The Maid With a Child - Chapter 37

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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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37. “Ppa-kang-na-gae-jjeum-ba-gi-sa-ttun-beo-e!”
What she had just heard was neither baby babble nor human speech—it was some strange language altogether. What on earth could it be?
Adelen approached Baby with suspicion in her ears.
Baby beamed, holding up the trading card she had caught, and cried out again.
“Ppa-kang-na-gae-jjeum-ba-gi-sa-ttun-beo-e!”
“Ppa-kang-na-gae-jjeum-ba-gi…….”
It was speech of sorts, but she couldn’t understand a word of it. Yet it was different from baby babble somehow. And the same words had been repeated twice—which meant she was speaking deliberately, with purpose.
Adelen murmured after Baby’s words, and then an exclamation mark flashed through her mind.
“Red-winged spotted stag beetle!”
That was the name the knight had been muttering while making this trading card.
Time had passed, and she’d only heard it once, so she’d forgotten despite the hearing. Anyone would forget such a thing, but our little master had remembered.
Or perhaps the knight had repeated it several times while playing with her, and that was how she’d learned it.
In any case, it was remarkable that Baby had remembered the beetle’s name so precisely and spoken it aloud.
Adelen picked up a different trading card.
“Baby, what about this one? A green beetle?”
“No-ssap-ppi-da-neo-jjwae-tto-ppung-de-i!”
“……Ah, this is difficult. No, no…… green beetle……um?”
“No-ssap-ppi-da-neo-jjwae-tto-ppu-de-i!”
She couldn’t make out the words, but it was clear Baby knew the name and was saying it.
Adelen tested her with other beetle trading cards.
“Neo-ran-jjeum-ba-gi-mu-tda-ppeo-e!”
“Oh……. Yellow-spotted ladybug.”
“Hin-tteo-ba-gi-jam-jjae-i!”
“White-furred dragonfly!”
Insects in the world were not just insects. This was the moment Adelen’s world had expanded to the size of a beetle.
Ladybugs and dragonflies each had their own names. And Baby knew them all.
“My…… my goodness…….”
Could our little master be a genius with insects?
With her natural physical abilities and now this gift for insects, she might become a scholar who captured and studied every beetle in the world.
Since the young prince was a hostage, she might not become king, but couldn’t she become an outstanding insect scholar?
Adelen’s chest trembled as if she had received a revelation about Baby’s future. Every caregiver in the world felt joy when their charge proved to be a genius.
“A-ddeu-e!”
“Yes, yes, our brilliant little master!”
In her joy, Adelen lifted Baby high into the air and swung her around. Lately she’d been restraining herself from lifting her like this—her wrists, elbows, shoulders, back, and knees had been taking a toll—but this time her happiness overcame her caution.
“Kyaa! A-dyu-e!”
“Yes! Let’s make our little master fly!”
Yet even in the same place, doing the same thing, different people focused on different things.
This time, Baby’s attention caught on Adelen’s hair ribbon as it fluttered and spun around her.
“A-dyu-e! U-eung, i-i!”
“Ow! Ow! Wait, wait just a moment! Baby! That’s my head!”
Baby’s quick little hands seized the ends of Adelen’s hair. The grip strength of infants defies imagination. Under that unrelenting force, Adelen’s body swayed.
“Wait, wait! Not the hair!”
“Meo-hi!”
“Yes, that’s right. Hair!”
“Meo-hi!”
Baby echoed Adelen’s words and this time seized the ribbon instead.
Adelen set Baby down and sighed with relief. She was grateful the child had let go of her hair. A ribbon was something she could easily surrender.
“Here, take the ribbon. Just not my hair.”
“I-bong?”
“Yes, ribbon.”
“I-bong!”
Baby giggled and shook the ribbon Adelen had given her back and forth, repeating the same word over and over: ribbon, ribbon, ribbon.
“Hm?”
Lost in amazement at finding Baby a beetle genius, Adelen had failed to notice something—until now it suddenly caught her eye.
Adelen looked around, placed her hand on the sofa she was sitting on, and turned to Baby.
“Baby, this is a sofa. So. Fa.”
“Sso-bba?”
“!”
“Well…… um. This is a cushion.”
“Kku-ssyung.”
“!”
That was it.
The reason Baby couldn’t manage to say “Happy Birthday” was simple: she couldn’t see it.
Having never properly raised a child before, Adelen hadn’t realized she needed to teach things step by step in ways that were visible.
A breakthrough opened before her.
If that were the case, Baby could offer her birthday wishes right away once she could see them!
But…… how could she show her what “Happy Birthday” looks like?
* * *
“So…… I thought if we showed Baby a real birthday party happening right before her, it might work.”
“A dress rehearsal, then.”
“Yes, yes! I can’t throw a birthday party all by myself, after all.”
“That does sound like an excellent idea, master.”
Everyone in Sigelion had been racking their brains over Baby’s inability to say “Happy Birthday.”
The Butler cheered at the solution Adelen had brought.
As a butler, he’d been deeply discouraged at his inability to help with party preparations, and at last he was being given a chance to shine.
“Since we’re preparing anyway, we might as well throw a real birthday party for someone whose birthday is coming up soon.”
Though it was meant as a birthday party game to teach Baby language, real food and cake would be prepared. Using the opportunity to give to someone was far better than simply playing out the scene and discarding it.
“Oh! What a wonderful idea!”
Adelen clapped her hands together and laughed brightly.
A real birthday party would feel more authentic, which would be better for Baby too.
Rakcart gave a light nod as well.
The Butler immediately set about investigating.
“My birthday has already passed, master’s is still far away, and Baby’s—that won’t do. We need to say the words of celebration for that. When is yours, Adelen?”
“Oh, mine? I…… don’t know.”
“What? You don’t know your own birthday?”
“No…… I don’t know my birthday. So I’ve never bothered to celebrate it all this time…….”
The Orphanage found it bothersome to keep track of each child’s birthday, so once a year they’d gather all the children and register the new arrivals with a single birthday date. The date registered with the state was meaningless—not their real birthdays at all.
Each year that passed, they simply grew a year older. For all the children, their “birthday” wasn’t an actual day—it was New Year’s Day.
Having grown up together at the Orphanage, all the children naturally came to accept this way of thinking.
Even after they’d begun working, no household bothered to ask a maid’s real birthday or celebrate it properly. Among the maids themselves, unless they’d been childhood friends or were extremely close, no one would ask.
So she had never paid attention to her own birthday. It had never even occurred to her to set one.
“How can you not know your birthday? There must be an official birth registration date.”
She understood that other people took their birthdays seriously, but she hadn’t expected her not knowing to cause such alarm.
Adelen was flustered by the Butler’s unusual reaction.
“Ah…… actually, the thing is…… that date is the wrong one…… my real birthday, I don’t know…….”
“Your family never told you? You must have celebrated it at least once all these years?”
She’d tried to brush past it vaguely, but the Butler wouldn’t have it—he pressed and pried relentlessly.
A mistake. She should have just named any date.
With her background from the Orphanage, she couldn’t think of any other reason for not knowing her birthday.
Adelen didn’t want to reveal the details of her origins.
Parents, family—these too were a kind of power. Even among the other maids, children from close-knit families were bolder and brighter. The difference between having someone who would unconditionally take your side and not having that was considerable.
Conversely, not having parents became a weakness. When people realized there was no one to defend you, many of them turned cruel and small-minded. So she’d always tried to hide her origins as much as possible.
“Don’t tell me your family didn’t even celebrate your birthday?”
Unaware of Adelen’s inner turmoil, the Butler pressed on, genuinely shocked.
Adelen’s lips had gone dry.
The Butler wasn’t a bad-hearted man in his everyday dealings—but he was the sort to spread word among the servants. And since they worked together, she wanted to keep this hidden if she could.
She’d confessed to her master that she came from the Orphanage only because the situation had been dire, and because her master was so elevated that it scarcely mattered whether she had parents or not—it made no real difference to how she was treated.
It was just as the Butler was beginning to regard Adelen’s hesitation with suspicion that—
Rakcart suddenly cut in.

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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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