Chapter 29
Pierre stared intently at Calypso.
“Feeling sorry?”
“Yeah. Because yesterday, I suddenly brought someone and asked you to take him as a disciple.”
“…….”
It was an uncomfortable topic.
“Thinking about it now, it’s a situation that could be inconvenient for you, Master…… I think I was too inconsiderate.”
“So you do know.”
As he said that, Pierre fixed his eyes on Calypso’s fingers.
He noticed wounds that certainly weren’t there when she first arrived.
Thinking about it, there was no way a three-year-old could cook perfectly.
The burns, blisters, and cuts on those fingers must have occurred while making this thing—whether it was a dish or something that crawled out of the underworld.
“Yes. I was inconsiderate. I’m sorry.”
The daughter before his eyes was clever. She must be.
Otherwise, why would she be so dejected and cautious only in a situation like this?
Even adding formal speech that she never usually used.
“Hello, Mister.”
Was it because they first met with her acting so brazen?
He hated seeing her looking so dejected and walking on eggshells.
Lift your eyes. Where did that child go, the one who brazenly deceived me?
“…….”
A stream of water grabbed Calypso’s cheeks and forced her head up.
Calypso blinked her large eyes.
“Look into the eyes when having a conversation.”
“Huh? Uh-oh, okay.”
“Explain the dish.”
“Huh?”
“Continue what you were doing.”
Then, Calypso continued her explanation while still being cautious.
She said she squeezed lemon juice on this salmon dish, and that five kinds of herbs should have gone in, but she couldn’t get one ingredient, so she only put in four.
Even if something was lacking, it was a decent level for a house where someone lives alone.
She even went so far as to say that she cooked satisfactorily thanks to the fact that Master’s kitchen had everything.
Pierre listened silently to this nonsense without even blinking.
The stream of water Pierre created was already wrapping around the hand injured by burns, cooling the heat.
Calypso seemed not to notice, as she was engrossed in her explanation.
‘She was rather insensitive to pain or wounds.’
This was something only Pierre, who had trained her, could know.
Calypso was on the insensitive side regarding pain or wounds. To be precise, she had an incredible talent for endurance.
As if she had already experienced extreme pain before.
She used to endure it with a face that suggested this was no big deal.
“……That’s about it. How is it, Master?”
After the explanation ended, Calypso peeked at him cautiously.
Instead of a review of that explanation, Pierre brought up a different story.
“I don’t like it.”
“Huh? The food?”
“I don’t take just anyone as a disciple.”
“Ah……! Yes. I’m sorry, Master.”
Calypso bowed her head deeply as if she realized something.
At the same time Pierre’s eyes naturally furrowed, a stream of water straightened Calypso’s waist back up.
“An apology is enough once. If you make the same mistake, it would be a lack of intelligence.”
“Right. Then it would be a lack of intelligence.”
Calypso nodded vigorously.
At the same time, Calypso recalled something as she saw the furrow between Pierre’s brows smooth out.
“By any chance, Master, were you annoyed because I suddenly brought someone as another disciple?”
“Annoyed?”
“No, I mean, never mind if not. It’s just that you seemed a bit angry.”
Calypso giggled.
“I thought maybe Master was sulking.”
She had a brazen face.
“Sul—what?”
“Gasp, were you really sulking?”
“…….”
“No, no. That’s impossible. You’re our great Master. I made a slip of the tongue. So don’t throw the food out the window……!”
Watching the dish being placed back on the table, Calypso laughed.
That ridiculously bright smile.
It was the same face that occasionally climbed over him so brazenly like this.
“Actually, Master, weren’t you proud? I even beat a nine-year-old!”
Instead of answering, Pierre crossed his arms. He had an indifferent face.
“That is only natural.”
It’s natural. Aren’t you my daughter?
There’s no need to be conceited over just that much.
“Don’t be conceited. I knocked down even a fourteen-year-old at your age.”
“…….”
Calypso grumbled inwardly. ‘Yeah, you’re the best, Dad!’
Ugh, to think I’d hear a “back in my day” speech here.
Calypso, who was complaining internally, tilted her head up slightly.
‘Ah, his expression has become okay again.’
Pierre had looked quite uncomfortable until just a moment ago.
But for some reason, he seemed to have softened a bit while talking.
“Okay. I get it. Master, eat quickly. I won’t disturb you anymore.”
“Disturb……”
Although she spoke brazenly as if joking, he probably wasn’t really sulking, and it seemed that bringing Agenor had bothered him more than expected.
Calypso resolved to be careful from now on.
While staring intently at Pierre’s expression, which had now returned to normal, Calypso swallowed hard.
“Um, Master, you see.”
“What is it?”
Pierre, who was just picking up his fork, answered.
Somehow, the speed of him putting the fork down was excessively fast…… Strange. Did I see it wrong?
“Ah, actually, something strange happened at the educational institution today.”
“Something strange?”
Since Pierre was staring at her, Calypso forgot about it in an instant.
And then she quickly brought up her business.
With a cautious expression.
“Yeah. My Dad…… gave an order to Madam Laila to protect me, you see?”
***
After saying this, I quietly observed the situation.
I swallowed my breath and saliva. But I only swallowed internally so as not to be caught.
“Ah, Madam Laila is the Chairperson of the elementary institution.”
“I know.”
Pierre’s expression was blank.
He was languid and bored as always.
Rather, since even the uncomfortable expression from a moment ago had vanished, he just looked peaceful.
Without any agitation at all.
That’s why, even while thinking I was shoving my head into a shark’s mouth, I had no choice but to say one more thing.
“What do you think, Master?”
Maybe bringing up this topic now was a bad choice.
Since our atmosphere wasn’t bad.
But……
‘I hate things that aren’t certain.’
How was it during my last three lives?
I bet my life on ‘things that weren’t certain’ and ruined everything.
Especially in the previous life, didn’t the world end because of an uncertain factor called the ‘Black Panther Duke’s rampage’?
That’s why I couldn’t help the thought of having to check, like an obsession, from rearing its head at this moment.
Even if this might be a reckless move or a self-defeating one.
“What do I think?”
I focused only on Dad’s opening mouth.
At this moment, the tension rose to the extreme as if time had stopped.
“Why are you asking me that?”
Dad, who spoke more slowly than usual like an actor controlling the audience as he reached the climax.
He gave an answer completely different from my expectation.
It was an equivocal reply.
“I am not your father, am I?”
At the words that hit the nail on the head, I had to struggle not to flinch.
‘……So that’s how you’re going to play it.’
Rather, from this answer of Dad’s, I could know the answer.
‘You’ve seen through my lie, haven’t you?’
The fact that Dad already knows about my play-acting.
When and how did he find out? Through what route?
‘He definitely seemed not to know me at first.’
Indeed, since he didn’t even look in on me when I was born, how would he recognize me?
Furthermore, my appearance is exceptionally round even among the direct line of killer whales, so I don’t resemble anyone.
They say I resemble my mother.
But since it’s presumed that my mother also had an arranged marriage with Dad. It seemed natural that he didn’t know.
“That’s true. But……”
I stared at Dad.
In fact, although I didn’t reveal it, my foster dad on Earth and Pierre were close in age.
To be precise, the age when I was three.
‘Because I was adopted when I had just turned one.’
It meant my foster parents adopted me at a young age.
“Dad and Master are similar in age. So I was curious. I thought you might know a bit since you’re both adults.”
If he had already seen through my play-acting……
What did he think while listening to me talking hard about a ‘kind dad’ and a ‘dad who loves me very much’ all this time?
‘What would he have thought? He probably wondered why she was putting on a show.’
But I was curious. Why aren’t you saying anything even though you know everything?
Without getting angry?
“Lord Pierre asked me to look after lady Calypso well.”
“So he also gives such orders.”
Why did you say such things to Madam Laila?
“Not all adults are the same. But saying that, you must indeed be young.”
“I’m not young.”
Then Pierre chuckled. I was a bit surprised.
“Isn’t saying that precisely the proof of youth?”
“…….”
I felt a bit of a surge of annoyance.
Excuse me, I’m a person who has lived over 60 years in total?
This proper pronunciation is also a feat achieved after experiencing the last three lives through blood and sweat?
I puffed out my cheeks.
‘Ah, fine. Fine. I won’t listen because you’re being petty. Because you’re being petty.’
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