The Youngest Daughter of the Snake Family - 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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Episode 17
“Can you climb up by yourself? Would you like me to help?”
Rozaria, who’d been following behind, spotted the high chair and asked. I shook my head.
“No! I can climb up on my own.”
I was bigger now—a task like this was well within my reach.
I wasn’t the whimpering thing I used to be.
Grunt!
I put strength into my arms, hauled myself up onto the chair, and sat down. Rozaria clapped, impressed.
I was beaming with pride when I heard a derisive snort from beside me.
“Hmph. You can barely climb onto a chair, and yet you call yourself the Black Mamba.”
“You’re a bird, Airing!”
“What?”
The black-haired boy with tousled hair tilted his chin up, one corner of his mouth raised.
“How dare you boast so proudly when you’re barely One Bite Sized, you idiot!”
The boy seemed to be waiting for me to shrink back and cry.
See? Aren’t you scared? That was the look on his face. But what could I do?
I’d just learned that among the Black Mamba, calling someone “One Bite Sized” was actually a term of endearment—so his words couldn’t hurt me at all.
“Perfect! Airing is cute!”
So I shot back confidently. The boy flinched, then cried out in a strained voice.
“Wh-what are you saying?! You’re nothing but One Bite Sized!”
“Perfect! If Airing is cute, that’s all that matters!”
My shamelessness seemed to be increasing by the day.
Set, watching us bicker, made an expression of utter exasperation.
His eyes said he couldn’t begin to fathom what we were doing.
I shot a look at the tousled-haired boy beside me and grinned widely.
The boy seemed at a loss for words.
When I took an attitude as though his words had done nothing to me, his face contorted and a flash of genuine bewilderment crossed his features.
This isn’t how it’s supposed to go. What is this?
That was the expression he wore.
Kaid, who’d been watching the exchange, spoke curtly.
“Enough.”
At those words alone, the boy pursed his lips and backed down.
Hmph. The boy whipped his head away.
Once the tense atmosphere settled, Kaid opened his mouth again.
“Set, Arban. You do know this is the day we’re introducing your younger sister, don’t you?”
So the child sitting beside me was named Arban.
I glanced at Arban, whom I was seeing for the first time, with curious eyes.
Even though we’d argued, I couldn’t help being interested in him.
Apparently Arban felt the same, because our eyes met.
I felt caught red-handed for sneaking a look. I pretended to look elsewhere, straight ahead, when Set came over and greeted me knowingly.
“Fancy seeing you again, Airing.”
“…Yeah. Hello.”
“You’ve grown some, haven’t you?”
Set spoke kindly, letting his true thoughts slip out without hesitation.
Usually he’d have kept that to himself, but he was surprisingly blunt.
“Have you two met before?”
“Yes. Once in front of the forest last time. She was playing with a ball.”
…Did I mishear that?
I tilted my head, and Set closed his eyes with a smile. It was an expression that asked what the problem was.
“…It wasn’t a ball she was playing with.”
Set turned his head away, pretending not to hear.
It seemed his dislike of me had taken deep root.
It was just like last time, but this time too I could feel it acutely.
For now, in front of Kaid, he couldn’t show his displeasure outright, but Kaid had surely noticed even this much.
It seemed it would take a very long time to win Set’s heart over.
Still, I’d given him that folded Colored Paper as a gift back then…
As I grew dispirited, Set’s mouth suddenly curved upward.
“Ah. You gave me that shabby Colored Paper too. It was the most pathetic thing I’ve ever received, so it made quite an impression.”
“Then why don’t you just throw it away?”
Arban grumbled. For some reason, he seemed quite irritated.
Set stopped mid-observation of Arban.
“Are you the only one who didn’t receive a gift from Airing?”
“Who said I wanted one?”
“That’s how it looked.”
“I didn’t!”
The brothers were on the verge of launching round two when it happened.
Arban opened his mouth to respond.
“Enough.”
The mounting tension dissolved once more at Kaid’s intervention.
Surely meals didn’t always start this way?
Set seemed to be enjoying needling Arban, who rose to the bait with the slightest provocation.
I tuned them both out and gripped the Child’s Fork in my hand.
The moment I dipped the pre-cut meat into sauce—
“Pfft.”
“…Don’t laugh.”
The table came up to my chest, making it awkward to eat.
If I kept eating like this, my arms would go numb. What was I going to do?
I was mulling over solutions when the plate in front of me vanished in an instant.
“My meat!”
I whipped around to glare at the culprit with reproach.
“That was my meat…”
“The table’s too high. Come here.”
“Huh?”
My eyes went wide. Kaid was patting his knee.
After a moment’s hesitation, I climbed down from my chair and walked toward him.
Plink. Plink. Plink.
Large hands slipped between my arms and hoisted me up in one smooth motion. My legs dangled in the air.
With me settled on his lap, Kaid brought a piece of meat to my mouth without ceremony.
“Ah.”
“Ah.”
Gulp.
A generous piece of meat filled my mouth completely.
The tender texture and savory juices spread across my tongue.
Chew, chew, chew.
The moment I swallowed, the next piece was already waiting at my lips.
“You eat well.”
How many bites had I taken?
As I swallowed the last piece of meat, a chef in a sanitary cap emerged from the Kitchen.
“Brought the Dessert, Household Head, young masters… Oh, and Miss Airing has joined us!”
The chef set down the delicacies one by one, greeting me warmly.
I realized this was the head cook who’d been sending me tasty snacks every day.
“The mister who gives Airing yummy things!”
“I’m honored you remember me, Miss. My name is Baharn.”
I quickly bowed deeply. I’d been meaning to thank him the next time we met.
“Thank you for always giving me yummy things!”
“It is I who should thank you for enjoying them so much.”
“Baharn good!”
My voice rang out loudly through the Dining Hall. With that, the atmosphere instantly grew heavy.
“…Good? In what sense?”
Kaid’s hand, about to offer me Dessert, froze mid-air.
Then Set’s gaze drifted slowly toward me. His expression darkened slightly as he pressed his lips together.
Finally, Arban—who’d been making a face about not being able to feed himself—snapped his mouth shut in an instant.
What was wrong? Had I said something mistaken?
I tugged at Kaid’s sleeve as his hand hung suspended in empty air.
“Ah.”
“Right.”
The frozen atmosphere thawed again.
Baharn, who’d been breaking out in cold sweat, continued with his work in an attempt to shift the mood.
“But why is the young lady sitting on the Household Head’s lap?”
“The chair was too low.”
“Ah, I see. Then I’ll have a high chair prepared.”
“Baharn.”
“Yes?”
Kaid’s mouth twisted upward.
He stared at Baharn intently. Even in those few seconds, a suffocating tension crackled between them.
“It seems your sense of perception has vanished lately.”
……
“Shall I send you to the Territory Frontier to sharpen your instincts?”
“…I spoke out of turn.”
“Seems like it.”
“Yes.”
As the threatening questions continued, Baharn quickly reversed course.
And he vanished swiftly into the Kitchen.
I tilted my head in bewilderment. What had Baharn done wrong?
Sometimes I couldn’t understand the conversations of adults.
Still eating Pudding, I now crammed a bread roll piled high with whipped cream into my mouth.
“Messy!”
Arban, who had been watching me with indifference as I ate without noticing the whipped cream around my mouth, clicked his tongue.
“Hey.”
“What?”
“Stop getting it all over yourself. You’re a hassle to clean up after.”
With that, he wiped my mouth with a Tissue. His touch was rough yet careful.
As I awkwardly received his attention, Set spoke up.
“You were shut up in the forest practicing Cultivation for days — seems you worked hard, Arban.”
“Huh?”
When Arban questioned what he meant, Set’s gaze drifted to the Tissue.
In that instant, Arban’s body stiffened.
Seeing the confusion plain on his face, I looked at him puzzled—then Arban shot to his feet.
“Working hard? I wasn’t practicing to see her at all!”
Arban bolted from the Dining Hall.
Why was he so angry about it if it wasn’t true?
I swallowed the last piece of bread and drank my Beverage down in one go.

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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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