Human Doll Contract (人娃契) [Prologue]

So, this is my first time translating light novels and I decided to pick up Human Doll Contract, a series by Yu Wo (御我) author of 1/2 Prince. This whole translation thing is for me to practice my Chinese so forgive me if I’m slow with putting out new chapters. Corrections are appreciated, especially if there's anything that is extremely misrepresented or if there's grammatical mistakes (cause I probably made plenty).

I did buy the book in traditional Chinese (yea, you should support the writer too if it gets officially translated into English)! Don't have a scanner so won't be putting any pretty pictures online. All content belongs to the original author and I claim no rights to them. Please do not paste my translations elsewhere and/or charge for it. I’ll be a very sad panda... =_________=

If the original writer would like content removed, please contact me and I'll take it off immediately.

如果作者或这出版社想要我立即停止翻译这作品, 请送我封电子邮件, 我会马上删掉。 多谢！

Enjoy!

11/17/2013 - Got myself a proofreader so I'm updating the page XD

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Prologue

After staring at the checkout page for some time, I finally pressed the payment button. With this simple gesture, a large sum of money disappeared into someone else’s account.

A wail resounded...not from me but from the blond man sitting next to me.

"You did that on purpose!" the man growled. With a turn of his head, he completely vanished without a trace.

"Seriously? So immature..." I sneered.

A black haired man stood nearby with a knowing smile, like a mother watching her children in a petty squabble. That’s absurd! I’m the “mother” in this situation and you’re the “kid,” okay?

But it was hard to convince myself, let alone someone else, that this grown man of 180 cm (6’) was a “kid.” After all, I’m barely 160 cm (5’3”). If I stood in front of him, I would barely come up to the red tie emerging from his buttoned vest.

Back on track, I had ordered something called a Ball-Jointed Doll, BJD for short or 球體關節人形 (qiútǐ guānjié rénxíng) in Chinese. It’s a highly poseable, human-like doll that’s been popular of late. I mean, if I’ve heard of it, then it must be extremely popular.

The doll displayed on the webpage had the same expression as the dark-haired man. I also chose a wig that matched his hair; if it were placed on the doll, they’d look identical.

"Do you like it?" I asked, already knowing his response.

Sure enough, the man replied with a smile, "Exceptionally satisfied, thank you very much.”

Although the man appeared happy, there was no sense of gratification. This was probably because he’s a butler by trade and any scrupulous butler would never defy their master. Even if I had ordered some large-breasted Barbie with a small waist for him, he would still say something like he's 'exceptionally satisfied.’

It was a little disappointing. If I had bought that doll for the blond-haired man, would he have been pleased and grateful?

No...I don’t think he would’ve been. What that guy wanted wasn’t a doll but a real body, which is one reason why he stormed off. He’d also lost an argument with Mr. Butler here and that probably set the fuse...to tell the truth, Mr. Butler never even argued with him.

In the end, it wouldn’t matter much to me if I gave Blondie a doll too. I did just get my paycheck after all.

Purposely not buying him one was just my way of punishment. That shameful wretch had used god-knows-how-many despicable methods in an attempt to make me to call his name. Thank my lucky stars I understand him so well. Since my defenses against him were as strong as the Pacific Ocean is deep, he didn’t succeed.

What? What’s the harm in calling someone’s name?

Are you kidding? You can't just randomly call someone’s name. Since ancient times, names were considered a form of magic. Even to this day, this power exists although most have forgotten about it. However, to “things” like Mr. Butler and Blondie, their names hold great power.

You shouldn’t randomly call their names because...

Call once it becomes an illusion, call twice it becomes a lie1, call thrice it becomes real.

Both the blond and dark-haired man were in the “illusion” stage. Got to be more careful not to randomly say their names. If their names were called and they upgrade, it will be a huge mess.

"Such annoying things!" I said. As my eyes drifted over to where the black-haired butler was still standing, I quickly corrected myself, "you’re an exception."

The butler maintained his smile, seemingly unsure whether he should believe me or not. Anyway, what I said was the truth because he was very useful.

Although I can’t let him become a "lie,” let alone “real,” I still can’t help but want to find something for him to reside in. There’s nothing more appropriate than the recently popular BJD, but the high price was painful.

As long as Mr. Butler could have a place where he could live without me needing to call him, then he could come out of his own accord to help me clean the house, cook and do the laundry. When I think about the fact that he’s much more useful than any automatic washing machine or vacuum cleaner, the doll’s price was much more acceptable.

My only problem was that I still need to take out the trash myself. The “illusion” Mr. Butler cannot afford to do it without someone crying bloody murder. After all, he is transparent from his waist down.

Previously, when the cold weather had set in, I almost called the butler’s name because I didn’t want to take out the trash. Fortunately, it only needs to be taken out once a week so I could, reluctantly, accept doing it on my own.

"If you have the doll to live in, could you possibly sprout some legs?" I’m trying to avoid all chores, even that once-a-week garbage run if possible.

"If it’s for a short duration, I might be able to. Also, this…," Mr. Butler said, looking at the invoice. "This doll looks very human,” he praised, “it’ll make disguising myself much easier."

"Yeah, it looks very human," I replied, glancing over at the doll on the webpage.

Well, wasn't that the truth? The muscles were similar to a real body and they’d even carved blood vessels on top. Seriously though, maybe it looked too human.

¹The word 虛 which translates to something like ‘false’ or ‘empty.’ I saw that the translation site Prince Revolution used 'lie' so I'm going to follow that unless someone else has a better suggestion.