The Youngest Daughter of the Snake Family - Chapter 32
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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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Chapter 32
Since he was an only child, I raised him with care—only to have this problem arise.
I thought it would suffice to teach him the most essential survival methods, but I never imagined he would become so ignorant of his own emotions.
“You’re like a snow rabbit.”
Now that I thought about it, the comparison was surprisingly generous. Seige, who typically ignored others as if they were invisible whenever they didn’t catch his eye, had actually compared someone to a snow rabbit.
“That’s not appetite, Seige.”
Muhela decided to correct this misunderstanding first.
Surely he wasn’t genuinely mistaking this for the kind of hunger one felt toward food?
“If it’s not appetite, then what is it?”
Correction: he truly had no idea.
Muhela found himself at a loss for words. How was he supposed to explain this?
“…That’s something you’ll come to understand on your own someday. Sigh. So that’s why you came back to the Banquet Hall so quickly?”
“I thought it would be better to keep my distance for now. I might accidentally bite her, after all.”
“…You did well.”
He’d barely managed to help his son make a friend, and now this had happened.
Muhela found himself torn between congratulating his son—who was barely a month old—and something far more complicated.
It ought to have been something to celebrate, but the unease he felt suggested…
“He really does look like a snow rabbit, and it makes me want to torment it.”
“……”
“I want to take her to the Northern Region.”
His twisted way of expressing emotion filled Muhela with dread for the future.
Muhela laughed helplessly as he watched Seige lick his lips.
Yes, if that happened, the Northern and Southern Regions would surely burn.
“That’s going to be difficult, Seige.”
To protect one child, they had summoned four of the border’s mightiest guardians.
Not just one—but four.
One stationed at each perimeter, and one closest to the child himself.
“He’d be captured before even leaving the Mansion.”
Muhela recalled the face of the man who had blocked Letra’s path. If her memory served correctly, it was certainly Karma.
To station such individuals at a peace conference—those capable of annihilating most minor clans single-handedly—was audacious.
While everyone had let it pass without comment, it could easily have escalated into a serious conflict if pressed.
Through this, Muhela had come to understand clearly.
How precious Airin truly was to the Astrofell Clan.
“You absolutely cannot harm Airin, Seige.”
“I already know that much.”
“You know, I’m relieved to hear it.”
* * *
I felt as though my stomach might burst. Kaid kept placing food into my mouth without pause.
When I pressed my lips shut firmly, unable to eat any more, Kaid finally set down his fork.
“Airin full.”
“You’ve only eaten this much?”
“Mm-hmm.”
“That’s too little.”
I’d emptied two plates, but to Kaid it apparently seemed insufficient.
I glanced around to see how much everyone else had eaten, and I was clearly the one who’d consumed the least.
I dabbed the corners of my mouth with a tissue. Now that I’d finished eating, I should go play again.
“Can Airin go play now?”
“That’s a bit difficult at the moment.”
“…Why!”
“Because of him.”
Kaid gestured toward a gray-haired man seated not far away.
When I glanced back over my shoulder, the man met my gaze and smiled brightly, waving at me enthusiastically.
Though I was seeing him for the first time, I started to smile back at his friendly greeting—but a large hand firmly blocked my view before I could.
I tugged Kaid’s arm down with a pout.
“Kaid grumpy.”
“Wolf.”
“Wolf?”
“Yes. You can’t just smile back at everyone who smiles at you.”
I tilted my head in confusion. When I peeked out again cautiously, the gray-haired man waved once more.
“Seem nice though.”
“Airin.”
“Mm?”
Set had called out to me.
“Do you know what a baby goat and a baby pig have in common?”
A baby goat and a baby pig?
I shook my head.
“Airin don’t know. What is?”
Arban, who had been listening quietly until then, offered the answer instead.
“They both got eaten by wolves.”
……Eaten by wolves?
“Right. And there’s one more thing.”
There’s something more?
“They’re both babies, aren’t they?”
Baon joined in the conversation, adding his own comment.
I received a tremendous shock.
Wolves eat babies? Then will it eat me too?
In an instant, the man who had been watching this place and smiling brightly whenever our eyes met transformed into the worst person in the world.
I quickly grabbed the hem of Kaid’s garment and hid myself behind him.
“Whimper. Wolf bad guy. Eat baby.”
“Right. That’s why we can’t go out now. There are too many people watching.”
“Then when can Airin go play?”
“When all those people are gone.”
“An uncomfortably substantial amount of attention, I must say. The wolf clan’s Miart Clan first, then the lion clan’s Kashmier Clan, the jaguar clan’s Artban Clan…….”
Baon began reciting the clan names one by one, casting sidelong glances at each.
I pricked up my ears at the unfamiliar clan names. They all sounded dangerously ominous, one and all.
Baon laughed once more at the end.
“And the tiger clan’s Kiraas Clan. It would be quite the undertaking to drive them all off, Master.”
“They’re all far too interested in my daughter.”
Kaid sighed as he looked down at me.
His gaze carried a question, as if asking what on earth to do with me. For some reason, I felt compelled to deny it, so I quickly shook my head.
“Airin didn’t do anything.”
“Didn’t you.”
“Didn’t do anything, though?”
When I made a bewildered expression, Kaid laughed in disbelief.
“You turned the Banquet Hall upside down, yet you yourself know nothing about it.”
“If you know, why don’t you introduce her to me, Kaid? Keeping her all to yourself—that’s not fair, is it?”
An unfamiliar voice reached my ears. I turned around.
It was my first time hearing someone call out Kaid’s name so openly, and I felt a spark of curiosity.
Was this person a friend of Kaid’s?
The man greeted me.
“Hello there, little one?”
Who is this?
As I stared blankly at him, Kaid stepped back, and I instinctively moved farther away from the man as well.
When I looked confused, Kaid spoke flatly.
“Airin, this is Dante. Dante.”
A moment of silence fell over the gathering.
The man’s amber eyes slowly traveled from his own face to the tip of the finger pointing at him.
At the same time, his lips trembled and twitched.
“Master, surely referring to Dante as ‘Dante’ is rather excessive, is it not?”
When the silence stretched on for several seconds, Baon glanced at the man and whispered quietly.
From the formal tone he used, the man appeared to be a person of considerable standing.
“Not at all. He’s off-limits to Airin. His heart is black as pitch.”
“Though I must say……”
Despite appearing to gauge the other’s mood, Baon readily nodded in agreement.
I was listening to their exchange with curiosity when a crimson gaze met mine.
“Wondering who I am?”
Kaid asked me. I quickly nodded in assent, then stared directly at Dante.
The red hair contrasting against his bronze skin made quite an impression.
Moreover, the clothing he wore was covered entirely in distinctive patterns I had never seen before.
He must have come from very far away.
How fascinating!
As I stared without blinking, unable to tear my eyes away, those golden eyes—clouded with displeasure—turned toward me.
“I seem to interest you, Kaid. You can’t look away.”
“You said your name was Dante, didn’t you?”
“……Airin was just a little curious, so I looked for a moment.”
As I mumbled softly, my lips moving, Dante’s brilliant golden eyes narrowed to slits.
It felt like a massive predator concealing its true nature.
A subtle aura seemed to emanate from Dante, and I tilted my head in confusion—he wore an expression of faint surprise.
“You sensed my pheromone. Most people don’t notice.”
“That’s natural—I’m your daughter, after all.”
“One way or another, all the children in this household are far from ordinary.”
Dante shook his head slowly, his expression one of amazement, and settled into the seat beside me.
Curiosity flickered in those amber eyes as they regarded me intently.
We were both finding each other fascinating.
Soon Dante spoke first.
“I saw you during the introduction just now, Airin.”
“Thank you.”
“I’m Dante Icelord. I came from the Western Region when I heard news of your birth.”
To see me? From the Western Region?
At the mention that he’d come to see me, my head snapped up, and Dante’s lips curved upward in a smile.
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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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