The Baby Has No Strength to Hide! - Chapter 3

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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 3
“So Kiki and Didi were these two?”
“Yep! This one’s Kiki, and this one’s Didi.”
According to Ailien’s explanation, the black cat was Kiki, and the sky squirrel was Didi. Despite yawning as though everything was a bother, Kiki refused to unwrap its tail from the child’s leg. Its yellow eyes were quite sharp.
Didi blinked its large eyes, and the gesture bore a striking resemblance to Ailien herself. Of the three companions, this one seemed to possess the most conscience, its front paws neatly folded as though genuinely remorseful.
“Do they understand speech?”
Calisto thought to himself that it was a thoroughly foolish question. Animals couldn’t possibly comprehend human speech.
“So the three of us won’t work?”
Ailien spoke in a deflated voice. Kiki’s yellow eyes widened, and Didi looked ready to weep. Without saying a word, they felt wronged—as though they’d become villains.
“I suppose I’ll just go alone then…….”
“Meow!”
“Chirp!”
“I suppose we’re done for after all……. It’ll make you sad without us by your side, but I’ll manage to endure it……. You’ll have a sword beside you, after all…….”
Calisto, who had been about to say they could go together, found himself watching the situation unfold in utter bewilderment.
“Merlin said that if someone can be saved, they should be! Besides, animals are supposed to live in the forest anyway!”
“Mew…….”
“Chirp-chirp, chirp!”
“What!”
“Wait.”
If he didn’t intervene now, he’d be subjected to an endless round-robin of “meow,” “chirp,” and “what.” Calisto regarded Kiki and Didi. The aura of Merlin Zeronias emanated from both of them, which meant she must have cast magic to allow them to communicate for Ailien’s sake.
“The three of you can go.”
“Kiki! Didi!”
After insisting they’d be left behind, Ailien suddenly crouched down the moment she learned they could come along, embracing Kiki and Didi tightly. Didi, overcome with emotion, nuzzled against the child’s cheek, while Kiki pretended indifference, grooming its fur with its tongue.
“Now then, pack your things.”
At those words, Ailien became so excited that she bounded about the cottage, gathering items for an enormous bag.
Calisto watched silently from behind, thinking the child was packing rather useless things, but he didn’t interfere. Fortunately, Kiki and Didi made sure to gather clothes and necessities instead.
“Once you’re done, let’s go.”
If they needed something later, they could always buy it then. A memory surfaced unbidden—Evangeline speaking of decorating a room, saying how wonderful it would be to have a daughter. He recalled the scene of her meeting Ailien.
For reasons he couldn’t quite explain, his heart felt lighter.
But unfortunately, Evangeline had left Rubentain Castle and was currently on the Island, where she devoted herself to training promising young swordmasters.
‘When does she return?’
It was just as Calisto was about to lift Ailien into his arms, counting the days until Evangeline’s homecoming.
“Wait a moment!”
Before his outstretched arms could reach her, Ailien dashed off as though struck by sudden inspiration. She returned with paper and pen, writing something down intently.
“Who are you writing to? Merlin?”
“I said a proper goodbye to Merlin already.”
“Then who?”
“How would you even know if I told you who it was?”
Faced with the child’s painfully innocent question, Calisto found himself at a loss for words. In the end, he stepped back to allow Ailien to write her letter in peace.
Once finished, Ailien carefully placed the letter on the flower bed alongside a single sprig of Lavender.
“Can we really go now?”
“Why are you in such a rush? If you were that eager, you could’ve come yesterday.”
“You didn’t say a word…….”
Even as she said this, Ailien bolted toward the bedroom. She was a little worried Calisto might change his mind.
‘Merlin specifically told me to bring it!’
What Ailien retrieved was a Necklace adorned with a brilliant ruby.
For a moment, the author of the letter flickered through her thoughts, but there was no helping it.
She couldn’t linger on petty sentiments. Ailien was destined to become a Hero and save the world.
‘Merlin said she hid Treasure in the castle!’
Though still young and somewhat weak, once Ailien found all the Treasure Merlin had hidden away, she would grow tremendously strong.
‘All right, little one. I’ll protect you.’
When Ailien grew up and became a Hero, driving away all the wicked people,
Then she could return Merlin to the child!
With solemn determination burning in her eyes, Ailien took one final look around the small Cottage where she had lived her entire life, and finally stepped beyond the threshold.
A single black bird circled overhead, bearing silent witness to this historic moment.
***
‘I’m sorry, Ailien.’
On the night Merlin left the small, charming Cottage,
Ailien lay in bed, pretending to sleep with all her might.
Merlin knew this, yet chose not to wake her.
‘We’ll meet again soon.’
Facing a promise with no set time, Ailien wanted to leap up and demand to know exactly when—but she couldn’t.
Right now, Merlin was the one who needed her most, who carried the deepest loneliness.
That was what it meant to be a Hero.
When Ailien woke that morning and stared at the empty space beside her, the black cat Kiki and the flying squirrel Didi came bounding toward her.
Ailien held them both close.
‘Ailien will be fine.’
She could eat alone, sleep alone, and manage perfectly well on her own.
So she hoped Merlin could endure being alone too—just for a while, the briefest moment.
Until the day she could send Merlin to her family, to those who loved her.
‘I’ll do what I must do. Ailien just needs to grow up strong and healthy.’
Ailien wanted to argue with Merlin’s words. Merlin was her whole safe world. Because of her, Ailien had known only happiness.
Yet sometimes doubt crept in. What was she to Merlin?
Whenever Merlin spoke of her child, her eyes gleamed like the night sky—beautiful, luminous. Ailien didn’t listen because the stories themselves captivated her, but because she loved watching Merlin’s face in those moments, loved that particular tenderness.
But at the same time, a fear took root: was Merlin kept from reaching her daughter because of her?
‘I’m sorry, Ailien.’
So when the day came that Merlin left her behind, Ailien couldn’t bear to open her eyes—couldn’t stop pretending to sleep.
She’d practiced so hard the art of letting go.
‘We’ll meet again soon. My little thunderbolt.’
If she opened her eyes now, wouldn’t Merlin be right there?
Open them. Open your eyes.
Heart swelling with anticipation, she lifted her lids carefully—only to find not Merlin, but a man with golden hair and crimson eyes.
Ailien blinked and spoke hesitantly.
“Thunder-peach?”
“Are you hungry?”
The moment Ailien woke with such an odd thing to say, Calisto’s brow furrowed slightly. But Ailien merely shook her head gently.
“You know what, Calisto?”
“Hmm?”
“I just realized—I never got to say goodbye to Mari.”
At Ailien’s words, Calisto found himself at a loss. As he hesitated, searching for what to say, Kiki and Didi pressed close to the child with familiar ease, sharing their warmth.
Watching the three of them, it suddenly struck him—Ailien had said she wasn’t alone while they were gone; she’d had Kiki and Didi with her.
The three of them had leaned on each other to survive.
“I miss Merlin too.”
“You do?”
“Yes.”
“Does it make your chest ache? Your eyes get teary?”
Calisto didn’t answer Ailien’s question—only smiled. Then he turned his gaze toward the window. Chest aching, eyes tearing. It seemed he’d forgotten such feelings long ago.
Evangeline too had changed. Once naturally cold, she’d grown anxious like someone who’d lost something precious, crying without reason on ever more days. And she’d become obsessed with recording, preserving—everything.
The Rubentain Grand Duke House was drowning in the aftermath of war.

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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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