I’m the Strong Youngest Daughter Here to Save My Family from Darkness - Chapter 7
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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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Chapter 7
Arienna’s trembling shoulders suddenly went still.
A chick?
Why does he look like a chick?
Without realizing it, Arienna was looking straight at Kyle. Prince Kyle was scary, but the chick wasn’t scary at all.
[Daddy let Eoheung the Tiger, Ppiyak, and Paengal be touched, and promised Sama-gwi would be raised too]
Daddy had promised.
He said that once Tuntuni got healthy, I could touch the chicks and the tigers again.
So a chick isn’t scary. Chicks are super, super cute and clever!
Thinking of Daddy, Arienna stretched her chubby little hand straight out in front of her.
Just then.
The chick’s wings shot up, as if it were recoiling in fierce refusal.
Glittering letters appeared before her eyes.
[※ The <Child Filtering> has started, changing frightening appearances into harmless ones!]
Arienna blinked, not quite understanding.
‘F-filtering? What’s that?’
At that, the letters in front of her flickered and changed with a soft chirp.
[If Tuntuni wears the <Transparent Glasses>, even scary opponents will look like cute animals!]
Arienna lifted the transparent glasses on the bridge of her nose, just a little.
There stood Prince Kyle, looking furious.
The moment she pulled them back down, it was a chick again.
The prince hadn’t turned into a chick. Wearing these glasses, he only looked like one to Tuntuni’s eyes!
‘So he’s not really a chick?’
[For now, he only looks like one!]
‘For now?’
The chick flapped its wings again, and Arienna quickly turned her head away.
* * *
Glasses that make a frightening prince look like a cute chick.
That much I understand.
[Tuntuni! Now you’re not scared of anything, right?]
Arienna recalled the words of the divine being.
“What a good child you are. Yes, Tuntuni… I shall grant you the Ability to Become Strong.”
Arienna tilted her head and protested inwardly.
‘But the divine being said it wasn’t just about not being scared, it was about becoming super, super strong!’
Making a person look like a tiny chick and making someone strong are two very different things.
‘Could there be another secret hidden in the ability?’
Still, somehow her heart felt like it was wrapped in a soft, cozy blanket. Just like Daddy was right beside her.
[※ Ability experiment successful! Ability will be deactivated in 5 seconds!]
Exactly five seconds later, the letters vanished from Arienna’s eyes.
The light that had been circling the lenses of the glasses also slowly faded.
And in place of the featherless chick, Prince Kyle’s figure came back into view.
‘Why did it disappear? The chick was cute.’
Arienna blinked, disappointed.
Meanwhile, the chick in front of her, or rather Kyle, was just as flustered.
“What? You? Why aren’t you avoiding my eyes? I told you I’m a monster! If you’re scared of me…”
“Just a little.”
“…?”
“Because you’re tiny. Just like a chick.”
At those words, Kyle’s jaw dropped.
“M-me, tiny?”
“Mm-hmm.”
“Me, a-a-a chick? What kind of ridiculous thing is that to say? Honestly.”
After that, Kyle chirped away like a chick for a good long while.
The boy who had felt frightening just moments ago now seemed nothing more than a peeping little chick.
‘What? He’s so loud. He doesn’t look like a chick anymore, but he kind of is.’
Even as Arienna blinked in wonder, Kyle kept talking at her.
“You’re the tiny one here. No one as small as you has ever crossed my long life. How dare you say something like that to me.”
“H-huh. I’m s-sorry.”
At Kyle’s words, Arienna bowed her head quickly.
Kyle thought he could not make heads or tails of Arienna.
The boldness from just moments ago had vanished, and his cowed demeanor left him confused.
‘I’ve never read about a creature this strange in any book.’
Not knowing what to do, Kyle finally said,
“Can’t we, like, just be friends?”
At the mere mention of becoming friends, he flinched all over again.
But this time, he couldn’t drive Arienna out of the mansion.
He simply left her standing in the hallway and fled first.
* * *
Little Kyle flees with his face flushed red!
It seemed it would take an eternity before they grew close.
‘If I want to get any closer than this…’
A bright idea sparked in the scheming little Arienna’s mind.
When the prince is human, he’s hard to get close to.
But when the prince is a chick, things are different!
‘If I treat Kyle the chick like a real chick, maybe we’ll become friends!’
She didn’t know how to befriend people.
But when it came to befriending animals, she was a certified expert.
That’s because Tuntuni had been around animals since she was a baby.
“Hey. How many times a day are we going on these trips, anyway?”
“I want my baby to see and hear more of the world than anyone else. We’ll travel by magic tool, so our Tuntuni won’t get tired.”
We saw plenty of plants, and we saw plenty of animals too!
‘I may not know my mom and dad’s faces, but I know so many animal faces!’
Arienna’s eyes lit up.
“Listen up, Tuntuni. A chick is…
[Special Chick Traits]
Arienna pulled a quill and a notebook from her pocket and kept scribbling letters without pause.
[What’s a chick like? 1. Scared of everything.]
And next.
[2. Don’t leave them alone.]
And last, but most important!
[3. …]
As she wrote down the third trait, Arienna’s eyes gleamed.
* * *
“What is this!”
A little while later.
Having finished his meditation to steady himself, Kyle stepped outside and looked around with a bewildered expression.
“What on earth is this? My majestic ice statues!”
The central lobby of the Monster Mansion had originally been filled with ice sculptures.
Kyle, who was born with a fondness for all things cold and ice, had carved them himself using his special ability. He had even cast special enchantments on them so they wouldn’t be affected by the weather.
And yet.
“Why are they melting!”
The cause was simple.
There was a little brat building a fire right in the middle of the lobby!
Arienna had gathered some twigs from who-knows-where and was getting a campfire going.
‘How did she even start a fire! That little runt!’
Furious, Kyle bristled from head to toe and dashed toward Arienna.
“I was worried the little prince would get cold! There were matches right next to you!”
Worried that he would get cold?
“What are you talking about! I love the cold, okay? Don’t you know my ability? Oh, wait, you just saw it!”
“I don’t really know. Oh! Ice tag.”
“It’s not ice tag! It’s a Glacial Freeze, the power to freeze everything!”
Kyle had been surrounded by ice since the day he was born.
There were often times when his fingertips tingled and cracked from the cold, but that was as natural to Kyle as breathing.
“So get that useless, fi-fire thing out of here.”
Kyle puffed up his whole body and growled.
Then he flung out his hand, trying to snuff out the flames.
Whenever he acted this rough, people who were already frightened would leave his side on their own.
But this little girl…
“You don’t need a fire? Huh. That can’t be right for a baby chick.”
“I’m serious! I really don’t need that stuff at all!”
But.
The closer he crept toward the little one to intimidate her, the more a strange warmth seeped through his whole body, warm and cozy.
And he didn’t mind it.
Since coming to Monster Island, this was the first time he’d talked with anyone for so long. That warmth felt a little like a mother’s embrace, and it also felt like the pain that had been tormenting his body was fading away.
Kyle scrunched his brow hard.
This isn’t right.
No.
He faltered and stepped backward.
“I hate fire. I really, really hate it!”
Arienna studied Kyle’s expression closely, then shot her hand up in the air.
“No, you don’t. Chicks love warm things!”
Then she whipped out a worn-out notebook and held it up high.
Beneath a heading that read .
[3. Loves warm things so, so much.]
…That was the line written there.
“What?”
“That’s why you’re smiling!”
Kyle, who had been about to argue with Arienna, faltered.
He could feel the corners of his mouth lifting on their own.
‘My, my lips have lost their minds!’
Flustered, Kyle hurriedly covered his mouth.
“Right? I’m right, aren’t I?”
“Th-that’s not it at all!”
“We’ve gotten a little closer. It’s because you made the chick all warm and toasty!”
This little brat, without a hint of hesitation, was even resting a hand on his shoulder.
Kyle was left speechless, bewildered by the small hand perched on his shoulder.
“Then from now on, I’ll protect the sick chick!”
“You?”
“Yes!”
“Are you talking about me?”
Nod, nod.
Arienna’s head bobbed so vigorously it looked like it might snap off.
Watching the kid, who seemed to be barely half his size, Kyle steeled himself again and answered firmly.
“Enough. This place is dangerous. It’s no place for a little kid like you. Monsters could show up at any moment.”
“Hyuk, that’s not fair.”
Arienna’s lips pushed out into a pout.
“Who says it isn’t fair?”
Kyle, who had snapped back sharply, stole a glance out the window.
The evening, when the sky had been dyed red, had passed, and already the night of Monster Island was coming on.
This kid must not have eaten a thing since arriving in the daytime.
“I’ll show you one last mercy.”
“Hmph.”
“I’ll share just one piece of bread. After that, I’m kicking you out, so go back without looking behind you. Back to where you came from.”
I can’t go any further than this. It’s already dark, and I was a bit worried about whether there’d even be a boat returning to the Capital, but then, she’s a child from a noble family, so she probably has a Pager or something.
To steady himself again, Kyle slipped his hand into his pocket. Then he gripped the worn-out brooch inside tightly.
‘Think, Kyle. About the meaning of this brooch.’
The moment the rough surface of the brooch touched his fingertips.
Pop, pa-bat!
Light began to burst forth from the tips of Kyle’s fingers.
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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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