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chapter 33
After Lessa dragged Caesar away, only the children remained in the hall.
Lirian, punished by her mother’s strict order with the classic “kneel for ten minutes with your hands raised,” sat in front of Ilay, while her eldest brother, Serran—who was the scariest when angry—stood behind Ilay.
Rarely showing an unsmiling face.
This made Lirian feel even more nervous.
“Lirian.”
“…Yes!”
Startled by him calling her name, Lirian responded quickly.
Serran sighed softly, seeing how much his precious youngest sibling was frightened.
“I was really worried about you.”
At his words, Lirian lowered her head even more like a little turtle.
“You can’t do this again. If it happens again, I’ll really get angry.”
Nodding with tears forming in her eyes, Lirian knew that although she could defeat a deep-sea monster or sorcerer in one hit, her angry big brother was terrifying.
Only then did Serran’s face relax, like spring sunlight, in response to Lirian’s promise.
“Yuri, don’t you have something to say?”
Turning from sipping cocoa at the tea table—again failing to score coffee—Yuri looked at them.
“I’m fine. If I say something, I think I’d cry too.”
“You need to talk them down in moments like this. What if she ran away again?”
Yuri thought silently, She left a note, so it’s not really running away, but kept it to herself.
Her brother when angry was scary, too.
“You’re the youngest.”
“Mm…”
Finally, as part of the family, he spoke.
“If something like this happens again, all your Choco Fries will go to Jeril.”
“…!”
“Bear gummies and macarons are banned too.”
“Hic.”
“Will you do it?”
“Ah, no!”
This was typical of the second child—setting firm measures to prevent a repeat incident.
Satisfied, Yuri stepped back, leaving only the last turn.
“Hehe.”
Jeril, lying in a relaxed pose on the sofa behind them, felt their gaze and lowered his comic book slightly.
“What? Is it all over?”
“Jeril, you can’t be in that pose in front of others.”
“Eh, so what? It’s just us here.”
“What would Ilay think if she saw?”
All eyes briefly turned to Ilay, then back to Jeril.
Jeril raised his eyebrows.
“So what? You’re my little sibling too, right?”
“……?”
“?”
“Wow, is Ilay my new sibling too? For me as well?”
Lirian’s eyes sparkled with dreams of climbing the ranks.
Ilay wondered if he should be impressed by Jeril’s generosity, welcoming him into the group even though he was only temporarily there, or if he should shatter Lirian’s absurd dream.
Serran began with a logical correction.
“Ilay is your elder, so how can she be a younger sibling?”
“But she came in later than me. That means she’s ranked lower than me!”
“Yeah, yeah.”
“Since the little one is the youngest, then Ilay can be the baby of the family.”
“What? How can that—”
“Right, right… Ouch!”
Though the close-in-age siblings often fought, when they got along, they were almost annoyingly compatible.
Lirian echoed Jeril’s words like a chorus.
Unable to watch any longer, Ilay lightly—really lightly—bonked Lirian on the forehead, just out of old habit—
“….”
Even Serran, smiling like an angel, Yuri, busily taking notes, and Jeril, joking around, all simultaneously stared at Ilay as if on cue.
Flinch.
Ilay froze in the same position, having just bonked her.
“Ilay… I think I’ve got a bump. Forgive me, okay?”
“A bump?”
“…A bump?”
“No, wait, it’s just… acting!”
Cold sweat trickled down his face.
Yes. The situation was completely different from before.
Now Lirian had three brothers to take revenge on her behalf.
Even Jeril, who fought the most with the youngest, couldn’t stand it if someone else hit her.
Serran smiled brightly.
“Little one.”
“…”
“You’ve got to look out for the youngest.”
The youngest (mental age 27) trembled, facing the rank authority of the eldest (9 years old).
Biting his lip, unable to resist the pressure from the three siblings, he raised his trembling hand.
Ilay slowly rubbed Lirian’s forehead.
“…No bump.”
“Really? But it hurts.”
“It hurts, Ilay.”
“……”
“Ho, do it.”
“Ho, she said do it.”
He silently vowed never to bonk Lirian again.
That day, before going to sleep, Lirian thought seriously:
“I was resurrected, but I have amnesia!”
Any member of the duke’s family would faint upon hearing that.
She remembered meeting her future self in a dream.
But since she had no memories after that, she was startled when she saw Ilay.
Being trapped in darkness and suddenly waking up to see Ilay appear—it was understandable.
But why hadn’t she told anyone?
“I don’t want medicine…”
If she said she had no memory, they’d assume she was hurt, and if she was hurt, she’d have to take medicine.
Bitter, terrible-tasting medicine!
She didn’t want to take it.
“So, this is a secret. Got it, Rose?”
Since she didn’t completely forget everything and it was only a brief moment, Lirian decided to stay cool about it.
Though not truly cool.
“Ilay is such a dummy.”
She missed Ilay very much.
So she bravely stormed into the temple holding the bear gummy’s hand.
Seeing him again made her so happy that she shed a small tear—even though she was supposed to be a “never-crying, cool villain.”
“But Ilay just scolded me!”
Grumbling with lingering frustration, she whispered her secret to Rose and fell asleep.
“Ilay is an orc, ogre, troll… zzz…”
The next morning:
“Our princess, time to wake up!”
Today, Caesar came to wake Lirian.
Smooch!
Unbothered whether her father kissed her, Lirian yawned and jumped out of bed.
Heading straight to the bathroom, Caesar followed and asked:
“Princess, want to brush and wash?”
“Mm-hmm.”
“Want to do it with Daddy today?”
“I can do it myself.”
Seeing his daughter declare independence, lightning struck over Caesar’s head.
Watching her completely unfazed, he sighed.
“Daddy has to do so much.”
…thought the five-year-old.
“Alright! Let’s do it together.”
“Really?”
Caesar quickly recovered.
With a happy face, he helped Lirian wash her face.
“Here, rinse with water!”
“Rinse!”
“Soap, nice and soft!”
“Soft!”
Splashing water everywhere, Lirian washed with great energy, while Caesar studied her carefully today.
Lirian felt he was searching for something on her face.
“Princess, do you have any marks or bruises? Any pain?”
“Huh?”
“Anything itchy or hurting?”
As he washed her face, he asked gently.
Lirian tilted her head and widened her eyes.
“Pimples?!”
“Uh, like pimples. You don’t have any?”
“I’m a super strong kid. I don’t lose to that!”
“Oh, good…”
Caesar breathed a sigh of relief but restrained himself upon seeing her stare seriously at the mirror, ready to fight any imaginary pimples.
He squeezed strawberry toothpaste onto her tiny toothbrush.
“Here we go, brush, brush.”
“Brush, brush!”
“Good, ah.”
“Ahhh.”
“Spit, ready?”
“Spit, spit!”
Confirming that nothing unusual remained in her mouth except for her cute baby teeth, Caesar secretly relaxed.
Lirian found his behavior suspicious.
“…Could it be?”
She swallowed hard.
“Did he figure out I have amnesia…?”
Thinking like a guilty thief, Lirian worried.
“Lirian, if anything hurts or feels strange, you must tell Daddy, okay?”
As Caesar gently dried her face with a soft towel, she nodded quickly.
“Mm-hmm!”
“Yes, my daughter. Love you today too.”
Smooch!
Kissing her, Caesar and Lirian continued their parallel dreams—one wanting to hide a secret, the other just wanting to care.
