novelraw Chapter 116
Chapter 116
Ch.116 Could… could that be?
Hans and his party arrived in the Imperial Capital.
They’d originally planned to leave immediately—but…
“No way! I want to stay with Aria!”
“Yeah! Don’t take Aria away from us!”
Leah and Cecilia each grabbed one of Aria’s shoulders.
Aria looked startled by the two women’s intensity.
In a flustered, high-pitched voice, she turned urgently to her mother.
“Huh?! Brother! Mom! Can I go back?”
“Aria. I found this food called ‘crêpe.’ Wanna go try it together?”
“Crêpe?”
“Yep! Aria, we looked up every famous eatery in the Imperial Capital just for you. Are you really gonna leave now?”
The two women grinned slyly, while Aria—knowing full well something exhausting awaited her there—stared blankly, drool pooling at the corner of her mouth under the lure of food.
“What’s a crêpe?”
Aria, her eyes unfocused and cheeks flushed, asked in a daze.
Leah beamed warmly.
“It’s a thin pancake filled with whipped cream and fruit.”
“Pancake? Whipped cream?”
Watching Aria’s wide-eyed curiosity, I thought:
‘At this rate, if someone offers her tasty food on the street, won’t she follow anyone anywhere?’
Seriously—her soul had already left her body and flown straight to the crêpe shop.
“Mom! Just one day… can I stay one more day?”
Seeing Aria’s hopeful, gleaming eyes, Icira shook her head.
“No. And anyway, about the schedule…”
Icira turned to look at me.
“Ask Hans.”
“Brother Hans! Can we please stay just one more day?!”
Aria jumped up and down in excitement at the thought of delicious food, and without realizing it, I burst out laughing.
“Haha… alright, should we stay one more day?”
As I ruffled Aria’s hair, she beamed brightly.
“Yes! Brother Hans is the best!”
She bounced joyfully.
“Sister Leah, Sister Cecilia! Let’s go to the crêpe shop right now!”
“Let’s go!”
Watching the three of them leave, I couldn’t help but smile softly.
Aria really does feel more healing the more you see her.
Once Aria, Leah, and Cecilia disappeared from sight…
“Hans-ssi? What are you doing today?”
Scarlet approached and asked.
“I haven’t planned anything in particular.”
“Then… would you like to tour the Imperial Capital with me?”
“Huh?”
Caught off guard by Scarlet’s unexpected request, Mia frowned.
“Hold on! I absolutely won’t allow you to be alone with that shameless creature! I’m coming too.”
“Huh? Why you, Mia?”
Why else? Because she can’t stand seeing me alone with another woman.
Mia’s possessiveness knows no bounds.
“I won’t leave you alone with a man like that! Think about it—how much has our reputation suffered because of him!”
Ah… well… I couldn’t really argue with that.
People had definitely been whispering about us nonstop.
“Hmm… it’s fine. I don’t hold any ill will toward Hans-ssi.”
Seeing Scarlet’s slightly reddened ears made me feel utterly helpless.
P-please… could you just have ill will toward me?
I know exactly how unhinged Scarlet can get.
She’s calmer now, but who knows what she’ll be like later?
In the original story, after her family died, Scarlet went completely dark and committed horrifying acts more than once.
Why else would I have gone to such lengths to protect the Scarlet family?
Mia, who’d been staring blankly at Scarlet’s words, suddenly scowled and shouted,
“Scarlet! Don’t you have any sense of duty as a Hero?”
“And you—why are you interfering between us? You… could it be…?”
She shot Mia a look full of suspicion.
“Aren’t you trying to sabotage things because you claim to dislike Hans-ssi?”
—Zzzt.
As the two women locked eyes intensely, cold sweat ran down my back. I stepped in to mediate.
“Why are you both like this? Let’s just all go together.”
“Hans-ssi stays out!”
“The Sage stays out!”
Ah… dear gods, why do you torment me like this?
Their simultaneous declarations left me drowning in despair.
***
Aria, back in the Imperial Capital, was having a blissful time.
“Sister? What’s that? The black sauce on top?”
Cecilia smiled maternally at the little girl whose eyes sparkled at the chocolate syrup drizzled over her crêpe.
“That’s chocolate syrup. Haven’t you ever had chocolate before, Aria?”
“Chocolate? What’s that?”
With wide, curious eyes, Aria stared at the syrup, then dipped a fingertip into a drop on the plate and licked it.
“It’s sweet! And smells nutty too!”
Leah spoke to Aria, whose eyes lit up brightly.
“Alright~ time to eat your crêpe now?”
“Yep! I’m gonna eat it!”
The girl grabbed the crêpe with both hands and took a huge bite.
Her eyes instantly turned luminous.
“It’s so delicious! This white stuff is amazing!”
The hatchling had fallen head over heels for the whipped cream—her first time tasting it.
After all, she’d lived mostly on raw meat her whole life; every bite of human food felt entirely new.
—Slurp, slurp.
She was so delighted that her illusion magic wavered slightly, revealing her tail, which swayed happily—a sight impossibly adorable.
“Is it really that tasty?”
“Mm-hmm!”
Leah gave Aria a warm, gentle smile—but there was something oddly calculating behind it.
“Hey, Master?”
“Hmm? What is it?”
“Nothing’s wrong between you and Mia, right?”
Still smiling, Aria took another bite without a second thought.
“Hmm… hmm… um! I saw you two walking in the garden at night.”
Aria had happened to glimpse them through her window the previous night.
Leah and Cecilia—suspicious Mia might be scheming—had been counting on Aria for intel the moment they saw her.
Though Hans was with Mia, and Nekhuf with Aria, they still worried the fox-like Mia might be targeting Hans.
“Really? You two walked in the garden together?”
“At night, no less?”
“Gulp! Yeah! You were talking—Sister Mia looked so lonely.”
Leah and Cecilia exchanged surprised glances.
They’d unconsciously assumed Hans was a man without principles.
“Wait—Mia-ssi?!”
“What did Master say to her?”
They pressed Aria, but the girl was too busy shoveling food into her mouth.
“Mmm! Mmm! Hee-hee… can’t twell!”
Her mouth was so full her words were muffled and unintelligible.
“Finish eating first, then tell us.”
“Gulp! I don’t know. I only saw from far away. But Sister! Can I have one more?”
At Aria’s innocent request, the two readily nodded.
“Yes! Eat as much as you like. How can you be this cute while eating? Excuse me—another chocolate crêpe, a chocolate milk, and a chocolate cake, please.”
Cecilia ordered even more.
After Aria ate until full, they took her to a clothing shop—ostensibly to buy dresses befitting her adorable charm, but really to indulge their own desires.
“Kyaa! You’re too cute! Try this hat too!”
“And then this outfit!”
Aria, exhausted, looked at the wide-brimmed hat and overalls in their hands.
“How many outfits is this now?! I’ve changed more than ten times!”
Seeing the girl cross her arms and pout, the two women exchanged wicked grins.
“You know what this meal cost, right? How much was it, Cecilia?”
“Just under 1 gold.”
“Oh my—see? Crêpes and chocolate milk really are expensive!”
Chocolate was a luxury here—sourced only from the southern New Continent and prepared by a handful of chefs who certainly wouldn’t sell it cheap.
It was a bit absurd to bring her to a nobleman’s restaurant and then haggle over the bill—but still…
“Huh?! Y-you’re not serious… you said you’d treat me!”
The two women met eyes, charmed by Aria’s adorable shock.
‘She’s too cute!’
‘Right?! Who knew she’d be this fun to tease?’
“Ahem. We won’t take your money. Just put on the clothes nicely now.”
—Nope nope!
Aria shook her head violently, squeezed her eyes shut, and shouted,
“No! My mom’s rich! I’ll just ask her for money!”
Well… Icira was wealthy, and certainly wouldn’t refuse such a trivial sum for her daughter.
Caught off guard, Leah and Cecilia exchanged glances.
‘What do we do?’
‘Should we give up?’
But Leah couldn’t let go of the sight of the white-haired girl in a frilly, floating dress.
Leaning down with a sly smile, she locked eyes with Aria.
“You know… I understand Lady Icira’s personality a bit. If she finds out you used your sister’s money to buy treats, you’ll get scolded, right?”
Though Icira was stern, she’d never actually punish Aria for something so silly—but…
—Hic!
Aria hiccuped and immediately clamped her hands over her mouth.
She vividly remembered her mother’s past scoldings.
‘Always maintain dragon dignity!’ ‘Show proper respect to other dragons!’—such lectures terrified her.
And then…
‘Mom said raw food is best, right?’
Misunderstanding wildly—believing she’d be punished for eating cooked human food—Aria trembled violently.
‘Oh… oh no! She’s too cute!’
‘Is this even allowed? This is basically blackmail!’
‘So what? She’s cute!’
‘Still…’
Cecilia glanced discreetly at Aria—shoulders shaking with anxiety—and found her both heart-wrenching and adorable.
‘She really is cute…’
Though slightly uneasy as a saint, Cecilia knew Leah had already gone too far.
‘If Lady Icira complains, I’ll say Leah did it.’
After all, she found Aria’s bright, playful charm just as irresistible.
Ah… is this really the average behavior of a Hero Party?
Two out of four members—hundreds of years old hatchlings who look like little girls—were extorting a child with blackmail.
It was truly horrifying… and yet…
“Come on… just put on this hat, and nothing bad will happen. Go on.”
“Uuugh…”
With slumped shoulders, Aria took the hat from Leah and put it on.
“Kyaaaah!”
“So cute!”
The two instantly forgot what they’d just done—classic short-term memory.
“Ugh…”
At their reaction, Aria regretted asking to stay.
‘Sisters… you’re so scary…’
Having rarely interacted with anyone other than her mother, Aria found these clingy women genuinely frightening.
After dressing Aria in countless adorable outfits, Leah and Cecilia finally noticed her exhaustion and thought:
‘Did we go too far?’
‘Seems like it.’
‘Maybe feeding her something delicious will fix it?’
‘Probably.’
As dusk fell, they decided it was time for dinner.
“Aria, you worked hard! Unnies will treat you to something tasty.”
When they patted Aria’s head while promising food…
The girl had a panic attack.
“That’s… that’s what you said last time! Then you asked me to pay!”
Having been burned once, Aria had no intention of falling for it again.
She narrowed her eyes into triangles and glared at Leah and Cecilia.
“Oh come on—would we really ask you for money? Look! We bought you all these lovely clothes that suit you so well!”
“Right! We just couldn’t help buying you more because you’re too adorable!”
Still pouting, Aria crossed her arms and turned her head away.
“Hmph!”
“But as a trade, we’ll treat you to something yummy, okay? Cheer up! Remember how you loved fondue last time? Want to try pizza? It’s made with a flour crust topped with vegetables, ham, and cheese, then baked in an oven. Super delicious!”
“And of course, your sisters will pay. How about it, Aria? Wanna go eat pizza with us?”
At their words, Aria’s eyes flickered—and her pupils were already filled with greed.
“C-could… could that be?”
Drool gathering at the corner of her mouth, Aria nodded vigorously.
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