The Youngest Daughter of the Snake Family - Chapter 47

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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 47
“……What?”
“One hundred.”
How’s that? Shocked, aren’t you? You never dreamed I’d ask for such a large sum, did you?
So why did you even ask me in the first place!
I lifted my chin shamelessly. The more I did, the less Surpia could hide her bewilderment.
“It seems the young lady wishes for one hundred Gold Coins.”
“……Even so, that’s rather…….”
The atmosphere around the room was shifting in a peculiar way.
It was clear that asking for one hundred Gold Coins didn’t sit well with anyone.
Don’t lose heart. They asked me to speak my mind, so I’ve simply said what I think.
Surpia, who had been hurriedly scanning documents, asked again. This time her words even stumbled.
“Did you say one hundred, correct?”
“Yeah. One hundred Gold Coins, or nothing.”
I must not back down under any circumstances.
I nodded and spoke the word “one hundred” with emphasis.
Silence settled over the room once more.
Then Kaid exhaled deeply and pressed his fingers to his forehead.
The strange thing was that while his expression showed distress, the corners of his mouth were curving upward.
“It seems you’ve only learned numbers up to one hundred, so let’s move past this for now.”
“Huh?”
What do you mean? Are there numbers larger than one hundred? At that moment, Baon also called to me with a mirthful expression.
“Miss Airin, would you look at this, please?”
“What is it?”
On the paper Baon held out were several numbers written down.
He explained briefly with a pen.
“This is one hundred. Next comes one thousand. Then ten thousand. After that, they increase in order: one hundred thousand, one million, ten million.”
“……And?”
“The amount allocated to Miss Airin is far more than one hundred.”
“……How much?”
“One million times as much.”
One million times? Then how much is that altogether?!
At Baon’s words, I froze completely.
* * *
In the end, my budget was set at one hundred million Gold Coins—far more than the one hundred I had requested.
And that was only for the second half of the year.
Facing this, I felt the weight of it all over again.
If I grew accustomed to the spending habits of these people, it wouldn’t be long before nothing satisfied me anymore.
Of course, it was Kaid and those around him who had made this considerable achievement possible.
“There’s still so much to learn.”
“But Airin said she learns quickly, didn’t she?”
“That’s correct. Miss Airin’s learning capacity is quite remarkable. Beast-kin develop intellectually according to their growth rate, you see. This level of progress would be considered quite outstanding.”
“……Hmph.”
See? Told you. I puffed out my cheeks proudly.
After the meeting ended, Kaid picked me up and headed somewhere.
I thought he was sending me back, but where on earth are we going?
I rested my cheek against his shoulder, settling my weight comfortably against him.
“Kasana mentioned that he’s now able to sense pheromones.”
So that’s where Kasana was hurrying off to earlier—the Office, apparently. They said he was going to hear reports on Set and Arban’s duties, so I must have the same schedule.
“Yeah. He said next time we should gradually transform my body too.”
“That sounds promising.”
“I’ll be able to fly.”
I hope that when I can fly incredibly high and move about from place to place, it’ll be wonderful. I’m not sure what method Kasana will use to teach me Flight, though.
Baon, walking beside us, was unusually quiet today. Normally by this point he would have chimed in with something, but was something wrong?
Looking more carefully, his complexion didn’t seem very good either.
“Baon.”
“Yes?”
“Are you hurt somewhere?”
“No, I’m not.”
“Then why does your expression look troubled?”
“Ah. Because the family head took away my vacation and made me work through the night… I’ve been swamped.”
“What’s a vacation?”
“A day when you get to rest.”
I see. So he’d lost his days off too. I found myself feeling oddly sorry for Baon.
Kaid dismissed the remark with a snort.
We arrived at the Office. The moment we stepped inside, Kaid set me down.
“Play here.”
“Why? Messis should be waiting for us.”
“Messis is nearby.”
Ah, so he’d already followed us here. But why did he want me to play in the Office? There was nothing to play with in a place like this.
Still, being with Kaid wasn’t so bad. It seemed better than sitting alone and bored somewhere else.
I flopped onto the sofa and was looking around for something to play with when my eyes landed on the Official Seal sitting at Kaid’s desk.
“Can I play with that?”
“This one?”
“Yeah. That one.”
It was a weighty Official Seal made of gold, radiating an air of refined luxury.
Baon, sitting beside me and looking absolutely miserable as he reviewed documents, suddenly stiffened.
“Only the family head can use that seal. If you need one, I can have a separate one crafted for you, but…”
“But it’s boring here.”
The Office held only what was strictly necessary—there was nothing else to look at.
When I stuck out my lip in a sulk, Kaid laughed outright.
“Fine. Take it and play with it.”
“Really?”
“What are you planning to do with it?”
From what I understood, pressing this seal alone was enough to approve anything.
I knew that everyone was desperate to get Kaid’s seal on their documents.
I’d seen retainers bring unsigned papers out of this room before.
Was this seal really that important?
I picked it up—it was a bit heavy to hold in one hand.
“What about the red stuff?”
“You mean the Ink Pad. Here it is.”
Baon handed me a small square box.
I soaked the seal generously in ink and pressed it firmly onto a sheet of paper. The Astropel Family’s insignia came out crisp and clear.
“I want to stamp like Father does.”
“Then try stamping here.”
“Here? But… this is an actual document?”
He really wanted me to stamp an actual document? I widened my eyes, and Kaid nodded readily.
“It’s not an important one, so just stamp next to the name.”
Kaid pushed a stack of papers from one side toward me.
Hmm… it feels somehow like he’s passing work to me, but that’s probably just my imagination.
Baon glanced around nervously, then quietly added his own pile of documents to the stack.
“Then I’d appreciate your help as well, Miss Airin.”
“…”
“It should be quite easy—you only need to stamp.”
I felt like I was being tricked into doing work without meaning to. Suspicious, I narrowed my eyes at Baon.
Well, he said he’d been too busy to take his vacation, so I suppose I should stamp a few documents for him.
“Fine.”
Stamping wasn’t difficult. I straightened myself and crossed my legs the way Kaid had been doing.
He watched me with a suppressed laugh. He’d noticed I was mimicking him.
He said to stamp next to the name, right?
I held the seal straight and pressed it down firmly. Then the next page. And the one after that.
As I kept repeating the motion, I found it strangely satisfying. It was like becoming Kaid for a moment.
“Are you enjoying yourself?”
“Yeah.”
“I do hope you’ll visit often and stamp some documents for us.”
Baon sounded utterly sincere. It was remarkable how much help it was just to have someone else press the seal for him.
About halfway through the stack, I decided to ask something I’d been curious about.
“By the way, speaking of which…”
“Hmm?”
“Where did Durias go?”
She only said she’d gone on an errand, never explaining what exactly she was doing or where she was going.
It had the feeling of brushing past the question entirely.
Baon was usually so direct, so utterly transparent in his speech—his evasion now only piqued my curiosity further.
“Durias went to fetch someone.”
“Fetch whom?”
How important, how remarkable must this person be for Durias to collect them personally?
Were we having guests at the manor?
“Are you curious?”
“Mm.”
“It’s a secret.”
Baon winked at me as if to tease, his eyes glinting. If he wasn’t going to tell me, he shouldn’t have made me curious in the first place.
I turned to Kaid instead, hoping he might be more forthcoming than Baon had been.
Kaid was gazing out the window. Beyond the glass, the sun was setting.
“By now, they should be approaching the destination.”
“I suppose so.”
“What? Don’t keep secrets between the two of you—tell Airin too!”
Everyone should know! It’s only fair that way. I jumped to my feet, hands planted on my hips.
Kaid, who had been watching me quietly, furrowed his brow.
“It concerns you personally. It might be better if you knew the truth yourself.”
“……This is about me?”
“Yes.”
“What do you mean?”
“How you came to be born into the Astropel Family…… Durias has stepped away for a time to investigate exactly that.”
I drew in a breath.
So the moment had finally come when I would learn the truth.
But what then? What would happen to me once I knew?
A flood of questions rose in my throat, yet I couldn’t bring myself to ask them. I was afraid of hearing answers I didn’t want to hear.
It was a truth I was curious about yet terrified to know.
“Airin.”
“Mm.”
“I know what you’re thinking, but set aside your needless fears.”
“……Mm.”
“We’re only trying to settle what needs to be settled—nothing more than that.”
His words put me at ease.
That’s right. It wasn’t my fault I was born into this family. I simply woke to find myself an Astropel.
How exactly I came to be born among Beast-kin, I’d always been curious—more than curious, if I was being honest.
If I was this curious, there was no way Kaid wasn’t as well.
Soon I would know the secret of my birth. There was no running from it now, no pretending I didn’t know.

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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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