Chapter 2 – One step at a time

In a well decorated bedroom, fit for only the highest class people, there was a baby smiling excitedly on the king sized bed. That baby of course was Ariel.

It has been a bit over a year since he has come to this new world, in the mean while, the only problem that he faced was that he couldn't move and the only thing he could do was to just lay still on the bed day after day.

Fortunately those days have just reached their end, because today is the day that he finally succeeded in crawling. Ariel wasn't even able to count the times he tried but failed to crawl, with his small chubby body.

'I finally don't need to sleep all day on the bed like a doll.' While thinking that, he started climbing down from the bed to the ground, but his strength was still that of a newborn, he lost his grip over the wooden rim of the bed, which resulted in him falling down straight on his back. Thankfully this room was specifically prepared for a baby. 'I have to praise my parents that they made this bed low to the ground and laid a soft carpet on the floor. Or I probably wouldn't have gotten of that lightly'

He got up with some difficulty and then looked around the room, besides the bed at the far side of the room there was a window next to its end, as well as a mirror at the opposite corner of it. Apart from these things there was also a work desk besides the bed and a bookcase near the door to the hallway.

Ariel still remembered the disappointing look his father gave him when he was born and it is probably the reason he hasn't seen him since. 'Could I be extremely ugly?' Because of this reason he decided to make the mirror his first objective.

When he finally managed get to the mirror he understood instantly what was the reason for disapproval. Before him was a baby with golden hair and the same piercing, cold blue eyes he had in his previous life, together with that nostalgic expressionless face. After that, one would notice how cute the child was, and how in the future he would be an astonishingly handsome man, maybe even more handsome that he was before.

However what made him frustrated was that same sickly constitution, with snow white skin and small stature the unfortunately stayed the same as in his last life. He now understood why his father was disappointed. 'In this world he found out that strength was everything, without it he would never achieve something worth of mention.' At this moment in Ariel's cold eyes appeared a sliver of sadness, what would he do now? He thought he could live an exiting life in this new world where he wasn't an orphan and has even been born in a prestigious noble family. But the world has quickly beaten him down from his dreams.

While he was thinking about his terrible fate, the door to his room slowly opened and through it came in his beautiful mother. When he noticed it was too late and he froze instantly. 'This is bad, what if it is abnormal for a baby to crawl when he is just a bit over one year old? What would they do to me?' In his previous life he didn't have much interaction with baby's so he didn't know anything about how they grow.

His mother upon seeing him froze just like he had which unnerved him even more. Few seconds later his fright was dispelled when his mother made an extremely happy expression and without waiting a second more she ran up to him and hugged him closely to her chest. "My little Sweety has started to crawl! I can't believe it! You're so cute and wonderful." She said while smothering him. "You were even faster at it than James"

When his mother started praising him he felt relieved and slightly proud, but when she mentioned the name James his face slightly camped. James was his older brother that he got to know of and met in this year's time he had lived so far.

Someone said before that a person is never born evil, but if he had seen James he would have to eat those words of his. His brother had golden hair just like his own but what made his looks different was his green eyes and arrogant look in his expression, any person would say that he also had cute looks, but they were far beneath his own.

As you have already guessed his problem with James lies in his arrogant character, and aggressive nature. James age was a whole year above his own, so he has been able to move for quite some time already, which he exercised by bullying him in every way possible.

This has already made Ariel mark him as an enemy in the future. Still that discomfort quickly faded as his mother lifted him up and looked towards his face with an attractive smile. "You are growing up so fast I wonder when, are you going to start speaking."

Usually a parent would first expect their older child to start speaking first, but he has already noticed that his mother always seems to pay more attention to him, than to James. Why it was like this, he didn't know. Ariel had racked his brain about it for a couple days when he had noticed this, but later on, when he couldn't find any answers, he decided to stop thinking about it. Maybe he would find out when he was older, and if not, he wasn't really that curious about it anyway.

Soon his mother spoke again. "I guess we will need someone to look after you, the entire time from now on." These words instantly ruined his mood. He turned to face right side from the doors viewpoint, where there stood a bookcase full to the brim with books. Books would contain important information about this world and it was the main motivation for him learning how to crawl.

Now he could only cast a regretful look to the books, as it would be impossible to escape another person's notice in this small room. 'I should have been more careful, I don't even know how much time I will have to wait until I can read them without any suspicion.' All he knew about this world's technology progress is only what he heard from the maids, while they were cleaning his room. One of the things he heard was that books were a luxury for most people and even the rich wouldn't let a baby touch them, because every one of them was a hand written original and each of them were important.

While, Ariel was casting his longing look towards the bookcase, his mother had noticed it. "Are you interested in books sweaty?" She asked with a smile. Not even expecting or waiting for him to answer she walked towards the bookcase and took out a book.

She then walked towards the bed and sat down on it, while putting Ariel down on her lap. "Books are a very important source of information so you must be careful with them." After she finished warning him, she opened the book and started reading it out loud. "So the language is the same, yet the writing is different, I guess I will have to learn from listening and comparing the words" All of the letters in the book were different from English ones he is used to. It seemed to be a story book, but every bit of information was important to Ariel, that is why he started listening carefully.

Seeing Ariel so interested and listening attentively, his mother laughed out loud before speaking out words that made him unbelievably happy. "I guess we will have to start reading books for you all the time now, so that it would help your growth." Hearing those words, Ariel's excitement could be seen in his eyes, but soon he went back to carefully listening to his mother's every word.

Like this, reading became part of their regular routine.