Chapter 4: Miss Is A Genius
'I can't just give up at this point.'
Calliope couldn't succumb to her body's limits here. No matter how heavy her head was, how heavy could it actually be. Plus, she'd overcome this before in her previous life.
She paused to catch her breath. Air seeped out of her mouth as she breathed deeply. Hearing the sounds Calliope was making, her nanny approached her to check in on her. Calliope held up a fist in approval. Rather than doing things alone, she would feel more motivated with someone cheering her on.
'Let's do this. Nanny's cheering me on.'
"Our miss must be getting sleepy."
The baby was taking deep breaths as if ready to go into deep sleep. The nanny began to pat Calliope's belly. Calliope felt the strength in her body disappear. Her strength breathing exercises became muddled. Everything she had mustered had been effectively cut off in one stroke.
"Auu..."
Sad. There seemed to be no one who could understand the intense fight she was having. Life was miserable.
A small hand tried to push away the nanny's hand.
"Oh my?"
Seeing the usually obedient youngest miss expressing her dislike for the first time, the nanny was surprised and withdrew her hand. She had never seen the miss's face, plump like a dumpling, with such an expression of disapproval.
"I wonder why she's like this."
Calliope avoided the nanny's coaxing hands, shaking her head side to side.
'I can't surrender to my sleepiness. There's that saying that one must overcome ordeals with one's efforts.'
Though her nanny didn't mean to hinder her efforts, life was always one to throw all kinds of unexpected obstacles at any given moment. Calliope raised her arms once more in another attempt.
"Oh my, Miss!"
Her nanny hands trembled with anticipation as she realized what Calliope had set out to do. When she had flipped herself about halfway, she took in a deep breath. Up to this halfway point, it was pretty easy. The real battle started now.
Calliope seriously turned her head as she continued to try to flip over. Of course, her head didn't turn around that well. But she didn't give up.
'I can't let it go here. I need to do this to protect my family…!"
She flapped her short arms and legs, and her body rolled back and forth like a roly poly.
"Just a little bit more, Miss! You're almost there!"
"Uwau!"
As she received her nanny's encouragement, Calliope let out a shout and pushed herself to flip over with the last of her strength.
"Oh my goodness! Miss!"
It was a success. Calliope caught her breath again.
She was the winner in her battle against – a relatively moderate level of – an external force. This was proof of the human beings who didn't surrender, of their dignity and might, the revelation of the progressiveness of humanity in the face of Mother Nature.
[t/n: lol god she just flipped over but it's getting so deep hahaha i cantttt pffffft why am i translating this again hahahhaha]
She was satisfied. Calliope revelled in her glorious victory.
"You did such a good job flipping over."
Her nanny lifted up Calliope and kissed her on the cheek.
To have someone she could share her joy with was such a happy moment. Calliope smiled.
And then.
– Ggoh-reu-reuk.1
Her happiness shattered at the sound of her rumbling belly. Her face reddened in embarrassment.
"Well, it looks like our miss is hungry. You probably used a lot of energy when you flipped over."
Her nanny was in charge of Calliope's meals. She ordered a maid to bring her miss a chair.
"Alright, today we're going to try some baby food. Hopefully it's to your taste."
Baby food? Calliope's eyes sparkled. She forgot her earlier embarrassment at the thought that would finally be eating actual food.
The maid soon brought over the baby food, which looked like watery soup. The nanny checked the temperature of the food before scooping out a bit with a spoon.
"Okay, now, say ah~"
Calliope happily opened her mouth.
"Eum-nyam-nyam-nyam-nyam."2
The nanny looked at Calliope and made these baby sounds along with her chewing motions. Calliope knew that her nanny wanted the baby to follow her motions, but her nanny's actions were quite unbearable to watch, and she didn't want to chew in that cute way. After all, on the inside, she was a grown up. Making sounds while eating was beneath her.
Plus, it was only thin rice gruel, so she could just swallow it. There wasn't a need to chew. It's not like she had any teeth, either, so what was the point, really.
"Eum-nyam-nyam-nyam."
Her nanny made the chewing motion again, her eyes sparkling in anticipation. She seemed to be holding an unusual desire to see her miss copy her, and Calliope held down her puzzlement and just swallowed the baby food.
Her nanny tried once more.
"Eum-nyam-nyam-nyam-nyam."
"..."
Her nanny's eyes held a passion that showed no signs of disappearing anytime soon.
In the end, Calliope followed after her.
– Eum-nyam-nyam-nyam-nyam.
She couldn't make herself make the sound with her mouth like her nanny did, but she made a similar chewing motion.
"Euuu…"
Whenever she chewed the gruel, her cheeks would shake cutely.
Her nanny sighed in delight. This was what she wanted to see. Unable to stop herself, she poked Calliope's wiggling cheeks.
'Why is she like this.'
Calliope tilted her head, wondering what her nanny's thoughts were. Thankfully, her nanny ceased making "Eum-nyam-nyam-nyam" sounds.
"Does it taste good?"
Calliope nodded. Actually, it wasn't that tasty. She could sense a slightly roasted taste, but other than that, it tasted the same as water. But she was happy about the transition to eating food.
"Good! Our Miss is good at swallowing her food as well."
The nanny happily watched Calliope obediently eat. Her miss's two older brothers had given her an extremely difficult time when they ate their baby food for the first time.
Young Master Lucius was a picky eater and didn't eat much in general, so he never ended up being fed on a chair. She had to follow him around and could only feed him when he accepted the food.
On the contrary, Robert, the second young master, was a relatively good eater. The problem was that he'd try to eat everything except the baby food. He'd start with his fingers, then the chair, even his bib. He'd become so distracted and end up ignoring the actual food in front of him.
When she compared those two with her miss, the sight of Calliope eating like an obedient baby bird opening its mouth to take in food only made her look prettier than ever.
"Oh my, our miss is even using the bib properly, oh my how wonderful."
Calliope tilted her head, trying to figure out the origin of this praise that seemed to come out of nowhere. Of course she was using the bib, what else.
Even though praises were an important part of raising a child, she would only become conceited if she was praised about something like this.
"You aren't sucking your bib, or putting your face in the soup. How can our miss be this smart."
Calliope felt awkward. Her nanny's words made sense since she was a baby, and for a baby, this was indeed quite smart and obedient, but…
'If I'm going to get praised about stuff like this, won't I end up being spoiled…their expectations of me are so low.'
Of course, she wasn't against being praised over such a trivial thing. She was just felt a little ashamed.
"Perhaps…she's a genius?"
– Cough cough!
"Ah, Miss!"
She ended up swallowing her food down the wrong pipe. Her nanny hurried over and patted her on the back.
"Maybe she ate too much?"
It's not that…..
Calliope cried on the inside. When someone was too silly and quite dull, the other party always suffered. After she finished coughing, Calliope couldn't face her nanny. She was still embarrassed from her comment of her being a genius.
Her two cheeks were reddened, but her nanny would probably think it was because of her coughing.
***
"So this is Lippe?"
It was just around when she had become used the burping in front of people. She suddenly heard a familiar voice above her head and looked up.
"She's just as cute as you said."
Fine, black hair and slightly drooping amber eyes. His facial features that were stunningly attractive despite his young age. On top of that, his casual way of speaking to Lucius…
Calliope easily remembered the person in front of her.
'Elder Brother Hoce3…' (pronounced like Hoh-seh)
Horcean4 Alpinus.
The eldest son of the Alpinus household and Lucius's best friend.
'And after trying to dig up the truth Lucius's death…'
He was murdered. Accompanying the news of his death was that he had found decisive evidence for her brother's case.
This time, she wasn't going to let Horcean die. So her future actions were important.
But it was hard to accomplish anything while she was still a baby. She was always falling asleep.
"Wow, it's great that she doesn't cry. My younger siblings, on the other hand, are just…"
Horcean spoke with a fed-up expression. One of the reasons why he always visited the Rustichel House was to escape from his siblings. Playing with his siblings was harder than sword practice.
"Unlike your brother, grow up to be bright and cheerful, Lippe."
Horcean spoke playfully. Calliope stared at his smiling expression in a daze.
It was refreshing to see such a young, smiling face. Her eyes sparkled as she thought of her bright dream to protect everyone.
'Thank you, really. This time, I will protect you.'
Horcean was surprised at Calliope's gaze that was unlike a child's. Though he had seen five younger siblings grow up, he had never seen a baby that looked at people with such a deep gaze. And then he noticed the chubby cheeks below her eyes.
'This…!'
Fantastically chubby baby cheeks. They looked squishy and soft, and it would be a shame to leave before touching them.
I want to touch them. I want to touch them!
Just when Horcean reached out.
– Slap!
Lucius hit his hand before it could touch Calliope's cheeks.
"Oww!"
Horcean's face crumpled up and he looked at Lucius accusingly. But his friend, with a face like the frosty wind on a chilly winter day, ignored him and only continued to look at Calliope.
"Did you have to hit me? I was just trying to touch her cheeks. You're treating me like I'm some kind of disease…"
Horcean thought it was unfair. The fact that his hand stung meant that his friend had hit him with a good amount of strength.
"Similar."
He was speechless at Lucius's resolute answer.
Lucius carefully lifted up Calliope. And then, in front of Horcean, he deliberately poked his sister's cheeks.
Horcean's jaw dropped. This was his first time seeing such a childish Lucius. I mean, this kind of action was what his five young siblings at home would do.
He was taken aback, but then seeing the baby's soft cheeks that seemed to stretch like mochi, Horcean's hand itched.
'I want to touch it too!'
In contrast to Horcean's quick turn of attention to her cheeks, Calliope was still in the middle of her shock at her brother's actions.
'Though Eldest Brother is still a child, this is still…'
The Lucius from her memories was always cool-headed to the point of chilliness. He rarely expressed emotions, much less show any sort of change in facial expression.
"What! I want to hold her too!"
"You still haven't mastered "Lower Strike" yet. Doesn't matter if you've learned it if you aren't good at it."
"I'll master it soon! I've been practicing really hard! Just wait and see!"
At some point, Robert had joined the three of them. Seeing the back and forth amongst the boys, Calliope gradually smiled.
'They're all still kids. I need to watch over them well.'
"Dyaa! Bba!"
But her toothless self that had a hard time even pronouncing names still had a long way to go.
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