The Baby Has No Strength to Hide! - Chapter 23

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

Chapter 23
“What is this place?”
Within the stone wall lay a Greenhouse of impossible beauty and tranquility. The flowers and plants that bloomed here were chaotic, yet they formed a strange harmony—as though wildly divergent brushstrokes had converged to complete a masterpiece.
Crystal spheres hung from the high ceiling, casting soft golden light like artificial suns, filling the space with warmth. Enormous leaves, far taller than a person, rose to support the roof; and climbing vines clung to the walls, their buds bursting in deep crimson blooms that released a rich, heady fragrance.
The ground was carpeted thick with moss, each step yielding with a soft, cushioned sensation. Nameless medicinal herbs glimmered faintly along their veins as if dusted with jewel powder, while luminous wisps drifted through the air like fireflies, separating this sanctuary from reality itself.
It was a secret paradise—as if the primordial forest before time had learned to move were laid bare here.
“This is it.”
Ailien’s small heart raced in an irregular rhythm. No—more precisely, it was the pulse emanating from the Heart Wand clutched in her hand. The same vivid sensation she had felt when encountering that decrepit wooden horse in the Storage.
“This is what?”
As though deaf to Kaiusu’s question, Ailien moved slowly toward the center of the Greenhouse. There stood an old marble fountain, wound about entirely with climbing roses.
Within the long-empty fountain basin, instead of water, lay thousands upon thousands of weathered Research Journals stacked alongside Stone Tablets densely inscribed with formulas.
Looking up at this archive, Ailien understood naturally: this was yet another fragment Merlin had left behind. Atop the fountain lay reams of papers illustrated with yellow flowers.
‘What Merlin could do.’
The curses of Demons could never have truly reached the great archmage Merlin. Yet for Merlin, each curse had always hurt far more than the sum of all their pieces combined.
Each time she recalled the pain of the soldiers beside her—comrades who had advanced without fear, fighting at her side. That was why Merlin continued to research, continued to struggle.
“Merlin truly did what only Merlin could do.”
Ailien whispered carefully.
At that, the Heart Wand began to resonate with sudden violence. The tremor started subtly, a gentle tingling at her fingertips, then grew steadily stronger.
The golden light streaming from the crystal spheres above and the pale pink luminescence filling every corner of the Greenhouse began to spiral inward like a vast vortex, drawn into the Wand.
When the lingering Magical Power that had saturated the Greenhouse was fully absorbed into Ailien’s Wand, the heart gem at its tip glowed with a depth and clarity far greater than before.
‘Don’t you think the roses are unnecessary here?’
Then an unfamiliar voice stirred Ailien’s ears.
‘But they’re beautiful, aren’t they?’
‘They are. Just like you.’
Ugh. That voice was rather sickly sweet.
Ailien frowned at the thought.
‘Men are all the same, really.’
Merlin laughed dismissively, volleying back her words.
‘What do you mean? Has someone said that to you before me?’
‘Yes. There was a very charming gentleman.’
There was such affection in Merlin’s voice as she said it that Ailien couldn’t help but smile.
***
Meanwhile, Kaiusu had forgotten his complaints entirely, lost in the Greenhouse’s beauty. Merely looking upon it seemed enough to bring tears to his eyes, a tender ache blooming in one corner of his chest.
He intuited something without realizing it.
‘A space left behind by Merlin.’
It was a fragile certainty, but Kaiusu allowed himself to believe it. The warmth he felt here resembled the body heat of Merlin that he had sometimes felt in dreams.
And there was one more piece of evidence.
‘I love roses.’
‘Roses? Aren’t they too common?’
‘They’re the most vibrant and beautiful. Just like Grandmother! I love a Garden filled with roses more than anything!’
‘You certainly have an eye for it.’
The climbing roses covered the Greenhouse everywhere.
In truth, if this place’s purpose had been purely research and healing, thorny roses would have been an inefficient choice. Yet the decision to fill this dim Greenhouse with roses felt to him like proof that Merlin had remembered his preferences.
‘Merlin used to say she would never keep anything in her study that didn’t serve her work.’
Perhaps even in her most intense moments of research, she had cultivated this place—blooming here with love—for the sake of a grandson who might one day find his way.
Kaiusu simply wanted to believe it. That Merlin had left her love for him here.
“Let’s go now.”
“All right.”
Without thinking, Kaiusu extended his hand to Ailien. Ailien took it without hesitation. They walked back the way they came in silence.
It was perhaps the first peace that had ever existed between them.
“Ailien.”
Only as they reached the exit did Kaiusu speak for the first time.
“Let’s keep this place our secret.”
“A secret!”
Ailien’s eyes, which had maintained a subtle quietude, suddenly came alive again.
“A secret from Beck and Didi!”
“You understand? Don’t tell anyone.”
“Not even Jenno?”
“Not even Father.”
For Kaiusu, who revered his father above all others, it was a remark that surprised even himself—though Ailien, knowing nothing of this inner conflict, nodded without the slightest hesitation. To her, the word “secret” felt like an exciting game rather than a grave vow.
“Good heavens.”
Kaiusu exhaled a bemused laugh at the child’s innocence, though relief tempered his amusement.
“We should head back before sunset.”
Ailien, still effervescent with excitement, waved her wand about as she followed him. But the moment they emerged from the stone wall and began walking again—
“Stop right there!”
Something burst from the undergrowth. Kaiusu and Ailien froze. Draped in leaves and cobwebs, huffing and puffing, stood Beck and Count Jenno.
“Playing in the dirt like children in some corner of the garden!”
“Move aside, Count Jenno.”
“You step back! I clearly saw a hidden passage behind you!”
Beck blocked their path with a triumphant grin, his face slick with greed and malice.
“Huh?”
Ailien tilted her head in confusion.
“Clearly? You don’t seem particularly sharp to me….”
“You little wretch! Wait—what’s that in your hand?”
“This?”
At Beck’s question, Ailien waved the wand before him. The eyes embedded in it gleamed with an eerie, hypnotic sheen.
“You stole a treasure!”
“It belongs to Ailien.”
“Come to your senses! You’re clearly enchanted!”
“That’s right, Kaiusu. Get your head straight.”
“This is no joke!”
With that, Beck lunged at Ailien. Kaiusu instinctively stepped between them with lightning speed, and in the resulting commotion, Count Jenno’s hat flew clean off his head.
A heavy silence descended.
All eyes fixed on the count’s crown. His bare scalp gleamed in an exquisite shade of violet—like a perfectly ripe mulberry—and as his rage deepened and his face flushed crimson, the contrast became startlingly grotesque.
“Heavens, the chaos during the Human-Demon War was nothing compared to this….”
Ailien sighed with genuine pity.
“It was you! You did this!”
“Father….”
Robbed of reason, Count Jenno began to rave and tear at himself.
“What? Why are you blaming Lili? Should I blame her for the rain too? For every Demonic Beast that appears?”
Ailien shot back, genuinely aggrieved.
“You tampered with my special Hair Tonic! My precious remedy!”
“Lili doesn’t even know what that is, or where you keep it.”
“You crept in like a mouse and did it yourself!”
Count Jenno’s eyes blazed with sudden recognition, fixing upon the small creature perched on Ailien’s shoulder.
“You sent that flying squirrel!”
“Didi did that?”
At Ailien’s question, Didi squirmed and let out a sheepish little chirp. To think that in the brief time it had been absent yesterday, it had accomplished such an ambitious scheme.
“Chirp-chirp!”
“Didi, you’re amazing! Squirting purple berry juice in there was brilliant! You’re so smart!”
As Ailien clapped her hands in delight, Count Jenno grabbed the back of his neck and trembled violently.
“Are you children playing games with me?”
The count raised his hand again.
It was a perilous moment, yet Ailien felt no fear.
She simply looked at Count Jenno before her and felt profound pity. His face was withered by avarice, his scalp barren and vacant, his heart shriveled and twisted.
“It’s all right. Lili will help you.”
With those words, Ailien swung her wand. The gesture was less deliberate than instinctive, born of pure impulse.
As Ailien’s wand swept toward Count Jenno, a brilliant cascade of golden dust erupted like fireworks, showering down upon him.

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