The Baby Has No Strength to Hide! - Chapter 16

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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 16
“That’s done.”
After a prolonged struggle, Calisto nodded with satisfaction. Ailien looked up at him as if gazing into a mirror and asked.
“Am I pretty?”
“Mm.”
“Am I pretty?”
“Sturdy, at least.”
He’d chosen “sturdy” over “pretty” because his conscience wouldn’t allow him to say the latter. One side was pulled taut, the other still a bit loose—mismatched hair. But Ailien simply laughed with delight at the compliment.
“I found something amazing!”
The child proudly held out the small basket he’d been clutching so carefully. It was filled to the brim with wildflowers whose names Calisto couldn’t have guessed. He found himself speechless, shifting his gaze between the child’s radiant face, his hands far dirtier than that face, and the flowers in the basket.
“Father.”
How long had he been standing there in silence, alternating his gaze between Ailien and the basket?
The familiar voice from behind made him lift his head gladly, and in that moment, Calisto froze—utterly taken aback.
“Kaiuus, you.”
Kaiuus, the First-born Heir of Rubentain and the young lord of the North said to govern the cold northern winds, knew better than anyone the weight of his station and the crown he wore.
That was why he strove harder than anyone else. As heir to heroes, he had never once allowed himself to appear disheveled or undignified.
So what on earth had happened to bring him back in such a state?
“My apologies, Father. My clothes are rather—”
“Don’t be too hard on the child.”
Calisto found it startling enough that Kaiuus was offering such a formal apology, but the small voice squeaking from beside him was far more startling still.
Before Calisto could protest, Ailien clamped his small hand over the man’s mouth. Then he fixed his face into an expression of stern severity.
“Kids are supposed to run around and play to grow!”
“No, that’s not what I meant—”
“But Kai doesn’t know how to play. It was so hard to teach him…….”
Ailien gazed at Kaiuus with genuine pity.
Kaiuus sighed. It was his first time playing tea-party in his life, and he was certain of one thing: what he’d been doing was no ordinary tea-party play.
In this tea-party, the role assigned to him was a dragon living next door to Prince Ailien. —He had insisted that the prince did not actually live in a house, and the dragon certainly did not live in a house either, but to no avail.—
Tea time with the prince next door had been the worst. The stubborn young prince observed no etiquette whatsoever. When Kaiuus pointed this out, the boy snapped that he didn’t know how to play. What was truly absurd was that the flying-squirrel princess and the dragon’s grandfather cat threw themselves into their roles with complete conviction, squeaking and meowing away.
Then suddenly the child would laugh and go running—it made no sense at all.
What made the least sense was that he himself was chasing after the boy, teacup in hand.
‘It was more fun than I expected.’
Once, long ago, Evangeline had bought a tea-party toy set for young Kaiuus.
Even as she handed it over to her son, she’d worn an expression that said, ‘Is this really the thing to do?’
At that time, Kaiuus had thanked her politely while firmly refusing to play with it. He’d thought he was past the age for such toys. Yet here he was, engaging in tea-party play in this fashion.
“And look what I brought!”
Prompted by Ailien’s insistence, Calisto gazed at the flowers in the basket once more, then reached out and began to touch them with careful fingers. They felt soft, like the child’s cheek.
“This makes me feel good.”
“It makes you feel good, does it.”
“Yes, and I’ll give some to Kal too.”
“How generous of you.”
“How generous?”
The blue eyes gleamed. Without thinking, Calisto gently rubbed the child’s cheek with his index finger.
Yes, it felt just like the petals.
“Generous means very grateful—that I’m very thankful.”
“So I made Kal feel very grateful!”
“You did.”
“That makes sense. I gave you flowers, after all?”
Ailien puffed out his chest as if to demonstrate how magnificent a deed he’d accomplished. At the sight of the child’s proud stance, chest thrust forward, Calisto lowered his head slightly.
The boy was being so serious that he was afraid something terrible would happen if he smiled.
“Oh, right!”
Suddenly remembering something, Ailien stretched out his small hand. Tiny against the adult’s face, it reached toward Calisto’s mouth.
Before Calisto could deflect the approaching hand, Ailien pressed it firmly in place, whether the man was flustered or not.
As Calisto hesitated, confused by the slight pressure he felt at his lips, Ailien spoke with grave determination.
“Open.”
“What?”
“Flowers go in.”
Without warning, Ailien grabbed a handful of flowers from the basket and began stuffing them into Calisto’s mouth. Kaiuus, who had been watching from behind, rushed over and pulled the child away, but by then Calisto had no choice but to chew on petals.
As the slightly bitter taste spread through his mouth, Calisto’s eyes widened. A strange sensation traveled along his tongue, and he stared blankly at Ailien.
Ailien simply smiled brightly—as if he’d merely done what was obviously right.
***
The attendants in the Reception Hall were all flustered by the sudden turn of events. Ailien had burst through the door, bringing Calisto and Kaiuus with him.
Seeing the child the Grand Duke’s House had meant to send away now sitting directly before him stirred something peculiar in his chest.
The child’s mouth hung slightly open as he regarded each person in turn, slowly and deliberately. As if trying to commit their faces to memory.
“When I told you to stay, what I meant was—”
The moment the child, sitting with grave composure, opened his mouth, the attendants exchanged glances as though they’d rehearsed it.
So the words just spoken—were they truly coming from a child who barely reached above the knee? Not from the Grand Duke of Rubentain himself?
“Ahem.”
Molton, the baron who’d made no secret of his disapproval all along, spoke up. Ailien blinked at the unexpected response and tilted his head in confusion.
“Your Excellency may be generous of spirit and indulge this child with yes and yes, but such shameful manners! Look how plainly his lack of proper training shows through in his very speech!”
“That guy’s mad.”
Ailien blinked as he listened to the baron, then leaned close to Kaiuus beside him and whispered. He’d made an effort to keep his voice low, but regrettably, it carried well enough for everyone in the Reception Hall to hear.
“Your Excellency, look at this ill-mannered brat! Surely he doesn’t address you so disrespectfully as well?”
“Disrespectful!”
Ailien threw his hands wide open.
“Fire coming from Lili’s hands!”
With both arms stretched forward, his expression grave, he twisted his body this way and that, and all the attendants couldn’t help but show their bewilderment.
Whether they’d seen the battlefield firsthand or not, everyone gathered here had grown up beneath the shadow of war from childhood. The horrors of that reality had become a bitter catalyst for their premature maturation, and thus hardened, they had withered far too quickly.
For those who had learned survival before they could learn the space for emotion, such boundless, artless innocence was a terra incognita—they had no idea how to respond to it.
As silence held while no one found an appropriate reaction, only Molton and several of the traditionalists maintained their constant displeasure, their brows furrowed.
“Now, really—!”
“That will be enough, Molton.”
“Your Excellency!”
“In any case, I came because I have something to give you, so don’t worry too much about it and sit. Lili will make sure to behave.”

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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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