Chapter 54 – The Water Demon Ghost and a Kiss

Even if she was going with Lyle, she still wanted to know where they were going.

“Where are we going?”

“You’ll know when we get there.”

She could roughly guess they were going to look for materials. But Lyle absolutely would not say where they were going.

“It’s better to go and see than hear a hundred explanations.”

Seated on the goose’s back, Ethea quietly waited. Then she was suddenly struck by a worry.

Until now, whenever the candles in the house burned low, she had often made dust stars and used them. But she had never taught Gin that dust stars were in fact a temporarily luminous metal created through alchemy. She had only vaguely brushed it off as lighting powder bought from the market.

Ethea did not want to teach alchemy to the child. She was afraid that if he took an interest in alchemy, something might go wrong. An ordinary human like her would not be much affected no matter how much alchemy she used, but Gin, who had been born through alchemy, might be affected by it and something could go wrong.

“I’m a little reluctant for Gin to take an interest in alchemy.”

She could not shake the worry that they might be going too far just to win the child’s attention by showing off something more impressive than the clown.

Lyle looked at Ethea like that, then suddenly moved closer and sat beside her. Then he lifted the shawl that was just about to slip from her body and draped it properly over her shoulders again. It was a gentle touch, as if to reassure her.

“Don’t worry.”

“How can I not worry?”

“Gin isn’t affected by alchemy.”

He seemed certain. That was reassuring, but at the same time she wondered what that certainty was based on.

“What makes you say that so confidently?”

“Because I already took measures.”

“How?”

“Do you remember the bracelet I gave Gin before?”

“Yes.”

“It’s a kind of barrier. If he starts properly meeting me, then he might also meet my enemies and receive bad influence from them. I made it to protect the child in those situations. It can block not only alchemy, but also physical attacks from others.”

It was an astonishing thing to hear. She had thought it was simply a gift, but to think it was actually a barrier?

“Seisil had to work rather hard to make it. It was something I should have given him long ago, but I gave it late. Even so, it’s far better than not having it.”

“Ah……”

Lyle was protecting Gin as much as he could.

Suddenly Ethea remembered her conversation with Javir. According to him, it had also been Lyle who gave Gin his name. In the language of alchemy, it meant chain, that is, restraint, and whatever possibility might lie within the child’s body, it would stop any possible rampage. That too must have been something Lyle had done to protect Gin.

Lyle had been caring about Gin since far longer ago than Ethea had imagined. He simply had not been able to approach because he feared his enemies.

“I want to keep Gin as safe as possible. But……”

The smile on Lyle’s face faded slightly. Ethea worried about what words would come next.

“What’s a problem are accidents outside prediction, like what happened last time, when Gin wished he could grow to resemble me and ended up in pain. Things like that will need more research. Of course, it would be best if nothing like that happens again in the future.”

Ethea nodded.

The bracelet might keep him from being affected by alchemy, and the restraint placed in his name might prevent any possible rampage, but stopping changes that arose within Gin himself would require far more delicate control.

“Anyway, what I meant was that there’s nothing stopping Gin from learning alchemy itself. Just think about how Gin will like the dust stars. Don’t worry about anything else. I’ll take care of it all.”

He was always like that. Lyle always tried to handle everything himself, and whenever he did, Ethea often felt herself becoming endlessly small.

As she lowered her gaze, no longer having anything to say, Lyle suddenly apologized.

“I’m sorry.”

“For what.”

“Just…… for everything.”

The way he said that with his head lowered made him seem pitiful for no reason. After hesitating a little, Ethea took his hand. At that, he looked at her in surprise. She smiled at him warmly.

When one thought about it, Gin had been born in order to stop Ethea’s marriage. It had been an arbitrary act, but it was also true that she was grateful that he tried so hard for her sake and even took responsibility for caring for that child.

‘But what was I, then.’

Ethea had neither magic nor any other power, and she felt endlessly shabby, being nothing more than someone who could only stamp her feet anxiously.

“I’m always grateful that you try so hard, but in the end I’m not doing anything. I’m the one who should be sorry.”

Lyle practically jumped.

“What do you mean you aren’t doing anything! You’re the one doing everything. Raising even an ordinary child is difficult, but you raised a Homunclepet. And made him grow up so bright and kind.”

But the more he said things like that, the more awkward Ethea felt.

Even if it had been a child she had never wanted, never even imagined, once it was visible before her eyes, alive and breathing, how could she have left it alone? She had simply lived following that feeling until now. And that had become love.

The wind turned colder. Lyle called to her again.

“You know, Etty.”

“Yes.”

“It’s probably still like that, isn’t it.”

“What is?”

“You must resent me. For leaving after placing such a burden on you.”

“No, now it’s not really a burden……”

“I’m not going to rush you. I can’t do that. Just, just don’t push me away any further, and treat me comfortably as a friend.”

Her heart had already acknowledged him as a friend. It felt awkward to answer that now, so Ethea merely smiled.

“We’re here.”

They seemed to have arrived quickly while talking. Looking into the distance, he said that. As if the jelly goose shared thoughts with Lyle, it neatly set the two of them down on the ground by itself. They were in front of a cave in the forest.

Looking toward the cave entrance, Lyle said confidently,

“We should be able to find water here.”

To think the place they had come to for water from a deep cave really was a cave.

“R-right.”

Somehow it felt like this was becoming a big ordeal. At this point, rather than a dust-star event, would it not be better to just buy the children some delicious snacks?

Thinking that, Ethea suddenly felt a gust of wind and looked at Lyle’s body. He looked strong and healthy, but with his top removed and only the single vest Malik had given him hanging on his body, he seemed cold.

Ethea tried to take off Solei’s shawl and give it to him. But Lyle stopped her.

“I’m fine. Just keep it on yourself.”

“But the wind is chilly……”

“I’m really fine. Look.”

As if telling her to feel his body temperature, he pressed the back of his hand to the place where Ethea’s ear and cheek met. His hand was warm. On top of that, he was not even shivering.

“I don’t really feel the cold well.”

“If that’s the case, then that’s a relief, but……”

His body was not made of steel, so how could someone not feel the cold well? The place the back of his hand had touched seemed to grow hot for no reason. Ethea deliberately fixed her gaze even more firmly on the cave.

The cave was gaping open with a black mouth. The absolute darkness inside, which neither the moonlight nor the glow emitted by the special plants could invade, was somehow chilling. The slow song of a fairy drifting from somewhere made the atmosphere even eerier.

Before she knew it, Ethea had given a small shiver and was wrapping the shawl more tightly around herself. Lyle took her hand then and pulled it gently. His warm hand brushed across both her palm and the back of her hand.

“Let’s go.”

“Yes.”

With that touch, Ethea was able to take a step into the cave.