Chapter 12

“Kai has never pulled a carrot, has he?”

“What are you talking about.”

“Carrots don’t grow on trees. They grow plump and tall in the field.”

“I know that much too.”

“But you’ve never pulled one like Lili, have you?”

He had tried not to be provoked by the obvious taunt of a much younger child, but Kaius’s hands were trembling seriously. Ailien let out a hmph and lifted her chin.

“Lili rolled head over heels while pulling carrots, tumbled all the way down the mountain, and climbed back up again!”

Ailien, mixing in a slight exaggeration, glanced subtly at Kiki and Didi behind her. She did not forget to send them a look saying it was not entirely a lie, so please let it slide.

Kaius was dumbfounded by that trivial yet confident tale of valor, and yet a strange competitive spirit, a refusal to lose, welled up in him.

Having grown up as the heir of the Grand Ducal House, it was only natural that vegetables like carrots had only ever reached him cooked, before he had even seen the dirt-covered real thing.

And in the future, there would be no occasion whatsoever for him to roll about in the dirt pulling carrots.

But having the absence of his experience pointed out stung his pride. Kaius searched through the knowledge in his head and prepared a counterattack in the way he did best.

“So you know a lot about carrots?”

“Carrots are orange!”

“There is a saying that eating carrots cures night blindness, but there is also a theory that this was a story spread by the Kingdom of Roetan to hide their ability to see in the dark. Of course, it is true that eating them improves your eyesight and immunity.”

“What is that one saying?”

At Kaius showing off his knowledge of carrots, Ailien’s eyes went blank.

Kai’s words were harder to understand than Kiki’s meows or Didi’s squeaks.

“Ah, sorry. Should I have spoken at a flying squirrel’s level?”

“Didi is—Didi is smarter than Lili!”

As if indignant that Didi was being undervalued below herself, Ailien tapped the table lightly.

Didi, moved, let out a squeak, and Kaius glanced at the flying squirrel.

Those large eyes, seemingly welling with tears, bothered him greatly.

Calisto, watching the two from the head of the table, closed his eyes gently. It seemed that if he was not careful, laughter would burst out before these serious children.

After taking a moment to steady his breath, he opened his mouth.

“Kaius, apologize to Ailien.”

“Father!”

“Even so, you should not insult the friend of a child far younger than you in such a manner.”

Even as Calisto admonished Kaius, he wondered whether this was right. Meanwhile, Ailien wore a look of considerable satisfaction, which was confusing.

“Sorry.”

After hesitating a moment, Kaius looked at those round eyes and opened his mouth hesitantly.

Thinking that he was apologizing to Didi, not Ailien, made it not difficult at all.

“And Ailien.”

“Hmm?”

“What Kaius said is not wrong. You are now a child who will stay in Ruventain Castle. So you must observe at least the minimum of manners and courtesy.”

“Hng.”

Ailien let out a whining sound but carefully straightened her back.

Even as she chewed her pancakes, she did not take her glare off Kaius before her.

“I should be going first. I wanted to enjoy breakfast a little leisurely.”

“Has someone come?”

At Kaius’s words, the Ruventain Grand Duke only smiled. Kaius chewed his lower lip.

It was obvious even without looking. It must be the traditionalist retainers who had flocked over using Ailien’s appearance as an excuse.

Kaius, too, thought it was absurd for a child of unknown origin to stay in the Grand Ducal House, but the very fact that his opinion aligned with those stuffy old men was unbearably unpleasant.

That snobbish look in their eyes, desperate to attach their children to him and forge connections whenever they saw him, was revolting.

That he had to exclude Ailien by the same logic as those sorts of people grated on his pride.

‘And on top of that, they’ve even brought their children to try to forge a connection somehow.’

Kaius, too, was tired to the point of madness.

“If you don’t listen, you’ll be kicked out!”

Whether or not she knew Kaius’s feelings, Ailien cried out, swinging her legs.

“Is that a self-introduction?”

“Kai really says the most absurd things.”

Ailien shook her head and continued eating. It was enough to make one wonder where all that food was going in that tiny body.

Kaius stared blankly for a very brief moment, then shot up from his seat.

Before he knew it, Ailien was left alone at the wide table.

Ailien suddenly stopped the fork that had been moving busily.

“Ailien?”

Kiki, who had been watching silently from behind, called cautiously. Ailien turned around.

Her small, white nose was shiny with syrup.

“Why? Lili can eat alone just fine.”

Ailien smiled faintly.

Because Lili is a wonderful hero.

***

Hayana Forest was as still as ever.

As if it had swallowed every sound in the world, it was filled only with the smell of damp earth and trees.

Through that forest, a boy was walking familiarly.

A gait filled with wariness unsuited to his age. Violet eyes that shone mysteriously in the sunlight.

He was this forest’s only visitor, and its stranger.

‘Why is it like this today, of all days.’

Hayana Forest had not always welcomed him. But today, every step he took was heavy and burdensome. The boy pressed down his unease and headed toward the small cabin.

In that cabin, which felt warm just by looking at it, lived a small child.

The only one who did not look at him strangely, a slightly odd but warm child.

The boy had, before he knew it, run there as if flying. In that sprint was a subtle impatience as well.

The closer he drew to the cabin, the greater his unease grew.

The child’s spirited singing, which he always heard around this time, and the giggling laughter as she played in the dirt, were not to be heard.

His heart felt as if it had dropped with a thud.

The boy, having arrived before the cabin, stopped, panting.

The house was empty.

The interior visible beyond the window was no different from a few days ago, yet the warmth that should have been there had vanished like a lie.

Only an empty silence, as if time had stopped, had settled there.

“……Ailien.”

The boy called the child’s name without realizing it.

No answer came.

Then, the boy’s gaze stopped at the small flower bed.

In the middle of the carefully tended flower bed, a single sprig of lavender, placed with care.

And beneath it, a small piece of paper neatly folded.

Levian, as if entranced, approached and picked it up.

Unfolding the paper, he saw the child’s crooked but vigorous handwriting.

[Hi!]

It was a greeting so short it felt hollow.

The child had left.

The boy raised his head and looked at the cabin. Now no one in this forest would wait for him. He was alone again.

He carefully picked up the single sprig of lavender Ailien had left behind. Petals so delicate they seemed about to crumble at his fingertips.

The child’s voice, telling him it looked exactly like him, lingered in his ears.

The boy’s violet eyes sank into a deep shadow.