Chapter 4: Not Alone? This Isekai Manga is Rigged!

It took several minutes for me to stop crying, and even after I did, I still would occasionally sniffle. My face had to look a mess at this point if my memory of my little sister's face when she cried as a kid was anything to go by. Mary used to cry so hard when I left her alone for any length of time that she'd be covered in snot and tears within minutes, and when I came back, she'd run over and hug me, getting it all over me, gross but adorable. My grandmother clapped her hands, suddenly pulling me out of my memories. She then rang a bell, and the door opened to Annabelle holding a wet cloth that was steaming frothe m the heat. [Get Rose cleaned up, and when you're done, you can leave. We have something important to discuss.] - Grandmother Daisy [Actually, I'd like Annabelle to be a part of any conversation regarding Rose, as she's the maid and I trust her to keep anything we talk about secret.] - Mother Lily My grandmother looked slightly taken aback by my mother refuting her instructions, and after staring at my mother for a few moments, nodded her head slightly before looking directly at Annabelle. [Understood. However, er if anything we are about to discuss makes it out of this room, I'll go through hell, heaven, or the depths of demon territory to punish those involved. Do I make myself clear?] - Grandmother Daisy After confirming Annabelle's affirmation, she motioned for her to get on with cleaning me up. Still not understanding what was so important since I'd already confirmed my status as reincarnated, I limply sat on my mother's lap while being wiped down by Annabelle. After a few moments, my grandmother seemed satisfied with the state of my face and nodded slightly. [Good! I'll not have any granddaughter of mine looking anything but her best, regardless of who she was in a previous lifetime. - Grandmother Daisy [Wait, what does previous lifetime mean?] - Annabelle Since Annabelle had not been present for the discussion earlier, er she was understandably lost and looked back and forth between herself and the other people in the room. My mother took a few moments to catch Annabelle up to where we were currently. [So the Young Miss was isekai'ed then? That explains a lot of weirdness, actually.] - Annabelle For the hundredth time that day, I froze in surprise at the familiar word, and then the rest of her sentence caught up to me. I was weird? I thought I acted normally for a baby, I mean, I was quiet most of the time, went to bed normally, and listened to every conversation around me. Wait, what do baboons normally do again? Oh crap! I was strange, like really weird! I've been suspicious this entire time, of course, people would be concerned! If this were a certain free game, I'd be the Imposter! As I went through my revelations as to my behavior for the last year, I was once again drawn back to reality with my grandmother's next words. Words that I had hoped all the distractions would make her forget to ask. [Now then, let's hear the rest of the story of your past life.] - Grandmother Daisy Jumping in my seat on my mother's lap, I sheepishly pointed at myself while looking at her with upturned eyes. My attempt to look cute fell on deaf ears, however, as she nodded slowly whilst grinning. [Of course, I'd love to hear all about my beloved granddaughter's life. Make sure to not leave out anything, of course.] - Grandmother Daisy Seeing that it was futile to dodge the issue at hand, and because it most likely didn't matter anymore since I was already dead in that world, I told her about my life, leaving nothing out. The difficulty is so much higher with baby talk. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- [Hmm, so this Lao Shi claimed to be a deity?] - Grandfather Richard Nodding at his question, as it was only the second time he'd actively participated in our conversation, I glanced at his troubled face. I wasn't sure what the problem was, but he was not happy with that bit of information for some reason. My attention was drawn away from that by more questions, however. Was the Young Miss a man? Like a manly man? - Annabelle [Don now about maly man bu yeh.] - Rose [Putting that aside, you said you were from a world called Earth, right?] - Grandmother Daisy Brushing the blushing Annabelle's question to the side, my grandmother pointedly asked me a question with a serious face. I nodded silently as that was easier than trying to ta,lk and answering with a nod whenever possible was my plan for this conversation. Her next question caused me to freeze once more. How often was I going to do that today? [Is there a country called Japan in that world?] - Grandmother Daisy [Wai! Yu now abot Japa?] - Rose I'll take that as a yes, and the reason I know about Japan is that heroes are regularly summoned from that country by the Holy Church of Light. Unfortunately,y they generally use them to wage war on humans by spouting some nonsense about a Demon Lord's cruelty.] - Grandmother Daisy Having the entire isekai genre turn out to be real was a shock, but it did explain why certain words from Japan had made it to this world. Although I did wonder why Japan was always the country involved, if it was random, you would think that India or China would have a bigger chance at someone being summoned. Deciding to just ignore it for now, since I didn't have an answer, I waited for my grandmother to continue. Luckily, most of the time we end up being able to fight them off before they cause any major damage, and some are even turned against the Church when they learn that they were lied to. Not sure why they keep stubbornly summoning new ones, though - Grandmother Daisy [Wait, mother, can't you see that Rose is having a hard time keeping up with us! Her eyes are drooping so much they're practically falling off. Mother Lily Now that my mother mentioned it, I was getting tired and had been squinting my eyes more and more as the conversation went on. Curse this baby body and its inability to stay awake! My grandmother glanced at me and, seeing my condition, nodded to herself before turning to Annabelle. Can you put Rose to sleep and then return here? We still have important details to work out for the future and plans for how to deal with Rose's celebration of birth to discuss. I'd like you to be part of those discussions, considering your position, Grandmother Daisy. [Right away, Matriarch!] - Annabelle Sweeping me up from my perch on my mother's lap, where I was starting to nod off, she rushed out of the room with me, and I felt darkness take me. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Sleepily opening my eyes and yawning while stretching, I looked around since I didn't remember falling asleep in the first place. Seeing that I was in my room, I relaxed before immediately bolting upright. [Whad hape afer ei fe sleep?] - Rose Since I was alone at the moment, I didn't expect a response and consequently did not receive one, but the door opened a moment later, revealing Annabelle with a huge, mischievous smile on her face. Seeing her smile, I was overcome with fear, as the last time I saw that smile, I'd been forced into being a dress-up doll for a couple of hours. I tried backing away with my hands in front of me, but since I was in what I used to call baby prison, I couldn't escape her grasp. [Ara Ara, what could you be running away from, Young Miss, I won't bite...] - Annabelle Minutes late, my hell from yesterday began again, only this time, Annabelle knew I used to be a man and seemed to be taking some perverse pleasure in teasing me about how cute I looked in each outfit. Her praise embarrassed me, but a small part of me enjoyed the compliment, and that part was getting larger slowly. Even worse is that Annabelle seemed to know that I was slightly happy at being called cute, and her "Cute Assault" intensified while she laughed with a "fufufu" sound. After being tortured for nearly 2 hours, Annabelle looked satisfied, and even her skin looked shiny and healthy for some reason. Not that she didn't have great skin normally, though,,h since she was gorgeous. I glanced at her breasts out of the corner of my eyes, and instead of lust, I felt jealousy. Shaking my head to clear those thoughts, I noticed that we were heading for the entrance hall once again, and I wondered if we were expecting someone other than my grandparents. My guess seemed to be correct, as not only was my mother waiting in the entry hall, but so were my grandparents. The instant I recognized them, I was spotted, however, and all of them rushed over to surround Annabelle and me while once more gushing about how cute I looked in my dress. I slightly puffed my chest out in pride, though I thought Annabelle's selection was adorable as I was currently dressed in a gothic Lolita style dress with a cute plush bear accessory in my arms. Realizing that I was thinking of myself as cute, I immediately rejected those thoughts and distracted myself by asking who we were waiting for. [Who ee wat fo mommy?] - Rose My question started another wave of what I'll call "cuteness overload" after this, and I was hugged once again by several people. For some rereasonI thought that their reaction to my cuteness seemed to be even stronger since they learned I used to be a guy. Is this the so-called gap, Moe? [So adorable!] - Grandfather Richard [I know, right? You can't even tell she used to be a man! - Annabelle [Cuteness is righteousness!] - Mother Lily Wait, I think some of what they were saying sounded wrong! Also, none of that was an answer to my question!!! As I struggled to push away to squeezing arm, we were interrupted by one of the butlers announcing the arrival of the person we were waiting for. Instantly, everyone calmed down and, while still crowded around me, waited for the person to open the door. Luckily, ly, we didn't have to wait long as the doors slowly opened onto a group of 5 men, 4 of whom had various furred ears and tails, and 1 that was partially covered in deep black scales with a straight tail coming out from behind his legs. The 4 people behind that person each bowed and moved to stand with the various butlers and maids behind us as the reptile? A person approached with a smile and his arms wide. [Where is my adorable daughter!?! I haven't seen her in almost a year, and I'm low on Rosenium.Father? Wait daughter?!?! Is this my father? Wait huh?!?!? While I was still unresponsive, out of shock, my mother rushed forward, nearly knocking my father. Over, as her snake half completely wrapped around him. [Darling! I missed you so much! Are you eating okay?!? What about other women?!? No one has dared to try and snatch you right?!?! Is that Queen overworking you?!?!] - Mother Lily [<cough> Wait, hone,y Ican't breatheh! I'll tell you all about it later, but first I want to see my beloved daughter that I haven't met since she was born...] - Father Robert Extricating herself from my father, my mother's face was completely red with embarrassment, and I found myself thinking it served her right for calling me cute earlier. My father, finally free of his wife's grasp, once again turned towards me and quickly approached with his arms wide. [Rose! Come to your loving father's arms - Father Robert. I turned my head away from him with a hmph while glancing at his reaction out of the corner of my eye. Seeing me reject him like that, my father collapsed with despair, which made me giggle at how silly it looked. My giggle seemed to revive him, and he quickly closed the distance to me and swept me out of Annabelle's outstretched hands as she handed me over. Hugging me to his face as he rubbed his face against mine, I found myself feeling thankful that he didn't have facial hair of any kind, as that would probably feel itchy. [What, no greeting for the family you married into, oh boy?] - Grandfather Richard [Oh, his,h, you're in the same boat.] - Grandmother Daisy My father, realizing that Daisy and Richard were watching his overly affectionate act, immediately stopped and bowed slightly to both of them while continuing to hug me to his body. [I apologize for my lateness in greeting the honorable heads of family!] - Father Robert [See, look at what you did to the poor boy, he's all serious now.] - Grandmother Daisy [Ehehehe... Sorry about that boy I just wanted to tease you a bit for hogging my favorite granddaughter all to yourself.] - Grandfather Richard [No, I must thank you for gracing my home with your presence.] - Father Robert I noticed that there seemed to still be some awkwardness between my father and my grandparents, and made a mental note to ask about it later, only to cross off that note as my question was answered immediately after. [Jeez, Papaa. Just because we only got married two years ago, you still treat him like an outsider to the family! If you tease him too much,h I'll be angry! Hmph!] - Mother Lily [Wait, wait! I won't do it again, please forgive me! - Grandfather Richard Seeing my mother scold my grandfather, I started to get a better understanding of the relationships between everyone here. It looked like my mother and father had only married about 1 year before I was born, and my grandfather was still upset at his baby leaving the nest. I grinned at how close my family was since in my previous life, outside of my sister, my family was fairly distant from each other and rarely even called to check on us. I felt tears welling up at my happiness at finding a family that I could love wholeheartedly, while hoping that my sister was dealing with my death in a healthy way back in my old world. Pushing my worry about my sister to the back of my mind since I couldn't do anything about it, I just barely caught my grandmother speaking. Putting daughter aside, we have something important to tell you concerning Rose, come to the parlor and we'll discuss it.] - Grandmother Daisy