“Hey, sword.”
“Hm.”
“Kai seems to be a friend with a great deal of shyness.”
Calisto thought of his proud son, who always stepped forward confidently wherever he went and became the center of any group, but he could not bring himself to say a word.
What side of Kaius had made this child sense shyness?
“Don’t worry about it. Lili will go easy on him.”
“Ah, yes. Thank you.”
“Thank me for what. Lili is sorry too. It’s my first time dealing with a baby-baby, so I was a bit clumsy. The theory was perfect, though.”
Ailien muttered with her short arms crossed with great difficulty. Peril, who had been watching, had to turn his head to the side to hold back his laughter.
‘Calisto has a baby.’
‘A baby has a baby!’
‘Yes, a baby had a baby.’
‘A baby-baby!’
‘The baby-baby’s name is Kaius.’
Marilyn’s face as she recalled Kaius could not have been gentler.
Honestly, the strangely smug Kaius was a little irksome, but still, Ailien, who was destined to become a hero, had to be patient and lead him.
“There are too many babies to raise.”
“What? The little one?”
“By the way, Peril, why do you keep calling Lili ‘the little one’?”
“Because you are the little one……?”
Ailien, who had been looking at Peril with displeasure, suddenly opened her eyes wide at a passing thought.
Among babies, the boss is Lili, so Lili is the baby boss……!
“Lili is the baby boss, right? Right?”
“Ah, yes. That’s right…….”
Peril, unable to follow the flow of her thoughts, sent another look for help to Calisto, but meanwhile Calisto was marveling at the glimpses of Marilyn that surfaced in Ailien. She would sometimes cast magic she had developed herself in a complete mess and then mutter, ‘The theory was perfect, though.’
Even that magic had been forbidden prophecy magic. Calisto used to dissuade her, saying he would bring her victory, so she did not need to go that far.
“Then where shall we prepare the little one’s room…….”
“My, my. If I can lie down with the sky as my blanket, any place is room enough for Lili!”
Ailien said with a deliberately dignified air, clenching her fist. Peril waved both hands, saying that would not do, but his mind was racing. Was there a room in Ruventain Castle fit for such a young and small girl?
Having lived through the great ordeal of the Human-Demon War, the people of the Cairen Continent had come to prioritize strength and practicality over beauty. That was true of Ruventain Castle as well, and it bothered him deeply to give this lovely little one just any crude room.
Calisto, watching Peril agonize in front of Ailien, tossed out in an indifferent tone.
“Give her that room.”
“What? That room, you mean—what? You mean that room, Your Grace?”
“That room! That room!”
Peril’s eyes grew wide, Calisto smiled faintly, and Ailien, who understood nothing, clapped her hands and beamed brightly.
* * *
In truth, even as he opened the door, Peril sighed, wondering whether this was right.
After taking a deep breath, Peril slid in the key and opened the door that had been shut for a long time.
“Whoa—!”
Ailien, who had been peeking out from behind Peril’s legs, gaped at the room beyond the door.
Stopping there for a moment, looking once at the room and once at Grand Duke Calisto, Ailien dropped to her knees on the spot. Then Kiki pressed her forehead against the child’s side, and Didi placed her small hand atop Ailien’s as if to comfort her.
“Little one!”
“Ailien!”
Startled by Ailien’s sudden action, Calisto and Peril bent down at the same time. The child’s small body was trembling.
“Marilyn…….”
At the words Ailien let out quietly after trembling for a while, Calisto’s heart gave a faint pang. She was so small that he wondered whether she might fit in the palms of his two hands if she curled up like this.
She was a child who must have lived relying on Marilyn alone in that little cabin. Facing the room she would stay in from now on, perhaps it was only now that leaving had truly sunk in.
Peril, too, carefully stroked Ailien’s back and swallowed a complicated sigh.
Ailien, who had in an instant left two grown men at a loss, slowly let out her ragged breath.
Then she slowly raised her head. Her blue eyes, reminiscent of blue diamonds, were ringed with a transparent film of tears.
“Marilyn, I…….”
“Are you all right, Ailien?”
“I, I…….”
“…….”
“Lili’s life has turned around…….”
Peril’s hand, which had been carefully patting Ailien’s back, stopped dead.
“It’s worth living long enough to see this!”
And well she might say so, for this room was a space that seemed to have gathered every dream a young girl could have. The first thing to catch the eye was a tall canopy bed like a little palace. Pink silk curtains draped softly from the four corners, and whenever sunlight touched the bedcovers, the threads shimmered with light.
There were tapestries on the walls evoking myths, a great mirror with small angel statues hanging from it, and dolls shaped like every kind of animal arranged in neat order.
“Did you know Lili would get to use a room like this, Kiki? Did you know, Didi?”
At Ailien’s pressing, Kiki raised a front paw and licked her fur as if she knew nothing at all, while Didi hopped in place as if she were even more overcome than the child.
“Is this really Lili’s room?”
“…….”
“Is it? Why won’t you answer!”
“Little one!”
When Calisto did not answer and only stood there watching, Ailien, seemingly frustrated, seized him by the collar and hung on. Peril, watching the scene, panicked and began to restrain the child.
“Butler! Calisto won’t answer!”
“Yes, it seems he was thinking for a moment. He will answer now. Please, spare him, little one!”
Ailien, seemingly feeling wronged, began to stomp her small feet. Peril looked at Calisto earnestly and repeatedly cried, ‘Please, spare him, spare the little one.’
Only then did Calisto slowly open his mouth.
“Ah, sorry. The truth is, this is my room.”
“What?”
“What?”
Ailien collapsed on the spot with a face as if the world had crumbled. It was a pose like the tragic heroine of some sorrowful tale.
“This is Calisto’s room……? Then why did you bring Lili here?”
“Ah, because I wanted to show it off.”
“You really are too much. Lili’s feelings aren’t even in the philtrum of the sword’s nose.”
Calisto, who had unconsciously touched his philtrum, bowed his head. Because if Ailien caught him smiling now, the situation would be beyond saving.
Goodness, what a cute thing this was.
Even at a lie told so carelessly, she made such a world-crumbling expression. Kaius had played plenty of pranks when he was young too, but his clever son was not easily fooled.
Perhaps that was why. The sight of her clenching her small fists and fuming looked so lovable.
“Shall the sword yield?”
“Yeah!”
“Isn’t your answer coming back a little too fast?”
“Since Lili is the guest, the sword should yield. That’s what a good baby does!”
When he told her she could use this room, she bounced around in joy. Watching fondly as the child buried her face in the soft covers and stamped her feet in delight, he left the room with Peril.
“What time would you like dinner served?”
“A little later. I’ll be going to the study, so call for Arden.”
“Yes. Your Grace, are you truly all right?”
“What reason would I have not to be?”
“But…….”
“Ah, Ailien will need a personal maid. We can look into that in due course. The child must be struggling too, suddenly away from the place she knew.”
“That does seem so. Until then, I will entrust it to Kora.”
“That would be best.”
Leaving Peril, who seemed to have more to say, Calisto turned without hesitation. He knew what the butler was worried about, but he truly felt nothing about it.
The room Ailien had just entered was one Calisto and Evangeline had decorated together themselves.
He could not know why. Perhaps because the happiness he had felt raising Kaius was so great, he had decorated it thinking it would be nice to have a second child. Since every memory of that one year had vanished, he could do nothing but guess.
