The Cub Raised in a Horror Game - Chapter 14 - The Messy Baby

Inia stared at the bowl of milk in Dreist’s hands, its sweet fragrance holding her gaze hostage.
As a baby, she had never tasted real milk in her life.

On the 36th floor, she had first survived on her own egg yolk and powdered shell, then later on biscuit mash and vegetable or meat purées.

In the Ocean’s world, the Ocean seemed to be a Lord who had no need for food at all, so It never considered giving her anything else to eat. Its attention was firmly on building her a palace and occasionally feeding her power.

So the instant Dreist lifted the spoon, the baby eagerly and impatiently opened her mouth, waiting for him to feed her with bright anticipation.

Dreist, performing childcare for the very first time, froze slightly as the spoon touched her lips. His posture was awkward, unsure of what he was supposed to do.

Was he meant to pour the milk into her mouth like pouring wine? Or…

Before the young man could figure it out, the baby pushed her head forward, opening her mouth on her own. She swallowed the tiny spoonful of milk in one quick gulp.

She smacked her lips. Then she looked up at Dreist in stunned disbelief.

What is this? How can something taste this good?!

“Mmm!”

Inia opened her mouth again, urging Dreist to hurry and continue. But the Vampire Lord’s movements were clumsy, and after a few spoonfuls he simply couldn’t keep up with her.

Perhaps irritated by how slow and awkward his feeding was, the baby crawled toward him. Propping one little hand on Dreist’s leg, she lifted herself slightly and reached out to grab the bowl in his hand.

The man quickly raised it out of reach. Inia missed, tumbling forward until her head bumped directly into his chest. Dreist had just let out a tiny sigh of relief when he suddenly felt the front strands of his long hair being pulled.

The baby had failed to catch the bowl and was about to whimper—until she was utterly mesmerized by the vampire’s golden hair hanging before her.

Dreist’s golden hair was as smooth and beautiful as silk. Leaning comfortably against his chest, Inia reached out with curiosity, caught a single strand, and began to play with it.

Everything in this world seemed endlessly fascinating to the baby. Helpless, the man tapped the rim of the bowl with the spoon, trying to pull Inia’s attention back—and rescue his endangered hair at the same time.

Inia stayed nestled in Dreist’s arms, refusing to let go of his hair. She clutched a handful of his golden strands in one hand while patiently waiting to be fed with the other, her angelic little face looking sweet, innocent, and perfectly obedient.

The vampire had no way to argue with a baby and could only continue feeding her like this. The baby drank all the milk, one small sip after another.

Slowly, Dreist’s movements became more natural. When the milk was gone, Inia still seemed unsatisfied. She whimpered softly, clearly wanting more.

But the Vampire Grand Duke’s rapport with her was still low. He didn’t realize she wanted another serving of milk and instead brought over the fruit sitting on the side table.

“Can a child this age eat fruit…?” Dreist murmured, hesitating as he peeled an orange.

He separated a slice, remembered at least to remove the white pith, and then placed it into the baby’s hand. But Inia didn’t move.

The baby and the vampire stared at one another. Dreist, confused, lightly lifted the tiny hand holding the orange, hinting that she should try it.

But Inia was frozen by shock. Was she dreaming? Had she suddenly been granted freedom?

It was natural for infants to put things into their mouths, a sign that they were growing and beginning to explore the world. Since her milk teeth had come in over the past two months, her brothers and sisters watched her closely whenever she played with toys, making sure she didn’t try to chew on anything she shouldn’t.

This was the first time someone had actually allowed her to bite something.

She lowered her gaze and examined the soft orange segment in her hand for a moment, then stuffed it into her mouth and bit down with her newly grown teeth — but it didn’t break.

Fruit was extremely rare on the 36th floor and could only be obtained through trade in the city. The children never bartered there, so the baby had never eaten fruit before and didn’t even know how hard she needed to bite.

She took the segment out again and stared at it. Both the orange and her tiny hand were covered in glistening saliva. Dreist finally realized his mistake. He reached out to take it back, but the baby refused and shoved it right back into her mouth.

After chewing for a little longer, the orange segment finally split, and sweet juice burst across her tongue. Inia froze, stunned by the taste. When she began biting again, she used noticeably more force, scrunching her whole face with determination.

It was delicious. How could anything be this delicious?

For the next few minutes, Inia was wholly absorbed in her battle with the orange, completely forgetting about the Vampire Lord she was leaning against.

Someone like Dreist, a ruler who stood at the pinnacle of power, was no doubt used to being the center of every gaze. Even within his dungeon, he must have always been the core, the one others dared not ignore.

But a baby cared nothing for such status. Her world was brutally simple: she saw only those who treated her kindly, and beyond that, only herself existed.

A baby raised in a normal, healthy environment will always first satisfy her own needs instead of watching expressions and suppressing her nature.

So, the Lord of Darkness could only act as her temporary attendant, gently wiping saliva and juice from her mouth and tiny hands with a handkerchief as she worked hard on her orange.

Dreist thought he would find this difficult to bear, that he would have to endure it; yet when he actually began tending to her, he felt no discomfort. Perhaps Inia was simply too adorable.

Watching her sit so obediently on his lap, eating seriously from his hand, a strange feeling slowly rose in his chest. He couldn’t quite name it, but feeding her was strangely soothing, lifting the shadows from his mood.

Although the baby completely ignored him, he felt he could watch her like this for a very, very long time.

After a while, when she had sucked nearly all the juice from the segment and was about to chew on the thin peel, Dreist swiftly took it away.

Having drunk fragrant milk and eaten sweet orange, Inia was more or less full. She didn’t resist and instead nestled comfortably into Dreist’s arms.

Putting aside the peel, Dreist lowered his gaze and sighed, “Well, now we’ve ruined both your clothes and mine.”

Her previously old but clean clothes were now sticky and smeared with orange juice.

As for him, he was wearing a noble vest he could simply remove— but there wasn’t a single spare garment suitable for a baby.

Realizing his huge oversight, Dreist felt a rare moment of embarrassment. When Inia was about to leave, he tucked a small bundle of oranges into her hands as a silent apology.

And so, early the next morning, the attendant Chu Wang received a messy baby and a pocketful of fruit.

Chu Wang: …

Other than him, just who exactly were these people taking turns raising this treasure— and why did every one of them seem so unreliable?