Mom’s sharp voice scolding us makes our hair stand on end. But dad says it’s scary when mom doesn’t get angry. He says it’s the scariest thing in the world when she talks formally.

I couldn’t understand dad’s words. Mom doesn’t use formal speech with dad. Rather, grandfather and grandmother say that mom treats dad too casually. But what does casual mean? What’s missing?¹the word is 격 없는 (or 격의 없는), wherein 없는 means ‘without’ and 격의 means ‘reservations’ so the phrase altogether can mean ‘informal’ or ‘without reservations (/without hiding from each other)’

“You’ve caused enough trouble for today, so both of you go to bed early. Dad will check on you until you fall asleep.”

Dad went into my sister’s room first, tucked her in, and kissed her forehead. Then it was my turn. When we were very young, the nanny slept with us, but now we’re old enough to sleep alone, so my sister and I each have our own big bedrooms.

And this is our family’s nightly greeting routine. Every night, mom and dad always come into our rooms one by one, hug us tightly, and give us a kiss. But tonight, only dad came to kiss us.

I clung to dad and chattered away.

“What if mom is still angry tomorrow?”

“We’ll go together tomorrow and apologize to mom again.”

“But mom was angry at you before too.”

“Hmm… then dad will receive punishment with you too.”

“You’ll be punished too?”

“Of course. Dad should be scolded by mom when dad does something wrong too.”

Dad tucked the blanket up to my chin and patted me gently.

I closed my eyes quickly, trying to fall asleep. Dad’s footsteps faded away. A little while later, suddenly the door opened and I heard my sister’s voice.

“Hey, are you asleep?”

I opened my eyes.

“No.”

“Then get up quickly.”

“Why… why?”

I curled up like a ball and hid under the blanket. What if we get scolded again for wandering around at night?

“Let’s go see mom.”

My sister pushed her hand under the blanket and pulled me out. I was dragged out reluctantly.

“But dad said to go to sleep early…”

“We’ll just peek at mom’s mood and come right back. This is the first time mom didn’t come to say goodnight.”

My sister is really strong and stubborn. I had no choice but to follow her out of the bedroom. It was a quiet evening, and even the nanny and household helpers had gone to rest, so the corridor was empty.

We walked on tiptoes, sneaking like cats. We thought we should go to our parents’ bedroom, but there was a flickering light coming from the study where mom had been. It seems mom was still in the study.

“Satin, I put the kids to bed.”

Hearing dad’s voice, it seemed he had also come to the study looking for mom. We quickly hid behind the door so we wouldn’t be caught.

“Have you been working until now? Are you tired?”

“Yes. Is it that late already? I didn’t realize at all.”

In our house, mom is always busy. Dad once told me that she has to be busy because she inherited a very important family called Del Mare.

Mom has to take care of the family and also help His Holiness the Pope take care of the country. People trust and follow Del Mare the most, and mom is always very responsible, so she doesn’t do anything carelessly. I’ve also heard that His Holiness the Pope relies on mom a lot.

So even on days when dad happens to come home early, mom is often working late into the night. Dad is always worried about mom like this.

“Our Aella should appreciate her mother’s hard work. How tirelessly mom works day and night to pass on a safe Caldeblanca and the most prosperous Del Mare.”

We peeked into the study through the crack in the door. Dad hugged mom from behind and started gently massaging her shoulders.

After a while, dad asked affectionately.

“Satin, were you very scared earlier?”

That’s right. Mom was about to cry earlier. I looked at my sister. She seemed to feel sorry too, as she kept glancing inside the study.

“I only heard the whole story later, but when I think about how shocked you must have been when you first heard about the fire, my heart sinks.”

Mom didn’t say anything for a while.

“I should have heard about it first. Then I could have scolded our cute troublemakers so they wouldn’t play dangerous pranks again, and greeted you when you came home as if nothing had happened.”

“You were going to try to deceive me with the smell of smoke all over the house?”

“It’s not about deceiving you, but wanting to ease your worries a bit.”

To be honest, I don’t understand why people think dad might be a scary person. Dad isn’t scary at all. Instead of mom, who was busy, dad taught us games he played when he was young and is always kind to us.

“Who do you think my worries start from? Rub, weren’t you the one who taught sword handling on the day Aella broke Silvio’s arm? You read adventure books to our reckless children, causing them to raid the basement, and during riding lessons, they opened the stables without us knowing. What on earth did you teach them? Sometimes I feel like I have three children.”

Mom grumbled. Fortunately, her voice didn’t sound very angry. Dad laughed at mom’s complaints.

“Our children are quick learners.”

“And you never scold the children.”

“Even if I want to scold them, our children look too much like you. How can I scold faces that resemble you?”

I’ve often heard this story from dad too. Dad says he’s so happy that we look like mom. Especially my sister, who looks a lot like mom. Dad sometimes calls my sister ‘little Satin’. Then he always tells the story of meeting mom at school. Dad says he thought mom was a fairy at first sight. I think I’ve heard it more than ten times already.

Finally, mom burst out laughing. Dad seemed relieved only when mom laughed.

“Satin, were you very angry with the children?”

“…I wasn’t angry.”

Mom’s voice lowered.

“I was scared. When I first heard that there was a fire in the house, I saw the faces of the children left at home and everything went dark. I was worried if they had been properly evacuated. When I came home, the smell of smoke was everywhere and old memories came flooding back. Ah, remember when you got angry at me for doing something dangerous? I completely understood how you felt then.”

I’m not sure what story that is, but because of the atmosphere between dad and mom, my sister also looked a bit sorry. I felt strange too.

Mom sighed.

“I never imagined our children would grow up to be such troublemakers.”

“But you’re their mother and I’m their father, so what’s there to worry about? I still vividly remember the day Aella and Silvio were born. We were both so happy we didn’t know what to do.”

“I feel the same way.”

“I still feel like every day is a miracle, and I can’t even imagine what kind of life I’d be living if I hadn’t married you. When I open my eyes in the morning and see you sleeping next to me, when I come home from work and meet you, even the daily life of our mischievous children being scolded by you is precious to me.”

Mom nodded. I heard dad whispering to mom.

“Satin, will you marry me again in our next life?”

“Next life?”

“Based on my experience of this life, I think I can live even better with you in the next life. From the beginning, we’ll be completely happy without any hardships. I promise I’ll find you first to make that happen.”

Then dad kissed mom. But usually, kisses are on the cheek or forehead, right? Dad kissed mom on the lips, and it was much… much longer than when he kisses us.

My sister grabbed my hand and signaled with her eyes.

“Let’s go.”

“Why?”

“Don’t you remember? The nanny said that when dad and mom are in their own world, we should go back to our rooms and close the door tightly.”

“What’s their own world?”

“I don’t know either. Anyway, she said to go back quietly.”

Maybe because we got scolded by mom today, my sister became nicer. We went back to our rooms carefully on tiptoes.

Come to think of it, dad usually hears us even when we make small noises, but today he didn’t seem to notice us at all. We didn’t hear his voice calling us at all until we got back to our rooms.

Towards the end of summer, at a family dinner table, mom said she wasn’t feeling well and wouldn’t eat. Dad didn’t come down to the dining room either and stayed with mom. I looked at my sister. She also became anxious and asked the nanny.

“How is mom?”

“The doctor has been called, so you’ll know what’s going on soon. Don’t worry too much and have your meal.”

Thinking that we had to eat by ourselves, the food suddenly tasted bad. My sister seemed to feel the same way, leaving more than half of her food uneaten, which was unusual for her.

The summoned doctor hurriedly rushed to our parents’ bedroom. As my sister and I sat side by side waiting for the diagnosis, dad came out first after a while. We quickly grabbed dad and asked.

“Is mom sick?”

“Is it because we keep upsetting mom?”

Dad crouched down and hugged us one by one. When mom isn’t feeling well, dad always stays by her side to take care of her, but now dad’s expression was very strange.

“What did the doctor say?”

“Your mom, well. For a while, she’ll have a hard time spending time with you, and she might not be able to eat well. But Aella and Silvio have grown up a lot, so you can play and study well on your own, right?”

At dad’s words, my sister became frightened.

“Why? Is mom very sick?”

“Is it a disease the doctor doesn’t know?”

“No. It’s a known condition. It’s a condition I know very well from experiencing it twice.”

Dad smiled gently.

“In a few months, you’ll have a very big gift.”

We were surprised.

“A gift? What kind of gift?”

“You’ll meet a very small and pretty younger sibling. Although it’s unexpected news, mom is very happy right now. Satin grew up as an only child, so she often said she wanted to have and raise many children. Both of you go in and give mom a big hug.”

While pushing our backs, dad whispered softly.

“And when the baby is born, you two should stop your mischievous pranks and grow up.”

We stood there blankly for a moment before running to mom’s bedroom. Mom, who was sitting on the bed, was startled when we burst in shouting.

We jumped onto the bed.

“Mom, are we getting a younger sibling?”

“Where is the baby?”

Mom smiled gently at our barrage of questions.

“Did you already hear from dad? Your younger sibling is right here.”

Mom placed her hand on her belly. We tilted our heads in confusion. Mom’s belly looked no different from yesterday, and we couldn’t imagine a baby being in such a small space.

Mom said,

“The baby is still very small, so you can’t feel it yet, but you’ll be able to tell after some more time passes.”

“Really? When will the baby come out?”

Mom blinked and answered my sister’s question.

“It will come out when you two grow up and become well-behaved.”

“We were very well-behaved today!”

“Not just today, but tomorrow too, every day, you need to keep it up.”

“…Yes.”

“You shouldn’t make a fuss. Otherwise, you’ll see the baby later.”

“We absolutely won’t do that.”

We linked fingers with mom and made a promise. Mom asked us what kind of younger sibling we’d like to have. My sister said she already has a younger brother, so she wants a younger sister.

Thinking about it, I think I’d be happy with either a younger sister or brother. Unlike my sister, this is my first time having a younger sibling.

My sister and I will treat the baby very well. We’ll learn swordsmanship more diligently from dad so we can teach the baby how to sword fight, and we’ll teach how to swim in the lake. We’ll also teach how to climb trees gracefully without slipping.

Why trees, you ask? My sister and I are secretly building our own hideout in a big tree these days.

Shh, it’s a secret from mom and dad.

The End.