Chapter 003: Wrong Butterfly

The process of walking was quickly proving to be far more complex than I remember it being as I couldn't help falling over quite a few times. It is certainly embarrassing to me that this was the thing getting in the way of my second chance at life; fortunately my new parents & servants knew about my weakness. 

Although the previous me wasn't aware, with the knowledge gained due to my past life, I quickly realised that the dress I wore was lightly padded. When combined with how well maintained these pavements were - there was essentially no risk in me accidentally skimming my knee.

"They didn' need tu go so faw…" My hands unconsciously reach up to press my chubby cheeks only to feel a warmth radiating out from them.

There was a certain level of relief that I could still feel embarrassment, however, that didn't change the fact that it was embarrassing. I also couldn't just complain about it since that would make me ungrateful about them taking care of my well being. From my experiences in the slums I knew that one scratch can easily cause one to lose an entire limb if left unchecked.

Considering the personality I projected to others - bubbly and kind of air headed at times - they would obviously assume I would just keep any scrapes I get to myself. On top of that they would be right about me doing that.

No way I would expose the fact that I fell over.

But I am noticing that this is even worse than before; if I had to guess why it would probably be due to a difference in proportions?

With my legs and other limbs being obviously far smaller having a large effect, having said that, there was an even more integral than that. Being a female meant that my hips to my shoulders were slightly differently proportioned with that probably only getting worse as time went on.

Perhaps my mommy had predicted that would cause me issues (like it was) thus decided to have me regress at the age of five? Afterall, as smart as I no doubt am, there would certainly be significantly greater issues if I had to get used to that vast difference as a grown woman. Plus it would be far more dangerous & absurd to be tumbling around as an adult.

At the same time… It would have been even better if she just had me regress into the form of a baby thus there would be even less issues in adapting to the differences. In fact, I would probably be able to adapt faster than a normal baby, but even this can be explained away.

Mommy is sadistic so of course she would make me suffer a bit; at the very least this will lead to less baby birthed boredom while still presenting the same chance to be declared a prodigy…

Though - upon the topic of being a genius - that didn't seem to help whatsoever in finding my way to my daddy as I was well and truly lost with no servants in sight. My only answer for this absurd event would be that it was a day when we only had essential workers since my parents were quite generous employers. Before they had us, everyone but the driver was apparently given a vacation once a month while they went on a date, however with three children they obviously needed more help to ensure our safety.

Didn't change the fact I had no idea where my father was nor really where I was. The area I currently was, was a beautiful wooded area with flowers in mid bloom. Overall, it was a pleasing experience with that floral scent mixing with the natural musk that one could only find in between a set of well aged trees.

I experienced it quite a bit in my previous life since I used to do contraband runs where forests came in handy to help confuse anyone trying to track me.

As relaxing as I find the forest, it doesn't change the fact that I'm lost, something I would likely be remorselessly teased about if my new family found out. Afterall the floor itself acted as a literal guide to anywhere one could want to go; it just so happened I was so busy trying to avoid hitting the ground that I forgot to look at the ground…

Obviously - I couldn't actually be blamed for this - so I decided that I would try to convince my parents to get a holopad in the future as to prevent this situation. For now I should just try to regain my bearings; looking around things weren't looking good as I didn't actually recognise anything to do with this area even when comparing against the memories that came with this new body of mine.

Other than the stone pavement there were only tree's that, upon closer inspection, had been groomed in order to ensure they were as healthy as possible. Many colourful flowers made their home between the decently sparse tree's - allowing for me to truly see the beautiful chaos of nature even if it was a man-made variant of it.

Though I was wandering around at random at this point there were worse places to be lost within; stepping onto the grass allowed me to hear satisfying *crunch* that brought the whole feeling of 'nature' together.

Closing my eyes - I just took a deep breath - allowing for the holt to fully dance across all my senses with its soothing warmth. From the soft smell of moss, feeling of grass crunching against my feet, gently wind blowing across my limbs and the taste which said wind could bring. Abruptly I felt something land on my head, causing my hair to be pushed down, resulting in me looking up to notice the rather strange colours of my hair that faded from blonde to pink.

Honestly I was mightily impressed with how soft and volume-filled my hair was; just running my dainty fingers through provided great bliss.

Didn't help me in seeing what landed on my head . Despite shaking my head a little, it didn't fall off meaning it was unlikely to be a leaf as I imagined it was. The worry that it may be bird plop ruining my wonderful new hair made me soon feel tears welling up. An action that ended up being useless as the weight vanished moments later I managed to catch a beautiful albino butterfly fluttering by; whose wings seemed like two rorschach tests that appeared to change with every flap of their wings.

Although it was a species of bug I didn't know - that wasn't very surprising - I had more things to focus on than categorising all types of insect. However, this bug was different, something about this butterfly caught my eyes making my brow rise as it danced around me. An energy I never got to use myself but had experienced tons in my time under the umpa lumpa…

The term they often called it was 'mana' yet mommy said the mana was the spiritual energy from a bitch that shouldn't be able to interfere with the world right now. As such it would likely be better to call this 'Spiritual Energy' which was possessed by nature itself in order to help sustain a healthy ecosystem without intervention.

Some beings have more than others while some even seem to be selected by nature itself to become something referred to as a 'guardian beast'. Even if this world didn't have much energy at present, there were still a few examples, often becoming cryptids by those who manage to catch a brief glance of them in their superpowered glory.

Throughout history there were also many examples where humans had managed to tap into this very energy although they were nothing compared to what would happen in the future.

This butterfly seemed to be one of those guardian beasts; something I'm even more sure of with seeing how it danced around me as if it wanted me to follow it. Having nothing to lose I decided to do just that. If it wanted to kill me I imagine it would be easy enough even with that small body it has.

Accompanying the butterfly quickly took me away from the path yet I didn't worry about the intentions of my escort. Why would an animal, let alone an insect, follow the roads made by humans for humans?

If anything they would avoid man-made paths since they were more likely to be killed at the whims of barbarous people who thought no better since they were "just an animal". As such I silently followed the butterfly while admiring the unique beauty that the tiniest guardian beast had with its own unique wings.

"What are you doing coming out of the woods and where is Thompson?" I heard a voice echoing from in front - turning towards it I saw a tall 6 footish man with a well toned body wearing just a dress shirt & pants. His golden hair was combed back with his stern aqua eyes with some small vestiges of time hidden in the corners in the form of a crow's feet.

This stern looking man was my father; looking around at the targets in the distance as well as a small array of guns inside of a (usually sealed locker) it would appear this was the target range.

According to mom, dad had actually met my parents at a shooting range due to being quite the vivid collector of firearms himself, quickly hitting it off with my real father. Considering they were having trouble conceiving (only managing a son through artificial means) they were more than happy to do the favour of adopting me.

Seeing the man look around sternly as if looking to have a word with the head butler I couldn't help but present a bubbly smile to him. "Grwampa isn' 'ere; I made my way here aw by mysewf!"

So I exclaimed, placing my fists against my hips while proudly pushing my chest out. It seemed he was indeed quite impressed since his brows lifted up yet he soon returned to his usual facade while lifting a hand to lecture me. "You shouldn't go to places by yourself; Thompson will be worriedly waiting at the manor wondering where you went."

Ah…

Of course my parents would know I had no idea where my father would be so left someone to guide me safely… Hindsight is irrelevant worrying about, anyway. I also began to wonder why father didn't react to the guardian butterfly yet now, no matter how much I looked around, they were nowhere to be seen.

"Are you listening, Amor?" His stern voice made my shoulders tense up as I gazed toward him.

"Yes fawther…"