Giselle shook her head. Anyway, she couldn’t just let the child who had caused mischief repeatedly get away with it by simply saying he was cute.

So she steeled her heart and told the child not to come out of his room today.

⟨No! That can’t be, Mom!⟩

She recalled Eddie who had protested and whimpered at her words, then swallowed a sigh. Stella, who noticed this, quietly laughed and spoke.

“Why don’t you forgive Eddie now, Giselle?”

“No, Mother. I’ve been too lenient, saying he’s cute and indulging him, and that’s why his behavior has worsened. I need to correct it this time.”

“Eddie is only four years old. It’s natural for him to be mischievous at this age. I’m actually glad to see Eddie causing such mischief. Of course, it must be a lot of work for the employees who have to clean up after him.”

Stella spoke with a tone tinged with laughter, but suddenly fell silent. The smile that had remained on her lips gradually disappeared.

In its place was regret for the years gone by.

She turned her head to look at the flowers blooming in the garden and then continued.

“…… Lucas didn’t have that opportunity. Because of his incompetent mother, he had to grow up early.”

“Mother, don’t say you were incompetent. That’s not true.”

Giselle hurriedly objected to Stella’s words and shook her head. But Stella smiled softly and shrugged.

“It’s true that I was an incompetent mother. There’s no need to deny it.”

“But……”

“That’s why I want Eddie, at least, to grow up freely, like a child should. Of course, that’s just my wish, and I don’t mean to interfere with the child’s education.”

Stella looked at Giselle with a gentle gaze. Giselle’s eyes, which were facing her, wavered once.

“Still, I wish he would cause mischief, play naughty pranks, and do all…… the things Lucas couldn’t do.”

“……”

Giselle remained silent at Stella’s words and was about to speak with a smile, when she saw a maid running toward them from the mansion with a pale face.

“M-madam! Grand Madam!”

The hurriedly running maid was in charge of managing Stella’s art studio. Not just cleaning the studio, but also the paintings there.

“……?”

And the person running urgently behind her with a similar expression was the maid who took care of Eddie.

“What’s happened? Has something happened to Eddie?”

Giselle asked in shock as she stood up. Stella also looked at them with a concerned expression. The art studio maid who approached first gasped for breath and then spoke.

“Wh-what should we do, Grand Madam? The painting you drew…… gasp, the painting that needs to be sent to the exhibition soon……”

* * *

Oh my goodness.

Giselle ran up the stairs, clutching her skirt tightly in a manner unbefitting the mistress of the Taylor household. She moved so quickly that Stella, the head maid, and the other maids couldn’t keep up with her.

But she simply couldn’t wait for the others to catch up.

It was because of what the maid had told her.

⟨Young Master Edwin has spilled paint on the Grand Madam’s painting!⟩

‘Eddie, why on earth would you play such a prank!’

While other pranks might be laughed off, this was different. As someone who knew how much time and effort Stella had put into painting for the exhibition, Giselle couldn’t let this slide.

If only he had played with and broken one of her own things.

‘This won’t do. I really need to scold him severely today.’

She too wanted to let the child play freely and mischievously as a child should. After hearing Stella’s words, she had even thought about letting the child out of his room now.

But such a severe prank?

“Edwin Taylor!”

Giselle, who had rushed through the hallway, shouted as she flung open the door as soon as she reached the front of Stella’s art studio.

“Oh, my……”

She froze in place after opening the door. The mess inside the art studio was beyond what she had imagined after hearing the maid’s words.

‘How on earth did a four-year-old manage to create such a state?’

As Giselle was at a loss for words, the child’s cheerful voice was heard.

“It’s Mom! Moooom!”

Her gaze turned toward where Eddie’s voice came from. The child was mottled as if he had bathed in paint.

Green grass was spread on the child’s pink hair, and his face was a mix of red, yellow, and blue, reminiscent of a flag.

And that wasn’t all.

The child’s tiny hands and feet were also covered in paint, and handprints and footprints left by the child were on the walls and floor…….

“Eddie! Edwin Taylor!”

Giselle held onto her sanity, which was about to slip away, and called the child’s name again.

The child, who had been excitedly approaching his mother, flinched and stopped in place.

Edwin Taylor.

The child knew very well that there was only one case when his mother called him “Edwin Taylor” instead of “Eddie.”

It was when he was about to be scolded by his mother.

“Ummm. Mom, you know. I……”

Eddie hurriedly opened his small mouth to explain that he hadn’t done anything wrong. But Giselle was quicker to scold the child with her hands on her hips.

“Did you spill paint on grandmother’s painting?”

“Huh? Umm, but! That was to……”

“You saw grandmother working on that painting for the past few days, right?”

“Umm.”

The child couldn’t finish his words and nodded at Giselle’s question. Tears began to well up in Eddie’s navy blue eyes as he watched his mother’s expression.

Seeing this, Giselle unconsciously suppressed the softening of her heart and continued speaking.

“Then how could you spill paint on that painting? How would you feel if Mom spilled paint on a drawing you worked hard on and ruined it?”

“Uh……”

“What if it was a drawing of the knight and princess you like, and because paint was spilled on it, you couldn’t see anything anymore?”

“Th-that……”

Eddie listened quietly to Giselle’s words and then slowly turned his head. He could see his grandmother’s painting covered in black paint. It was the trace of paint he had spilled to eliminate the monster in the painting.

Eddie’s lips protruded as he stared at it.

‘But I was just getting rid of the monster!’

The child felt wronged. Wasn’t a painting with a knight and princess clearly different from one with a monster?

If there hadn’t been a monster in grandmother’s painting, he wouldn’t have spilled the paint. But without understanding his intentions, his mother was scolding him for doing something wrong.

Eddie began to sob as he looked at his scolding mother. He could see his grandmother coming in behind her and trying to stop his mother, but that didn’t ease his sense of injustice.

“Besides, this is grandmother’s painting space, not your playground. Quickly apologize to grandmother for what you did wrong! I told you to stay in your room today, but you didn’t even listen to Mom……”

“Mom, I hate you! Waaah!”

The child’s lips protruded more and more before he burst into tears. Eddie stomped his feet and cried even louder.

Giselle was startled by the child’s reaction and momentarily closed her mouth, during which time Stella hurriedly approached the child.

“Oh, dear. Eddie, my baby. Don’t cry.”

“Waaah. Grandmotheeeer……”

“Yes, baby. Stop, don’t cry.”

“I, sniff, grandmother’s painting……”

“Yes, the painting is fine. I can just paint it again.”

Stella comforted her grandson, who was dropping tears of grievance, by gently stroking his face. Giselle bit her lip tightly and then took another step forward.

Her heart was breaking at the sight of the crying child, but she still felt she needed to scold him for what he had done wrong.

“Edwin.”

“I was, sob, just trying to get rid of the monster!”

The child cried out at the same time Giselle called his name again in a warning tone.

……Monster?

Giselle was so confused by Eddie’s unexpected words that she momentarily forgot she was in the middle of scolding him.

* * *

“Haha! So you’re saying there was a monster in the painting mother drew, is that it?”

Lucas loosely tied the belt of his robe and then turned to approach the bed. He sat down next to Giselle and lightly kissed her.

“Yes. Mother was painting a kephilion from mythology……”

Giselle responded to his question after gently pushing away Lucas who was trying to get closer. Lucas chuckled and then murmured as he wrapped his arm around her shoulder.

“It must have looked like a terrifying snake to the child’s eyes. No, not completely a snake, and with half of it looking like a human, it would have seemed even more horrifying. …… To think he set out to eliminate such a monster, our son is really brave, isn’t he?”

“…… Well, he is brave, I suppose.”

A child of only four years had been fighting monsters on his own for the past few days, saying he would protect his mother and sibling.

Giselle couldn’t help but laugh with a “pfft” as she recalled what had happened during the day. But she soon made a sulky expression and glared at him.

Lucas, who had been fiddling with her chest area, detected the sharp gaze and flinched before asking.

“Why are you glaring at me like that?”