I Became a Kindergarten Teacher for Monster Babies!-Chapter 465 Nicknames

"No, sir," Alina said stubbornly, trying very hard not to smile. "You are still the principal here."

"Lina," he whispered, his voice dropping into that husky, dangerous tone that made her brain short-circuit. "I’m so sorry... baby."

Alina choked.

Actually choked.

She coughed once, eyes wide, staring at him like he had just spoken an alien language. "What the heck, Dee?" she blurted out before she could stop herself.

He frowned slightly, genuinely confused by her reaction. "It’s... not cute?" he asked slowly.

Her mouth opened, then closed again.

Inside his mind, a quiet chain of reasoning unraveled.

He had read it somewhere. During one of those rare, empty hours after everything finally settled. Short human novels. Easy reads.

According to them, female leads liked being called baby. Baby girl. They blushed. They melted. They forgave everything.

At first, he had taken it as information. Humans had strange emotional patterns. This was probably one of them.

But then he kept reading.

And somewhere between unnecessary misunderstandings and wildly unreasonable behavior, he had stopped after a few Chapters. Some parts made him question his own rationality.

In one of them, the male lead wanted to take revenge against the female lead’s stepsister and mother, and her abusive father. He actually cheated with the stepsister and the mother, recorded it, and showed the tape to her father as part of his revenge... and never even told the female lead the truth.

That alone had nearly made him lose his mind.

Actually—never mind.

He had closed the book after that. Permanently. Decided humans had far too much tolerance for nonsense.

Back in the hallway, Alina finally found her voice.

"You can’t just say that out of nowhere," she said, pressing her palm to her chest like she needed to steady herself. "My heart literally stopped."

His eyes softened immediately. "I’m sorry," he said, slower now. "I thought... it might make you happy."

That caught her.

She looked at him again. "You’re unbelievable," she muttered, shaking her head, but her lips curved despite herself.

"So," he asked cautiously, "should I not say it?"

She hesitated, then sighed. "Just... not here."

His mouth tilted faintly. "Noted."

Behind them, Fluffy was pretending very hard to admire the wall.

Alina laughed softly, the sound light and unguarded, as she slipped the key into the lock and turned it. "I mean, it is a very affectionate nickname," she said over her shoulder, still smiling, "but coming from you, it feels a little... strange."

The door clicked open. She stepped inside. Sable and Lucien were at Dante’s home tonight. Just the two of them. And Fluffy, who drifted in behind her with open curiosity, his round eyes taking in everything.

Dante narrowed his eyes slightly at her words, not amused, not angry, just deeply dissatisfied. "Why can’t I call you that?" he asked, his tone low and earnest, as if the idea itself offended him.

She paused, surprised by the seriousness of his question, then turned to look at him properly. The last of her laughter softened into something warmer. "You can," she said gently, meeting his gaze. "You can call me anything you like."

That seemed to settle something inside him.

"Alright," he said simply.

He stepped closer, close enough that she could feel his presence without him touching her, close enough that her breath slowed without her meaning it to. His eyes searched her face, unhurried, thoughtful, as if choosing his words with care.

"My little dove."

The words landed softly, but the effect was immediate.

Alina’s eyes widened, her breath catching before she could stop it. Heat rushed to her cheeks, a warm, unmistakable blush spreading as she stared at him, momentarily at a loss for words. "...Dove?" she echoed, her voice quieter now, shy in a way she rarely allowed herself to be.

"Yes." His gaze didn’t waver. "When I look at you," he continued, voice calm, almost reverent, "your face reminds me of them. Gentle. Pure. Soft, but not weak. Doves look fragile, but they always find their way home."

Her throat tightened. She hadn’t expected that.

He watched her reaction closely, and when he saw the way she stood there, entranced and flustered, clearly affected, a quiet satisfaction settled into his chest. This felt right. This felt true.

Inside, he acknowledged it with faint, private amusement.

The book hadn’t worked. The borrowed ideas, the dramatic nonsense, the ridiculous examples of affection humans wrote about had only confused him.

But this—this came from him.

And in the end, what he chose for her on his own worked far better than anything he’d read.

Fluffy suddenly made a very dramatic sound behind them.

"Cough. Cough."

He even bent forward a little. "Can you two please stop ignoring me?" he wailed, his voice wobbling with exaggerated heartbreak. "I have been flying here for minutes. MINUTES."

Alina startled, breaking out of her daze instantly. "Oh—!" She turned around, eyes landing on the round, floating creature with dark fur and huge, watery eyes.

"I’m so sorry," she said reflexively, guilt flashing across her face. Then she frowned slightly, tilting her head as she really looked at him. "But... Dante, what kind of creature is this?"

Fluffy straightened up at once, offended.

"This creature?" he gasped, placing a tiny paw over his heart. "I have a name, you know!"

Before Alina could react, Dante spoke calmly, completely unbothered. "That is Fluffy."

"...Fluffy," Alina repeated slowly, blinking. The name did not match what she was seeing at all. She glanced between Dante and the creature again, trying to reconcile the soft, harmless sound of the name with the strange, floating being in front of her. "That’s... actually his real name?"

"Yes," Dante replied without hesitation. "He named himself."

Fluffy puffed up proudly. "I did! And I think it’s very fitting. I am fluffy."

Alina pressed her lips together, clearly fighting the urge to smile, though the corners of her mouth still betrayed her. She looked at the floating, round creature again, taking in the soft fur, the dramatic posture.

"I see," she said carefully, choosing her words with exaggerated seriousness. Then she tilted her head and looked back at Dante. "And... what exactly kind of creature is Fluffy?" she asked, genuine curiosity shining in her eyes.