The Baby Has No Strength to Hide! - Chapter 17

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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 17
“What? No, that little one keeps doing this over and over!”
“Baron, why do you keep acting like this?”
Ailien spoke again with perfect composure, as if she had never been playing around at all. Baron Molton stood there gaping, at a loss for words.
He wasn’t listening from the start, was he? Just as Ailien was about to scold him once more, the door opened at an opportune moment, and servants carrying silver trays filed in in a neat line.
A subtle yet crisp floral fragrance filled the Reception Hall in an instant.
To be certain, everyone present in this Reception Hall was smelling this fragrance for the first time.
Those who survived the Demon War each carried their own aftereffects. The one thing they all shared was headaches. What used to be a dull throb had become their new normal.
They had tried everything to reach this point. Every medicinal herb the physicians across the Continent recommended for headaches had been found and brewed into remedies, and there was not a single person gathered here who hadn’t tried them all.
They used to joke that they’d probably eaten every plant on the Continent by now, weeds included.
“This fragrance is…….”
“Lili picked flowers!”
The moment someone among those entranced by the fragrance spoke, Ailien cried out with unbridled delight.
When she’d first said she was going to steep the flowers she’d worked so hard to gather in hot water, she’d been so upset she’d shed tears—but the fragrance had only grown more concentrated.
“Ha!”
Baron Molton, who had remained standing until then, let out a scoff of pure disdain.
“You’re asking us to drink weeds that a child picked from who knows where?”
“Ugh. It’s him again.”
Ailien and Baron Molton locked eyes, glaring at each other. It was remarkable that a grown man would engage in a genuine quarrel with a child like this, but it was even more astounding how Ailien stood her ground without flinching.
“How can anyone drink something with no provenance!”
“Then just don’t drink it!”
“What?”
“But Baron, every time you eat something, do you go around asking about its… its provenance? That sounds exhausting for everyone around you…….”
Ailien had rephrased the thought “you’re so tiring to be around” in a deliberately gentle way, then softly closed her eyes and shook her head side to side.
“Enough bickering. Everyone, try the tea. I vouch for it.”
Callisto spoke in a voice low but carried weight. The retainers, unable to dare defy their lord’s words, began picking up their teacups one by one.
Of course, the members of the Emerging Faction would have drunk the tea regardless of whether Callisto had urged them personally.
“The fragrance is quite remarkable.”
“It’s a scent I’ve never encountered before…….”
The Flower Tea was releasing a fragrance that could not be ignored.
Callisto even wore a subtle smile. Entranced by that smile, people began to bring the teacup to their lips one by one. One sip became two sips, and soon everyone was lost in concentration on what they held in their hands.
Ailien had already grown bored, swinging her short little legs crossed beneath her.
“Really. How far are you going to humor this child’s game?”
“Baron Molton.”
Caius, who had not spoken a single word since entering the Reception Hall, now opened his mouth with quiet composure.
“Do not mock play.”
Caius spoke in a grave voice. Playing with Ailien drained more energy than one might expect, yet there was a peculiar kind of joy that warmed a corner of his heart. It seemed like the first time he had ever heard bright, clear laughter while playing.
Even if not often, it seemed he could easily spare the time to hold that small, soft hand and keep rhythm with her.

‘They’ve all gone mad.’
Baron Molton, rendered speechless, shook his head in silent shock. And he made an inward vow once more: get that brat out of here at once.
That child is an omen of ruin.
As he turned his head to the side to seek agreement from the man next to him, an incredible sight unfolded before his eyes.
The expressions of the Emerging Faction members who were silently savoring the Flower Tea were all…….
So utterly blissful it was beyond belief.
“Your Grace!”
Baron Kirain, unable to contain himself any longer, sprang to his feet. Then he dropped to his knees, his head bowed. A faint sound of weeping could be heard from him.
Following his lead, all the retainers of the Emerging Faction fell to their knees.
Ailien, watching this scene unfold before her, widened her eyes. Why are they suddenly sitting on the floor? She tilted her head in confusion and looked at Callisto, but he merely wore a quiet smile.
“How is this possible. How can this be.”
It was incomprehensible. The moment they drained their teacups, the chronic headaches that had tormented them for so long washed away as though it had never been. For the first time since the war ended, they felt like they had finally become ordinary people again.
On the battlefield, while facing the Demon Race and Demonic Beasts, what they had fought most fiercely against was not merely the enemy. It was the Demonic Qi that relentlessly burrowed into their bodies—the true terror. If one became corrupted by Demonic Qi, one would lose reason, grow savage, and eventually become a demon. The Demonic Qi that clung so viciously would not yield to any ordinary purification.
The fear that one day they might lose their will and become monsters had gnawed at the knights’ souls. Even the Holy Sanctum had been powerless. The first thing to lose its light after the war began was faith itself. Rather than noble doctrine, Zeronias—who descended directly onto the battlefield and shed blood alongside them—was their only god.
Yet now, this flower given by that small child had taken that fear away.
That pain they had continued to carry even after the war ended.
“Yes.”
Callisto spoke quietly.
“It is all thanks to Ailien.”
The reason Callisto had been genuinely taken aback when Ailien was recklessly shoving flower petals into her mouth was not because of rudeness.
It was because of the energy that spread through his entire body the moment the petals touched his skin.
A gentle warmth spread through him from head to toe, melting his body into languid ease, yet his mind grew unnaturally sharp and clear.
Yes, that was Zeronias’s power.
‘There are truly wondrous things in this world.’
‘And you speak of them while idly picking flowers?’
During those years when endless slaughter left no room for peace of mind, Callisto could never understand Merlin—how she would stop, never able to pass by a flower bed.
Each time, she would turn back and laugh softly at him.
‘Perhaps one day, something beautiful will be the very thing that saves you?’
‘That’s enough. If anyone needs saving now, it should be me.’
How old had he been then? Callisto, who had stopped counting years after joining the war. Around seventeen, perhaps—about when his eyes leveled with Merlin’s. And so he could sketch her expression from that memory all the more clearly.
Eyes mixed with guilt and regret, sorrow layered upon sorrow.
‘Don’t worry, little one. I’ll have many things prepared for you.’
‘You’ve already done so much.’
‘Even from far away, I’ll send them like gifts.’
It was a conversation he’d dodged because he couldn’t bear the thought of Merlin being far away, yet her tender voice kept haunting his mind.
The gift she said she’d prepared for him…….
Callisto’s gaze drifted slowly toward Ailien.

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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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