Chapter 13

“Hey, what’s wrong with her?”

The little brat’s breathing sounded strange.

Her skin was red and swollen, yet her face had turned deathly pale.

“W-What? You……!”

The little girl was wheezing, unable to breathe properly.

Cassian’s face went white.

It was exactly like the sound a soldier made when his airway began to melt from intense heat and he could no longer breathe.

Instinctively, Cassian scooped up the little girl as her body went limp.

What was happening? Why was this happening?

Had someone poisoned her drink?

There was no way the cake contained the bodily fluids of a magical beast.

Could it be because she’d witnessed something she shouldn’t have?

Had she suffered some kind of seizure because he’d tried to send her to the orphanage?

Was something stuck in her throat?

Was it because he was cursed after all……?

“Hey, hey! You can’t do this!”

“Sir, please calm down! W-We need to get her to a hospital!”

At the orphanage teacher’s shout, Cassian dashed out of the building with the child in his arms and stopped a passing carriage.

“Hospital! Take us to the hospital! It’s an emergency! An emergency!”

“What?”

The coachman peered through the window, saw what was happening inside, and let out a terrified scream before whipping the horses into motion.

“AAAAH! The hospital! The HOSPITAAAAL!”

As the carriage raced along like a mad thing, Cassian rubbed the little girl’s back.

Her breathing grew worse by the second.

When her normally pearly-white face turned from red to purple, Cassian was practically driven insane.

He knew how to kill magical beasts, cut down formless evil spirits, and trample demons underfoot. But he had no idea what to do when a tiny child had a seizure in his arms.

Cassian, who had never trembled even in front of a magical beast, was now shaking with fear because of the tiny child in his arms.

Thanks to the coachman driving at breakneck speed, they arrived at the hospital in the blink of an eye.

Cassian rushed to a doctor with the child in his arms.

“It’s an allergic reaction.”

“A-An allergy?”

The doctor administered an injection as though this were a familiar situation. Gradually, the little girl’s breathing began to improve.

“What did you feed the child today?”

“Eggs and bread…… She ate those yesterday, too. She also had some cake. It was peach cake…… Ah.”

Cassian involuntarily caught his breath.

His deceased daughter, Iris, had also been allergic to peaches.

Of course…… she’d inherited the allergy from her mother, Henrietta.

A strange sensation reverberated through his heart.

Cassian stared at the unconscious child.

“If she’s allergic to peaches, there’s a high chance she’ll react to other, similar fruits as well. You should be careful about what she eats and always keep her medication on hand.”

“When will she open her eyes?”

“She’ll regain consciousness soon. Please don’t worry too much and wait patiently.”

After listing the precautions one by one, the doctor left to attend to another patient, leaving Cassian alone beside the child.

Her complexion had improved considerably, and her face had returned to its usual pale, pearly color. Yet he still felt as though his heart had stopped beating.

His mind had frozen, and the chill of winter had settled deep inside his chest.

Even though it wasn’t visible to the naked eye, his hands were trembling violently.

“Sniff.”

Cassian drew in a breath, sniffling at the same time.

He had genuinely thought she was going to die.

He’d thought the child would die right there in his arms, just like that, for no reason at all.

He buried his face in his palms, and his warm breath came rushing back at him.

He remembered a letter from Henrietta, the woman he had loved.

She had written about her peach allergy in her rough handwriting.

“Did you know I’m allergic to peaches? I nearly died once when I ate one as a child. That’s why I never eat peaches. Not ever.”

When he’d first learned about Henrietta’s peach allergy, Iris hadn’t been born yet.

So he’d thought about it simply.

Well, once I make it home alive, I guess I’ll never have to eat peaches again.

“But I think Iris takes after me. I gave her a tiny piece just to see, and her whole body swelled up from the allergic reaction. I wish she’d inherited this from you instead. I’m so upset.”

When he learned that his daughter was allergic to peaches, he grew to hate the fruit.

Even on the battlefield, where food was so scarce that he had to eat whatever he could find, he would throw away wild peaches without touching them.

That was how much he loved his daughter.

Enough to give up his own life for her.

Enough to turn Cassian Calypso, a war hero, into the greatest good-for-nothing in the capital.

Cassian fidgeted with the little girl’s hand, trembling all the while.

‘Come on. Open your eyes already.’

Cassian was terrified.

To be honest, it wasn’t that he disliked the little brat because she reminded him of Iris. It was just too painful.

If he’d truly disliked her, he wouldn’t have gone to the trouble of washing the seasoning off every piece of meat before feeding her.

Whenever he watched her chew happily after he tore the chicken into little pieces for her, he couldn’t help wondering whether his daughter would have eaten the same way if she’d still been alive.

The thought made him want to cry for no reason.

That was why he’d tried to send the little girl to the orphanage.

Because whenever he looked at her, he thought of Iris. And the more he thought about her, the further his already shattered heart sank into the deepest depths of despair.

‘I don’t want you to die.’

If anything, he wanted her to live a good life.

To be healthy and strong.

To laugh often, eat well, and be happy.

He prayed silently, over and over again.

I’ll take back what I said about you being a nuisance.

I’ll apologize for calling you a stalker or whatever, too.

‘So please, just open your eyes already.’

The doctor had said she’d wake up soon, but Cassian couldn’t relax until he saw it for himself.

No one had ever expected Iris to die the way she had.

Life always betrayed expectations.

That was the one truth Cassian knew.

“Mmm……”

The little girl’s eyelids fluttered, and soon, her golden eyes appeared.

“(Mis…… ter?)”

Cassian gazed at her hazy, sleepy eyes. Then he pressed his forehead against the bedsheet and finally released the breath he’d been holding.

His heart, which had plummeted into the depths of despair, was still tumbling around in the mud. But one thought flooded his mind, drowning out everything else.

She’s alive.

Even as the child’s face remained deathly pale, all the color drained from her darkish skin, he gently rubbed her cold hand and whispered.

“Y-You’re okay. Y-Yeah, you’re okay. Everything’s all right now.”

It’s okay. You’re not dead.

He couldn’t tell whether he was saying it to himself or to the child.

But as long as the little brat was okay, everything was okay.

The monster mister wasn’t actually a monster.

He wasn’t a monster at all. He was a wee-woo, wee-woo worried eagle mister!

Even after the doctor in the white coat finished examining me, he kept bothering me with questions.

“Are you okay? Does anything itch? Are you having trouble breathing?”

“(I’m not sick anymore. So pleeease don’t worry.)”

“You know you’re not allowed to eat peaches, right? You know what peaches are, don’t you?”

“(Of course I know peaches! They’re my favorite fruit! But why can’t I eat them?)”

“You little rascal. You nearly died from eating one! Don’t go anywhere near a peach tree from now on. Understand?”

“(Whaaaaat?!)”

“Haah. That took ten years off my life.”

When I looked closely, I noticed that the worried mister’s eyes were as red as a rabbit’s.

‘Oh no. He really must have cried.’

Imagining a grown-up bawling like a wee-woo, wee-woo sir suddenly made me feel sorry for him.

‘I’ve grown up now, so I don’t cry very often anymore.’

Even if we were both scaredy-cats, I was the kind of crybaby who only cried when I couldn’t bear something anymore.

But the mister was a worried eagle with red eyes!

By the way, had he been that sad because I’d gotten sick and fainted?

Feeling a sense of responsibility, I gently patted his back.

Perhaps he thought I was going to hit him, because his shoulders twitched.

“(Don’t be scared. I’m weally a good little girl. I don’t hit just anyone.)”

“……”

It’s true!

To make him believe me, I brought out the secret special move I’d been saving all this time.

And that was……

“Heeheeheehee!”

It was the very smile that had melted even the strict Uncle Michael’s heart.

Whenever I smiled like this, Uncle Michael would sneak me an extra piece of candy as he passed by.

Even Teacher Anne-Marie had often stopped scolding me and chuckled when she saw my smile, so I’d gotten into less trouble.

When I giggled, the mister stared at me intently. Then, at some point, he let out a hollow sigh, as though all the tension had drained out of him.

“You nearly died, and you’re smiling like you’re having the time of your life. Haah.”

“(I told you I’m weally okay!)”

I sprang to my feet and grabbed his arm, shaking it.

When even wiggling my bottom from side to side failed to make him smile, I threw myself into his arms.

I remembered how pale his face had looked just before I passed out, and I really wanted to reassure him.

“(Pat-pat, pat-pat. You’re okay now, wight? Your thump-thump heart has calmed down now, wight?)”

Whenever I hugged other grown-ups like this, they would hug me back.

But the mister merely stiffened, his entire body going rigid.

On top of that, he was so hard that hugging him was uncomfortable!

“(Oh, come ooon! When I pat-pat you like this, you’re supposed to hug me tight, too!)”

I wiggled my body to tell him to hurry up and hug me.

Very, very slowly, the mister raised his arms.

His enormous palm, as big as a pot lid, settled against my back.

He wasn’t quite hugging me, but he wasn’t merely resting his hand on me, either. It was such a strange posture that I looked at him with a pout.

Then I noticed that his eyes had grown red again.

“(Eek! I weally am a good little girl! I don’t hit people without a weason! So don’t be scawed!)”