The Villainess in the Childcare Story Doesn’t Hide Her Personality - Chapter 77

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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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Mia was delighted the moment she received the stationery.
“It’s truly designed to be completely undetectable by magical means! This is practically a work of art.”
I had never seen her so animated before—it seemed like the slightest nudge would open her heart entirely.
The perfect moment to ask what I was curious about.
“Are you going to use it?”
Mia shook her head.
“No, it’s a gift.”
The girl hesitated for a moment before adding more.
“My friend needs it.”
“Does your friend need the pocket watch too?”
“Yes.”
Mia answered briefly, then her gaze returned to the stationery. Her fingertips pressed against the edge of the paper, then released.
‘She’s closed herself off again.’
It was strange how she deflated so quickly after being so animated, but I couldn’t press further.
The barely-open door to her heart would slam shut immediately.
“I see.”
I nodded slowly.
“You have a good friend.”
“…Pardon?”
Mia stared at me in confusion.
“This was quite difficult to obtain. The fact that they’d ask you for something like this means they trust you. And you found a way to get it.”
“…Aren’t you curious about who this friend is?”
“What good would knowing do me?”
I offered a soft smile.
“Still, if there’s anything I can help with, just say the word.”
The stationery that magic couldn’t detect was one thing, but an ordinary pocket watch troubled me.
Someone in a position where they couldn’t obtain a single watch of their own volition.
My fingertips grew subtly cold.
“…Bureaucrat.”
Mia called out softly.
“Yes?”
“If perhaps…”
The girl trailed off, then finally spoke after a long pause.
“Could you grant me a favor if I ask for one later?”
‘Here it comes.’
My heart raced.
“Of course.”
But perhaps because I answered too quickly, Mia hung her head.
“…No, never mind. Please forget I said anything.”
“Mia.”
I called out her name deliberately, keeping my tone calm.
“You can ask me for anything. Helping children is literally my job.”
“But I’m not a child.”
“You are.”
I answered with conviction.
“You’re still very much a child. So if you need anything, ask. I’ll find a way to help however I can.”
Mia’s eyes widened.
“If… if I’m a child, then… how old do you help until…?”
I paused to consider.
The Child Protection Bureau wasn’t strictly limited to children alone. Minors and adolescents before reaching adulthood were certainly within our purview.
“Anyone before they become an adult.”
“…I’ll tell you more about it later.”
“Understood.”
I stood from my seat.
“See you again, Mia.”
Before leaving the Library entirely, I glanced back at Mia.
Her shoulders stiffened for a moment, then slowly relaxed. The girl clutched the letter I’d given her tightly in both hands.
As if terrified someone might snatch it away.
* * *
The Corridor was empty when I stepped out of the Library.
‘They’ve given up on surveillance, it seems.’
Perhaps they thought I was a fool, buried in the Library staring at documents all day.
Wedge Instructor no longer trailed behind me.
‘This gives me a chance to peek into the Medical Office.’
I could manage a quick look during this quiet window.
Even if I got caught, so what?
I wasn’t forbidden from entering the Medical Office itself—only from speaking with the Doctor.
I retraced the path Mia had shown me.
The Mage Tower was eerily quiet.
‘Are they all in class?’
Or could they be training?
Just the thought made my body shudder.
As I turned a corner, I nearly collided with a small boy.
“Huh?!”
“Cedric?”
Cedric’s mouth fell open when he saw me.
“Wait, you’re… you’re that demonic Imperial Bureaucracy official…?!”
Being called demonic in a place like this—a veritable demon’s nest—was oddly difficult to describe. I wondered if he even knew who the real demons were.
“That’s a bit disappointing.”
In the past, I wouldn’t have dared say something like that, but given that Cedric had once thrown a tantrum asking me to treat him more casually, the situation had changed.
I laughed and countered.
“Surely the Mage Tower Master didn’t actually let a demon into the Mage Tower?”
Even as I spoke, my mind raced ahead.
This was an opportunity.
‘Cedric doesn’t seem to tell his older brother anything… but he’s always been willing to talk to me.’
I felt pathetic for not thinking to seek out Cedric sooner.
“Well, my older brother knows the Vice Director isn’t actually a demon.”
Cedric asked with curious eyes.
“What brings you here? My older brother keeps pestering me about it. I really don’t know anything!”
My jaw went slack.
He wasn’t hiding anything—he genuinely didn’t know.
“How’s the atmosphere at the Mage Tower these days, anything unusual, are you keeping up with classes, have you made friends, who did you eat with yesterday… it never ends.”
Cedric wrinkled his nose once.
“I wish he’d just ask me straight up. I’m already annoyed enough by the other kids, and with my older brother doing this too, I’m going to lose my mind.”
“The other kids?”
I tensed immediately.
“Yeah. They all hate me.”
Cedric’s voice was quite agitated.
“I mean, I’m my older brother’s younger sibling and I’m young, so it makes sense they wouldn’t like me. But when I was just commuting from home, they were just indifferent to me, you know?”
Cedric stomped his feet.
His frustration and sense of injustice seemed immense.
“But now that I’m actually living here, they completely ostracize me! They won’t sit next to me in the lecture hall, won’t sit next to me in the restaurant. When I go near them, they just get up and leave.”
…This was bullying, plain and simple.
‘And the Mage Tower Master and Duke and Duchess Beiretz didn’t even know Cedric was being bullied?’
Good older brother, good brother my foot.
Just wait until he comes back.
I’m going to give him a piece of my mind.
“I’m only here because of my parents, but home is so much better. I can’t eat properly here, can’t sleep properly.”
Yes, I should probably give the Duke and Duchess Beiretz a piece of my mind too.
“They’re incredibly close with each other, excluding me. Like they’re some kind of secret society…”
“A secret society?”
“…Did I exaggerate too much?”
Cedric scratched his head with an embarrassed expression.
“They whisper among themselves, and the moment I get close, they clam up. Even when I ask what’s going on, they absolutely refuse to answer. They’ve never included me once.”
…Chills ran down my spine.
There was something that absolutely could not reach Cedric’s ears.
Perhaps because he was Fabian Beiretz’s younger brother.
The reason he was being shunned even more than when he was a commuter student was likely because of some ‘secret’ that had a higher chance of being exposed now that Cedric was living here alongside them.
If he got close to them, it would become difficult to keep the ‘secret’ hidden.
“Cedric.”
I called the child’s name slowly.
“You haven’t done anything wrong.”
“…W-who said I did anything wrong? You’re stating the obvious.”
The child deflected, but I saw through his heart.
The moment Cedric saw me, he poured out his grievances and frustrations without restraint.
Given his temperament, if he were suffering such severe ostracism, he should have told Fabian Beiretz the moment he was asked.
The fact that he hadn’t spoken up meant one thing.
‘He believes he’s being shunned because of his own faults.’

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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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