The Golden-Handed Baby Fixes Everything! - Chapter 15

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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 15
But even so, isn’t this going a bit too far?
“An illegitimate child? You’re joking, right?”
“No, she’s the real thing. Look at that adorable face. She’s the spitting image of me.”
“…So you’ve finally lost whatever conscience you had left.”
“I can hear you, Hudson.”
“Oh, really? Then please pretend you didn’t hear that.”
Haah.
Hudson let out a heavy sigh and trudged back to his seat.
“I should’ve quit this job ages ago…”
“I said I can hear you, Hudson.”
“Then pretend you didn’t, my lord.”
Hudson muttered gloomily, pressing a hand to his aching stomach as he closed his eyes.
“Honestly, I figured you’d gone to Brambshua to skip work. That whole undercover investigation business was just an excuse, wasn’t it? But did you actually go looking for your daughter?”
“No, I was skipping work, all right.”
“See?! I knew it was skipping! Wait, then who in the world is that girl…!”
Hudson, who had been speaking with great passion, eyes wide open, suddenly froze mid-gesture.
‘Wait a moment, now that I think about it…’
The Duke has a bastard child?
Is that even possible?
No, that doesn’t add up. Maybe for anyone else, but the Duke couldn’t possibly have an illegitimate child.
Because the Duke has never once, in his whole life…
“Wasn’t Lady Ravella the only one…?”
“I told you I can hear you, Hudson.”
“Gulp.”
Hudson, who had been murmuring to himself in a daze, clapped a hand over his mouth in a hurry.
Conti chuckled at the obvious way Hudson was sneaking glances at him and leaned back against the sofa.
“Hudson, the truth isn’t what matters in this world.”
“…Huh? Then what does matter?”
“Belief. The kind of heart that goes, ‘Oh, I see,’ when I tell you it’s so.”
At Conti’s words, Hudson let out an admiring “Ahh.”
“…I see. So why did you actually bring her here?”
“You pretend to be scared, but in the end you still say everything you want to say.”
Tsk.
Conti clicked his tongue and shrugged before answering.
“No reason. I just thought it wouldn’t be so bad to have a daughter.”
“Ah. I see.”
“You accepted that awfully easily.”
“Yes. It’s such a Duke-like reason. If you’d come up with some plausible explanation, I’d have been even more shocked.”
“Ha, keep talking that freely and you’ll end up with a short life.”
“…Is that a threat?”
“How much of one?”
Hudson grinned and asked, in response to Conti’s words.
“Is there anything I should know about the young lady, your daughter, my lord? Any precautions, perhaps?”
Quick changes of tack were Hudson’s specialty, and something he took pride in.
Conti, who had been smiling in disbelief, saw his smile fade for a moment.
“She has Power.”
“Oh, she has Power… Wait, what? Power?”
Hudson, who had been answering calmly, jolted in surprise and echoed the word back.
Did I just hear that wrong?
“Yes. Power.”
Ah, so I heard it right.
And hearing it right was the bigger problem.
If she has Power, that means…
“Is the young lady… of another ducal family’s bloodline? Don’t tell me you’ve gone and kidnapped some other house’s child-”
“You sometimes seem to look at me like I’m truly trash, don’t you?”
“…No comment, my lord.”
I’m going to have a short life.
Hudson resigned himself to his fate with a calm sigh and went on.
“Then what exactly is going on? Unless she’s some other family’s child that you spirited away, it doesn’t make any sense…”
“It’s a completely new kind of power. A type of power that has never existed until now.”
Today I’ve had to doubt my own ears more than once.
Hudson was thoroughly bewildered.
Every part of this conversation was like that.
A new kind of power, he said.
He had never seen or heard of anything like it.
Does such a thing truly exist?
“…That’s a lie.”
“It’s the truth. And that’s one of the reasons that child must become my bloodline.”
There was no further explanation, but Hudson caught what he meant.
“You’re worried about the Imperial Household.”
“Snakes steeped in inferiority complexes tend to behave like dogs.”
Oh, he insults the Imperial bloodline as easily as breathing.
Still, Hudson found himself in agreement with Conti.
The Imperial Household inherited the Dragon’s Bloodline, yet they never received any power.
That said, the royals were not the same as ordinary people.
Senses twice as sharp as common humans, and immense strength.
Outstanding Mana Sensitivity, and recovery that far exceeded the norm.
Moreover, according to a history that reads like a legend, a child born within the royal line occasionally inherits the Dragon’s Power, or so it is said—
‘But that has never happened yet.’
In many ways they had far surpassed the realm of ordinary people, yet the Imperial Household was not satisfied.
What they coveted was a power even more extraordinary than that.
Something like a power, to be precise.
And so the Imperial Household regarded the powers of the three Ducal Families as the pride of the Empire, while at the same time envying and resenting them.
Deliberately lending strength to the Temple so as to openly check the three Ducal Families was simply an extension of that ugly jealousy.
And yet in such a situation, a child with a new kind of power appears?
And a child from an orphanage, with parents no one even knows?
‘The Imperial Household would be thrown into complete chaos.’
To the point where they’d want to quietly dispose of the child without anyone knowing.
But if the child is said to have inherited Panteibe’s bloodline—
“They’ll sit back and comfort themselves with ‘That girl is a Panteibe.’ And even the Imperial Household won’t dare lay a finger on a Panteibe princess.”
Unless they want to make me their enemy.
At the chilling, ominous murmur, Hudson swallowed hard without meaning to.
This is…
‘He seems more serious than I thought.’
For a duke who cares about nothing in the world, to be thinking even about the dangers the child might face—
He really must have taken a liking to that child.
‘If that’s the case, then no matter who objects, the child will become the Panteibe princess.’
Hudson reached that conclusion quickly and began turning his mind over.
Let me see, what does a four-year-old princess need…?
Chapter 3
Chirp, chirp.
At the sound of birds chirping, I opened my eyes with solemn reverence.
‘Is it the fourth day already?’
Since I came to the Duke’s Residence, I mean.
Over these past four days, I have been diligently adjusting to the Duke’s Residence.
‘At first, I’d jump out of my skin at the slightest thing.’
The baths were amazing.
The meals were amazing.
The snacks were amazing, and so were the clothes!
But then, who am I?
I am, after all, Melloni, age four, thoroughly sharp, on my second life, aren’t I?
Drawing on the adaptability that let me survive even on the streets, I quickly settled into life at the Duke’s Residence.
‘I can’t keep acting clueless forever.’
If I want to become a permanent fixture and stay at the Duke’s Residence for a long time, I have to keep my wits about me and live carefully.
In these past four days, my desire to become a permanent member has only burned hotter.
And it’s not only because of the comfortable life.
I’ve spent time rolling around on the streets as a beggar, after all, in an orphanage that was worse than hell.
I have no intention of getting drunk on playing noble and saying, ‘I don’t eat commoner food.’
My goal is still survival.
‘If you kick me out now, my life will be in danger.’
“I used my Power in a place with so many eyes watching, so there’s no way to hide the fact that I have Power.”
Rumors always spread, no matter how hard you try to stop them.
The Snake Den that kidnapped me in my past life will naturally be eyeing me again in this one.
‘But if I stay here, I won’t be easily dragged away.’
This is the Panteibe Duke’s Residence, after all.
The family considered the strongest and wealthiest in the Empire!
‘And on top of that, my dad is now the Panteibe Duke, the one rumored to be terrifying…!’
There’s no safer place than this.
So if I want to survive, I have to hang on here for as long as possible.
Even if I do get kicked out-
‘I’ll need time to build a foundation so I can live well in hiding.’
Saving money, practicing my Power.
And finding a place to hide.
‘Though practicing my Power probably won’t do me any good.’
In the end, clinging to the Ducal Family for as long as possible is the best option.
But there was a problem.
Getting close to the servants and adjusting to the Duke’s Residence wasn’t that difficult, but…
“Yo, Gongzan.”
At my casual call, the Duke, who had been popping a macaron into his mouth, stared at me in silence.
“…Your Grace?”
He chewed the macaron thoroughly, swallowed, and then, chin propped on the table, gave a slight nod.
“Go on, Melloni.”
What is this. This oddly sullen feeling.
It’s just… my imagination, right?

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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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