CH 9

Sephiel’s daily life was very satisfying.

“Genius Baby.”

“Are you going to have a beautiful dream tonight, too?”

The sunlight was gentle and the wind tickled her ears pleasantly.

Sephiel was sitting between Marie’s legs having her hair tied in front of the mirror.

“Since pretty Baby can’t be hurt.”

Berry was carefully trimming Sephiel’s nails.

‘Hmm, I feel good.’

Whenever she felt someone’s affectionate touch it was like a drug.

Sephiel fell asleep just like that.

“The Little Young Master is still sleeping. They said that we could go around places other than the main building because when he sleeps he’s usually asleep for a few days.”

“But never enter locked places. All those are the Grand Duchy superiors’ private spaces. If you touch something wrong and get caught, you’ll receive a huge punishment.”

Marie added.

“Yesh!” [Yes!]

Sephiel was very happy.

‘Hihi, I’m very evil. To think that my flattery succeeded.’

Sephiel was a little guilty but was also proud of herself.

Marie and Berry were very surprised last night and asked question after question.

[Even if the other servants were like that. How did you find out our identities? We look just like pure-blooded humans.]

To that question, there was only one thing Sephiel could answer.

‘From the beginning, I knew everything.’

Succubus. Namely, the night hags.

It was said that for them, siblings born from the same parents looked like twins. 

Moreover…

[Huh? That’s strange. They said that a human child’s tummy would bulge more.]

[In addition, you don’t meet the growth standard of a pure-blooded human child.]

[You have to increase your growth like what the book says! Let’s increase your nutritional snacks starting tomorrow.]

‘Older Sisters made it obvious.’

They thought Sephiel was deep asleep, but they would listen to her whispering, and say, “Hm, ah.”

How many times did they think inside that, ‘Ordinary people don’t use the word [pure-blooded human].’

Moreover, while saying expressionlessly, “Let’s find out if she has a good dream.” They sometimes looked into Sephiel who was taking a nap…

‘Thanks to that, I succeeded in strengthening my paradise’

There were also bad legends surrounding night hags and succubus, but Sephiel was not afraid of them.

If it were them, she thought that it would be great even if they looked into her dream.

For a succubus, a happy dream was like good alcohol. She heard that it was something that made them very excited and happy.

However, there was one side effect. The dream that the person had that day would be forgotten the next day.

Perhaps that’s why Marie and Berry became even more affectionate towards Sephiel.

‘That is that. And, during the mansion tour, I heard from Elton that almost all of the pure-blooded races left for different worlds. So only a small portion of the remaining servants in the Grand Duchy were pure-bloods and most of them were mixed-bloods.’

She also learned that it was not wrong to call them ‘people’.

Like the elf race. Although those who recognized and acted like humans were called the different races, they were also called people.

“To think that she saw us and wasn’t afraid of us?! Our Baby is surely courageous.”

“I am not afwaid at all!” [I am not afraid at all!]

Sephiel knew that humans could cause more harm and much scarier.

“But, then there’s no human, wight?” [But, then there’s no human, right?]

“Aah. Surely there are some. However, a lot of the people who work in the main building are mixed-blooded from different races. Ah. And there are races living in the forest over there. A handful of the pure-blooded races. They don’t work directly in the Grand Duchy, but spend their time quietly in the forest.”

Some pure-bloods who didn’t work in the Grand Duchy. 

Berry added that those who secluded themselves in the forest were very arrogant.

“Then, what is Eltwon?” [Then, what is Elton?]

“Ah. That’s–”

Marie and Berry caressed Sephiel’s hair.

“That’s a secret.”

“What is it? Cwan’t I guess it?” [What is it? Can’t I guess it?]

“If you get it right, Mister Elton will probably faint.”

“Hm….”

Honestly, she wasn’t that curious about Elton.

Rather, there was something that made Sephiel happy.

She didn’t know why, but Marie and Berry brought her pretty red shoes.

They were the finest shoes which were made of soft leather and were also decorated with beautiful decorations that they made with great care.

‘There is even a ribbon attached, and my feet don’t hurt even if I run.’

Sephiel put it on the bed. No matter how much she looked at it, she was satisfied with it.

‘I’ve never worn pretty shoes since I’ve never been outside when I was young.’

When she was in the prison, it was either she was always bare-footed or she was only given a big shoe that didn’t fit her feet.

That’s why the red shoes became Sephiel’s treasure in an instant.

“Would you like to use your new shoes? You can go out and play ball.”

“No. I want to save it. It’s not twoday. I will use it lwater….” [No. I want to save it. It’s not today. I will use it later….]

“I’ll tell Mister Elton and buy you more pretty shoes. When the Little Young Master wakes up…”

“No!”

Sephiel was surprised and yelled. He already hated her, but if he had to pay for her shoes as well–

‘He might even cut down my food.’

A few days ago, she was seen eating well in the kitchen, so the vampires increased the number of pies to four at dinner!

Sephiel hugged her shoes tightly and shook her head.

“Bewwy and Marie gave this to me, so there is no other. Surely, there is only one tweasure.” [Berry and Marie gave this to me, so there is no other. Surely, there is only one treasure.]

“Is that so?”

Berry and Marie smiled as if their cheekbones were bursting and said.

“Then, shall we play ball and put our shoes out tonight?”

Berry told the legend that shoes could be worn for a long time if it was basked overnight in the bright moonlight.

“Yweah! Of course I will do it, because I will use this for a vewy vewy long time!” [Yeah! Of course I will do it, because I will use this for a very very long time!]

***

That evening.

In the main building, Erga’s bedroom.

Swii—

A snake was hovering around the sleeping Erga with its head up.

And then, after a while.

The boy slowly opened his eyes.

“The Little Young Master has woken up!”

The Grand Duke’s Castle became busy. Waking up after a long time, Erga did not feel good.

Erga pressed on his temples.

“How is your body, Little Young Master.”

Erga got up from his bed. On the god blessed doll’s face was an expression filled with dull boredom. Totally unlike that of a child.

Suddenly, Erga looked out the window.

“Looks like it will rain.”

Elton looked at the sky. There was no sign in the black sky.

“Should I prepare the things for your hunt?”

“Yeah.”

Erga rubbed around his eyes. Elton quickly prepared Erga’s bow and clothes.

Whoooosh!

The rain began to fall.

“Marie and Berry seem to be firmly in love with Baby.”

Erga’s forehead wrinkled for a while.

“Ah. That raccoon-like–”

Hearing those words, Elton thought, ‘Hm. She does have a raccoon-like feeling.’

“I know. It’s a raccoon with a pretty border around its eyes, who holds food preciously and runs around. Her hair is white but her eyelashes are dark black. Were you aware?”

“…What are you talking about?”

It seems like he roughly knew what Elton meant, so Erga’s expression turned even more bitter.

“But when she’s all grown up, she might be as sharp and pretty as a silver fox.”

“Oh yeah?”

Erga casually replied as he looked at the bow.

“I’m saying that that’s only if she survives under the people of our household until then.”

Erga turned his head.

“I want to hunt properly today. Prepare a matane gun, too.”

“Yes.”

Elton spoke politely.

“Tell everyone not to come out tonight. I’ll feel better when I hit everything that is snooping around in front of me.”

“Yes.”

The half-dragons were different before and after adulthood. Just like heaven and earth.

When they became an adult, their emotions became calm and cool, but in childhood and adolescence, their emotions were always up and down.

The ferocity of predators, such as natural carnivores, was simply additional.

The days the rain fell were the days Erga hunted animals freely in the forest to relieve that ferocity.

At nights like this, the people of the Grand Duchy refrained from going out.

Since they could easily lose their breath if they encountered a half-dragon who was angry because they interrupted his hunting.

Whoooosh!

It started to rain.

It was just as Erga said.

Tang!

Every time the matane gun was fired, birds fell down.

Elton quietly made shade with his hands behind Erga and looked at the separate house.

‘This… It’d be great if Baby didn’t wake up.’

Elton thought.

***

‘Umnya. Umnya….’

Sephiel, who was hugging the pillow, slowly opened her eyes. She was thirsty.

‘It’s quiet…’

She carefully came down from bed and looked around.

‘Oh?’

There were no signs of movement in the separate house. Sephiel was barely able to find some water and drank it with a gulp.

Until now, either Berry or Marie always slept in the separate house in the room next to Sephiel.

‘Gasp.’

Sephiel realized a surprising fact. A child’s body slept a lot.

Sephiel also slept enough for 9 or 10 hours a day. And—

When she woke up in the morning, one of the two was always by her side. So she only knew that either Berry or Marie was sleeping in the next room all night.

But there was no one. Did they stay only until Sephiel fell asleep?

‘Then, does that mean that I slept alone every night?’

In this huge separate house?

The emotion she felt at that moment was a little disappointment.

‘Do I have to be alone already?’

In her previous life, Mittara said that there were many days where she lived alone in the separate house without anyone.

Mittara said it was the most difficult part.

‘Even though I was determined.’

Maybe she’ll be alone now, even during the day.

‘As expected, good moments are always short.’

Even so, since Berry and Marie were kind, she wanted to believe it wasn’t true.

But, even if that happened, she would not be surprised to hear it because she had known about it in advance.

‘Uh, what should I do?’

Her sleepiness was gone.

‘Let’s sleep in the living room… Turn on the light and…’

Sephiel walked up and turned on the magic stone lamp, reaching on her tiptoes.

Click. Click.

“The light won’t turn on!”

Berry and Marie had told her.

[In this castle, there are days when the magic stone lamps turn off at once. Don’t be scared because everything will be okay in a few hours.]

‘Why must it be today?!’

Sephiel’s heart dropped.

It was a scary thing for her to be alone in a dark mansion.

Sephiel’s heart was pounding.

‘It’s nothing. Don’t be afraid. It’ll be safe here. You’ve been doing well since you came here, right? Let’s go back to the room… ’

It was that moment.

“Phew!”

Sephiel freaked out. There was a shadow swaying in front of her window.

Sephiel shivered and her head banged on the floor under the window.

Whoooosh.

The rain sound hit the window loudly.

‘Just now… It looked like Lotto.’

Did she see it wrong?

Lotto, the knight and guard who was in charge of Sephiel.

The fact that he might be here continued to instill a subtle fear in Sephiel.

“I’m scawed….” [I’m scared….]

Let’s be calm. Sephiel came to a reasonable conclusion.

‘Let’s go to the main building.’

Although she’d be in trouble if she got caught entering the main building without permission.

Would it be alright if she secretly slept in the hallway?

‘Wait a minute… Let’s hide in the hallway until the rain stops.’

The employees were all nice. So even if she got caught, they wouldn’t hit her.

‘And Erga is asleep.’

If she gets caught by Erga. Let’s just be honest and say that she is sorry.

‘I might get hit a few times because my personality looks dirty. But I originally grew up being beaten up by my half-older brothers, so it will be fine.’

The body of a child who just woke up, was in vague fear.

It made Sephiel’s thoughts duller than usual.

‘I’m going.’

The rain got a little lighter. Sephiel made a firm decision and wrapped the sheets.

The separate house and the main building were actually very close.

Sephiel began to sneak along the forest path.

‘When I passed by it last time, it was surprisingly close, right?’

But, something was strange.

No matter how much she walked, the main building in front of her didn’t get closer.

“This, how did this happen…?”

Sephiel was about to cry. 

Tuk. Tuk. Tuk. Tuk.

The rain began to intensify again.

“Marie, Berry.”

Sephiel wanted to cry. It was that moment.

In the forest, something moved.

Rustle.

“Huh?”

Sephiel braced her shoulders.

Growl….

It was a small coyote. However, in Sephiel’s eyes, it looked much bigger than Black, the predator she previously saw which was Erga’s pet.

“Grr, Growl….”

The coyote was out of breath as if it was being chased by something.

Sephiel collapsed to the ground, hugging the blanket. Slowly, slowly. She stepped back.

‘W-what did they say about what I should do when I encounter a predator?’

Hit its nose? Spray dirt on its eyes?

She felt dizzy, and no useful answer came out.

Sephiel’s whole body trembled.

Kang!

It was when the coyote ran to Sephiel.

Puk.

An arrow from somewhere penetrated the coyote’s neck.

“Hii!”

Another coyote behind it was also hit by an arrow.

In front of the dead body of the coyote, Sephiel slowly stepped back.

Tuduk. Tuduk.

Heavy rain hit Sephiel on her head and ears.

‘His… eyes are strange.’

In the rain, a boy twice the size of Sephiel was slowly approaching.

‘Huep!’

Sephiel felt her heart beat faster.

‘He… doesn’t recognize me?’

The way Erga was looking at Sephiel. It was exactly like…

‘The eyes aiming for prey.’

I’m going to be stabbed with a dagger!

“Uh, ang….”

Sephiel made a surprised sound without realizing it. Her whole body trembled. 

It was that moment.

Erga hesitated.

“What’s this?”

“….”

“Raccoon?”

Pant. Pant.

Sephiel breathed heavily and nodded fervently.

‘Once I’m too scared, my voice won’t come out.’

She had to say that it was her. However—

“I came to take the breath of my last prey personally. But—”

Erga had a sharp sword in his hand.

“Turns out it wasn’t a coyote.”

“Hiccup.”

“It was a raccoon.”

Erga whispered.