Chapter 2 2

Apparently, the door wasn't closed entirely.

If someone was malicious, they could easily infiltrate the room and assassinate her.

"Tch. Why is the security so lacking? This house is clearly the house of a wealthy family." Ainsworth judged this from the interior of the room.

The ceiling was painted in gold while the wall was pink.

Every single item inside the room belonged to a toddler, and it looked expensive. Even though there were a few gun toys instead of dolls, it's still not a strange thing.

"Ha. A toy gun instead of dolls? What kind of family is this? Assassins?" Ainsworth harrumphed as she pulled the door with all of her might. Still, she could only open the door to make a gap enough for her body.

Let's venture out.

The moment Ainsworth came out of the room, the sight she saw was a long black and white corridor decorated with modern furniture. The red carpet stretched from one side to the other side looked like one used in Grammy Awards.

"Hmm, a rich family." Ainsworth deducted. The interior of the corridor might be simple, but the gold paint coating the furniture looked lavish.

The few chandeliers hanging on the white ceiling were extravagant. The shining marble black wall only imposed a sense of 'dominance' to the overall image.

Is this a mafia or a yakuza hideout?

It did seem that way.

Thinking like this, Ainsworth finally knew that this world she visited wasn't a medieval era. Then, this world shouldn't be one with magic and fantasy.

"Ah....I'm disappointed." Ainsworth trotted slowly, crossing the long corridor as she grumbled. She thought that she would encounter the hot daddy troupe in a fantasy or a medieval era.

It turned out that this world was a modern world, just like her previous world.

The disappointment bore deep in the toddler's heart. Ainsworth had a low motivation because of this realisation, yet she didn't give up on exploring the house.

She trotted and walked for quite a long time because of her small legs.

"Why is there no one here?" Ainsworth was slightly annoyed after noticing that she didn't find anyone around, yet she still marched forward.

After 15 minutes not encountering anyone, she finally went out of the corridor area and arrived at another corridor dyed in red.

The wall was painted in red and gold while the floor was black with some silver glitter. The similarly black ceiling only made the new corridor seem like a vampire castle.

"Will there be no one– " Ainsworth had just said so when she spotted a few people.

The toddler flinched. She hurriedly hid behind the pillar to observe a few men in black who were guarding a particular door.

A few men? They look like gangsters from the tattoo on their exposed neck.

Ainsworth peeked at the few tall, bulky men wearing a neat suit. All of them wore black eyeglasses, and they pocketed a handgun.

'This is bad. Are they dangerous? They bring guns!'

Ainsworth couldn't move away from her place. She wanted to walk out, but that would be foolish. She didn't know the identity of this body and couldn't act rashly.

What if she's actually a hostage? But that maid before called her 'young miss'.

I should be a somewhat important person here, right?

Ainsworth thought as she kept watching the four men guarding the golden door. From this scene alone, she knew that whoever was inside the door would be someone essential.

'Should I go there? I need to know some information....but I'm sure these people will just chase me out.'

Ainsworth bit her lips. She was thinking of entering the golden door when suddenly, her ears perked up. It twitched and somehow felt hot.

Ainsworth held her breath. She hurriedly touched her ears, thinking that it was strange.

What's going on?

The girl hadn't discovered the reason for her hot ears when she vaguely heard people shouting and arguing from a distance away.

"The boss is gone! He abandoned us!" The voice of a rough man sounded. He yelled on top of his lungs, sounding agitated.

"No, that can't be. Maybe he is kidnapped!" Another man refuted. He sounded confident, yet his voice was shaking.

"All of you, the most important thing to do now is to fill the vacant seat of the leader. We have dispatched our men to find the boss, so calm your tits." A different man spoke in a rather mild tone.

This person was the calmest one out of the others.

"That's right. We have to fill the vacant seat. If not, other families will attack our Sloan Family, and we will be done for." This time, the person speaking was a woman.

From her voice alone, she sounded wise.

Ainsworth was baffled once she heard these voices. She was sure that there was no one near her, yet how could she hear these people' conversation?

Are they the one behind the golden door? If so, how could she hear them when they were so far away?

Ainsworth was suspicious. She suddenly assumed that this body had a unique ability, but before thinking about that, there were a few clues she focused on.

The Sloan family. Other families will attack. Vacant seat. The boss. Kidnapped.

These...these words sound like a dangerous power struggle in a wealthy family. But why would other families attack this family? It's not like people can easily wage war, right?

The doubt deepened when Ainsworth heard the next conversation.

"I agree. But who will temporarily take the seat? The seven elders? The three guardians? The five buds?" The first person who shouted before had calmed down and asked rationally.

What...are those nicknames?

7 elders, 3 guardians and 5 buds? Sounds like an organisation name bestowed to a few elites.

Ainsworth gulped. She kept her ears perked up despite not understanding those nicknames.

'Anyway, Sloan Family, huh. So this body's family name is Sloan. But then...what kind of family is it?'

Actually, Ainsworth had a hunch about the identity of the family, but she was too scared to admit it.

Yes, there's no way it is true.

She denied it until she heard the calm man's voice inside the room.

"It can't be those three. They are not eligible to be the new boss. Shouldn't the new boss be the heiress, our young miss Ainsley?"

! Ainsley!

Ainsworth finally knew this body's name, which wasn't that different from her name. Thus, she hurriedly adopted the name to be her name from now on.

Ainsley, Ainsley Sloan. She's the heiress of this family.

Ainsworth, which was now Ainsley, smiled at the information she just got.

Hm, this body is around 3 years old, and she's already an heiress? Isn't this a good start?

Ainsley, who was leaning to the wall was giggling at the good news when the voice inside the room crushed her hope.

"Are you insane? When the family is on the brink of extinction, you want to place a 3-years-old toddler to be the family head?" The voice of the woman rang in the room.

Her voice sounded so cold and sarcastic that even Ainsley couldn't help but flinch.

What? The family is on the brink of extinction...? Is this a minority race or something? Why would a family fall just like that? Or maybe there will be a rebellion?! But I doubt this family is an aristocrat!

Ainsley bit her lower lips. Her rosy face slowly turned pale at the mention of her family.

Isn't this bad? I just transmigrated, and the family is going bankrupt or something? Heck! And they also said that the boss is gone.

Is the boss...my dad? Since I'm the heiress...does this mean my father is gone? And they said he might be kidnapped?

Ainsley felt like the world was crumbling fast. She couldn't hear the rest of the conversation since her heartbeat was so loud that she couldn't hear anything.

Ha...isn't this the worst?

Just when Ainsley thought so, the people in the room debated again.

"Can't we get the mother to act as the young miss' guardian? Then, we can appoint her to be the family head without worrying about her age."

"Did you forget that her mother is just a surrogate mother? She's long gone! Young miss is alone now."

"Damn. So we have to appoint one of those elites to be the family head? But isn't that going against our tradition?"

"Can't we just appoint the elites as the young miss' guardian and raise her as the family head?"

"Oh, good. The authority will still belong to the heiress, but until she becomes an adult, the guardian will be doing the role of the family head."

"Yes, that seems plausible. If we don't appoint the head soon, the other mafia families will target us. This is the best solution."

"Good. Then, tomorrow, bring the 7 elders and the five buds. The three guardians can wait until the young miss can trigger their bloodline."

The voices inside the room gradually died down, and the sound of people' footsteps echoed. The people inside the room slowly approached the golden door.

Ainsley didn't have time to think too much about the last few conversations. She hurriedly ran back to the corridor where her room was located. Once she arrived, only then she managed to sigh in relief.

"Ah. This is a mess." Ainsley plopped down on the floor and sprawled. The girl looked up at the ceiling, which seemed so tall for her tiny body.

Let's organise the information. I heard too much.

First, strangely, I can hear people's voices inside a room even though it shouldn't be possible. Let's just assume that this is my innate ability.

Second, this family, the Sloan Family...is a mafia family. That man, in the end, said that they're a mafia family and it's in crisis.

Third. My father, the former boss, is missing. My mother is just a surrogate mother.

Fourth. Tomorrow, I'll be crowned as the heiress while getting someone to act as my guardian. This person will be the one leading the family instead of me.

In other words, I'm just an empty puppet until I'm an adult.

Ainsley closed her eyes and sighed. She had read a lot of novels and manhwas with the protagonist having a hard time when they just transmigrated in, but none was the same as her current situation.

It sounded ridiculous, especially when her body was only 3 years old.

Unlike other protagonists who got a teenager or an adult body, she got a toddler's body. In other cases, the protagonist entered a baby's body, but they were rarely in this situation.

There were only a few cases where the protagonist's father tried to kill them when they were a baby, but then it failed thanks to their cuteness.

'But for me...I am not in immediate danger. Still, it means that I'll live as a puppet if my guardian isn't a good person. There will be a lot of people coveting the place of my guardian.'

That will make them lead the family. Even though this family is in crisis, they still seem wealthy. The new guardian and the leader might be a corrupt one.

That will be bad.

The future looks bleak.