I Don’t Need a Dad Like This! - Chapter 88

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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<Chapter 88>

 

While Rie was becoming a hero, the dejected Chocolat and Mint exchanged glances.

 

‘It seems like we’ve gotten on Lady Rie’s bad side. What should we do?’

 

‘It’s okay. We have our secret weapon for next time.’

 

Though this teacup incident was a bit unfair, the two girls steeled their hearts thinking of their ‘secret weapon.’

 

* * *

 

And so the tea time continued, and the children each received the drinks they wanted.

 

‘Rie gets milk with strawberry jam!’

 

As Rie gulped while looking at the milk the maid was pouring, Olivia casually asked.

 

“Rie, do you like milk?”

 

“Mm-hmm. This is my first time seeing milk with strawberry jam… I’ll drink it well!”

 

“Good. Go ahead and drink it.”

 

Olivia urged her on.

 

She felt a little bad about playing a trick on the child who had helped her, but it was unavoidable for the bigger picture.

 

And so she watched Rie lift the teacup—

 

Gulp gulp.

 

“It’s super duper delicious—!”

 

Rie beamed with white milk traces above her lips.

 

The drink should have spilled through the hole in the teacup, but it was perfectly fine.

 

‘What, what’s going on?’

 

Olivia’s face contorted mercilessly.

 

Though it felt unpleasant, the child decided to let it slide for now and scratched the back of her neck before lifting her teacup.

 

“I’ll just drink some black tea… Kyaah!”

 

But the tea water trickled out through the bottom of the teacup she lifted.

 

“What is this!”

 

The other young ladies burst into laughter at the sight.

 

“It looks like the fountain angel is relieving itself.”

 

“It’s perfect! Hahahaha!”

 

“Re-relieving itself… how can you say such things…”

 

Olivia’s face turned bright red at the direct assessment from the still-young children.

 

‘This can’t be happening? I definitely placed the teacup in front of Rie?!’

 

Moreover, the hole in the teacup was so small that it really did trickle out like an angel relieving itself.

 

She had deliberately made a small hole because she was worried Rie might get burned if the hole was too big.

 

‘How embarrassing! What if Mother scolds me…?’

 

Just as tears welled up in Olivia’s eyes and she squeezed them shut.

 

“When a friend is in danger, you have to help. You shouldn’t laugh.”

 

A voice like a lifeline came through the children’s laughter bombardment.

 

Surprised, Olivia gently opened her eyes.

 

“…Olivia. Are you okay?”

 

Before she knew it, Rie was standing there with a brave expression.

 

“…Me?”

 

“Mm-hmm. It must be hard with your dress all wet, right? Rie brought a handkerchief. It’s a handkerchief that my mother embroidered herself.”

 

Her confident ‘S’-shaped lips.

 

A precious handkerchief containing her mother’s touch.

 

Rie actually wiped Olivia’s dress with that handkerchief.

 

“Th-thank you, Rie…”

 

“It’s nothing at all. Helping a friend is natural.”

 

The child even pressed the handkerchief into Olivia’s hand and quietly returned to her seat.

 

Thump.

 

Olivia’s heart beat rapidly.

 

‘So, so cool…’

 

This wasn’t supposed to happen. She was supposed to make Rie her subordinate.

 

‘Rie is starting to look like a cool older sister!’

 

Olivia squeezed her eyes shut and shook her head vigorously.

 

The child thought of her 21 subordinates who were following her.

 

After barely coming to her senses like that.

 

“Kids. Don’t laugh like that and try what I prepared. These are wild strawberries airlifted from the Northern Region. Wild strawberry tart, wild strawberry cake. How about it? Today I specially arranged wild strawberry snacks.”

 

“Woooow—!”

 

“It looks really delicious!”

 

Fortunately, the simple-minded children cheered as soon as they saw the wild strawberry desserts.

 

Seeing this, the corners of Olivia’s mouth curved up crookedly again.

 

‘Hehe. As expected, babies love food. Rie must like it too, right?’

 

But then.

 

Chocolat quietly raised her hand.

 

“Since this is my first time being invited, it felt wrong to come empty-handed, so I brought dessert too.”

 

“…Dessert?”

 

“Will you prepare it?”

 

At the haughty Chocolat’s command, two of the child’s attendants placed something huge on the table.

 

It was none other than…

 

“A, a chocolate fountain!”

 

“Waaah!”

 

A chocolate fountain.

 

The young ladies’ eyes went wild at the stimulating sight and they immediately grabbed wild strawberries and started dipping them in the fountain.

 

“Wow, dipping it in chocolate makes it really delicious!”

 

“It would be the ultimate if there were marshmallows too!”

 

That’s right.

 

For four to six-year-old children, chocolate that was sweeter and more delicious than wild strawberries was the best.

 

This was Chocolat and Mint’s secret weapon to make today’s tea time successful.

 

They had prepared it as an excuse for Rie to enjoy the fountain and naturally become friends with the young ladies.

 

And their own favorability points would go up for preparing such a wonderful event.

 

“But wild strawberries… Mother said they were incredibly expensive…”

 

Feeling disgruntled at the sense that the roles had been reversed, Olivia looked toward Rie.

 

‘Won’t Rie notice the nobility of wild strawberries?’

 

No.

 

“Bleh—.”

 

“L-Lady Rie. You mustn’t!”

 

“Please use a spoon, Lady Rie!”

 

Chocolat and Mint were stopping Rie from sticking out her tongue beside her.

 

Even Rie had become a beast in front of the chocolate fountain.

 

‘Oh, my goodness! She’s not even glancing at my secret weapon!’

 

She had worked hard to prepare this to make Rie her subordinate.

 

If things went like this, they wouldn’t become close, so she couldn’t give Rie the seal keyring as a gift either.

 

“…”

 

Olivia’s eyebrows drooped dejectedly.

 

‘I ruined everything. I’ll just… eat wild strawberries.’

 

The sniffling child munched on wild strawberries alone among the children who had gone crazy for chocolate.

 

“Huh, huh—?!”

 

Meanwhile, Rie, who came to her senses belatedly, looked around.

 

And.

 

‘Could it be that Chocolat brought it on purpose?! To make Olivia feel left out?!’

 

She immediately grasped the situation.

 

That’s right.

 

This was the typical method from <That.Cave.Story> where the villainess subtly makes the protagonist feel excluded!

 

‘Chocolat, Mint. So very bad!’

 

Rie, with chocolate smeared all around her mouth, opened her mouth wide.

 

* * *

 

The tea time that Olivia had worked so hard to prepare ended with a ‘chocolate fountain.’

 

“Chocolat, you’re really amazing!”

 

“I told my mother I wanted a fountain too… but she said it would rot my teeth and wouldn’t buy it.”

 

“That was delicious! Olivia, see you later. Bye!”

 

“…Bye.”

 

Olivia timidly said goodbye.

 

The child watched the customers who were excited about the chocolate fountain.

 

The customers’ reaction was the best ever, but for her, this was the worst tea time she had ever hosted.

 

“…If I had known this would happen, I should have asked for a chocolate fountain too.”

 

After all the customers had left.

 

Olivia sat alone at the tea table and wiped away her tears.

 

Sniffle, sniffle.

 

Mother would be disappointed if she knew about this. That she couldn’t become friends with Rie.

 

By the way, Marquis’s Wife Rioleta was called the ‘Queen of Tea Time’ in high society.

 

Because no matter what gathering she attended, there was no gossip or discussion that didn’t involve her participation.

 

‘…I guess I can’t become like Mother.’

 

Just as the child’s eyes were turning red.

 

“Olivia!”

 

Suddenly, the voice of a peer calling her name.

 

Olivia was startled and frantically rubbed her eyes.

 

“Who is it?”

 

When she clumsily wiped away her tears and looked up, surprisingly, Rie, who hadn’t left yet, was holding out a handkerchief.

 

And it was a new handkerchief, not the one from earlier.

 

‘Could it be that she saw me crying?’

 

“I, I wasn’t crying, something just got in my eye and I was rubbing it. But well, if you’re offering it. I guess I should wipe away some eye boogers.”

 

The child hurriedly took the handkerchief and wiped around her eyes.

 

Meanwhile, Rie had very naturally sat down in the seat next to her.

 

‘…Didn’t she say this was her first time playing with children her age?’

 

She was sure she had heard that, but Rie seemed to have a natural ability to put others at ease, whether it was her inherent personality or not.

 

In fact, this personality had been developed through playing with Philip and Jair.

 

Olivia, who had no way of knowing this fact, was inwardly amazed.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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