The Baby Has No Strength to Hide! - Chapter 10

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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 10
Pastel-hued twilight bled through the window, and the absence of that child in this room struck something deep within him, tap-tap-tap, like a persistent ache.
He’d expected to find her sprawled across the wide bed, or else tearing through the halls with her small companions.
But the girl had vanished, and that realization rippled outward through him like disturbance across still water.
Calisto felt his chest tighten without warning.
It was the same suffocating sensation as that first moment he’d realized there were gaps in his own memory.
“My, everyone has gathered here, I see?”
“Oh, Cora!”
“Cora!”
“Have you seen the young lady, by any chance?”
At Peril’s worried tone, Cora tilted her head thoughtfully.
“Well now, I’d wager every servant in the castle has caught sight of her at least once today.”
Gentle creases framed her smile as she spoke, and something in her composure steadied him.
Calisto felt the tension in his shoulders unwind without his realizing it—drawn down by the gravity of her calm presence alone.
“Though, to be honest, I did see the young lady racing down the corridor like an arrow just moments ago. She seemed to be headed for the Old Archive Warehouse.”
“The Old Archive Warehouse?”
The Old Archive Warehouse was among the oldest corners of the Rubentain Grand Duchy—a forgotten space buried deep within the castle, rarely trodden by servants, decrepit and silent.
It had once held books and records, curios and treasures, but now it housed only dust-laden antiques and forgotten toys, a place where only the younger staff ventured out of idle curiosity.
Peril seemed bewildered as to how the young lady had ended up there, but Calisto didn’t hesitate—he moved toward the warehouse with swift, decisive steps.
“It’s been quite a while.”
Calisto pushed open the weathered warehouse door with effort.
It creaked on its hinges with an ear-grating sound. The stench of dust undisturbed for years pricked his nostrils, but Calisto did not falter.
Moonlight filtered through the window cracks, spilling between the broken silence, illuminating Ailien’s small silhouette in pale, ghostly tones.
He drew breath to exhale in relief, then stopped.
Ailien was not alone.
“Who are you?”
Calisto’s voice rang out cold and sharp.
“Someone I haven’t met before.”
Calisto knew the particulars of every soul who worked within the ducal castle—and the combination of black hair and golden eyes was rare enough to warrant immediate suspicion.
‘Rare, yes, and yet… familiar somehow?’
Even as the thought crossed his mind, his hand moved of its own accord toward his Side Sword. Tension crystallized through the warehouse air.
“Oh, Calisto’s here!”
Ailien’s bright voice cut through the palpable danger like it didn’t exist.
“Ailien, come here—”
“Don’t worry, she’s harmless.”
“What?”
“This is Kiki!”
“…What?”
Calisto wondered if his ears had betrayed him.
“Kiki—your friend, the one who’s a cat, remember?”
“Well, you have eyes, so you can see—but not right now!”
At Ailien’s spirited reply, Calisto lowered his hand and studied the black-haired girl intently.
Those golden eyes showed no fear whatsoever—only boredom, as if this entire affair were an irritating waste of time. In that moment, Calisto found himself utterly speechless.
Was he dreaming?
“Ahem, Ailien transformed Kiki into a human!”
“Good heavens, Zeroniace.”
And the most startled among them was Peril, who stood behind Calisto.
Since the Beast War, people across not just the empire but the entire continent cried out Zeroniace’s name whenever they encountered the inexplicable.
She had become humanity’s savior, closer to them than any god.
“Hm?”
The answer came from closer by.
“Yes?”
“But you called me!”
Ailien looked up at Peril with bright eyes, her meaning lost on the maid, who could only manage an awkward smile in response.
“Whoa!”
Calisto, who’d been holding his head in disbelief from the back, suddenly snatched Ailien by the collar and lifted her up.
The child went limp like a kitten caught by the scruff of the neck, her limbs dangling loose, letting out a delighted trill as Calisto brought her to eye level.
“So you’re telling me that woman is Kiki.”
Calisto met Ailien’s gaze seriously and posed the statement as a question. The girl’s brow furrowed sharply.
“Ugh.”
Ailien’s feet bounced and kicked, irritation bubbling up with each motion.
“How many times do I have to ask before you believe me, Calisto? Do I need to tell you fifty million times before you’ll trust me?”
“No, that’s not what I meant.”
“She’s Kiki, she’s Kiki, she’s Kiki, she’s Kiki… mmph!”
Calisto clamped his hand over Ailien’s mouth, determined to silence her before she could repeat herself fifty million times over.
He found himself wondering, in fact, just how many times fifty million actually was.
“What is it with this little brat anyway.”
He spoke the words like a sigh, yet his mouth curved upward. Ailien, with only her eyes visible above her blanket, crinkled them in laughter.
Calisto rose slowly and positioned himself before the stranger.
The girl—or perhaps young woman, suspended at that uncertain threshold—emanated a faint, familiar presence. That unfathomable magic, cold yet warm, impossible to describe in any other way, was unmistakably Zeroniace’s.
Calisto’s gaze moved in turn across Kiki and Ailien, then settled on the Heart Wand and weathered Wooden Horse in the girl’s hands.
‘That Wooden Horse…’
It was a gift Merlin had given him long ago.
Calisto kept his lips pressed firmly together, unable to tear his eyes from the toy.
The memory of riding it had grown distant and hazy, but that faint echo of joy bloomed across his mouth in a gentle smile.
“Can she maintain that form indefinitely?”
“No. She can sustain it for roughly half a day.”
“Thanks to Merlin’s abilities, then.”
“…Yes.”
At Kiki’s response, Calisto finally turned his head.
“From today forward, you are Ailien’s personal lady’s maid.”
The command was direct, yet it carried absolute certainty. Calisto understood, by pure instinct, that no one else in this castle would cherish and care for Ailien as devotedly as this cat girl would.
“For the remaining half day, you can keep her company in your cat form.”
“Pardon?”
Peril was the one caught off guard.
“Let’s keep it between us that Kiki is a cat.”
“But this is far too sudden!”
“That’s final.”
Every servant in the Grand Duchy of Rubentain had to go through proper procedures to be employed. It was a place where only those with verified backgrounds could enter.
Peril was on the verge of objecting that she couldn’t simply hire a stranger who claimed to originally be a cat, when a squeaking sound erupted from below.
“Proper procedure is surely necessary!”
“Procedure?”
“I believe she’s referring to procedure, sir.”
As everyone turned to look at Ailien in confusion, Kiki added in an emotionless voice.
“Yes, procedure.”
“That’s right—we can’t just ignore procedure!”
“There’s a way to handle it.”
Ailien’s mouth fell open.
“What way?”
“Simple. I do whatever I want.”
At Calisto’s straightforward answer, Ailien could only close her mouth.
***
Ailien had spent the morning exploring the castle, so by the time she sat at the dinner table, she was whimpering pitifully. Even when Caius, seated across from her, fixed her with a disapproving look, she paid him no mind.
Eventually Kiki brought bread and held it to her lips. Ailien let out a squeal and bit down, then immediately collapsed onto the table.
Her brow furrowed, her mouth gaping wide—and after having managed to nibble off only a small piece of crust, everyone burst into laughter.
Calisto himself laid the sleeping Ailien in bed. The child sprawled across the mattress like warm, melted cheese.
Moonlight filtered through the window, touching the girl’s cheek with gentle grace as Calisto gazed down at her tenderly.
‘How strange this all is.’
For Calisto, today had been truly, genuinely strange. Zeroniace’s small cottage, animals that seemed to understand human speech, even one of them transforming into a person. And strangest of all.
This tiny child now sleeping soundly before him.
Like a man under the moon’s spell, Calisto carefully lifted his hand and caressed her plump cheek.
“Nngh.”
Whether in annoyance or protest, her small arms thrashed up and down with surprising vigor. She turned her body fretfully, and the sight of those round, chubby cheeks moving was so unbearably cute that laughter escaped him unbidden.
“Sorry, sorry.”
The moment Calisto apologized, her body relaxed and stretched out again as if she’d understood. Every sleepy gesture was so endearing, so precious, that he found himself unable to stop watching.
After some time, as he struggled to finally rise from the bed, the cat and the flying squirrel hopped up onto the mattress as if they’d been waiting.
The flying squirrel settled near Ailien’s cheek, while the cat took a spot along her back.
It was a scene that hinted at how the three of them had lived together in that fairy-tale cottage.
“Thank you.”
Calisto murmured the words almost unconsciously, unsure even as he spoke them why gratitude had seized his heart.
Yet as if in answer to those words, a soft mewing and chirping echoed through the room. Whether the two had simply exhausted themselves with all that had transpired, Calisto couldn’t say, but they fell asleep at once.
“I look forward to your continued help.”
With that gentle farewell, Ailien’s door closed. One by one, the faint lights spilling from the corridor’s far end went dark. Beyond the windows, clouds swallowed the moon whole, and a thick, suffocating darkness draped itself across the castle walls.
And then.
“……Mother.”
A child’s whimper tore through the silence.

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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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