Chapter 80
80
I stared intently at the three small pebbles. They contained the souls of the Familiars Paimon had given me.
'I guess the guy with the impossible dictionary is the best after all.'
In preparation for a possible war.
But a brilliant strategist would also be a great help in war. I could probably borrow his wisdom in everyday life too.
'But what I need right now is the angel with medical knowledge.'
Since he has medical knowledge, I'll probably need him after I go up to The Capital.
I groaned and collapsed onto my desk.
'I want to make them all Familiars!'
But I can only have six Familiars. I can't waste the opportunities.
While I was thinking that, I heard a knock.
"Baby Bird."
My personal maids peeked into the room, shaking something in their hands.
"It's bread."
"It's fruit."
"It's pudding."
"I'm not hungry?"
When I tilted my head and said that, they drooped their eyebrows.
"You haven't been snacking lately."
"We brought all the delicious things."
"Mine is especially delicious."
Originally, my snack time was a small tea party with my family.
Usually, my family always calls me to come eat snacks. But recently, everyone has been busy, so we haven't had time to have tea together, so I often missed snack time.
I nodded because I appreciated the maids' thoughtfulness.
"Okay, I'll eat."
"Would you like to eat in the garden?"
"The weather has completely warmed up since spring."
"The gardeners have planted a lot of violets that Baby Bird likes."
"Okay."
I carefully put the soul-filled pebbles in the drawer and headed to the garden with the maids.
I felt good as I sat in the white-roofed gazebo that I often go to and ate snacks.
The maids told me a lot of stories that would make me happy.
"So the patissier in the West Wing..."
"Isaac, look at this!"
Mireille's voice was heard from afar.
When I turned my head, I saw Isaac walking with a frown and Mireille following him closely. Mireille was holding a wooden sword in her hand.
"Mireille, you're doing so well with swinging it now. Noth praised you too?"
"I told you not to follow me, it's annoying. I can't even smack this little chestnut."
I made eye contact with Isaac, who was pushing away Mireille's forehead as she clung to his waist.
"Hey, kid!"
He smiled brightly and came to me.
"What are you doing here?"
"Eating snacks. The maids gave it to me. Bread, fruit, and peaches."
As I showed off the snacks, the maids smiled contentedly.
Isaac put a piece of prepared orange in his mouth and rested his chin on my shoulder.
"Come to think of it, it's been days since we had snacks together."
Then he glared at Mireille as if growling, saying, "Because of that."
The reason Isaac has been busy lately is because of Mireille.
Isaac is the most comfortable of the brothers, so she follows him around every day, and he avoids her like the plague.
"Dad said you shouldn't call Mireille 'that,' right?"
When Mireille put her hands on her hips and pretended to scold him, Isaac sighed deeply and rubbed his forehead on my shoulder.
"I'm going to die, really."
In the meantime, Mireille swung her wooden sword. Then it hit the gazebo Pillar and she collapsed.
He sighed and picked up Mireille.
"Please go. Huh? Henri is in the library, so go ask him to play with you."
"Henri told me to ask Isaac to play with me."
He grabbed his waist with one hand and lowered his head. His arms and legs are long and slender, making him look like a painting.
'Come to think of it, Isaac has grown a lot.'
He seems to be the average height of an adult male now.
He'll grow a lot more in the future, but I can feel that he's grown a lot since I first saw him.
I smiled because I felt strangely touched.
"Why are you smiling like that?"
"Isaac, you've grown so much."
"Oh, really?"
He smiled like a rascal and pulled my cheek.
"Ouch! (It hurts!)"
"A kid who doesn't even know how to hold a sword."
"I do know."
I learned it from the knights.
"Do it. I'll watch."
Then Mireille became sulky.
"You don't watch me."
"If you lend me the wooden sword, I'll watch you after the kid."
"Tch..."
Tears quickly welled up in Mireille's big eyes. Isaac flinched as she pouted and sobbed.
"Why, again!"
"Isaac, I hate you. You only like Sister and don't play with Mireille."
"It's because you're annoying."
Waaah-!
Mireille burst into tears. The maids were flustered and quickly comforted her.
But Mireille didn't stop crying easily. I was also flustered and went to comfort her.
"Young Lady!"
Mireille collapsed.
\*
Mireille was quickly moved to her room and examined by a doctor. When the doctor, who had auscultated the child, got up, Dad asked.
"How is she?"
"There's nothing particularly wrong. It seems that she was stressed because the environment changed, but she didn't show it. You need to take good care of her so that she can stabilize."
Just in time, Mireille groggily opened her eyes. She looked around and furrowed her brow as if she was about to burst into tears again.
"Young Lady, don't cry."
Leah knelt by the bed and stroked the child's cheek. Mireille hugged Leah and sobbed.
"I miss Mom..."
"Shall we contact the inn?"
"Real Mom..."
At that moment, the room became quiet as if cold water had been poured on it.
The employees were flustered and looked at Dad, and Dad and the brothers looked at Mireille, who was trembling weakly.
"If Mom was here, she would have scolded Isaac. She would have told him to play with Mireille."
"Young Lady..."
"Dad is busy and the brothers only like Sister. Mireille is alone. I miss Mom..."
Because of that, people treated Mireille almost like a glass doll.
It reminded them of a newborn baby who had never received her mother's touch and was dying alone in the mountains.
Isaac and Henri couldn't avoid Mireille, and Dad had to go to Mireille's room every night, where she cried out, "Mom-!"
A few days later. After writing a letter to Veronica and pulling the bell cord, I blinked.
My room's bell cord is connected to the lounge where my personal maids Dahlia, Linda, and Uni are, but no one came.
'That's strange.'
The three of them are very meticulous, so at least one person always stays in the lounge to work. This was the first time they hadn't come right away even though I pulled the bell cord.
I waited for a while, but they didn't come, so I headed out of the room. I grabbed a passing servant and asked.
"Have you seen Dahlia, Linda, and Uni?"
"They are in the Young Lady's room."
"All three of them?"
What's going on?
I tilted my head and headed to Mireille's room. I was about to knock, but the door was already half open, so I could see everything inside.
"So, can't the three of you become Mireille's maids?"
"But..."
"We are serving Baby Bird..."
"That's right..."
Leah and the maids were making troubled expressions in front of Mireille.
Mireille was making a crying face and clung to Leah's arm.
"Leah..."
"Young Lady, the three of them have been with Baby Bird for a long time. If you just take them away, everyone will be in trouble, and it's rude to Baby Bird."
"But Mireille likes those maids! The last time Mireille cried in the garden, they kindly comforted me. Mireille doesn't want anyone but those maids!"
As she began to whine in earnest, Leah sighed deeply. Then she looked at the three of them.
"I'll ask you to do it for a while. You can return to Baby Bird's side when the Young Lady is stable."
Even among the Dubled's employees, who are flexible with criminal records, the three of them were particularly bad.
The reason they became high-ranking employees serving VIPs was all thanks to Leah's support. They also benefited greatly from Leah in the employee selection.
Leah was their benefactor, so they couldn't refuse her request.
Uni, who had been biting her lip between Linda and Dahlia, shouted, "But...!"
Just then, tears like chicken droppings fell from Mireille's eyes.
Leah hurriedly hugged Mireille and lowered her head.
"..."
"..."
"..."
I slammed the door open.
"I saw it because it was open."
When I said that, Leah and the maids were flustered.
"Don't take them. Dahlia, Linda, and Uni are the people I asked Dad to put in the support team."
"Baby Bird, I beg you-"
"Don't."
Everyone in the room was surprised by my firm words.
I looked at Mireille. She hugged Leah's waist even tighter.
"If you want to take my maids, ask for it yourself. Don't make things difficult for Leah."
"..."
"So-"
"Sister hates Mireille, right?"
"..."
"Sister is close to all the employees, so you can just call other maids. But the fact that you won't give maids to Mireille, who is so lonely, means that you hate Mireille."
The child, who had shrunk her shoulders, glared at me. Leah was flustered and shouted, "Young Lady!" but Mireille's eyes didn't lose their strength.
"Sister hates Mireille. That's why you keep taking the brothers away. Mireille wants to be friends with Sister... I want to be family, but why does Sister hate Mireille?"
"Do you really want to be family with me?"
"Of course!"
"Then why do you think I'm taking the brothers away?"
"...Huh?"
I didn't avoid her gaze and said.
"Why is it taking them away when I, who is family, am with the brothers?"
"That's... that's!"
"Is it because you hate me that you think I'm taking the brothers away?"
"No!"
"Then why does the fact that I won't give you the maids mean that I hate you?"
Mireille became speechless. She stuttered and tried to find something to say, then sat down, saying, "Ugh..."
That's when it happened.
"Baby Bird!"
A woman with red hair ran in with a familiar voice.
It was Javelin, who had come from The Capital after hearing that she had found Baby Bird.
Javelin hugged Mireille, who had sat down.
"What's wrong? Why is Baby Bird in this state?"
Leah muttered in a flustered tone.
"She's vulnerable to stress..."
"Who gave this child enough stress to make her collapse?"
Javelin asked with a stern face.