The Golden-Handed Baby Fixes Everything! - Chapter 7

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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 7
Her gaze landed on a man smirking at me with his head tilted.
“Shut your mouth in the dining hall, will you? That squeaky voice of yours is seriously grating on my nerves.”
Good grief. He’s got a real talent for talking like trash.
‘Figures. A real criminal really is different.’
Dominic.
He was one of the few real convicts in Brambshua.
His crimes were pickpocketing and fraud.
He was said to have emptied the savings of the poor, down to the last coin.
In a word, he was a vile little weakling who enjoyed bullying the powerless.
And the only powerless person in Brambshua who could possibly be his target was-
“Well, look at this. You dare glare at a grown man? Honestly, you can tell you were never taught any manners.”
That was me.
‘…Seriously pathetic. Why does he live like that?’
Yet despite what I thought, my hands were trembling.
I suppose it’s the instinct left over in this little child’s body.
‘It’s unfair.’
I’m really not scared of Dominic at all.
Before my regression, I was afraid of him.
Of course I was. What four-year-old wouldn’t be frightened when a full-grown adult keeps picking fights and browbeating her?
But after surviving the hellish orphanage days and the street life that was practically the wild, I grew stronger.
‘…Though, sure, when I see a stranger or an angry adult, my heart still goes thump-thump.’
I’ve become someone who can hold on to that pounding heart and still smile as if nothing’s wrong.
Besides, this is Brambshua, isn’t it?
Jeanne is right beside me, and Ricky is in front of me.
And Oliver will be here soon, too.
‘Yeah. Nothing to be afraid of.’
Since I just scoffed without showing any sign of fear, Dominic’s face crumpled.
“Stop blinking at me like that, you little brat, and answer me. Are your ears stuffed up or something!”
“Hey, are you done talking?!”
At the raised voices, it was Ricky who stepped in for me.
“Why are you acting so childish for a grown man? Stop picking fights and just leave.”
“Well, aren’t you the white-horse prince. So where’d you leave your white horse, Ricky?”
“You really are… Ha, forget it. You have to be on the same level to bother arguing with you.”
“What? Hey, are you finished?”
“And what if I’m not?”
Uh-oh. This isn’t good.
Somehow the atmosphere grew uglier by the second.
It was the kind of mood where a fight could break out at any moment and no one would be surprised.
Even the glances from the other big brothers and sisters watching us looked ominous.
Well, they’re all good people, after all.
Ugh.
‘If this turns into an actual riot…’
This is trouble. Serious trouble!
Honestly, at any other time, I wouldn’t have cared whether a brawl broke out or not.
I’d have been cheering for Ricky’s side.
But right now, a fight could not be allowed to happen.
‘There’s an investigator undercover here!’
If we make a commotion at a time like this, Ricky could end up in trouble too.
And so could the other big brothers and sisters.
‘I have to stop this somehow.’
I stamped my feet and flailed my hands toward my brother.
“Oppa, don’t do dat. Don’t fight, okay?”
“It’s fine, Melloni. Don’t try to stop me.”
“Calm down for a minute-”
“Yeah, listen to that tiny thing, Ricky. Don’t get yourself beaten up over nothing.”
Would you just shut up, Dominic.
I bit back the urge to glare at Dominic, forcing it down with all my might.
But.
“Dumb bastard. Grown men who hang around with kids are exactly that kind of loser, it’s obvious. Oh, and that bookish little guy who just came in, too? Takes one look to see he’s an idiot.”
“What did you say?!”
I couldn’t let this one slide.
I don’t mind when people run their mouths about me. I’m used to it.
But I can’t stand anyone badmouthing Ricky or Oliver.
“Don’t ya dare talk trash about Ricky-oppa and Oliver! They’re both good people! The mister picking a fight with a four-year-old is the one with the lower standards!”
*Pfft.*
*Snort.*
My brutal facts set off giggles from every direction.
“*Snrk.* Melloni’s got a point there.”
“Ha! Hey, Dominic. The four-year-old’s smarter than you.”
“No kidding.”
As the jabs piled on, one after another, Dominic’s face began to flush beet red.
*Thump.*
“Are you seriously trying to get yourself killed…!”
Dominic shot to his feet and clenched his fists, looking threatening.
…W-what, so what!
He started it, though.
I slipped my face behind Jeanne’s arm.
“Baldy…! Monchoni…!”
Since it’s already come to this, I might as well say my piece.
But soon after, I started to regret saying ‘baldy’ at all.
The moment that word left my mouth, Dominic’s eyes rolled back in his head.
With his eyes rolled up, Dominic charged at me with a ferocious momentum.
“Get over here-!”
*Crash.*
His battle cry was swallowed up by a violent clatter.
Dominic, who had been stomping toward me, had face-planted onto the floor.
‘Huh?’
Dominic’s slapstick routine didn’t stop there.
“Oof!”
*Thud.*
“Aaagh!”
*Clatter-bang.*
“Hup!”
*Clatter-bang-bang.*
With every fall, the color drained further from Dominic’s face.
“W-what? Someone keeps yanking my ankle—, gah!”
At his terrified cry, I tilted my head.
‘Yanking his ankle?’
No way.
There was nothing around Dominic, nothing at his feet.
There was only a pitch-black shadow.
“What are you talking about? There’s nothing there.”
“That can’t be. Something’s definitely—!”
*Clatter-bang-bang.*
Dominic, still insisting against Ricky’s indifferent remark, went down again.
Ouch. That one must have really hurt.
Dominic lay there with his face pressed to the floor, trembling, then jerked himself upright—
“Aaaaah!”
With a shriek, he bolted out of the dining hall.
On all fours, no less.
“…What’s his problem?”
“Maybe he’s finally lost it.”
Hm, fair point.
‘I wonder when Oliver’s going to get here.’
I propped my chin on the table and stared at the door.
I hope he gets here soon.
* * *
*Huff, huff.*
Dominic, having fled the dining hall, was gasping for breath.
Every inch of his body throbbed.
There wasn’t a single spot that didn’t hurt.
“Damn it, what the…”
The face he muttered through was still bleached white with shock.
‘What on earth is this?’
What could be tripping him up?
Everyone had said it was nonsense, but there was definitely something there.
Every step he took, something had caught his feet.
Even if it was something he couldn’t see!
‘And they dare treat me like a madman?’
Recalling the laughter that had trailed after him, he ground his teeth with a grating sound.
A bunch of idiots locked up in this place because they had no strength or anything else, and they dare act like this.
If they were prisoners, they should crawl around whimpering and wailing like prisoners!
Especially that brat.
“Right. This is all because of that damned little kid.”
That cocky little girl provoking me is the problem.
She should have just kept quiet and cowered like always, watching everyone’s faces.
Why did she have to go and provoke me with her pointless words…?
‘I’ll pay her back for today’s humiliation somehow.’
By any means necessary.
Dominic was busy nursing his pathetic thirst for revenge against four-year-old Melloni when a voice cut in.
“Hearing dogs barking somewhere, and here it is.”
A calm, unhurried voice drifted over from somewhere.
“Not a dog, but a son of a bitch.”
Son of a bitch?
Dominic realized at once that the words were aimed at him.
His face flushed a furious red as he turned toward the sound.
“What did you just say to me…!”
But the words never got any further.
Where his gaze landed stood Oliver, wearing an expressionless face.
His blue eyes were still.
So still they were chilling.
It was a strange thing.
He had always thought of him as a fragile-looking bookworm who grinned smugly all the time, a nobody who wouldn’t even last one punch…
“What do you plan to do?”
Where was this strange, oppressive pressure coming from?
Gulp.
Dominic, his tail tucked between his legs, swallowed dryly and asked back.
“…W-what do you mean?”
“I came running all excited, thinking there was a real dog here, and you’ve let me down. How do you intend to compensate for my fragile heart, now torn to shreds?”
Compensation?
‘Why in the world should I compensate him…?’
Besides, he didn’t look like he had a fragile heart at all.
Oliver gave him a bright smile and spoke.
“Why don’t you bark for me?”

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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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