I’m the Future Crazy Male Lead’s Mother Chapter 44

“Something that Lady Vanilla likes…?”

Elston blinked his vacant eyes a couple of times.

I quickly nodded.

“Yes. I thought you might know Vanilla well, since you spend a lot of time with her and teach her, too.”

“Well, that is true.”

Elston slightly raised the tip of his nose and let out an ahem, despite the fact that I hadn’t even complimented him. I found it a little ridiculous, but since I was the one who needed information from him, I let it slide.

Elston rested his chin in one hand and gently closed his eyes. He looked like he was deep in thought.

“Hmmm. Something Lady Vanilla likes… I don’t know much about young ladies, but Lady Vanilla does seem a little different from the others.”

“Really? In what way?”

Different? What was different about her?

Elston slowly opened his eyes and spoke.

“Usually, young ladies like playing with dolls, house, and other such cute little things, don’t they?”

“Usually, yes.”

I quickly abandoned the idea of trying to lure her in with some of Axion’s dolls.

If she wasn’t interested in dolls, then what was she interested in? Sword fights, perhaps? War games, the kind boys usually liked?

Then Elston casually said, as if he had read my mind,

“But that doesn’t mean she’s interested in war games or sword fighting like young masters are, either.”

“Really…?”

Ugh. Then what on earth did she like?

When I frowned, Elston looked at me and pulled his lips into a sly grin.

Oh, come on. He wasn’t enjoying watching me suffer right now, was he?

As my eyes narrowed, Elston cleared his throat.

“Ahem! Anyway.”

He quickly stood up and walked toward the window, pointing at something with his index finger.

“She’s more interested in things like this.”

“…?”

What he was pointing at was the window.

“You mean she’s interested in architecture? Or interior design?”

“No. Not that… This.”

I immediately walked over to his side to see what he was pointing at. His long index finger was pointing at the part where the window was attached to the wall.

More precisely…

“You mean the hinges?”

“Yes, the hinges. Lady Vanilla is very interested in structures like these. Things created to make life more convenient for humans, I suppose. At the academy, they call this engineering.”

“Oh.”

Engineering.

So… mechanical engineering? Was that what he meant?

That was a field as far removed from me as possible, a thoroughly humanities-oriented person. The confidence I’d had earlier about becoming friends with Vanilla no matter what seemed to deflate like a balloon.

I’m hopeless with that sort of thing.

“But why are you asking about this? Are you planning to give Lady Vanilla a gift? As far as I know, her birthday is still quite a long way off…”

“Hmm. Well, something like that.”

I gave Elston a vague answer and buried my face in my hands.

Sigh. Mechanical engineering, huh? Was there anything like that around here…?

If there was anything that might catch Vanilla’s interest…

“Ah!”

The face of a muscular man suddenly flashed through my mind, and I shot up from my chair.

“Gasp! My Lady? What’s wrong all of a sudden?”

“Thank you, Elston! You’ve been a huge help. I’ll see you later. There’s somewhere I need to go.”

“Wait…”

Leaving Elston behind, I hurriedly borrowed a Siastor carriage and headed for the capital.

It was Axion’s usual naptime, and Carl was probably leisurely drinking eel extract in preparation for his afternoon childcare duties, so there was no problem with me leaving for a while.

Once I arrived in the capital, I practically ran into a shop.

Clang! Clang!

The noisy sound of metal striking metal rang throughout the place.

“Hello?”

It was the shop called “Even You Can Make It—The Buff, Muscle-Packed Machine Shop!”, the same place I had visited before to have agricultural machinery made.

I distinctly remembered what the owner, Ralph, had said back then.

“I bet you’re here to have something like an automatic rotating table for tea time or an endlessly operating fan made. You know, so your makeup doesn’t run from all that sweat.”

An automatic rotating table for tea time. An endlessly operating fan!

What incredibly useful machines.

Ralph could surely make something that would catch Vanilla’s interest!

“Well, look who it is. Long time no see.”

Ralph came lumbering out from the back of the workshop, which was filled with sweltering heat. His hulking physique was just as impressive as ever.

He gave me a quick glance before leaning against the table and scratching the back of his head.

“I haven’t finished the thing you ordered yet. Was it, uh, something urgent?”

I shook my head.

“No. That’s not why I came. I wanted to ask you to make something else.”

“What is it?”

A glimmer of anticipation appeared in Ralph’s eyes.

“C-Could it be that His Majesty needs some kind of machine…?”

“Unfortunately, no. I was wondering if you could make a machine for me.”

“…Hmm. What would it be used for?”

Ralph’s disappointment was written all over his face as he slumped his shoulders and asked. I raised both hands to form a circle, explaining the approximate size, then took the pen and paper lying on the table and sketched its shape.

“Oh. Well, I think it should be about the size of my face, and it should look something like this…”

After listening to everything I had to say, Ralph gave a short laugh and slammed his hand down on the table.

“This is another machine His Majesty needs, isn’t it? This is a piece of cake. I’ll make it right away. Hahaha!”

“Ah…”

Before I could even stop him, Ralph had already disappeared into the back of the workshop.

Come to think of it, would improving Dazar and Vanilla’s relationship have any effect… on the peace of the Empire?

And would that, in turn, help Leticia?

While I was lost in thought, Ralph had already clanged and clattered away before presenting his finished creation with a flourish.

“Th-Thank you?”

“Hahaha! I guess you’re surprised by how fast I am, huh? I may look like this, but this body of mine…”

As I stared at the toy now sitting in my hands, I pretended to listen intently to Ralph’s proud boasting.

Oh. Vanilla might actually like this.

I didn’t bother hiding the grin spreading across my face.

 

***

 

Swish… Whoosh! Whap! Swish! Whoosh!

Once again, the familiar sounds echoed through the area. Surrounded by piles of sand, I sat facing Axion and let out a tense breath.

Vanilla was still incredibly quick, hiding herself every time I subtly turned my head.

Hehe. But today, she wouldn’t be able to resist coming over.

I discreetly pulled out the toy—or rather, machine—I had brought from Ralph’s shop.

“…?”

From far away, I could sense her tilting her head at the toy I had taken out.

Vanilla was starting to take an interest in the toy.

I smiled to myself and held it out to Axion.

“Axion. Today, Mommy brought a very interesting toy.”

“Whoa?”

“Now, this is called an excavator. If you turn this part like this… Ta-da! It digs up the sand all by itself, see?”

“Whoa!”

Flinch!

The twin tails sticking out from beside the tree shook violently at my words. I continued.

“And if you turn this the other way… Ta-da! Now it dumps the sand right here. Wow, isn’t it amazing?”

“Yay!”

“We should let Axion try it, shouldn’t we? But it might be a little difficult for Axion to do it by himself, so it would be nice if someone could help him…”

As I casually let the words trail off, I began to hear the sound of someone running toward us from far away.

Pitter-patter-pitter-patter!

Vanilla, her black hair neatly tied into twin tails, came running toward us with her red dress fluttering behind her. She skidded to a stop right in front of me.

I almost got intimidated by the sheer force of the child’s arrival, but I didn’t let it show.

“Oh my. Lady Vanilla. What brings you here…?”

“I-I can help!”

“Pardon?”

“The excavator!”

Vanilla must have run here at full speed, because she was panting heavily. Her cheeks were flushed bright red, like ripe tomatoes.

“That! I can help you! So… so…”

Vanilla clasped her hands together and shyly lowered her head. She only raised her eyes to glance up at me before timidly asking,

“So… Can I touch it too?”

“…!”

Ghk.

She was too cute.

It was a completely different kind of cuteness, one I could never experience with a baby boy like Axion. Before I even had time to celebrate my success, it felt like my heart had taken a critical hit, and I hurriedly clutched my chest.

I desperately tried to compose my trembling voice, determined not to let Vanilla’s cuteness defeat me.

“Th-Then, of course. Lady Vanilla. Would you like to play with Axion?”

“Mm-hmm!”

“Whoa!”

And so, Vanilla quietly sat down beside me and began playing excitedly with the excavator I had brought.

“Sion! Dis is called an excavator. Got it?”

Perhaps she hadn’t forgotten that she was here under the pretext of playing with Axion. She explained it to him like a proper big sister.

Then, something hanging from Vanilla’s waist suddenly caught my eye.

A doll?

It was a doll about half as tall as Vanilla.