CHAPTER 2
<Dad
and Brother are Weird>
Notes:
1. - Since it may
would be confusing, I change the Mabel’s nickname from ‘Your Majesty’ to
‘Princess’ to distinguish her from the nickname for the Emperor, and ‘His
Highness’ is refer to the Prince.
2. - ( ‘ ’) represent the self-though.
Enjoy~ 😊
“Agh!”
Someone screaming at the suddenly opened door.
“Oscar”
At Estevan’s low voice, Oscar quietly avoided his gaze. The one who dared to wander in front of the emperor’s office was ‘Oscar Alle Ermano’ the first prince of the Ermano Empire. After being caught, Oscar confidently entered the office.
“Father. When will you give me permission?”
Even he still six years old, Oscar’s tone was precocious. The same silver hair as Estevan was reflected in the sunlight and shone. The green eyes inherited from the former empress shimmered brightly. Unlike when Estevan looked at Mabel, he looked at Oscar with a dull look. The permission Oscar was talking about was permission to meet Mabel. In fact, it wouldn’t be as difficult as a brief look at a baby’s face who about a month old, but Estevan decline it firmly.
“You can’t”
“Why? You
said will allow me to see her a month later”
“Because you
will definitely drop Mabel while you excitedly hug her, and what if that
happened?”
“Ugh…….”
It wasn’t an unfounded rejection. In fact, Oscar had a record of dropping and smashing while viewing or holding Estevan’s cherished items. Hear that rejection, Oscar’s face become visibly gloomy.
‘Is it not possible again today? I’m waiting for a month and even couldn’t sleep all night…’
Oscar deliberately ended the swordmanship class early today, but it wasn’t rewarding. Estevan, who had seen her son gloomy face like a dog wet in the middle of rain, stood up after tearing a letter from Holy Country.
“It can’t be helped. Follow me, Oscar”
Oscar’s expression brightened at Estevan’s words. Estevan laughed a little, stroked his son’s hair roughly , and left the office. Since he have been wanting to see Mabel, it would be nice to introduce him as Mabel’s real brother.
“She is too
young anyway, so maybe she can’t even remember it”.
***
Mabel’s POV
Who said the baby’s life was easy. All of that words obviously was nonsense because they don’t remember their past as an baby! My body feel so sore. I couldn’t lay on my side nor lay down, so I felt like I was practicing my body for even a little movement. The only thing I could do was lay upright and watch the nanny and maid attendants.
‘Aahhh… I’m so bored……’
I keep looking at them until the nanny came to me with a smile in her face.
“Princess,
it’s time for your meal”
“Euuungg~…….”
What’s fortunate is that I don’t have to drink milk straight from the breast. The nanny checked the milk’s temperature in the bottle and stared at the maid who had making the formula.
“Larima!
It’s too hot!”
“Ah, I’m sorry. I’ll make it again!”
Larima, the maid, was in a hurry and disappeared again to get the milk powder. The nanny sighed deeply as she looked at Larima’s back. Then she looked back at the attendant named Xavier who was standing next to her.
“She makes
such a mistake every time, and it’s bad. I wonder if she can go to marriage…….”
“Larima
seemed to have no intention of anything like marriage though?”
“Then it
can’t be helped. You have no choice but to marry Larima”
“What? Why you doing this to me, ma’am?”
When Xavier was frightened, the nanny laughed. Listening to their conversation, I could see how close they were. My nanny name is Madame Loupe, who was in charge of raising child. I remembered hearing that she was my mother’s close assistant maid when she was alive. Larima, a maid, was being hired by the nanny’s request and Xavier was the nanny’s nephew. It was fun to listen to the conversation as if they knew each other very well. It’s especially fun when Larima and Xavier growl and fight over a little things.
“Hoaamm……”
I was still looking at the ceiling and suddenly drowsiness came. My vision slowly became blurry.
“Why she took so long? Is she squeezing milk powder or what?”
My eyelids were very heavy. I shook my head sideways. When I was trying to sleep-
“How’s Mabel?”
There was a low voice. I suddenly woke up and blinked my eyes. And I immediately regretted it.
“You’ve been closing your eyes for moment. So cute.”
I made eye contact at the moment with this human called Father.
‘Whatever, I’ll just pretend to sleep’
As I was about to close my eyes again, the nanny ran away.
“Oh, you
shouldn’t sleep, Princess. You haven’t eaten your meal.”
“Meal?”
The man stared at me. Because of the burden, I quietly avoided my gaze. But in the low place where there should be nothing, there was a face I saw for the first time. It was a boy looking at me with somewhat reminded face.
“Father, the baby is looking at me……!”
He tried to hide his emotions, but his two bright red cheeks couldn’t hide his excitement. I stared at the boy with a slight frown in my eyes. I had already gotten rough information from the nanny and the other two.
‘So…….this boy is my half-brother?’
Oscar Alle Ermano. Yes, it was definitely his name. It was clear to see that the hair color was the same as the man named Father. The boy sparkled his green eyes and couldn’t take his gaze away from me.
“She’s not seeing you because her eyesight is not fully developed yet, Oscar. Don’t be mistaken”
It was so resolute that I became more perplexed.
‘and when do you think I’m looking at you? It seems like we made just a slightly eye contact!’
I noticed a different attitude when he was calling. He call me ‘My Mabel’, but why do he tell him ‘don’t be mistaken’ with a cold tone. What’s more ridiculous is that Oscar has no sign of heartache at all. As if he couldn’t hear his father’s words. That boy just looking at me as if he was possessed with his eyes fixed.
“She is so
cute……”
“Uuuh……”
I want to say something, but I haven’t got any teeth yet, so it was best to have a babble like that
“Uuuh? Don’t
tell me…….brother? Father, she want to call me Brother……!”
“Don’t guess, Oscar”
The man who responded coldly looked at me with a soft smile.
“I guess she
was going to call me Dad”
“…. ….”
Both are wrong. I was trying to tell you to keep quiet instead of making a loud noise.
‘Who can stop these two humans?’
I looked at the nanny earnestly. The nanny who tilted her head in my gaze soon exclaimed.
“Oh, Princess
must be very hungry. Larima, are you done?”. The nanny leave me for a while to
check-on Larima.
“It’s all
done, Ma’am!”
‘Even the nanny forsaken me’
The nanny was come back, held me in her arms and dropped a few drops of the milk on the back of her hand to check the temperature. The emperor and Oscar watched the scene. In that burdensome gaze from the two, I put the bottle in my mouth and began to suck vigorously.
“You must
have been very hungry, Princess”
‘That’s not it, Nanny’
It’s because I want to drank it quickly and get rid of those humans in front of me. It was when I drank halfway and was panting and breathing, suddenly, the Emperor approached me and reached out his hand to the nanny.
“?” Nanny
look at him with her confusing face.
“Give me”
the Emperor said.
‘Uh, uh……?’
The stopcock, which had been half bitten in my mouth, went out. I opened my mouth and tried to understand this absurd situation. But the Emperor was faster than that. Suddenly, the Emperor took the chair and sat down and handed me from the nanny.
“Now, Mabel.
Dad will feed you”
“Euuuu……”
‘I don’t need that!’
I resisted desperately by pulling my head back, but the Emperor clumsily supported my back neck and pushed the bottle in.
“Opphh!”
I couldn’t beat the Emperor, of course. So, I sucked the bottle tip desperately.
“That’s right.
You eat well”
‘Argh, I don’t want to be a baby’
I couldn’t even express my dislikes and felt sad to die. The Emperor’s gaze, who looked at me as if I was adorable, was very, very burdensome. So I just close my eyes. Hey, you can drink formula milk with your eyes closed.
“Now, it almost finished.”
As I was soaking it in, I slowly opened my eyes with a lot of milk in my mouth. And-
“Puubhh!”
I spraying the milk formula to the Emperor’s face.
‘Why, why
your face being so close to me?!’ I was surprised by the Emperor’s face as soon
as I open my eyes.
“Oh, my! Are you okay, Your Majesty?”
The nanny hurried up and handed a handkerchief to the Emperor. He laughed gently, without any sign of offense.
“I’m fine.
The milk that my Mabel pours out is holy water”
‘…… What have I heard now?'
It was so absurd that I couldn’t figure out what to do. Instead of wiping his face with a handkerchief, the Emperor wiped the corners of my mouth. I stared at him blankly. After the area around my mouth was clean, he cleaned his face.
“Anyway, it’s nice that she eat well.”
The Emperor, who touched my cheek, lifted me up and knocked on my back, trying to make me burp. I looked sadly at the nanny while being held in the Emperor’s arms.
‘Please somebody save me……!’
However, the nanny only looked at us as if she was happy. Oscar, who looked at the Emperor as if he were envious, came up with his fists clenched.
“Father.”
“Why?”
“Can I hug
her…….? ……I can’t, right? Okay, I know it, nevermind.”
“Good if you know then”
The Emperor laughed a little and began to raise me again. Oscar looked at me with his fixed eyes. In the meantime, my eyes seemed to spin round and round. Can’t everyone please turn your attention away from me?
***
I can’t believe that the God is exist. Otherwise, He/She can’t ignore my wish like this. I earnestly begged for some little interest, but the degree of interest was increased. The Emperor and Oscar said that they will often came to see me. The Emperor came once in the morning and once in the evening, and for Oscar, he always came by surprise. Apparently, the Emperor didn’t allow him to meet me, so it seemed that he was coming secretly. It’s pretty annoying, so please don’t come here.
“Heeuuu…….”
I stared at the ceiling while praying in vain. There was a baby mobile went round and round above me. When I first saw the mobile, I thought it would be an unusual thing, but it was really a great mobile. A mobile or something that was made by smashing the royal family’s heirloom in the Imperial Palace. The Emperor said that seeing beautiful things was good for the emotional development of children. The Emperor himself destroyed it (family’s heirloom) and turn out to be sparkling and brilliantly baby mobile.
“Euubuu….” (He is crazy, to be exact)
I can’t understand that. I glanced to the side. The nanny was focused on knitting, and the other two were eager to growl and fight each other.
“Larima, did
you hear? The God’s egg in the northern forest has hatched. Moreover, it
hatched on the day Princess was born!”
“What are
you talking about? Wasn’t it just false news? I’ve heard that rumors from
somewhere else”
“If you
can’t believe it, you can go out and ask. The place was chaotic and the knights
was sent to there. It said that what hatched was looks like a cat. It has
golden-colored fur!”
“How come a
cat has golden fur? Anyway, can you survive to this harsh world, huh? Because
you’re so naïve, you know?”
“No,
It’s….it’s true…….”
Listening to
the story of Larima and Xavier, I became excited.
‘The God’s egg…….it sound delicious. I want to eat boiled eggs.’
Suddenly, the topic of conversation between the two changed. I stared at the ceiling blankly. A baby mobile that was seemed more expensive than my whole body was spinning round and round.
‘All right.’
While they didn’t pay attention to me, I moved my body little by little. I was fluttering, there was also a twirling of my neck and my fingers fluttering. Thanks to my secret practice, I was able to easily grab a toy by opening my palm. It was not that difficult I think.
‘Then, shall we practice something more difficult today?’
I want to learn of how to raise my neck! It was an important in order to turn over.
“Euubuubuu!”
I put my power and tightened my neck. However, it just went up a little, and the power quickly fell.
“Euubuubuu!!”
I tried one more time before planting, but the result was the same.
‘Ahhhhh! What the hell is this? I can’t speak! I can’t walk too!’
I tried to throw a kick of anger in the air, but I failed to do such an action.
“Mabel.”
I stopped flashing when suddenly heard a voice. I turned my gaze toward the side where the voice came.
“Thank God.
You’re not sleeping today”
Even today, Oscar, came in secret.
He was hanging from the cradle with dirt and leaves all over his body. Then,
the nanny who was throwing away what she had been knitting, ran toward him.
“His
Highness, you must not touch the Princess with dirty hands!”
“D-dirty hands…….”
No matter how close they are, can she say that? But neither the nanny nor Oscar seemed to care.
“Hmm…….”
Oscar looked back and forth between his dirty hands and my face before scratching his cheek.
“Nanny, can
I use the bathroom for a bit? You sure understand that I’m not in a position to
go back to my room and wash myself.”
“But, what
if Your Majesty know that you’re here, His Highness?”
“Maybe, father already know?”
The nanny couldn’t answer right away whether that was true. Oscar smiled a bit and walked toward the bathroom. I lay quietly and stared at the mobile, try to not look like I’ve had a small exercise.
“Oh?”
The nanny came to me and suddenly touch my forehead.
“Why are you sweating so cold, Princess?”
It’s not cold sweat, nanny. It’s just sweat.
‘Isn’t it
possible to notice that I was exercising secretly?’
“Oh my goodness! Did you have a cold? Larima, Larima!”
Larima rushed to the nanny’s urgent call.
“Yes, Ma’am.
What happen?”
“Call the
doctor. The Princess keeps sweating”
“Owuu!” (No!)
I shook my arms and shouted at the nanny, but they didn’t listen to me, and Larima ran out of the bedroom like a rush.
“Princess, please wait a bit”
The nanny wiped my face as if she worried, but the more she did, the more cold sweat came out. Suddenly, I feel guilty toward her.
“Nanny, why is it so loud all of a sudden?”
After taking a bath, Oscar approached me with a towel and brushed off his dripping hair.
“What’s going on….? …. is Mabel sick?”
