The Youngest Daughter of the Snake Family - Chapter 54

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————

Chapter 54
To reach the upper floor, I had to pass through this corridor.
Still, since this was the last stretch, I entered with a lighter heart.
Some people nodded in greeting as though they knew me, but thankfully none stopped to chat.
“Is it because Basad gave me the Wish Necklace? Things have been going well, haven’t they? Does this thing actually work?”
“Really? Now I want one too. Make me one, Basad.”
“No.”
Basad shook his head firmly.
“Just one.”
“I said no.”
“How many years have we spent together?”
“Creepy.”
“That’s harsh, really.”
Paiman wiped at his eyes dramatically and clung to Basad.
Basad flinched, his expression genuine revulsion, and stepped backward.
The bickering behind me didn’t stop.
I halted in my tracks.
Basad, pushing Paiman’s head away with one hand, and Paiman, reaching out his arm, both turned to look at me at once.
“You two are being too loud.”
“…My apologies.”
Basad lowered the hand he’d been using to push Paiman away. Paiman smoothed his disheveled hair and fell silent.
The situation was settled. I smiled bashfully.
“When we get to the room, Aileen will give you both presents, so don’t fight. Got it?”
“Presents?”
“Yeah. Because you two helped me.”
I couldn’t just let it slide without saying anything. Instead, I attached a condition.
“But you can’t let anyone else find out I’m giving them to you.”
“Understood.”
“Alright, let’s hurry.”
There wasn’t much left to the room now. As soon as I passed the entrance to the basement stairs, the way up would be clear.
Practically speaking, I didn’t need to keep the bag up anymore after that point.
I’d learned recently that access to this floor was strictly controlled.
Only those given permission by Cade could enter.
I quickened my pace, feeling my arm go numb.
I’d kept the bag strap on my arm too long—it was taking its toll. This was bad!
Basad noticed my condition and asked.
“Is your arm numb?”
“Yeah. A little. But it’s fine.”
We’re almost there. Just a little further…
“Aren’t you Miss Aileen?”
“Huh?”
As I was passing the basement entrance, someone called out to me.
I whipped my head around.
There was Durias, coming up the basement stairs while pulling on gloves.
Oh no. …Durias?!
Tension rose in me instinctively. I laughed awkwardly and took a step backward.
“Are you heading to your room?”
“Yeah.”
“Then why are you walking backward?”
“What? Aileen wasn’t—”
“I see.”
At my reflexive, hastily blurted response, Durias’s eyes narrowed.
He examined the obviously suspicious bag closely, then laughed.
“I don’t know what’s going on, but I wish you luck.”
“Yeah.”
“You know what they say—a long tail will only get stepped on.”
What, what did he just say?
I froze stiff. The bag tumbled to the floor with a thud. My held-back arm tingled painfully.
I stared at Durias blankly. Wait—how did he know I had a tail without even looking?!
“Hmm? I was only offering advice in hopes of your success, but your reaction seems… disappointing.”
My tail drooped downward with a soft sound.
Durias’s golden eyes widened in surprise, fixing on the tail.
I was at a loss for words. So this was what it felt like to accidentally expose yourself like this.
“A tail, then.”
“You can’t tell anyone about this, Durias.”
“Yes, I understand.”
“You promise?”
I looked up at Durias with desperate hope, but instead of answering, he laughed.
Right. He had no intention of keeping quiet.
The next day.
Word that I had sprouted a tail spread through the Mansion like wildfire.
* * *
Since morning, I’d been burrowed under the covers in a foul mood. Rosaria sat beside me, trying to coax me out.
“Miss Aileen, come now. Shake it off. This really is nothing at all.”
“I know.”
“Then why are you upset?”
I bolted upright, and the blanket tumbled to the floor with a flutter.
Hidden beneath my white one-piece pajamas, the tail was still there.
It had grown softer and more beautiful than before. That should have been something to celebrate, but…
“I wanted to succeed on my first try without messing up!”
……
“I wanted to do it perfectly! The tail keeps moving on its own, Rosaria. I’m so embarrassed! And also…”
“And also?”
Everyone else looks so different from me.
They’re all serpents, but I’m the only bird—it made me feel like an outsider.
I hadn’t felt this sense of alienation from the very beginning.
But as I grew to know this place better, the reality that I was the only bird among them started to weigh on me.
Each time I discovered another way we differed, that feeling of displacement crept in, and my heart grew heavier. That’s when the fear set in.
We live together now, but will we still be together later?
I’m so different from them.
What if we eventually can’t understand each other and drift apart?
“…I want to stay here together for a very long time. But when I reach full maturity, I’ll have to become independent.”
“What? Miss Aileen, you’ve been worried about this?”
“Yes.”
“But becoming Humanized doesn’t mean you have to leave the Mansion.”
“But I…”
I’m only a temporary daughter, after all. The words stuck in my throat, unspoken.
Only Cade and I knew that truth; no one else did.
“Come to think of it, having a daughter around isn’t so bad. For now, anyway.”
Cade had never once told me he’d accept me as a true daughter.
My life here was luxurious enough that I didn’t need to worry about such things for now, but those words kept echoing in a corner of my heart.
And I was too afraid to bring it up myself. What if he remembered and told me to leave?
I had no choice but to wait for his decision.
As my mood darkened, Rosaria’s expression clouded over as well.
“Rosaria.”
“Yes, Miss Aileen?”
“What if I have to leave this place someday?”
I didn’t want to be alone again. I loved this house, loved the people here so much.
Was I being greedy?
If Cade protected me until I reached full maturity, that alone should be enough to be grateful for—but…
No. If that happened, my bond with all the people I’ve met here would be severed.
“Miss Aileen, don’t worry about such things. If you don’t want to leave, you can simply stay.”
“…Yes. I’m not going anywhere.”
I’m staying here.
I hugged the pillow tightly to my chest.
Rosaria looked at me silently for a long moment.
“Why?”
“…It’s nothing, Miss Aileen. I’m just sad because you seem unhappy.”
“I’m fine now.”
Speaking part of my true feelings aloud had eased the weight a little.
I shouldn’t leave the room today. Durias is such an idiot. My lip jutted out.
I’ll just roll around in bed until it’s time for Casana to arrive.
Today is a theory study day, after all.
Honestly, I want to beg Casana to just teach me how to put my tail away.
But that won’t work, will it?
I was lost in thought when I heard a knock at the door.
Knock, knock.
“Who is it?”
Rosaria, who’d been sitting beside me, walked to the door.
……Who’s come now?
“My goodness, young master Set?”
I jolted upright in surprise and pulled the blanket toward me. Set, of all people.
“Hi, Aileen?”
“……Set.”
“So you grew a tail?”
It’s already reached Set’s ears? My face fell.
Set stepped into the room and clicked his tongue at the sight of me burrowed under the blankets.
“I honestly didn’t think you wouldn’t be able to return to your original form.”
“……I didn’t either.”
“This means we’ll have to postpone the trip for quite a while.”
“We can still go.”
“We’ll have to go eventually anyway.”
How cold! I hung my head in dejection, and felt my tail droop along with it.
Set, who’d been watching me intently, suddenly spoke.
“When you perform Humanization, imagine wrapping your original body in something.”
“Mm?”
“That way, it’ll be easier to return to your original form.”
“Really?”
“That’s how I did it.”
But why was he telling me this? I’d assumed Set wouldn’t care about my affairs at all.
I expected him to let it pass, so this was quite unexpected.
“I came to check on you after hearing the news, and here you are looking so glum.”
“…….”
“Your tail is halfway out, so that means you’re halfway successful, doesn’t it?”
“……Mm?”
I looked at Set in absolute surprise. Was he really trying to cheer me up?
Set stood up from where he’d been sitting.
“I have classes this morning, so I’ll be going now.”
“Huh?”
“I said I’m leaving.”
“……Okay. Take care, Set!”
I saw him off with a feeling of bewilderment, as though I were dreaming.
“It seems young master came to congratulate Miss Aileen.”
“Does it look that way to you too, Rosaria?”
So I wasn’t the only one imagining things?
Rosaria smiled brightly, confirming that I wasn’t mistaken.
I’d thought he came to scold me for being slow at growing even though we weren’t from the same clan, but that wasn’t it at all.
“I feel better now, Rosaria. I should change clothes.”
“How about we put on a one-piece dress today?”
“Okay.”
Rosaria pulled out a purple one-piece dress from the wardrobe. After changing out of my pajamas, I did feel somewhat cheered up.
Knock, knock.
“Mm?”
“You’re having quite a few visitors today, aren’t you?”
Not long after Set had left, a second guest arrived.
Please don’t tell me people are going to keep visiting all day.
The second visitor was Hestia.

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————