The Baby Has No Strength to Hide! - Chapter 31

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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 31
Meanwhile, in the Gazebo of Dongik Garden.
Kaius set down his teacup with a heavy sigh. Across from him sat Chester, the youngest of House Ferté and his oldest friend, chin propped on his hand, grinning like an idiot.
“So? How much longer do I have to stay here?”
“I didn’t realize I get to decide that. You can leave whenever you want.”
“I’ll just peek from far away.”
“Has our estate become a menagerie? You’d have crowds of gawkers traipsing through.”
At Kaius’s words, Chester finally let out a long groan and collapsed flat onto the table.
He’d expected resistance, but not this much.
“But I’m curious! What’s a little thing like that doing in the Grand Ducal House?”
So Chester had resorted to whining outright.
“If you’re so curious, look in a mirror, Chester.”
“…What?”
“You’re just as rude and loud.”
“That makes me even more curious. The great Kaius Rubenthain keeping something so undisciplined and rowdy close by?”
Kaius’s brow furrowed. Admittedly, thinking of Ailien did make his head throb. Her manners at breakfast still hadn’t improved, and she dragged her feet so infuriatingly when given orders that he sometimes felt heat rising in his chest.
Yet oddly, he didn’t dislike her. No—to be precise, she was on his mind.
‘I hope she’s not causing some disaster in the library right now…….’
Leaving her alone troubled him. With her short attention span, she’d definitely thrown down whatever pen she’d been holding.
“Hm?”
Chester, who’d been whining a moment before, suddenly straightened up. And sure enough, where his gaze fell, there was Ailien.
“Why is she here?”
“Hold on—how is she so adorable?”
Ailien was toddling in from the garden entrance. A maid followed behind her, and Didi perched on her small shoulders, swiveling its head to take in the sights. The golden hair catching the sunlight, the little round belly protruding, and those duck-like lips pursed in what looked like perpetual displeasure—it was almost unbearably cute.
“She really is adorable, isn’t she?”
“Ailien!”
Kaius sprang up from his seat, shouting, brushing aside Chester’s commentary.
He had reason to. Ailien, who’d been walking slowly, had suddenly thrown herself down on the ground, and the maid Kiki was rolling her along with an expression of bored resignation.
“This is unbelievable!”
Kaius rushed toward Ailien as if he’d completely forgotten Chester was there. Abandoned at the table, Chester merely shrugged, then smiled and hurried after him.
‘Whatever this is, it looks fun.’
That strange little thing and this Kaius who’d completely lost his composure—both were fascinating. If he had the chance, he’d have asked the Grand Duke of Rubenthain about taking in a long-term resident.
“Have you lost your mind? Yes, you have. You’re definitely insane.”
“But Liri’s belly is so full. Liri just want to roll-roll away…….”
As Kaius scolded, Ailien protested pitifully, thrusting out her round belly. She seemed even rounder than usual, perhaps from eating snacks too generously. Her appearance after rolling in the dirt was appalling. Bits of leaf clung between her fluffy blonde locks, and the cheeks that had been pale that morning were now thoroughly smudged with ground dust. The earth streaked across her sleeves and hemline spoke volumes about her enthusiastic rolling efforts.
Kaius closed his eyes and exhaled slowly.
“You should have eaten less. Besides, how full can you get from a few wafers?”
“Oh, those changed to hotcakes and roll cake.”
“How did that happen?”
Kaius, who hated changes in plans more than anything else in the world, scowled.
“It just did.”
“Haah…….”
“Hello!”
As Kaius clutched his head, a red-haired boy suddenly thrust himself into the scene. His eyes fixed on Ailien gleamed with curiosity and mischief.
“Chester, I told you to stay over there.”
“What’s your name?”
“Who’s that?”
Without answering Chester’s question, Ailien turned to look at Kaius with evident displeasure.
“Oh, my name is Chester Ferté.”
“Chete-te?”
“Haha. You can just call me Chester.”
“Chester!”
Ailien nodded solemnly. Chester pressed his mouth shut and lowered his head. As the youngest in his family, he’d always wanted a younger sibling, and he’d always liked children. But he never imagined one could be this cute.
The adults of the Empire had forgotten how to handle children. Suffering from the lingering trauma of exposure to Demonic Energy from the Human-Horse Great War, they were too consumed with their own survival, and having grown into adulthood far too young on the battlefield, they possessed no warm childhood memories to pass down to their own children. They disciplined their offspring militarily or neglected them entirely, and Kaius and Chester alike had grown into precocious adults beneath such awkward affection.
Because of this, Ailien’s innocent artlessness was all the more wondrous to Chester.
“Liri is Liri.”
“So your name is Liri. You really are cute.”
“Liri knows Liri is cute, yes.”
“Haha! Liri, do you want to come to my house?”
“What?”
It was Kaius, not Ailien, who reacted to Chester’s suggestion. His gaze was so menacing that Chester, despite being his friend, flinched without meaning to.
“Wait—you said she was loud and distracting.”
“What business is that of yours?”
“A friend looks out for a friend. You hate that sort of thing, anyway.”
Silence fell. Both Kaius and Chester’s eyes snapped toward Ailien at once. Her eyes and mouth had opened wide in shock. The moment Kaius sensed how deeply his words had struck her, he wanted nothing more than to kill Chester on the spot.
Chester, too, seemed to realize he’d made a terrible mistake, squeezing his eyes shut.
“Think before you speak!”
“Lili, it’s not like that—”
Kaius wondered if his mind had ever gone quite this blank, not in his short life nor in a long one.
All those complaints he’d made—they meant nothing. All he’d ever wanted was for Ailien not to be hurt.
“Were Didi and Kiki really making that much noise!”
“…What?”
“I’ll have a word with them. The children mean well, but they lack tact.”
Ailien’s arrow had turned away from Kaius and aimed elsewhere.
“Yes, yes. We do lack tact, don’t we?”
Kiki, standing behind Ailien, spoke in a flat voice. Yet her sharp gaze fixed itself on the children before her, as though thinking, ‘Those foolish creatures should be put to work opening cans in the kitchen.’
“Squeak-squeak!”
Didi also cried out urgently, as if trying to say something. When Kaius met those large eyes, he quickly looked away.
It seemed he’d truly made a mess of things.
“Come now, let’s go scold us, shall we?”
Kiki lifted Ailien into her arms as though it were the most natural thing in the world. With her viewpoint suddenly higher, Ailien laughed with a brightness like sunlight. And so the three of them walked back to the castle, the very picture of harmony.
“Sorry, Kaius.”
“Go home for the day.”
“Right, I will. But really, she’s adorable. Ailien, Ailien… Ailien Ferté…”
“What are you going on about?”
“Doesn’t it sound nice? Ailien Ferté.”
‘He’s still lost in his own world.’
Whether Kaius looked at him with pity or not, Chester was already drowning in his fantasies.
“That’s not how wishes work.”
“Zeronias raised her himself, didn’t he? You know my parents are enormous admirers of Zeronias. If we could take her as a daughter, they’d welcome it with open arms. If you’re not planning to keep her at Rubenthain anyway…”
“She’ll stay at Rubenthain.”
“…What?”
“Ailien will remain with the Rubenthain Grand Ducal House. So forget whatever you’re dreaming about.”
With that, Kaius strode ahead without another word.
Left alone, Chester stood vacant for a moment, then burst into laughter. He quickly caught up, breaking into a run to follow Kaius.
“You’re going to be a wonderful brother, you know that?”

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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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