Matchmaking Baby Sister - Chapter 16 – Uncle’s Heart
TL: Zimmings
I’m in a very awkward situation right now.
‘Oh, I feel like I’m suffocating.’
There were three people sitting at the round table in the drawing room attached to the Pen Orchid Palace.
Uncle Tessa, Aunt Lucinda, and me.
I glanced at the man who could be said to be the culprit of this situation.
It was Alexander.
‘Alexander! He said he would bring me a friend!’
How did my uncle, not your nephew come instead?
Alexander noticed my gaze and smiled at me.
“Ahaha.”
‘Don’t laugh! It’s your fault!’
It was when I exchanged glances with Alexander.
Tessa spoke to me.
“Last time you flew in the sky?”
“Uh-huh!”
This was the subject I hated the most.
I pretended to became nauseous and coughed violently.
“Cough! Cough! Cough!”
“Oh my God, Ariel.”
Lucinda hurriedly gave me a bottle of lukewarm water. As I was sucking the milk bottle, peace came to my mind again.
Lucinda rubbed my back with a soft hand. It was Alexander who answered.
“It’s all my fault. Please kill me.”
That word came out again, ‘Please kill me’.
When I looked at Alexander in a daze.
Tessa cut off Alexander’s words in a low voice.
“I heard that it was because of the familiar. Even if you were a good knight, there would be nothing you could do about it.”
“Your Majesty…”
Alexander looked at Tessa with grateful eyes.
What Tessa said is true.
‘This is all because of Pupu. Come out quickly, Pupu.’
[I don’t want it. I hate it when that person is here.]
‘Traitor! Won’t you listen to your master?’
[Whatever!]
Pupu betrayed me and did not answer my call.
With a boiling heart, I sucked the milk bottle even harder.
Then, I felt avgaze on myself, how come Tessa is looking at me with his eyes narrowed!?
‘Wha-, what? Are you trying to scold me? Alexander is fine, so I should be scolded?’
I quickly become nervous. While looking at me, Tessa asked slowly.
The question was also quite unexpected.
“… … Am I scary?”
“… … !!”
I’m glad I was sucking the milk bottle. If not, I would have coughed again.
‘Ah, no, why did he suddenly ask such a question.’
Tessa’s green eyes turned to me.
The color is very similar to mine, so it felt a little odd. I blinked my eyes.
Tessa, who sat quietly for a moment and looked at me, got up from his seat. Then he turned around and said.
“I will come back tomorrow.”
Yeah? For what?
Of course, there was no answer to my question.
* * *
The next day, Tessa also visited my palace. Coincidentally, Lucinda had gone to take dance lessons ahead of my ceremony so this time Alexander, I, and Mrs. Fenrir were sitting there.
‘Oh, it’s more suffocating than last time.’
It was difficult with only Mrs. Fenrir, but Tessa was also looking at me.
‘What made him change his mind?’
I entered the palace as a princess and Tessa visited me only once.
It was only when I was sick with a fever. Then I met him in the garden.
‘But why are you suddenly coming to see me like this?’
I turned to Alexander to hide my nervousness.
I had to avoid the gaze, but there was no one I could look at.
“… … ?”
Alexander tilted his head and smiled kindly at me. I sighed.
‘He doesn’t even notice anything.’
The culprit that made Tessa come every day, why is he so bright?
I pouted my lips. Then a heavy voice rang out from behind me.
“Does Sir Alexander want to sit here?”
“Huh? There is no need for that, Your Majesty.”
At Tessa’s words, Alexander waved his hand in visible embarrassment.
Ah, I figured it out
‘Oh! You were so calm because all you had to do was take a step back and turn away!’
“Al! Sit, sit!”
I pounded on him and loudly urged Alexander to sit down.
At my words, Tessa’s eyebrows twitched.
“Ah?”
“I wonder if the princess is clever, she has nicknames for each of us.”
Mrs. Fenrir explained the stages of my development. Tessa asked, this time furrowing his eyebrow.
“She had nicknames for everyone?”
“Of course not. She seem to have one only for a few friendly people.”
“… … .”
Tessa looked at me with a dissatisfied expression on his face.
‘Wha- what? Why?’
I’m only a one year old, so do I have to call everyone? I can’t even walk on my own two feet yet!
‘Are there any complaints? Tell me! Tell me!’
I was squinting my eyes, but when I looked at the green eyes that looked at me, I stopped.
‘The complaint is… … Please don’t tell me I was wrong.’
Look at those scary eyes. I finally called out to Tessa in a small voice after some time.
“Papa.”
Tessa replied to me.
“Yes.”
“… … .”
That was short. What more do I have to say?
‘No, shouldn’t every adult facing a baby have something to talk about?’
Everyone usually say, ‘Baby, take a look here,’ and the grown-ups will be the first to talk. How could a baby talk first?
But you’re lucky I’m not an ordinary baby.
“Abubu, Abububu.” (What are you going?)
“What are you talking about?”
“Well, babies often babble at this age.”
To Tessa’s question, Mrs. Fenrir answered with her glasses on.
It’s not the case though?
“Papa, Abuba Pai Pai!” (Uncle, please go now!)
* * *
Tessa Illuminas.
A man who ascended to the throne when Lloyd, the former emperor, suddenly passed away.
He was only twenty-five now.
The world called him a lucky man, but the truth is, he’s never been so lucky in his life.
As an illegitimate child, he had many half-brothers.
The only thing that made him special, the familiar, was also not a blessing to him.
[Don’t be patient. Destroy it all and burn it.]
The fire-attributed familiar always made the young Tessa angry.
The familiar’s favorite thing to do was to destroy what Tessa loved and watch him in despair.
[That’s your destiny, master. Destroying and trampling on everything precious and living a lonely life.]
‘Stop!’
That nine-tailed fox was terrible.
To the extent that, if possible, he wants to hand him over to his jealous brothers.
However, the familiar is a contract that comes down through blood.
It was impossible to hand over to someone or destroy it alone.
So Tessa started using that power to protect himself.
‘Monster! Stop!’
‘Burn me to death! If you want to try it, do it!’
‘I didn’t do anything. Please forgive me.’
All kinds of reactions poured in. But Tessa closed his heart to protect himself.
‘Whether it be begging or resentment, it only makes them weak.’
And the more his heart become rotten, the more this cunning familiar digs into his heart.
‘I’d rather stop.’
He build high walls between himself and others.
That was the only way Tessa could protect others and himself.
And the first person to jump over that wall was Amelia’s father, Emperor Lloyd.
‘Tessa, what a strong name.’
Lloyd’s presence was refreshing in itself to Tessa.
The only other person who is not affected by Tessa’s flame. He’s the only one who shares blood with him and tell him he’s a family.
So when he lost him, it was as if Tessa had lost the world.
“Tessa… … my child… … .”
If it hadn’t been for that will, Tessa would have burned down the empire and himself.
But he still had one more family left. That very dear Lloyd’s child.
He didn’t realize it, but in the corner of his heart he had a hope.
‘Will that child be a part of my family?’
Like Lloyd who reached out to him in the dark, the child might miraculously recognize Tessa.
But that hope was shattered when he first met Amelia.
“Abu.”
The small child who could be lifted up with one hand was obviously having a hard time with Tessa. He was different from Lloyd.
‘After all, Lloyd doesn’t exist in the world. No one can replace him.’
But the child gave him hope at the same time.
“Papa!”
“… … !!”
The moment he saw the child shouting to him the word father, which Lloyd should have heard, the moment his heart pounded.
‘Yes. This child no longer has a family.’
Lloyd, who would have valued the child, was no longer in the world. Instead, he handed the role
directly to Tessa.
‘But what about the baby?’
For Tessa, who has no memory of being loved, he was confused how to treat Amelia.
So, he often postpone the time he would meet her.
It was thanks to Alexander, who suddenly came to the office, that he realized he was wrong.
“Your Majesty, I have a request for you regarding Princess Amelia.”
“What?”
Normally, he would have dismissed him because of Raphael, but he couldn’t help but hear it because it was Amelia’s problem.
Tessa stared at Alexander with a puzzled expression.
Alexander said with a gentle smile.
“If Your Majesty permits, I want my nephew to enter the palace. He can be a playmate for Princess Amelia.”
“A playmate?”
“Yes. She seemed to be particularly bored these days.”
“She’s bored?”
Tessa frowned. In fact, he did not know the feeling of boredom.
When he was young, he was always busy dealing with the familiar Langrisser, then he was busy defeating his brothers, and after becoming emperor, he was busy learning unfamiliar things.
‘But Sir Alexander’s words make sense.’
She’s only a one year old. How boring would it be to be with her aunt and maids all the time in the palace?
“Then why does it have to be your nephew?”
“Huh? I just think the princess needs a friend.”
“Why does she need a friend?”
“Friends can bond and exchange feelings, isn’t it?”
Alexander looked like he didn’t understand why he was being asked this question, but he gave an excellent answer. Tessa tapped his chin again.
‘Someone that can bond with her and exchange feelings?’
Isn’t that like a family?
‘But aren’t I my Ariel’s family?’
Although he was always awkward when he called her nickname outside, he had always called Ariel intimately like a family inside.
So even if you have a family, you still need friends…
‘… … Does that mean that I am not enough?’
He concluded. Instinctively, a sense of resentment arose in his heart at that conclusion, but he kept my mouth shut because he could not refute it himself.
He rarely even go to see Amelia.
It was arrogance to expect the other person to understand his feelings without telling them a word or showing his actions.
‘Then how can I become that person?’
The desire to be friends with the child spread within him.
“Uh, Your Majesty?”
As the emperor remained silent for a moment, Alexander called out Tessa, not knowing what to do.
Tessa calmly ordered.
“I will think about that. Please call the baroness here.”
The baroness is Lucinda’s new status.
* * *
Lucinda, whom he haven’t seen in a long time, has a much brighter face and fair skin than before. After entering the Imperial Palace, she get enough rest and eat good food, so it was natural for her complexion to improve.
“Did you call me, Your Majesty?”
She now greeted him while holding the skirt like a noble. It was the effect of her taking a number of etiquette classes before the ceremony.
Tessa’s deep, sunken eyes turned to Lucinda.
Lucinda naturally tensed.
‘What did he call me for?’
There was nothing to point out.
Is he trying to pinpoint about my words and action ahead of the ceremony?
Lucinda waited a little impatiently for Tessa’s lips to open.
Tessa hesitated for a moment, then finally gave up and said.
“… … How do I bond with the baby?”
It was a slightly vague question coming from the emperor of a country, especially an unmarried man.