The Golden-Handed Baby Fixes Everything! - Chapter 19

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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 19
“I’ve been waiting with my neck stretched out, Your Grace! And this young lady here is—”
“Melloni, four years old. She’s the young lady of the house.”
“…Young lady?”
The woman murmured the words back, her voice thick with doubt.
But that lasted only a moment.
“What an honor to be greeted first, Young Lady! I am Charloa, the proprietor of this boutique. Now, do come in, do come in. Hohoho.”
Charloa, bright and bubbly, led us inside.
Here, then—
“A clothing shop.”
And a tremendously enormous one at that.
Garments in every color imaginable filled the building to its rafters.
It looked as though every piece of clothing in the world had been gathered and set down right here.
“I hear you have no clothes to wear.”
“…Me?”
“Yes. Marshmallow, you.”
“No, no. I have plenty of clothes.”
And that was true.
I had barely arrived at the Duke’s Residence, yet my wardrobe was stuffed full.
Though I’d never owned this many clothes in my entire life.
“That can’t be right. The maids have been complaining nonstop. Saying all of it is ready-made, and there’s nothing suitable to dress you in.”
Ah, now that I think about it, Eina did seem to be on the verge of tears every time she dressed me.
“The sleeves are a bit long. And the waist is a little loose. *Sigh*, that won’t do. I’ll stake my life on negotiating this properly.”
Could today’s outing be the result of that negotiation?
“But I don’t think I need new clothes…”
“Marshmallow.”
“Hm?”
“A young lady is meant to wear tailored clothing. It’s written into some law or other of the Empire.”
Oh.
If that’s the case, then the situation changes entirely.
‘I’m a young lady, so I have to follow the young lady’s laws.’
I said, with a solemn expression.
“Buy me clothes. Please buy me clothes. Custom clothes for the young lady!”
“Splendid. You’re nothing short of a truly marvelous young lady.”
The Duke said, smiling faintly.
I nodded and answered.
“Mm-hm. Melloni, marvelous young lady.”
Charloa, who had been watching us quietly, chimed in at the perfect moment.
“Well, shall I show you around from this side? There are so, so many pretty clothes that would suit the young lady!”
* * *
Cradled in the Duke’s arms, I burned with enthusiasm for browsing the clothes.
But that enthusiasm didn’t last long.
“How about this one? It’ll look wonderful against the young lady’s fair skin.”
“Buy it.”
“Hohoho! Ah, and this one is adorable too. The ribbon here is the highlight—”
“Buy that too.”
“Kkakaka! As for this one, the color—”
“Pack it.”
“Kyahahaha!”
…Can you even call this browsing?
He’s just buying everything the moment it’s shown to him.
And I didn’t get so much as a chance to offer my opinion.
Before long, even this pointless back-and-forth vanished.
The Duke, listening to Charloa’s recommendations with an expressionless face—
“From here to there, just buy the whole lot.”
It was because he’d said the kind of thing you’d only read in a novel: ‘From here all the way to the end.’
Charloa, her face overcome with emotion, clapped her hands over her mouth and began to applaud. *Clap, clap, clap.*
“Truly… truly, truly! What an exceptionally brilliant choice! Behold, the greatest father of this age! Oooh.”
The Duke, looking rather pleased with himself, pointed at the wall on the opposite side and said, ‘Pack that up too.’
Clap, clap, clap!
Charloa’s clapping grew louder.
‘…Hmm, my head’s spinning.’
I was reeling from a level of spending I had never experienced in my entire life.
* * *
“We’ll have the clothes delivered to the Duke’s Residence before long. Now, goodbye, nya~!”
I left the boutique under Charloa’s enthusiastic send-off.
Still cradled in the Duke’s arms, I let out a long sigh and muttered.
“Melloni’s gonna gwow up fast, so we don’t gotta buy sooo many, mm…”
“You can always buy more once they’re outgrown. You need at least this much, or people will look down on you for having no clothes as a young lady.”
Wait, you need that much just to keep people from looking down on you?
Well. The road to becoming a proper young lady is a long and treacherous one.
“Now, where should we go? Is there anything you want?”
“…Nope. Nothin’. Really, really nothin’!”
“Oh, our little Melloni has no greed at all. And here we have a rich father, too.”
Hearing such a blunt remark, I laughed awkwardly and sniffled.
‘It’s not that I have no greed. I’m just cowed by that mountain of clothes I just saw.’
Haha, I was still stuck on that awkward laugh when it happened.
Rolll-rolll-rolll—thud.
Something came rolling fast and stopped right at the Duke’s feet.
I widened my eyes and looked down at the ground. That is…
“A tomato?”
What had come rolling over was a bright red tomato.
And it wasn’t just one tomato rolling across the ground.
Behind the tomato that had struck the Duke’s foot, a dozen or more tomatoes were tumbling furiously toward us.
“Tomatoes rolling down the street. What a strange sight.”
The Duke muttered, sounding exasperated, and lightly snapped his fingers.
Snap.
At once, the dozen or so tomatoes that had been charging toward us skidded to a dead halt.
“W-wow, wooooah!”
It was a sight so miraculous that I couldn’t help but gasp.
“Wh-what, is that Gongzan’s Power?!”
“That’s right. It’s Power. I caught the shadows with the Power of Darkness.”
He caught shadows with Power?
What is that, even?
‘…That’s so cool, though.’
The Power of Darkness really is amazing.
My own Power amounts to nothing more than clanking away at fixing things, clank-clank.
‘And using it looked so natural.’
Normally, when someone uses Power, a unique sigil tends to surface along with a burst of light.
But when the Duke used his Power just now, there was no sign of anything like that.
Now that I think about it…
‘I’ve heard that the more skilled someone is with Power, the more they can use it without showing a trace.’
Still, how many people could use it this naturally?
Surely not many at all.
‘No wonder he’s called a genius who’ll be remembered in history.’
It suddenly struck me how enormous my good fortune was, that the Duke had taken me in.
As long as someone this incredible was so eager to be my father, staying alive should be easy, after all.
‘…I’ll become the best daughter.’
I’ll become the best daughter, and stay right by the Duke’s side!
I looked up at the Duke with eyes burning with enthusiasm.
“…What’s with that look?”
“Th-that! Gongzan’s Power… is so cooooool!”
It was a compliment that was half sincere and half flattery.
A small, everyday effort to keep myself close to the Duke, I suppose.
“Melloni’s never seen somethin’ this cool before! It went pa-bam like that, and the tomatoes… rolled-rolled…”
…Tsk.
I was cheerfully carrying on, but I quietly shut my mouth.
It was because the Duke’s gaze, looking down at me, had turned strangely unreadable.
His lips were pressed shut and didn’t open, and not even the courtesy smile he usually wore was anywhere to be seen.
‘…I didn’t really say something wrong, did I?’
Had I overdone it, maybe?
Did I not sound sincere enough?
Maybe I should have marveled with a more serious tone.
But then, at that very moment.
Whoosh-!
The tomatoes, which had been strangely frozen in place, began to rise into the air.
And that wasn’t all.
“Huh?”
The floating tomatoes spun in midair, stopping and starting over and over.
Oh, my goodness.
What on earth is this tomato circus?
“Wow, Mom, look over there! The tomatoes are flying!”
“Honestly, what are you talking about? How could a tomato… fly up into the sky? Why would it be flying?”
It was such an astonishing sight that even passersby stopped in their tracks to watch.
I, too, was watching in a daze, when—
“So, Melloni, what do you think?”
“Nyeh?”
“This one’s even cooler than the last, right?”
Blink, blink.
At the Duke’s playful words, I racked my brain for a moment.
‘…Could this be… a talent show, just for me?’
Because I said his Power was cool?
It seemed unlikely, but there was no other answer.
…If that’s the case, then there’s only one answer.
“Yesh! It’s sho cool!”
“How cool is it?”
How cool is it, he wants to know?
That specific question caught me off guard, and my eyes wavered again.
But my confusion didn’t last long.
I stretched both arms out as wide as I could, drawing the biggest circle I could manage.
“Thish big! And thish big?”
“Only that much?”
Ah, so it’s not enough for him.
In that case.
“…The reththt, minuth thish little bit?”
Only then did the Duke wear a satisfied expression.
Whew.
‘Ugh, being a daughter is hard work.’
That was when it happened.
From the direction the tomato had rolled in came the sound of hurried footsteps: tap, tap, tap.

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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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