TBODM 16

Chapter 16

The children’s pitch-black eyes seemed to have stars sparkling inside them, but I was gradually starting to get annoyed.

Had Pierre said he didn’t like children? Maybe I didn’t like them much either…

Honestly, though, it was probably because I’d been surrounded by children all day.

“Is this what ‘first time’ means?”

“Yes. No. Don’t go tell your mother.”

“I don’t tell my mom things like that anymore!”

“Me neither!”

“Good, good. What well-behaved children.”

I waved dismissively and stepped onto the stairs.

But after watching me descend a single step, the twins spoke to me again.

“Miss, are the stairs hard?”

“Are they hard?”

“No, they’re not.”

It was true. They weren’t difficult.

‘Looks like the training I did with Dad wasn’t entirely useless.’

Not merely not useless—it had been surprisingly effective.

Even I hadn’t expected that, despite being unable to create water, I could send an eight-year-old flying who was five years older than me and nearly twice my size.

I’d thought the training was insane, especially considering my age.

Maybe I’d been wrong.

Anyway, now that I was stronger, going down wasn’t difficult.

The problem was my short little legs.

‘…Whoever built these stairs clearly had absolutely no consideration for children!’

Just as I frowned—

Before I knew what was happening, my body was suddenly lifted into the air.

“Dolphins help our friend!”

“We help!”

“Miss is our friend from today!”

“That’s right! Same class, same friend!”

When I looked down, the twins were each holding one of my legs, carrying me as though I were riding in a sedan chair.

As expected of whale beastfolk, they were naturally quite strong.

“Huh…”

Before I could even catch my breath, we had reached the first floor in the blink of an eye.

I looked down the long corridor and scratched my cheek.

“Thank you.”

‘Remember favors and grudges clearly.’

That was one of my personal principles.

“What are your names?”

Thanks to them, I stopped thinking of them as nothing more than passing acquaintances and became genuinely interested.

They didn’t look familiar, so they probably weren’t people I’d met in my previous life.

“I’m Ruga!”

“I’m Ruba!”

“Together, we’re Rugaruba!”

“Dooby-dooba?”

“Rugaruba!”

I chuckled as I looked at the two beluga children.

“Alright. I look forward to getting along with you.”

Looks like I’d acquired a couple of cute little subordinates.

I first sensed that something was strange when I got into the carriage.

‘What is it?’

The expression of the attendant riding with me was rather odd.

At first, I thought he looked as though he’d seen something unpleasant.

But looking more closely, his expression wasn’t merely uncomfortable.

He looked downright troubled, with beads of nervous sweat hanging from his face.

When I stared at him, the attendant cleared his throat.

“Ahem.”

Then he slowly lowered his gaze.

‘Definitely strange.’

His behavior was subtle.

His actions, his expression…

Even the way he’d greeted me when I got into the carriage earlier.

“Welcome, Lady Calypso.”

His expression had been stiff, and his greeting excessively formal.

So formal that it had almost looked rigid.

After staring at him for a while, I easily figured it out.

‘Aha. Grandmother heard about it?’

As I mentioned earlier, the attendant who escorted me back and forth was also one of Grandmother’s direct attendants.

Only now did I realize that every little thing I did was making its way to Grandmother’s ears.

‘So this is what it takes to get her attention?’

I rubbed my chin and chuckled before lounging comfortably in my seat.

That wasn’t the only surprise waiting for me.

When I arrived in front of the building, there were several unfamiliar people standing there.

I blinked.

‘Who are those people?’

“Lady Calypso, may I ask whether you still intend to remain in this building for the foreseeable future?”

“Yes.”

This place was very convenient for making contact with Pierre.

“……Lady Calypso, you were originally scheduled to move to the main estate, but since you refused to relocate, it was decided that people from the main estate would instead be sent here to assist you.”

“People to assist me?”

“Yes. Maids who will attend to you.”

Only then did I understand who the women standing politely by the door were.

And why they were standing there so formally.

But I couldn’t help smiling.

‘Ah, so now I’m worth currying favor with?’

The fact that I’d enrolled in the elementary institution and immediately skipped ahead to the highest-level class must have already reached the main estate.

The fact that they’d only taken action now proved that my prediction had been correct.

Apparently, I had to reach the highest class before they would start paying attention to me.

Well, I suppose it helped that the brothers above me were all crazy, unhinged beastfolk.

If you ignored their personalities, they should have been rather talented geniuses.

‘But… the clothes those maids are wearing look more expensive than the walls of the building I live in…’

Every maid had a gentle-looking face.

More precisely, they were staring at me with curious expressions.

Most of them looked bright and alert, and none appeared openly displeased with the situation.

Huh.

From their perspective, being suddenly sent here must have been practically equivalent to being exiled.

Were they simply good at keeping a poker face?

Then I spotted someone standing awkwardly among the maids.

Misa.

The maid who had been transferred here not long ago.

And a beastfolk with a remarkable talent for discovering “water sources.”

“What? I don’t mind having maids, but… I want to choose my own personal attendant.”

“Your personal attendant?”

“My nanny. A nanny. Judging by the look of things, you don’t seem to have any plans to assign me one, so I can choose her myself, right?”

“Pardon? Yes. Of course, but…”

“Then I’ll choose her.”

The attendant followed the direction of my finger and looked flustered.

I walked toward Misa, who was standing by herself.

“Misa. You’ve been here from the beginning, and you’ve been a great source of support to me.”

“Pardon…?”

Of course, we’d only met a few days ago.

But people could form a thousand years’ worth of affection in just a few days.

‘Though, to be fair, we barely even talked.’

Misa looked at me with the same bewildered expression as the attendant.

She was about to say something, but I stopped her with my mouth.

“You’ve been kind to me, you’ve taken good care of me, and you’ve made sure I was well taken care of at mealtimes.”

“……Mealtimes?”

“Yes. Mealtimes. I know that orca and whale children, including me, are born weak.”

That’s why they dumped us here, wasn’t it?

They only wanted to raise the ones who managed to survive.

“Then at the very least, shouldn’t you make sure we get enough food… so that we can survive as children with good physical strength and stature? I believe Grandmo—no, the head of the family established the rules that way as well.”

“That is correct.”

“I was starved quite often when I was young… I nearly failed to demonstrate my talent to the head of the family because of it.”

That was something I could only say because my talent had already been acknowledged.

But there was a saying.

When people gain power, they can make things happen that shouldn’t be possible.

It’s not as though politicians get priority treatment at hospitals for no reason when they show up.

If my standing had changed this much in just a few days…

There was no reason to let that power go to waste.

‘And I have no intention of leaving the maid who starved and beat me alone either.’

The children sent here were newborns who couldn’t even speak or walk.

There was absolutely no way I was going to let maids who enjoyed abusing such helpless children continue as they pleased.

“Who knows how many talented children have died here?”

“……Ahem. It is regrettable, Lady Calypso, but this is the orca family’s rule that only the strong survive.”

“The rule of the orca family. I know it well.”

I smiled brightly.

“But then, are enduring baths with scalding-hot water, eating food that smells like dirty rags, and suffering stomachaches without medicine also trials that we’re supposed to endure?”

Several of the maids listening to me went pale.

One even covered her mouth.

Got you.

So you’ve done those things too?

“Are you saying someone actually did such things?”

“Well, I was told that management is handled by the main estate.”

“……”

“I wonder what I’ll talk about with Grandmother the next time I meet her.”

I probably wouldn’t see Grandmother again unless I accomplished something significant.

But there was something else I could say.

“I’ll tell Dad, though. He seemed curious about how I’d been living here.”

“L-Lord Pierre?”

“Yes. My dad.”

I smiled brightly.

I intended to use every bit of influence I could get my hands on.

“Oh, you already knew I’d entered the highest-level class at the educational institution, but you didn’t know about this?”

“……”

There was no way they hadn’t known.

If every detail of my life had been leaking out…

Then surely the things I’d said about my dad must have reached them too.

“Dad is very curious about me. I was actually thinking about going to see him today.”

“Lady Calypso.”

“Hm?”

“We will conduct an investigation.”