Chapter 1
I am! The Carrot Class Leader of Bbeokkeum Bbeokkeum Daycare!
This child was not his daughter.
“What… is this supposed to be?”
“It is a lifeform that Your Excellency must raise. In other words, a daughter.”
Diegon pressed his forehead at his adjutant’s explanation.
He had just returned last night after wiping out a group of pirates. It had been six months since he last came home.
And now, after waking up, he suddenly had a daughter.
He stared at the thing with wide, round eyes, unsure how to describe it.
A baby crab.
A baby starfish…?
“A baby sea squirt?”
The child puffed her cheeks as if she disliked that.
It was absurd enough that someone her age understood what a sea squirt was, but even more ridiculous were those soft, puffed cheeks.
What is that… why does it look like it might burst?
There was even something on her face that looked… delicious.
“Butter? Did they even spread butter on it so I could eat it?”
“Your Excellency, the child will cry! You already look scary enough!”
The adjutant, Karmine, hurriedly covered the child’s ears.
But the child wrinkled her nose as if she had already understood everything.
For such a tiny thing, clearly expressing likes and dislikes was oddly amusing.
“You didn’t just pick her up somewhere, did you?”
“Of course not.”
“Then?”
“She was chosen by the ancestral whale. Please accept her. She is said to be the most promising resonator of this generation.”
Diegon frowned slightly.
The child, who had been staring at him, copied his expression.
That was ridiculous, so he turned his gaze to Karmine, who quietly added—
“She’s said to be much smarter than others her age.”
“Hah.”
“She already has a spot where a Bijou will grow. That’s the teacher’s testimony. She’s definitely an ‘Awakened.’”
Bijou.
Proof of an “Awakened.”
But in his entire life, Diegon had never heard of a four-year-old having a Bijou spot.
Even if he accepted that…
“Why me? It would be better to send her to my eldest sister, who has no children.”
He already had two sons.
And… he had once had a youngest daughter.
Seven years ago, he had lost both his wife and daughter in an unprecedented storm — a well-known story.
And after that, he had gone mad, roaming the seas and destroying every pirate den he could find.
“Ahem. There is a message from the head of the family.”
As if sensing his refusal, the child’s expression slightly brightened.
Wait… brightened?
What kind of child would be happy when the person meant to be her father didn’t want her?
And this child hadn’t cried at all. She was calm, as if this strange and uncomfortable situation was familiar.
That wasn’t normal for a child… no, for such a tiny baby.
A strange discomfort settled in Diegon’s chest, and he closed his mouth.
He hadn’t done anything wrong, yet it felt like he had done something he shouldn’t to the child.
Pink hair… of all things. It reminds me too much of my daughter.
But this child could never be his lost daughter.
“The head said: ‘That reckless fourth son—if he gets a daughter again, maybe he’ll finally live like a human!’”
Diegon let out a sigh, half-listening to Karmine.
Yes.
This child was not his daughter.
If she were alive, his daughter would be nine this year.
* * *
Wow, he’s big.
That was my first thought when I saw the man.
Big.
Really big.
Extremely big.
Then I thought—
He’s really handsome.
When he called me a bumpy sea squirt, I was a little hurt…
I almost cried a little…
But I held it in.
Because!
Because!
I am the class leader.
Ehem.
Even though I was brought here without even wiping the butter off my cheeks, I was still the leader of the Carrot Class at Public Bbeokkeum Bbeokkeum Daycare.
So I have to be brave. There must be some mistake.
I even know difficult words like “mistake.”
I read them in real books, not those baby storybooks.
It was from a book called “Mom and Baby Bake Yummy Snacks!”
Why did I read that?
Because the Carrot Class kids are destined to become kitchen maids or servants!
You could say I was preparing in advance.
And I had no complaints about that life.
Public Bbeokkeum Bbeokkeum Daycare is a place that raises and feeds children who lost their parents to pirate raids.
It even carefully prepares jobs for our future!
Since the moment I strangely gained awareness, I could understand words and was much smarter than other kids.
So I immediately asked—
And I made sure to pick the kinder-looking man, not the scary handsome one.
“Ajjii, can I cook now?”
“Huh? When you become a young lady, the maids will do that.”
KUUUNG!
(That was my dream!)
The Carrot Class teacher was my favorite person.
I really wanted to wear that long hat only teachers could wear!
I wanted to say that, but even though my thoughts were mature, my words didn’t come out well.
My body was even smaller than other kids.
I was the smallest in the Carrot Class.
Height, size, hands, feet—
People could mistake me for two or three years old.
But I’m four!
“So, little one.”
Just as I was becoming very serious about my threatened future—
* * *
Diegon asked out of courtesy,
“What’s your name?”
“Chuu……”
“Chu?”
The child shook her fluffy pink hair and spoke again.
She even sighed, as if explaining something he failed to understand.
“Nooo, Chuu. Chu! U!”
“Shu, I see.”
There was no way someone’s name was “Chuu.”
Diegon came to a very logical conclusion.
The child puffed her cheeks in dissatisfaction, but he ignored it.
Though… he kind of wanted to poke those cheeks and make her cry.
“Small thing… quite like an angry crab.”
The child’s clear eyes trembled greatly.
Kuuung!
(It felt like she was deeply shocked.)
For some reason, his chest felt uncomfortable again.
He thought it was a fitting comparison.
His sons would have laughed at that.
Diegon glared at his clicking-tongue adjutant.
He’s just a bachelor. I handle kids better.
“How old are you?”
“Fourr.”
“Four? And you still can’t speak properly.”
He casually said that, thinking of the monstrous children in his family.
Even his sons rode dolphins at four.
Or ran wildly across the sea.
One even pulled out a mermaid’s reverse scale and ran away.
That caused quite a bit of trouble with the mermaids.
But this one…
Didn’t seem like that kind of child at all.
“They didn’t send you to be eaten… but I don’t know where to use you.”
Diegon looked at the name tag on her chest.
A bright sunflower-shaped tag with the word “Leader” written on it.
And like a true leader, she began to appeal to him.
“I… have something to say.”
So maybe it wasn’t true that she didn’t want to be his daughter.
Because that made no sense.
Who in the world would reject the chance to become a noble?
“I… bake snacks well.”
“Hm. And?”
“And… I also eat well. So I’m chubby.”
“Useless. I don’t eat sweets. I hate them.”
“Then…?”
“Instead, I eat children who don’t listen.”
KUUUNG!
That was the third Kuuung.
It was so funny he almost laughed.
He awkwardly touched the corner of his lips.
He couldn’t even remember the last time he laughed.
What was this?
His expression quickly hardened again.
“Send her back. Prepare it.”
“Y-Yes……”
“Answer properly.”
“Yes, Your Excellency.”
That senile father of his must want a friendly fistfight after so long.
Grinding his teeth, he thought—
The child wasn’t at fault.
But bringing a child that reminded him of his daughter…
He couldn’t tolerate that.
However, a moment later—
For the first time in his 37 years of life,
Diegon was rejected to his face.
Before he could even refuse to accept her as his daughter—
“I… won’t be that ajjii’s daughter. I will bake snacks.”
Diegon’s pride took a hit.
This cheeky little thing…
