BDBF 08

chapter 08

“…Ritta, who are these men?”

“They are the escort knights assigned to protect you, My Lady.”

Escort knights? I had those too? I never even noticed them since I couldn’t sense their presence at all.

“It is an honor to meet you, My Lady.”

Out of the five men standing in a straight line, the one in the center greeted me on behalf of the others.

“…Mm.”

Since I was secretly shy around strangers, I hid behind Rita. Well, at least half of my body was still sticking out, so I’d say I was being reasonable.

“M-My Lady…!”

At my reaction, all five men widened their eyes at the exact same time, as if they had rehearsed it beforehand.

Each of them wore a different expression. One was blank-faced, one looked sad, another smiled faintly.

They were all incredibly transparent. No matter what expression they made, I could practically see their thoughts written all over them.

From what I could tell, the five escort knights seemed hurt by my behavior. I wasn’t avoiding them—I was just hiding because they were strangers…

Ah, was this one of those situations?

“Alright, everyone, let’s get to work. We didn’t come here just to chat with My Lady, did we?”

Just as I was starting to feel awkward, Rita smoothly cut the situation off.

I burrowed back into the flowers and began assigning where each one should be planted, pointing out spots one by one.

Since I’d already planned the garden layout in advance, moving the flowers around wasn’t difficult. Planting them properly was the real problem.

“Nooo!”

I wandered all over the place supervising the escort knights as they planted the flowers.

But seriously… their skills were absolutely terrible.

How were they all managing to make it look like they were killing the flowers instead of planting them?

Well, I guess it made sense. Men who spent their lives serving as guards probably had never done delicate work like this before.

“Everybody, gather up!”

In the end, I called all five escort knights to the center of the garden.

Sitting on the pure white swing Rita had specially prepared for me, I crossed my arms and looked down at the knights kneeling before me.

For some reason, their posture made even me uncomfortable. I’d told them to sit comfortably, but none of them budged.

“Are you gonna keep doing it like this?”

“We are trying our best, but…”

“I told you, if you handle them that roughly, all the flowers are gonna die.”

“We’re sorry…”

Even though my scolding wasn’t very intimidating, they all looked thoroughly cowed.

Hale’s authority really must be incredible. Seeing these escort knights obeying someone as tiny as me—someone who probably couldn’t even land a punch on them—made that obvious.

I decided I’d enjoy this strange, warm feeling of power later. Right now, I had to solve the problem of the dying flowers.

I refuse to let my plan fail like this!

“Sigh… I’ll generously show you mercy.”

“…Pardon?”

“M-Mercy?”

“That’s right! I’m only gonna show you once, so watch carefully!”

“Ah… y-yes.”

Their responses sounded oddly hesitant. Why were they all staring blankly at me?

Placing my hands on my hips, I demanded a louder answer.

“Yes, ma’am!”

“Leave it to us, My Lady!”

“We’re good at physical labor!”

Good at it? They’d been awful. That was exactly why I was about to demonstrate.

Well, their answers pleased me, so I decided to let it slide.

Holding a white flower seedling that perfectly matched the color of Hale’s hair, I walked toward the chosen spot.

First: dig a hole that’s neither too deep nor too shallow with the shovel—which was honestly a bit too big for me.

Second: carefully place the seedling into the hole so the flower doesn’t get damaged.

Third: cover the roots gently with soil and smooth it out evenly.

Fourth: pour water over it, pat the soil kindly, and say a few encouraging words so it grows well.

After finishing the planting demonstration, I straightened my curled-up body and proudly lifted my chin.

Even without looking, I knew my face must’ve been overflowing with satisfaction.

Clap clap clap—

At the sound of applause from nearby, I rubbed beneath my nose smugly.

“It’s so easy, so why couldn’t you do it?!”

“Now that we’ve seen Your Ladyship’s example, I think we can do it properly!”

“Ahem. Reeeally?”

“Alright, boys, let’s begin.”

“My Lady, we’ll finish this quickly! Perfectly!”

The escort knights, who had looked miserable just moments ago, suddenly became overflowing with confidence, and I immediately started feeling uneasy.

Watching them rush around frantically, I hurriedly shouted after them.

“Y-you can take it slow, but don’t let the flowers die!”

“My Lady, don’t worry!”

…Anyone seeing how overly fired-up they looked right now would absolutely worry.

“My Lady.”

Rita, who had stepped away briefly to take care of something, returned.

I had been sitting on the swing, licking a giant rainbow-colored lollipop while watching the knights run around for about ten minutes.

“Mhm?”

“It looks like this will take a while. Why don’t you go back to your room and take a nap?”

“But I wanna see it when it’s finished…”

“It’s nice to watch, but aren’t you getting sleepy?”

Hmm… now that Rita mentioned it, maybe I was sleepy?

“Yaaawn.”

“See? You’re tired.”

In the end, I couldn’t hold out any longer and let Rita carry me in her arms.

And the moment she laid me down on the bed, my eyes slowly drifted shut.

* * *

I suddenly woke up with my eyes snapping open.

Maybe even while sleeping, I’d been unconsciously worrying about the garden.

I’d slept a little less than usual, but this much shouldn’t interfere with my growth, right?

I was supposed to wait until Rita came to get me since she knew exactly how long I usually napped.

But I was still young, and therefore lacked patience.

More accurately, I was overflowing with curiosity.

Rita had strictly told me never to wander around alone, but things were different now from when I first arrived.

I know the way around the mansion pretty well now!

My heart pounded.

I wasn’t sure whether it was because this was my first time wandering around the mansion alone, or because I was excited to see the fully completed garden.

Squeak, squeak, squeak—

I had just started climbing the stairs after walking through the hallway when I heard voices from below.

Even though I hadn’t done anything wrong, I instinctively hid behind the corner of the opposite corridor.

I was a little scared being alone, but I was also curious about who it was, so I peeked out with just one eye toward the staircase.

“Gasp…!”

Three people were coming up the stairs, and among them was a familiar face.

Elder Rict.

He was someone who had left me with an unforgettable first impression.

There was no way I could forget him.

I didn’t know who the man and woman standing beside him were, but they looked close to that dragon.

And if they were close to him, didn’t that mean they were hostile toward me too?

“Elder Rict, speaking of which… what should we do about the young lady?”

At the word “young lady,” my body flinched reflexively, and I quickly pulled back the half of myself that had been sticking out.

I didn’t hear that wrong, did I?

What did they mean, “what should we do about her”?

What were they planning to do?

Surely they weren’t talking about killing me just because they disliked me?

Can people really just… kill someone because they don’t like them?!

No. Calm down.

People always say you should listen until the end.

Maybe I was misunderstanding because I only heard part of the conversation.

I cautiously leaned out halfway again and looked toward the other two dragons beside Elder Rict.

“I was thinking—”

“Wait.”

Rict abruptly cut the man off mid-sentence and sharply turned his body.

I instantly hid again.

Gulp.

…He didn’t see me, right?

I hid before he completely turned this way, so he probably didn’t notice.

Holding my breath as quietly as possible, I pressed my back tightly against the wall.

Of all times, I happened to be wearing squeaky shoes, making it impossible to run away quickly.

But thankfully, the voices eventually disappeared.

It seemed they’d continued on without noticing me.

To make sure they were really gone, I carefully leaned out again—

“Eek!”

Rict’s face suddenly appeared right in front of mine.

Startled out of my mind, I screamed and fell backward.

Thankfully, I landed on my bottom first instead of hitting my head, but my racing heart refused to calm down.

“My Lady.”

“R-Rict…!”

“Why are you eavesdropping here like a rat?”

The gaze looking down at me was still just as cold and sharp as before.

The only difference now was the addition of contempt.

Even in my previous life, when assassins had secretly entered my room late at night to kill me, I hadn’t been this terrified.

My eyes darted around restlessly, unable to stay fixed in one place.

“Did you hear everything?”

“H-hear what…?”

“Pretending won’t work on me.”

Pretending? What was he talking about?

I really hadn’t heard anything!

Was it fair to falsely accuse someone like this?!

I felt wronged.

But I couldn’t bring myself to say any of it out loud.

My lips trembled uncontrollably.

Rict silently stared at me for a moment before one eyebrow slowly rose as he glanced toward the stairs.

When his gaze returned to me, it no longer felt like a dragon’s.

It felt like a snake’s—dark, damp, and sinister.

“Haah… this is even more troublesome than I expected. I should’ve persuaded him and had you killed immediately.”

“…What?”

I hadn’t misheard.

In the first place, Rict had never intended to hide those words.

He’d deliberately said them where I could hear.

My mood instantly soured.

I already knew he disliked me, but saying right to someone’s face that they should’ve been killed?

That was unbelievably rude!

“Who are you to kill me?!”

“Because you are unqualified to become the head of the family.”

That single sentence carried countless meanings.

Most of Rict’s supporters probably shared the same opinion.

Their dissatisfaction with me being half-human, half-dragon.

I didn’t understand why they were all so obsessed with bloodlines.

Wouldn’t it be better for someone competent to lead the family rather than someone foolish who merely had pure blood?

But with this young body, there was no way I could say something like that.

Not that they would listen anyway.

My tiny clenched fists trembled.

“May I offer you one piece of advice?”

“…”

“Close your eyes, block your ears, and live quietly—as though you don’t exist.”

“…”

“That way, you’ll survive beside the lord for a long, long time.”

After casually spitting out those horrifying words as though making small talk, Rict turned and left.

The moment he disappeared, I tried to get up and run straight to Rita.

But my stiffened body refused to move easily.