“I thought of you all day during that time.”

At that confession, she could no longer keep her composure.

As the delicate corners of her eyes flushed red, Laska wetted his dry lips with his tongue.

‘I’ll end up with the bad habit of enjoying how flustered she looks.’

Despite the heavy humidity, his throat burned strangely. It was the moment when her lips, parting faintly in embarrassment, drew his gaze all the more.

“Mom―!”

“…!”

Startled, Selaia turned her head.

From beyond the open door came the quick, heavy thumping of small feet pounding toward them. Laska gave a wry smile and stepped back a pace.

“Mommy, Prince Kyle told me my missing tooth looks like the black keys of a piano…!”

Her cheeks, swollen with both sorrow and indignation, Rote marched in to tattle on Kyle’s cruelty—then stopped short at the threshold. Her wide green eyes blinked once, then again.

“Laska?”

“I only said it came to mind—are you really making a fuss over that?”

The boy, grumbling as he followed behind, also came to a halt.

“Oh, it’s Uncle?”

Seeing Kyle’s surprised face as he stood beside Rote, Laska’s own expression turned to mild astonishment.

‘Before leaving for Dakitenn, he had been nothing but sulky.’

Yet now his nephew looked almost ordinary—if anything, even more childish than the image he usually showed others.

Laska turned back to Selaia with a questioning look. But she only smiled, her expression unreadable.

Rote, however, felt differently.

‘Instead of helping, I ended up playing the role of a nuisance!’

Until now, the atmosphere had seemed on the verge of becoming real. Rote clenched her small fists in frustration and glared.

“This is all Your Highness’s fault…!”

“W-what did I do?”

Rote shot Kyle a glare. Her eyes, round and gentle, held little real threat, yet Kyle still shrank back under her gaze.

“Seems you’ve been doing well, Kyle.”

The person who rescued the boy from an angry little rabbit’s wrath was none other than his uncle. However, oddly enough, even he did not look at Kyle with much fondness.

“Ahem, you look healthy as well, Uncle.”

Kyle straightened his shoulders, answering with a show of maturity. Glancing sidelong at Selaia and Rote, he quickly added, preempting any question.

“And if you’re planning to ask why my attitude has changed—there’s no need.”

“Oh?”

“I’ve grown a little while you were away. At least enough not to go blaming others for no reason.”

With that half-muttered addendum, Kyle averted his gaze and feigned distraction.

Laska chuckled faintly and reached out to roughly ruffle his nephew’s hair.

“Ugh, what are you doing!”

“Because you’ve made me proud, that’s why.”

“P-proud, what nonsense…”

Kyle grumbled in embarrassment, but didn’t pull his hand away from his uncle’s.

The atmosphere eased. Smiles slowly formed on their faces. Just then, a new guest appeared.

“Hello.”

“Eugene!”

Rote dashed toward the boy at the doorway with eager steps.

“See? She always gets that excited whenever it’s Eugene.”

Kyle muttered sulkily, shooting the two a sharp look.

Laska and Selaia exchanged glances at the sight of the boy’s pouting face.

“I brought something today.”

Sitting on the sofa, Eugene handed Rote a square object wrapped in paper.

After politely thanking Selaia, who had brought him a towel to dry his damp clothes, he stripped away the paper. From within emerged a very old-looking book.

“This is…”

“The first edition of Civitas. It’s extremely rare.”

Rote’s eyes went wide. Her expression seemed torn between recognizing the title and not knowing it at all.

“Eugene, did you bring this from home?”

Selaia was the first to speak. Her expression was faintly troubled—she knew what the book was about.

“Yes. It was my father’s… but he no longer lives at home, and my mother probably doesn’t even know it exists.”

Eugene answered.

Selaia glanced at Laska, who gave the slightest shrug — so subtle that only Selaia would have noticed it. It meant that there was no cause for concern.

“Is it really all right for me to accept something this precious?”

Rote asked carefully. At that question, Eugene paused for a moment before smiling.

“Of course. I’ve already received something far more precious.”

“What?”

“I haven’t felt this happy in a long time.”

“Hey, that makes it sound like you never had fun with me.”

“It’s just your imagination, Kyle.”

Eugene’s bright, open smile left Kyle gaping in disbelief. But faced with his friend’s radiant expression, he let the matter drop.

“So here.”

Eugene handed the book to Rote.

“Thank you.”

As she accepted it, Rote raised one brow.

‘What’s that smell?’

A faintly bitter, sharp scent of char.

While Rote was lost in thought, trying to place it, Selaia clapped her hands lightly to draw their attention back.

“Now then, it’s time for lunch.”

“What’s on the menu?”

“Smoked salmon with tartar sauce, Kyle.”

“Ugh, I hate fishy food.”

Kyle grumbled, not fussily, but more like a child putting on a display for an audience.

It wasn’t a side he showed just anyone, and Laska regarded his nephew with mild surprise.

“It won’t taste fishy. You know the palace chefs have a fine hand.”

“Well, that’s true.”

When Selaia soothed him in her gentle voice, Kyle only gave a faint huff and fell silent, as though his purpose had only been to draw that brief flicker of attention.

“If you dislike the smoked salmon that much, you can always go back to your own room and eat alone.”

Eugene suggested as he rose from his seat.

“No!”

As the two boys bickered, Rote stood from the sofa as well. Eugene naturally took her hand, while Kyle pushed the table forward to make sure she wouldn’t bump into it.

“This is… unexpected.”

Laska muttered under his breath.

The three children walked side by side, quarreling playfully, while Selaia watched them with a smile as if long accustomed to such sights.

It was a perfect scene.

“What kind of magic did you cast?”

At Laska’s question, Selaia only let her gaze drift lightly as she answered with a smile.

“Those children are the magic.”

The five of them enjoyed a perfect lunch together that day. The smoked salmon was succulent and melted in the mouth, and the pavlova they had for dessert was crisp and sweet.

After the meal, when the rain eased off, the children went outside to catch insects. More precisely, Kyle caught them, Rote released them, and Eugene distracted Kyle to help her.

Meanwhile, Laska and Selaia spoke quietly as they watched over them.

Before dinner, the king’s attendant came to summon Laska. He was the first to take his leave, looking reluctant.

The children stayed together until evening, and when they finally returned, it was night-time.

“Mommy, the book.”

Rote held out the volume she wanted to read before bed. Seeing the cover, Selaia’s expression turned faintly complex.

“You’re going to read Civitas?”

“It seems difficult… but since it was a gift.”

Lying straight beneath the covers, Rote blinked her wide eyes.

Selaia sat by the bedside and slowly opened the book. In the preface, the author had written a short note: Love. Do as you will.

It was a phrase that stirred countless thoughts. Selaia lingered over the brief words, unable to pull her eyes away, before finally turning the page.

She did not get far. Having spent the day running around outside, Rote soon fell asleep.

Hearing her daughter’s soft, childlike breathing, Selaia brushed a hand over her forehead, put the book on the bedside table, and quietly left the room.

“Has Lady Rote fallen asleep?”

“…!”

Startled, Selaia turned her head just as she was closing the door softly. Laska, leaning against the wall, greeted her with a bright smile.

“Then at last, I thought, perhaps I might finally have a little time to keep you all to myself.”

“Laska.”

Relief colored her voice as she spoke his name. He moved away from the wall and came towards her.

“Did you share your thoughts with His Majesty?”

In response to her question, Laska pulled one corner of his mouth up into a playful smile.

“Well, it was just a matter of reporting the situation. That’s how it usually is between brothers.”

With that light reply, he muttered a quiet ‘tsk’ and rummaged through his coat. Finally, he drew a neatly folded sheet of paper out of an inner pocket.