Chapter 19
Chapter 19
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>Translator: Lord First
>Chapter: 19
>Chapter Title: Resuming the Experiment
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Shall we resume the experiment?
When her parents died, when her friend betrayed her, when she abandoned her younger sister and fled, her mind rotted away endlessly. Now, she had reached a state where she could not go on living without cursing someone.
She was insane, but she herself didn't realize it.
“Pia, you should come get yours too.”
Once the children had all gotten their food, Rian smiled and called out to Pia. Pia forced the corners of her mouth into a smile as she held up her plate and received her food.
“If you don't like the salad, try putting it between some bread. It's pretty good that way.”
Seeing Rian's innocent smile made Pia's stomach churn. An indescribable sense of dissonance, something she could never possess, clung to the corners of Rian's lips.
She fidgeted with the fork she held along with her plate. The nape of Rian's neck came into view. An unknown impulse echoed in her mind.
“Lily is sitting over there.”
“Ah, thank you.”
Hearing Lily's name, her killing intent subsided.
‘My sister, my little sister.’
Pia took her plate and approached Lily.
“Ugh... this tastes weird.”
Lily was forcing down the salad, her brow furrowed. She wanted to be a picky eater, but the memory of starving for so long made it difficult for her to leave food behind.
‘I have to help her!’
Pia approached Lily with a bright smile. At that moment, a fork swooped down over Lily's plate.
“Nom.”
“Huh? That's mine.”
Lily looked with a bewildered expression at the one who had snatched her salad. Pia stopped dead in her tracks, her gaze following Lily's. Nero was eating the salad, his cheeks twitching, a faint blush on his face.
“...If you don't like this, want to trade for some meat?”
“Really? Is that okay?”
“Yeah, but I can only give you a little meat in return.”
“Okay! Thank you!”
As Lily beamed, Nero's eyes widened, and he quickly darted them away. The boy's cheeks flushed adorably. When Lily scooped all of her salad onto his plate, Nero gave her three pieces of his meat.
“Hey, me too!”
Seeing this, the child sitting next to Nero thrust their fork toward his plate. Nero quickly pulled his plate away and said.
“No!”
“Why not?”
“...Because this is enough!”
Nero began to gobble up the salad. Pia watched him with an empty gaze. At that moment, a worried voice reached her.
“Pia, are you okay?”
“Huh...?”
“Your hand is deathly pale.”
Noah, who had just gotten her food, pointed at Pia's hand. Only then did Pia realize she was gripping her plate so tightly that it was trembling.
“Ah... I guess my hands are shaking because I'm hungry.”
“Really? Should I ask Rian for some more for you?”
Pia looked at Noah in silence and thought.
‘Opportunist.’
She recalled the word she had learned during her affluent days and smiled.
“Thank you for worrying. But I think it's better if we eat quickly.”
“Oh? Then let's hurry and sit down.”
Noah headed over to where Nero and Lily were first.
“Huh? Nero, why did you get so much salad?”
“Gasp, I... I wanted to eat it...”
“But you don't really like vegetables—”
“I do! I just started liking them!”
“Really?”
Noah tilted her head and sat across from Nero.
“Should I give you mine, then?”
“No, this is enough.”
Pia sat across from Lily, her eyes shifting to look at Nero. The hand holding the fork trembled. The impulse surged again.
Her emotions moved like a train with broken brakes. Unlike before, this time she couldn't suppress the cruel impulse. The moment she shot up from her seat, gripping the fork so tightly her knuckles turned white.
“Anyone want more salad? There's quite a bit left over.”
“Ah, Nero—”
“No! I'm fine! I'm full!”
Rian approached, holding a bowl of salad. As the tension in the air dissipated, Pia slowly sank back into her seat.
“Pia, you want some too?”
“No, I'm fine.”
Pia refused with a smile. She took shallow breaths, trying to calm her agitation.
Tap.
“...?”
Her plan to cool her inner heat by stuffing even a cold salad into her mouth ended in failure. The moment she tried to spear a vegetable stem with her fork, it slid away.
It was because the dressing made the plate slippery. Deciding it would be better to scoop it up, she tried to lift the salad to her mouth with her fork.
Plop.
The vegetables fell back onto the plate right in front of her open mouth. Seeing her struggle with the fork like one of the clumsy children, Noah spoke up.
“If you're having trouble eating, should I get you another fork?”
“N-no, it's okay.”
Pia managed to twist her lips into a smile, then swung her fork with a fierce glint in her eyes. But the salad was not easily caught, and her rough movements even caused some vegetables to fall off the plate.
“Huu, huu...”
Unable to eat a single piece of salad, Pia finally changed her target and speared a piece of meat with her fork. This time, it was picked up without any issue.
For some unknown reason, a triumphant feeling welled up from deep within her heart. The moment she put the meat in her mouth, chewed, and swallowed.
“Pfft!”
She choked.
“Keuk, cough, cough!”
As Pia coughed until tears streamed from her eyes, Noah patted her on the back and watched her with concern.
“Are you okay?”
“Keuk, ahem... yeah, thanks.”
Pia gritted her teeth and managed to offer her thanks. Even after that, she struggled for a long time before finally finishing her meal.
***
After Rania's visit, Mia didn't conduct any experiments for over a week. She was busy walking around the entire house, casting some unknown magic. She also started going out more often, as if she had business to attend to outside.
Thanks to that, I had an abundance of free time. During that spare time, I helped Noah educate the children.
“This is 1, and this is 2.”
Starting with simple number lessons.
“You have to be as careful as possible with fire. And you have to be even more careful with knives, because you can get hurt if you use them incorrectly.”
We taught them a variety of things, even simple cooking methods.
‘The kids know so little, there's a lot to teach.’
Noah taught them how to speak properly and how to read and write. Once they could speak to some extent, Pia taught them about manners.
Pia didn't seem particularly eager to teach the children, but after Lily said she wanted to learn with the other kids, she began to teach them properly.
The lessons took place in the dining hall or a spare room, and right now, Noah and I were teaching the children in the dining hall. Today, taking it a bit easy, we handed out paper and told the children to draw whatever they wanted.
The children were drawing on scrap paper that Mia had thrown out, but had said was okay to use.
The pens the children were using to draw were a gift from Mia.
She seemed to have quite liked the cookies and juice prepared when Rania visited, so when she offered to give me anything I wanted, I had asked for pens the children could use.
Perhaps because I asked for pens for the children, I received enough pens for each of them.
Scritch, scritch.
The children drew diligently, their lips pressed firmly together.
“This is kind of peaceful.”
“...Yeah, it is.”
With nothing much to do, Noah and I stared blankly at the children, talking quietly.
“The kids seem to be learning faster than I thought.”
“That's right. I was surprised too.”
“Once they can speak a little better, I want to read them a storybook... I'm thinking of making one.”
“Oh, that's a great idea.”
Hearing Noah say she would make a storybook, I briefly recalled the storybooks from the Gag World.
‘In the Gag World, storybooks were often used as summoning scrolls or books of prophecy.’
If a child innocently said, "A dinosaur appeared," a real dinosaur would appear and destroy the city. The ground would shake and the child's body would lift into the air and fall back down repeatedly, but the child would continue reading the storybook as if completely unaware.
After they finished reading the book, the teacher would either smile and say, "You did a great job!" or tuck the children under their arm and run away. It was generally safer to be next to the teacher who said, "You did a great job!"
‘Just in case, I'd better not help.’
A terrible accident could easily occur, so I suppressed my desire to help the children.
“I'm a little worried since I don't remember much.”
“Then how about making one with the kids? You could have them create the story itself.”
“...! That's a great idea!”
At Noah's praise, I shrugged and grinned, and Noah smiled back at me.
“Hyeong! I'm finished!”
Nero's bright voice cut through our conversation. He showed off a drawing full of clumsy circles and lines and said.
“This is Hyeong, this is me, and this is Rian-hyeong!”
“Then who's this?”
Noah pointed to a character in a skirt with a flower drawn on its head, and Nero blushed and mumbled.
“That's... a secret.”
At those words, Noah's jaw dropped, a look of shock on her face.
“Noah, you're thinking, 'My little brother has a secret from me?!' right now, aren't you?”
“...! H-how did you know?”
Noah turned to me with a flustered look. It was funny, since her face was practically screaming 'SHOCK'.
“Because it's written all over your face.”
“What? Really?”
Noah touched her face in confusion. Nero and I burst out laughing.
“Puhaha, keuk, that's not what I meant... I meant it's really obvious from your expression.”
“Oh, so that's what you meant.”
The rims of Noah's ears turned red as she quickly averted her gaze.
“Oppa, I have also finished!”
“Me too!”
The children, who had just started learning honorifics, all ran over with their drawings. An ominously peaceful atmosphere filled the kitchen.
***
“Hoo... I can finish the rest at the end.”
Mia checked the status of the protective magic surrounding the mansion several times before heading toward the laboratory.
“Well then... shall we resume the experiment?”