Chapter 67: You’re So Cute!
That morning, the little dummy was missing for the first time.
It was odd, both her behaviour from the evening before and the weird connection between her and the head maid.
Thus, this morning, Hilda made sure to come early.
And she wasn't there.
Her bedroom was empty, untouched from the day before.
The covers were still messed up in the same way as they had been left right after Hilda had made her exit.
Was it suspicious?
Yes.
Yes, it was.
The little dummy is sick. The little dummy shouldn't be moving around without Hilda by her side.
Yet, nonetheless, the little dummy wasn't there; nor were there any instructions on what she should be doing in the meantime.
It was eerily quiet.
No weird awakening by the Alora of Light nor oddly fun teasing by the little dummy; Hilda felt a sense of unease trickle down her spine, it didn't feel good.
Something was wrong.
But she could do nothing about it.
She could only clean the room and pray for the best.
Then, that same evening, a day after the little dummy went missing...
Hilda heard it.
A cry.
A gut-wrenching, heart-tearing cry that could rend even the stiffest hearts asunder.
...It came from the little dummy's room.
Tidying her clothes, Hilda stepped closer to the door...
[Waaa-!!!]
...and the cries grew louder, more painful.
And she recognised that voice; a voice belonging to a tiny girl whose bearing seemed vaster than the vessel she occupied.
Yet.
Hearing that voice;
That childish, pained voice;
'Little dummy.'
Hilda clasped the door handle and slipped into the room.
There, she found the source of the cries.
She lay in bed, curled up, caked in blood and was pouring her soul out into the covers. The little dummy was tiny, smaller than usual; her usual demeanour and playful white eyes were lost in the sorrow of her sobbing.
Hilda had told her, hadn't she?
"That I'll be there, you can rely on me..." Muttering to herself, Hilda walked over to the side of the lost little girl.
There, she embraced her.
Gently overlapping her figure over the small girl, relaying her warmth and absorbing the sorrow oozing from the little dummy's pores.
"There, there... Think good thoughts, little dummy."
---
W, wait...
I wiped the tears from my face; the palpitations pounding at me from the inside out clouded my already muddled thoughts.
"...M, my face-"
I tucked my face into my hands, hastily covering this creature's vile visage from Hilda's sight. I couldn't let her see this disgusting face, this copycat filled to the brim with Curses.
But...
"Little dummy."
Hilda's stern voice rang loud and clear in my eardrums.
Her warm fingers lapped over mine as she lifted my head; her ruby-red eyes gently stared into my white pair.
"It's fine."
...What is?
Hilda's fingers slipped past mine, they rubbed the tears from my cheeks and wiped the dried, crusty blood off my chin.
"You can cry."
Touch.
Her forehead came into contact with mine, her face, her pores, her loving eyes;
Out of everything in the veil of tears covering my vision, only Hilda remained clear. I could make out every feature of her face.
"I'm here now."
Those words.
Those eyes.
These feelings.
"...Really?"
I asked.
And she:
"Mhm."
She confirmed.
Then, my heart settled.
And the dried tears began overflowing once more.
Except this time, I was no longer drowning.
-----
Holding the little dummy's puffy little face in her hands, Hilda got to witness the little dummy pout for the first time.
And...
'S, so-'
Her lips rose to her ears as she chuckled, "So cute!" Those words came out naturally as she stretched and pulled the little dummy's face.
Puffy, tear-stained cheeks, a cute nose and well-balanced lips; her face was so adorable!
"N, no I'm not..." The little dummy's voice came out quietly, she tried to turn her head to the side-
'Nope!'
-but Hilda wasn't going to let her.
It was a waste to hide that cute face.
There was a question lingering in her mind, though, "Say, little dummy, why do you look the same as Lady Esme?" She knew that they were sisters, and she'd always assumed that the little dummy was the younger one.
And yes, sisters would look similar, but-
To have the exact same face? How was that possible?
Pouting and stuck in Hilda's grasp, the little dummy gave her an exasperated look, "We're identical twins, of course we look the same."
Question marks flew out of Hilda's head.
'Twins? Identical?'
She almost couldn't comprehend the meaning of those words.
"Seriously? You're twins?"
The little dummy tilted her head slightly. "You didn't know?"
"Of- Of course I didn't! You didn't tell anyone!"
With that in mind, the little dummy seemed to finally realise something crucial that she and Lady Esme had kept from the others by accident.
"We didn't tell anyone that we're twins?"
"You didn't!" Hilda's shock was palpable.
The little dummy contemplated for a few more seconds... "Huh, we didn't, did we?" Her nonchalance tempted Hilda to give her a love tap to the head, but she relented.
It wasn't a big deal, because:
'The little dummy isn't crying anymore.'
That was all she wanted, and the little dummy had granted her that small wish.
'No wonder the little dummy is so pretty.' Hilda hadn't paid attention to the similarity in Lady Esme's and the little dummy's looks back then; she was too preoccupied with the weird way she was acting.
But now, everything was starting to fall into place.
The reason why the little dummy seemed to appear out of nowhere, yet in her first appearance, she was already all grown up;
The reason why the sisters were so close and the Lady Esme was so attached to her;
And the reason why the little dummy wore the mask;
'The little dummy wanted to hide that they are twins, didn't she?'
The girls may have identical faces, but their bodies are completely different. The little dummy was undeveloped, while Lady Esme was growing wonderfully; it was hard to piece two and two together.
Everyone had likely been assuming that the little dummy was the secret little sister of Lady Esme, a new child born from His Majesty and the Mistress, but a twin? No one would have guessed that.
'...But.'
Squeeze.
Pinching the thin bubbles of fat on the little dummy's face, Hilda chuckled, "You're not crying anymore, little dummy!"
"E, eh?" Seemingly stupefied, the little dummy pulled a funny face then grumbled again with another cute pout.
And, inevitably:
"Cute! Little dummy is so cute!"
"I, I'm not!"
The little dummy tried to deny it, even pounding at Hilda's chest with her balled fist, creating small thudding noises as they collided with her bosom.
"Very cute."
Embarassed, the little dummy fizzled into Hilda's embrace, tucking her face into her chest and breathing tickly onto her abdomen, "Hey! That tickles!"
Amused, the little dummy amplified her breaths and wrapped her arms around Hilda's waist; she wasn't going to let her escape!
"Take this, hooo~"
The little dummy squeezed 'tight' around Hilda's waist, blowing ticklish breaths of air into her abdomen-
"Pft- H, hey! Stop- Hahaha!!!"
Hilda exploded with laughter; her belly was a weak point that she didn't expect to have when it came to tickling!
Her hands patted the little dummy's back, but she was stuck in a conundrum. If she used force to peel the little dummy off, it would hurt the little dummy, but if she didn't get the little dummy off, then-
"Hahahahaha!!!"
-the soft caress of warm air clung to her skin as it vibrated through her maid's outfit.
But, just as the tickling almost turned into torture, the little dummy backed off.
"See, I dare you to say something stupid again." She held a cheeky grin on her tear-stained, blood-caked face. The little dummy poked Hilda's face, daring her to pull off another one of her jokes.
"Okay, okay..." Breathing heavily, Hilda steadied her breath as she exited the state of hyperventilation.
Wiping her tear-filled eyes, Hilda patted the little dummy's head, "Shall we wash you up? Your face and clothes are dirty, someone as cu-"
A piercing gaze shot out of the little dummy's white eyes.
"Ahem! I mean, someone as sick as you shouldn't stay dirty. It might make you more sick, okay?"
The little dummy shot her scrutinising gaze, but relented, "...Fine."
Sighing, the little dummy lifted her tired limbs and pointed at the scattered crutches, "Pass them over, I'll go wash up- Kyaaa!"
"What's wrong?" Hilda asked with a confused face.
"W, what do you mean-!"
Nonetheless, Hilda was still, all she had done was...
'Hm.'
Hilda glanced at the little dummy who was staring at her with anger in her eyes. Now she was worried that she had done something wrong.
All she did was pick up the little dummy in the form of a princess carry, her left arm tucked neatly behind the little dummy's lower back, and her right arm held her knees. Luxurious strands of golden hair fell across Hilda's left elbow, veiling over the arm like a waterfall.
With swollen cheeks, tears and blood staining her adorable face, the little dummy was glaring menacingly at Hilda.
Thus, Hilda arrived at a seemingly rational conclusion:
"Don't worry, little dummy, you're light. Not heavy at all."
The little dummy must have been worried about being heavy.
"...Oh my days." Then, the little dummy's white eyes dilated momentarily before relaxing;
She gave up.
'Whatever, let her do what she wants. I'll get my vengeance later.'
Hilda carried the little dummy over to the bathroom, opened the lockless door, and stepped into the bathroom. She had cleaned the bathroom this morning, even replacing the old, shattered mirror.
Plus, she brought a comfortable stool inside just in case a situation like this one would arise.
"Just put me down in the bathtub and leave, I'll take care of the rest." So the little dummy said...
But Hilda tilted her head with confusion.
"What are you talking about? I'm going to wash with you, you're not fit for washing on your own."
...Once those words registered in the little dummy's ears, her head exploded with rising plumes of steam.
She overheated.