Chapter 57

‘What a frightening man. Doing something like that to me and filling the water bottle too-doing all sorts of things, honestly.’

“Would you get lost for a while?”

“You really do speak harshly again. The old Etty wasn’t like this.”

“You weren’t like this before either!”

When Ethea shouted, he looked at her in silence. It was as if he were waiting for her harsh breathing to calm down.

When she did not stop glaring at him, Lyle began explaining calmly.

“It was a water demon ghost.”

“What?”

“The name of a monster. A water demon ghost. It may be your first time hearing of it, and I don’t know much about it either. It’s such an insignificant monster, and it lives in remote places, so people don’t really know it…… but it attacked you. You saw a person-shaped white mist, didn’t you?”

At his concrete description, she found herself nodding without thinking.

But what did that matter. He still had to be believable for her to accept it at face value.

“A water demon ghost. You’re good at making up names. It wasn’t that you did something strange?”

“Do I look like that bad a man to you?”

“Yes.”

Lyle gave a weak laugh and dragged a hand over his face. Then he placed one hand at his waist, steadied his breath, and spoke in an even calmer voice, almost like he was instructing her.

“If you don’t want to believe it, then don’t. It doesn’t change the fact that what knocked you unconscious was a water demon ghost. If you really feel you must confirm it, go look in the regional library and find the Monster Encyclopedia or something. The symptoms you experienced will be written there exactly.”

Judging by how serious he looked, perhaps it really was true.

“And I’d like you to understand this. Do you know what happens if someone can’t wake from the hypnosis of a water demon ghost? No…… just go look it up in a book yourself, Etty. I won’t go out of my way to say it with my own mouth and make a display of what I did.”

Faced with Lyle’s serious manner, Ethea had nothing to say.

‘A water demon ghost? Should I look it up under Aquarand’s water demon ghost? Even if what he says is true, one still has to argue about what should be argued.’

“Even so, that doesn’t mean you get to kiss me. And you hugged me.”

“Ah…… yes. But there was a reason for that too.”

“All right. Let’s hear it then, Mr. Pervert.”

“If I’d really done it with perverted intentions, I would’ve kissed somewhere other than your eyes.”

At those words, heat rose even more fiercely to Ethea’s face.

“You……!”

Even in the face of her anger, Lyle calmly continued.

“You were crying for your mother, so shouldn’t someone wipe your tears? But what could I do when there was no handkerchief. If possible, it’s better to wipe them with something warm.”

“Even so, not with your lips. And besides, you also did it to her forehead……!”

“Yes. To your eyes, and to your forehead too. While holding you. If I were your mother, that’s what I would have done.”

Ethea was struck speechless.

Lyle was looking straight into her eyes and speaking without the slightest embarrassment.

“You were crying for your mother, so what could I do? For a little while, I could become your mother. If Gin cried, I think I would have done the same. I would have held him and wiped away his tears. If there was a handkerchief, with that; if not, then with my hand or my lips or whatever…… whatever my heart told me to. Just so he would stop crying.”

Ethea truly did not like him. What she liked even less was herself, hearing those words and feeling her eyes grow moist again.

“And you’re burning up. Then you must feel cold too. So I wanted to warm you. No, more than that, I had to. You hurt, don’t you? Come to think of it, your voice sounds strange too. Is it a cold?”

Speaking worriedly, Lyle reached out as if to touch her forehead again. No, was he trying to wipe her tears again?

But Ethea turned away so he could not do it.

“I have to go back now.”

“Ah, yes. You should. I was waiting here for you to wake because I was worried about Gin.”

“I’m going alone.”

Though she did not even know the way and could not properly handle the jelly goose, Ethea still uttered such impossible words and shut both eyes. Tears slid down and wet her chin, but she could wipe them herself. She did not need Lyle’s hand. Or his lips.

‘What was this. Could he act so naturally like that as if we were lovers or something?’

Her head hurt. More than a simple ache from a cold, she felt dizzy because of her pounding heart and his scent.

‘Ethea. Don’t try to look away. You still like Lyle. Even now.’

The moment she acknowledged it to herself, it felt as though her whole body would burn away and scatter. Then Lyle whispered gently to her.

“But Ethea.”

Ethea answered curtly.

“What.”

“Let’s go back together.”

“……”

“There isn’t really any way to get back unless we ride this goose anyway.”

“……”

“Hm? Calm down. I’ll behave until you do. No, even if you don’t calm down, I’ll still keep behaving.”

“Be quiet.”

Ethea flopped down where she was. It seemed escaping his scent would not be easy after all.

No, perhaps there was no need to force herself to do that.

＊  ＊  ＊

The clown was still performing tricks in front of the children.

Gin and Lily had no choice but to pretend they found the clown amusing. The adults all seemed to be off in their own pairs having fun, so perhaps they did not want to interfere for no reason. And so they deliberately acted as though the clown’s tricks were entertaining.

At first, the clown had not even tried to hide his reluctance, but little by little he began enjoying making the children laugh. In the palace, since the Emperor did not particularly care to watch a clown’s antics, he had rarely had a chance to perform properly there, so this was the first time he had met a true audience, and he was excited.

“Now then, children! This is a trick I had only intended to show to His Majesty, but since the audience reaction is so good today, I’ll show it to you. It is none other than the disappearing finger trick……”

“Yaawn, I’m sleepy.”

“Ah, really? Couldn’t you at least watch the trick first and then sleep?”

“But I’m sleepy.”

“Ahem. Very well. Then we’ll stop here for today. If fate allows, I’ll show you magic next time!”

After the clown returned reluctantly, Lily whispered to Gin.

“Actually, I wasn’t sleepy at all.”

Gin chuckled. The two children sat on the balcony and counted the stars in the sky. Then suddenly Lily asked Gin,

“Heyyy, Gin.”

“Yes.”

“Do you like His Majesty?”

Gin did not understand why Lily was asking something like that. Could she not tell from everything he had shown so far? Of course he liked His Majesty. There was no need even to say it twice.

“Of course I do.”

“How much? Um, hmm……. this much? Enough that you’d want to make him your dad?”

Enough to make him his dad? Was she perhaps saying this because it had seemed as if his mother had gone out on a date with His Majesty, and she was trying to connect the two because of that?

In any case, he had to answer the question. Gin replied honestly and calmly.

“If that were possible, then I would dare say yes. His Majesty is a good person. And a wonderful one. If such a person were to become my father…… then perhaps I would feel as though I had the whole world.”

“Heheh.”

Lily smiled cutely and said in a drowsy voice,

“Ahh. Gin, you’re happy. You’re a happy child.”

“Hm?”

“You’re happyyy.”

“What do you mean……”

Gin looked at Lily with a puzzled gaze.

Just then, far up in the sky, a sparkling jelly goose came flying toward them. From atop it, Lyle called out to the children.

“Children! Look at this!”

“Hm?”

“What are we supposed to look at?”

“It won’t last long, so you have to watch carefully!”

The children looked at the jelly goose curiously.

Soon, something mysterious happened. From the wings of the jelly goose, powder sparkling like stars began to shower down, lighting up the dark night air. Lily, who could never resist anything glittering, gasped in delight at the sight.

“Waaah! Stars are falling! The stars are falling!”

The beautiful glowing powder falling from the goose’s wings was not unfamiliar to Gin. Long ago, whenever the candles in the house ran out, his mother would make glowing powder to use in their place, and this looked similar to that.

Could it be that His Majesty the Emperor had made that? Together with Mother?

Gin looked at the Emperor, smiling faintly as Lily cheered, and at Ethea, waving to her son.

“Is it pretty, Lily?”

“Waaah! Yes, it is! It’s pretty!”

“That’s good. Then children, play a little more. Etty seems to be sick, so I have to nurse her.”

At the exact moment the jelly goose came close to the balcony, the Emperor, carrying Ethea in his arms, landed lightly on the balcony floor in one swift motion. Both Gin and Lily widened their eyes in surprise at the graceful speed of it.

Even amid that, Ethea said to Gin as though to reassure him that there was nothing to worry about.

“What do you mean to nurse me. His Majesty is saying strange things. I am fine. Fine…… ahh!”

“Fine, indeed.”

But the Emperor simply carried Ethea off and headed straight for the room.

At the spot where they vanished like the wind, Lily smiled meaningfully, as if she knew everything, while Gin stood dazed.

“Just now, His Majesty called my mother Etty, didn’t he?”

“Mhm.”

“What is this……”

Gin felt a great change.

It was not an unpleasant one-no, rather, it was a good change.