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“Because of a dream.”
“What kind of dream?”
Theodore bit his lip as though he truly did not want to talk about it.
“My mother appears in my dreams every time. She grabs me and screams at me, and the mother I meet in my dreams is always like that. She must hate me, surely.”
Perhaps he was thinking of his mother, for Theodore’s eyelids trembled faintly.
“Someone told me that because I’m a lowly descendant of the Francis family, the goddess comes to me in my mother’s form and makes me have nightmares every night.”
What the hell was that supposed to mean? What did bloodline or impurity have to do with having nightmares?
Theodore looked prickly, but surprisingly, he had a soft and innocent side to him.
If Theodore had lived in Korea, I think he would have believed in Santa Claus until the day he died.
Theodore was that kind of boy. The type who would grumble loudly about how ridiculous it was to believe in something like Santa Claus, yet hang the biggest sock by the handle and go to bed early.
Well, I had no choice.
“Hmm. Young Master. In that case, I’ll stay by your side until you fall asleep.”
“You?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because you’re screaming all night because you’re afraid of the dream, aren’t you?”
The Young Master had been sitting quietly on the bed, but he suddenly flared up.
“Who said I’m afraid? Do you think I would be afraid of a shapeless ghost?I’m not afraid of some lowly incubus.”
Excuse me, but you’re trembling.
He had screamed loudly enough for it to reach my room, yet he claimed he wasn’t afraid.
From what I had felt during our conversation so far, Theodore was a brat with an absurdly strong pride.
However, I was a dignified modern person, and I was also four years older than him, so I decided to protect the Young Master’s pride.
“Of course. It’s not frightening, but it isn’t pleasant either. I’ll keep watch to see if the incubus bothers you. You know, don’t you? I’m a fairy, so I’m good at that sort of thing. If that incubus bastard comes, I’ll hit him.”
“……What?”
“I’ll drive him away.”
“Can a fairy drive away an incubus, too? I’ve never heard of such a thing.”
“Uh……. Actually, that’s normally impossible. But I’m a fairy who is, you know, a fusion-type talent capable of multitasking…….”
“……Really?”
Good, I handled that well.
The Young Master didn’t seem to understand a single word I had said, but he didn’t bother asking again. Perhaps, given his personality, asking again would have wounded his pride.
“You said you were a newcomer before.”
“I’m a fusion-type ‘newcomer’ fairy capable of multitasking.
Like my cousin, who is a secondhand newcomer.”
Secondhand newcomer? Fusion-type talent?
Theodore repeated my words as he tried to understand them somehow, but perhaps he eventually gave up, because he let out a short sigh and shook his head.
“I really don’t understand what you’re saying.”
“That’s because it’s fairy language. Now, lie down. You’re a precious person, so it would be a big problem if you got hurt anywhere.”
“Are you making fun of me right now?”
“Then would you prefer it if I called you a lowly person?”
“Ah, no?”
“Good. Neither would I.”
While Theodore was at a loss for words, I more or less forced him to lie down. Come to think of it, the room was a little cold. I scrunched up my nose with a little sniff.
Even to me, with my sturdy body, this room felt considerably colder and drier than the mansion’s corridors.
Theodore was already pale, and on top of that, his body temperature was low, so I was genuinely worried about him.
“It would be a big problem if you caught a cold…….”
“Ahem…….”
When I covered him with the thick blanket up to his neck, Theodore suddenly gave a loud, meaningless cough.
Wondering if he had something to say, I looked up at him. Theodore was toying with an innocent corner of the blanket with his hand.
“You. Do you really hate it that much when I’m sick?”
“Of course.”
“Really? Hmm, ahem. You mean you were worried because I might get sick?”
“Of course. Superiors always do nothing but receive things, so you may not know this, but subordinates have to take care of the Young Master when he’s sick, which becomes quite bothersome.”
“You! How dare you say I’m bothersome?”
Theodore irritably threw off the blanket I had just tucked around him.
Perhaps because his previously relaxed eyes had become tense, Theodore glared at me with a fierce gaze like a Eurasian eagle-owl puffing itself up.
Amid the suddenly chilly atmosphere, I calmly nodded.
“Yes, Young Master. So you mustn’t get sick. Make sure to sleep with the blanket over you. The North is cold, so you’ll suffer if you catch even the flu. Don’t kick it off because you feel stuffy. Always keep your body warm. Understand?”
When I deliberately spoke gently, Theodore, who had been huffing as though he might scratch my face at any moment, looked utterly bewildered.
“……?”
His confused expression was so amusing. I desperately clenched my teeth and held back my laughter.
“You…….”
“Yes, Young Master. Is there something you wanted to say?”
When I innocently asked as though I knew nothing, Theodore hesitated for a moment over whether he should get angry or not.
Eventually, perhaps deciding not to get angry, he picked up the blanket he had kicked off and covered himself with it again.
Theodore pulled it up to his neck just as I had done and stared blankly at the ceiling. Since he showed no sign whatsoever of closing his eyes, I couldn’t bear it any longer and said a word from beside him.
“You just need to close your eyes and go to sleep now.”
“If it were that easy, I would have slept already. Do all fairies have no learning ability?! I just told you that I can’t sleep.”
So prickly. Would it hurt him to say something nicely? Theodore had a particular talent for saying things in an unpleasant way when he could have simply said them normally.
“How about taking some deep breaths?”
“I hate deep breathing.”
“Still, if you try it, you might be able to fall asleep more easily.”
When I gestured for him to hurry up and try, Theodore reluctantly closed both eyes.
“Phew,”
Theodore exhaled once with little effort through his mouth, then opened his eyes.
“I did it.”
Does he seriously consider that deep breathing?
At that point, it seemed like he had absolutely no intention of sleeping. When I raised my eyes suspiciously, Theodore avoided my gaze.
What he was doing was highly suspicious, but since he had said he hated deep breathing, I decided to let it go.
“Good. Let’s say you did your deep breathing. Then how about lying down and counting sheep up to a hundred?”
“I don’t know sheep.”
“Who doesn’t know what sheep are, Young Master?”
“Are you saying I’m lying right now? I really don’t know!”
Even if this was the Middle Ages, there was no way there weren’t any sheep. Besides, even in the Mesopotamian civilization I had learned about in Korean history class, there were plenty of cattle and sheep.
I could bet my entire fortune that this cheeky Young Master was lying because he didn’t want to sleep. Just look at him now. He says he doesn’t know and subtly avoids my gaze, doesn’t he?
“…….”
“…….”
After staring each other down for quite some time, I eventually raised the white flag.
“Haa, what do you want from me?”
“Sing me a song. I heard that banshees singing voices resemble those of sirens and are as beautiful as screams. I want to hear it.”
I knew it. So he had been acting stubborn because he wanted something.
Speaking of singing. Whenever he asked for something, he always chose things that were difficult to fulfill.
I decided to politely refuse by bringing up the fact that I was a newcomer fairy.
“I’m a newcomer fairy, so that sort of thing…….”
“You said you were a fairy like a secondhand newcomer. A fusion-type talent capable of multitasking.”
Is he quick at applying words because he’s young? He was unnecessarily quick at it.
“If you don’t, I’ll never go to sleep. I’ll have nightmares all night, so how could I sleep? Even if I do sleep, I’ll end up screaming at the top of my lungs.”
He was stubborn to an unbelievable degree. Singing wasn’t actually that much of a problem. I could just sing. But the reason I couldn’t readily do so was because I was a hopelessly tone-deaf singer whom even my music teacher had given up on.
If I kept the rhythm, my pitch became unstable. If I kept the pitch, I lost the rhythm.
And he wanted someone like that to sing for him.
“Any song is fine. I think I’ll be able to sleep peacefully if you sing for me.”
With my singing skills, I might be able to knock someone unconscious, but putting them to sleep was impossible.
Ah, I suppose I could put them to sleep in another sense.
“Hmm…….”
What should I do? There wasn’t a single song whose pitch or rhythm I could properly maintain.
“Ah.”
There was one. A song that no Korean citizen could possibly not know.
I slapped my knee in triumph. Kindergarten, middle school, high school. I had heard that song throughout all my school years, so I was confident I could sing this one exceptionally well.
“Young Master, get ready. I’ll put you to sleep right now.”
Theodore seemed to genuinely want to hear my song while he slept, because he closed his eyes with great anticipation.
“Hmm-hmm, ah-ah.”
As soon as I had warmed up my voice enough, I began to sing.
I was passionately singing the first verse when Theodore, who had been quietly listening, frantically waved his hand. Judging by the way he was waving it upward…….
‘Is he telling me to raise my voice?’
I raised my voice even more and began singing with all my soul.
A proper singing technique was half air and half voice. Taking the advice of a judge from some audition program as a reference, I safely finished the first verse.
“Doom-doo-doo-doom. Dung~ doom!”
It was a shame there was no grand instrumental interlude, but there was nothing I could do about it. I roughly made a jingle-like sound with my mouth, and the Young Master’s eyebrows began twitching wildly before he forcefully opened his previously closed eyes.
Is he still unable to sleep? Still, this song had four verses, so it was fine. For the second verse, I would sing in head voice, pouring the spirit of a Korean into it.
I was about to solemnly move on to the second verse when the Young Master, looking aghast, stopped me.
“Stop, stop!”
