The Villainess in the Childcare Story Doesn’t Hide Her Personality - Chapter 90

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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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My expression must have been painfully transparent, because Samuel McGarvin picked up his glasses again and settled them back on the bridge of his nose.
“Don’t look at me like that.”
“I… what?”
“That look that says, ‘Just because you’re offering to help doesn’t mean your head suddenly stopped working,’ that’s the one.”
He’d read me perfectly.
“I wasn’t making any such expression.”
“You were.”
Samuel McGarvin shrugged.
“People live longer when they try things they don’t normally do.”
Wasn’t it the opposite?
While I held my tongue, Samuel McGarvin casually snatched the parchment I’d prepared to send as a reply to the Imperial Magic Society.
“I’m taking this with me.”
“Wait!”
I instinctively reached for the parchment.
“I wrote that.”
“Exactly why I’m taking it, Vice Director.”
Samuel McGarvin’s hand was faster. He pulled the parchment toward himself and scanned it line by line with his eyes.
“…Huh.”
A deflated sound escaped him.
“What?”
I answered irritably.
“If you’re going to criticize it, do it quickly.”
“That’s not it… this is impressive. Really.”
Samuel McGarvin let out a series of hollow laughs.
“One sheet of parchment and you’ve beaten someone this thoroughly? The moment the Magic Society receives this, the chairman will jump out of his seat and storm out of the room.”
“That’s exactly what I intended.”
“Which is precisely why I’m taking it.”
Samuel McGarvin folded the parchment carefully.
“I’ll reorganize this under my name and send it instead. It’ll be better for you if we add a bit more… administrative tone to what we send the Society.”
“That sounds like it would annoy them even more.”
I knew from experience.
Official documents twisted and decorated with all manner of bureaucratic flourishes were far more irritating.
“I appreciate your understanding.”
Samuel McGarvin looked rather pleased with himself.
‘But this person…’
I stared at Samuel McGarvin with a somewhat dumbfounded expression. Was this really the same man who, not long ago, had been doing his utmost to protect his own position?
‘Of course, it’s a good change…’
But now there were two of us doing things that would earn the Child Protection Bureau’s displeasure.
‘Well, what of it.’
Strangely, a corner of my heart felt lighter.
I couldn’t fathom a solution to Fabian Beiretz’s monsterification, and despite having my life threatened by him, the pressure to assist with the Mage Tower’s restructuring remained relentless.
The Imperial Magic Society would undoubtedly make their move once they received Samuel McGarvin’s response.
Yet within this office, at least I didn’t have to bear every burden alone—and that simple fact was profoundly reassuring.
“Don’t take the rumors too seriously.”
Samuel McGarvin carelessly stuffed the parchment into his desk drawer as he spoke.
“Isn’t the gossip just a result of how exceptional you are? Enjoy it.”
“…I’ll try my best.”
“Not try—enjoy it.”
“Yes, sir.”
I gave a brief acknowledgment, but internally I sighed. Samuel McGarvin, of all people, was continuing to look out for me.
I still wasn’t accustomed to it.
Though perhaps I shouldn’t become accustomed to it.
‘…Let’s just count today as a stroke of good fortune.’
With that thought, I reached for my pen once more.
Bang—the office door swung open.
“Tessa Onni!”
I blinked.
These two strikingly similar figures with flowing pink hair approaching me were…
“Duke Montina?”
“That’s right, Montina.”
Duke Montina announced herself with confident authority.
“Cici was so eager to see the Vice Director that we came by. But how is it you’re never here when we visit?”
“My apologies. I’ve had many business trips lately… Cici, it’s been so long!”
I beamed at Cici.
The child waved her hands at me with all her might.
“Tessa Onni!”
Onni…?
I regarded Cici with an awkward expression.
While hearing “onni” was certainly pleasant, my conscience suggested that given our age difference, I should probably be called “auntie” instead.
“Onni, I missed you so much!”
“You say ‘I missed you,’ not ‘I missed you so.'”
I gently corrected Cici.
“I missed you so much!”
“Well done, Cici.”
I smiled warmly. Cici’s speech had improved remarkably in such a short time.
‘I’m grateful her recovery is progressing so quickly.’
Was it because she was the youngest, or was it the joy of reuniting with her mother, who had searched for her so desperately since infancy?
Compared to Estelana, who initially couldn’t properly accept the Duke and Duchess, and Timothy, who remained painfully timid even now, Cici’s recovery was astonishingly swift.
‘She might grow up a bit spoiled, come to think of it.’
I lifted Cici into my arms as she squirmed, wanting to be held, and pondered this thought.
‘But she’s still so young… it should be fine to indulge her a little.’
She was only six years old.
When her hunger for love was greatest, she had wandered through the Orphanage enduring countless hardships.
It was only right for an adult to accept such childish whining.
Cici pressed her lips against my cheek with a soft kiss.
“Tessa unni! I like unni.”
I couldn’t overcome the pangs of conscience pricking at me, so I asked lightly.
“Is it okay if I call you that?”
Cici answered without hesitation.
“Mama said all pretty ones are unni.”
“…That doesn’t seem quite right.”
By that logic, Duke Montina would be the unni.
“Can’t I call you unni? Cici likes unni so much….”
But how could I resist the child’s drooping face?
“Call me whatever you want, Cici. I’m fine with anything.”
“Yes, unni!”
Cici beamed with joy.
Her cheeks flushed a rosy red, as if two small apples had been pressed into her face.
The shaggy-haired child who had wept and refused the carriage when we first met was nowhere to be found.
‘…I never imagined I’d hear her call me unni.’
While I was absorbed in Cici.
“Ahem.”
Duke Montina made a soft clearing sound.
Only then did I come to my senses and lift my head.
So captivated by Cici, I had momentarily forgotten Duke Montina’s very presence.
“Forgive my rudeness, Your Grace.”
“Rudeness? When you care for our Cici so dearly, what rudeness could there be?”
That was hardly something for her to say.
The Duke’s eyes gazing at Cici overflowed with nothing but love.
“But there was another reason for my visit today.”
“Another reason… Your Grace?”
“Actually, Cici’s birthday is in a fortnight. I’ve come to invite the Vice Director to the celebration.”
The Duke withdrew a small envelope from her bosom and handed it to me.
With silver leaf adorning its edges and gold thread embroidered along the seams, it was a silk envelope that felt refined the moment you held it.
As I carefully opened the envelope, my fingertips trembled slightly.
It wasn’t because of the envelope’s expense, of course.
‘An invitation to Cici’s birthday celebration.’
The first birthday party invitation for a child who had acted like a beast when we first met, her heart sealed shut.
I withdrew the card enclosed in the envelope, and the brilliant silver date struck my eyes.
May 25th.
I froze in place for a moment.
‘…Wait.’
It was my birthday.
That is to say.
Not Tessa Harrington’s birthday.
My birthday from before I fell into this world.

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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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