Chapter 11

The voice was so small that it seemed it would soon be swallowed by the darkness. Yet Kiki and Didi opened their eyes at the same time. The beasts’ eyes pierced the black night and met each other’s.

The small, huddled body was trembling very faintly in the room, untouched by even a single ray of moonlight.

“Squeak.”

Didi spoke cautiously and rubbed her whole body against Ailien’s cheek. Behind her, Kiki, who had turned back into a person, was holding the child tightly.

“Squeak.”

“It’s all right. I can hold this much.”

“Chirp.”

“Goodness, the little rat sure talks a lot.”

Kiki said with a low laugh. Her whole body ached, but it was not unbearable.

“Yes.”

Compared to watching a child cry in her sleep.

“I thought she had gotten a little better at the cabin, but being thrown into an unfamiliar place must have been more stressful than I thought.”

“Chirp.”

“Yes, let’s stay by her side and protect her.”

Kiki carefully drew Ailien into her arms. Without a word, she patted the child’s back and shared her warmth.

Ailien’s trembling gradually stopped, and her breathing slowly grew calm.

Kiki’s smile lingered for a long time.

“It seems there is value in having front paws after all.”

“Chirp.”

“Yes, hands, hands.”

In Kiki’s arms, Ailien had already fallen into a peaceful sleep. Her nose prickled for no reason, and she tilted her head back to swallow the surge of emotion rising in her throat.

On the first night after Marilyn left the cabin, Ailien had pretended to be brave, but had cried the whole time before falling asleep.

Everything in the forest cabin, including Kiki and Didi, had been prepared solely for Ailien. So that the child would not be lonely, so that she would not be anxious, so that she would not be uncomfortable.

And yet, just one thing.

‘I could not comfort a child crying in her sleep.’

All she could do was curl up beside the child and desperately hope that her warmth would pass to her.

But not now. Now she had arms that could hold her like this.

The strange sensation of standing on two feet and walking was still unpleasant, but even so, there were good things about becoming human.

Kiki and Didi, wishing Ailien sweet dreams, fell back asleep.

……..

‘Mari, Mari, where are you?’

It was a forest dark as pitch, as if closed in on every side.

Ailien searched frantically for Marilyn, not even noticing that her clothes were being torn by thorns and her cheek scratched.

But all that returned was a heavy silence.

How many times had she called that name until her breath caught at the tip of her chin?

Suddenly, at a sense of wrongness brushing past her like a cold wind, Ailien came to a dead stop.

‘But who is Mari?’

Feeling her mind grow hazy as if wrapped in fog, it was as she was passing by an old tree.

Beyond the forest’s curtain, a strange scene abruptly thrust its head out.

In the middle of a clearing where all surrounding noise had vanished completely.

Her eyes met a girl who was holding a woman growing cold in her arms and wailing sorrowfully.

‘It’s because of you!’

The girl’s face twisted viciously with resentment and hatred the moment her eyes tangled with Ailien’s. Ailien wanted to approach, but could not take a single step from where she stood.

‘You coveted what was beyond you!’

‘I…….’

She wanted to protest that it was not true, that it was not her fault, but her lips would not part.

‘You ruined my entire family!’

The girl’s outcry slashed through the pitch-black forest.

‘No, I…….’

Because I…….

I only wanted to rewrite this story……

……..

And then morning came.

The castle’s stillness was easily shattered by the sound of the child’s light footsteps.

“Morning!”

“Yes, it’s morning.”

In the Grand Ducal House’s dining room, Calisto and Kaius were already there. Unlike Calisto, who replied with a smile to Ailien’s spirited greeting, Kaius pretended not to see her.

Ailien, paying Kaius no attention as usual, sat down in the seat Peril guided her to.

“Did you have a good dream last night?”

“Dweam?”

At Calisto’s words, Ailien tilted her head, then opened her eyes wide.

“Did someone resent Lili yesterday?”

“Someone resented you?”

“There must have been more than one or two.”

As she tried to grope after the dream that had already grown distant, a sardonic voice came from beside her.

Ailien pouted her lips and, to avoid noticing, looked around at the ceiling, then let out a gasp. From the chandelier hanging from the distant ceiling, it looked as though stardust might pour down at any moment.

“Ailien?”

“Hm?”

She was so absorbed that even at Calisto’s call she focused only on the chandelier. Even so, the way she answered each time was enough to leave one speechless.

He also worried that her slender neck might break at this rate.

“Ailien?”

“Hmm.”

“When someone calls you, you should look their way, shouldn’t you?”

At Calisto’s gentle words, Ailien slowly lowered her head. Then, looking a little sheepish, she stuck out her tongue slightly and smiled.

“Sorry, Lili’s focus is just too outstanding.”

“Outstanding?”

“Yes, Lili is an outstanding child!”

“Ha ha ha.”

When Ailien nodded, Calisto ended up laughing loudly. A question mark was drawn on Kaius’s face as he watched.

Were the two of them actually having a conversation right now?

What on earth did “outstanding” even mean?

“Father, did you understand what she said?”

“As if I could.”

At Kaius’s question, which he could not hold back, Calisto answered without hiding his laughter. Kaius’s eyes were full of confusion. By his standards, this situation was utterly incomprehensible.

“It means she is outstanding.”

Just then, Kiki, who had approached without a sound, spoke in a blunt voice.

“She is boasting that she herself is outstanding.”

“Boasting herself!”

Ailien, repeating Kiki’s words, giggled as if it were funny. The stardust was pouring not from the chandelier but from the child’s small mouth.

“I see.”

“Who is that person?”

The woman with black hair and yellow eyes stood proudly behind Ailien as if it were the most natural thing in the world. Had there been a woman like that when that grubby thing came to the castle?

No. There had been a black cat and a flying squirrel. Very cute ones……

Having thought that far, Kaius quickly shook his head. Right, they had been grubby animals just like her.

“Ah, allow me to introduce her. She is Ailien’s personal maid.”

“Her personal maid?”

Kaius, who knew the Ruventain Castle’s employment procedures better than anyone, looked toward Peril, but unfortunately, Peril merely bowed his head.

“I don’t understand. Even that absurd little child…….”

Ailien, who had been busily eating the hotcakes that had appeared before her before she knew it, raised her head. Kaius’s brow naturally furrowed.

“Frankly, I don’t understand her either, but you’re bringing in another person whose identity can’t even be verified?”

He tried to speak as calmly as possible, but Kaius’s heart was racing madly. How long had it been since he had talked back to his father like this?

But he must not let this slide. Steeling his heart and about to open his mouth again, that was the moment.

“Lili turned Kiki into a person!”

“What?”

“Kai, Lili will turn you into a person too…….”

The air at the breakfast table turned cold in an instant.

Ailien was, in her own way, sincere. This baby-baby, this one who spoke without a thought. He would only act like a proper person once his soul had been knocked into shape. There was pity in her heart too.

Ailien, who had been glaring fiercely at Kaius, finally surrendered to the sweet scent of syrup poured over the pancakes and lowered her head again.

“You shouldn’t bow your head while eating.”

Ailien, who had opened her mouth wide to eat a pancake, pouted her lips just as they were. When she raised the head she had buried in her plate, Kaius was putting a carrot into his mouth with an infuriating look on his face.

Eating a carrot someone else had pulled for you, all comfortable, and still criticizing Lili?