I'm the Main Character's Child

“Eat slowly.”

I guess I ate in a hurry because I was hungry.

I came to my senses at Cardin’s words and slowly chewed the food.

“You’ve grown taller. Liel.”

Fay said with a big smile.

“Did I?”

I guess it’s obvious to others. Fay’s words that recognized my height made me feel better.

“Did you notice? Did I grow taller?”

*I turned up my nose and asked Ad.

(T/N: She can’t believe it or she refused to accept or believe it. Something like that.) 

“Yes, this much……?”

Ad nodded calmly and raised his hand without a false expression. The space between his thumb and index finger was as big as an acorn.

“Yes, I see……. That’s how much I’ve grown.”

I calmly put my head back on the plate and chewed down the food.

“Pfft.”

There was an intrusive sound. The source of the sound was from Cardin’s side. However, Cardin was eating in a knife-like posture, and there was nothing special.

“Did you just laugh?”

I turned my eyes and asked Cardin.

“What are you talking about?”

There was no sign of doubt in Cardin 

He was suspicious, but I have no physical evidence, so I couldn’t ask any more questions. I just ate a lot of vegetables.

***

“Oh, it’s shaking.”

I giggled and looked at Ad who hardened between the pillars of the stacked wood. After the meal, I asked Faye and Ad if they had any plans afterwards. Luckily, they were free so I brought them to Cardin’s office.

I really wanted to play this game, which was called Jenga in my previous life, with many people. I wondered why everyone was making such a fuss. It seems that everyone is laughing because it is fun to play it together.

Three people gathered in the corner of Cardin’s office and enjoyed the game of stacking and removing wood.

“Why did you follow me?”

Cardin was sitting at his desk in the office looking over here with a displeased look.

I thought we had great fun together.

He has to work, but he wouldn’t be able to do it if I was playing right next to him.

I did not think of that.

“Then shall we go to my room and play? Let’s go!”

I got up with Faye and Ad and packed up the pieces of wood.

“Where are you going? Just do it there.”

Cardin said, glaringly.

What’s wrong with him?

Cardin was sometimes capricious, but I decided to understand.

“Haha, you three must have gotten a lot closer.”

Elvin, who was next to me, said with a smile.

“Yes, hehe.”

Having a friend to play with made me happy in many ways.

“Tsk.”

On the contrary, Cardin seems to be in a bad mood.

Was it better to go to my room and play?

“Duke, this is what you told me to investigate last time.”

Elvin handed over the documents in his arms to Cardin. Cardin turned his gaze towards the documents.

“Are you sure?”

“Yes. According to the message of the lord over there, he witnessed it firsthand.”

I could see Cardin turning over the documents one by one and looking carefully.

“……I’ll have to go there myself.”

“I’ll get ready.”

Elvin said, taking the papers.

As I was eavesdropping, I turned to Cardin and asked.

“Papa, where are you going?”

Cardin looked at me for a while and regularly knocked on the desk as if he was worried about something.

“We’d better go together.”

After thinking for a long time, Cardin opened his mouth.

“Huh? Where?”

“Pardo’s estate, located in the southernmost part of the empire.”

The name of the estate from Cardin’s mouth was somehow not unfamiliar. I felt like I had heard the name of Territory somewhere, but I couldn’t think of it, so I passed it lightly.

“Where is it?”

“It is a place located at the southernmost tip of the empire, from which you have to spend three days traveling by carriage.”

Elvin added that it is a famous place for seafood because it is close to the sea.

“Wow, the sea…!”

I thought there was no sea in the empire because I had never seen the sea here.

“Why are you going so far?”

“There’s something I need to check for myself. It’s okay to look around the territory while we’re there.”

Cardin asked me what I wanted to do.

“Of course, I want to go!”

What’s the point of asking? I will leave the capital and travel to a territory where I can see the sea. I’m already having fun.

“We’ll leave right away tomorrow, so if you need anything, pack it.”

“Yes!”

I stamped my feet and turned around. I was going to go to my room and check if I had anything to pack for the trip.

“Uh.”

As soon as I turned around, I made eye contact with two shiny pairs of eyes. Fay, who is smiling with an interesting expression, and Ad, who is calm but his eyes are shining excessively. They looked like a cat waving its tail flexibly and a dog sitting calmly and wagging its tail violently.

***

“You can’t walk around alone, princess.”

“Yes, yes, of course!”

“Make sure to dress warmly.”

“Yes!”

“If you’re sick, let me know right away…….”

“Yes, I see. Don’t worry about it. Nanny!”

In front of the duchy’s gate, a carriage was waiting. I nodded as I listened to the worried words of my nanny.

Nanny already recovered from the last carriage accident, but she was still suffering from the aftereffects.

Even though she lost her memory of the time of the accident, she felt pain in her head whenever she saw a carriage.

I smiled at my nanny, who was very sorry for not being able to go with me.

“I’ll be back safely.”

Nanny smiled warmly at my greeting.

“Yes, go ahead. My princess.”

“Yes!”

I got into the carriage. Then the door closed and the carriage started. I leaned my back and opened my mouth.

“Exciting isn’t it, Papa?”

“…….”

When I turned my head and looked at Cardin because I didn’t get an answer, he was frowning. I didn’t talk to him anymore because I thought there was something else that put him in a bad mood.

Instead, I spoke to Fay and Ad in front of me.

“I’m looking forward to it. It’s my first time going to the ocean!”

Fay replied with a grin.

“Me too. It’s better to go together.”

Ad, whose cheeks were a little flushed, replied.

“Me too…”

I was very excited about our first trip together.

Sitting on a chair where my feet could not reach the floor of the carriage, I swayed my feet back and forth and looked at the scenery.

Unlike the outside, the ordinary exterior carriage was very wide inside.

at a glance

I looked at the Cardin sitting next to me. He had a dull look as usual, but somehow I thought he looked annoyed.  After taking a look at Cardin, I also looked at Fay and Ad in front of him.

It was a really unexpected combination. I didn’t know we’d go on a trip together like this. This combination could not have been guessed by Cardin either.

And that could be the reason why Cardin is annoyed..…. No, it is the reason.

It started the day before in Cardin’s office.

***

We were originally going there for work, but after work, we could look around the sea and play around new places together.

Excitedly, I was going to my room immediately and pack my things. If it weren’t for the two pairs of eyes I saw when I turned around.

“Liel, I …….”

Fay said something with a gloomy expression.

“What should I do while Liel is away……? I’ll feel bored and lonely.”

Seeing his drooping figure with his eyes down, I was touched. Yeah, I can’t believe I’m going on a trip leaving kids who don’t have friends to play with without me.

I approached both of them with belated apologies.

“Don’t be sad, Fay.”

“But I can’t help being sad…….”

Fay closed his mouth when he had finished talking. His figure looked pathetic enough to want to pat him on the head.

“You won’t see her for just a week. Don’t make a fuss.”

A determined voice flew across me and Fay. As I was about to get sad watching Fay, a cold voice broke the atmosphere. Cardin looked at Fay and raised his eyebrows with a look of astonishment.

“Liel, won’t you be bored if you go alone? Especially when the duke is working.”

Fay spoke to me again as if he could not hear Cardin’s voice.

I heard it. I’m sure you heard it.

Cardin was particularly feisty at Fay, but Fay was also a strong opponent. Seeing Cardin’s fierce eyes and not being intimidated by his cold words, I thought he was amazing.

I heard Cardin exhale from behind.

“Well, I suppose so. I think I would be bored if I was alone.….”

“I know, right?”

Before I could finish my sentence, Fay came a step closer with a bright face.

“You don’t have to worry about that if we go together, right?”

I clapped my hands at Fay, who was talking shyly, with blushing cheeks.

Why didn’t I think of that right away!

“That’s right! We can all go together. Right, Papa?”

“What, what…!”

Why didn’t I think of traveling with a friend? I have never traveled with friends before. 

Cardin, who heard me, sprang up from his seat.

“I really wanted to go on a trip with my friends.”

It was one of the things I really wanted to do in my previous life.

As I recalled the past without realizing it, I smiled faintly.

“…….”

Cardin, who looked at me for a while, opened his mouth and soon sat down again.

Fay told me with joy on her face.

“Right? Me too. I’m sure it’ll be more fun if we go together.”

“Yes, yes, that’s right.”

I turned and asked Cardin.

“Papa, can’t we all go together……? I think it’ll be a lot more fun if we go together.”

I gave Cardin a desperate look. Cardin stared me in the eye and opened his mouth with a slight bow as if he had lost.

“……Yes. let’s go.”

Instead of going with him, Cardin made it a condition that we must accompany him.

“Of course! Papa is our guardian. Promise!”

Excited by the consent of the trip, I raised my little finger to make a promise to Cardin. 

“Ad! It’s going to be fun, right?”

I approached Ad, who was watching the situation one step away, and talked to him. Ad pointed at himself with his eyes wide open and said cautiously.

“Can I… Can I go?”

“What are you talking about? All together, I said. Of course, it includes Ad. Ah, can you leave the palace for a long time?…?”

“No…! I can go, too. Let’s go. Together…….”

Even before I finished my words, Ad shook his head loudly and spat out an urgent voice.

“Okay! So, we’re going to see the sea together. I’m excited!”

So, Cardin, me, Elvin, Fay and Ad. In this way, the five of us went to Pardo Territory, the southernmost part of the empire and the place where the sea is. 

That’s what happened yesterday.