Chapter 7

While Elena stood frozen in shock, feeling as if she had turned to stone, the front of her dress grew damp with Little One’s saliva.

“Hey, what are you doing?”

Felix, noticing her stunned state and lack of response, stepped in and pulled Little One into his arms.

Already upset, Little One began thrashing and screaming even more violently as soon as Felix held him. The commotion, right in the middle of the street, drew the attention of the passersby.

“Ah-muwa! Awoo-ah! Abuuu!”

The curious and startled gazes of the onlookers were embarrassing enough, but what worried Elena more was Little One’s desperate attempts to escape Felix’s arms.

Little One’s reaction was far more intense than when Felix had first held him back in the room. Alarmed, Elena quickly approached Felix.

“Let me hold him. People might think we’re kidnappers.”

Perhaps Little One’s parents already thought of them as kidnappers.

With such an absurd thought in her mind, she took Little One from Felix.

Felix handed him over without protest. Though it had only been a brief moment, he looked exhausted, as if the ordeal had drained him.

“Woo-woo!”

Even in Elena’s arms, Little One didn’t calm down.

He didn’t try to push himself away or squirm out of her hold, but his whining continued.

“Awoo-woo!”

“What’s wrong with you? I really don’t know why you’re acting like this.”

Ah, if only they could communicate.

Seeing Little One’s teary eyes made Elena feel like crying herself.

In this frustrating situation, all she could do was pat his back and wait for him to calm down.

Little One once again buried his face in her chest and began nibbling at her dress.

For a moment, he seemed to settle down, and Elena, though reluctant, decided to let him be.

‘Fine. If this is what it takes to calm him down, I’ll allow it.’

But soon, Little One looked up at her with a pitiful expression, his lips trembling.

“Woo…”

He looked incredibly wronged. At the same time, there was a hint of disappointment in his eyes. But really, if anyone should feel wronged, it was Elena.

“Wait here for a moment.”

Felix, who had been observing Little One from a few steps away, muttered something—whether to Little One or to Elena, she couldn’t tell—and then walked off in a certain direction.

Worried that they might lose sight of each other, Elena hurriedly followed behind him.

Felix didn’t seem to notice her trailing him as he continued scanning his surroundings, walking briskly.

Elena struggled to keep up, burdened by Little One squirming in her arms, until a woman holding the hand of a five-year-old girl stopped her.

The woman glanced at Little One, who was still whining and burying his face in Elena’s chest, and casually remarked as she passed by.

“He must be really hungry. When was the last time he was nursed?”

“Pardon?”

The woman looked at Elena with a slightly puzzled expression, as if her response was strange.

“It seems like the baby is whining because he’s hungry. If you don’t have a suitable place to go, would you like to stop by my house for a bit? It’s just around the corner.”

“No, it’s okay. I was already on my way back to the lodging. Thank you for your concern.”

Feeling awkward about the woman’s unsolicited kindness, Elena quickly resumed following Felix.

She spotted him up ahead, walking toward her. As soon as he noticed her, he quickened his pace.

“Why did you move from where you were? What if we’d lost each other?”

His tone was curt, but Elena chose to ignore it. Instead, she proudly shared her newfound discovery about Little One.

“Felix, he’s acting like this because he’s hungry!”

“I know.”

In his hand was a paper bag.

Elena blinked in surprise at his response, but upon reflection, it wasn’t all that surprising. Felix did have younger siblings, after all.

“What’s that?”

She pointed to the bag and asked. Felix didn’t reply but instead opened the bag to show her its contents.

Inside were freshly washed blueberries, still glistening with droplets of water.

“Blueberries? Are those for Little One?”

“It’s not a full meal, but it should help for now.”

Felix picked out a plump blueberry and held it up. Elena adjusted her position so Little One could see it.

“Look, Little One. Look at this.”

Felix’s tone was soft and coaxing as he tried to draw Little One’s attention.

Elena had never noticed before, but his low voice, usually curt with her, was calm and soothing.

“Awoo.”

Fortunately, Little One seemed interested. He stared at the blueberry in front of him for a moment, as if assessing it, before reaching out with his tiny hand.

As soon as Felix placed the blueberry in his hand, Little One clenched it tightly in his fist.

Purple juice trickled down his chubby white arm.

That’s not what the blueberry is for, Little One!

“Eubya.”

Little One seemed to have forgotten his hunger entirely as he squished the blueberry in his hand. The juice stained the green sleeves of his outfit.

“No, that’s not how you’re supposed to use it.”

Felix didn’t raise his voice as Elena had expected. Instead, he calmly explained.

“You’re supposed to eat it. My siblings used to play with food like this too…”

His voice trailed off, and from his expression, it seemed like he was recalling memories of his younger siblings smearing themselves with fruit juice.

After a brief frown, Felix relaxed and popped a blueberry into his own mouth.

“This is how you eat it.”

“Nyah.”

Little One, watching Felix closely, finally put the flattened blueberry, now stuck to his palm, into his mouth.

Almost instantly, his eyes grew wide. He quickly began chewing, his feet kicking back and forth in delight.

“Ah!”

Demanding more, Little One extended his hand toward Felix, who handed him another blueberry. Little One was greedy.

As soon as he put the blueberry into his mouth, even before chewing it, he stretched out his purple-stained hand toward Felix, asking for more.

The tug-of-war between Felix, who insisted on eating slowly, and Little One, who wanted to stuff his mouth full of blueberries, continued all the way back to the lodging.

As Elena silently watched this scene, her gaze eventually fell on her clothes, which were now stained with Little One’s saliva.

‘Now that I think about it, shouldn’t Little One still be nursing since he’s so young?’

The woman they had met earlier had also mentioned nursing. After some hesitation, Elena asked Felix.

“So, what exactly should we feed him? Babies usually… nurse, right?”

While Elena was seriously contemplating whether they might need to find someone to nurse him, Felix provided a straightforward answer.

“At Little One’s age, he should be able to eat soup or other soft baby food.”

“Really? Is that okay?”

“Lindsey and Tony started eating other foods too once they began teething. I’m not an expert, but as long as he eats a variety of foods, it should be fine. The problem is whether he’ll actually eat other foods or not.”

As Felix spoke, his expression as he looked at Little One seemed oddly resolute.

***

After arriving at the lodging, Felix showed Elena to her room before heading straight down to the first-floor dining area.

In the meantime, Elena played a game of hide-and-seek with Little One and finally managed to get him into new clothes.

Now dressed in clothes that fit properly, Little One crawled all over the lodging, exploring every corner.

‘The place is pretty clean.’

The room had a large bed, a long sofa opposite it, and a round table with two chairs by the window.

While massaging her sore shoulders and arms from carrying Little One, Felix returned to the room.

On the tray he carried were several bowls of soup, a large spoon, a teaspoon, and a glass of water.

There were exactly four types of soup.

Judging by their appearance, they seemed to be mushroom, pumpkin, broccoli, and corn soup. Watching Felix place the tray on the floor, Elena muttered to herself.

“Why did you bring four kinds of soup?”

“In case he doesn’t like one of them.”

Felix replied as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.

‘So, he didn’t know what Little One would like, so he brought several options. Surely one of them will suit Little One’s taste. Is that it?’

Elena let out a small laugh of disbelief.

Fortunately, contrary to their doubts about whether Little One would eat the soup, he showed interest and crawled over.

Little One naturally climbed onto Elena’s lap and sat down as if it were the most natural thing in the world. It was so seamless that she didn’t even feel any awkwardness.

“Ah, ah!”

When Elena remained still, feeling the weight on her legs, Little One couldn’t wait and began bouncing impatiently.

“Alright, alright, I’ll give it to you.”

She picked up the bowl of mushroom soup, which seemed the safest option, along with a spoon. She dodged Little One’s eager hands and scooped up some soup.

After blowing on it to cool it down, she carefully brought it to Little One’s mouth. Following Felix’s instructions, she even tested the temperature on her lips beforehand.

Little One swallowed the soup without complaint, but his face quickly scrunched up.

The soup dribbled out of his tiny mouth. Not satisfied with just spitting it out, Little One even rubbed his tongue with his fingers.

“Ugh…”

“What’s wrong? Does it taste bad? It seems fine, just a bit bland.”

Not willing to give up so easily, Elena scooped another spoonful of soup and tried to feed it to Little One.

However, he turned his head away with a look of utter disgust.

‘Well, I guess there’s no choice.’

After cleaning Little One’s messy chin and hands, she tried feeding him the corn soup next.

Little One, curious as ever, took a bite but spat it out again.

“Ugh…”

“You’re really picky, aren’t you?”

Felix, who had been sitting with his arms crossed, watching them from a chair, clicked his tongue. His remark left Elena exasperated, and she couldn’t help but retort.

“Don’t talk about others. You’re the pickiest eater in the Kingdom.”

Felix’s picky eating habits had been infamous since childhood, known even among the staff of the Christian household.

He would outright refuse to eat anything that didn’t suit his taste and had such a small appetite that everyone in the household had to work hard just to get him to eat.

Even now, his eating habits hadn’t changed; if the cafeteria served something he didn’t like, he would simply skip the meal altogether.

‘Compared to that, Little One is much easier.’

After wiping Little One’s face again, Elena tried feeding him the pumpkin soup, but he rejected that as well.

The only option left was the broccoli soup, which had small chunks of broccoli in it. It was Elena’s favorite soup, but she doubted Little One would like it.

‘This might be too bitter for a baby.’

After all, Little One had already rejected the sweet-tasting corn and pumpkin soups.

But as the hungry Little One began whining again, Elena had no choice but to feed him the broccoli soup.

“Ahhh!”

And then, something unexpected happened. Little One began chewing on the soup with enthusiasm, his little legs kicking excitedly. His tiny feet clapped together like hands.