The Baby Fairy Is A Villain [EN]: Chapter 57

Chesha was so surprised that she made a small, involuntary noise. “Eek.”

It wasn’t just Chesha who heard it.

Everyone present clearly heard Duke Ibloyell’s declaration.

The temple interior buzzed with commotion.

The story of the Basilien family’s adopted child had already spread throughout the capital’s temple.

To think that the baby Hylone had casually picked up was that famous adopted child! It was an event that couldn’t help but cause astonishment.

However, Hylone himself showed no reaction.

Seeing Hylone’s expressionless face, the Duke gave a wry smile.

“Thank you for taking care of the child. I’ll be taking her now,” she confidently declared.

“Yes, yes! Please, take her right away,” the bishop, who oversaw the temple, replied, practically beside himself. She was a godmother whose status was more than guaranteed.

No one could object to the Duke taking her goddaughter, except for Hylone.

He still stood there, holding Chesha, without moving.

Duke Ibloyell’s eyes narrowed.

“You there.”

She pointed directly at Hylone and said, “Unless you’re deaf, why don’t you bring my goddaughter to me?”

Hylone finally opened his mouth.

“The fact that she is Your Grace’s goddaughter is not the only thing that is important.”

“Oh?” Duke Ibloyell raised an eyebrow. It was a reaction that she hadn’t expected to hear.

Other holy knights and priests gasped. The bishop looked as if he might faint at any moment.

Hylone continued in a slow but clear voice. “No one can force their will upon this child.”

He met the Duke’s gaze directly and declared, “If the child wants to go with Your Grace, she will, and if she doesn’t, she will stay here.”

And the moment Hylone finished speaking, Duke Ibloyell burst into laughter.

She laughed loudly enough to make the temple echo. After the outburst of laughter, she waved her hand.

“That’s a very amusing thing to say. I’ve never heard anything like it in all my years,” she said with a laugh, but soon after, her laughter disappeared, and her face turned cold.

The Duke of the supreme Great Empire did not overlook the perceived insult directed at her.

“Who are you to dare speak so insolently before me?”

Hylone was not at all intimidated or afraid. He simply replied calmly, just as he had said before. “I am an escort knight.”

Without any lengthy explanation, just a single word was dropped. However, surprisingly, that one word cooled the Duke’s anger.

“My goddaughter has acquired quite the escort,” she said. Since he was Chesha’s knight, the fiercely surging momentum from just now subsided a little. She even seemed slightly pleased.

“The child’s opinion is important, indeed.”

He had heard that Duke Ibloyell was hot-tempered and emotional, and it certainly seemed to be the case.

A somewhat warm atmosphere began to form between Hylone and Duke Ibloyell. Of course, it was an atmosphere that Duke Ibloyell was unilaterally creating.

He didn’t know exactly why, but the Duke seemed to be imagining taking Hylone out of the temple and making him Chesha’s personal escort knight.

‘She’s an imaginative Duke,’ Hylone thought. He had no intention of leaving the temple, though.

He was slightly dumbfounded when, suddenly, he heard the sound of a cane hitting the temple’s stone floor.

The sound, which echoed in the silence, was particularly clear.

Kiern, who had been standing back until now, had stepped forward.

Chesha saw Kiern approaching her.

It had only been a few days since she had seen him, but he already felt a little unfamiliar. Perhaps it was because she was used to seeing him at home, almost naked, wearing only a gown, and now she was meeting him dressed neatly in a suit and coat from head to toe.

The long coat fluttered lightly in time with his steps.

“Chesha,” he said to Chesha affectionately. “Daddy has come to pick you up.”

Duke Ibloyell frowned at the saccharine tone. However, Kiern ignored her and only looked at Chesha.

“Were you surprised by Belzeon [a type of monster or creature]? Let’s go home now.”

Kiern reached out his hand to Chesha. A low voice followed. “Chesha is a Basilien.”

Her heart stung at the words whispered as if branding her. Chesha looked at the hand extended to her, but she didn’t take it.

As the time spent just looking grew longer, the smile on Kiern’s lips slowly faded.

“Chesha,” he called her name again, waiting patiently and persistently. Strangely, her heart ached as he called her name carefully.

She knew better than anyone that he had come to retrieve her out of necessity. In fact, Chesha was the most suitable baby for Kiern’s purpose.

So, even though she knew that he was trying to achieve what he wanted by slyly and cunningly touching the tender parts of Chesha’s heart, even though she knew everything, Chesha was bothered by him.

It seemed to be even more so because she had come out to see his face.

With Kiern in front of her, it was hard to turn away from him resolutely.

‘I should have just stayed in my room and said I wouldn’t come out,’ she thought. If she had, at least this wouldn’t be happening now.

Chesha belatedly regretted it and quietly replied to him. “I’m sowwy…”

Did the words taste bad? Chesha’s mouth felt bitter. She felt like she wanted to suck on a piece of candy.

“……”

Kiern said nothing. He was still with his hand outstretched. Chesha turned her head.

Hylone silently readjusted Chesha in his arms, as if to shield her from Kiern’s gaze.

Kiern, who had been watching the series of actions that followed naturally, let out a short, hollow laugh.

“…Oh, dear,” he said slowly, as if chewing and spitting out the words. “What does our Chesha have to be sorry to Daddy for?”

His eyes blazed red.

Silence fell all around. The knights and priests clearly took a defensive stance. They couldn’t take their eyes off Kiern, even as they sweated with instinctive fear.

It was as if they were seeing a new being that they had never known before. From the Count of Basilien, who should have been just ordinary…

It was because they felt a certain eerie sensation. It was an overwhelming feeling and foreboding, as if witnessing the beginning of an unavoidable natural disaster.

The holy knights placed their hands on the hilts of their swords, ready to draw them at any moment. The air inside the temple was stretched taut with tension.

“……”

Hylone’s eyes, which had been expressionless until now, flickered slightly. He did not reach for the holy sword at his waist. The blue eyes, filled with lamplight, flickered strangely. They were the eyes of a hunter waiting to set a trap.

Chesha immediately understood Hylone’s thoughts.

‘He’s just waiting for Kiern to do something stupid!’ she realized. Waiting for Kiern to take just one more step inside, so that he could be caught in a trap from which he couldn’t escape.

The moment Kiern even pretended to use black magic inside the temple, Hylone would immediately punish him as an Inquisitor.

Many people were watching Kiern. There was no way Kiern wouldn’t know this situation. The quick-witted man knew everything, yet he acted as if he was about to lose control of himself right away.

“You don’t even answer Daddy anymore…”

Kiern was no longer smiling. Chesha saw the shadows in the temple writhing strangely. So far, only Chesha had seen it, but if it went any further, surely others would notice as well.

‘Kiern, what’s wrong with you!’

Just as Chesha was wondering if she should slap him on the cheek, she heard a low voice. “It wasn’t Belzeon who dragged you away.”

Kiern asked expressionlessly, “Was it Chesha who left Daddy?”