Except for a few toys that the child had clearly been playing with before falling asleep scattered on the carpet, and the blanket the child had slept under crumpled and fallen to the floor beside the bed.

The head maid, who had also checked the state of the room, quickly instructed a maid to clean the room, and the maid promptly entered and began tidying up.

After watching this for a moment, Giselle looked back at Eddie. Eddie looked up at her with sparkling eyes and an expectant expression.

“Hmm…… so Nana caught a monster?”

She pondered what the child might be expecting to hear and spoke in a slow tone. Fortunately, her guess seemed correct, as the child exclaimed excitedly upon hearing her carefully chosen words.

“Yes! I’ll show you, Mom! Come here! Quickly! Big sister, show Mom the monster you caught!”

Eddie pulled Giselle’s hand and approached Nana. Although confused about what was happening, she found the child so adorable that she smiled gently and followed his lead.

“Here, this is the spider monster that big sister Nana caught! Isn’t it cool?”

“Spider monster? What are you…… Eeeek!”

Giselle was tilting her head at the child’s words when she screamed in horror at the black spider that the child thr*st in front of her eyes.

It was a small commotion returning to the mansion after several days of peace.

* * *

“……I didn’t know Mom would be so surprised by a spider.”

Eddie muttered to himself with his lips protruding. Then he stood leaning against the corridor wall, tapping the innocent floor before slowly turning toward the bedroom.

Since the door was slightly open, he could hear the doctor saying something inside the bedroom. The child took another step toward the bedroom and pressed his cheek against the door, perking up his ears.

—Fortunately, there doesn’t seem to be any major problem. But you’ll need to be more careful from now on, Madam. Especially in early pregnancy, stability is necessary…….

Tilt, tilt.

A question mark appeared above the child’s pink head. He had clearly heard it with his own ears, but he couldn’t understand what it meant at all.

Anyway, what was it that needed to be careful…….

‘It must be warning to be careful of monsters, right?’

Yes, that’s right. I need to catch monsters to protect Mom!

Just as Eddie, who had been behaving well for the past few days, was renewing his determination, he heard footsteps approaching the door from inside the bedroom. And before the child could move away, the door swung wide open.

“Oh my, young master!”

The doctor, who was about to exit, discovered Eddie and bowed his head in greeting. The child tugged firmly on the doctor’s sleeve and asked urgently.

“Doctor, what about Mom? Is Mom very sick?”

The child’s voice was filled with concern for his mother. The doctor looked at Eddie, smiled gently, adjusted his glasses, and then bent down slightly.

“Madam is fine. You don’t need to worry, young master.”

“Really? But earlier……”

The child’s expression relaxed slightly at the doctor’s words. But seemingly not entirely convinced, Eddie tried to ask the doctor another question. However, before he could, Giselle’s voice was heard from inside the bedroom.

“Eddie.”

At his mother’s voice calling him, Eddie let go of the doctor’s sleeve and hurriedly ran inside.

“Mom! Moooom!”

Giselle smiled as she saw the child running toward her.

“What if you fall running like that?”

“Hehee. Then you can, hoo, make it better!”

Eddie responded to her words with a laugh and then climbed onto the bed with an “mmph” sound. The head maid approached to help the child, but by then Eddie had already managed to climb onto the bed by himself.

Not long ago, he had flailed about with his short legs, unable to climb onto the bed.

He must have grown again in that short time.

Not only the head maid but also Giselle found herself smiling involuntarily, pleased to witness the child’s growth.

“Mom, are you okay now? Not hurting?”

Eddie approached Giselle on his knees and reached out to touch her cheek. Giselle smiled once more and placed her hand over the child’s hand on her cheek, then nodded.

“Yes, I’m not hurting. Was our Eddie very worried about Mom?”

“Yes!”

Eddie nodded vigorously in response to Giselle’s question and then put on a serious expression.

“But are you really okay? Earlier, if the head maid hadn’t caught you, you would have almost fallen.”

“That……”

She felt somewhat embarrassed to answer honestly to the child looking at her with such clear eyes. Nevertheless, Giselle swallowed a sigh and spoke with an awkward smile.

“Mom was…… startled by the spider, that’s why.”

“Spider? Why were you startled by a spider?”

Eddie blinked, not understanding Giselle’s words. Seeing that innocent face, Giselle laughed with an embarrassed expression and continued, pretending to shrink her shoulders.

“Mom is scared of bugs with lots of legs like spiders.”

“Gasp! You’re scared?”

The child’s eyes widened as if he had heard something completely unexpected. Then Eddie clenched both fists and exclaimed with a determined expression.

“Don’t be scared, Mom! From now on, I’ll catch all the bugs for you!”

“Huh? N-no, Eddie. You don’t have to do that.”

Giselle was alarmed by Eddie’s eager expression and tried to dissuade him. Even though he hadn’t done anything yet, she could already imagine the mischief the child might cause while trying to catch bugs.

“But I waaaant to! I’m not scared of bugs! Big sister Nana and big brother Coco are also good at catching bugs, Mom! The three of us can catch all the bugs!”

Eddie wasn’t ready to give up easily despite Giselle’s words. She could clearly see how excited he was about having found something he could do for his mother.

‘Oh, what should I do about this?’

It’s already too much to handle, but if all three of them decide to cause mischief together…….

Oh, goodness. Giselle unconsciously swallowed her words and glanced at the head maid.

The face of the head maid, who normally never lost her composure, seemed to have paled somewhat.

‘Well, he has been behaving well these past few days, but before that Eddie was causing all sorts of trouble.’

He was truly the definition of a troublemaker. Giselle looked at the adorable pink troublemaker for a moment, then suddenly remembered why she had come to the child’s room and spoke again.

“Oh, by the way, Mom has somewhere to go with Eddie.”

“Huh? Where?”

Eddie had been imagining exterminating all the bugs in the mansion but immediately showed curiosity at her words, as if he had never been thinking about bugs at all. Giselle, relieved that the child’s interest had shifted, answered.

“To the garden.”

“The garden? Why there?”

Eddie tilted his head with a puzzled expression. Giselle tapped the child’s round nose and continued with a hint of laughter in her voice.

“Dad says he has something to show our Eddie.”

“Dad? Didn’t Dad go to work?”

When the child asked excitedly, she nodded with a smile.

“Yes. Shall we go to Dad together?”

“Yes! But Mom, don’t you need to stay in bed?”

“Of course not. I told you I’m not sick.”

After answering the child, Giselle turned to look at the head maid. The head maid promptly brought a shawl and wrapped it around her.

“Please be careful, Madam.”

“I will. Thank you, head maid.”

Giselle wrapped the shawl tightly around herself and carefully got down from the bed. Eddie quickly took her hand.

“Hold my hand tight, Mom. It would be terrible if you fell.”

“Alright. I’ll trust only my son.”

She laughed lightly and firmly held the child’s hand as they left the room.

Perhaps because he had seen her frightened by the spider, the child treated Giselle as if she were a delicate glass sculpture, moving very carefully.

Coco, Nana, and Elizabeth also began to follow behind them, seemingly interested in the scene.

* * *

“There’s Dad! Dad!”

As soon as Eddie entered the garden holding Giselle’s hand, he spotted Lucas standing in the distance and began jumping up and down in place. She could clearly sense that he wanted to run to his father right away but was holding himself back.

“Go ahead, Eddie.”

Giselle smiled slightly as she saw the child’s feet fidgeting.

“B-but……”

Despite his mother’s permission, Eddie didn’t leave his spot. Instead, he held her hand even more tightly.

“Mom will come soon too. The head maid and nanny are here with me.”

“Hmm…… then can I go to Dad first?”

“Of couuurse.”

Giselle answered the child’s question with a playful smile. Eddie rolled his eyes around for a moment, hesitating, and then dashed toward Lucas.

“Daaad!”

Lucas, who had been discussing something with Stella, the butler, and several male employees, seemed to notice the child just then. He turned his head and opened his arms wide with a bright smile.

The child was embraced in Lucas’s arms and spun around once. At the same time, a clear, cheerful laugh burst forth.

She watched the scene for a moment, smiled, and then slowly approached them.

“Are you okay? I heard you were startled by a spider.”

“……I see that story has already reached you too.”

Giselle made an embarrassed expression at Lucas’s immediate comment. The butler standing next to Lucas awkwardly cleared his throat and took a step back.