* * *
*Clatter.*
After tearing open the elephant and dumping its contents onto the floor, Bunny lined them up, building towers as she counted. She crossed her short arms, her expression grave.
“Big trouble.”
Two days ago, she’d been too generous with her gifts to prove how reliable she was, leaving the elephant’s belly dangerously flat.
*Hoo.*
With a heavy sigh, Bunny hopped to her feet.
‘Can’t be helped.’
*Hmph.* Rubbing her nose, she shoveled the storybooks back into the elephant’s belly, then slung her jingling rabbit bag over her shoulder.
“Little Miss, Little Miss. I, Luriel, shall teach you a magnificent secret. You learn everything as soon as you see it, so remember this well and use it when needed.”
If you don’t have money, you just have to earn it.
To do that, she first had to buy materials.
*Hehehe.*
Bunny was a clever child; shopping all by herself was no bother at all. The young Duke would surely think she was precious for such initiative.
Feeling immensely proud, Bunny had just stepped out of her room when—
“Lady Bunny!”
“Ung? Jessie!”
“Yes. Are you heading out now?”
“Uung.”
Bunny nodded.
‘How did she know Bunny was going to the market?’
*Gasp.* Is Jessie a genius, too?
“I heard you didn’t attend class, so I was worried. I’m glad you don’t seem ill. The class has already begun. This way.”
“Eung……?”
“Excuse me.”
Jessie scooped Bunny up.
*Jingle, jingle.*
*Jingle, jingle.*
Every time Bunny moved, the sound of coins clashing echoed clearly.
“Why are you late today, my lady?”
“Ah……”
She had completely forgotten about class.
“Worries… about the future?”
Bunny, who had been planning to buy ingredients to refill the elephant, replied.
‘Money is a worry about the future, too.’
Bunny didn’t lie.
Resting her chin on Jessie’s shoulder, Bunny rolled her eyes and thought.
“Don’t worry too much. In my opinion, once you master reading, Lady Bunny, your rankings will climb rapidly.”
“…Uung.”
Bunny is already a genius, though. She memorized all the Demon language!
‘Human words are hard…….’
With that gloomy thought, Bunny was escorted into class.
Naturally, there still wasn’t a single character she could recognize.
* * *
“So, are you saying that is the truth?”
Even at the Duke of Ludbrid Yudia’s stiff inquiry, the elderly man with the perpetually gentle expression nodded.
“Yes. According to the report sent to the Imperial Palace yesterday, an unknown, strange illness broke out in the Rubia Territory on May 18th. The local estate tried to keep it quiet, but neither the healers nor the researchers could find the source.”
“…Does that quail egg really possess the power of prophecy?”
Ludbrid Yudia recalled the insignificant-looking white quail egg and narrowed his eyes.
“What do you think, Kyriel?”
“……I don’t know.”
Kyriel Yudia answered sluggishly, his interest appearing nonexistent as he toyed with the jingling cloth bag in his hand.
Ludbrid Yudia let out a long sigh.
“Just in case, discipline the staff internally, and send a few people from here. Take the sap along with them as well.”
“Yes.”
Upon hearing the order, the man in the tailcoat bowed and retreated.
“So, why did you call me…?”
Kyriel Yudia asked in a slow, languid voice.
“Why did I call you! How long has it been since the sacred ceremony ended, and what the hell have you done!”
“Didn’t you keep asking me to show you grandchildren? One son, one daughter, it’s perfect…….”
Kyriel Yudia answered with a lethargic, tired expression and a small yawn.
Ludbrid Yudia’s expression crumpled, as if he were staring at a complete fool.
“What on earth were you thinking, bringing children of unknown origin under your wing!”
“You’re the one who told me to raise someone responsibly……?”
“I told you to raise an animal, not a child! To begin with, since when can you raise a child? How many times have you been found on the verge of starvation because you wouldn’t even feed yourself!”
Kyriel Yudia narrowed his brows and rose from his seat, moving at a pace that would drive an impatient person to madness.
However, he did not look dull. If anything, that sluggishness made him appear all the more elegant and relaxed.
“Anyway, if you have nothing else to say, I’ll be going…….”
“You don’t seriously intend to make them your children, do you? Just end it as their guardian.”
At his brother’s words, Kyriel chuckled.
“Now that you say don’t, I want to do it even more…….”
Muttering softly, Kyriel indifferently left the parlor, ignoring the squawking coming from behind him.
‘Bothersome, sleepy…….’
He thought as he drifted along the hallway. In truth, Kyriel didn’t think he would be a good parent. As the Duke said, he was a man who found everything a bother; forgetting his own meals was a common occurrence.
“Then, thank you. I’ll come again next time! Goodbye!”
Well, it didn’t seem like the children needed him to be a perfect parent, anyway. If they needed a name as a guardian, he was willing to lend it.
‘What are guardians supposed to do, anyway…….’
Thinking languidly, Kyriel walked into the temple he used as his room and flopped onto the bed.
‘Should I think about it after I wake up…….’
He closed his eyes slowly.
At this moment, Kyriel Yudia did not know. He did not know that a four-year-old child with a high degree of curiosity was more disruptive than he could imagine, and that he would be constantly summoned because of her.
* * *
“Phew……. I don’t know a single letter…….”
*Hing.*
Muttering with a tearful expression, Bunny buried her face in the pillow.
There were no children as young as Bunny in the class, and all the others knew how to read. Bunny was the only one left in the dark.
When she had courageously asked the child next to her, she’d been told they learned from their moms or dads, or from private tutors.
Back in her room, Bunny dumped her homework and books aside, grabbed Magomi, and slung the jingling bag of coins over her shoulder again.
Then, she jumped off the bed.
Bunny had a very, very wicked plan. A diabolical scheme that had once conquered the entire orphanage!
According to Luriel, as long as you have this, you would never starve to death anywhere you went.
Bunny had watched Luriel use this method countless times, so she planned to do the same now.
The kind orphanage director gave the children five brown coins as pocket money once a week—just enough to buy a small hollow bread at the bakery.
*Hehehe.*
‘Bunny always saved those up to buy chocolates.’
By becoming rich through this, she could afford the chocolates—which required a whopping thirty brown coins—once a month.
‘Bunny is popular with everyone.’
She would make the entire Dukedom fall into her trap, too.
Tiny Bunny glided smoothly through the people busy carrying luggage and fabric. Every time she moved, there was a rhythmic, jingling sound.