CHAPTER 34……………………………………………….
Pegasus’s Baby Wants to Stay Laid-Back!
Episode 34
No matter how many times Lyn tried to persuade him, Theodore never changed his opinion about this matter.
Instead, all she got was his firm promise that he would make it the greatest party on the entire continent.
Hearing that only made Lyn lower her eyes in worry.
Uncle Theo… You’re definitely overdoing it.
They were in a situation so tight that they had to work every single day—
and yet he was trying so hard not to show it to a child like her!
Lyn clenched her tiny fist, firmly resolving that she would absolutely become rich and make her struggling uncle comfortable.
With her determination set, Lyn thought vigorously:
The grand party Uncle worked so hard to open… I’ll make good use of this opportunity!
A chance to showcase her products to all the guests who would visit the party!
Thinking about using the party—something Theodore prepared for her—as a product demonstration hall, Lyn grabbed the doorknob to check the items she had prepared.
Clack.
When she opened the door, Julien—who had already prepared all the ingredients and had been waiting—looked up and greeted her with a bright smile.
“Ah, Lady Lyn! Welcome!”
“Julien!”
Seeing her friend who greeted her so warmly every single day, Lyn ran over with little thudding steps and pressed her forehead against his.
Julien, who had fully learned that this was how beast-folk expressed affection, naturally bent down to rub his forehead against hers.
“So, what are we doing today?”
“Good question, Kay.”
Lyn confidently placed a hand on her hip and raised her other hand with the fingers held neatly together.
“Sir Kay, I hereby appoint you as the official taste-testing advisor for my mocktail business.”
“Ah. I’m honored. But… what does an advisor do?”
Lyn made a grand, ceremonious gesture toward Kay’s towering shoulders as if performing an informal knighting.
Kay matched her movements, bending one knee like he was receiving an official appointment.
“That, that is… drumroll please—taste testing!”
Dun-dun!
Adding her own mouth-made sound effects, Lyn pointed at the table with both hands.
There, lined up in a neat row, were multiple glasses of mocktails—prepared by the kitchen staff following the recipes she had drafted with Julien.
“Whoaaa~”
“Ahem. This is a privilege I grant only to my knight.”
“Thank you sooo much.”
Kay clapped weakly, in his usual low-energy voice.
Proud of her subordinate’s heartfelt gratitude, Lyn puffed out her chest and wiped beneath her nose modestly.
“Hehe. It’s nothing for me.”
“So, which one should I drink first?”
“Oh—wait. We need to write down your evaluation in order.”
Shuffle shuffle.
Once Lyn had finished preparing to take notes, she taught Kay the tasting order.
Kay nodded, then boldly downed the first glass in one big gulp.
“Hmm?”
After swallowing the mocktail, Kay tilted his head, puzzled.
Seeing his strange reaction, Lyn hurried him, anxious for an answer.
“Why, why? Is it bland?”
“No, the taste is about the same as before… hmm.”
“Then what? What’s weird?”
Kay smacked his lips regretfully while looking at the empty glass, then mentioned the difference he noticed.
“You know that time Lady Lyn made one for us at the training grounds? When I drank that, I felt this… surge of strength.”
“Huh? I didn’t put anything like that in there.”
“Really? Then maybe I just got energized because I saw you in the afternoon. It wasn’t just me—everyone was practically flying during afternoon practice.”
“Do knights exaggerate everything once they become knights?”
“Of course not. All knights who’ve sworn their oath behave with honesty as a virtue.”
“Hmm…”
Kay appealed earnestly, insisting there was no lie in his words.
Lyn didn’t exactly trust Kay—who was always so laid-back—but as his friend and fellow knight-order member, she decided to believe him.
So what makes the mocktail I made at the training grounds different from this one?
She had no idea what the reason could be yet, but she decided to keep this variable in mind.
“Anyway! For today’s mocktails, ‘taste’ is the most important part.”
“Ohhh, is that so? They all taste good, though.”
“Hm… So even adults like the flavor. That’s useful.”
Thanking Kay for working so hard drinking all those mocktails, Lyn went back to brainstorming with Julien over the papers.
“Mocktail Debut!”
Lyn wrote the big title at the top and declared solemnly:
“Our goal this time is the kids who come to the party!”
In product terms: Kids’ Mocktails.
Lyn had already learned this from Earth:
Adults always buy better when something has the word ‘kids’ in it!
She still found it funny that adults got hooked on things meant for children.
“The young noble beast-folk kids… just thinking about them is scary…”
Shiver.
A pair of muntjac-like ears popped up from Julien’s head as he trembled.
Startled by the sight of the large round ears fluttering like hummingbird wings, Lyn waved her hands to calm him down.
Recalling all the self-defense techniques she had drilled into Julien after the hunting incident, she reassured him repeatedly that he could escape from any bad guy with 100% success—
…which only made him shake harder when she’d mentioned fighting back, so she avoided that part now.
“Mhm… you’re right! I’ll be somewhere where the nobles won’t even see my nose anyway!”
“Uh… I wish you could enjoy the party too— eek!! —but it’s fine! Staying where you feel comfortable is best!”
Once she calmed trembling Julien again, Lyn picked up the survey results Julien had prepared.
“These are the mocktail preference survey results?”
“Yes. I focused on kids around our age.”
Complimenting Julien for going around the whole village collecting data, Lyn looked through the results.
“Hm… This combination with floaty toppings is pretty popular.”
“Yes! It looks pretty, too. Ah—this one was something everyone thought was really cool.”
“Oho, oho.”
Nodding as she read, a confident smile spread across Lyn’s lips.
Good. At this rate, the mocktail debut will be a success!
She planned to make all the adults clutch their necks in shock—not because she was debuting, but because her product was.
But Lyn, completely absorbed in her business dreams, didn’t realize that.
“Hehehe… hehehehe… I’m going to be rich…”
How did their young lord end up this money-hungry?
Kay’s tired gaze didn’t even land on her excitement-puffed cheeks.
I wish the party day would hurry up and come!
Lyn’s eyes sparkled like stars, full of expectation.
Guest room of Pegasus Lord’s Castle.
Inside the spacious, luxurious room reserved for important guests, one dark color stood out sharply.
A black-haired boy completely contrasting the gold-and-sky-blue Pegasus décor stared quietly at the spot where someone had sat earlier that day.
“Lyn Pegasus.”
Rolling the familiar name on his tongue, Kaidan’s crimson eyes held an emotion even he couldn’t identify.
Calming the unusual, drifting emotions inside him, Kaidan tried to think only about the facts he had figured out.
How did she know I’m looking for someone?
Was it a coincidence that we met at the auction?
If she’s the one who sent me the invitation in the first place, what was her purpose?
His tangled questions coiled like yarn in his mind when an oddly vivid voice echoed through him.
“….”
Kaidan closed his eyes and listened to the echoing voice—
then suddenly opened them wide.
“No idea what her goal is,” he muttered.
She had said ridiculous things like he had the face of someone destined to become her benefactor—what even was face-reading?—
or that she somehow felt she would receive great grace from him in the future, so she wanted to repay it early…
All nonsense explanations for why she wanted to help him.
“I’m on your side.”
Was it because her face was so clear and pure when she said it?
Or perhaps… because it had been such a long time since anyone had said something like that to him, even if it was just empty words.
“I’ll accept the help I need for now, and I won’t forget this debt.”
He decided to understand things only to that extent for now.
Kaidan’s face, always filled with tension, finally relaxed a little.
That night, lying in bed, the boy slept an incredibly sweet, peaceful sleep—something he hadn’t had in a very long time.
