The Baby Has No Strength to Hide! - Chapter 9

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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 9
She stroked the Wooden Horse with far more caution than before, and felt a soft click as its ear gave slightly inward.
Click.
“Huh?”
The Wooden Horse’s eyes glowed faintly.
Aillen held her breath and pressed her hand against the Horse’s back.
The light grew sharper.
Aillen caressed the Wooden Horse instinctively.
Then an overwhelming cascade of light poured from it, scattering at once into fine stardust that drifted through the air.
“Wow.”
Aillen stuck out the tip of her tongue as she watched the shower of stardust fall.
“It doesn’t taste like anything.”
She smacked her lips in disappointment.
Then the Horse’s chest suddenly popped open, and a round, translucent Crystal Sphere rose slowly from within.
And then.
“Huh? Who’s laughing?”
Hahahaha.
A strange boy’s laughter echoed—the same kind of laugh she’d heard when riding the Wooden Horse before.
Naturally, there was no one around.
“Is that Kai laughing?”
The voice sounded higher than Kai’s usual tone.
As Aillen puzzled over this, the Crystal Sphere shot from the Horse’s chest and slid smoothly into her Heart Wand.
Then her Heart Wand blazed with pink light. As Aillen felt the wand’s overwhelming power and stepped back,
“No!”
the light surged directly toward Kiki.
Kiki squeezed her eyes shut without hesitation.
The pink light vanished, replaced by a pale rose-colored mist that swirled around her.
Aillen sank to the ground.
“Did I just shoot Kiki?”
As she muttered dejectedly, Didi scampered over, chirping urgently.
Just as tiny wrinkles were forming on Aillen’s chin, the mist dissolved without a trace.
And in its place.
“Damn it. Walking on two legs feels like I’ve devolved.”
A girl with black hair stood there.
Her limbs moved awkwardly, as if they weren’t her own, and her struggle to keep balance looked precarious.
Aillen, standing across from her, froze in place, her eyes blinking rapidly.
Where the pale rose mist had hung just moments before, there should have been her black cat Kiki—nagging, yes, but always there by her side.
‘Who is she?’
She’d thought I’d shot Kiki. Her heart had sunk with dread. And then suddenly this strange child appeared?
Aillen’s large eyes trembled with unease. It seemed unfamiliar, but those slyly upturned eyes somehow resembled Kiki’s, so she approached slowly.
“Chirp, chirp!”
Didi tried hard to tell her something, but unfortunately Aillen’s ears heard nothing.
Now close to the girl, Aillen brought her soft white nose near and sniffed intently.
Familiar, warm, the scent of fur dried in the sun.
There was no doubt about it.
Aillen’s eyes went wide and she cried out.
“Kiki!”
“…So who exactly is the animal here?”
The girl, Kiki, finally lowered her guard and let out a sigh.
“Kiki, why are you so big? Where’s your fur? And your hair—where’s your tail? Your tail, the one I love most—where’s Kiki’s tail?”
Aillen spun circles around Kiki, bombarding her with questions. Neither the perked ears that once stood proudly nor the swishing tail were anywhere to be seen.
Just a sullen-faced girl stood there.
“Quiet. This isn’t something I wanted either.”
Kiki ran her fingers roughly through her hair as she spoke. It was the first time hearing that gruff tone in a human voice, but it was unmistakably Kiki.
“Merlin put a Seal on me. That damned Wooden Horse just loosened it for a moment.”
“A Seal? The Wooden Horse did?”
Aillen tilted her head in confusion. Kiki, whether as a cat or as a person, only ever used complicated words.
“Yeah. This form is probably easier for protecting you in this place, so—ugh!”
As Kiki tried to take a step, she stumbled badly, and Aillen stretched out her short arms to steady her.
In Aillen’s crescent-moon eyes fixed on Kiki, lakes gleamed.
“Aillen is protecting Kiki?”
“No, I should be the one protecting you.”
Kiki cleared her throat and quickly stepped back into place. Didi, perched on Aillen’s shoulder, gazed at her with equally troubled eyes.
“So you’re still human, then?”
Kiki’s yellow eyes, which had been fixed on Didi, shifted toward the Heart Wand in Aillen’s hand.
“The Power of Memory dwelling in that wooden horse touched me. The strength is still weak, so maintaining this form is difficult.”
The explanation remained elusive, but Aillen simply smiled brightly, relieved that the girl before her was indeed Kiki. Now that Kiki could stand on two legs and meet her eyes, everything about her felt wonderfully new.
When Aillen reached out her hand, Kiki bent forward as though it were the most natural thing in the world. She had to bow lower than expected, yet it felt effortless.
The child touched Kiki’s black hair with careful fingers, as if she had been waiting for this very moment. It was far softer than cat fur.
“Can you talk with me now?”
“We could always communicate before.”
“But like this, you know? Like this, how do I say…?”
At Kiki’s gruff reply, Aillen’s brow furrowed, and she lifted her hand. Then she tapped her thumb against her remaining four fingers, mimicking the movement of lips forming words.
“Honestly.”
Didi, perched beside her, squeaked softly in what was probably agreement that Kiki would prove to be just as talkative, though sadly the sound didn’t reach Aillen’s ears.
“Listen, listen.”
“What?”
“Why did you come here and not say anything to me?”
“What?”
“And Didi’s just been squeaking away the whole time.”
“What are you talking about?”
Kiki let out a hollow laugh.
“Don’t you hear Didi still squeaking because you just told her not to make any sounds?”
“Oh no, Didi!”
Aillen, genuinely unaware, lifted Didi from her shoulder and cradled her in both hands.
“I’m truly sorry! I was a terrible child for not understanding Didi’s feelings!”
“Squeak, squeak.”
“You can call it squeaking!”
“Squeak!”
Didi embraced Aillen’s cheek with genuine delight. The two of them, so alike in appearance, made quite an endearing sight.
A faint smile traced itself across Kiki’s lips.
***
Calisto’s mood was far from pleasant.
He couldn’t fathom how the rumor had spread, but several of his retainers who had heard he’d brought a child to House Rubenthain came rushing to him.
The nobility of the Tamyne Empire was currently divided into two factions: the Traditionalist Faction, which flaunted centuries of lineage, and the Rising Faction—those who had seized their peerage through sword and blood during the Human-Demon War.
In the war’s aftermath, the Emperor made an unprecedented decision. He granted noble titles in vast numbers to knights who had distinguished themselves on the battlefield. On the surface, it was a just and magnanimous gesture—honoring the continent’s heroes—so even the Traditionalist nobles had no choice but to applaud openly. Yet with each new title granted, the pride of the old guard crumbled beneath the weight of increased competition.
That said, those newly elevated in the Rising Faction found themselves in no better position. Most of them were merely titled commoners, lacking any real foundation.
The Rubenthain Grand Duchy, however, stood as the exception. The Rising Faction here had amassed such considerable spoils of war that they now wielded influence equal to that of the traditional nobility.
Among the Grand Duke’s retainers, those of Traditionalist stock could not help but harbor resentment.
“Admitting just anyone into the house will diminish our family’s honor!”
As expected, every retainer who had rushed here to seize the moment was of Traditionalist origin.
Calisto gazed coldly down upon his agitated retainers.
He knew full well that the family honor they invoked was nothing but an empty shell.
“We cannot set a precedent by accepting a child of unknown origins into our house. I voice this concern only because I fear it will be misunderstood as a weakening of the Rubenthain threshold.”
He nearly laughed aloud at the absurdity.
“Even if it’s a child that Zeronias himself brought and raised?”
That hardly made her a nobody.
The retainers fell silent as if bound by agreement, though more than a few still bore unmistakable traces of discontent.
After dismissing them, Calisto found his feet carrying him—almost of their own accord—toward that room.
The mere thought of Aillen being there lifted his spirits considerably.
The child’s gentle warmth seemed capable of softening even the very air within those walls.
“She was definitely here.”
Peril, who had guided Calisto there, trailed off as he surveyed the empty chamber.
It was hardly surprising, given the unsettling expression that now darkened Calisto’s face as he stared into the silence.

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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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