Chapter 73
Chapter 73
The children with bandages wandered around the campsite, proudly showing off that they did the same thing as Erina.
The servants smiled at their adorable appearance and complimented them, saying the bandages suited them well. To Erina, they offered words of concern, telling her to get well soon.
As time passed and the staff became increasingly kind, Erina sincerely expressed her gratitude.
After roaming around for a while, the children, in consideration of Erina who could no longer work due to her injury, began eating the food prepared by the mansion’s chefs.
“Hm!”
“Ugh!”
“Mama!”
They didn’t say it outright, but their faces twisted more and more.
Having only eaten Erina’s cooking, which perfectly suited their tastes, the bland seasoning and tough meat just didn’t appeal to them.
Erina also felt uncomfortable seeing the children pick at their food. Ever since she came to the mansion, she had never let anyone else handle the children’s meals, and it deeply upset her that such an accident caused this situation.
Of course, Erina wasn’t the only one upset.
If you had to choose the most disappointed person at the table, it was undoubtedly Meian.
By Dylan’s semi-order, she had to go foraging that afternoon with Mitzu and Hael.
What was originally meant to be a sweet picnic-like outing with Erina and the triplets had suddenly turned into survival training. Wearing an expression like she was chewing sand, Meian forced herself to eat.
“Meian, it doesn’t taste good, right?”
Resen, sitting beside her, whispered into her ear.
The child wanted undercooked meat, but the steak in front of them was so well-done it felt like chewing rubber.
Meian nodded in agreement, even though the food wasn’t the real issue. Even if a feast had been laid out, she wouldn’t have been able to enjoy it.
After the unpleasant meal was over, Mitzu and Hael returned with a commotion after scouting the area on Dylan’s orders.
Apparently, they went hunting again, dragging back the carcasses of beasts. Erina gave them a silent thumbs-up, seeing how overly energetic the two were.
“Huh? What’s this? Are Erina and the triplets wearing matching bandages? Did I miss a bandage trend while I was gone?”
“Trend?”
Hael echoed Mitzu and looked Erina up and down.
Under the persistent gaze of the two dragons, Erina awkwardly laughed and confessed,
“It’s not a matching item or a trend… I just got a little hurt…”
“Hurt?!”
“Hurt?!”
Their eyes widened like saucers. They grabbed Erina’s shoulders, spinning her around to look for wounds. They even found injuries on the backs of her knees and inside her elbows that even Erina didn’t know about.
“Gasp! See, humans are so fragile! Look at this! And this!”
“And this!”
As the number of discovered wounds surpassed twenty and Erina started feeling dizzy from being shaken around, the triplets stepped between them.
With their small hands, they tapped Mitzu’ shin, telling them not to bother Erina.
“You think this is bothering her?! We’re worried! What if she suddenly collapses from pain? Humans are very fragile! You should know that too!”
“Collapse? What’s that?”
“You don’t know? Hmph! Listen carefully! ‘Collapse’ means—”
As Mitzu began to mime a dramatic death, bringing his hand to his throat to imitate choking, Erina quickly grabbed his wrist.
“Mitzu, I don’t think it’s appropriate to talk like this in front of the children.”
“Eh? What’s wrong with it?”
Mitzu looked puzzled, but Erina kept a firm expression and didn’t let go of his wrist. She didn’t want to teach such gestures to a child who was only a few months old.
Even in the forest, she’d held back from scolding Resen too harshly when he used inappropriate words out of concern.
Mitzu had only been trying to explain something to Resen, but seeing Erina go completely serious put him in a bad mood.
The silent tension between Erina and Mitzu, standing protectively around Resen, was broken by Dylan, who had been silently observing from behind.
He gently removed Mitzu’ wrist from Erina’s hand and said,
“Yes, Mitzu. Just as Miss Erina said, your behavior might not be good for the emotional development of the children.”
‘Emotional development’? Seriously…!
Mitzu squinted at Dylan like he might be a monster wearing his master’s skin.
The Dylan Harrison he knew would never say something so constructive. He should’ve been worse, not someone to rein things in, what was going on here?
Looking bewildered, Mitzu finally nodded. Regardless, he had no choice but to admit that Dylan’s words were correct.
“Miss Erina, don’t worry too much about what Mitzu said. He probably didn’t mean anything bad.”
“Yes.”
“He just hasn’t had much experience with young children.”
At that, Mitzu and Hael tilted their heads. Not much experience with kids? They had lived for decades!
They had interacted with well over a hundred children, though, admittedly, most of those kids started crying before a real conversation even happened.
Anyway, Dylan seemed fully immersed in playing the role of the benevolent superior defending his subordinates, and Erina looked genuinely touched by his attitude.
It was as if she was thinking, ‘As expected, Dylan is a kind and generous dragon!’ Mitzu wanted to tell her the truth, but he respected his master more than even a dessert-making human.
With a slightly awkward look, Mitzu waved Resen off.
“Ahem! That’s not something little kids need to know. Go on, shoo!”
“I—I’m not a little kid! I’m Resen!!”
“Sure, whatever.”
Mitzu absentmindedly scratched his ear while looking at Resen with clear disinterest.
Erina sighed softly and gently brought Resen back to the table.
“Ressen, what should we have for our afternoon snack?”
“Snack…?”
“Yeah! Are we not going to have one today?”
“No! We will! I love snacks!”
Worried that Erina might cancel snack time, Resen clung to her arm.
Lia and Poi, who had been sulking and poking Mitzu for his mean words, perked up at the word ‘snack’ and rushed over.
And it wasn’t just the young dragons who reacted. Before long, Mitzu, Hael, and even Dylan had gathered around the table, practically drooling.
The only one who didn’t understand the excitement was Meian, who hadn’t yet tasted Erina’s snacks.
“But, but… Erina is hurt.”
Poi, who had been bouncing at the thought of snacks, suddenly remembered Erina’s injury and mumbled.
Lia also waved her bandaged hand and agreed.
“Right! Erina’s hurt, so she can’t make snacks! She couldn’t even make lunch!”
“What?! No way! Hey, Erina! You have to make snacks! You didn’t make them yesterday either!”
“Didn’t make them!”
The adults were worse than the kids.
As Erina tried to calm everyone down, saying she could make something simple…
“Then… shall I make it instead of Erina?”
Meian, who had been quietly sitting the whole time, cautiously raised her hand. She thought, surely someone other than Erina could use the hearth to make something simple like pancakes.
However, the impact of her innocent suggestion was greater than she’d expected.
Almost like they had planned it, the dragons all shook their heads in perfect unison.
The synchronized motion sent shivers down her arm.
