The Dutiful Kid Who Saved the Villainous Family - Chapter 225

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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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Side Story – Chapter 25

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To be honest, Serafin felt a bit embarrassed.
He wasn’t sure whether his body had become a child’s, or if his mind had regressed to childhood as well.
His body was slipping beyond his control, constantly wanting to trail after Airi like a puppy.
‘Hold it together. Hold it together. Maintain your honor as her brother. When you’re a child, you stay hidden, Serafin Ortejo.’
But the heavens showed no mercy!
A maid spoke hesitantly outside Serafin’s door.
“Um, Serafin? Miss Airi is asking for you.”
Serafin’s ears perked up. He could hear small, quick footsteps in the corridor—Airi’s.
“Miss Airi has to leave for Jackvell Duchy soon, but she wanted to see you first, she said.”
Serafin cursed silently to himself.
He wanted to see her off.
But he didn’t want her to see him like this. He was her brother, after all.
Serafin found himself facing the dilemma of a lifetime.
But in the end…….
‘I want to see Airi. If she leaves for Jackvell Duchy now, I’ll need to use a Teleportation Scroll to see her. Of course I’ll visit often, but still.’
The way Jackvell Marquess—that in-law—looked at Airi was far from casual.
Once Airi went to Jackvell Duchy, he’d spoil her rotten, so there was no doubt she wouldn’t return to the Ortejo Family for a while.
‘Damn it. Why am I like this? Jealousy is an emotion only men feel.’
Whether it was because his body had grown smaller, or something else, his thinking had become as childish and petty as a little child’s.
Serafin kept muttering his worries through clenched teeth.
While Serafin was pacing back and forth in front of his door, lost in thought.
“Serafin! Opening the door!”
……Worrying had been pointless.
Before Serafin could protest, Airi yanked the door open.
“Serafin! You’re here? I heard your voice……. Huh?”
Three seconds.
After exactly three seconds of shock, Airi burst into laughter and clapped her hands.
“Wow, you got hit by ‘that’ curse too and became a child?”
“Damn. You catch on fast, don’t you?”
As Serafin spat out the short, crude remark, Airi shook her head gently and spoke with courtesy.
“Little Serafin. Children shouldn’t use bad words. Of course, neither should adults.”
“I’m getting rid of that strange Gift Box. You were cute when you became a child, but I’m not.”
At Serafin’s sudden burst of honesty, Airi covered her mouth and smiled mischievously.
“Serafin, I have a favor to ask.”
Airi bent down and locked eyes with the child-sized Serafin.
Then she stretched out his cheeks.
“Can I pinch your cheeks?”
“Nnn—mmmph—nngh!”
“No way, I’m still going.”
Airi’s lips curved into an impish, teasing smile. It was only then that Serafin realized she was playing with him.
He twisted his body in protest and cried out.
“Sthop! Sthop it!”

* * *

……A day passed after Airi had pinched Serafin’s cheeks thoroughly.
Serafin too managed to escape the Curse Plague at last.
Airi, who had been about to leave for Jackvell Duchy, decided to stay at Ortejo Castle a bit longer after experiencing this “curse of the gift.”
……She was curious to see how far the Curse Plague would spread.
‘Who’s next? The Demon-Hybrid Friends? The Head Maid? The Head Servant?’
But surprisingly.
The curse flowed in a direction no one had anticipated.
Both Airi and Serafin had escaped the curse.
The curse struck directly at two final beings.
The first victim: Cookie.
When Cookie, who had been sprawled lazily in Airi’s bedroom, suddenly opened her eyes…….
“Nooooo!”
Cookie looked at her shrunken body in the mirror and poured out her anguish.
“How is it that I, who was once a Phoenix and a Dragon, have become even smaller?”
“Did I turn into Baby Cookie?”
“Why the hell do I even have ‘Baby Cookie’ written on my belly? I’m not a baby!”
Whether Cookie vented her frustration or not, Airi smiled brightly and cradled her gently in her hand.
“How adorable!”
If Cookie had soft, squishy cheeks like Serafin did, Airi would have touched them too—what a shame.
With that thought, Airi comforted Cookie earnestly.
That it would be okay, that it would lift soon.
But this damned curse’s victim wasn’t Cookie alone.
The second victim was…….
Truly a surprising person.
After comforting Cookie, Airi rubbed her growling stomach and headed for the Dining Room.
But for some reason, she heard a deep sigh from the corridor. From the Head Butler, and Mother…….
“Aha-ha-ha!”
……And even laughter, as if someone was being terribly teased!
‘What’s going on?’
Of course, Mother was always smiling in Ortejo Castle.
But Airi hadn’t seen her laugh like this in a very long time.
Airi walked toward the sound of her mother’s laughter.
‘Isn’t that Father’s Study? What could be funny while he’s working?’
Curiosity naturally demanded to be satisfied.
Airi knocked politely on the Study door.
Mother then said, “Come in, Airi.”
But that was exactly when.
“Don’t come in at all!”
A high-pitched voice. It sounded like a young boy.
‘Who is that?’
While Airi stood at the door, her hand on the knob, thinking hard, Mother spoke with laughter in her voice.
“Come in, Airi. I’ll show you something fun.”
Something fun, she said!
Unable to contain her curiosity, Airi gripped the knob and opened the door with a soft click.
What appeared before Airi’s eyes was…….
“I said don’t come in.”
……A child who looked about five years old.
Black hair, and sharp red eyes.
He resembled Declan a little, or rather…….
Airi blinked and then opened her mouth.
“……Could it be… Father?”
The five-year-old boy—or rather, Declan—made a face as if the world was collapsing, and washed his face drily.
“I want to smoke a cigar. I quit.”
Airi’s eyes went wide.
A child smoking a cigar? Not in Airi’s lifetime. She’d taught even the most badly-behaved children from the Northern Region manners.
So, considering the situation comprehensively!
“It’s Father……!”
Then Mother chuckled beside her and said.
“……A child smoking a cigar, what nonsense. Have some juice instead.”
“Sigh…….”
Airi couldn’t help but let her lips twitch at the sight.
First of all, the despairing five-year-old was far too cute.
Herself, over twenty, and Father, who now looked like a ten-year-old on the outside.
“Father.”
“Airi, if you make that face, Father gets a bad feeling.”
At Declan’s words, Airi extended her hand seriously and said with a pat.
“Children can’t move around without an adult’s help. It’s dangerous. So come here, let me carry you.”
Declan experienced something for the very first time—a headache from the back of his head. Truly, for the very first time.
“Little Father, come here, please.”
“I’ve been an elder, and now I’m a child. My life really has been all kinds of things.”
His expression showed complete despair.
But despite that, he moved adorably and flopped into Airi’s arms.
“You’re so cute, Father.”
……At Airi’s manner of treating him like a child, Declan squeezed his eyes shut and then opened them again.
“It’s dada, not cute.”
“Ha-ha-ha!”
“……Damn. Lisping again.”
And Declan foresaw it.
That he would become his daughter’s plaything.
Airi hugged Declan tightly.
“Father.”
“Mm?”
“I’ll keep being a good daughter to you!”
Then she held him for a long time, patting him gently.
Just like she was playing house with a young child receiving abundant parental love.
At his precious daughter’s affectionate behavior, the five-year-old Declan broke into a soft smile, very much like an adult’s.
……She wasn’t treating him as a plaything, but as a precious father.
“Tank you.”
Damn.
Lisping again.

* * *

After a day had passed.
Fortunately, the damned curse brought by the Gift Box from the Southern Region had ended for everyone.
The souvenir shop owner said he hadn’t known an ancient curse was placed on the Music Box and begged for forgiveness.
Airi forgave him with a generous heart…….
In their hearts, a box of memories brought by the gift had quietly accumulated.
Somehow, it felt like a good premonition that happy days would continue on like this forever.

May they all live long and happily in a fairy-tale world, warm and together.
For our story too has come to a happy ending!

<K-Confucian Child Saves a Villainous Family> Side Story – Complete

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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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