Eclise looked at Rodi with bewilderment, but she just grinned.

“What scheme is this now?”

Seeing the obvious conspiracy in her eyes, Eclise shook his head and closed the door.

Then, as he came in, he tossed the doll back to Rodi.

It landed precisely on Rodi’s head, who was near the bed.

“Ah! Geez.”

Rodi glared at him and picked up the doll, dusting it off.

“Why did you come here?”

“Boss, you met that scary old man earlier.”

“So?”

“I came to sleep with you.”

“What?”

Eclise asked again, thinking he had misheard.

“That old man is a bad person. Since you’re scared, I’ll sleep with you!”

“You’ll sleep with me? Huh.”

This cheeky little one.

Eclise just watched as Rodi wandered freely around his room, examining everything.

What on earth was in that small head of hers?

“Come on.”

Eclise was pulled by Rodi’s hand toward the bed.

“Good grief.”

Finally, Eclise burst into incredulous laughter.

In all his life…

He decided to let Rodi do as she pleased, amused to see how far this absurd behavior would go.

Rodi stopped right in front of the bed and turned around.

Then she abruptly held out her hand.

“What?”

“Guest, the fee is one coin.”

“….”

A little bandit.

As Rodi grinned, Eclise looked at her with a deadpan expression, rummaged through his pants pocket, and handed her a 1 Libra coin.

It was money he had temporarily put in the safe earlier while organizing and had forgotten about.

Rodi looked at the coin that landed in her palm with slight bewilderment.

She had only intended to take about 1 Dena, but a gold coin was too much.

Probably only the boss would casually carry gold coins in his pocket.

After staring at the gold coin, Rodi quickly extended her hand back to Eclise and returned it.

“Why are you giving it back?”

Having returned the coin without hesitation, Rodi crawled under the blanket.

“I changed my mind. Today, I’ll just stay by your side for free.”

“How generous.”

Eclise flopped down on the bed, putting his arms behind his head as a pillow, deciding to play along with the child.

He could just entertain her for a bit and then send her away.

As he lay with his long legs crossed, Rodi neatly covered Eclise’s stomach with the blanket.

“What are you doing?”

“You need to be covered! If you don’t cover up, your stomach will hurt.”

“Ah, I see. The boss is quite demanding.”

Pat, pat.

The tiny thing lying next to him started patting the blanket.

Her practiced touch suggested this wasn’t her first time.

Eclise watched what Rodi was doing with raised eyebrows and laughed in disbelief.

“What are you doing?”

“Putting the boss to sleep.”

“You’re chasing away any sleep I might have had.”

“This works well for Jeno and Berry.”

“Who are they?”

“My friends.”

The orphanage, huh?

It seemed natural that a seven-year-old would remember, as the world consisted of only two places for her.

Finding her actions amusing, Eclise let her continue patting.

Pat, pat.

“You should go visit sometime.”

“Can I really?”

Pat, pat.

“Who’s stopping you?”

“No!”

“What’s the problem?”

“I didn’t know I could go. But I don’t want to go now.”

“Why?”

Pat, pat.

“I’m going to visit when I become rich. I told my friends I’d buy them lots of firewood and find a warm, big house. I have to keep my promise.”

Eclise snorted. The little one was obsessed with money.

“How much richer do you need to be?”

“As rich as the boss!”

“Then you’ll never go.”

Pat… pat?

The diligently moving hand paused.

“Th-then half as rich as the boss!”

“Not a chance.”

“Then a quarter!”

“You’re quite greedy.”

“An eighth?”

“Just keep patting.”

Rodi pouted but diligently resumed patting.

Pat, pat.

What was this even for?

But strangely, Eclise felt his body relaxing under the small hand’s steady patting.

He had planned to play along for a bit and then get up to work again.

But perhaps because he hadn’t slept for days, it didn’t seem like a bad idea to rest like this for a while.

As the comfort spread, tanning his sharp nerves, Eclise closed his eyes for a moment.

Pat, pat.

After patting for a while, Rodi yawned, “Huaaaam,” and soon her eyes began to droop.

Rodi, who could sleep well anywhere, started dozing off comfortably even while sitting on Eclise’s bed.

Today had been really busy.

She had run errands for Padrid three times and cleaned rooms with Bender.

And she had eaten two bowls of dinner, which made her even sleepier.

‘I’ll sleep a lot later.’

Pat.

Pat.

Pa-t.

As the frequency of patting gradually decreased, Eclise opened one eye slightly.

He saw Rodi with her eyes half-closed, swaying subtly from side to side, drifting in and out of sleep.

“Well, well.”

When he chuckled and spoke, Rodi startled awake and exclaimed, “I wasn’t sleeping!” before resuming patting Eclise as if nothing had happened.

“Not very diligent, are we?”

“No. Boss, close your eyes again.”

“Can I trust you?”

As Eclise laughed, his chest rising slightly, Rodi’s face turned strawberry red.

“Y-yes! You can trust me! Hurry!”

When Rodi spoke with wide eyes, Eclise said, “Alright. I’ll trust you,” and closed his eyes again.

Even with his eyes closed, a smile remained at the corners of Eclise’s mouth.

But soon, sleep began to overwhelm Rodi’s eyes again.

‘Why doesn’t the boss fall asleep?’

This method usually put Jeno and Berry to sleep quickly.

The boss seemed to take longer because he was so big.

If she had known this, she should have accepted that 1 Libra earlier.

Rodi tried hard to keep her eyes open despite the overwhelming sleepiness.

Pat, pat.

After diligently patting for a while, when Eclise remained motionless with his eyes closed, Rodi waved her hand over his face.

When there was still no response, the corners of Rodi’s mouth curled up.

‘Finally, put him to sleep!’

She had wanted to be helpful to the boss, and it felt really satisfying.

“Huaaaam.”

Rodi yawned so widely her mouth seemed about to tear.

Now she was really sleepy too.

Since the boss had fallen asleep, it seemed okay to sleep a little beside him.

Rodi wriggled into place and lay down next to Eclise.

Just lying down made it feel like the bed was urging her to sleep, pulling her in like a gentle pat.

Thanks to the soft bed, Rodi departed for a very deep dreamland in less than three seconds after closing her eyes.

“….”

A little later.

Eclise opened one eye slightly.

He could hear deep, sleeping breaths from beside him.

“You said you’d put me to sleep, but your service is quite poor.”

Anyone would think she’d been knocked out with a blow to the nape.

With a smirk, he flipped the blanket that had been covering him over to Rodi.

Despite his rough handling, Rodi remained in a deep sleep, oblivious to the world.

Eclise didn’t get up right away.

He decided to change his mind and just rest like this today, finding that taking it easy wasn’t so bad.

A little while later.

“Krrh-“

Suddenly, a snore like that of a hard-working laborer came from the small mouth.

“Krrh-“

Eclise opened his eyes again.

Then he looked at the source of the sound with disbelieving eyes.

“How can such a tiny thing snore so loudly?”

It was as if an old man was sitting inside her body.

As he stared at Rodi, she began to snore even more openly.

“Krrh- gorrrrk.”

“Good grief.”

No wonder she’s tired, running around chattering all day.

He had noticed it from when she was scurrying around on those short legs.

From the first impression, there wasn’t a single ordinary thing about her.

By now, Rodi was sound asleep, her short limbs taking up more than half the bed.

Eclise shook his head and swallowed a laugh.

Finally.

“Ah, so noisy.”

Eclise got up abruptly and headed for the sofa.

As soon as he lay down, his long legs stuck out from the sofa, but Eclise didn’t care and covered his eyes with the back of his hand, closing them.

There probably wasn’t another peculiar little one like her anywhere in the world.

“She really is the size of a peanut.”

Even as he thought this, Eclise found it amusing that he was at the mercy of a little child, and he continued to chuckle for a while as he lay on the sofa.

What on earth did I bring home?

Eclise closed his eyes again.

Unaware that his unpleasant emotions had already evaporated.