Chapter 9
Ten Minutes Before Running Away from the Pretty Witch
It wasn’t just that.
The little girl kept glancing at him out of the corner of her eyes, carefully watching his reactions.
Cassian, who had thought the little squirt was nothing but a nuisance, found himself feeling strangely wronged.
Sure, he wasn’t her biological father, but he’d fed her, given her a place to sleep (no, he hadn’t), and taken care of her for several days (no, he hadn’t). And now she was even moving away from him?
Was this why people said there was no reward for raising children?
“I’m not a scary person, you know.”
“(I saw the eyes on your back, mister.)”
“You’re hurting my feelings, you know? I even washed your face for you and picked the meat off the bones for you earlier.”
“(Mister, are you a very scary grown-up? I’m a very good little girl, though…….)”
Shouldn’t a good little girl avoid hanging around scary grown-ups?
Because scary grown-ups were probably bad people, and besides……
As she rolled her eyes around, lost in thought, Cassian let out a hollow sigh, while the tattoo artist burst out laughing.
“She’s going to start crying at this rate. Forget the tattoo for today and take the kid out for some milk.”
“Shut up. What did I even do wrong? That little squirt has nothing to do with this, so just—”
Cassian couldn’t finish his sentence.
“Gasp!”
Holding her breath and wearing a determined expression, the little girl suddenly sprang to her feet and approached him.
She stretched toward him and grabbed a fistful of his hair with her tiny hand.
“Argh!”
How could someone so small grab an adult by the hair?!
Something was wrong here. This was definitely wrong.
Just as he was about to pry her walnut-sized hand away, something unexpected happened.
“Whoooooo! Whoooooo!”
The little girl, who was barely bigger than a bean, began gently blowing on the cheek where a magical thorn had grazed him, leaving a small bead of blood.
Cassian hadn’t even realized his cheek was injured. He blinked stupidly, momentarily unable to understand what was happening.
What was this kid doing?
“Whooooooooo!”
Without realizing how thoroughly she’d thrown an adult’s mind into disarray, the little girl even began carefully rubbing his cheek with her palm.
Cassian’s eyelids trembled.
His cheek seemed to twitch, even though he wasn’t trying to hold back laughter.
“Oh! So this is why people go on and on about daughters.”
The tattoo artist let out a soft exclamation.
The little girl concentrated on his wound, blowing gently on it.
“Whoo—whoo—”
Then her golden eyes met his.
At that very moment—
Eeeeeeeeeee!
A high-pitched ringing filled Cassian’s ears.
A memory from a day long ago flashed through his mind.
“Iris. I’d give my life for you.”
Those golden eyes he’d encountered during a leave he’d earned after distinguishing himself in battle.
He remembered the happiness he’d felt when a small, outstretched hand brushed against his cheek.
Because of that memory, Cassian was so stunned that he couldn’t react at all.
“(Mister, does it hurt? When I get hurt like this, I get scared and start crying.)”
“……”
“(But that doesn’t mean I’m a coward! I’m usually a very brave little girl, but sometimes my tears just come out all by themselves.)”
“……”
His stomach churned. Cassian trembled faintly, feeling as though he might throw up at any moment.
Iris is dead…… She’s definitely dead…… So why can’t I still get you out of my head?
And why am I still alive like this, when I can’t even bring myself to die?
When he failed to respond, the little girl rolled her eyes nervously, trying to gauge his reaction.
“(I-Is this not right? T-Then…….)”
Her little hand, no bigger than a chestnut, slowly moved upward.
Then she began patting Cassian on the head.
Pat! Pat!
The little girl spoke.
“P-pretty. So pretty.”
Her expression looked as though she might cry, her posture was stiff, and her pupils were trembling.
The little girl’s very first sentence in the imperial language was a blatant lie that revealed exactly what she was thinking.
* * *
The mister was acting strange.
Usually, when you blew gently on someone’s wound, the pain magically disappeared, and they were supposed to be happy. But he looked as though he might cry if someone poked him.
‘Is he actually really weak?’
A friend who had once lived in the countryside had told me that even though eagles looked strong because of their claws, their cries sounded like peeyung, peeyung.
Maybe the monster mister was like that, too. He might be a weak monster who went peeyung, peeyung if you gave him a little poke.
His cheek wound wasn’t very big, but it probably hurt, and he was acting like that because he was scared.
‘Compliments are the best way to make someone feel better!’
So I complimented him as hard as I could.
“Pretttyyyyy!”
There were other compliments, like You’re good, You worked hard, and You’re eating your food so well. But my favorite compliment had always been You’re pretty, so I told the mister he was pretty.
But maybe the mister was an eagle, even if he went peeyung, peeyung, and didn’t like being called pretty.
Creak.
The mister’s head rose stiffly, like a rusty screw turning, and he stared straight at me.
“W-What?”
“Pretttyyyyy!”
“Pfft!”
The other mister who’d been talking to him flared his nostrils.
His hand was trembling as he covered his mouth.
Meanwhile, the scary mister’s face had frozen completely.
He looked just like……
A-a villain?!
Was the mister actually a villain, and that was why he hated being called pretty?
Had the Goddess abandoned me with a villain because she hated me?
When I turned fifteen, I would be allowed to visit my mother from Sunshine Orphanage.
But what if she deliberately left me here because she hated me……?
“(Misteeeer. They say grown-ups need compliments just like little kids do…… Because compliments can even make a whale dance! I’ll make you dance, too. D-dancing makes you feel happy.)”
“Pfft! I don’t know what she’s saying, but I can tell that baby absolutely adores you.”
“Shut it.”
Huh? That’s strange. Weren’t people supposed to feel happy when they received compliments?
Was calling someone pretty not a compliment to the mister?
Since he didn’t look happy, I complimented him again.
“Y-You’re gooood?”
Swish. Swish.
Just as Teacher Anne-Marie had done to me, I gently stroked the mister’s head.
His slightly curly hair slipped smoothly between my fingers.
He looked like a tiger, but his wide-open eyes stared at me in utter bewilderment.
Then, all of a sudden, the mister let out a tremendous shout.
“HEY, YOU!”
“Eeeeeek!”
I thought lightning had struck.
Terrified, I snatched my hand away and hurriedly scurried backward.
The mister stared at me with his mouth hanging wide open, opening and closing it without saying a word.
“Y-You…….”
“Pfft! Cassian Calypso, you’ve completely lost your dignity! Well, you are preeettty! Hnnngh!”
The monster mister’s face turned bright red.
H-He was going to scold me.
I bit my lip tightly because I was scared of him. Tears welled up in my eyes.
“P-pretty…… Hic! Ugh……”
I’d only done it because I wanted the mister to become a good grown-up like me.
They said that even naughty children would become genuinely good if you told them they were good every day.
“The baby’s going to cry. Look what you’ve done!”
“Don’t cry! Don’t cryyyy!”
The monster mister shouted frantically, grabbed my hand, and gently stroked his own head with it.
“Th-Thank you. I’m actually a pretty good person. Yeah. That’s right. I’m pretty good.”
“Pfft!”
“Just laugh already. It’s annoying when you keep holding it in.”
“PWAHAHAHAHA! HAHAHAHA!”
The mister’s friend slapped the floor as he laughed, while the mister grabbed me by the back of my neck and marched straight out of the shop.
* * *
Cassian glared at the little squirt sitting across from him, slurping away at her drink.
She’d been on the verge of crying at the tattoo parlor, which had been an important appointment for him, but the moment someone put food in her hands, she’d started swinging her legs around as if nothing had happened.
‘After making me sell my dignity for nothing……’
He considered taking her to the orphanage right then, but it was already getting late, and the timing was awkward.
‘I’ll take her to the facility first thing tomorrow morning, as soon as I wake up.’
And that bastard Baron, who’d run away without taking care of the kid, was going to pay. The moment he returned, Cassian would hang him upside down and bury him somewhere.
How dare he leave work without permission and go AWOL for several days?!
“Hey, squirt. Where’s your mom?”
“(I don’t know. I wanna go home, too. But I can’t wemembew the addwess.)”
“Do you know your mother’s name?”
“(My mommy’s name is…… Hehe.)”
“What a pretty daughter. She looks exactly like her father.”
The owner of the bar interrupted them as he brought over some snacks.
What the hell is that supposed to mean?
Cassian clenched his teeth.
“Use your eyes and look properly. How does this kid look anything like me?”
“What are you talking about?”
“Where on my face do you see anything as tiny and adorable as her?!”
