kscans

Chapter 2 - Prologue ~My Brother's Ordeal, Part Two~

"Humans really are creatures of habit, aren't they?"

Observing the scene before him, Romel muttered with a sense of profound realization.

Pochiko-san hovered at a height just within the toddler's reach, with Chihaya clinging to its rear and being pulled along. Chihaya was laughing happily, while the Little One watched them with a placid expression.

"Did you go with a kill or cure treatment?"

Looking up at Romel, who couldn't hide his wry smile, Chihiro gave a small shake of her head.

"No, it was all Pochiko-san's effort."

The little girl smiled plumply, her gaze wandering into the air as if recalling something.

It seemed that when the other bees arrived, Pochiko-san had stopped the Little One from letting them into the residence.

Pochiko-san had braced herself against the door from the inside, looking up and shaking her head in refusal. Bees other than Merda communicated not with words, but with their thoughts. What she felt from Pochiko-san at that moment was firm rejection.

She's saying not to let the other bees in?

With a puzzled look, Chihiro for the time being asked the bees to stand guard over the residence. The bees, knowing their role, took up positions on the roof and under the eaves, their eyes gleaming brightly.

Smiling wryly at the eager bees, the Little One slipped quietly back inside the house.

Peeking cautiously into the drawing room, Chihiro's eyes fell upon Chihaya, who was clinging to Sakura and refusing to get down on the floor, and Pochiko-san, who was walking slowly around them.

Very, very slowly. The giant honeybee trudged along, keeping a careful distance.

At first, Chihaya had wailed, but he eventually stopped being afraid of the quiet, slow-moving bee, at least from afar. After about three days, he finally let go of Sakura's arm and stepped onto the floor.

Even then, he would run away and glare daggers at Pochiko-san. But gradually, he stopped paying her much mind. Of course, he never approached her himself. But sometimes, the slowly trudging Pochiko-san would appear right beside Chihaya, and the moment he noticed, a scream would erupt, making for lively days at the Drago residence.

After ten days of this hectic routine had passed.

One day, the Little One witnessed a serious-looking toddler and a bee.

Her brother sat on the floor, staring intently at Pochiko-san.

Pochiko-san, for her part, remained perfectly still, not meeting his gaze.

As the Little One watched with bated breath, Pochiko-san's leg gently touched Chihaya's hand. As she moved her leg bit by bit, just barely poking him, Chihaya's hand flinched. Pochiko-san immediately pulled her leg back and curled up sadly.

Pochiko-san hung her head, looking dejected.

Perhaps sensing this, Chihaya's finger hesitantly reached out and touched Pochiko-san's leg. He poked it a few times as if to test it, and then, he grabbed a fistful of Pochiko-san's fluffy fur.

Ignoring the startled Pochiko-san, the boisterous toddler clung to that fluffy fur.

"So soft!"

Clutched in his small hands, invisible tears welled up in Pochiko-san's large eyes.

Chihiro was sure she would never forget the look of pure joy on Pochiko-san's face at that moment.

Pochiko-san's persistence had paid off.

If at first you don't succeed, try a different approach, right?

Chihiro had to take her hat off to Pochiko-san's wise decision to stop her from pushing things further. If the Little One had pressed on as she'd planned, it would surely have become a traumatic event for Chihaya. Now, she could understand that.

People act based on their own standards. They mistakenly assume that what they can do, others can naturally do as well. Just because she was fine with it didn't mean others would be. Chihiro blushed, realizing she had vaguely thought he would get used to it if there were a lot of them around.

That was a close call.

Sticking out her tongue with a tehe pero, the Little One, with an innocent look on her face, joined Pochiko-san and Chihaya.

Little did she know, Naya and Sasha were watching the children and the monster playing happily together with warm eyes.


And so the days passed. About a year later, the Drago residence had become the talk of the town.

After all, it was a mysterious mansion swarming with monsters.

Giant honeybees flew through the sky, a large spring had appeared in the garden out of nowhere, inhabited by numerous frog monsters. And in the surrounding fields and orchards, snake monsters could be seen coiled here and there.

And then there were the cute twins who lived in this clearly unusual residence.

They would run through the kitchen where their father worked, their matching blue and green ponchos fluttering behind them. Sometimes accompanied by monsters, sometimes carrying baskets of fruit and food, the two ran happily through the palace gardens.

Learning from her past failure of showing her shorts, for which Romel had scolded her, the Little One this time had Sakura make her some overalls. What you would call salopette pants today. There was no denim fabric, so they were made of a thick cloth instead. Chihiro's were red, Chihaya's green. They looked exactly like a certain pair of plumber brothers. The only difference was that their hats were hoods.

Sometimes they would play at sword fighting with wooden swords. The sight of the energetic children warmed the hearts of those around them.

Seeing these children flying through the sky, carried by bees, the same words were murmured in unison throughout the palace.

"The Little One?"

A nostalgic sight from a time gone by.

A civil official leaned out of a window to watch. Knights stood staring up at the sky, lost in thought. What they all had in common was a gaze filled with an indescribable longing.

Those two children, watched over by the people of the royal palace with gentle eyes, were Drago's. The baskets they carried must surely be filled with delicious sweets.

Because she was the Little One, after all.

In the capital and the palace, where people were accustomed to monsters, this abnormal situation was met with smiles and goodwill. The Lord of the Forest was alive and well, and the queen and her children were also alive. Such things were bound to happen.

There was no malice in the smiles people exchanged.

But there are always those who scheme, no matter where you are.

And then, the situation took an utterly unexpected twist.

"Huh? Could you please say that again?"

Looking at Drago, whose jaw had dropped in a dumbfounded expression, Romel let out a small sigh and rubbed the bridge of his nose, repeating his words with a fixed gaze.

"I'm saying there's talk of a marriage arrangement between Prince Theodore and Chihiro."

"""Whaaat?"""

The usual members of the group let out a dumbfounded cry, while Sakura looked up at the heavens with an exasperated expression. As always, it seemed the Little One's life was far from peaceful.

It was, in a way, Chihiro's own fault for being a bit too wild, but that was that, and this was this.

"Life is for those who enjoy it," she proclaims, as the Little One continues to forge her own path today♪