Chapter 6
Just thinking about that tiny head filled with who-knows-what, that cheeky and cunning little brat, was enough to sour his mood.
Serena rolled her eyes dramatically, then approached and sat down on Ravian’s lap.
She gently stroked his tattooed, muscular arms and chest with soft hands.
Serena was a young lady from a fairly prestigious noble family in Rojas.
No one in high society, where she was known for her shyness, could ever imagine her in a situation like this with a thug of a fallen prince.
“I was just curious. Even if she’s Merci’s little sister, I can’t imagine you guys with a kid. Especially you—you used to hate children, didn’t you?”
“You talk like you know everything about me.”
“Then do you know everything about me?”
“I might not know everything, but I know these parts well enough.”
The robe that had been barely hanging on fell to the floor.
Purring like a cat, Serena took Ravian’s hand.
Just as the two were getting entangled—
“Uwaaaagh…!”
“Kyaaah!”
Crash!
They both tumbled to the floor together.
They were so startled they let out involuntary screams.
“What the—why is a kid suddenly here…?”
Ravian cursed under his breath, quickly pulled up his pants, stubbed out his cigarette, and closed the ashtray lid.
He couldn’t understand why he was suddenly so concerned about cigarette smoke.
“Ahaha, hello?”
Serena gave an awkward laugh while hastily pulling on her robe. Meanwhile, Nina, who no one knew how long had been standing there watching, spoke calmly.
“You can keep going if you want.”
“……”
Serena was speechless and looked at Ravian.
Ravian stared at Nina, dumbfounded.
But Nina genuinely meant it.
She didn’t understand why adults did that kind of thing, but it wasn’t the first time she’d seen it.
Since she was a baby, Nina had lived in the First Princess’s palace—a place rarely visited or inspected. The maids and knights stationed there had no qualms about engaging in those kinds of acts, even if she was crawling nearby.
So she had grown used to it.
Of course, Ravian, who had no way of knowing such background, just thought, “What kind of devilish brat behaves like this?”
Technically speaking, the blame lay with Ravian, who had brought in a young hostage and still behaved as carelessly as ever.
And as always, Ravian lacked any self-awareness.
“You… just, whatever. Why are you here?”
“……”
Nina hesitated, glancing between Ravian’s irritated face and Serena.
Suddenly, she thought Serena somewhat resembled the older version of Estella she had seen in her vision.
Not in appearance, but in the atmosphere—or maybe the vibe.
More precisely, she felt similar to Diana.
‘So Ravian likes that type of woman, huh?’
Feeling inexplicably heavy-hearted, Nina turned her head away with a pout.
“I just took a wrong turn.”
After barging in and giving everyone a scare, Nina casually tossed out a lame excuse and walked off. Ravian stared after her blankly.
‘Is she doing this on purpose?’
He was seriously starting to suspect it.
If anyone else had acted like that, he’d have broken every bone in their body by now.
And yet, that clueless little brat—what gave her the guts to act like that? Was she underestimating him that much? The more he thought about it, the more he felt that maybe she had every reason to.
He was going insane.
“Wow, kids these days are something else,” Serena said in awe, shaking her head.
Feeling suddenly drained, Ravian slumped onto the sofa.
“What’s wrong, Ravy? Tired all of a sudden?”
“……”
“How old did she say she was?”
“I don’t know. Stop asking already.”
Irritation welled up.
And what irritated him even more was not knowing why he was so irritated.
Was it normal to feel this upset over a six-year-old snot-nosed kid…?
“Coming to bed?” Serena murmured as she ran her fingers through his hair and snuggled up to him again.
But for some reason, Ravian didn’t feel like doing anything anymore. He shook off her clinging hands roughly.
“I’m just gonna go.”
“Bye then.”
“God, you’re such a bastard.”
Only realizing that now?
Ravian closed his throbbing eyes.
* * *
Kiss groaned as he looked at the untouched food on the table.
Veal steak, fresh salad, lobster, salmon mousse, and more.
The dinner had been delivered from a top-tier restaurant owned by the gang, where a first-rate chef was always on duty—it was a lavish spread.
But Nina hadn’t taken a single bite. She asked where the hall was, then soon came back asking where the bedroom was, and disappeared again.
Naturally, Kiss was frantic.
“Why didn’t she eat…?”
He thought the food would be more than worthy of a princess’s palate, especially since even Ravian was satisfied with it. Relying on that thug boss had clearly been a mistake.
Kiss left the dining room and headed toward the bedroom he’d shown the child earlier.
The door was half-open, so he peeked in—and quickly recoiled in shock.
There, by the bed where Nina lay turned away, was the familiar mint ponytail of Mira, shimmering softly.
Mira had a habit of beating him up for no good reason.
And Kiss was not into being beaten.
Still, leaving a precious child hostage alone with someone like Mira didn’t sit right with him either.
‘She ditched us and ran off before, and now she’s suddenly playing caretaker?’
Pressed up against the door, Kiss watched Mira suspiciously. Then he asked blankly,
“What the hell are you doing…?”
“Wow… this kid is so pale. Have you ever seen a child this clean?” Mira replied, not even turning her head as she crouched by the bed, intently admiring Nina.
Anyone walking in would completely misunderstand the scene.
“She’s a princess. You think she’s the same as kids from the slums?”
“Really? Hah, I guess noble brats shine differently. She’s adorable. Like a doll.”
Watching Mira gush over the sleeping child, Kiss clicked his tongue.
“One more word and I’m dragging you out.”
“Says the kidnapper.”
“Watch your mouth around the baby. You ran away first—when did you get so interested in kids?”
“Idiot. I’ll have you know I was once a girl head-of-household who almost took a nanny job.”
Even a transparent dragon wouldn’t hire Mira as a nanny, but Kiss wisely kept his doubts to himself.
Instead, he just walked away to refill his rapidly draining nicotine levels.
Just then, Merci approached.
“Holy crap, you here to admire her too?”
“What?”
Merci’s beautiful face twisted into a confused expression. Kiss felt embarrassed for no reason.
“Never mind that—what do we do? The baby hasn’t eaten a thing. The meal was from that fancy restaurant. What went wrong?”
“Did you ask the boss?”
“…No. Looked like he had company.”
It was obvious what kind of ‘company’ that was.
As Kiss sighed and swallowed a curse, Merci gave a troubled smile.
“Really? That’s bad. I just thought of a big issue.”
“What now?”
“Clothes.”
“…What?”
“We didn’t prepare any clothes for the child, did we?”
A silence followed.
Kiss stared blankly at Merci before muttering,
“Babies… need to change clothes…?”
“Kiss. We’re absolutely hopeless, aren’t we?”
“Damn it. Yeah. Who the hell are we supposed to turn to…?”
