Chapter 17
Unnecessary Devotion
It should be enough to just keep it alive; why the excessive care as if it were something she birthed herself?
Determined to bring this up one day, Rakalt turned away.
Now was not the time. Nothing should disturb the maid’s sleep.
“Baaaaby! Ugh! No, yuck!”
They say that other people’s children grow up even if you don’t pay attention. Was it the same even when you were raising one yourself?
The baby displayed impressive growth, showcasing an increasing capacity for chaos day by day.
Now six months old, the baby’s first teeth were more than halfway out, and everything visible was stuffed into the mouth.
Even when other babies were just starting to turn over and crawl a little, this baby moved with the speed of military training.
“No!”
Thus, Adelen had to run around all day, preventing the baby from putting things in its mouth.
This time, while the master was briefly away, the baby tried to swallow the seal placed on the desk. It was a moment that made cold sweat drip.
Adelen quickly picked up the baby to prevent the accident, only for a protesting wail to erupt.
“Waaaah…”
“Waaaah…”
The fussiness shown on the first day in Sigelion was only the beginning.
Perhaps having adapted to the new environment or deciding Adelen was trustworthy, the baby’s tantrums escalated daily.
“Oh, my aching body… Huff. Huff.”
Adelen sat against the wall, clutching the baby and gasping for breath.
The pain that started in her wrist had now spread throughout her entire body.
It wasn’t an illness, just pain from overuse, not worth mentioning. But with no days off, the fatigue built up day by day.
“…I’m sorry, little one, but I hope General Kias gets caught soon.”
After all, one’s own life is most important.
Sympathy and everything else dried up when survival was at stake.
“…So, this training… Ah.”
At that moment, the knight captain and Rakalt entered the room.
With no choice, Adelen forced her aching body to stand up. The master rarely acknowledged her greetings, but it was her duty as a maid.
“Welcome back, Master.”
“Mm.”
“?”
But today, for some reason, there was a response, even if brief.
Adelen blinked, wondering if she misheard. But Rakalt’s gaze traveled from the top of her head to the tips of her toes, confirming it wasn’t her imagination.
The gaze didn’t linger long, however.
Rakalt went straight into the conference room attached to the side of the room.
Since there was no door, Adelen always ended up overhearing the meetings.
In any case, she was confined, so even if confidential information reached her ears, she couldn’t do anything with it. Moreover, she couldn’t understand more than half of what was said.
So, Adelen usually let the words go in one ear and out the other.
When focused on the baby, she didn’t even hear them at all.
“Some agents from Morn’s side have lost contact.”
“We anticipated this wouldn’t last long, didn’t we?”
“There’s evidence suggesting that General Kias personally eliminated them.”
“General Kias returned to Morn? Hmm…”
The topic of discussion today was General Kias, which Adelen had already been pondering. Her ears perked up.
“I did wonder why the attacks had decreased for a while.”
“Did he give up on the crown prince?”
“That’s unlikely. It could be for reorganization, or he might be waiting for a lapse in our vigilance. Maintain the same level of alertness.”
“Yes, understood.”
While engrossed in the conversation, something happened.
“Awaaaah!”
The baby, unable to tolerate even a moment without attention, screamed to assert his presence.
The voice was so loud that it drowned out the knight captain’s voice and halted the conversation.
“Oh dear, little one. Is it mealtime? Shall we have our meal?”
Adelen hurriedly picked up the baby and moved to a more distant spot.
The comment, initially a pretext, turned out to be accurate; it was indeed time for feeding.
It was the start of yet another challenge.
“Alright, little one. Shall we say ‘Ah’? Here comes the food, whoosh, whoosh!”
“Oooii!”
“Oh dear, that’s not it, huh… How about this, then, little one?”
Adelen picked up something else, avoiding the food that the baby had just spit out.
The baby who used to eat anything offered was no more.
Even if the same ingredients were used, a change in preparation or the size of the pieces would result in immediate rejection.
Sometimes the baby didn’t like the spoon in which the food was served, the angle of the hand holding the spoon, or even the number of times the spoon was waved.
It was a tantrum designed to drive one to the brink of madness.
“…Phew.”
Adelen took a deep breath to calm her frustration and continued to move the spoon patiently.
Tempting with taste only went so far. The rest was all about technique.
“Oo-ung!”
“Oh my, you’re eating well. Is it yummy?”
“Oo-ung!”
“Shall we try one more bite? Here it comes, whoosh, where will it go? Here or there, zoom, zoom! Right into little one’s mouth! Pop!”
Adelen found herself doing all sorts of things she’d never done even while caring for her siblings at the orphanage.
At the orphanage, where food was already scarce, the children were eager to open their mouths.
Thinking about that made life seem futile, but seeing the baby happily say “yum” and eat well made everything worthwhile for that moment.
“Do you remember that the child is the crown prince of the enemy nation?”
It was when the baby’s meal was nearly finished.
Rakalt, having completed the meeting, had approached at some point.
The master only spoke to her when he had something to say.
The wrist bandages were still intact. There was no atmosphere suggesting an escape.
“Yes… of course…”
Adelen answered hesitantly and awkwardly.
“Then why the excessive care?”
“?”
Adelen tilted her head in confusion at Rakalt’s words.
Was he reprimanding her for raising the baby too well…?
“Then… what should I do?”
“Roughly. Just enough to keep it alive.”
“…”
“Just… do the bare minimum.”
She had never intended to pour excessive effort into raising him. If she had planned to go above and beyond, she would have been more extravagant.
Adelen couldn’t even admit that she was being excessively caring.
“Making a fuss to feed him a spoonful, wearing yourself out to calm his crying—that’s excessive care.”
“Oh…”
Hearing it laid out like that, she realized it did seem excessive. Adelen scratched her head awkwardly.
“But… I can’t intentionally treat him badly, can I? He’s not a grown adult; he’s just a baby who doesn’t know anything.”
No matter that he was the crown prince of an enemy nation, a baby was still a baby. That alone was reason enough to treat him with care and kindness. It was only natural.
“He may be a baby, but he’s the crown prince of the enemy. He’s a hostage. Don’t forget that.”
At Rakalt’s pointed remark, Adelen shifted her gaze uneasily.
So how was she supposed to treat him as a hostage?
Should she not comfort him when he cried or feed him when he was hungry?
With no answer coming to mind, she couldn’t respond and only pouted in silence.
“It’s not just about how the crown prince is treated. It won’t do you any good to grow too attached, either.”
“I won’t lose anything by being kind to him…”
“You can see it, can’t you? Your health.”
“…Oh.”
If every time a muscle ached, a bill came out of her wallet, she might recognize the loss more clearly.
But without seeing it, she didn’t feel like she was losing anything.
In truth, even knowing it might be a loss, it didn’t seem like her attitude would change.
“It’s just that, since he’s a baby in my care… I want him to be happy. It’s pitiful enough that he’s been taken hostage in an enemy nation at such a young age; if he’s unhappy on top of that, it’s too cruel.”
“He’s already experiencing more happiness than he deserves.”
“Huh?”
Adelen couldn’t agree with her master’s statement.
“The baby surely had a mother, father, even an uncle at birth. He would have had an excellent nanny and caretaker, too…”
Unless he was like her, born without parents, he was a crown prince born to a family with both parents and blessed by everyone.
If anything, it was more likely that he would have lacked for love
rather than had too much of it.
“The nanny and caretaker who fled as soon as the defense line was breached?”
“?!”
