Ch#97
“It’s done!!!”
Bunny shouted in triumph at the sight of the freshly baked pitja straight out of the oven. Shallone’s cheeks flushed faintly from having diligently kneaded the dough in her place.
The three pitjas truly had all sorts of different looks. Luca’s was almost perfect—it could easily be sold without issue—and Shallone’s showed a bit of clumsiness but still looked perfectly edible.
Bunny’s, however…
‘…Hmm. Bunny’s looks all gooey.’
The others had a shiny gleam to them, but Bunny’s was somehow lumpy here and there, or maybe slimy in spots.
Plop, roll roll.
Had she piled on too much ham and cheese?
The cheese was oozing down like molten lava.
‘It doesn’t even feel perfectly round.’
But so what.
‘Bunny pitja, the most delicious pitja in the world.’
Probably.
Bunny shrugged her shoulders, rubbing under her nose where flour still lingered. And rightly so, since she felt like she’d grown closer to Luca through making pitja.
“By the way, the new young lady seems to have a real talent for cooking too.”
“Ah, no, not at all. Chef Luca taught me so well that just following along was a huge help.”
Shallone spoke while twisting her body slightly, her cheeks turning bright red. Her bashfully flushed cheeks were utterly endearing.
Luca gave a faint smile.
“Argh! I’m grateful for the kind words, but chef is way too fancy a title for me. Just call me Luca.”
Luca’s own cheeks reddened in embarrassment as he nodded with his pleasant features.
“Luca, can I take this to Daddy?”
“Of course. He’d love it. But it’s hot, so should I come with you?”
“No, Bunny’s already eight. A grown-up. Now Bunny can carry pitja all by herself like a grown-up.”
“I see. Then I’ll transfer it to another plate so it won’t be too hot and make it safe for you.”
“Yeees.”
Bunny stamped her feet excitedly and turned to look at Shallone.
“Sha-ro-long wanna come too?”
“It’s Sha-ro-ne, not Sha-ro-long…”
Shallone reflexively started to reply, then trailed off without realizing it.
There wasn’t a hint of shadow on Bunny’s beaming face. As if she’d never experienced a single hardship in her life.
A queasy feeling twisted in Shallone’s gut.
‘What the heck? You said if I just did what you told me here, everything would go smoothly.’
She wasn’t an outsider, no one feared or avoided her, and she wasn’t hogging all the love—no, everyone seemed to be bending over backward to cater to that child.
‘A demonkin, of all things.’
Filthy demonkin, of all things.
It even grated on her that the girl stood so boldly in what could have been Shallone’s own place.
The witch who had molded the girl had said it.
That the girl, Shallone, was truly this world’s protagonist. That it was only natural for her to be loved in the Yudia Ducal Family. That everything was hers, she’d whispered.
Because she was a precious life born from the blood of the Yudia Ducal Family’s hero.
“Ah, should I package some up for the new young lady too?”
“Ah, yes.”
Luca smiled and packaged it up just like Bunny’s.
Bunny balanced her pitja box on her head and grinned mischievously at Shallone.
“Let’s go to Daddy!”
“Ah, uh, sure.”
Shallone put on a soft smile that seemed about to melt away and followed behind Bunny.
“Hmm-hmm~!”
Bunny skipped across the hallway. Each hop made the pitja box jostle, so it probably wouldn’t look too pretty when the lid came off.
‘I don’t like her.’
Demonkin were supposed to be incredibly ferocious and brutal creatures.
Monsters who could deceive people with smiling faces without a care, who could easily kill someone they’d shared meals with just yesterday.
‘Such a monster can’t be in this house.’
For the sake of this household, that girl had to be driven out no matter what. She had to expose her true nature and make her vanish completely.
She was deep in serious thought, steeling her resolve, when Bunny, who had been walking ahead, suddenly slowed down and trotted back to stand beside Shallone.
“Hey, Sha-ro-long.”
“Huh? Uh, yeah? What?”
“I like Sha-ro-long. The moment I saw you, my heart went thump-thump, and I thought it’d be great if you became my big sister. I might even cry if Sha-ro-long wasn’t here…”
At Bunny’s words, Shallone blinked once.
‘Everyone’s favorite Bunny’s aegyo operation, step one: confession!’
Bunny gazed up at Shallone with sparkling eyes.
Shallone immediately scowled, then forced an awkward smile onto her lips before opening her mouth.
“What’s that all of a sudden? Some cheesy line from a novel? If you’re just asking my impression of that greeting, personally, I think it’s not a great first thing to say when meeting someone.”
Thud!
Her heartfelt confession was coldly rebuffed.
Bunny gaped at Shallone.
‘Failure…’
For the first time, Bunny’s aegyo operation step one—confession—had met someone immune to it.
“Ung…”
Bunny trudged along until they reached the office, where the soldier waiting out front widened his eyes and curved the corners of his mouth in a smile as he dropped to one knee.
“Miss, are you here to see the Young Lord?”
“Ung. Is Daddy here?”
“Yes, of course. I’ll let him know.”
After meeting Bunny’s eyes and finishing the exchange, the soldier nodded with a smile and announced Bunny’s arrival inside the office.
“Come in.”
The moment permission came from within, Bunny hopped in place and darted inside.
“Daaaaddy!”
Bunny charged forward and threw herself at Kiriel’s legs.
Kiriel intercepted Bunny mid-lunge and scooped her up effortlessly.
“Hello, my little lady. What have you been up to that your face is all white again?”
Truth be told, it wasn’t just her face—even calling her whole body white wouldn’t be an exaggeration.
Kiriel pulled out a handkerchief, wetted it, and gently wiped the child’s face as he asked.
“Heehee, to celebrate Bunny becoming a super big grown-up, I challenged a totally new food!”
Ta-da!
Bunny thrust out the box in her hands with a shout, and at her bright declaration, Kiriel patted her head fondly.
“Ah, um… Hello, Young Lord.”
Kiriel looked up at the sudden voice and nodded slowly upon seeing Shallone.
“You came together.”
Seeing the identical box in her hands, it looked like they’d been playing.
“You two already getting along?”
At Kiriel’s words, Shallone paused before nodding with a clear smile.
“Yes, Bunny’s so cute.”
“I know. She’s so seriously cute that I’m a bit worried about letting her out into the world. You’ve got a good eye.”
“…Ah, yes.”
Shallone nodded with a strained smile at Kiriel’s words, no different from Calvad’s or Allen’s.
“Looks like you brought something to eat, so have a seat.”
Kiriel tilted his head.
He sat on the sofa with Bunny still scooped up in his arms. Shallone sat across from him and carefully set down her box.
“Now that I think about it, I heard you came looking for me a few days ago, but I was too busy to meet you then. What was it about?”
“Ah! Bunny’s Choco factory! Bunny’s gonna be the kid boss and get super rich. Not just choco—we’ll make choco cookies and twirly whirlwinds too.”
“You want to expand the business?”
“Ung. Yeees. Like, ‘Thought it was a baby factory, but it’s actually the choco factory kid boss who’s a super-duper rich person?’”
He couldn’t make heads or tails of it—whether from excitement or just rambling—but Kiriel caught the gist that she wanted to do business and nodded quietly.
‘…Is this family really not normal?’
Was this really the famous Yudia Ducal Family?
Shallone pondered with a deeply serious expression.
