Raise Me, So That I Can Eat You Up - Chapter 15

In just one day, Hayworth returned to peace. The messy room was tidied up, and Oscar was also cleaned thoroughly.

Of course, it was a bit troublesome when we had to make excuses to the maids.

“Young master, what kind of game did you play?”

“I played war with Uncle Viscount. It was intense.”

Fortunately, the now docile Oscar made excuses as he was told.

“What kind of war game could have caused this……”

Laura was about to say something but trailed off.

No wonder, as the state of the room was beyond words. Even a battlefield wouldn’t be this devastating.

‘Right. It’s far from plausible.’

Well, even if I were one of the employees, I’d think the same, so I had nothing to say.

“What’s there to be surprised about now? Father must have been reminded of when I was young.”

Leon, who was reading a book on the sofa, answered nonchalantly.

“When you were young, Young Master?”

“Yes, the little one shows promise. He said he got carried away playing immersively.”

How can he make such an implausible excuse without batting an eye?

I let out a laugh in disbelief, while Laura and Jenny clapped their hands and giggled.

“Oh my, it seems the master doesn’t age at all.”

“He’s still in his prime! Perhaps he’s trying to raise the young master as a Sword Master?”

Wait, why is everyone accepting this so easily? Am I the only one who finds this situation strange?

I glanced at Leon, who was focusing on his book as if nothing was wrong.

‘Leon, what kind of education did you receive growing up?’

They say it’s the Hayworth principle to raise daughters more preciously than anyone and sons stronger than anyone.

At this point, I was curious about what Viscount Hayworth did in his younger days.

“Um, Leon. Was Father also a Sword Master or something like that?”

“He didn’t tell you, Sister?”

“No.”

“Well, it seems he pretended not to be around you.”

Leon gestured for me to come closer and listen.

“Father was from the ‘Shadow Knight Order.'”

“What?”

“Strong mind in an even stronger body. Didn’t you know it’s a tradition for Hayworth men?”

To think that the cotton candy-soft Viscount Hayworth was from the ‘Shadow Knight Order.’

The ‘Shadow Knight Order’ was an elite unit secretly dispatched under direct imperial authority.

It was so notorious that people would tremble just hearing its name, so it seems he hid it from his daughter.

“That’s amazing. Even you couldn’t get in there, right?”

“N-no, it’s not that I couldn’t! I chose not to!”

Leon’s pale face turned bright red in an instant.

“I value work-life balance above all else! That’s my value and belief!”

Seeing him protest so vehemently, it seemed he really couldn’t get in.

“I see. That’s cool.”

It was a soulless response. I pretended to acknowledge it halfheartedly, fearing he might collapse from high blood pressure if I teased him further.

“Ari not going out today?”

Oscar asked, tugging at the hem of my skirt.

I couldn’t help but smile at the sight of him tilting his head with his ruby-like eyes wide open.

‘He must be anxious about being left behind again.’

I crouched down to meet Oscar’s gaze.

“I do have a schedule today.”

Before I could finish speaking, Oscar’s face fell. The sight of him pouting and drooping his shoulders was incredibly adorable.

“It’s top secret, you know.”

“Tch.”

“Should I tell you secretly, Oscar?”

“……Ung.”

“Come here.”

Oscar toddled over to me. I whispered the top secret in his ear.

“Today, I…”

“Ung.”

“…will be with Oscar all day.”

“Hehe.”

“Can you keep the secret?”

“Ung!”

Oscar smiled broadly, following my lead, and threw his arms around my neck.

“Oh my. It’s too much to watch without tears.”

Leon grumbled, closing his book with a thud.

“You two, go out and do your business.”

“Yes, Miss.”

I dismissed the maids for now.

Today, I was planning to conduct a sort of test on Oscar.

***

Only the three of us remained in the room: me, Oscar, and Leon. I quickly took out the Dragon Encyclopedia.

“You’ve already prepared everything we talked about?”

“Yeah. I went out as soon as I woke up this morning.”

Leon grumbled as he fumbled to take out a velvet pouch.

“Are you okay? You must be sleep-deprived.”

“If you knew that, why did you make me do it at the crack of dawn?”

“I told you to go whenever it was convenient for you.”

“Never mind. Let’s just get this over with quickly and return that book or whatever to that Archmage guy. It makes me uneasy.”

Leon seemed quite anxious about borrowing the book from Benedict.

Today, I intended to find out Oscar’s elemental affinity.

According to the Dragon Encyclopedia, all dragons have an elemental affinity.

Most dragons were known to handle natural elements. In simple terms, there were water, fire, earth, wind attributes, and so on.

“Alright, ready?”

Leon took out four stones from the velvet pouch. Each was an elemental spirit stone with natural elemental properties.

So, when someone with elemental magic touches the matching stone, the flow of magic resonates and emits light.

It’s used by magicians to discover their talents, and I planned to use it on Oscar.

“Did you get these from a magic item shop?”

“It’s a kit for magicians only. Do you think magic item shops just sell these to anyone?”

“How did you get them then?”

“I begged a magician in the knight order. I kind of sold you out, Sister.”

“Me?”

“Yeah. I lied a bit, saying you’ve been obsessed with learning basic magic lately. That you’ve been buying all sorts of things despite having no mana.”

“What? They believed such a flimsy lie?”

“Yeah, when I said ‘Yori Yori Pong,’ they handed it right over.”

“……”

My face instantly flushed red. Wasn’t ‘Yori-jori-pong’ that cringeworthy spell I shouted in the cave?

‘This bastard Leon, he heard everything and pretended not to know!’

If he was going to preserve my dignity, he should have done it all the way. It was unbearably embarrassing.

‘Come to think of it, was that actually a real spell?’

I thought the system was just spouting nonsense. Is it like ‘Open Sesame!’ or something?

My head started throbbing again.

“You’re going crazy about learning magic. It’s become a bit tiresome.”

“Can’t be helped.”

“I told him I’d discreetly contact him when necessary. Emphasized it’s strictly confidential. He’s likely to keep it under wraps, as rumors would only attract more competitors.”

Leon scratched the back of his head, seemingly embarrassed.

Well, Leon was the guy who even wrote a resignation letter to protect me. I figured he must have handled it well.

“Leon Hayworth.”

“Yeah?”

“Come here. I’ll reward you.”

At my call, Leon approached with a sullen face.

“What, why, what.”

“You’ve worked hard, my child.”

I patted Leon’s bottom.

“Ack! You pervert, really?”

Leon screamed with a face that had lost all dignity.

Regardless, I picked up Oscar, who was now fiddling with a flower pot by the window.

“Will it be okay in the room? Shouldn’t we go to the training grounds?”

Leon asked worriedly.

“It’s just a simple test, so.”

“We just restored the room, Sister. Let’s live quietly for at least a day, shall we?”

He wasn’t wrong, but the training grounds would be difficult to concentrate in with the Hayworth knights’ training going on.

I gently kissed Oscar’s soft cheek and asked.

“Oscar. We need to play quietly today, can you do that?”

“Ung! Oscar good. Won’t hit Uncle Viscount either.”

Oscar said proudly.

Recalling Viscount Hayworth’s state yesterday, it was utter devastation, but it seems he restrained himself as best he could in his own way.

“What do you do when you’re angry?”

“Eat candy when angry!”

“And if you’re still angry?”

“Hide in Ari’s bed!”

Strictly speaking, it was ‘take some time alone,’ but if that was Oscar’s way, I had to respect it.

“Well done, Oscar.”

“Ung?”

“Look at these stones. Aren’t they pretty?”

“Ari prettier.”

“That’s a given. But the stones are pretty too, right?”

“Hing.”

Oscar didn’t seem very interested.

‘I thought sparkling stones would be fascinating.’

His bright red gaze was fixed solely on me.

‘Maybe it’ll be different if he touches them.’

To properly care for this little dragon, I needed to accurately determine his elemental affinity first. I stroked Oscar’s head.

“Oscar. Aren’t these sparkling stones so interesting? Shall we touch them together?”

“Ung.”

“You’re going to choose the one you like best. Can you do that?”

“Ung.”

I deliberately set Oscar down on the table. He sat with an indifferent face in front of the four spirit stones arranged in a row.

‘It’s just like choosing objects at a first birthday party.’

Pick the money, pick the book.

Isn’t choosing objects the highlight of a first birthday party?

‘I heard I picked the thread when I was young. Will I be able to survive?’

I felt pathetic for even doing ‘dragon parenting’ to survive.

Oscar stared intently at the four spirit stones.

“He’s hot-tempered and gets angry easily, so it must be a fire attribute, right?”

“That’s prejudice, Leon.”

“Well, it’s still the most likely possibility. It’s on page 398, under elemental characteristics.”

Cute guy. He grumbled about why I borrowed such a thing and if I was crazy, but it seemed he read it all.

It felt reassuring to know I wasn’t alone in this.

“Hey, dragon. Don’t think too deeply, just pick the one you’re drawn to. Got it?”

Leon urged Oscar. Though his words were rough, they weren’t wrong, so I let it be.

I wondered what he would pick.

As Oscar looked at the spirit stones, I swallowed hard in tension.

Leon and I watched Oscar’s magical object-choosing(?) in breathless anticipation.

“Hing.”

Oscar threw himself around my neck.

‘What’s this?’

All the tension drained out of me, and I burst into laughter.

“Oscar. You can’t choose me.”

“Like Ari best.”

Oscar turned his head away firmly. It was a merciless response as if he only reacted to me.

“You can’t choose any of those stones?”

“Ung.”

Oscar burrowed into my neck with a gloomy face.

It seems I unintentionally forced a choice on him.

‘Right. It won’t work if I force it.’

The time will come someday. I thought I should look into the book more to see if there were cases like this.

‘So what if he’s incapable? As long as he’s cute, it’s fine.’

I gently stroked Oscar’s black hair.

Grumble.

A small thunder rumbled from his stomach. I couldn’t help but laugh.

“Shall we stop and go eat?”

“Ung!”

“Leon, what are you doing? Let’s go eat.”

Leon sighed deeply with a sour expression.

Feeling like I’d only hear nagging if we stayed longer, I carried Oscar towards the corridor, leaving the grumbling Leon behind.

“By the way, Sister.”

“Yeah?”

Leon, who eventually followed, called out to me.

“We should throw away that flower pot. It’s all withered and dead.”

“Huh? It was fine until recently.”

“Forget it. If you’re going to be like that, don’t bother growing them. Even if they’re just plants that can’t speak. Don’t you feel sorry for them?”

More nagging. But if the plant had died, the maids would have said something. It was strange.

‘I guess they forgot because they were busy.’

What’s the big deal anyway?

I smiled brightly at Oscar, who was staring intently at me.

In response, Oscar smiled back with an indecipherable look in his eyes.