Chapter 17 – The Child’s Father Keeps Approaching

Lyle felt somewhat hurt by Ethea’s attempt to drive him away. Before meeting her, he had only felt fear and sorrow, but after seeing her once, his heart changed completely.  

Even while seeing her, he wanted to see her more. Even when told to leave, he couldn’t go easily.  

He suddenly collapsed to the floor, grabbing Ethea’s skirt. Startled, Ethea almost cried out, then covered her mouth. A large man suddenly collapsing was enough to make her heart drop, and he looked up at her with a pitiful face.  

Ethea suppressed her anger and muttered his name.  

“L…yle.”  

Lyle pleaded, looking into Ethea’s eyes.  

“I’ll go, I’ll go soon….”  

He intentionally spoke in a very weak voice.  

“I’m really low on energy, so… can you give me breakfast?”  

“Hah, what?”  

Ethea was astonished. Asking for breakfast was something only close neighbors like Solei would do. There was no way she’d have breakfast for Lyle.  

But he acted as if he were truly pitiful.  

“I haven’t eaten since last night. No, since lunch. No, since breakfast.”  

“Why don’t you just lick your lips and lie?”  

“It’s true. I haven’t eaten properly before or after meeting you. At this rate, I’ll end up eating anything.”  

Just then, Lyle’s stomach growled at the perfect moment. He raised an eyebrow at Ethea, as if asking if she’d heard it.  

“Hm? I can’t just faint from hunger while walking. That wouldn’t look good for as the Emperor.”  

Begging for food was already undignified, but Ethea just wanted him to leave quickly.  

‘Gin mustn’t wake up.’  

It was early morning, but Gin sometimes woke up at dawn. He was sensitive to sound, often waking up even to birdsong.  

‘I don’t know. I’ll just give him something and send him off.’  

Ethea hurried to the kitchen. Lyle followed her like a puppy. Ethea wanted to tell him to stay away, but in the small house, it didn’t matter much.  

‘Let’s see, there were some thin breads….’  

Ethea always bought packs of twenty thin breads with Solei and split them ten each. If you topped the thin bread with various herbs, jerky, and moist oil sauce, rolled it up like a fist, it made a decent meal. Even young Gin liked it.  

“Here, eat.”  

When she handed it to Lyle, he grabbed the tray and ate as if starved. He ate so quickly that Ethea worried he might choke.  

But Ethea soon shook her head.  

‘What am I worried about? The faster he eats, the faster he’ll leave.’  

After finishing one bread roll, Lyle drank the water on the tray in one gulp. Then, playfully, he spun the cup with his large hand and grinned at Ethea.  

“Still the same.”  

“What is?”  

Ethea answered curtly. Lyle’s golden eyes, as if lost in distant memories, were slightly unfocused.  

“You used to say the sulfur smell in the house ruined your appetite, so you always piled strong herbs on your bread. You’d tell me to try it, say it was pretty good, and recommend drinks to go with it….”  

“Just go.”  

Before Lyle could say more, Ethea pushed him out the door. He had no choice but to let her push him outside.  

“Then.”  

Thud.  

Lyle looked at the firmly closed door and asked,  

“Aren’t you going to take your cup?”  

He still held the cup in his hand, but the door showed no sign of opening. He smiled bitterly. With no other choice, he placed the cup on the window sill.  

I’ll come often. 

He whispered so softly that Ethea wouldn’t hear, and left.  

***

Seisil had been extremely busy lately.  

Personally, he was researching ways to expel the evil god from his friend’s body. It was taking a long time and he wasn’t confident, but he kept at it, determined to try.  

He also wanted to at least fix Lyle’s eyes. Researching magic related to the eyes and color required him to study medical magic, which took considerable time.  

While doing all this, Seisil was faithfully fulfilling his role as head of the Mage Tower. Planting eyes and ears throughout the palace to search for suspicious people was very important, both as a mage and as the Emperor’s top informant.  

But today, he overheard something interesting in the lounge on the first floor of the Mage Tower. An eighteen-year-old groom, married for two years through an early marriage, was complaining absurdly.  

“I can’t have a child no matter how hard I try, so maybe I should get help from alchemy.”  

Seisil’s ears perked up at the word “alchemy.”  

“Alchemy? Does alchemy make children too?”  

“If you make a Homunclepet, it’ll work. The odds are high for a dog or cat, but considering my wife and my affection, maybe a human child will come out. Or maybe something even greater.”  

At first, Seisil thought it was funny, but his face turned pale. He didn’t know there were other mages in the Mage Tower thinking like him.  

“Don’t joke around!”  

Seisil used a Dimension Gate scroll to rush down to the second floor. He smacked the back of the groom, who was speaking such dangerous words.  

Thump!  

The young groom mage protested at his boss’s violence.  

“This is workplace violence!”  

“Yeah, it is! Getting hit by your boss is a thousand times better than being executed for experimenting with life through alchemy. Are you crazy? You’re going to make a Homunclepet?”  

The young groom mage was surprised at how Seisil had overheard him, then got a bit defensive.  

“I’m just frustrated! I need a child soon….”  

“Hey. There are plenty of ways to make children besides alchemy.”  

“Then recommend me some methods.”  

“By the way, aren’t you one of the Mage Tower mages who cooks well? You handled cooking alone at camp, right? Okay, then will you adopt me? You get a child you didn’t have, and I get someone to cook for me. I live alone, so my meals are lacking. Even though I’m skinny, I eat really well…”  

Everyone shook their heads at the Mage Tower Master’s shameless behavior. But no one found him difficult or scary. That was a change since Seisil became the head of the Mage Tower.  

“Seisil, I really enjoy you.”  

At the sudden words, Seisil turned around. The Emperor was standing there, appearing out of nowhere. He had given him a Dimension Gate scroll so he could travel freely anywhere in the palace, and this was always the result. Here, there, everywhere. He appeared anytime, but Seisil wished he’d at least announce his presence.  

“You almost scared me to death, Your Majesty.”  

“A soon-to-be adopted person shouldn’t lose his nerve.”  

Even as they showed proper respect for the Emperor, the other mages burst out laughing.  

Seisil, seeing the Emperor, thought of something to discuss. He felt it was inappropriate to talk in front of everyone, so he led the Emperor to the flower garden behind the Mage Tower.  

“I’d like to talk privately, Your Majesty.”  

Lyle gladly followed Seisil.  

Seisil looked at the Emperor’s appearance. The invisibility cloak he’d given him yesterday was nowhere to be seen, and his hair was disheveled. Even his handsome face had sleep in his eyes. He must have spent the night out.  

“Where did you leave your invisibility cloak?”  

“Oh. I forgot. It’s at Ethea’s house.”  

Speaking of the cloak, Lyle wanted to give Gin a gift.  

“By the way, about that cloak. Could you make a smaller, child-sized one for me?”  

As soon as Ethea’s house was mentioned, Seisil ignored the question and asked one himself.  

“So, did you spend a passionate night?”  

The Emperor glared at Seisil, his face showing clear displeasure at the low-quality question.  

Wait. Come to think of it, when the Emperor gets angry, his eyes turn red and he becomes terrifying, right? Seisil corrected himself, trying to be careful.  

“I mean, did you passionately explain the circumstances that made it inevitable in the past?”  

“No.”

“When are you going to talk about the circumstances, then?”  

Lyle frowned. Seisil’s curiosity was extremely bothersome.  

He had no intention of telling Ethea everything. He didn’t have the confidence to directly tell her about Javir’s vile dealings, nor to face her collapsing in utter despair, especially since she trusted her father.  

He planned to talk about the experiment he had undertaken to protect Ethea only after the issues between her and her father were settled.  

“Why can’t you tell her? It’s not all your fault—if she wants to blame someone, tell her to blame her father. Can’t you just say that?”  

“Yeah. I can’t do something so cruel.”  

But truly cruel would be letting Ethea and her unworthy alchemist father live together without cutting ties, while she still thinks of him as a grateful parent.  

Seisil shook his head.  

“So you’re just going to let her keep hating you?”  

“I’ve been hated for six years. I can handle more.”  

Lyle made it clear to his frustrated friend.  

“So Seisil, don’t say anything unnecessary to Ethea.”