{ 3 DAYS LATER… }

  'Alright, let's try to summarize what I've figured out!'

  Vector was lying in the cradle, mulling over ret events and, as he did every day, mentally taking stock of the situation.

  'It seems I've ended up awakening in the body of a newborn baby. This happened after my death in my old body. So... should I assume I've been reinated?!'

  But even assuming an absurd event like this was true, Vector had no idea how or why it had happened.

  'Is there a reasonable expnation behind all this? Or should I just assume it happened purely by ce?'

  He fell silent for a moment, staring at the starry ceiling and the golden deliers above his head.

  'Tsk, it doesn't matter!' he finally excimed inwardly. 'What's done is done. And frankly, for now, I don't care at all about how I reinated. Or even the reason, if there is one. Let's just focus on this life!'

  However, before he could do so, Vector had made aartling discovery: the memories of his past life were all incredibly vivid!

  He remembered everything: every step taken, every sneeze, every single face he had entered. EVERYTHING, down to the smallest details!

  Even the most distant memories, like the sensation of the amniotic fluid surrounding him when he was still in his mother's womb, were etched in his mind.

  'It's nothing short of uling…' he reflected, feeling a shiver run down his spine. 'Could it be due to my reination? Well, since I 't expin it now, I'll simply add it to the list of mysteries to solve sooner or ter. Then again, if I think about it, this ability might actually e in handy!'

  This was because, in 65 years, Vector had amassed knowledge in every imaginable field!

  Since his youth, books had been his only true home. The smell of old paper, the silence broken only by the rustling of pages, felt like a soothing touch to his soul.

  In short, he had always loved reading books!

  Even when life forced him to live oreets, he tio find refuge among the pages, rec discarded volumes from passersby or leafing through them quietly in libraries.

  Those austere pces, fragrant with old paper and silence, were his sanctuaries. A pce where he could immerse himself in reading without spending a penny.

  Without the means to obtain a library card, he read books only within the library, trying to remain unnoticed among the tables and shelves.

  He spent hours and hours leafing through the yellowed pages of old and ions, until someoiced his presend threw him out, annoyed by his smell and u appearance.

  But Vector never gave up! If he was kicked out of one library, he simply looked for another. If necessary, he even ged cities, hoping to find new books to devour.

  Moreover, he had been a man who read anything: from literature cssics to sce, from philosophy to art, from puter sce tn nguage books. In short, everything!

  'Well, except for math, of course…' he thought, with a tone of self-irony, as if it were on knowledge for the whole world. 'But who cares!'

  With aic memory that bordered on miraculous, Vector retained every word he read from the almost endless volumes he studied, each page engraved in his mind like an indelible imprint.

  This granted him stant access to an enormous amount of information, always avaible for any future need.

  'Knowledge is power, isn't it?'

  With this thought, Vector returo refleg on the information he had gathered during that time from the gossip of the maids and butlers w in the royal pace. Apparently, they were all big chatterboxes, who spilled all sorts of secrets to pass the time while pleting their tasks. But to Vector, they were nothing more than a rich source of invaluable information!

  'As far as I uand, on the same night he was born, the child of this body passed away. The cause of his suddeh appears to have been cardiac arrest. Damn, what a depressing way to go, I must say… Anyway: the m, I woke up in this child's body, making it look as though he had e back to life. And probably, the fact that the heart started beating again is reted to my reination. Now I uand why everyone keeps referring to me as a miracle! But who bme them… Furthermore, despite this strange and irratio, no one in the castle seems ined to iigate how "the child" magically "came back to life." And the reason behind this is rather odd, if not dht bizarre: if I uand correctly, everyone is calling my resurre a "Divine Miracle." A gift from a Goddess everyone calls "Mother Nature." How strange: looking at them, I was sure everyone here was Christian, but apparently, I was wrong. Anyway, religious matters aside, I’m gd they don’t want to go into too much detail about the "resurre"! Who knows what would happen if Queen Ginevra and King Arthur discovered that "I" am not actually their "beloved son"…'

  With his heart pounding, imagining the potential horrifisequences if the truth about him came to light, Vector turned his thoughts to o matter:

  'The man named Arthur… the father of this child… As he himself said, he is the King and sn of the "Kingdom of Ardorya", one of the seven kingdoms of the ti called "Harmony". From this, I also deduce that I've reinated into another world, vastly different from the one I lived in. Therefore, there will surely be many things to discover about this new world, pletely unknown to me. But again, there's no rush! Sooner or ter, as it has happened so far, all the information will reveal itself in time. Returning then to the matter of King Arthur… He never had a son: never! Acc to the gossip of some maids, King Arthur also married three other noble women besides Ginevra, and sequently spent many nights with them. All in the hope of obtaining a male heir for his throne. But even so, King Arthur was never successful in his endeavor. This expins why, after ten years of tinuous efforts, he was so excited and happy to see me alive again!'

  Moreover, despite the other wives, Queen Ginevra tio be the King's orue love.

  From Vector's perspective, and as a servant had already hypothesized the day before while discussing it with a colleague while ging his diaper, King Arthur would surely divorce his other three wives sooner or ter.

  After all, King Arthur had now achieved his goal of having a son and a male heir to the throne, and, not feeling any true love for them, he would no longer have needed his other wives.

  'I almost feel sorry for those three… Wait a minute! Speaking of the hree": I almost fot that those brats live also here at the castle!'

  With that term, Vector was referring to the three twins, daughters of Queen Ginevra and King Arthur, and thus the sisters of that child's body.

  'Camil, Veronica, and Michelle… They're all seven years old, if I'm not mistaken. Even though they've e to see me almost every day, I still 't matames to faces. Damn, how could I?! I mean, they're practically three peas in a pod! Huh, damn brats!'

  The reasoor kept calling them that was simple enough: as a ky old maested spoiled children!

  In his past life, he could olerate how children addressed their parents just to get what they wanted. And when they didn't, they cried and pined non-stop, even ireets, often disturbing the public pead everyone nearby.

  'Damn ungrateful brats!'

  In short, he loathed spoiled kids and pampered offspring. And those three girls, with their ridiculously elegant outfits at such a young age, with the way they carried themselves and the way they spoke, seemed just that.

  'Maybe I'm wrong, and maybe one day I'll ge my mind. But until then, those brats won't have my sympathy!'

  After what could have been a huff, a loud sound from Vector's stomach took him by surprise.

  'Hmm… I think it's time.'

  Taking a deep breath, filling his small lungs with as much air as possible, Vector took a moment to clear his throat. Then, with all the strength he had, he screamed as loudly as he could, almost as if intending to rupture someone's eardrums.

  'Ihree days, I've learhat this teique is the most effective way to call them when I'm hungry. I've "Infantile Scream"!'

  Taking a breath now and then, l and raising the pitch of his voice, Vector tio scream for a couple of minutes.

  'e on, hurry up! It's rather embarrassing to have to scream like this…'

  Right after he thought this, the sound of doors flying open cut through Vector's deafening cry, though he did not stop.

  Peering through the gaps between the vertical sts of his wooden cradle, Veao glimpse the two people he had successfully summoned acc to his pn.

  "Hurry, hurry, hurry! My son is hungry!" excimed Ginevra, rushing toward the cradle.

  Beside her, a maid with long, reddish hair aangur gsses with thick bck frames was trying to keep up. Her dark, deep eyes, resembling polished obsidian, sparkled with determination, refleg her firm will to help the Queen.

  Like all maids, she wore a Victorian-style maid's dress, sisting of a high-necked bck bodice with a small white colr and long, fitted sleeves, finished with ce cuffs.

  The white apron, made of cotton or linen, was wide and decorated with ce along the edges, almost pletely c the front of the dress. The trast between the bck bodid the white apron, along with the modest ce finish, lent the ensemble a somber and impeccable elegance.

  Despite the heels, both were running: Ginevra dashed forward without minding the wavy hair falling over her face or the golden that threateo fall with each step. The woman with reddish hair, meanwhile, lifted her long servant's skirt with one hand and skillfully banced a silver tray holding a bottle filled with fresh milk with the other.

  "I'm ing, my Queen!" she called out, breathless, remembering to close the doors behind her.

  With every step she took, she was full of energy, her light and agile feet dang across the floor, while her gaze immediately fixed on the g newborn.

  Arriving first, Queen Ginevra gently lifted the newboror, into her arms. Gazing calmly at her child's face, she moved gracefully to a chair in front of the mirror and sat down. Then, with an almost seductive motion, she drew out her rge breast from her refined e gown.

  "Maybe this time it will work…" Ginevra finally added, her voice filled with a barely audible note ret, as she g the servant joining her.

  'Oh damn! Here we go again…' thought Vector, staring at the woman's nipple.

  In the past week, despite the Queen's many attempts, Vector had always refused to hat way. After all, he had the mentality and sciousness of an old man, always quite embarrassed by the sight of the Queen's breast.

  Thus, Vector would keep his small mouth closed, preventing her nipples from making tact with his young lips.

  Whehis happened, Ginevra would simply sigh deeply with sadness, mixed with a bit of frustration. She would then withdraw her breast and, addressing the red-haired servant, take the bottle to feed the newborn, who would accept no other method of being fed.

  So, once agaior stared at Ginevra's breast for a moment, avoiding it in panic by simply turning his small head.

  Then, suddenly, as he g his refle in the mirror, a thought crossed his mind:

  'Now that I think about it… It no longer makes seo keep avoiding this situation! I'm not just talking about being nursed by this woman, or having my diaper ged, or being cuddled before sleeping, or the tless other things that would normally annoy and embarrass me, given my 80 years. I o uand, ond for all, that this reality, as absurd and difficult to accept as it is, has now bey new life! With a new body and a new family, from this moment on, I will no longer be Vectot. NO! That wouldn't make sense. From now on, I will be Mirac Strongold!'

  Deg this internally, Mirac sloroached his mother's breast, while she looked at him in surprise.

  'And, being just born,' Mirac added, now only a few inches from her nipple, 'there would be no sense in avoiding the normality of my new life!'

  Swallowing nervously, Mirac gathered his ce and, with his toothless mouth, took hold of his mother's breast, hungrily drinking the milk that flowed from it.

  Meanwhile, Ginevra's face filled with enthusiasm at the sight.

  "It seems that the young master has finally decided to nurse directly from you, my Queen," said the red-haired servant, standing beside Ginevra and smiling at her.

  'Oh, be quiet!' Mirac cursed internally, gring irritably at the servant, who had once again embarrassed him with himself.

  Ginevra returhe smile, turning to the servant and finally saying a few words:

  "I'm happy too, Carmen…" her faint voice dissolved into silence, as aional tear ran down her face.

  All the while, Miratinued sipping his mother's milk, pyfully holding ontht breast.

  'I'm sorry to have worried you… mom…' Mirac thought timidly as he sipped his milk a himself be ented by Ginevra's affeate gaze.

  The very thought of callihat way from now on, a term ed i shyness, represented a small step toward accepting his new life.

  'And who knows! Maybe this time, I will have a better childhood…'