PFLWPL 18

The Pegasus Baby Will Be Carefree!

CHAPTER 18………………………………………..

• No…! Uncle, for me…!
• I suppose so. You could give up a mere doll for her. After all, you’ve already stolen far better things from the young lady.
• Thief? No!

Her voice, which had been thinning as if she were gradually losing consciousness, flared up sharply for the first time.

• Anyway. The person you’re going to meet now isn’t like that sinister acting head of the family.
• That thief cuckoo who’s just waiting for all direct Pegasus heirs like the young lady to disappear so he can seize the family headship completely—Ahhhh!

Bang!

The sound of Lin’s backkick hitting, fired in anger at the insult toward her uncle, rang clearly.

Only then did Theodor realize.

• Grrr… You vile, malformed deer—!
• Kyu—uuu—!

A high-pitched cry echoed across the garden.

It wasn’t the desperate scream of a niece, but the rage of someone whose beloved family had been insulted.

“You cursed Uncle Theo!”

Lin’s beloved family. Theodor Pegasus.

Theodor vividly remembered his niece’s puffed-up face, lips pressed together, fuming on his behalf.

Feeling the emotion spreading in his chest like ripples across a still lake, Theodor burst into a bright, clear smile for the first time in a long while.

“You really take after someone.”

The fresh face of a young man in his twenties, usually hidden by a serious demeanor, was revealed with a smile spreading across his well-defined lips.

Theodor gazed at the most recent portrait on the wall of his office and said,

“Ada, my sister. Lin really is your daughter.”

That day, for the first time in a while, Uncle put her to sleep during nap time.

Feeling the hand that gently stroked her hair, Lin fell asleep very happily.

Uncle said he was also happy to have such a peaceful moment in a long time.

Was it because both members of the family were happy?

In her dream, Lin read new content from the original story.

She even turned to pages she hadn’t seen before!

“Oh. So this will be popular in the future?”

Excited by this new knowledge, Lin opened her eyes happily.

“If I bring this trend early, I could make tons of money! Like stocks!”

Unaware that stocks are usually dominated by the color blue, the little girl clenched her fist with hope.

“I’m going to make tons of money! I’ll be rich!”

[Saying that as soon as she wakes up… what a funny kid.]

“Waaah!”

Startled by a sudden sound from behind, Lin jumped and almost fell forward.

“Wh-who’s there?”

A ghost? Could it be a ghost? Something scary entering my room!

As frightened as when she mistook spilled beans for bugs, Lin scanned the source of the sound with a tearful face.

But she found nothing unusual in the room.

‘If I can’t see it, it must really be a ghost.’

Just as Lin, terrified, was about to sprint toward the door, a voice spoke again.

[Child, over here.]

Despite her fear, Lin turned her head, drawn by a word that both irritated and intrigued her.

“I’m six years old! …Huh?”

[Six years old? So you were a tiny baby, huh.]

“Ka…Kamanga?”

With a bewildered expression, Lin stared blankly as her beloved doll floated up from her bed and approached her.

“Kamanga… came to life?”

[What?]

“Amazing, Kamanga! You’re moving on your own? You’re the only doll who could do this!”

Many thoughts raced through Lin’s mind, but the conclusion her mind settled on was closest to what she wished for.

A doll she hugged every night is moving and talking!

She had seen a similar story in a book.

It was about a teddy bear that, full of its owner’s love, would become a doll knight at night and fight nightmares.

Perhaps her doll, like that teddy bear, had gained the ability to move from receiving her love.

Overwhelmed with joy, Lin stretched out her arms.

“Come here!”

[This new divine beast is quite a silly one.]

Intent on hugging her precious doll, Lin was instead met with Kamanga tapping her forehead with its soft plush paw, a change from when it was just an ordinary doll.

Feeling the touch of the plush paw, Lin blinked.

“Divine beast?”

[Yes. I thought it was asleep, but suddenly I felt a surge of divine energy, so I came to see what was happening.]

The doll floated like a real Pegasus, circling around Lin once.

[To think a new divine beast would be born.]

The voice held interest.

Watching her beloved doll fly on its own, Lin tilted her head and asked,

“Is a divine beast… talking to me?”

[Yes. Who else is here besides you?]

“Kamanga, you might not know because you skipped class, but a divine beast refers to the royal family of the Sacred Nation.”

[Royal family? Divine beast family?]

For some reason, Kamanga’s tone carried a sneer.

[A divine beast isn’t that.]

“…How do you know, Kamanga? You were just born.”

[I’ll clear up that misconception first.]

Woosh.

The doll floating in midair suddenly approached Lin’s nose.

A chilling voice, unbefitting its appearance, filled her ears.

[I am not your doll.]

The next moment, Lin saw not her cute beloved doll, but darkness.

All light was extinguished, the color of night filling her vision.

Amid it, golden eyes burned like fire, capturing her gaze.

[Do you understand now?]

“…”

[I am the Black Divine Beast, in charge of half of this world. The black dragon ruling over darkness and decay, Caligoda.]

It sounded like thunder roaring from within clouds.

Overwhelmed by the presence filling the room, Lin’s eyes widened and her mouth opened.

“K-Kamanga! What did you do?”

[What?]

“What did you do to my Kamanga!”

The grandiose talk about divine beasts didn’t impress her as much as the shocking reality: her cherished doll had been possessed by some strange entity.

“Give back Kamanga!”

[No, this is just an object I’m controlling with my consciousness since I can’t move my true massive form.]

“Waaah!”

[……]

The self-proclaimed Black Divine Beast, Caligoda, soon dispersed the illusion filling the room and floated as the small doll, speaking.

It added useless commentary about how dolls have no soul, objects moving on their own are just fairy tales, only increasing the child’s crying, before finally falling silent.

[Stop crying, little one.]

“I’m not a little one!”

[No, I promoted you from baby… Right. Your name is Lin? Good. Lin. I will reveal a secret of the world that no one knows, so stop crying.]

Caligoda, mumbling that he had no skill in taking care of children, commanded like he was shaking candy to calm her down.

Unexpectedly, it worked rather well.

“…A secret?”

Secrets and treasures always catch a child’s attention.

Though a strange ghost had possessed her beloved doll, perhaps, as a special being, it really knew some fascinating secrets.

In Lin’s mind, her deduction seemed quite reasonable.

The transparent golden eyes sparkled with curiosity as if they had never shed a tear.

Their eyes, of a similar color, met.

[Yes. You probably don’t know how incredible this is. There are plenty of people who dedicated their lives just to see me and ask questions.]

“My uncle said not to trust people who talk too much.”

[…You’ve certainly picked up a lot of strange things. You didn’t really know divine beasts from the start, did you?]

“I actually learned about it properly in class!”