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IBP 107
Coco looked up with a crestfallen expression, as if confused.
Chloe pulled Coco tightly into her arms and whispered.
The words she should have said from the very first moment they met.
“You did a great job.”
“Huh...? I did a great job?”
“Yes, you're the most admirable person in the world. You're good, you did well. I'm really grateful to you, Coco.”
A face that looked flustered, as if hearing praise for the first time, slowly began to be colored with joy.
“Huk, I did a great job? R-really?”
“Yes, you did.”
“Even though... I did everything however I wanted?”
“Yes. Because you did it thinking of me, Coco.”
“Wowww...”
Coco's eyes sparkled, filled with happiness.
Since she's a child who becomes this happy with just one compliment, I should tell her more.
“My baby. I'm always grateful to our Coco. To think you'd risk danger to come save me. You're the coolest hero in the world, our Coco.”
“Hup. A hero! That's super cool!”
“Yes, that's right. You were as cool as a hero.”
“A-and you're not scolding me! I love it!”
“You did really well, my baby. I'm so proud of you.”
It seemed she had been inwardly worried about being scolded.
Watching Coco's expression, which now shone brightly with all worries erased, Chloe smiled softly.
'I endured five years just for the sound of your laughter.'
What else mattered?
If you are in danger, I just have to make sure you aren't.
I just have to hold you tight so you don't get hurt.
Therefore...
“Instead, promise me. Promise that you won't keep secrets from me. Always discuss it with me first before doing anything dangerous.”
“Yup!”
Chloe firmly locked pinky fingers with Coco and made a promise.
In that moment, watching Coco's face brighten, Chloe thought.
That a single bright smile from Coco was worth trading the entire world for.
And so, she wanted to protect this child for the rest of her life, so she could always smile brightly without a single worry.
* * *
“How dare they put a lady in such a filthy place...!”
Dahlia, locked in a solitary cell with her hands and feet bound in shackles, gnashed her teeth.
The guild master who had received her request had fled quickly.
The assassin guild member captured alongside Dahlia had spilled all the information effortlessly.
'Damn it, I've even been stripped of my noble title...!'
The excommunicated Dahlia was imprisoned in a commoner's jail.
The charges were embezzlement, fraud, and attempted murder of a noble.
If there was any consolation, it was that she was in a solitary cell, but...
“I heard that woman was originally a noble?”
“Noble or not, if you're in this commoner's jail, you're all going to die anyway. Plagues break out periodically. The high-and-mighty don't give a damn about a commoner's jail like this.”
...She could even hear the noisy voices of prisoners from the next cell.
'No. I haven't died and I've kept my sanity, so there is a chance!'
It was just as Dahlia, boasting a cockroach-like vitality, was eyeing her next opportunity.
“Hello, Dahlia.”
Dahlia, exhausted and without a single drop of water, thought she was dreaming.
Beyond the prison door.
Unlike herself, who was crawling on the floor in a wretched state, the still noble and beautiful Chloe appeared.
“You seem to have completely lost your mind.”
“Why... are you here...”
Staring intently at Dahlia, Chloe spoke.
“At this rate, you'll become a life prisoner and rot forever in this filthy jail.”
“...”
“But I want you to be trapped not in a prison, but in a hell without a single ray of sunlight.”
“Lord Gillen...”
“Gillen abandoned you, and you will die as a commoner. You will have no grave, and no one will ever come looking for you.”
“Shut... your...”
“That's why, Dahlia. I'm quite glad you're trapped in a commoner's jail.”
Darkness bloomed from Chloe's fingertips.
Feeling terror, Dahlia struggled wildly with her shackled hands and feet, but Chloe smiled softly.
“If I just slip a few bribes to the warden, the barrier that prevents the use of magic inside the prison is lifted for a short while.”
Dahlia's vision was buried in darkness.
Inside this prison, Dahlia would suffer from flesh-searing pain, hallucinations, and visions, eventually begging to be killed.
Perhaps after suffering from trauma for a very long time...
“K-k-kwaaaaagh!”
...She would eventually be hanged after being executed for the attempted murder of a noble.
Chloe, looking coldly at Dahlia who would experience the worst agony until then, turned her gaze away.
'I've only finished one stage.'
Next, she had to kill Gillen.
Perhaps there would be another target after that.
It was not yet time to celebrate.
* * *
On the very day the news of Dahlia's imprisonment broke.
While rolling around in bed, I felt that something was strange.
I should be completely thrilled since Dahlia was dealt with!
“I was just wondering how I should kill that piece of trash bastard.”
“Woof!”
“This bastard, when I kick him, doesn't it feel just like kicking a ball?”
Strangely, the auditory hallucinations in my ears only grew worse.
Groaning while clutching my stomach, which felt like it was hurting for some reason, I thought.
'Sigh, it's because Gillen is still around!'
Then, I have to get ready to punish Gillen!
But you know.
Was it because I had been buried in bed all day?
Ruth came to find me and spoke solemnly.
“Coco, let's make a cake in the kitchen!”
“Huh...?”
“Father said that since you rode a tiger and cleared Chloe's name, you should be praised a lot.”
I didn't really like how Ruth kept messing up my hair.
But since Ruth is practically my subordinate, he's allowed to praise me.
“Okay! Lead the way! Let's go!”
I was about to head to the kitchen, but...
'...Something is strange.'
The maids, the servants, the attendants, and even the family elders I saw along the way to the kitchen!
“I heard you actually rode on a tiger's back?”
“The exploits of the baby and Lord Caligo are all over the newspapers!”
“Baby, how can you be so amazing?”
Suddenly, the Ardos family launched the so-called <Operation: Trap Coco in a Praise Prison!>
Some of them even got permission from Ruth and me to pat my head a lot.
Because of that, my hair ended up looking like a country puppy being groomed by a cat...
But for some reason, I couldn't hide my fluttering heart.
“Ruth, did you hear? That I'm super amazing! I really am amazing!”
“Right, you are amazing.”
At those words, my butt and head shook wildly instead of a tail.
Even while walking diligently, I became more and more excited by the endless praise pouring from around me.
'I'm a super cool puppy who saved my sister!'
After hearing a few more compliments, my heart started thumping and beating faster and faster...
“Huk, I can't take it anymore!”
“Where are you going, Coco!”
“The kitchen!”
And so, I sprinted to the kitchen at an incredibly fast speed, udadada! It was a speed that even Ruth couldn't keep up with!
But it was just as I arrived in the kitchen in an instant.
Duke Ardos stared at me with flour on his hands.
“Coco, have you arrived?”
Ah, right!
I came to make a cake, didn't I? I almost forgot because I was receiving so much praise...!
“Yes! Sweet potato cake, will the Duke make it with me?”
“Yes. Chloe will be here soon. Coco, do you intend to make sweet potato cake again today?”
“Yep! Of course sweet potato cake!”
“Hmm, let's see. Coco, why do you like sweet potatoes so much?”
“Um, because they're super super sweet!”
“And?”
“...Because they're super sweet!”
“Is that all?”
“...Do you need something else besides that?”
“Coco, do you know? The fact that there is something sweeter than sweet potatoes, sweeter than sweet potato cake.”
My eyes widened.
“Liar. That can't be! My sister said sweet potatoes are the sweetest thing in the world...!”
“But haven't you hardly eaten any desserts other than sweet potatoes?”
Ruth, who had hurriedly followed after my sprint, added.
Since I loved sweet potatoes so much, the maid sisters only ever gave me sweet potato-flavored things...
“Then, why don't you try making and eating it this time?”
Duke Ardos tempted me like a devil as he saw me hesitating.
Then Ruth pointed to a bowl on the kitchen table.
Inside was something pitch black and very gooey.
“It's this.”
It looked like a very dangerous substance, so I looked at it skeptically, and then Ruth called the chef.
...About an hour had passed since we started making the cake.
Eventually, a pitch-black, gooey black cake was completed.
“Now, hurry and try it.”
“This is called a Matilda cake, and it's made with choco.”
“Hup, choco? But I was told not to eat choco.”
Sister strictly warned me that it's dangerous and I must never eat it.
Moreover, the name reminded me of my friend, Choglass de Cordia III, so I couldn't bring myself to reach for it.
But Ruth suddenly scooped some cake with a spoon and shoved it right into my mouth.
“How is it? Delicious, right?”
I definitely intended to spit it out—ptui!
But after chewing a few times, a bittersweet taste spread through my mouth.
A feeling of intense sweetness softly enveloping the tip of my tongue.
“Heup...”
“It's delicious, right?”
“W-what is this taste...?”
The extreme sweetness felt like it was twisting my tongue.
I hurriedly scooped another spoonful and put it in my mouth.
“He, heup...”
The spoon moved rapidly over the cake.
Like a hamster storing food in its cheeks, I stored the cake in both cheeks and chewed.
My eyes spun, and my head went wadada!
It was right then.
Sister Chloe, who said she'd be coming soon, appeared with perfect timing.
But I just stared at her with my eyes and mouth wide open. I could only feel the choco melting away between my slightly parted lips!
Seeing my expression, sister approached me in panic.
“What's wrong with Coco? What on earth did you feed my baby...”
“Hey, look at our baby, she's so excited because we made her a choco cake! I'm dying from the cuteness.”
At Ruth's words, sister's complexion turned cold.
“What? Choco?”
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