Chapter 37

“Little One, where have you been all this time?”

How Little One ended up here didn’t matter. At this moment, Elena was simply overjoyed to see Little One she had missed so much.

“Ah-da-da-da!”

Little One babbled incomprehensibly, then suddenly stood up and waddled toward her.

The last time she had seen Little One, he had only been crawling. But before she could marvel at the fact that Little One was now walking, the child reached out, urging her to pick him up. Elena immediately embraced Little One.

Her arms were instantly warmed by the small body. A familiar scent of milk wafted over her. Elena buried her face in Little One’s shoulder and began to sob.

“I was so, sniff, worried about you.”

“Waaahhh!”

Did Little One sense my tears? 

He, too, began crying loudly.

Unable to think about calming Little One, Elena continued to cry.

For a while, the two of them cried as if competing to see who could be more sorrowful.

It wasn’t until Felix, alarmed by the sound of their sobbing, came rushing in that their crying finally subsided.

***

“What on earth is going on here?”

Felix looked at Little One, who had just stopped crying, with a bewildered expression.

“Who is this kid?”

What? How could he not know? 

Elena had recognized Little One instantly.

She didn’t hide her disbelief as she asked back, 

“You don’t know?”

“No.”

“It’s Little One.”

“What?”

Felix reacted as if he were hearing the term for the first time. Crossing his arms, he glared at Little One squirming in Elena’s embrace.

“Ah-woo.”

Little One, frightened, buried his face in her chest.

“Don’t look at him like that. You’re scaring Little One.”

“So, you’re saying this kid is that Little One?”

“Yes.”

“How can you be so sure?”

“How can I not be?”

Elena took Little One’s hand and waved it toward Felix.

“He has the same gray eyes, the same blonde hair. Plus, he look just like our Little One.”

“But…”

Felix stared intently at Little One’s face. The child glanced at him briefly before babbling again and snuggling back into Elena’s arms.

She patted Little One’s back, who had been shy around Felix since earlier.

“Little One, are you shy around Felix? Why? You’ve seen him before.”

“It’s been two months.”

Felix retorted as if stating the obvious.

“But he hugged me right away. If he remember me, shouldn’t he remember you too?”

He sighed deeply, pressing his forehead with his hand.

“Whether Little One is shy around me or not isn’t the issue.”

“Then what is?”

“What do you mean, ‘what’? Aren’t you curious why he’s here?”

“Oh, right.”

The reunion with Little One had been so astonishing that she had pushed that thought aside. Holding Little One’s chubby belly with both hands, she asked, 

“Little One, how did you get here? Did you follow me?”

Of course, Little One didn’t answer. Instead, he pushed himself up against her thighs, bending and straightening his knees while shouting.

“Ah-woo? Kyaa!”

Elena humored them with a vague response. 

“Yes, I’m happy to see you too.”

“Ah-bu-bu.”

Felix, who had been watching them with a serious expression, nodded.

“You might have a point.”

“My point? About what?”

“About him following you.”

“I was just joking…”

Felix’s serious demeanor made her feel a bit intimidated, trailing off at the end of her sentence. Crossing his arms, Felix began explaining his theory.

“At first, I thought he used teleportation magic to the Academy. If that were the case, Little One would have appeared in your old dorm room.”

“Right.”

“But he appeared here, in your room. That means he followed you.”

“Is that even possible? Using teleportation magic to follow someone?”

“It’s theoretically possible. Difficult, but possible.”

Felix quickly added, “Of course, I can do it too.”

“Uh-huh.”

Elena muttered unenthusiastically. Felix had a habit of casually bragging about himself like this.

“But who would send Little One to you? And why?”

Elena furrowed her brows in thought.

“I can’t think of anyone. But it doesn’t seem like they sent Little One to harm me.”

“You can’t be sure of that.”

Felix, sounding grumpy, took Little One from her arms. Fortunately, the child didn’t resist as he had earlier.

“Woo?”

Little One stared at Felix with wide eyes, as if he was starting to remember him.

“Alright, Little One. Say ‘ah.’”

Felix gently placed his index finger in Little One’s mouth. The child bit down hard on his finger with his gums.

“Don’t bite. Just say ‘ah.’ Good.”

As if understanding him, Little One opened his mouth.

“This is strange.”

“What is?”

“He has eight teeth.”

“So?”

“He has four teeth two months ago. How did he grow four more in two months?”

“Isn’t that possible?”

“Not just that. Little One’s grown a lot. Look. He seems about 15 to 16 months old.”

“Really?”

Having little experience with babies, Elena couldn’t tell.

“A child who was crawling and barely pulling himself up on furniture is now walking in just two months? That’s odd.”

Felix set Little One down on the floor. Instead of crawling, the child waddled over to Elena, grabbed her leg, and smiled.

“Couldn’t Little One just be developing quickly?”

“That’s possible, but…”

Felix trailed off, closing his mouth. After a moment, he spoke again, changing the subject.

“I’ll write to Professor Deros. We can’t take Little One to the Academy, so we’ll keep him here and wait for a reply.”

“Alright.”

Elena nodded as she picked up Little One again.

“But Felix, what will you tell Madam Jane?”

She frowned.

Unlike Saint Esna’s Festival, when the Academy had been empty, the mansion was now full of people. They couldn’t hide Little One even if they wanted to.

But how could they explain Little One?

‘They just appeared out of nowhere!’ wasn’t exactly a viable explanation.

After a moment of silent contemplation, Felix muttered resolutely, 

“I’ll figure something out.”

As much as she hated to admit it, Felix seemed incredibly dependable today.

***

Once again, Elena was forced to acknowledge the brilliance of Felix Christian, Verka Academy’s prodigy.

He had cast a memory-altering spell on the mansion’s residents.

Thanks to the spell, they managed to fabricate a story that Little One was Elena’s distant cousin and that she was temporarily taking care of him.

Elena felt a bit guilty about deceiving Madam Jane, but the situation left her no choice.

Fortunately, Madam Jane warmly welcomed Little One.

“Oh my, what an adorable child. Hello there.”

Little One seemed to like her too. Reaching out with both arms, he soon nestled into her embrace.

“You’re not shy, are you? Such a gentle baby.”

Elena corrected her. 

“He was a bit shy around Felix.”

Madam Jane responded as if it were obvious.

“Who wouldn’t be scared of him?”

That was true. Still, Elena found Madam Jane’s blunt assessments amusing at times.

Wasn’t it normal for mothers to side with their children?

With surprising strength, Madam Jane lifted Little One high into the air. The child flailed their arms and giggled.

“Habu!”

“What’s your name, Little One?”

“Um.”

Elena quickly racked her brain. Even though it was a temporary alias, she felt a sense of duty to give Little One a proper name this time.

Let’s see…

“Roy.”

It sounded good. 

Yes, from now on, Little One’s alias would be Roy.

“What a cute name. Hello, Roy.”

“Hubu. Ah-da-da.”

“Oh my, you’re so talkative. By the way, this child looks so peculiar.”

“Peculiar? Roy?”

“Yes, very peculiar. Strange, even.”

Madam Jane muttered cryptically, turning Little One this way and that as she examined them.

But she didn’t elaborate on what she found so peculiar.

‘Why peculiar?’

Elena narrowed her eyes and studied Little One.

To describe him again, Little One had bright blonde hair and gray eyes similar to Felix’s.

And he was incredibly cute. Even someone like Elena, who hadn’t seen many babies, could confidently say so.

But there was nothing particularly ‘peculiar’ about him. Gray eyes were rare in the Kingdom, but it wasn’t something Madam Jane, who had given birth to Felix, should find strange.

In the end, Elena asked outright.

“Why is Roy peculiar?”

“This child looks exactly like Felix when he was little.”

“Like Felix?”

Hmm. Elena turned to look at Felix.

Aside from the similar eye color, she couldn’t find any resemblance. Felix’s eyes slanted upward like a cat’s, whereas Little One’s…

‘Oh, Little One’s eyes do slant upward a bit.’

She hadn’t noticed because of the child’s expressive face, but upon closer inspection, his eyes were sharp too.

Even so, Elena still wasn’t convinced he resembled Felix.

As if reading her thoughts, Madam Jane made a suggestion.

“Shall we look at Felix’s childhood portrait?”

“Mother.”

Felix grimaced. Elena hadn’t been particularly keen on the idea, but his reaction made her want to see it.

“Yes, let’s do that.”