TBMRB 13

Chapter 13

I could barely wait even the short while it took for Nanny to put my shoes on, so I kept dangling my feet impatiently.

The moment my shoes were on, I dashed toward the table.

“This is the cake I mentioned earlier, young lady.”

Yasmin, who had been instructing the servants on how to set up the snacks, leaned toward me and whispered.

She was acting as warmly as if she had already forgotten what had happened earlier.

Hmm.

Then I should act like nothing happened, too!

“Do you like it?”

“Mm-hm!”

“That’s a relief. Then please wait just a moment. I’ll cut you a slice right away.”

The cake, piled high with fluffy cream until it looked like a cloud, was enough to captivate anyone who saw it.

Dietrich, who had come over to stand beside me, was also unable to take his eyes off the cake, even though he let out a strained groan.

“You’re weally giving all your snacks to me, Ditty?”

I asked deliberately, as if testing him.

Dietrich squeezed his eyes shut tightly as though it physically hurt him.

“Y-Yeah! Because I promised!”

“Really? Even though it’s the fluffy cake you like best, Ditty?”

“Ugh… Y-Yeah, but a promise is a promise!”

Honestly, Dietrich was such a fun child to tease.

I leaned close to his ear and described the cloud-like texture of the cake, enjoying the sight of Dietrich twisting his body in agony.

Just then, the hem of Nanny’s clothes brushed past me.

Nanny glanced over the table, and her eyebrows immediately furrowed in displeasure.

“I’m certain I told everyone not to serve cake as the young masters’ snack this week. Who brought this cake out without permission?”

That’s right.

Dietrich and I had been banned from eating cake, hadn’t we?

For several days, the two of us had competed over who could find the sweetest snacks, and Nanny had ended up scolding not only us but also the kitchen staff who had indulged us.

Dietrich and I immediately stopped fooling around and quietly closed our mouths.

What should we do?

Nanny was genuinely frightening when she was angry.

“I asked them to prepare it, Nanny.”

The person who stepped forward through the suddenly chilly atmosphere was my new governess, Yasmin.

“You did, Yasmin?”

“I apologize. I wanted to become close to the two young masters as quickly as possible, so I overstepped my authority.”

Nanny seemed to relax somewhat when she saw Yasmin’s troubled smile.

“…I see.”

Does that mean she’s going to allow the cake?

“I understand your circumstances, Yasmin, but cake is still not allowed. I think it would be better to have them replace it with another snack.”

So strict!

After jumping around on the trampoline for so long, I was so hungry that I could have chewed on a chair leg.

And now she wanted me to wait even longer?

Absolutely not!

I immediately decided to grab onto Nanny’s clothes.

“Nannyyyy.”

“No, young lady.”

Nanny gave me a gentle but firm look, so I put on the most innocent expression I could manage.

“But Ditty and I are going to eat it too.”

You should catch on and cling to her too.

I glared toward Dietrich, who was still standing there cluelessly.

He hurriedly grabbed the opposite side of Nanny’s clothes.

Nanny looked back and forth between the two of us before asking with a completely serious expression,

“But didn’t the young master just say that he would give all of his snacks for the entire week to the young lady?”

“Ditty is nice. He played with me. So we’re going to share this half and half.”

“Look at Baby Ella, Nanny. Where in the world could you find a baby as angelic as her? Ella is being so kind and sharing. Just let it slide this once, Nanny.”

Go, Operation: Good and Close Siblings!

Nanny was especially weak whenever she saw the two of us getting along and behaving affectionately.

As expected, when Dietrich and I clung to her clothes and looked up at her with sparkling eyes, she couldn’t hold out for long.

Even though she scrunched up her nose, she reluctantly raised her palm in surrender.

“Fine, then… but you may only eat half each. Understood?”

“Yeees!”

Worried that Nanny might change her mind, we quickly sat down, picked up our forks, and waited.

The servants cut us generous slices of cake piled high with cream, and there were also cups filled with refreshing ice and sweet juice!

Nanny and Yasmin sat across from Dietrich and me, sipping tea with lemon slices floating in their cups.

It was a peaceful morning, with a breeze carrying sweet scents and the fresh smell of grass gently brushing past us.

Ah, what a wonderful life…

“I’m glad we prepared the trampoline. It seems the young lady and young master really like it.”

Yasmin spoke softly, and Nanny gave a light nod.

“Indeed. I heard it’s very expensive because it’s made by harvesting the membrane from the wings of flying monsters?”

“Monster by-products are difficult to obtain, and processing them is even more difficult. Although these days, because of the war, there are so many monster corpses coming in that they’ve become easier to obtain.”

I had been half-listening to their conversation when my eyes widened.

“Monsters?”

Monsters?

Those things actually existed?

So that was how there could be a trampoline in this era—it was made from monster wing membranes?

“Monsters are evil beasts, young lady. Some have horns that grow this—long, while others have wings.”

Nanny calmly explained what monsters were.

Well, I already had a rough idea of what monsters were because I had seen them in fantasy novels and games before I was reincarnated into this world.

I had just been happily jumping around on a monster’s wing membrane.

Somehow, that made me lose my appetite a little, so I lowered my fork.

Yasmin quickly spoke in a soothing tone.

“You don’t need to be afraid, young lady. Your father has gone to hunt down a great many monsters.”

My father?

What was she talking about now?

Since this was a topic I knew nothing about, I merely rolled my eyes curiously.

Dietrich, who was eating with a dab of whipped cream on his cheek, proudly joined the conversation.

“That’s right. I heard about it too. Father is fighting a war against monsters right now, isn’t he?”

“Yes.”

“Where was it again? The Suhae? Sue…?”

“At the northernmost edge, in the place called the Suhae, the Sea of Trees.”

Yasmin briefly supplied the answer on Dietrich’s behalf.

Apparently, in a black forest called the Suhae at the northernmost point of the empire, monsters were constantly being born and migrating south.

“There are heretics living near the Suhae who do not follow the will of God. They even tame monsters and use them. They are very bad people.”

“Father went to punish those bad people, right?”

“That’s right, young master. You’re very clever.”

“Of course! The servants said Father is winning. Is that true?”

“It’s true. The war is also gradually coming to an end.”

As Dietrich listened to Yasmin’s answer, he stuffed half a piece of cake into his mouth.

“Mmph…”

“Young master, you should finish what’s in your mouth before speaking.”

I thought Nanny was going to scold him.

I giggled as I watched Dietrich chew with his mouth full, but then I suddenly felt someone looking in our direction, so I turned my head.

What was that?

I had definitely felt the gazes of the people around us just moments ago, so why were they all turning their heads away?

It almost felt as though they had been watching us and were now pretending they hadn’t.

‘Come to think of it, they’re all unfamiliar faces.’

Had Yasmin called them here?

Everyone in the garden today seemed to be one of the new employees from the main family.

…Well, they had only recently arrived, so perhaps watching Dietrich’s eating performance, where he swallowed half a piece of cake in a single bite, was still amusing to them.

I turned my attention away from them and picked up my fork again.

I looked from this angle.

Hmm.

Then from that angle…

I carefully circled around Dietrich, who stood in the middle, and finally reached my conclusion.

“Ditty got fat.”

Laura, who was polishing a vase beside us, couldn’t hold back and let out a little snort of laughter.

Dietrich must have heard the tiny laugh because the tips of his ears turned red as he vehemently denied it.

“I-I did not!”

But no matter how I looked at him, he seemed strangely rounder.

Why?

He exercised consistently, didn’t he?

On top of that, he had become so obsessed with the trampoline that he jumped around on it every day, burning even more calories.

I ate with him every day, too, and it didn’t seem like he had particularly increased the amount of food he ate…

It was strange for such an active child as Dietrich to keep gaining weight, so I pinched his chubby cheek and pulled it gently.

His pronunciation became muffled.

“Ditty’s cheeks are all soft and squishy.”

“It’s normal to put on a little weight before you grow taller. Perhaps the young master is about to have another growth spurt.”

“Th-that’s wight! Loa said so!”

Laura barely managed to hold back her laughter as she took his side, and Dietrich hurriedly repeated her words.

That sounded like a blatant lie to me.