I’m the Youngest Daughter of the Serpent Family
Chapter 12
My tail, which had finally begun to take proper shape and grow, now allowed me to keep my balance even on uneven surfaces.
Heave-ho.
“Chirp.”
“You walk well.”
“Cheep.”
As I climbed onto his palm, the landlord tapped my beak lightly.
I thought this every time, but the landlord really seemed to have a thing for my beak.
“I heard you’d soon be able to take human form.”
“Chirp!”
“I fail to see where you’ve grown at all.”
He murmured as he lifted me up and inspected me from every angle.
Not true! I’m growing super well. I can even eat way more than before.
When I glared at him with silent indignation, the landlord chuckled softly. It was an unmistakable sneer.
“Or did everything you ate just go straight to fat?”
“Cheeep!”
“My Lord. Lady Irene is growing splendidly.”
As I flared up in indignation, Rosaria stepped in to mediate, bringing over a white wooden board as proof.
It was the board used to measure my height every morning.
Along its edge, red lines were drawn at tiny intervals.
“What is this?”
“It is a record of Lady Irene’s growth.”
Rosaria smiled proudly and showed it off for everyone to see.
Every gaze in the room turned toward the wooden board she was holding.
“You see? She is undeniably growing, isn’t she?”
In the empty margins beside the height marks, my tiny footprints were stamped by date.
Faint though it was, I was definitely growing.
When I flapped my wings as if saying, See that? the landlord readily conceded the point.
“So it seems.”
“Cheep!”
“She is indeed growing. But still…”
At this rate, when will she ever grow up?
Everyone looked at Hestia with curious eyes.
Possessing the most vast knowledge among them, she gazed at the board with sparkling eyes before giving a small cough.
“You must not try to understand her along the same lines as fast-growing species. Lady Irene is different from us.”
“It will take ages for her to grow at this pace.”
“She is not like the young masters, who grow noticeably by the day. Black Mambas become independent very quickly, after all. Lady Irene will take a little longer.”
“Is that so?”
As the landlord listened to Hestia’s explanation, he smiled with satisfaction, as if he preferred it that way.
* * *
Though I had thought he would just drop by briefly, the landlord stayed for quite a long time before leaving.
Thanks to that, the sheer cleverness I had kept carefully hidden was exposed to everyone.
It all began with a box that Rosaria brought out.
“None of you know just how clever Lady Irene is, do you?”
With that single remark, the landlord, whose interest had been waning, took notice once more.
“What do you mean?”
“She has been learning about other clans lately.”
“Wasting time on such troublesome things.”
Even as he spoke dismissively, the landlord gestured with his eyes for her to show him.
Inside the box were picture cards depicting various animals.
They were among the educational materials Rosaria had recently purchased.
Rosaria pulled out one of the wooden cards from the box, wiggling it as she asked,
“Lady Irene, what might this be?”
“Chirp, chirp!”
Roar!
I snapped my tail straight up and puffed out my body as big as I could.
It’s super scary like this!
Having been told over and over how frightening it was, I remembered it clearly.
“Splendidly done!”
Rosaria clapped her hands together. Hestia, who had been snacking on tea treats, stared at me with her mouth slightly agape.
Neither the landlord nor Baon made any dramatic display, but I could feel them pausing what they were doing to focus entirely on me.
Bet you all didn’t know I was this smart, did you?
Excited, I clapped with my wings.
Having watched me intently, the landlord gave Rosaria a nod to pull out another one.
“Then, Lady Irene, what is this one?”
“Chee-eep.”
Moo-oo.
When I mimicked a cow lowing with a drawn-out chee-eep, Rosaria clamped a hand over her mouth.
Her reaction was so overwhelming that I felt a little embarrassed.
In truth, Rosaria showered me with nothing but praise over every little thing, so even I was growing accustomed to such an atmosphere.
I’m just a baby bird who can easily manage this much, though.
“How can she be this clever?! She is an absolute genius!”
Sure enough, Rosaria began heaping praise upon praise.
“To know that even without having ever seen other clans, you are truly amazing, Lady Irene.”
Hestia chimed in from the side in agreement. Feeling my cheeks grow warm, I glanced around elsewhere for no particular reason.
Just as Hestia pulled out a new animal card, waving it and saying, Look at this, something else fiercely caught my eye.
Mmm. I want to eat a cookie too.
As I plopped down and stared at the sweets resting on the table, the landlord lifted one up.
“Do you want to eat this?”
“Chirp.”
“Shall I give it to you?”
“Chirp.”
“Then what am I?”
“Chirp?”
The landlord subtly urged me to mimic him. Aren’t you the landlord?
Then again, he gave me the name Irene, and he did say he’d take me as his daughter…
Though I had kept calling him the landlord because it felt awkward, I knew very well that wasn't quite right.
Still, it felt so embarrassing and awkward. What was I supposed to do?
As I kept my beak firmly shut and fell into deep contemplation, murmurs rippled through the room.
“Could it be that she does not know who the Lord is?”
“Well, to be fair, we have never explained it to her properly.”
“…Even though she knows that?”
Hestia, whispering with Baon, pointed at the animal cards.
The longer my silence stretched, the quieter and more subdued the room became—sinking into an outright chill.
Before long, I found myself staring straight into the landlord’s cold expression.
The moment his brow furrowed ever so slightly, I quietly averted my eyes.
“All that cleverness, and not a bit of sense where it counts.”
The landlord pulled back the cookie he had been about to hand me.
“Ungrateful baby bird. Repeat after me: Kaid.”
“Chirp?”
“Kaid.”
“Chirp-chirp-chirp.”
When I repeated the name after him, the landlord let out a sigh and offered me the cookie.
Munch, munch.
About a month into living in this house, I had finally learned the landlord’s name.
“Chirp-chirp-chirp.”
“Yes.”
“Chirp-chirp-chirp!”
“Yes.”
As the frozen atmosphere thawed little by little, a flustered Rosaria hastily moved to smooth things over.
“Our Lady Irene must simply not have known the Lord’s name! Right?”
“That could happen. It is a relief that she knows it now.”
At those words, Kaid let out a languid, chillingly soft smile. His crimson eyes pierced straight into me.
“Surely it’s not that you don’t even know I’m your father, is it?”
…I did know, but it had felt so surreal that I hadn't had the chance to process it.
I drew in a sharp breath. Gasp.
If I was slow to answer here, an annoyed landlord might take back his promise to make me his daughter altogether.
Grab.
I hastily latched onto his finger. Kaid’s eyebrows arched upward.
“What are you doing?”
“Chirp-chirp-chirp.”
“Yes.”
“Cheep—”
Tap.
I gently bumped my beak against him. The tip of Kaid’s finger twitched.
“Oh my! The young lady is expressing her affection, telling the Lord she likes him!”
Hestia seized the moment and quickly offered an explanation.
At her words, Kaid’s stiffened expression softened.
“Is that so.”
My anxious heart settled with immense relief.
“Cheep!”
Whew, what a close call.
* * *
On a bright, sunny afternoon. Having recovered a good deal of my strength, I came out to the garden for an outing.
“Shall we play ball today?”
“Chirp!”
Rosaria rolled a large ball—nearly the size of my entire body—onto the lawn.
Even so, it was only about the size of Rosaria’s palm.
She said it was a ball made specially for me.
Boing, boing.
A cheerful sound echoed from the air-filled ball.
As I hovered nearby, Rosaria laid out a few rules for me.
“You must only play around this area, all right?”
“Chirp!”
“You must not go past the fountain. It is dangerous for Lady Irene to enter the woods alone.”
“Chirp!”
Practically rolling the ball with my whole body, I scampered forward. Pitter-patter.
Because of the grass, it didn’t roll very fast, but trying an active game for the first time in a while, my body didn't quite move the way I wanted it to.
