I am the Newly Born Woman of Around Thirty Chapter 6

Hungry Children

It’s settled. Until she reaches the happy end, the plan is to enthusiastically and quietly watch over the heroine, Relleru, from the shadows.

[Are you all right?]

[Eh? What?]

It seems I have been worrying the servants.
At first I did not know what exactly they were worried about since I, myself, appear to be a mature and cold child, a guise of which I intend to maintain.

However, there happened to be a mirror in the vicinity. There I found the source of the cause of worry amongst the servants.

Reflected in the mirror was a child giggling “Tehehe”, which was not at all strange, if not for the fact that the smile was rather quite vulgar.

…This is pretty bad.
It was like a ero oyaji watching a p.o.r.n video.

Upon my sudden realization, I quickly caught myself and started clearing my throat. Though I may be a charming little genius of five years old with squishable cheeks, there are still those that would take into consideration my obscene expression and question it.

All I’m hoping for is Relleru and Ricardo-sama’s happy end.
Since it’s just hiding and watching, that’s why the ~kya! scene where they *beep* and *beep* cannot go unwatched. Right?

After excusing myself from this one person, a servant sent by my father had come looking for me. This is bad, this is really bad.

Today is my birthday party. As expected, it’s pretty bad if the guest of honor leaves her seat for too long. I wonder how long it’s been since I’ve been here at the mansion’s entrance way?

Because I had been walking around carelessly, I did not notice. I take the servant’s hand and begin walking back to where father is.

A loud voice was raised; there was someone speaking in a rough tone. Then the sound of water.

What is it I wonder? I’m kind of curious, so I did not mind that the servant had stopped and looked outside.
On the street, a child in tattered clothes was on the ground in a puddle of water.

It was a boy slightly smaller than me, perhaps five years old.

[Hey! What are you doing?]

At the sudden high-pitched voice of a child, the soldiers at the gate were startled and promptly turned around.

[I’m very sorry! I will drive him away immediately!]

On this wondrous day of my birthday celebration, my eyes were tainted with the sight of a filthy-looking kid and I inwardly apologized for having been so fortunate.

That’s wrong, that’s wrong. That’s not it.
With the declining birthrate in j.a.pan, benefits for children has been carried out as a social policy and the concept of children being treasures has been imbued in our minds. However, there are still often stories about child abuse.

In my former life, while reading the news on Yahoo!, I’d be upset while thinking about how someone can do such a terrible thing, but that was the extent of it.

But now… The impact of seeing it in real life leaves a greater impression on me.

This boy was younger than me, but his body was full of bruises and his limbs were merely skin and bone. It was painful to look at.
The eyes hidden behind the locks of hair looked dead.

Looking into the eyes of the child filled with despair, I was at a loss.

I think that I had been born into a very happy country.
There was no war, the economy was rather stable, and I’ve never had to go hungry.

Even in this world, I had been born to economically prosperous parents.
Because I was spoiled to some degree, despite my history as a thirty-something-year old woman, I was ignorant of this world.

There were some bystanders who took interest in the commotion going on at our home but ignored the frightened child being berated.
This boy is a victim of circ.u.mstance.

This world is much tougher than the j.a.pan that I lived in.
Clearly adults are indifferent to children who are dying. I then heard with my ears, the sound *gugu*, the definite sounds of an empty stomach.

[Are you hungry?]

[…]

The boy did not give me a reply, though the answer was quite obvious.

To celebrate the day of my birth, many dishes had been prepared in the hall and in the garden to welcome the guests.

The smell of roasting meat and scent of the appet.i.te-inducing spices would have lingered out into the streets, attracting this child.

[Ojou-sama, we should be returning soon…]

A servant discretely speaks out.
I ran without giving a reply and grabbed a couple of the gifts; the strongly scented, high-cla.s.s confectioneries.

[Here, I’ll give this to you.]

The boy looked at the box of expensive confectioneries wrapped in decorative paper and stopped his feet from leaving.

I went around the boy to face him and then handed over the box.

[…It’s okay?…]

The boy spoke for the first time.

Very nice, very nice.
Don’t hold back, kid.

Rather, I was struggling to dispose of it. If you do not mind it would be nice if you can take this along with that one as well!

Kid from the streets, y’know this is from a very popular confectioner. Please also take these cookies covered in chocolate!
Because I definitely can’t take it.

The nutritional content may be a little bit imbalanced due to the mult.i.tude of sweets so I intended to supplement with meats from the party venue, but then a servant pulls on my arm.

Okay, okay, I’ll go now, I’ll go.

While the kid was holding onto the horde of boxes, I reached out my hand to tell him something, but he flinched and moved away as soon as he saw that.

…Iya, eh… I wasn’t trying to beat you…

I can feel this kid is really on edge.
This is rather… painful to watch.

In my previous life, it was only a matter of reporting it immediately, but it is not so in this world.

As to not frighten him, I looked at him gently.

[Okay? On the east side of this mansion is the direction from which the sun rises. There at the base of the fence is the designated spot. I will put some sweets there. If you ever get hungry, come and pick it up.]

[…]

After saying that much, it was time over.
On my return to the venue I was dragged back by the servants.

When night came, the guests returned to their homes.
Fu~, yare yare, when I returned to my room there were mountains upon mountains of sweets.

There were so much snacks, I feared an upcoming avalanche was about to happen. My teeth hurt just by looking at it.
It seems most of them came from the people who could not make it today.

Uga ~tsu! How annoying ~tsu! It’s super troubling because now I have to send them each a letter.
And it has to be handwritten. This world doesn’t have a printer.

Also, the handwritten thank-you letters can’t have less than one hundred words. Iyada, yada, please save me, Epsom!

Someone dropped something, and as it clattered on the floor I suddenly remembered the event that occurred during the day. A small child, with cuts everywhere.

While I endured the smell that seemed to give me heartburn, I picked out some sweets and put it at the place where the fence was broken.

The perimeter of our house has many trees so it’s difficult to notice that particular spot at the bottom where the fence was broken.

Fortunately, I neglected to report that there’s no problem with crime prevention. (TL note: MC is saying that she knows people can get in, but didn’t say anything about it.)

The snacks that I secretly placed there were gone the next day.