I'll Stop Regressing and Raise a Baby Dragon - Chapter 9

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Episode 9
“I don’t like that sort of thing.”
I didn’t want to use a living creature for my own purposes.
I knew far too well what it felt like to be used.
I simply wanted to become its friend.
I stopped thinking and reached out my hand toward the rabbit.
The rabbit stared directly into my eyes for a moment, then hopped cautiously toward me.
“Hello.”
I murmured softly, flipped my palm upward, and extended it carefully.
The rabbit began taking small hops toward me.
It came within reach of my hand and sniffed my scent with its little nose.
‘…It’s so small. So cute.’
My heart, which had been racing, soon calmed down.
Only a ticklish warmth and the desire to become friends remained.
Just as the rabbit was about to press its cheek into my palm—
“Hey, what are you doing over there?”
A sharp voice called from behind me.
It was Theodore.
Startled, my hand flinched, and the frightened rabbit vanished into the undergrowth.
“Theodore—Older Brother.”
A few days ago, at a gathering where my family and I sat together for the first and last time, we had settled on how to address each other.
I couldn’t call someone who was family by titles like “Grand Tower Master” or “Young Master” forever.
Of course, even though I kept an iron mask on my face, calling Luke “father” felt strange.
So instead of Grand Tower Master, I changed to calling him by his ducal title.
And I decided to call Edward and Theodore “Older Brother” instead of the more casual forms.
“…’Older Brother’?”
Theodore’s eyebrows lifted slightly as he repeated my words.
“W-who’s your older brother?”
His face flushed as he grumbled.
He clearly didn’t like being called Older Brother.
Honestly, his reaction wasn’t unpleasant.
Right—I wasn’t fond of that title either.
“If it’s uncomfortable, would you prefer I call you Young Master when we’re alone?”
I hurried to offer him a better alternative.
“What? That’s……”
Theodore’s eyes widened in surprise, as if he hadn’t expected such a suggestion.
Then he frowned slightly before answering.
“Never mind. What if you get confused and call me Young Master in front of others later?”
There was no reason I’d get confused.
I was disappointed, but since he’d already refused, I couldn’t ask again.
I nodded and spoke.
“Understood. Older Brother.”
“Right, well. I suppose I’ll have to accept it.”
Theodore rambled for a moment, then cleared his throat several times and changed the subject.
“Anyway, what are you doing here?”
“Oh, I was watching the rabbit.”
“That one? You saw it? Isn’t it cute?”
As soon as he mentioned the rabbit, Theodore’s mouth stretched into a grin—apparently he loved animals.
“Yes, it was adorable with its white fur and fluffy appearance.”
His attitude shift was utterly jarring.
But for now, at least the hostility toward me had vanished.
I quickly agreed with him and forced a smile.
‘I need to earn points while I can.’
Whether or not Theodore knew what was running through my mind, he began boasting about the rabbit.
I wasn’t genuinely interested, so I listened with one ear and let it go out the other, while appearing to engage enthusiastically.
“Anyway, you’re lucky. It usually runs away from people because it’s afraid of them.”
I held back the words I wanted to say—that I seemed to be different from ordinary people.
Instead, I laughed it off with a hollow smile.
I’d just decided to change the subject when Theodore, with perfect timing, spoke up.
“But where did your maid and ‘that’ go? Why are you here alone?”
“I told Annie I wanted to take a walk alone for a bit. Kai’s sleeping right now.”
“Alone? Why?”
“I find it more comfortable that way.”
At my answer, Theodore blinked, then turned his head sharply and muttered something under his breath.
“Strange one. Just like his brother.”
I made a mental note that Edward was an introverted person.
“What are you doing here, Theodore?”
“Me? Well. Nothing much. Just bored.”
Theodore spoke rapidly and subtly averted his gaze.
I narrowed my eyes and studied him.
‘This guy. He’s come to pick a fight with me again.’
Though he’d been quiet these past few days.
Intuiting as much, I smiled quietly and asked.
“Since I was finding it rather lonely to wander about alone as well, would it be alright if I accompanied you for a while?”
I lamented my position — forced to treat him kindly on the surface, even as irritation burned within.
“Walk together?”
Theodore’s eyes widened in surprise, then narrowed again.
He, who had been staring intently at everything but me, finally met my gaze.
Whether in mockery or not, he pulled one corner of his mouth upward in a smirk and answered.
“Fine by me.”
***
So we’d been walking together—or rather, not quite together—for twenty minutes now.
Theodore and I moved at the same pace, in the same rhythm.
But conversation had almost entirely ceased.
‘…Why did I even suggest walking together if this is how it’d be?’
The few exchanges we’d had at the start of our stroll had fizzled out quickly.
Even those had been nothing but trivial remarks about the weather and my dress.
‘Who on earth tailored that dress for you? I thought you were a chick.’
Theodore’s mocking voice surfaced in my mind each time I tried to forget it.
Ugh, the more I thought about it, the more infuriating it became.
I clenched my fists silently to suppress the anger I couldn’t express.
Theodore, somehow noticing this, asked me.
“Something bothering you?”
“…No, nothing.”
“Alright then.”
He nodded calmly and turned his gaze forward again.
From that point on, the conversation died once more.
‘I can’t stand this awkwardness.’
Just as I was about to tell him we should walk separately after all.
“But you know, if you want to get angry, just let it out.”
From him came words I’d never expected.
“…What?”
‘Did the person responsible for this really just say that?’
The absurdity of it was so complete that my anger simply evaporated.
Theodore, regardless, explained again with a newly serious expression.
“Don’t hold anger in. Otherwise both you and I will end up sick, yeah?”
As he said this, he scratched the back of his head.
Then he pressed hard against his chest, as if frustrated about something.
It was where that Pendant hung—the one he’d been sharp about telling me not to look at before.
“So you’ve gotten sick from holding things in, have you?”
It was a question delivered half sincerely, half mockingly.
“Of course. Why else would I say something like that?”
His answer was not what I’d expected.
‘…What happened to him?’
I don’t know Theodore particularly well.
But judging from how he seemed outwardly, I wouldn’t have taken him for the type to bottle things up.
“I understand. Thank you for the advice.”
In the end, that was all I could say.
Theodore laughed a small, sharp laugh at my response.
“So what is it about me that bothers you?”
……He’d picked up on the fact that I was angry with him, uncannily well.
I’d thought him oblivious.
‘But could anyone really air someone’s faults to their face like that?’
I wrestled with the urge to lie, then decided to let out just a little.
“Well, for one thing, there’s not much conversation.”
“I stay quiet rather than deliberately pick fights with you.”
“……And your tone tends to be rather aggressive too.”
“I’ve no defense against that. It’s true.”
“……Do you have no intention of fixing these things even if I tell you?”
“I don’t know. I’ll listen and think about it.”
I decided to stop there.
My jaw was beginning to ache.
‘Maybe I should drop the plan to befriend him.’
The thought crept in that taking revenge alone would be a hundred times better.
I hardened my expression, turned away, and simply walked on.
“……Should I try to change starting now?”
Theodore, who’d been wearing a playful smile, began to study my face.
“No, it’s fine.”
“Ah, I see. I’ll just do it then. Talk more, that is.”
Why was he suddenly so restless?
Hadn’t he been indifferent to me, at best?
Perhaps the resentment already building made me think such things.
In any case, watching him straighten his sulky posture, I decided to give him another chance.
Theodore squeezed his eyes shut and bowed his head.
“So…… what do you usually do?”
He managed to push out that single sentence, then wore a proud expression.
……Yes, it was still better than the silence before.
“I went for a walk for the first time today, but usually I’m in my room or training.”
“Training? What kind of training?”
At that, Theodore’s eyes sparkled with interest.
“Do you also enjoy exercising or swordplay?”
“That’s not it.”
“Then what is it? ……Don’t tell me you’re learning Magic from Father?”
His expression darkened noticeably at the prying question.

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