The Villainess in the Childcare Story Doesn’t Hide Her Personality - Chapter 17

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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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‘Still doing that,’ I thought.
Those ears that flushed red whenever he grew excited were Cain Inkaris’s greatest insecurity.
He seemed to have tried countless methods to remedy it.
‘I heard he even visited the Mage Tower, but if it didn’t work out, he must have had a difficult time.’
But my sympathy for Cain evaporated in an instant at the words that tumbled from his lips.
“Yes, and what are you going to do if a scar forms on that already unremarkable face of yours?”
Sigh.
‘That’s too much.’
I’d never heard him speak like that during our Academy days.
Now that he’d become Commander-in-Chief, whether his standards had simply grown higher or his manners had deteriorated further, he seemed unable to distinguish between what should and shouldn’t be said.
The Doctor, his expression darkening, stammered his words.
“S-sir, such language toward a lady is quite improper.”
“It’s fine.”
I reassured the Doctor.
“I’m well aware of it myself.”
“What do you mean, you’re aware of it?”
I swallowed a sigh.
When Cain grew angry, he became spiteful and nitpicked at everything.
“Just as you said, I’m fully conscious that my face isn’t particularly attractive.”
“….”
Cain fell silent as if struck, his mouth closing.
Or so I thought.
But his entire face flushed crimson in the next instant, and he began to speak incoherently.
“Not particularly attractive? Who said that? What kind of blind, deranged fool would spout such nonsense!”
“…?”
I genuinely wanted to wear a question mark on my face.
“You just said it a moment ago…?”
“When did I?”
“Just now. You said, ‘What will you do if a scar forms on that unremarkable face?'”
“T-that was…! I said it out of concern for you. You shouldn’t listen to the baseless gossip of people who don’t care about you and think that way. Your face is actually quite presentable!”
In an instant, it had been elevated from “unremarkable face” to “quite presentable.”
His fickle nature remained unchanged, whether then or now.
I lightly ignored Cain, who was flustering about and growing heated, and instead pondered a far more pressing concern.
‘The Marquis Family certainly won’t sit idle. Even if we reach the Capital safely thanks to Cain, if they change their minds and assert their rights over Timothy….’
Lost in thought, I apparently touched a nerve with Cain again.
“Why did you suddenly go quiet? You’re usually chattering away incessantly.”
“…I was thinking about how to properly protect Timothy.”
Cain let out a short, sharp exhale.
“A Marquis’s daughter you’ve known for mere days matters more to you than I do?”
“Timothy is simply someone I have a duty to protect.”
I explained calmly.
“I’m grateful for your help this time, and for treating my wounds. But right now, Timothy comes first.”
“Timothy comes first…”
Cain Inkaris’s gaze turned slowly from me to Timothy.
I could hear it.
The sound of gears turning in his head.
‘He’s thinking about how to separate Timothy from me.’
But that would never happen.
Timothy had already come under my protection.
Even if the Child Protection Bureau was merely a hollow shell, surely it had the power to protect a single child.
As I reached out to pull Timothy closer to my side.
An unexpected word escaped from Cain Inkaris’s lips.
“Your posture is quite good.”
I blinked.
What’s with the sudden critique of my stance?
“Want to try swinging this?”
And with that, he thrust a sword that had been carelessly left in the corner into my hands.
Timothy swung the blade several times with practiced ease.
Though I knew little of swordplay, having glimpsed it over shoulders at the Academy, I could tell that despite being merely fundamental movements, they were clean and precise.
Cain Inkaris seemed quite satisfied with Timothy’s display.
“Do more. Show me what you’ve learned recently.”
Timothy glanced left and right to gauge the room’s size, then walked a few paces to find adequate space and demonstrated a dazzling sequence of movements.
Cain Inkaris’s mouth opened slightly, and a soft “oh” of admiration escaped.
I tensed immediately.
I couldn’t fathom what Cain Inkaris was thinking.
Was he about to suggest military enlistment?
If so, Timothy could escape the Marquis Family’s influence.
But…
‘Timothy is destined to die. I can’t let him enlist in the military.’
Yet I couldn’t simply blurt that out here.
While I wrestled with my thoughts, the conversation between Cain Inkaris and Timothy progressed smoothly.
“How many years have you been training with a sword?”
“I… I’m not sure…”
Timothy spoke in a faltering voice.
“As far as I can remember, I’ve been learning continuously…”
My mouth went dry.
That meant he’d been training with a sword since he was three or four years old.
“With a real blade? Or a wooden one?”
“With a real blade.”
Timothy hung his head low.
“Have you been injured before?”
“Many times.”
My stomach twisted. It was no different from handing a real blade to a child and abandoning them to their fate.
I could vividly imagine how much Timothy must have suffered for his swordsmanship to reach such heights.
And yet, even that exceptional skill hadn’t been enough to protect Timothy from the monsters of the Borderlands.
But strangely, Cain’s mood seemed to have suddenly brightened considerably.
Then…
“I’ve decided, Tessa.”
“Decided what?”
“You.”
Cain pointed at Timothy with his finger.
“Become my successor.”
At that moment, both Timothy and I let out startled exclamations.
“What!?”
“What kind of nonsense is that!?”
“Nonsense, Tessa?”
Cain frowned.
“Isn’t that too harsh a treatment for a Marquis’s daughter?”
“Not for Timothy—! It doesn’t make sense.”
Timothy’s thoughts weren’t entirely different from mine. Though, of course, for completely different reasons.
“C-Commander-in-Chief, sir… I’m a woman. I-I suppose I could hide it, but… they’re all soldiers, so how could I…?”
Cain’s voice as he explained to Timothy was quite gentle.
“Unlike those stuffy old noble families with their peculiar rules, our Inkaris Family allows women to become successors.”
The heads of noble families were, with extremely rare exceptions, exclusively male.
The only basis for this was regulations each family had arbitrarily established, not imperial law.
However, traditions older than the Empire itself carried more weight than law. Some families with only daughters even raised their successors in disguise as men.
The Inkaris Family was one of the extremely rare exceptions without such restrictions.
“Still, I… I couldn’t possibly do something like that.”
Timothy’s hesitation was understandable.
Even if it was merely a symbolic hereditary position, there were still fundamental skills required of a Commander-in-Chief.
But Cain’s resolve seemed unyielding.
“Your form is solid, even if your stamina is weak. I think it’ll improve with proper nutrition and rest. Do you dislike meat? Why are you so thin at an age when you should be growing?”
“I… I like it.”
“Good. We have plenty of meat here. Anyway, you really dislike becoming my successor that much?”
“N-no? H-how could I ever think such a thing, to dislike it…?”
“Then there’s no problem.”
Cain’s voice suddenly shifted to a commanding tone.
A military cadence I’d never heard from him before—my body tensed instinctively.
With only a slight shift in tone and expression, the Cain I’d known seemed to vanish, replaced by a foreign Empire’s Commander-in-Chief.
“Good posture. Solid fundamentals. As for intellect… hmm, the Marquis family is renowned for intelligence. Though it’s become a problem in the wrong direction. What I’m saying is, you show considerable talent.”
There was a power in Cain’s voice that made it impossible for anyone to dare refute him.
…But Timothy’s deep sense of inferiority overcame it.
“I’m different. They say I’m not good at anything….”
“Huh? Who says that?”
“M-my family.”
Cain looked directly at Timothy.
“Listen well. That damned household and you are completely severed. No one holds your leash anymore.”
It was strange.
His tone was unmistakably the same crooked manner as always, yet there was a sharpness like a blade and a weighty gravitas to his words.
“So why are you still shackled by the nonsense of beasts masquerading as humans, letting your talent rot away?”
“…!”
I swallowed hard.
Timothy’s two green eyes, gazing at Cain, were now gleaming not with fear, but with awe and hope.

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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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