Chapter 18

Normally, she would have snapped back at him, but she didn’t even feel like doing that this time.

Elena tightly shut her mouth and stabbed at the penne pasta, coated in tomato sauce, with her fork. As she absently brought the pasta to her mouth, a sharp wail suddenly erupted from behind her.  

“Waaah!”  

The piercing cry jolted her back to her senses.  

She quickly put down her fork and turned around to see Little One, who had been sleeping on the blankets, now lying on his stomach with his face scrunched up.  

With a nervous expression, Little One looked around and, as soon as his eyes met hers, began wiggling his bottom up and down.  

“Uuuuu!”  

“Come here, Little One.”  

Elena stretched her arms toward him. Little One stared blankly at her for a moment before scrunching up his face again and letting out another pitiful wail.  

“Waaah!”  

“I’m eating. You come here, Little One.”  

“Ah-uuuu!”  

Little One, wearing an expression full of dissatisfaction even from a distance, buried his face in the blanket spread out on the floor.  

Then, he peeked out to glance at her, only to bury his face in the blanket again. After repeating this simple action about three times, Elena realized what he was doing.  

‘He’s checking if I’m coming to him or not, isn’t he?’  

“Don’t do that. Just come here. Be a good boy.”  

“Ah-uuu!”  

Little One flailed his legs and flopped around on the floor. 

Who on earth did he inherit such stubbornness from?  

“Alright, fine. I’ll come.”  

In the end, Elena had no choice but to get up and scoop Little One into her arms. When their eyes met, Little One, his face still tear-streaked, gave her a silly, toothless grin.  

“Hee-oo.”  

“You know, I feed you, dress you, and put you to bed, and now you won’t even let me eat in peace. Is that okay, Little One?”  

“Hoo.”  

When she lowered her voice, Little One seemed to realize he was being scolded. His lips began to quiver.  

“This morning, I even changed your diaper myself. I even washed your… dirty little bottom.”  

As Elena grumbled, Little One grabbed her shoulder and shook his body, as if to protest, ‘That’s your job anyway!’  

Despite the situation, Elena had to admit—though she didn’t want to—that the sight of Little One, his eyes brimming with tears and his lips pouting, was so adorable that she wanted to pinch his cheeks. The thought of scolding him vanished completely.  

“I’ll let it slide this time. But next time, those puppy eyes won’t work on me.”  

She patted Little One’s back and sat back down on the sofa.  

“Ah?”  

Little One’s eyes widened as he stared at the steaming pasta on the table, blinking rapidly as if fascinated.  

Since he always stared like that whenever he saw something new, Elena didn’t think much of it and picked up her fork again to eat.  

But then it happened.  

“Haa-waa!”  

In the blink of an eye, Little One planted both hands on the table and stood up on her lap. Without any hesitation, he reached out toward the hot plate of pasta.  

“No, Little One!”  

Startled, Elena quickly pulled him back into her arms. Even though he couldn’t reach the plate, Little One didn’t give up and stretched his arm toward it again.  

“Haa!”  

“I said no! It’s hot!”  

When Elena hurriedly pushed the plate toward Felix’s side of the table, Little One turned to her with a sulky expression.  

He seemed dejected that the plate, which he couldn’t reach to begin with, was now even further away. But no matter how much he pouted, the answer was still no.  

“Look at this.”  

Felix, who had been watching the scene unfold from the other side of the table, stood up with the plate of pasta and approached Elena. He grabbed Little One’s hand and brought it closer to the plate.  

Little One’s mouth widened in delight as he got closer to the plate, and drool began to drip onto Elena’s lap. She let out a loud shriek.  

“What are you doing? It’s hot!”  

“I know. Just hold still.”  

Felix replied curtly, his tone completely different from when he spoke to Little One. He ignored Elena’s protests and moved Little One’s hand closer to the plate.  

The moment the tip of Little One’s finger lightly touched the plate, he flinched and quickly withdrew his hand.  

“Ah!”  

Little One trembled and buried himself in Elena’s arms. His expression had completely changed, as if he now found the plate utterly repulsive.  

“See? It’s hot. You can’t touch it.”  

Felix spoke gently, surprising Elena.  

Hearing his unexpectedly kind tone, Elena couldn’t help but wonder if this was really the Felix she knew.  

‘Did he just say “hot” like that? Felix said “hot”?’  

She stared up at him with wide eyes, as if she had just seen a ghost.  

Noticing her gaze, Felix frowned at her. It seemed he was still the same Felix she knew.  

“What are you staring at?”  

“What was that just now?”  

“If you just forbid him from touching it, he won’t listen. It’s better to let him experience the heat so he understands. It’s better than him grabbing the pasta with his hands.”  

“So… you said ‘hot’?”  

Felix cleared his throat awkwardly and turned his head away.  

“It’s easier for him to understand that way.”  

As it turned out, Felix’s hands-on teaching method was surprisingly effective.  

Having experienced the heat firsthand, Little One no longer fussed about touching the pasta.  

In fact, when Elena brought the plate back to her side, he turned his head away as if even looking at it was unpleasant. It was quite remarkable.  

“Did you do the same with Lindsey and Tony?”  

“Yeah.”  

Felix replied indifferently and turned away. Instead of sitting back down, he walked over to a shelf where a box of strawberries was placed.  

Using magic, Felix removed the stems and washed the strawberries clean before placing them on a plate and setting it on the table.  

The sweet and tangy aroma was even more appetizing than the pasta.  

“Haa!”  

Little One, noticing the strawberries, began bouncing excitedly and tapping the table.  

Elena handed him a large strawberry, just the right size for his tiny fist.  

Even with one hand full, he demanded more, so she gave him another strawberry for his other hand.  

“Bwa!”  

“No, Little One!”  

Little One clenched his fists tightly, squashing the bright red strawberries in his small, pale hands.  

Compared to the blueberry incident a few days ago, the mess from the strawberries was far worse. Juice dripped down onto Elena’s thighs.  

“Look at this mess. Everything’s soaked.”  

Little One, oblivious to her frustration, giggled gleefully as he stuffed the squashed strawberries into his mouth.  

His cheeks were now sticky with strawberry juice.  

Elena glanced at Felix for help, but he simply alternated between looking at her and Little One, as if to say, ‘Just let him be,’ before resuming his meal.  

“Fine. Have fun.”  

It wasn’t like the mess couldn’t be cleaned, and clothes could always be washed.  

Letting Little One play quietly with strawberries seemed better than dealing with his tantrums.  

Leaning back into the sofa, Elena watched Little One.  

After playing with the strawberries to his heart’s content, Little One wandered around the room, exploring.  

The room was larger than the lodging they had stayed in before, and there were many new things to see, which seemed to fascinate him.  

He crawled under the table, tried to climb the pile of books in Felix’s room, and got caught by Felix, who promptly carried him out.  

At one point, he approached the roaring fireplace, only to retreat in fear after realizing it was hot, and ran back into Elena’s arms.  

Though he clearly wanted to keep playing, his drooping eyelids betrayed his exhaustion.  

After running around tirelessly, he suddenly lay down on the carpet. Surprised, Elena approached him, only to find that he had already fallen asleep, his breathing steady and even.  

He must have been very tired because, unlike usual, he didn’t fuss or throw a tantrum before falling asleep.  

“Let him sleep in my room.”  

Felix, who had been in his room with the door closed for quite some time, suddenly came out and grabbed Elena’s arm. She shook her head.  

“No, I can’t do that. It’s your room. I’ll stay in the living room.”  

“It’s harder to put Little One to sleep in the living room. Just go in.”  

“But still…”  

“Hurry up.”  

He practically pushed her into the room.  

Caught off guard, Elena found herself in Felix’s room, which was now much tidier than when Little One had been playing with books earlier.  

The books that had been scattered across the floor were now neatly placed on the bookshelf or the desk, and the miscellaneous items had been organized in one corner of the room.  

The bed, which was larger than her own, was so clean that not a speck of dust could be seen. It was as if it had been magically laundered. When she took a deep breath, a faint rose scent—her favorite—wafted through the air.  

Oddly enough, there wasn’t a single rose petal in the room.  

“I’ll stay in the living room. If you need anything, call me.”  

With that single statement, Felix closed the door and left.  

Elena stared at the closed door for a moment before laying Little One down on the bed, which was against the wall.  

Just as she had done at the lodging, she placed chairs around the bed to ensure Little One wouldn’t fall off.  

After stretching her neck to relieve some tension, she lay down beside Little One.  

Normally, even after putting Little One to sleep, it would take her quite a while to fall asleep herself.  

But today, perhaps because of the various events that had left her physically and mentally exhausted, sleep came quickly.  

Or maybe it was because the warm air in the room made it easier to relax.  

“Little One, do you know something?”  

She murmured as she gently stroked the soft hair on Little One’s head.  

Of course, Little One couldn’t hear her—or even if he could, he wouldn’t understand—but she simply felt like speaking her thoughts out loud.  

“Tomorrow, whether I find your family or not, we’ll have to part ways.”  

Tomorrow was finally the last day of the Festival.  

By morning, people who had gone back to their hometowns would start returning one by one.  

Even if she couldn’t find his parents, she could ask the professors and staff at the Academy for help tomorrow. She wouldn’t need to take care of Little One anymore.  

Tonight would be her last night with him.