The Baby Has No Strength to Hide! - Chapter 30

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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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Chapter 30
Just in case.
What if the Crystal Sphere’s silence wasn’t because the child lacked Magical Power, but because she possessed a force so immense that this trivial instrument couldn’t possibly measure it?
Callisto swept his gaze over the Crystal Sphere gleaming softly on his desk and let out a hollow laugh.
Whether to correct the misunderstanding or let it stand—he couldn’t discern which path would truly protect Ailiens.
Already, rumors had spread through High Society that Zeroniace had raised a child at the Rubentaine Grand Duke’s Residence.
The people of the continent feared the heroes of the Human-Demon War as much as they loved them, and no small number envied them. There were those who watched the Rubentaine House with sharp, calculating eyes.
Some whispered that the House might have received undue favor precisely because Zeroniace had been the Grand Duchess before becoming who he was now.
‘Either way, in this situation, Ailiens can’t help but draw attention.’
Zeroniace must have prepared something for her protection. Callisto chose to trust in that.
“Is your business finished?”
“Yes.”
“Then Lili, it’s snack time now!”
“How delightful.”
Ailiens’s face brightened at the prospect of something sweet. Ever since her arrival, Tero, who oversaw desserts among the Grand Duke’s kitchen staff, had found new joy in his work—for there had been almost no one in the House who enjoyed sweets before.
“Tero is the best here!”
Ailiens suddenly cried out in a loud voice after scrambling up onto the sofa. Dorian’s expression, which had been watching the child with such warmth, turned ashen in an instant.
“Young lady, what—”
“Tero should be the Grand Duke instead!”
“Young lady, what are you saying?”
Had such words come from anyone but a thoughtless child, they would have been deemed treasonous and grounds for execution. If Tero had actually been present in the office, the poor man might well have thrown himself to his knees begging for mercy.
“But there is a Grand Duke here, after all.”
“Does Kali know how to bake a cake?”
Ailiens’s eyes went wide.
“I suppose so.”
“Marin used to bake round things for Lili.”
“Round things?”
“Yes. Sometimes he made bear-shaped ones too.”
Zeroniace and sweet treats—things she loved. As she spoke of them, Ailiens’s eyes began to sparkle again. Unable to contain her excitement, she bounced up and down on the sofa.
Her body was light enough that the furniture came to no harm, but Dorian’s anxiety only grew watching her.
“You’ll hurt yourself. Come down.”
“Okay.”
Ailiens complied without protest, settling back onto the cushion. Yet her excitement hadn’t faded—her small arms and legs still swung back and forth. Dorian covered his lips with his fist.
She was absolutely, utterly adorable.
“So Zeroniace has been making you pancakes.”
“Yes, yes! Those!”
“I can make those too.”
“Really?”
“I beg your pardon?”
The same interjection escaped both Ailiens and Dorian, but their tones couldn’t have been more different. She was thrilled; he looked utterly incredulous.
“Isn’t it just mixing batter, shaping it, and cooking it over heat?”
“You mean to reduce Demon Beasts to paste and burn them, Your Grace?”
“Make them shaped like Demon Beasts!”
Ailiens clapped her hands together as if struck by a brilliant idea. She seemed less interested in eating pancakes than delighted by the simple fact that Callisto was going to make something for her.
“Dorian, go tell Tero I need the kitchen for a while.”
“Your Grace!”
***
The Rubentaine Grand Duke’s kitchen was in absolute chaos. Even when the Knight Order mobilized to defend the Rubentaine Territory, the air had never been so charged with tension. The chefs in white hats and their assistants pressed themselves against the walls, swallowing hard.
Their attention was fixed on the great work counter in the center of the kitchen.
“So I mix this, then?”
Standing before it was Callisto, his uniform jacket discarded and his shirt sleeves rolled up to the elbows.
In his hand was not the legendary blade that had cut down Demon Beasts, but a slender whisk. Yet the aura he emanated was no less formidable than the battlefield itself.
Tero, the head dessert chef, answered in a trembling voice.
“Yes, yes, Your Grace. Shall we crack an egg into it now?”
Crack!
Before Tero could finish speaking, the eggshell in Callisto’s hand shattered into fragments. The yolk and white spilled chaotically through his fingers. He stared down at his hand, his brow furrowing.
“Eggs are surprisingly fragile.”
“Yes, well, ordinarily even a small child can crack an egg, Your Grace……”
“Can Lili crack one?”
“I beg your pardon? You mean the young lady?”
Ailiens, who had already been gazing at him with sparkling eyes, opened them wider still. They were so large that Tero almost reached out to touch them without thinking.
At the same time, the word “slip of the tongue” flashed through his mind. Everyone was already tense enough in this situation; if Ailiens stepped in, things would surely descend into chaos.
“You can’t do this yet because you’re still young. You can do it when you become a little child.”
“A little child! When will I ever be a little child?”
“Who tied your hair today?”
“That was Cora!”
Ailiens grabbed her cinnamon-roll curls with both hands and cried out.
“You’ll be a little child when you can tie it yourself.”
“Sigh, becoming a little child is really quite difficult.”
At Callisto’s words, Ailiens nodded seriously. There was sense in what he said. Sometimes when Kiki tied her hair it hurt a little, but Cora always did it so gently it didn’t hurt at all.
Tero, standing nearby, had to tilt his head back and stare at the ceiling. He was on the verge of laughing.
“Done.”
In the meantime, Callisto had succeeded in cracking five eggs. Each time he cracked one, he brought it down against the bowl’s rim with a gentle tap, as though handling a feather. It was a monumental undertaking.
“Wow! Callisto is amazing!”
Ailiens, who had been watching with bated breath, clapped at the batter, holding a fork and knife in each hand and waving them like cheerleading pom-poms with surprising earnestness.
“Shall we try cooking it now?”
Callisto poured the batter onto the heated pan. Sizzle. A cheerful sound accompanied the wafting of something sweet. Up to this point, it was perfect.
“A Demon Beast! Make it look like a Demon Beast!”
“Right. A Demon Beast. Shape.”
The problem was the shape. To satisfy Ailiens’s particular request, Callisto began pressing the ladle this way and that, trying to form the shape of a Demon Beast. He fashioned horns, crafted a tail, even attempted to etch in sharp teeth—but then—
“Your Grace, it’s burning! The, the Demon Beast is burning!”
“Blast it.”
At Dorian’s words, Callisto hurriedly scooped the pancake out of the pan with the spatula. What landed on the plate was a blackened lump whose form was unrecognizable. Something that might have been a horn or a wart jutted out, and the surface was scorched as if by hellfire.
……
The kitchen was wrapped in acrid smoke and silence.
Peto and Dorian silently found themselves wishing for Zeroniace.
“Wow!”
It was Ailiens’s gasp of wonder that broke the silence. Her small, soft nose twitched as she examined the blackened pancake from every angle, then she opened her mouth wide in admiration.
“This is exactly like a Demon Beast! Just like it!”
“……What?”
“The slimy monster that lives in the Swamp of Darkness! It’s exactly the same as what you made!”
Really, it looks so bumpy and grotesque it might as well have crawled straight out of a battlefield!
With those words, Ailiens clutched her belly and began to laugh. She seemed to genuinely adore the charred pancake.
Unfortunately, Callisto found himself unsure whether to be pleased or not.
“You’re worthy of being Grand Duke, Callisto!”
“I, I’ll handle the rest, Your Grace!”
As Peto stepped forward, Callisto yielded his place and paused to look down at Ailiens before lifting the child into his arms. She was truly delighted, her plump cheeks flushed with joy.
In the end, he could not help but smile.

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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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