Chapter 2 – There’s nothing fun about 108 looped lives…and now that I have that knowledge, just leave me alone!

After all, it is I that is the inheritor of all these life experiences.

A resplendent, voluminous trove of knowledge, reborn in this body.

Over one hundred lives…again in this body.

Pretty amazing, is it not?

Yet here I am, in my new cradle, thrusting my fist in the air, mewing,

「Oooowaaaah, WAaahahh, WAahaaaiahhh!」

Such a disappointment. As a lady, my most valued was my voice, so cruel to hear it now so shrill.

The voice…that enthralled all of my formal visitors…from around the world, a miraculous siren’s song…reduced to something like the croaking of a crushed toad.

Or perhaps the raspy call of a prisoner, enslaved over hundreds of years.

Still, there’s nothing VERY reprehensible about the cholicy cries of an infant.

As long as I still have my tongue, that melodious voice will return.

A proudly educated daughter of a duke, am I!

I learned four languages, fluently, in addition to the native language of my land.

Any upstanding and noble lady is required to learn such things.

As long as my voicebox isn’t cut open, I could work as an interpreter.

Dance, piano, painting, fencing, equestrianism, all taught by a certified tutor.

Of course, that now is impossible until this diaper is removed and my height, limbs, fingers, all reach their proper size.

Diapers…that alone is an insult to a woman such as I.

You have to leave care of you to lower people.

All I can do now is cry Waaahh wahhhh whenever I want to say 「I’m itchy! My lower parts are uncomfortable!」and then allow them to change the diaper.

I can’t even turn this blasted infant body over!

So I angrily shook and raddled this cradle of mine.

This was all the strength this minute infant body could muster.

*Wheeeze* *Gasp* My…how tiring.

「Myyy, this cradle is practically falling apart! Maybe it’s off balance.」

I heard a voice and then the thumps of footsteps.

My little cradle-castle was swung around like a teacup.

The power of adults to a baby truly is impressive.

「Strange, nothing to be found on the base of this cradle…」

「Wahh, ah, ahhh.」

I had insisted on having a pleasurable place to reside through my babyhood.

Now I feel like a tiny fish, flopping away on a distant shore.

Maybe needing to evolve into something bipedal.

If I could, then I would be an infant savant born into this world.

All my tutors this time will be awestruck by my genius.

Since I have all my memories intact, I can do things other than just boringly repeat all the noble arts of a learned childhood.

More languages, more focus on types of self defense techniques…

Just pondering over the possibilities made my heart rush.

However, no matter how much I learn, I’m still just one person.

My greatest strength is that I know the future of this country.

This is quite the advantage to me.

As an individual, this is the greatest ability given unto me.

Information about what will influence this country is like a mithril sword costing mountains of gold.

Or, perhaps, being given the eyes of God himself.

And if I plan to retreat into my castle, never to emerge, I will need a lot of money.

Scarlet Ruby Noel Lingard…the woman with the eye of God.

WHAT A RUSH! Now I’m stuck with infant eyes, though, and they’re almost blind…

「Ahhh, waaah」

The anticipation still rushed through me in a shudder. A new paradise of hope seemed to open before me.

As soon as I could move, I could start this life of social withdrawal.

Compared to the harsh life of a queen, there would be no suffering every moment of my life.

「Oh, did you pee yourself?」The voice above me said.

No! I cried with a Waaah.

Perhaps the person speaking was my wet nurse.

This might mean that this life of mine has literally started from zero.

Just like a meadow covered in dense fog, everything before me is covered in a blur.

My eyes are still out of focus…I’m certain of it.

So I thought,

It was always just before I turned 28 that my life ended.

All of the weather events, disaster, discovered mines, new technology, and 28 years of information reside inside of this mind.

In my previous 108 lives, I was a tyrannical queen that forgave no one that opposed me.

Yet, my time in political affairs wasn’t just a game to me – I used any means necessary to raise the best force of soldiers any kingdom could muster.

You could call me a workaholic.

I thought not only of my country, but of my KINGDOM.

All of that crooked diligence I used during my 108 reigns as queen returned back to me in this life…my, I am quite the woman!

「Madam! No! Madam! You mustn’t move!」

The scene around me became chaotic and my thoughts returned.

Footsteps all around my cradle.

The previous voice was one of immense panic.

「…what? A GIRL!? AM I TO BLAME FOR NOT BIRTHING A SUCCESSOR?! Will someone tell me I’m a woman not worthy of the duke again!?」

The new voice added in a hysterical scream.

「YOU!! You’re to blame for BEING A GIRL!!」

Who is this person daring to blame me? Who could blame an innocent baby as if it were a grown person?

My sight still clouded by the early dews of infanthood, that voice came from my mother, who would die soon after giving birth.

I had only seen portraits and heard stories from those who knew her and that she was quite depressed all through her pregnancy and birth.

Was the rumor true? It is true that she sounded fragile.

Perhaps because of the pressure of being the mother of the successor?

And then after that, the sense of failure and disappointment that leads to the end.

It seems that the woman had simply given up the fight.

But I am sympathetic.

Sadly, since I never had the chance to speak to my mother, I feel like a total stranger from her.

I could be cynical and inform her, 「Please don’t cry. In three years the parliament will pass a bill allowing girls to succeed and I shall be able to continue in his line.」Because, after all, in all 108 lives I’ve lived, not once was that bill voted down.

And since it was I that succeeded to the throne after poisoning and assassinating all of my opponents, I’m not one to be upset by the simple words of others. I could just say, 「Gender is the command of God. If you have a problem with me being a woman, go speak with him.」

Also, I’ve never been pregnant, so I know nothing about postpartum depression.

「…I’ll kill this girl!」

Um…MOM?!

Calm down, I’m your beloved DAUGHTER!

Stop for the few days you have and embrace me as such!

My cradle rattled again in my surprise at her reaction.

「Whaaaah, waaaaah」

My screams simply echoed in the room.

How in blazes did I end up in this situation right after leaving the womb?!

The only thing to protect me is a cradle and some swaddling cloth.

At least give me a sturdy CRIB!

*Translators note: 108 is a special number to Japanese as the bells in local temples are rung 108 times during the New Year’s night, symbolizing the 108 desires and passions trapping us into a cycle of reincarnation. Since Scarlet’s hit her 109th reincarnation, that may change…