“Everything about our house is good except for the hill. The carriage shakes too much.”

I grumbled while sitting in the carriage with Mia on my lap, stroking her. From across, Lionel, who was sitting with Soho in his arms, asked with a smile.

“Then, Lady Lora, if you could go back to before buying the mansion, would you purchase a different one?”

Demian and Aria looked out the window as if they weren’t particularly interested, and only Irena looked at me with a curious face.

“Hmm. Originally, this place wasn’t my first choice. Maybe I should have asked Kalschmitz for that mansion as compensation?”

Irena, who had been quietly listening beside me, quickly responded.

“Miss, I like our current mansion! It has a warm feeling!”

“Right? But I’ve grown more attached to it after living here for a while.”

As we spent time discussing concerns about things that would never happen, we soon arrived at the cemetery.

Sion, who had come down from the coachman’s seat, opened the carriage door. Demian got out first and helped Mia down, while Sion escorted me.

“Thank you.”

Mia, who had been frozen since the carriage ride, was looking straight ahead with a face full of tension.

I looked down at the child and gave her a gentle smile.

“Mia. Let’s go. Your mother will be waiting.”

“Yes!”

Her brave figure, walking confidently ahead, was both admirable and pitiful.

At that moment, Demian spoke with renewed amazement.

“It’s fascinating how you can say frivolous things one moment and become so gentle the next.”

“That’s my charm.”

As I walked with a haughty expression, I heard Demian chuckling.

Step- Step-

The common grave where the frozen victims were laid to rest was pleasant. Perhaps in consideration of the empty graves without relatives, spring flowers were planted all around. The brilliantly blooming flowers seemed to comfort the souls of those who had died so desolately.

“It’s pretty.”

“It doesn’t look like a cemetery. Kalschmitz put a lot of effort into this.”

Conversing as we checked the names engraved on the row of tombstones, we stopped walking.

Iren. This was where her mother was.

“Mia. It’s here. Is Iren your mother’s name?”

“Yes! Mommy!”

Mia, who couldn’t even read but had been wandering around looking for her mother, came running at my call.

Although she ran eagerly, once she stood in front of the tombstone, she just fidgeted with her hands, clearly uncertain what to do. I lowered my head and stroked the child’s hair.

“Mia. You can tell her that you’re doing well and that she shouldn’t worry.”

“Yes!”

Though she answered cheerfully, Mia hesitated several times. We didn’t rush her and waited patiently. The hesitant child approached one step at a time, having apparently made up her mind.

Those steps didn’t stop even when she was one step away from the tombstone.

And when her small feet were pressed against the tombstone without even the slightest gap, Mia hugged the cold stone with all her might.

Thump-

“Mommy.”

Even embracing with all her strength, her small arms couldn’t fully wrap around the volume.

No one could stop Mia’s actions as she hugged the cold stone and sobbed sorrowfully.

In the face of grief, etiquette wasn’t important.

“Mommy… I miss you…”

“Mia.”

Irena sobbed along with her, as if feeling sorry. I held back Irena, who was about to approach Mia, and shook my head.

“Let her cry.”

She nodded, swallowing her tears, and we also stepped back and observed a moment of silence.

As I closed my eyes, I thought of the tightly closed arms that had protected Mia until the end. With mixed feelings, I prayed for her soul to rest in peace.

“Sniff.”

When I raised my head after the brief moment of silence, Mia had already stopped crying and was sniffling, trying to calm herself.

With a mumbling pronunciation, she said goodbye to her mother.

“Mommy. I’m doing well! See you later.”

“Mia, hic.”

At the child’s farewell, Irena finally burst into tears. Seeing each other crying, they both started to sob even more.

“Irena, don’t cry. Mia, come here.”

Soho also fidgeted with his small hands before patting Mia’s shoulder, while Sion and Lionel looked down at the child with hardened expressions and faces full of mixed emotions.

After comforting the two sniffling people, I suddenly looked up to see Demian standing with his back turned. Looking more closely, his shoulders were trembling slightly.

“Demian. What are you doing?”

I asked curiously and with a concerned heart, but there was no response. I stood up.

“You all comfort them for a bit.”

Leaving Mia and Irena to them, I approached Demian, who was still facing away.

Just then, an extremely sharp voice pierced my ears.

“Don’t come over.”

“Demian, you sound completely nasal right now.”

After letting out a hollow laugh at his sharpness, I moved to face him, but he turned away from me.

And he warned in a rather gloomy voice. But it was still a congested voice filled with nasal tones.

“I told you not to.”

“Don’t tell me you’re crying?”

No matter how much he acted up, I paid no mind, as always. My attempts to get in front of him continued, and after spinning in place several times, Demian finally raised his head in irritation. And with a deeply congested voice, he shouted.

“Yes! I cried! Are you satisfied?”

Beneath his fine gray hair, I could see amber eyes reddened, a sniffling nose, and a flushed face. My eyes couldn’t help but widen. Not because of the fact that Demian had cried, but because of a memory that flashed by.

I stared at his face and murmured.

“Fox?”

Demian lifted his head at my voice. His pupils were trembling uncontrollably.

“What did you just say?”

I finally realized it. The reason he had seemed so familiar.

I stared at his eyes, which had turned pink from shedding tears, and said distinctly.

“Demian. You’re a fox beastman, aren’t you?”

Demian’s eyes widened. The tears that had been welling up fell in drops, and new tears began to spring forth, flowing down his jawline. This time, he didn’t even try to hide his face.

He moved his dry lips.

“Do you remember?”

“Yes. I remembered.”

As Demian was about to ask something, Mia walked over to us. And she took my hand, holding it tightly.

“Sniff. I’m all done now.”

I bent my knees to match Mia’s eye level and smiled kindly.

“Are you sure it’s okay to leave already? We can stay longer.”

“I’ll come again.”

The child tugged at my hand bravely. I gestured to him and walked out, and Demian followed me with an expression that said he had much to say. Behind us walked Irena, who was still sobbing, and the rest of the group.

After comforting the wailing Irena and getting into the carriage, I felt completely drained.

Tapping my stiff shoulders, I spoke.

“Irena… I think you cried more than Mia.”

“Hehe.”

“And Demian, I didn’t know you were such a crybaby.”

He sharply turned his head in the opposite direction at my words. And he said primly.

“Be quiet.”

“Oh my? Telling your lady to be quiet?”

He had returned to being prim Demian, but he still couldn’t meet my eyes, seemingly embarrassed about having cried. If I mentioned that his ears, visible through his gray hair, had turned pink, he would surely be more upset. I wanted to tease him, but decided to let it go today.

Because his tear-stained face reminded me of the little boy in Lora’s memories.

***

“A person?”

A gray head that Lora, still innocent at the time, discovered by the lake.

Young Lora kicked it lightly with her foot.

“Ugh.”

“It’s alive.”

Then a shallow, immature groan flowed out, and Lora picked it up and took it with her.

Thinking back on it, Lora’s nature was a bit… different.

Anyway, Demian was prim even as a child.

During the night he stayed in young Lora’s shack, he wouldn’t even respond no matter how much she tried to talk to him.

“Were you abandoned like me?”

“……haa……”

Of course, it was partly Lora’s fault for demanding answers from Demian, who was burning with fever and wheezing.

“Tsk.”

With that, Lora roughly placed a wet towel on his head and fell asleep.

And the next day, Demian woke up and prepared to leave with a feverish face.

“Where are you going?”

“……”

“Leaving already? I’m bored.”

“If I stay here, you’ll die too.”

Young Lora laughed out loud at those words.

She probably thought it was a joke.

“You’re really funny. What’s your name?”

“……”

“You don’t even have a name?”

“……I am a fox beastman.”

Demian muttered with clenched fists, visibly indignant, and Lora snorted.

“So you’re saying you don’t have a name?”

And the young and fragile Demian was hurt by those words and shed tears. Silently, drop by drop.

Lora, who had been watching him with her arms crossed, stroked her chin and spoke.

“Then you can be Demian.”

“Demian?”

The boy who had been sniffling and crying looked up with sparkling eyes, and Lora smiled brightly, appearing to do him a favor.

“It was the name of a cat I used to feed, but you can have it.”

“I don’t want it.”

***

“Come to think of it, you were really cute back then.”

“You were quite grimy, miss.”

“You seem to put up your defenses when you’re embarrassed.”

Demian fell silent at my words hitting the mark, and while I chuckled, we returned home.

“Anyway, Demian.”

“Yes.”

“Thank you. And I’m sorry.”

His eyes widened, and I gave a somewhat bitter smile.

“For what?”

“For everything.”

It was just a small connection, but I was grateful that he had come looking for Lora, and I was sorry that I wasn’t the Lora from back then. And I was also sorry for this moment when I couldn’t tell him the truth.

Just then, Demian finally turned to look at me. And with a calm smile, he spoke.

“No. It was my choice.”

“I see.”

I swallowed the truth and smiled back.