The Baby Has No Strength to Hide! - Chapter 32

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

Episode 32
That morning, something was off from the very start.
The moment Ailien opened her eyes, the Ruby Necklace hummed to life, as though it had been waiting for her.
“What’s all this fuss about before breakfast!”
Ailien pulled a long-suffering expression, yet in the end she followed where the wand led—deep into the Garden, where a single enormous tree stood apart from all the other plants, its grain utterly unlike anything else around it.
“Wow.”
It was a strange tree. Its bark was a deep black, yet depending on how the light fell, a delicate violet hue seemed to dance across its surface. It looked as though someone had carved it from the depths of the night sky itself.
“It’s beautiful!”
Ailien approached the tree as if entranced. The Heart Wand in her hand trembled, emanating a pleasant warmth—a pulse of joy as if greeting a dear friend after years apart.
And it felt just as familiar.
“…Merlin?”
It was the warmth she’d felt from Merlin’s worn wand and in his study. Ailien tentatively placed her hand on the bark. Beneath its rough surface, she felt a pulse-like heat transmit through her palm.
That was when it happened.
A faint glimmer flashed from the tree’s high branches.
“What is it?”
Without hesitation, Ailien began to climb. Kiki, her maid, waited obediently below, while Didi the flying squirrel showed off his acrobatic climbing prowess for the first time in ages. Ailien followed close behind, gripping rough branches and using sturdy knots as handholds, scaling upward with steady progress. Halfway up the tree.
Finally, she saw it.
“It’s a flower!”
What had been a small bud began to unfold its petals in answer to Ailien’s call.
Shaped like a tiny star, the luminous flower where silver and pink mingled together captivated Ailien, and her trembling hand reached out of its own accord.
The instant her fingertip brushed the blossom.
“Huh?”
Ailien was startled. The flower, as if it had been waiting, released itself from its stem and gently descended into her palm.
“I-I wasn’t trying to pluck it!”
Despite her flustered cry, the flower glowed with a cozy, warm light.
Ailien cradled it against her chest as though it were precious treasure. At that very moment, the wand, which had gone silent, vibrated sharply once more.
This time, it was from the direction of the main gate.
And there, in the distance, a carriage bearing an elaborate crest was gliding smoothly through the entrance of the Grand Duke’s Estate.
“Squeak-squeak!”
“Hmm? What’s wrong, Didi?”
Didi, who had been happily climbing, suddenly chirped loudly upon noticing that Ailien’s balance had grown precarious. With short arms pressed to his plump cheeks and an expression of utter alarm as he peered down, he looked almost on the verge of fainting. At that moment, a sound of hurried footsteps rushed across the Garden.
“Young lady, please!”
Dorian’s voice rang out urgently as he skidded to a halt beneath the tree.
“It’s dangerous up there! You’ll be hurt if you fall!”
“I’m tough!”
“My heart isn’t!”
Dorian fretted as though tears might spill at any moment—hardly the bearing of a vice-commander of the Golden Lion Knights.
Before him stood Kiki, Ailien’s personal maid, watching with an unconcerned expression.
“Kiki, why didn’t you stop the young lady?”
“Isn’t that height perfectly safe?”
“Safe? What if she falls!”
“She just needs to land properly, doesn’t she?”
Kiki seemed entirely baffled as to why Dorian was making such a fuss, no matter how she thought about it.
“Alright! I’m coming down!”
“What? Young lady, wait just a moment!”
From her perch on a thick branch, swinging her legs, Ailien suddenly hurled herself into the air. Drawing on his training as a knight, Dorian caught the falling child as deftly as if plucking something from the sky, cradling her in his arms. After exhaling a deep sigh of relief, he clutched her tightly and stepped well back from the tree.
It felt as though his heart might split in two.
“Hehehehe!”
Ailien, meanwhile, laughed with delight as though she’d been playing a wonderful game.
“Again, again!”
“Absolutely not.”
“Awww.”
Watching Ailien puff out her cheeks and gaze up at him, Dorian found her so unbearably adorable that he simply had to tap her cheek with his index finger.
Ailien’s eyes flew wide open, then immediately closed into happy crescents. She leaned her forehead gently against Dorian’s chest—his heart was convinced, in that moment, that no smile in the world could be cuter.
“Hah.”
“Hmm?”
“Young lady, I really do have a weak heart.”
The vice-commander made his decision then and there: he would dedicate himself to protecting our dear Ailien.
As he stood there, bouncing her gently without setting her down, the entrance of the estate suddenly grew noisy.
……
Dorian turned his gaze without releasing Ailien from his embrace.
Peril and the other servants of the Grand Duke’s Estate rushed forward at once, forming two neat columns in front of the carriage. When Peril carefully adjusted his uniform and opened the carriage door, someone stepped out as though they had been waiting.
The woman who descended from the carriage appeared so unsteady that she seemed on the verge of collapse, despite two attendants supporting her on either side.
Platinum-blonde hair, skin so pale it was almost translucent. She entered deeper into the castle with wavering steps.
Dorian, still cradling Ailien, followed behind with a tense expression.
The moment the woman’s feet touched the hall, she let out a sharp cry, as though releasing a thirst she had been holding back all this time.
“Oh, the air is far too heavy!”
“Yes? Is something amiss, my lady?”
“Peril, are you doing this on purpose? The humidity in this manor is suffocating me. It feels as though my lungs are submerged in water.”
“My sincerest apologies. It is my oversight. I shall adjust the humidity at once.”
Rubentain Castle always maintained perfect temperature and humidity. Though Peril knew the woman was exaggerating and being difficult, he offered her a genuine apology nonetheless.
The woman glanced around the castle with an expression of barely concealed dread. Standing in the corridors of Rubentain Castle, she looked less like a living person and more like a marble sculpture.
“What is that?”
“That is the only sibling of the Grand Duke Caliesto. The Heiress Meigina Rubentain.”
“Gina, Gina!”
Ailien’s eyes brightened. Of course, Meigina had heard of this from Merlin before.
‘Do you know how amusing it was the day a baby sister was born? He couldn’t take his eyes off her.’
‘So he’s gotten a little sister, has he!’
‘Ha ha ha. Ailien, it’s not quite proper to say it that way, but it’s delightful nonetheless. In any case, Meigina was a remarkably clever and lovely child. Goodness, when you see those ruby-like eyes of hers, you cannot help but fall in love!’
Perhaps it was because she had not yet properly laid eyes on her.
‘Could Ailien possibly resist?’
Ailien, tilting her head in contemplation, poked Dorian’s shoulder repeatedly with her index finger.
“Dorian.”
“Yes?”
“Have you seen her eyes?”
“Her eyes? Yes, I have.”
“Then, then. So you fell in love?”
“What kind of—”
Dorian’s outburst was so vehement that he quickly began to add his own clarification.
“The Heiress Rubentain is certainly quite beautiful, of course. However, she already has a betrothed. As for me, well, I suppose you could say there is already someone occupying my heart…. In any case, such a thing is quite impossible!”
“What are you going on about? Say it plainly and you’d sound less strange.”
“In any case, the answer is no.”
“I see. And melt down that citrine and eat it.”
“…Yes, ma’am.”
Having had this brief exchange with Dorian, Ailien became inwardly certain of one thing: Merlin did not know everything after all.

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