In the last chapter, we at least got a glimpse of the mess I'd landed myself in—unknowingly, of course—all because I got greedy for power.
Still, I planned to grovel to Seraphina and beg for some kind of compromise.
If that didn't work, I'd hang myself and hope for better reincarnation luck next time.
Anyway, I was now at the dinner table with Sera and my new mom.
Sera sat across from me. Mom was to my left.
I'd insisted she pad my seat with pillows so I could sit high enough to see both of them.
They'd both wanted to carry me, but I refused. I was still a little pissed at Sera. As for Mom…
"Uh, Mom…" I asked, my palms clasped like some kind of schemer.
"Yes, little Alex?"
"Why are you still wearing that dress?"
I was referring to her apron-only dress, which should excite me as a man, but was instead filling me with a sense of dread.
"Ah, I thought you liked it?" She smiled. "Whenever I wore it, you'd smile warmly and sometimes even laugh."
Apparently, I'd been a perverted baby.
"And besides," she continued, tugging the apron aside just enough to show a nipple, "it's easier to breastfeed you this way, right?"
"That's… kinda hot. But if we're just talking breastfeeding, you can do that in normal clothes too!"
"Oh, but you're having a nosebleed right now."
"Eh?!"
She was right.
But shouldn't she care more about that?!
Sera finally chimed in. "Oh, that's just a side effect from hoarding too many Ultra Skills—"
"Shut up! Woman!" I nearly tore my baby throat yelling that.
"Ultra?" Mom tilted her head, confused. "Skills?"
Crap!
I had to switch the topic—fast.
I pointed at the bowl in front of Sera.
"A-And what the hell is that?!"
"Oh, that?" she said sweetly. "That's called food, little Alex. F. O. O. D."
I wanted to yell that she was talking down to me, but I stopped.
Right. I was a baby.
Technically, I wasn't supposed to know anything beyond breast milk anyway.
"Oh yes. You can't eat that yet, okay?" Mom said, cheerfully. "Stick with the breasts for now."
"No, I mean…" I sighed, settling down. "Who'd want to eat boiled rice in hot water?"
"It's not just boiled rice, Alex," she replied, slightly offended. "It's rice boiled with salt… and some dried beef."
Wait—those little black skunks floating in the water were beef?!
Ugh. This was almost the same crap I used to eat in my past life.
The only difference? It wasn't exactly 29 grains of rice in the bowl this time, though it was still more of water than rice.
Sera was eating it like it was normal.
So I guess it was fine.
…No. Wait. It's not fine.
"Wait, don't tell me we're poor!!" I yelled, slamming my tiny arm on the table.
It actually hurt.
"Okay, I won't tell you."
"Oh God, I'm poor."
"Don't say that, Alex!" Mom pouted. "Don't say we're poor."
"Ah…" That might've come off a bit too strong. "I—I'm sorry, I just—"
"We're not poor. We're somewhere between poor and just nearly poor. Never forget that, okay?"
"Saying that with a cool smile doesn't make it any better!" I snapped. "Don't you have a decent job?!"
"Obviously, I do not."
"That's true!!"
Oh no.
Is my life really going to repeat itself here?
I wanted to thoroughly scold this airheaded mother into finding a proper job—if only I wasn't a damn baby.
"I do have a job, okay?" she said, her smile faltering. "But… it doesn't pay all that well."
"Then change it, dammit!" I shouted. "I'm not spending my childhood stuck in poverty! Understand?! Jeez, I'm sure it's only going to get worse!"
"..."
Her face went still.
Uh-oh. I think I hit a nerve.
Maybe I went too far?
No mother wants to raise her kid in insufficiency.
"Okay, I'm sorr—"
"It's a pleasant surprise," she said suddenly. "Getting scolded by my one-year-old… It's kind of making me hot inside."
"...Uhm. Can't you allow me to feel sorry for you properly?"
Oh God. I'm so dead.
My poor future is hanging by a thread.
"Look," Mom began, "my work is complicated. I can't just up and leave... It's either this or the red-light district."
"Why is that even the next option?!"
"But seriously, Master—"
(Don't call me that when other people are around, you boob!)
"—you get worked up way too easily," Seraphina said while casually chewing plain, water-logged rice like it was fine dining. "Relax. You're just a baby."
Watching her eat that sorry excuse for a meal was disturbing.
Did she enjoy poverty food?
Didn't she say she hated anything boring?
Doesn't she see why I'm fighting?
I kept glaring at her, silently questioning everything.
"He's probably just hungry," Mom said suddenly, swooping me up from my padded seat. "I heard that when babies are hungry, they start saying all kinds of big words."
"Where the hell did you get that deceitful doctrine?!"
"It's time for your meal," she chirped, pulling out her breast.
As the heat hit my cheek, I froze.
"Oh? What's this?" she smirked, narrowing her green eyes. "Are you excited by my boobs?"
"Huh?! Wh-why would I be?!" I snapped. Then, without further resistance, I latched on.
"Nngh! Ah, mhm~!" she moaned dramatically.
"C-Could you not do that while I'm feeding?!"
"B-But, your tongue…"