Chapter 81

“Oh please, she got slapped by the Emperor, so why is she taking it out on Haniel!”

When I erupted into anger, Haniel pecked at my hand to stop me.

[Mo-Mommyy. Scawy. Don’t be angwyy.]

“Okay. I’m not mad at you. This is all…… Never mind. Go play, mommy will be here.”

[Buuuut.]

“Haniel, you said you want to try different colored ribbons before, right? Come bring that quickly. Mommy left the basket open.”

[Okaay!]

Though Haniel had been squirming in an effort not to go, as soon as she heard the word ‘ribbon,’ her eyes widened into round discs and she went in. Even if I watched her go scampering out in excitement two or three times, I would never get tired of it.

“A baby sure is still a baby. It’s so simple with her.”

[Now’s not the time for you to be so relaxed, Madam. Didn’t you say His Majesty the Emperor told you to bring the princess tomorrow?]

“……Yeah. That he did.”

[The Emperor might have really told you to bring her without knowing anything, but the princess froze at the sight of His Majesty’s face last time and almost drowned. What are you going to do?]

As Selene confided an obvious worry to me, she glanced at the open door.

Though she had shuddered at the thought before, now she really was like a nanny, seemingly bothered now by the possibility that Haniel might hear us talking about the Emperor.

[Actually, I was shaking that day too even as a full-grown adult. It was so scary my heart was trembling. Though I guess I should’ve known from the moment someone that young ran away from home.]

“……”

“Just how much did he torment the child to….”

“…..No, instead of tormenting…”

He just didn’t know anything.

I re-examined the impressions I had felt as I observed the Emperor today.

Wasn’t there a saying that ignorance with no malice is the scariest of them all? Based on his expressions and tone of voice, it wouldn’t be wrong to say that this man was a fool when it came to children.

“And if he really was a bad guy, he wouldn’t be looking for the child like this either.”

[So you’re saying the Emperor is not a bad guy?]

“……Of course not.”

How dare he neglect my daughter like that.

I could be understanding when it came to other people’s businesses, but if it was about our Haniel, I couldn’t just smooth it over like that.

“There weren’t any reasons. He was a servant I had bred from a beast, but a dog is only a dog. No matter how young, to just start crying like that is…..”

….what dog poop are you spewing now.

You literally let loose a hunting hound in front of a child who just learned to open her eyes and start distinguishing objects.

This was the same as what I’d read in the novel, too.

To be exact, that had been when I was first in danger of closing the book right ten and there, so I remembered it in relatively great detail.

[The cold, indifferent eyes of the older brother swept past the young baby. Even as he saw Haniel’s face, sniffling in fear, he only continued to pat down the neck of his growling dog. As he stared at the crying princess, seemingly irritated, he….]

“Ignorance really is courage, goodness.”

Eugh.

I could imagine the scene inside the novel so clearly that I couldn’t not swear if I wanted to.

But Selene didn’t miss that my expression was relaxed even amidst this.

[Madam. So you’re saying that His Majesty did not do that on purpose, right?]

“Would he even have had the interest to do that on purpose?”

[Whaat? Isn’t that pretty serious in its own way?]

“Sh…. Anyways, let’s just say that I saw the smallest light of hope.”

After hiding a meaningful smile, I quickly gestured at Selene to keep her mouth shut. The figure of Haniel waddling towards us with a pink ribbon in her beak was apparent through the cracked open door.

[Mommy, dis one!]

“Oh my.”

[Dis one. It’s dis one!]

I couldn’t help but laugh at how she had, in complete excitement, dropped the ribbon because she’d opened her beak, and now didn’t know what to do.