll learn it step by step once you arrive in the human world.”
I don’t quite get it, but since God gave it to me, it must be super good!
Tuntuni bowed her head in a quick thank-you.
God replied kindly.
“I pray that this ability will be of great help to you, who are destined to change your fate.”
“Yes!”
“And do you see that over there?”
Tuntuni looked down at the place beneath the sky where God was pointing.
In a small attic, a child lay curled up with not even a single blanket.
“Ohhh, that must be super, super cold.”
“The child stayed in the cold for too long, and drew their last breath just a moment ago.”
“So that child will come to the Baby Star too?”
“Yes. Now they’ll be able to stay warm by my side.”
God quietly extended his hand.
At once, a small light rose from the child’s body.
The light drifted up to the sky and settled lightly onto God’s palm.
“It seems they’re happy that this place isn’t cold at all.”
Only then did Tuntuni’s expression brighten a little.
A small light gently touched the tip of Tuntuni’s finger as well.
Just like a greeting.
“Your soul will settle into the body of that child, whose spirit has departed.”
Tuntuni looked down beneath the sky once more.
Gazing at the small, cold attic where the child had been lying alone, Tuntuni murmured softly.
“If Tuntuni goes there, can Tuntuni move again?”
“Of course. I will help you so that you can live.”
Tuntuni waved her hand toward the little light.
And so, Tuntuni opened her eyes again as Arienna, a five-year-old girl.
* * *
‘Huh, where am I?’
When she snapped her eyes open, Arienna found herself lying in the attic of the Rainfeldt Count’s Residence.
With pink hair and blue eyes, Arienna was the youngest daughter adopted into the Rhinefeld Family.
Thanks to God’s help, Arienna could think like an ordinary five-year-old, and she looked around.
Surveying the small room, dusty and without so much as a shabby bed, Arienna’s face fell.
Her memory wasn’t exact, but…
‘I think Tuntuni’s room had a pink bed fit for a princess.’
There was nothing here at all.
Still, it was fine.
If only I could see Mom and Dad again!
Tuntuni, no, the little one who was now Arienna, pushed the door open with a determined little push and stepped out.
‘Let’s go find Mom and Dad!’
I wonder how many steps she went down, her little feet going pit-pat, pit-pat.
Before Arienna’s eyes opened a dazzling garden, brimming with flowers in full bloom.
‘Wow, how pretty.’
She was tugging at the sleeves of her worn clothes and looking around when it happened.
‘Huh? A person!’
In the garden, a splendid and graceful woman was taking tea.
She thanked a maid for pouring her tea.
Arienna’s ‘old memories’ were mostly hazy.
But judging from the few that remained, that woman was the Countess Rhinefeld who had adopted Arienna.
‘So that means that person is Arienna’s mom now!’
What if, just what if, Arienna’s mom was really Tuntuni’s mom?
Arienna wasn’t Tuntuni’s original body, but she had been told she was an adopted daughter too.
Maybe Tuntuni’s mom adopted Arienna!
I tried to picture Mom in my head.
‘My mom was…!’
What color was her hair?
And her eyes?
All I can remember is that she was smiling…
‘I’ve forgotten so much of Tuntuni.’
I felt a little gloomy, but Arienna decided to be brave.
‘If I can’t remember, I’ll just go and ask!’
Whether she was the real Tuntuni’s mom or not.
Hesitantly, she crept up to the countess’s side and tugged at her sleeve.
Then, very carefully, she opened her mouth.
“…Mom?”
The countess’s gaze landed on Arienna.
Then it slowly traced over her face.
From her pink hair to her blue eyes, all the way down to her tiny fingertips.
As though she were not looking at a child, but an appraiser evaluating an object.
Under that colder gaze than she’d expected, Arienna shrank a little and fidgeted with her fingers.
“Um, are you… Tuntuni’s mom, right?”
The woman asked back with refined composure.
“…Tuntuni?”
“Yes, Tuntuni. I heard it from inside Mom’s belly, every single day…”
The woman stared straight at Arienna and then said something puzzling.
“Well, I did find a sturdy child.”
So does that mean she really is my mom?
Arienna carefully caught hold of the woman’s sleeve again.
“Um, of course. Mom. Umm…”
There were so many things she wanted to ask.
Whether she’d managed to live well without Tuntuni, whether she had missed Tuntuni, whether she had cried a lot.
She wanted to wipe away those tears, too.
But…
The countess shook off Arienna’s hand, the one clutching her sleeve, with a sharp flick and whispered.
“Arienna.”
“Yes?”
“Can you not be quiet?”
Mom seemed tired.
Arienna pressed her small lips together.
The words she’d wanted to say to Mom never made it out as sound and simply faded away.
“Yes.”
Then, in a very small voice, she added,
“Tuntuni can be quiet, I promise.”
Countess Rhinefeld glanced at Arienna and muttered coldly.
“Keep your mouth shut. Don’t cause trouble, and stay as still as if you were dead.”
“…”
“Until that day, that is.”
* * *
What could “that day” possibly have meant?
No matter how hard I dug through Arienna’s memories, my head stayed foggy.
I wanted to ask the Countess, but I had to keep quiet, so Arienna couldn’t say a word.
‘I want to get close to Mommy and Daddy.’
If we got close, I could ask whether they really were Tuntuni’s mommy and daddy, and if they were, I’d become super, super close to them and make them happy…
And if they weren’t, I wanted to ask how to find Tuntuni’s real mommy and daddy.
But they didn’t seem to think the way Arienna did.
Count Rheinfeld, just as cold-faced as the Countess, did nothing but brush past Arienna every day.
So Arienna saved every scrap of the bread delivered to the attic each day, and handed it to Daddy as he left for work.
“What’s this garbage?”
“That’s the bread Tuntuni got this morning. I saved it. I wanted to give it to you…”
“I don’t eat stinking, burnt bread like this. Tch.”
Daddy left for his job at the Imperial Palace, his face sour with discomfort.
On top of that, Arienna kept wandering the mansion and drawing attention to herself, and Mommy grew very angry.
“Why do you keep causing trouble?”
“It’s not like that…”
“I told you not to be a nuisance. Stay quiet, as if you were dead.”
Arienna’s head drooped low.
‘That’s strange. In the fairy tales Mommy and Daddy read to me, they said that if you’re good, everyone becomes really kind to you.’
No matter how hard Arienna tried to get close to them, Count and Countess Rheinfeld seemed to dislike her.
‘Maybe they aren’t Tuntuni’s mommy and daddy…’
Mommy and Daddy had always spoken to her with such warmth.
‘And it doesn’t seem like I have a big brother either…’
Even innocent Arienna knew that real parents couldn’t be this cold, even to an adopted daughter.
Just then, Countess Rheinfeld gripped Arienna’s shoulder roughly.
“It seems you’ve forgotten something, so I’ll tell you.”
The Countess’s eyes were so chilling that Arienna froze stiff.
Back when she was still in the womb, Mommy used to tease her every day for being a coward, and she hadn’t realized she was timid. But once she met the eyes of an adult full of malice, she was truly frightened.
Arienna looked up at the Countess with trembling eyes.
“Nothing you do here will matter. In one week, you’re destined to be offered to the monsters of Monster Island in place of my precious daughter.”
Monster Island.
Offering.
In an instant, an image flashed through Arienna’s mind: a beast full of sharp, pointed teeth. A terrifying creature she had dimly glimpsed in a picture book Mommy once read to her.
Arienna’s body shook uncontrollably.
The Countess spoke coldly.
“You will never leave Monster Island. Not until you die.”
Then, if that happens…
If I have to stay on Monster Island forever, how will I ever meet Mommy and Daddy?
I came all this way to see them, and what if I never get even a single glimpse of them?
“Exactly one week from now, you’ll be taken to Monster Island. Don’t even think about running away. Catching a little brat like you is child’s play.”
The Countess finished her icy warning and walked away.
Left behind, Arienna let her head drop limply.
Tears already felt like they were about to spill out.
The god said he’d give Tuntuni an ability because it would be hard for her.
It must be a wonderful ability, so I definitely won’t cry.
Unable to control her feelings, tears welled up anyway.
At that moment, a pale, pearly light flashed on the back of her hand.
Ding.
A small chime rang in her ears, and a window floated into being right before Arienna’s eyes.
[Tuntuni, no despair!]
‘Tuntoni, no… dee-spairing?’
Startled, her tears stopped at once.
[Starting now, Tuntuni’s Great Adventure to Find Her Family begins!]
The letters swirled wildly through the air.

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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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