TSCPD 02

Chapter  2

 Conditions for Succession to the Dukedom (2)

Ethan said firmly.

“I want the oldest child here.”

“Won’t you even take a look around first?”

“What for?”

“Um, Your Grace. Raising a child is much more difficult than you might think.”

Theresa bowed her head deeply, trying to persuade Ethan.

“Of course, I have no doubt you will provide a wonderful environment, but for the child’s emotional well-being, I think it would be best if you looked around at least once.”

“I’m busy.”

Ethan’s eyebrows furrowed crookedly.

Even though she had decided not to look, Bel couldn’t take her eyes off Ethan’s vividly changing expressions.

What kind of expression is that?

The emotion felt from that scowling face was something Bel had not yet learned.

[That’s a mischievous, grumpy face, Baby Star. It’s one of the bad faces.]

The spirit, sensing Bel’s thoughts, explained from her side.

Aha. A bad face.

Bel crumpled her eyebrows following Ethan’s lead, then quickly smoothed her expression back out.

“I am the oldest girl in this orphanage.”

“How old are you?”

“Six… sixteen years old.”

“I will take care of you until you become an adult.”

“Thank you for thinking well of me, but I’m sorry.”

Lily rejected Ethan’s offer.

“I hope children younger than me receive Your Grace’s support instead. If it’s alright with you, I will guide you through the orphanage.”

At that, Ethan grumbled discontentedly to the man standing behind him.

“…Aspe.”

“What is it?”

“No woman has ever dumped me until now.”

“Ah, yes.”

[That one is a flustered expression. It’s the face people make when they’re surprised.]

I see.

Bel nodded silently at the spirit’s explanation.

[Baby Star.]

“Hmm?”

Tilting her head to the side, Bel looked at the spirit.

[Why don’t you follow that human?]

“Ooomph?”

Bel’s head tilted even further.

Follow him? That mister?

The moment Bel tilted her head and looked at Ethan, their eyes met once again.

“What’re you lookin’ at?”

This time, Bel shot back first.

However, pretending not to hear, Ethan ignored Bel and vaguely pointed at one of the children seen outside the window.

“Then I’ll take that child.”

“Pardon?”

“Hey, you there!”

In the end, he opened the window and carelessly gestured with his finger.

“Me?”

“Yeah, you. Will you be adopted by me?”

“Who are you?”

“If you come with me, I’ll let you eat delicious snacks every day.”

“It’s big trouble if you follow someone who gives you food!”

The child, who answered clearly, hurried away as if running for their life.

“Why does everyone say no?”

“They didn’t say anything wrong. You shouldn’t follow strangers.”

Bel looked at the ‘flustered’ Ethan.

[If you follow that human, there will be a lot to learn.]

“Eeing.”

Bel didn’t really feel like it.

It seemed Ethan felt the same way.

Having been rejected for the second time, instead of checking Bel’s willingness to be adopted, he decided to look around the orphanage.

“Any interest in becoming the Young Master of Ibek?”

Ethan told every child in sight to follow him.

However…

“No!”

They all refused him without exception. Or…

“Eek!”

Ran away. Or…

“Waaah!”

Began to sob hysterically in the end.

Swept up in a subtle shock from the repeated rejections, Ethan’s expression changed yet again.

Bel tried to make her pupils tremble to copy him, but only her head shook side to side.

“Aspe.”

“Yes. Speak, Your Grace.”

“Why do the kids hate me? Isn’t this a chance to become a noble?”

“It’s not that they hate the chance; isn’t it that they hate Your Highness?”

“What did you say?”

Ethan’s eyes narrowed sharply.

Bel imitated him again, glinting her eyes to the side.

Bad eyes.

It was right then.

[By the way, Baby Star.]

“By the way, Your Highness.”

[Why is that human not offering adoption only to you?]

“Why aren’t you proposing adoption to that child?”

The guest called Aspe and the spirit spoke almost at the exact same time.

At those words, Bel looked at Ethan, and Ethan likewise looked back at Bel.

“Tsk.”

His face crumpled once more.

“Taking a tiny peanut like that—when would I ever finish raising it?”

“Please speak sense. How is that child a tiny peanut?”

“Then a pebble.”

“At least try talking to her. Or are you going to tour another orphanage?”

Aspe scolded Ethan.

Then Ethan made a sulky face and asked Bel gruffly,

“What’s your name?”

“Byeo.”

“Byeo?”

“Noo. Byeo-ol. Ah-i Byeo.”

Bel corrected him, but Ethan still failed to understand and babbled nonsense.

“Right. I am Duke Ibek. The child recognizes me.”

“How could that possibly be?”

Ethan completely ignored Aspe’s rebuttal.

“So, what is your name?”

“Ah-i! Byeo-ol!”

Getting frustrated, Bel shouted out loud.

He was a mister who really couldn’t get the point.

“This child is named Berta. We call her Bel.”

“Bel? You should have pronounced it properly.”

He even went as far as to blame Bel for his own failure to understand.

“Mister.”

“…What?”

“Dummy.”

In the end, Bel ended up snapping at him—while copying his bad face.

At Bel’s attack, Ethan let out a dry laugh.

“What did she just say?”

“Your Highness. Let’s go with that child.”

“What? Did you not hear what she just said? Do you need me to clean out your ears for you?”

Ethan grabbed Aspe by the collar, looking ready to shove a skewer into his ear at any moment.

The spirit gasped in shock and quickly covered Bel’s view.

[Oh dear. What a ferocious expression. Don’t copy that one.]

“Oung.”

Bel nodded her head, sticking her lips out.

“Doesn’t she have plenty of guts!”

In the meantime, the adults were moving the conversation along on their own.

“Even after seeing Your Highness, she didn’t hide, say no, cry, or run away—she’s been following you around the whole time.”

“Yeah. And she’s the size of a pebble.”

“Children grow quickly anyway.”

Aspe persuaded Ethan, saying that a nanny would handle all the child-rearing anyway and that Setia was waiting anxiously.

Ultimately persuaded, Ethan let out a deep sigh and squatted down in front of Bel.

His posture was just like the leader of a gang of thugs who had set up camp in a gloomy back alley.

“If you come with me, I’ll let you eat bread much bigger and tastier than that every day.”

He pointed with the tip of his chin at the bread Bel was nibbling on as he made his offer.

Bel half-closed her eyes and scanned him up and down.

…He’s giving me bread?

“Why do you keep trying to coax the child with food?”

“I have to do at least this much so there’s room for her to reconsider.”

While keeping her eyes fixed on Ethan, who was shouting at the top of his lungs again, Bel kept her mouth moving and nibbled her bread.

Ethan’s expression was exceedingly colorful.

His eyebrows twitched and wriggled, and his eyes turned sharp like this.

When he spoke, his lips fluttered, and his hair sparkled.

His emotions could be felt entirely.

In a world covered in storm clouds, Ethan alone stood noble and clear.

[Baby Star. You need parents.]

“…”

Veins bulged on the forehead of Ethan, who was giving Aspe a hard time.

Seeing the raised marks, a tiny smile formed at the corners of Bel’s lips.

His personality seemed bad, but he felt like a funny mister.

“Good grief. As if there’s any child in the world who would blithely follow a stranger just because of that…”

Bel slipped right between Ethan’s legs as he squatted there and hugged him.

“There is. There is one, Your Highness.”

Aspe blurted out in utter disbelief.

Eventually, he even tried to persuade Bel back out of it.

“Little one.”

“Oung?”

“Even if a stranger offers you food, you shouldn’t follow them, right?”

“Oung.”

“Then is it okay to follow this mister, or not?”

“Mister.”

“Right? You think you misjudged something too, don’t you?”

“Fool.”

At Bel’s single word, Aspe froze in place like a wooden statue.

In fact, what Bel had meant to say was, ‘I’m not a fool either. I know at least that much.’

It was just that she was still unskilled at forming sentences, so she had only spoken the important word appropriately.

“Me… I am… a fool…?!”

“You idiot. Get out of the way.”

Ethan gave Aspe a nudge.

“You’re the one who said you’d go, right?”

He then confirmed Bel’s intention once more.

Bel looked Ethan straight in the eye and nodded.

“Oung.”

“Go buy some bread. I’ll be handling the adoption procedures.”

Scooping Bel right up into his arms, Ethan kicked Aspe’s rear.

“Ah, don’t hit me!”

“Hurry up and go before the kid changes her mind. If she says she won’t go either, I’ll bury you right here.”

Duke Ethan Ibek had chosen the child he would adopt.

The main character was none other than…

Will it be okay?

Berta.

Haa.

Theresa recalled the day she first met Bel.