HTPTMOTMM Chapter 32

"Oh my, our young master's fever has almost completely gone down now. But you absolutely must not overexert yourself and should rest well. Understood?"

I spoke while lovingly stroking the face of our precious one, who seemed to be becoming half his size every time I saw him. Dian lay in bed like the protagonist of The Last Leaf, looking at me with melancholy eyes.

"I heard a guest came to see Lynne?"

News about Raphael seemed to have already reached Dian. I opened my mouth to explain about Raphael to him. But Dian's words came faster than mine.

"I heard that when Lynne went to town, she helped a priest who almost had an accident, so the priest came to the manor to repay Lynne."

"Where did that rum— I mean, where did you hear that?"

"No? I asked a maid and she said that's what everyone outside was saying."

Hmm, I hesitated for a moment before just agreeing.

Raphael coming here as a Stella affiliate seemed to be top secret even to him. When Sara Rose asked about his identity, he hadn't honestly said he was a Stella interrogator.

So had Raphael personally fed the manor staff this bogus story that Dian just repeated?

'Anyway, I have many questions about Stella too. Would it be faster to probe Raphael, or to directly search for information once the system loading is complete?'

"As expected, Lynne is amazing. Even outside, you help people like priests. But I... like this..."

Dian mumbled something, but his voice was too quiet for me to hear the rest.

"I can handle my medicine on my own, so don't worry about me and go take care of whatever you need to do."

But seeing his sullen face half-hidden under the blanket, I could tell what he was thinking.

Dian had been feeling depressed ever since the day the seed he brought from the demon's garden after being deceived by Vivi caused problems.

"This won't do. Should I go give him a good beating?"

"What?"

"The person who made our Dian's heart hurt like this! I'll go smack his bottom and come back!"

"Ah! Wait, Lynne...!"

When I got up as if I had made up my mind, Dian hurriedly threw off his blanket and got up to grab me.

Actually, right after that seed bomb incident, I had immediately gone to find Eugenia, the caregiver of Room 3 where Vivi belonged. But after listening to my explanation from beginning to end, she spoke with a face so cold that not even a needle could penetrate it.

"Our good Vivi wouldn't do such a thing. I only believe what I directly see, hear, and confirm. And naturally, I trust the child I've been raising for a long time rather than someone who just entered the manor and has only met face to face a few times. So I'd appreciate it if you didn't slander our Vivi again."

Honestly, since I was sincere about Dian's problem, I got pretty pissed off hearing that. The short-haired intellectual Eugenia, who had made a decent first impression, acted shamelessly while looking at me like I was a troublemaking loach.

But ultimately, Vivi's caregiver was Eugenia. So I thought I might as well take the opportunity to personally smack Vivi's bottom, and I had been plotting it alone.

"Don't do that! What are you planning to do?"

"Oh my, don't worry and just rest. I'll handle it so he can never do mean things again."

"No, don't! I'm fine. Really."

But our good little kitten stopped me.

"Lynne doesn't need to step in. This... in a way, it's a problem that started with me, so I want to try talking about it first."

After hesitating for a moment, a determined light appeared in our lovely sunfish kitten's eyes.

I pursed my lips slightly in dissatisfaction, then deliberately let out a shallow sigh.

"Can't be helped then. You need to get better quickly first. Here, take your medicine."

"Okay."

As planned, Dian, who had been dejected, seemed to perk up slightly and got up to take his medicine himself. I watched with sisterly feelings.

Oh my, our fragile baby is being brave and thinking about having a conversation with his friend—so admirable. I want to take care of everything from one to ten for him, but as a guardian, I shouldn't do that, right?

But I was worried Vivi might do something mean again, so even if Dian really wanted to meet alone with that cute little rascal, I planned to follow along.

Before leaving Dian's room, I checked his status window again.

Dian (12)

• Redford Manor Room 7 member
• Personality: Delicate, kind, sensitive, stubborn, introverted, highly emotional
• Current state: Depressed
• Attribute: Good
• Stats: (inactive)(available from 85% system loading or higher)
• Stress level: 68/100
• Affection level: ?/?(inactive)(available from 70% system loading or higher)

Those stats were provided because Dian was my development target, and the stress level was only visible to me as the player and for Dian whom I was raising.

But that wasn't what was important right now.

When I checked Dian's stress level, tears blurred my vision.

As expected, our delicate sunfish kitten... A stress level of 68. I had never gone above 20 since playing this game.

Moreover, Dian's current stress level had actually decreased from earlier, yet it was still like this. Dian was a development target notorious for being difficult to raise, as his stress level would spike over trivial matters, requiring special attention.

'Still, I'm glad the system partially recovered so I can check his condition.'

Actually, once the system was fully restored, I could just reset and end this cycle since it wasn't something I had originally wanted to start anyway. But the additional settings and scenarios, which seemed to have been carefully renewed, were quite fresh and interesting, so I was thinking of just continuing this cycle as is.

"What are you doing right now, Lynne Dorchester?"

Shortly after leaving Dian's room, I encountered someone standing in front of the door.

I had sensed earlier that the door to Dian's room was opening soundlessly, so I had suspected someone was eavesdropping on us. So I wasn't surprised when Raphael appeared as soon as I came out into the hallway.

But the moment I saw Raphael looking down at me with crossed arms and merciless eyes, memories of being tormented by a nasty supervisor at work came flooding back.

[Stress level increased by 1. (5/100)]

"Naturally fulfilling my duties at Redford Manor, Senior."

"You call nursing some kid that?"

"Senior, don't you know what a caregiver is?"

I looked at Raphael with pitying eyes. Raphael glared at me as if offended.

"You seem to be too immersed in doll play, so I'm warning you. You must know that the children raised at Redford Manor are like forbidden fruit."

No, I don't know.

"Don't get attached, Lynne Dorchester. After all, you're nothing but a lowly butcher wherever you go, so there's nothing you can have."

Oh my, even the way he speaks sarcastically resembles my supervisor. Why didn't I notice when I first saw him?

'Now I see this guy was also from the shut-up-Malfoy family.'

Then there are probably many people besides me who want to hit this guy in the back of the head.

I inwardly clicked my tongue while looking at Raphael, who was only decent on the outside.

"Lady Lynne!"

Then Sara Rose appeared before me again. She seemed to be in such a good mood from seeing a clergyman in person that she was still radiating an excited atmosphere.

"Oh, Father, you were here too. Since such an honored guest has come to the manor, the cook showed off his skills and prepared a feast. So please come to the dining room now..."

"Not necessary."

"Pardon?"

"You think I'd put such trash from a lower world in my mouth?"

Raphael spewed another personality-broken remark.

But then Sara Rose sighed regretfully and said something that didn't match the context.

"Ah, you're in the middle of a fasting prayer... That's too bad. Our cook really put a lot of effort into it."

At that moment, I roughly understood what Raphael had mentioned earlier about the guide issued by Stella appropriately translating and conveying their words to others.

"Senior, such words are quite rude to the Archbishop."

"What?"

"The person who enjoys collecting trash from lower worlds would be quite delighted to hear that."

This time I openly clicked my tongue as I passed by him. The last I saw of Raphael, he was blinking in bewilderment with a look as if he'd been caught off guard.

"Lady Lynne, Lady Lynne."

Sara Rose, who had followed me, whispered quietly.

"Um, how about asking the priest to treat Lord Dian? Since he came to express his gratitude to Lady Lynne."

Sara Rose's eyes sparkled innocently like a child's.

Certainly, clergy would be welcome anywhere unless they were demon worshippers. After all, even the holy water used daily at this Redford Manor could only be made by clergy.

But Sara Rose, you don't know... This guy who only has an angelic name isn't a real priest, so it would be useless.

"Unfortunately, when he's in the middle of a fasting prayer, he can't use divine power."

"Ah, I see. I wanted to see the priest personally bestow blessings, but that's too bad."

Sara Rose became dejected.

"Then Lady Lynne, what about dinner? Some caregivers and young masters from other rooms went to the dining room thinking the priest might come down."

"Is that so?"

Dian was currently sleeping after taking his medicine, so I planned to have dinner with him later when he woke up. But since the system was on, hearing that several other caregivers had gathered in the dining room made me interested.

"I'll stop by for a bit too."

So I headed to the dining room.

"Excuse me, you dropped this handkerchief."

Almost reaching the dining room, I found a white lace handkerchief on the floor. I picked it up and called to the person walking ahead.

Then a woman with green hair raised her eyebrows and turned to look at me.

"What, acting friendly out of nowhere?"

"Do I have to hear that for picking up one handkerchief? I really don't like people who think they've made friends over something like this."

"That goes for me too!"

Olivia got indignant at my words, then pursed her lips tightly before opening her mouth again.

"So why are you uselessly talking to me whether I drop my handkerchief or not? Did you forget how you badmouthed me last time?"

"You've strangely distorted your memory. I haven't forgotten how you badmouthed me."

A while ago, Olivia and I had a slight argument when she first gossiped about Dian. But even before that, her relationship with me wasn't particularly amicable, so nothing had really changed.

"Well, if you want, I can step on it again right now?"

I asked "Would you like me to?" while pretending to drop the handkerchief I was holding to the floor. But before I completely let go of the lace fabric, Olivia snatched it away.

"I won't say thank you. I'll forget about last time because of this."

No, you don't have to.

But was it my imagination? Olivia's attitude toward me today seemed the most gentle it had ever been.