The Villainess in the Childcare Story Doesn’t Hide Her Personality - Chapter 54

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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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“I’m not mocking you.”
I answered calmly.
“Why would I? I can’t cast a single spell.”
Cedric sniffled.
“Well, you don’t need to be good at magic. But I have to be good at it…!”
“I see.”
I deliberately refrained from asking why he had to be good at it.
The inferiority complex and reverence toward his accomplished older brothers, the burden of expectations that “naturally, the youngest prince must also excel at magic,” the emotional deprivation from parents who were taciturn and barely expressed affection…
The reasons were abundant. Yet to ask would be nothing short of reopening old wounds.
“Still, you’re certainly better at it than I am, so I have no reason to mock you.”
“…Really?”
Cedric asked with a voice tinged with doubt.
“My eldest brother is the Mage Tower Master. But I’m still just an apprentice who hasn’t even graduated yet…… Isn’t that pathetic?”
For a moment, words escaped me.
Cedric Beiretz was only eleven years old.
Even among Mage Tower apprentices, he was quite young.
“When I was your age, Your Highness, all I knew was playing and eating delicious food.”
I’d chatter mindlessly with friends until my parents scolded me, then hastily finish my overdue homework, and spend any remaining time reading comic books.
“So honestly, I don’t quite understand why you’re so dissatisfied with yourself.”
“…I’m different from a commoner like you.”
Cedric’s tone was far removed from the typical “noble looking down on commoners.”
“My father is a Duke, my mother is a distant cousin of Her Majesty the Empress. My eldest brother is the Mage Tower Master, my second brother is trying to establish the Empire’s first Magic Knight Order…… I have to do better.”
“…”
It was a situation I understood perfectly. At the same time, it was one with no clear solution.
No matter what I said, the people around Cedric who harbored such grand expectations wouldn’t change.
If only his family could be a reliable source of support for him…
‘But they’re not, so that’s why he’s suffering like this.’
Instead of comforting Cedric, I nodded and acknowledged his words.
“If I were in your situation, I think I’d end up thinking like you too. Falling even slightly behind makes you anxious, you feel like everyone’s laughing at you, and even when you perform well in front of others, you wonder if they’re talking behind your back…”
“You understand well.”
Cedric answered in a choked voice.
“I liked the teacher who taught me ancient languages…… because unlike other teachers, he didn’t hit me or treat me like an idiot. But then I overheard my father telling him that I was beyond help, that while I worked hard, I had no talent for ancient languages whatsoever, and that it would be better to find a different path than becoming a mage.”
“…Don’t tell me he’s still teaching you?”
“No, my father dismissed him immediately.”
Cedric let out a laugh. It didn’t sound like the laughter of someone who was amused.
“I should have quit back then…… Why do something I’m not even good at?”
Ah.
I remembered.
Cedric ultimately wouldn’t complete his apprenticeship at the Mage Tower and would end up quitting.
‘After that, he’d wander aimlessly before joining the Magic Knight Order that his second brother established.’
Why did I wander aimlessly after quitting the Mage Tower, something I disliked so intensely?
Well, the truth was that Cedric didn’t actually hate magic.
Though his talent might pale compared to Fabian’s, his love for magic was no less fervent.
Cedric, who continually regretted abandoning his Mage Tower training, would offer Estella unwavering support—telling her to do whatever she wished, regardless of what others said.
‘In other words, it was all a setup for Estella’s growth.’
If that were the case, there was no reason to cling stubbornly to the original narrative.
“You don’t have to be good at something to love it. If you keep doing what you love, you might become good at it. And even if you never do, well, what does it matter?”
My arms and legs were beginning to tingle, but I couldn’t let it show.
“Just being able to live doing something you love is already a tremendous blessing.”
The world was full of people trudging through work they despised simply to survive.
Cedric, by contrast, at least didn’t need to force himself into work unsuited to his talents for the sake of making a living.
“…Do you really think that?”
“Of course. I’ve lived more than twice as long as you, so I know far better.”
Silence fell, and then a trembling voice reached my ears.
“I… I want to come down.”
I inwardly rejoiced, but my head immediately began to ache.
‘How am I supposed to get him down?’
There didn’t seem to be anyone available to help.
A Duke skilled in magic could certainly lower Cedric with ease, but given how the servants had fussed about keeping this from the Duke’s knowledge, that didn’t seem like a viable option.
‘So he’ll have to do it himself… If he can’t reshape a large tree, what about a small branch?’
I ventured a careful suggestion to Cedric.
“What if you gradually moved the branch you’re sitting on?”
“…N-no, I’m scared.”
Cedric trembled violently.
“What if I lose concentration and slip… and fall?”
That was a fair point.
“How much longer can you stay like this?”
“…I don’t know. My legs hurt, my backside is numb. I want to come down…”
Now the honest answers were finally coming.
“I’m afraid we’ll have to summon Duke Beiretz.”
“No!”
Cedric cried out desperately.
“If… if Father finds out, he’ll truly hate me. He already dislikes me enough… what was that word again? Abhor? He’ll truly abhor me.”
“…”
Could Duke Beiretz really be that kind of person?
Based on the plot of “I Became the Adopted Daughter of a Duke Who Dotes on His Daughters,” it seemed unlikely, but there had to be a reason Cedric was so desperate to avoid the Duke’s help.
However.
‘He can’t manage this alone. So he needs help.’
If Fabian were here, this would be easily resolved, but I’d heard rumors that he was recently in closed-door cultivation at the Mage Tower.
‘…Wait a moment.’
There was one person I could think of—someone who wouldn’t blame Cedric in the slightest and would willingly help him.
I spoke to Cedric at once.
“Just hold on a little longer. I know someone who can help.”
“…Really? Not Father or my older brother?”
“No.”
I nodded firmly.
“This person will help you without ever looking down on you, so you must wait patiently.”
“U-uh…!”
Cedric added something more in a trembling voice.
“H-hurry. You have to hurry.”
“Of course.”
I reassured Cedric.
“C-can I really trust you? Everyone just lies to me. They lie and try to comfort me with false promises…”
“I don’t lie.”
I spoke with absolute conviction.
“But if I stay trapped here with you any longer, then I really will be breaking that promise.”
“…Then go! Go, I’m telling you!”
Cedric’s tone remained gruff, yet his eyes burned with desperate longing.
As if silently pleading: don’t abandon 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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