HTPTMOTMM Chapter 12

Wait. Didn't an incredibly harsh evaluation of Minuel just come out of Cheswick's mouth?

Anyway, I'd suspected earlier that Cheswick might be a laissez-faire type of caregiver, but seeing how he worried about Minuel like this, it seemed I'd made an unnecessary misunderstanding. Well, Minuel does seem to have a rather willful personality, so it looks like he just wanders around on his own a lot.

"Still, since he's taken the cold medicine, Minuel should get better once he gets some sleep, right?"

"I don't think this is an ordinary cold."

"Really?"

Cheswick looked back at me while placing a new wet towel on Minuel's forehead. But it made a splashing sound because he hadn't wrung out the water from the towel at all, so water was dripping down Minuel's face.

"Ugh... so, so cold..."

Minuel, who couldn't even open his eyes properly, shuddered.

Hmm, Cheswick really doesn't know anything about nursing. Earlier too, he spoke as if he was seeing someone with a cold for the very first time.

"There must be a reason why this happened so suddenly... Since you're the person closest to Minuel, Mr. Cheswick, do you have any guesses? Something that was different from usual?"

I took the wet towel from Minuel's forehead and wrung out the water in the basin.

While doing so, I subtly probed Cheswick.

"Well..."

Cheswick lowered his voice slightly as if thinking about something after hearing my words.

"Minuel. Did you hear what Lynn said just now?"

His hand gently stroking Minuel's wet hair was quite tender.

"Do you have any idea why you suddenly fell ill like this?"

Minuel was still trembling from chills due to the fever.

"I, I don't know..."

Minuel didn't seem skilled at lying. His voice denying Cheswick's question was clearly tinged with the feeling of hiding something.

I didn't miss the opportunity and while gently placing the wrung-out towel back on Minuel's forehead, I directly probed him this time.

"Did you perhaps do something that goes against the mansion's rules?"

But was it too direct from the start instead of speaking in roundabout ways?

Suddenly the surroundings became very quiet. It was a sudden silence as if even the plants in the room had stopped breathing at once. I even felt like the temperature of the air touching my skin had dropped.

Minuel was staring at me with frozen eyes as if he'd even stopped breathing.

'Huh? Is this something to be so surprised and flustered about?'

It was a bit strange, but anyway, since there was a need to solve Minuel's abnormal condition, I spoke as if I knew everything.

"Sneaking out of your room to do something secret."

"Gasp."

"Right?"

Minuel's wavering pupils showed just how flustered he was right now. I became even more triumphant.

"That, that's... I, I never did such a thing..."

"The purple room."

"What?"

"You heard rumors and got curious, so you snuck out last night and went there, didn't you? Right?"

Don't try to fool me, you cute yellow kitten. I already know this first game episode inside and out because I've played it to the point of boredom.

Of course, this time the progression seems a bit different with Minuel being sick instead of Dian. But anyway, the fact that Minuel was showing these sudden symptoms today, when the first episode was scheduled to begin, was quite a coincidence.

"Yes, yes! I went there, so what!"

Just as expected, Minuel admitted to what he'd done while breathing heavily.

I knew it.

Around this time, rumors about the purple room in the annex would surface within Redford Mansion, and the characters being raised would each go there secretly for different reasons according to their individual personalities—this was always unchanging content in Episode 1.

But since the system was broken and there was no forcing mechanism now, I'd tested it just in case, but it seems this kind of thing remained the same in this version too.

"Ah. The purple room, you mean the one in the annex?"

Cheswick reacted a beat late to the conversation between Minuel and me, as if he hadn't thought of this.

"Minuel, you snuck out of your room in the middle of the night and went there?"

"Yes, yes! I just went to take a look because I heard rumors and was curious! What's wrong with that!"

Minuel shouted loudly instead. But knowing he was in the wrong, his eyes were still shaking anxiously. His face seemed redder than before, probably because his fever had risen from excitement.

Oh dear, this will make his symptoms worse.

"Mr. Cheswick, I think Minuel should rest, so let's go out."

Since this wasn't a cold and wouldn't be cured by nursing anyway.

"Minuel... Lynn's right, so rest for now and we'll talk later."

Cheswick, who had returned to being a melancholy deer after his surprise had passed and worry had set in again, patted Minuel's chest. Minuel made a groaning sound.

But even while doing so, he raised his trembling arm and irritably swatted away Cheswick's hand.

"Change the wet towel once more before you go."

Even with a voice like he was dying, he commanded pettily—that was so like Minuel.

This time too, when Cheswick was about to place the water-soaked towel directly on Minuel's forehead, I had to step in again.

"Well then."

After that, we came out of Minuel's room and I said to Cheswick.

"Meet me at midnight tonight in front of the annex main entrance."

"Pardon?"

Cheswick looked back at me as if asking what I was talking about. I ground the toe of my shoe against the floor with a meaningful smile.

"You're worried about Minuel too, aren't you, Mr. Cheswick? Since cold medicine probably won't cure him, we need to find a way to resolve the most suspicious part first."

Originally, this episode required recruiting one companion from among the game NPCs to go with you.

So far, I'd usually coaxed my roommate Sara Rose to bring her along, but this time, since I conveniently had Cheswick, who was also Minuel's caregiver, it seemed fine to bring him instead.

The higher the favorability, the higher the recruitment probability, so considering efficiency, I'd always just chosen Sara Rose up until now. But honestly, always moving through similar routes had gotten boring.

'That's why I used to rush through the early episodes as quickly as possible because I was sick of them.'

But this time, thanks to an unexpected game error, I had a new character, so it seemed fine to pursue some freshness. Since Cheswick had a reason to go to the purple room because of Minuel, and his favorability wasn't that low, persuading him didn't seem like it would be difficult.

Actually, the opposite was true—since it was Minuel who was sick this time instead of my charge Dian, there wasn't really a reason for me to step forward directly. But even though he wasn't my kid, seeing Minuel suffering like that made me feel sorry and want to help.

Cheswick's initial reaction to my words was lukewarm.

"You're not thinking of going to the purple room in the annex, are you? But we don't even have a key..."

"Why wouldn't we have a key?"

*Jingle.*

When I took out a key from my pocket, Cheswick seemed momentarily speechless.

"I borrowed it earlier."

"The mansion employees gave you the annex key this easily?"

"Of course I borrowed it without saying anything."

He looked deeply impressed by my boldness. I wondered if Cheswick's reaction had been somewhat lukewarm because he was reluctant due to rumors about ghosts appearing in the annex. So I tapped his arm encouragingly to boost his motivation.

Actually, I wanted to pat his shoulder, but he was higher than I thought, so I settled for his arm as a compromise.

"If you're reluctant because of the rumors, just trust me. I'll protect you."

Having been through Episode 1 a full 43 times, even if the progression was a bit different in this version, I should be able to adapt and overcome any difficulties.

My words must have seemed trustworthy, because Cheswick no longer refused to accompany me.

He looked at my confident face and even let out a small exclamation. For a moment, it almost sounded like a sigh rather than an exclamation... Hmm, I must have heard wrong.

Anyway, after promising to meet at the annex tonight, Cheswick and I parted ways.

I kept an eye on Dian until nightfall just in case, but he was perfectly fine. It was truly fortunate that our white baby kitten wasn't sick.

Unlike the kid next door whose health was his only... no, greatest asset, our kid was blessed with love from the patron saint of fragility.

And at 10 PM, I went to give Dian a final goodnight greeting before bed.

"Well, night has come! It's time for good children to go to sleep... Huh?"

But as soon as I entered his room, I was surprised and opened my eyes wide at the scene that met my gaze.

"Oh, is it bedtime already?"

Unexpectedly, Dian wasn't alone in his room.

The children who had been sitting around the table with their heads together looked up at me at the same time. Their faces turning to look at me simultaneously like meerkats were truly sparkling, worthy of being the game's protagonists.

"Wow, it's the new caregiver, big sister."

"Really! Hello!"

Their chirping greetings to me were just like cute chicks.

Dian seemed to be socializing with two other boys.

One was a gentle, cute boy with cotton candy-like pink hair and pale blue eyes, and the other was a mischievous-looking boy with brown curly hair and orange eyes.

The pink-haired boy was Vivi from Room 3, who had greeted me at the welcome party, and the brown-haired boy was Leo from Room 4, who had the elite graduate caregiver. For reference, these two were the children with the highest sociability among the seven children being raised.

"Well then, Dian, it's time to sleep, so we'll be going."

"Let's talk again tomorrow! Sleep well."

The cute children jumped up from their seats and said goodbye to Dian.

"Yeah, you guys sleep well too."

Dian also saw them off quite normally. Seeing that, I unconsciously covered my mouth with both hands in emotion.

"Goodbye, big sis!"

"I'll come play again next time!"

The children who walked over to where I was at the door also politely greeted me.

"Yeah... Come play anytime, kids."

I sent moist eyes to the children leaving the room. What, what! What is this feeling? Is this how parents feel when they first send their child to elementary school?

Or maybe it's like the feeling of having my son's friends visit our house for the first time?

"What, why are you looking at me like that?"

Dian, who had been hastily hiding some paper, flinched when he met my gaze. With wary eyes, he stuffed the crumpled paper into his clothes and spun around suspiciously. But right now, my attention was focused elsewhere too.

"Young Master Dian! Were those kids your friends just now? Did friends usually come visit when I wasn't around before?"

"Wh, why are you suddenly like this?"

"I'm curious about how close you are with your friends!"

Because I'm so moved! I naturally thought our prickly kitten wouldn't have any friends. Of course, I only thought this to myself, knowing that if I said such things, Dian would bristle up like a hedgehog again.

"Well, just so-so. We're not super close or anything, just okay."

Dian mumbled as if this was the first time he'd received this kind of attention. But since he didn't say they weren't friends, it seemed our baby kitten was getting along with other children better than I thought.

"Next time, tell them to come play during the day. We can eat snacks together and... I don't know what kids here do for fun with friends. Card games or ball games or whatever."

"Who does that stuff these days? So childish."

Dian snorted at my words, but even that looked cute. I giggled and poked Dian's cheeks, and he grumbled "Ah, what" while complaining, but even so, Dian didn't push my hands away.

"...Wait, maybe."

Then for some reason, Dian's expression suddenly changed. After thinking about something by himself, Dian whipped around to look at me.

"You're not... interested in them, are you? In those guys."

"I'm very interested."

Of course, they're our kitten's friends.

But there must have been some room for misunderstanding in my words, because suddenly Dian's eyes shook like they'd been hit by rough waves. Then his eyes sharply turned upward.

"They all have caregivers too! And they're really close!"

From that first statement, I understood why Dian had bristled up again.