Chapter 8
Ten Minutes Before Running Away from the Pretty Witch
“Say hello. She’s my daughter.”
Daughter? But this man isn’t my dad!
“(I’m not your daughter! I’m my own daddy’s daughter!)”
I swung my feet around in the air, and the man smiled brightly.
“Yeah, yeah. Got it. We’ll eat something delicious later.”
“(Why are you saying I’m your daughter? I’m not!)”
“Mmm-hmm. Sure. I’ll buy you a drink, too.”
“(Nooo! I’m not your daughter! We don’t even look alike!)”
I glared at him with narrowed eyes, furious that he was getting on my nerves, but the man didn’t even bat an eyelid.
After glaring at him for a while, I unleashed my ultimate attack to express my anger.
Smack! Smack!
I hit the back of his hand.
H-How could this be?!
I’d put all my strength into hitting him, but his skin didn’t even turn red. He didn’t even look as though he’d noticed.
Was this monster of a man actually a real monster?
I was so shocked that I tried to examine him more closely, but then my eyes met the pretty lady’s.
Her eyes were so frightening that my entire body froze.
“Your… daughter?”
The man smiled slyly at the pretty lady.
“What do you think? She looks exactly like me, doesn’t she? They say a man’s first daughter takes after her father, and I guess that’s true. Heh. Look how pretty she is because she takes after me.”
His enormous hand vigorously rubbed my face.
Eeeek!
The force was so strong that a strange sound escaped my mouth.
“You were married?”
“W-Well, not exactly, but I did have a little accident before marriage.”
“What? You womanizing octopus! And now you’ve even gotten someone pregnant…?”
The pretty lady’s eyes flashed wildly.
At that very moment—
“(Eeeeeeeek!)”
“Argh!”
The man grabbed me and began running like a madman.
Over his shoulder, I could see the pretty lady.
“(Gasp!)”
The lady who had been as beautiful as an angel now had her hair floating wildly in the air.
Black energy gathered in both her hands.
“(A-a wicked old witch?!)”
“CASSIAN CALYPSO! I’LL KILL YOU!”
A mass of pitch-black light shot toward us.
As it drew closer, the black light transformed into sharp, pointed thorns.
“Damn it! I forgot she was a mage!”
If one of those things hit me, I was sure I’d be in so much pain that not even my bones would be left intact.
Just before the black thorn struck us, the man twisted his body slightly, causing it to slam into the ground instead.
CRAAACK!
The ground split into cracks before shattering into pieces.
“(Waaah! I don’t wanna diiiie! Mooooom!)”
Terrified, I wrapped my arms tightly around the man’s neck.
“Ghk! Don’t strangle me! I can’t breathe!”
“(Waaaaah! The wicked witch shot another thorn! Hurry uuuup!)”
“H-Hey, little squirt! You’re choking me! Ghk!”
“(Run faster! It’s scaaaary!)”
The man ran so quickly that the wind roared like a storm every time he took a step.
Without even realizing it, I kept tightening my arms around his neck.
“STOP RIGHT THERE, CASSIAN CALYPSO!”
The wicked witch came flying through the air toward us.
She didn’t even have wings, so how on earth was she flying?
Her hair streamed in the wind, making her look like a monster that crawled out from under a bed.
The man skillfully dodged the thorns flying at us from every direction, but there was one problem.
We had reached an alley, and there was nowhere left to run.
“Ah. We’re screwed.”
The man scratched his head.
I was so frightened that a little snot trickled out of my nose.
“(Sniff… Waaah…)”
“Hey, hey. Don’t cry. It’s okay. I know how to hide really well.”
“(Waaaaah! Mooooom! Teacher Anne-Marieee! I don’t wanna diiiie! Waaah!)”
Beyond the alley, I could see the shadow of a woman whose hair was floating in the air.
The shadow descended to the ground, and footsteps sounded as she approached.
Tap. Tap.
At the same time, her furious voice rang out.
“How dare you be so handsome when you already have a child?! I’m going to preserve you like a specimen and hang you in my castle. Let the insides disappear and leave only the outer shell!”
I-I won’t be preserved and hung on a wall, too, will I?
My heart pounded wildly.
I was just about to start crying in frightened little hiccups when the man opened the lid of a trash can in the corner and squeezed himself inside with me in his arms.
Then he carefully closed the lid.
“Shh!”
His voice whispered in the darkness, telling me to be quiet.
I wanted to sniff loudly and clear my nose, but I held my breath and did as he said.
It was dark, smelly, and cramped. I hated it so much, but strangely, I didn’t feel dirty.
That was because the man held my head tightly against his chest and wrapped his body around me, keeping most of the filthy garbage away from me.
Thump! Thump!
I could hear my heart pounding.
No, wait. Was that the man’s heartbeat?
“What? Where did he go?”
I heard the wicked witch’s voice.
I flinched, and the man slowly rubbed my back.
He wasn’t as warm and comforting as Mom or Teacher Anne-Marie, but his body was unusually warm. Little by little, I began to feel more at ease.
Then, all of a sudden, it felt like we were playing hide-and-seek.
My fear began to fade, replaced by nervous excitement and the thrilling feeling that we were just barely getting away with something.
It’s like escaping from a gingerbread house and losing the wicked witch who’s chasing us!
My heart fluttered.
Tap. Tap.
The footsteps stopped right in front of the trash can, and I felt as though my heart were about to burst.
When I heard someone grasp the lid, I squeezed my eyes shut and held my breath.
No! Please don’t open it!
Perhaps my prayer had worked.
“No way. There’s no chance that Cassian Calypso would hide in a trash can. He’s a war hero, after all.”
The footsteps gradually faded into the distance.
Even after the wicked witch had gone far away, the man and I remained hidden inside the trash can for quite some time.
I rolled my eyes around in the darkness, and soon the man kicked the lid open and climbed out.
“Ughhh! What a smell! This is so disgusting I could die!”
Fresh air brushed against my cheeks.
Bits of garbage that had been resting on the man’s head fell to the ground one after another.
That was kind of fun just now.
Maybe this man is actually a little interesting?
* * *
What’s going on?
Just moments ago, the little squirt had looked ready to burst into tears, but now her eyes were sparkling.
Was the shock too much for her?
Cassian held the little squirt’s face in his hands and turned it this way and that.
She didn’t seem to be injured anywhere…
“(Misteeer! That was kinda fun!)”
“Are you okay?”
“(Yeees!)”
“Hmm. You must have been really frightened.”
“(It felt like the greatest game of hide-and-seek in the whole world!)”
“Hmm. All right. As long as you’re okay.”
Well, he was the one who had carried her while running and dodged all those magical thorns, so there was no reason the little squirt should be in bad shape.
The problem was that he couldn’t take her to the orphanage looking like this.
He absolutely reeked of garbage. Even if he showed them his certificate of impotence and spoke confidently, he’d only look ridiculous.
It would be better to wash up properly and go tomorrow.
“Sigh. What a life I have.”
Still, going straight home after all that seemed rather anticlimactic, so Cassian decided to continue with the schedule he’d originally planned.
* * *
“I knew a day like this would come eventually.”
The tattoo artist looked back and forth between Cassian and the little squirt, clicking his tongue in disapproval.
“She’s not my kid.”
“Don’t give me that. She looks exactly like you.”
“I said she’s not!”
The tattoo artist looked at the two of them sitting side by side.
If you examined them closely, there were plenty of differences. But at first glance, they looked so alike that anyone could easily mistake them for copies of each other.
“Your hair and eye color are the same. Even the shape of your lower face is so similar that it’s hard to explain unless you’re related. Your hair whorls, earlobes, and even the shapes of your fingers are identical.”
Even the way they sat was exactly the same.
“Who’s the kid’s mother? Emma? Evelyn? Lauren? Odell?”
“Say one more word.”
Cassian shot him a sharp warning glare. Then, while remaining seated, he casually pulled off his shirt.
His tattoos were revealed in all their glory, covering nearly every inch of his shoulders, chest, and sides.
There were so many designs covering the front and back of his body that it was a wonder they hadn’t extended all the way up his neck.
There was only one empty spot.
The upper left side of his chest, directly over his heart.
A huge scar occupied that area, so severe that even someone who knew nothing about injuries could tell he’d suffered a serious wound there.
“We decided on that design last time.”
“Wouldn’t it be better to skip it today? I mean, you’ve got a kid with you and everything.”
“Do you think I came here today to hear that?”
When Cassian scowled, his already fierce face became even more intimidating.
The rumors that he was a war hero didn’t seem to be exaggerated. The tattoo artist was so intimidated by his glare that he couldn’t bring himself to agree or refuse. He could only swallow a sigh.
Just then—
“Waaaaah!”
The little squirt, who had been drinking the beverage the tattoo artist had given her, belatedly noticed Cassian.
She stared at him with her mouth hanging wide open in shock.
When her eyes met Cassian’s, she slowly raised a hand to cover her mouth.
Then—
Slide.
She subtly shifted her bottom sideways, putting some distance between herself and him.
“Oh, really?”
