I couldn’t stop him. Baby Oscar, with a lollipop in his mouth,h barged in on his own.

“…….”

I simply couldn’t believe the scene unfolding before my eyes.

“Uncle Prince, I missed you!”

Regardless of my feelings, Oscar ran straight to Henry, not me, and jumped into his arms.

‘Is this a dream?’

I wished it were just a dream. He threw himself into Henry’s arms so abruptly that I had no chance to stop him.

Henry, who had caught Oscar by reflex, looked at me with an incredulous smile.

‘Why did he suddenly become a child again? Is it polymorphing?’

He had just grown up, so why use transformation magic again? I worried that it might be straining his body. I was so concerned that everything seemed to darken before my eyes.

But dealing with the immediate situation had to come first. I decided to play along with Oscar’s act.

“Oscar. You should greet properly first. How could you just jump into his arms like that?”

“It’s fine.”

Henry intervened as I was scolding Oscar. He seemed somewhat moved by Oscar’s enthusiastic welcome.

Oscar caught my eye and winked slightly. His expression was gentle, quietly conveying that I should trust his plan.

‘He asked if I was troubled because child Oscar was gone, and then deliberately came like this?’

I couldn’t have imagined this—he even transformed to come here.

Of course, since the adult Oscar was inside that child’s body, it was less precarious than when he was actually a child. But I was still worried nonetheless.

‘I really can’t figure out what he’s planning.’

And I couldn’t even ask him. I felt like I was burning up inside.

Fortunately, I had dismissed the maids; if they had been here, it would have been complete chaos.

“Uncle. Did you buy all this for Oscar?”

“Yes. It’s all for Oscar.”

“That’s amazing! Did you buy these gifts to impress Oscar?”

“Yes. We’re friends, after all.”

“Uncle, you’re so cool. You’re the best!”

Oscar threw his arms around Henry’s neck and rubbed his soft cheek against him.

His embrace must have been quite strong, as Henry involuntarily let out a small cough. Yet he seemed pleased, his face full of smiles.

‘Does he really like it?’

Oscar was making such a convincing fuss that I momentarily wondered.

‘There’s no way Oscar would genuinely like child gifts like this.’

It felt somewhat ominous, but it would also be ridiculous to step in and stop him abruptly.

Besides, since Oscar seemed to have transformed to prevent me from being embarrassed, I decided to watch a little longer.

“Uncle. Oscar wants to look at the gifts. Put me down.”

“Sure. Shall we look at them one by one together?”

Henry gladly put Oscar down. Oscar, seemingly excited about something, pulled Henry’s hand toward the pile of gifts.

It was nice to see a prince of the nation getting down to a young child’s level and treating him kindly.

It was certainly behavior befitting one of the male leads… but knowing what was really inside that child’s body, I couldn’t let my guard down for a moment.

“Wow, are these Oscar’s clothes?”

“Yes.”

Oscar picked up a red outfit hanging on a rack.

“Oscar doesn’t look good in red.”

That can’t be true. With eyes as beautiful as red rubies, how could red not suit him? Saying red doesn’t look good on him? Anyone could see it was completely made up.

“Really? There’s blue in the back, too.”

“Blue looks cold. Oscar has a warm personality. I don’t want to be misunderstood.”

He was far too picky for someone with a supposedly warm personality. Despite Oscar rejecting everything, Henry didn’t get discouraged.

“There’s yellow too.”

“Do I look like a chick to you? Yellow is the color of chicks.”

“There’s purple as well.”

“Oscar fell and scraped his knee on the day he wore purple clothes. It was traumatic.”

A blatant lie.

“I see. I didn’t know that. There should be white in the back, too.”

Despite the continued rejections, Henry remained composed.

‘Did he prepare clothes in every color?’

It was excessive kindness. Meanwhile, Oscar, the actual recipient of the gifts, looked thoroughly unimpressed.

“What should I do? I like white clothes, but whenever I wear white, I have bad luck.”

“But young master, you’re wearing white today too?”

“That’s right. Uncle, I’m afraid of jinxes.”

To interpret: since he was wearing white clothes, he met Henry, and that was bad luck.

Insulting royalty with perfect aristocratic speech—the adult Oscar seemed to have become even more difficult.

Well, it was certainly beyond what I could just stand by and watch.

“Oscar. Come here.”

Unable to listen anymore, I called Oscar over. Perhaps intimidated by my low voice, Oscar approached hesitantly.

“I taught you not to be rude to guests.”

“…….”

“Moreover, when you receive a gift, you should express gratitude. What kind of behavior is this?”

“……I’m sorry.”

When I scolded him, Oscar hung his head with a dejected expression.

“Go and say thank you right now.”

“Yes.”

As soon as I gave the order, Oscar went back to Henry and politely bowed at the waist.

“Thank you, Your Highness.”

Perhaps his apologetic appearance was cute? Henry’s face was covered with a broad smile.

“It’s fine. Even children can have preferences.”

“Still, I think he’s being too rude. I’m sorry that the child is so unruly.”

“Not at all. We’re friends. He’s just freely expressing his opinions. I don’t mind, so please don’t worry too much, Nuna.”

Henry reassured me, his eyes crinkling into gentle curves.

Having apologized, Oscar was now rummaging through the shoes one by one.

“…….”

Sensing he was about to say something again, I fixed him with an intense stare. It was a silent warning that I wouldn’t tolerate any more fussiness.

Oscar flinched in surprise, then carefully put down the shoes and moved toward the toys.

“Uncle Prince, I’m very grateful for your thoughtfulness, but I’ll have to decline these toys.”

“Why?”

“Oscar decided to quit toys. Oscar is an adult now. You could say I’m all grown up.”

There wasn’t a single lie in those words, but coming from a child’s face, it just looked like cute bravado.

I watched with narrowed eyes, arms crossed. I was ready to pick him up and take him outside if he crossed the line again.

“You’re right. You’ve grown a lot since I last saw you. I heard you were sick—was that why you grew so much?”

“Yes. I got taller, too. Thanks for noticing, Uncle Prince.”

Oscar grinned and gave two thumbs up.

Well, perhaps because of my warning. The atmosphere remained pleasant so far.

After casually declining the toys, Oscar now headed toward the books. There was a pile of picture books that children would typically enjoy.

“Ooh, books! How did you know that reading is Oscar’s recent hobby? Uncle Prince, you’re amazing.”

“My judgment was correct after all. Oscar always looked like a smart child to me.”

“Not a child, an adult.”

“Yes. A smart adult.”

Henry played along well with Oscar’s insistence on being an adult, finding it adorable.

‘If he knew there was a real adult inside, he’d faint.’

It seemed I was the only one who found the situation awkward.

“Oscar used to like picture books. But now I’m too smart for them. I only read books with tiny letters and lots of text.”

Lies. Just a while ago, this same dragon was showing me a picture book as evidence on my bed.

Really, his nonchalant lying was enough to make me stick out my tongue in disbelief.

“What books have you read?”

“I read ‘Conversations with a Sage’ and ‘Reflections on Human Nature.'”

Oscar seemed to be naming thick books he had seen in my room.

‘Those books are too difficult for a child to read!’

Even I had only taken them out without reading them. They were books known to be effective for insomnia due to their complexity.

His boasting was so unbelievable that I felt dizzy.

“Ah, Deryl Scope’s books? They made me sleepy.”

As expected, Henry had also given up reading them.

“Uncle. Don’t give up. Ari likes those books, too.”

“I’ll try reading them again, I suppose.”

Rummaging through things, criticizing, meddling—he was acting like a mother-in-law.

Henry seemed to be thoroughly enjoying himself, smiling continuously. Well, I could understand his feelings.

‘Seeing baby Oscar after so long is quite cute.’

I, too, was having trouble controlling my rising cheekbones. I should have scolded him for being rude, but seeing his cute face made my resolve weaken.

‘This is why I couldn’t make him independent.’

I immediately understood why Oscar had returned from the ravine. I needed to pull myself together first.

“Ari. Oscar is sleepy. Take me to my room.”

I thought he would continue, but for some reason, Oscar ran to me and jumped into my arms.

I was surprised, but I should be grateful that it ended here, right?

‘Yes, it would be a disaster if the maids saw this. I should quickly take him to his room.’

There was no time for complex thoughts. I needed to send Oscar back and clean up this situation before it got bigger.

“Your Highness, I’m sorry, but could you wait a moment? I’ll take the child to his room, put him to bed, and come back.”

“Of course. Take your time.”

I excused myself to Henry and hurriedly left the room.

First, I wanted to ask Oscar why he had done this.