The Oracle of the Villainous Baby - Chapter 14

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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 14
“I’m heading to the Market.”
Finally, as Bunny arrived at the Exit and offered her farewell before gliding past, the Guards startled and noticed her for the first time.
“The Market…? Wait, hold on. What market are you….”
“Going to buy ingredients.”
“Ingredients? Ah… are you running an errand for someone? But who would send such a tiny child….”
The two Guards whispered among themselves, but when they saw Bunny grin and bow her head before continuing on her way, they couldn’t bring themselves to stop her.
Of course, Bunny had no idea where she was going.
“Excuse me, kind sir. Where is the Market?”
“Big sister, how do I get to the Market?”
“Is it this way to the Market?”
But what did it matter?
Bunny was adorable, and every adult showed her kindness in their own way.
When she mentioned she was running an errand alone, some even personally guided her to the way.
‘Bunny, truly a genius.’
The brilliant genius Bunny arrived safely at the Market all by herself.
* * *
Huff!
The rabbit bag on Bunny’s back looked quite different from when she’d arrived at the Market—it was now bulging and disheveled.
Whatever she’d stuffed inside was packed so tightly that the legs of the rabbit bag were stretched taut, nearly touching the ground.
After finishing her business, Bunny entered one last shop—the one with a book illustration painted on its sign.
Ding—
“Welcome.”
The Bookstore Owner turned his head at the sound of the door opening, but seeing nothing, he paused.
“Huh?”
The owner tilted his head left and right with a puzzled expression, leaning over the counter, when he suddenly jolted and sprang to his feet.
For there before him was a pitch-black, shaggy rabbit, its head held high, staring directly at him while backing away.
‘A… a monster…?’
The Bookstore Owner grabbed a wooden club nearby and swallowed hard. To report this to the Guard Force, he first needed to circle around the counter and reach the door.
Just as the owner, tense and ready, was about to take his first step.
“This isn’t it….”
A small, childish voice made him freeze.
“Bunny… can’t read the letters….”
Can’t buy books….
At the sorrowful tone, the Bookstore Owner paused. Only then did he realize that the rabbit, which had seemed so menacing, wasn’t moving at all—it was simply bobbing up and down slightly. Moreover, he could see small legs between the rabbit’s legs and a small head peeking between the rabbit’s ears.
And those small legs and that small head between the ears.
The Bookstore Owner awkwardly lowered the wooden club.
“Child, did your mother send you on an errand?”
At his gentle question, the pitch-black rabbit spun around sharply.
A child with soft, pale skin and rosy cheeks looked up at him with a tearful expression.
“….”
Embarrassment flooded through The Man, and without thinking, he hurled the wooden club he’d been gripping behind the counter, then forced the most charming smile he could muster.
“What are you looking for?”
“Who are you?”
“Ah… I’m the Bookstore Owner.”
“Oh! Do you have books for children too? Bunny… doesn’t know a single letter….”
“Letters? Ah, you want to learn to read? Of course I do. But do you have any money?”
“Yes! Bunny is a super rich person.”
Bunny giggled and thrust her thumb toward The Man, then rummaged through her shaggy rabbit bag and produced a jingling cloth pouch.
The Man chuckled and handed her a book suitable for learning letters and a children’s storybook.
Bunny confidently emptied a handful of coins from the cloth pouch and placed them on the counter.
The Man counted the coins with his eyes and smiled awkwardly.
“Little one, what should we do? You can’t buy books with just 1500 Rost….”
Rumble—
Flash!
Crash!
Thunder roared, lightning struck, and a massive boulder plummeted toward Bunny’s head.
—Of course, this was all in Bunny’s imagination.—
Bunny collapsed onto the Bookstore floor.
“Bunny… is ruined….”
Without money, I can’t even study….
That day, Bunny learned a harsh truth about life.
* * *
Tap, tap, tap, tap.
The kitchen knife moved swiftly. Luca, an apprentice chef at the Udiah Duke Family Estate, sliced onions while tears streamed down his face, surrounded by ingredients piled high as mountains.
“Sniffle.”
Even as tears flowed from the sting, Luca realized there were still mountains of onions left to cut, and he exhaled a heavy sigh.
I’d studied hard to become a chef at the Udiah Duke Family Estate, but the work of an apprentice chef and the youngest in the Kitchen was brutally exhausting.
The Main Mansion was nothing but a distant dream. Every single day, I prepared massive quantities of food in the Kitchen at the Mansion of Trials and prepared ingredients to send to the Main Mansion.
Starting before dawn to prep all the ingredients, and still prepping when everyone else had gone home—lately, I couldn’t even manage six hours of sleep a day.
The onions burned my eyes, but my circumstances were so pitiful that I couldn’t tell if the tears flowing were from sorrow or from the sting.
Sniffle.
“Sniffle.”
Sniffle.
“Sniffle.”
As I wiped away the flowing snot and continued slicing onions through blurred vision, I suddenly stopped cutting.
It was because of sniffling sounds echoing from somewhere.
“Sniffle.”
Sniffle. Sniffle.
“…?”
Luca glanced left and right.
‘What is that? What’s that sound?’
In the Kitchen of the Mansion of Trials, there shouldn’t be anyone besides me, so it was strange to hear a noise.
As Luca looked around with a bewildered expression, I discovered a pale creature clutching something in both arms and sniffling.
It was an adorable child, compact and delicate like a carefully crafted doll.
Our eyes met—those pink irises brimming with tears.
Pitter-patter.
Pitter-patter.
As tears began streaming down, Luca’s mouth fell open in shock.
“Sob… Bunny can’t see… can’t see…”
“Ahhhhh!”
Panicked by Bunny’s unceasing tears, Luca cried out and hastily tucked Bunny under one arm with a wet cloth, rushing out of the Kitchen.
Sniffle, sniffle.
After crying for quite some time against my will, Bunny finally peeked up her head, her face drenched in tears and her nose running.
“Are… are you alright…? Young Lady.”
“Yes…”
Bunny answered with composure, her nose flushed red.
At her unbearably cute appearance, Luca unconsciously opened his mouth before quickly closing it.
“Chef. Luriel here. When you chop-chop-chop the onions, you should wet the knife blade with water and cover the root… or else it gets really sad…”
Bunny spoke while sniffling, her eyes swollen and flushed red.
“Oh… is that so?”
Luca, crouching beside Bunny, answered while sniffling.
“Yes.”
Bunny likewise nodded while sniffling.
After the two of us sniffled at each other like howling for a while, we looked at each other’s puffy eyes and burst into laughter.
“Hahahaha!”
“Hehehehe.”
Luca glanced at Bunny and rubbed the back of his neck.
“What brings you to the Kitchen? Did you lose your way?”
“No, Bunny has a request.”
“A request?”
“Yes.”
Bunny stood before Luca with her puffy eyes and smiled mischievously.
Luca found it quite adorable how the child stood proudly before him, so he turned his head slightly and smiled.
Then Bunny made an “Ahem!” sound, placed both hands on her hips with a snap, and opened her mouth.
“How long will you keep chopping-chopping-chopping only onions, you fellow.”
“Yes…?”
“Don’t you want to cook something else? Don’t you want to become a really great chef?!”
Bunny shook her head side to side, wiggling her fingers left and right.
Faced with such an overbearing attitude that even felt intimidating, Luca found himself nodding without realizing it.
“How about becoming a super strong royal chef with Bunny?!”
“Super strong… royal chef…?”
Of course! I want to become a royal chef.
With Bunny, it’s super easy!
‘Is Bunny really a genius…?’
Hmph.
Bunny’s nose rose proudly in the air. Her shoulders puffed up, and her chest thrust forward with unmistakable pride.
“What is that…?”
“Huh?”
At Luca’s bewildered question, Bunny’s puffed-up shoulders deflated like a punctured balloon with a soft whoosh.
Her raised nose returned to normal, and her thrust-out chest melted downward with her body, becoming limp and droopy.
“Um…. Is there something I need to help you with?”
“Yeeees….”
In an instant, the deflated Bunny thrust something she’d been holding into Luca’s hands.
“Bunny, fry this for me, please.”
That was the thing.
Bunny could cut ingredients with her child-sized knife and cutting board, but she couldn’t fry them.
Because Luriel had said that if a child uses fire, the Red Dragon hiding inside the flames would emerge and devour the child, so an adult must always be present when using fire.

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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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