It could be called madness rather than just interest. Erica wildly grabbed various items and tried them on Elodie’s head. Perhaps because she was a fairy-like child with blonde hair, everything suited her.

As she did this, Elodie’s current hairstyle—simply combed and tied with a ribbon—became increasingly bothersome to Erica’s eyes. She stuck her head out of the shop and shouted.

“What kind of hairstyle is this for a girl? If you’re a father with a daughter, you should learn how to braid hair!”

Roderick, who had been examining bugs with Eric in front of the shop, perhaps too shy to enter a store full of women, looked up in surprise at the sudden scolding.

Before he could answer, Erica ducked back inside and resumed selecting hair accessories.

“Elodie, which one did you like best?”

“I like them all.”

Yes, they all suit you well. But if I buy everything, I’ll go bankrupt.

“Oh? I didn’t see this one.”

When she tried on an apricot-colored wreath made of flowers, lace, and ribbons, the child’s eyes, watching herself in the mirror, widened—twice as much as with the other items.

“Pretty, isn’t it?”

She nodded much more vigorously.

This is it, this one.

“Okay, we’ll buy this and……”

“Buy it?”

The child, who thought they had come in just to look around, had surprised eyes. They definitely weren’t eyes of refusal.

“Yes. And let’s buy this too, and this as well.”

What had started as an attempt to repay a debt to Roderick was turning into Erica’s personal catharsis. The resentment that had built up in her heart each time she had to turn away from such pretty shops because she was a son’s mother.

“My goodness, it suits her so well.”

A woman selecting items with a kindergarten-aged girl beside her admired Elodie wearing a large sky-blue bonnet.

“Doesn’t it?”

“How old is your daughter?”

She’s not my daughter, but……

“She’s four, almost five. How about yours?”

“Our Ann is five and a half.”

Somehow, after striking up a conversation with another customer, they ended up shopping together, helping each other select items.

“Mom thinks purple suits you better.”

“But I like dark pink!”

“I think it would be pretty if mom and Lucy matched in purple.”

The other pair was buying clothes to wear when visiting relatives.

“That’s right. These days it’s trendy for mothers and daughters to dress like twins in matching outfits.”

The shop owner chimed in. When the mother and daughter finally decided to buy identical dresses, the excited owner who had landed a big sale asked Erica.

“Would you like to see a bonnet for yourself matching your daughter’s?”

“Ah, no thank you.”

At that moment, Elodie’s shoulders, which had been looking up at Erica with faint expectation in her eyes, slumped down.

The pile of hair accessories, clothes, and shoes accumulated on the counter formed a mountain. Before paying, Eric’s mother and Elodie’s father began to bicker over who would pay.

“Thank you, but this is too much.”

“She needs at least this much.”

“I’ll buy these, so you just buy this one.”

“I said I’ll buy everything, why are you being like this? I can afford this much.”

As the shopping was coming to an end, Elodie still couldn’t leave the spot, fingering an adult-sized bonnet identical to her new one.

* * *

That afternoon, Roderick took Eric to the backyard behind the shop. Erica, who was in the store, saw this but didn’t stop them.

“Swing with your entire arm, not just your wrist, to avoid injury.”

“Hiyah!”

Thwack.

“That’s right. Well done.”

Elodie, who had been sticking close to Erica as she made medicine, would occasionally peek her head out to watch Roderick teaching Eric swordsmanship before coming back in.

There was no way he would seriously teach swordsmanship to a four-year-old. For now, he was just teaching basic movements and steps that would allow the child to enjoy pretending to sword fight.

“Your center of gravity…… Ah, how do I explain center of gravity.”

Still, they say childhood habits last a lifetime, so he couldn’t just smile and find incorrect posture cute. Whether he had natural talent or not, Eric followed the demonstrated movements quite well.

“Aack!”

“Be careful!”

Eric tripped over his own feet while running. Roderick caught him with one hand just before the child hit the ground.

“Are you okay?”

“Wow! You’re super fast!”

Eric’s eyes sparkled brightly as he looked up at him.

“Can I be like you when I grow up, mister?”

“Ha……”

Mister……

Roderick, who had been secretly enjoying his first meaningful time as father and son, felt like he’d been doused with cold water at that one word.

Yes, this is the price of my sin.

He sighed deeply and then smiled again.

As long as you’re by my side, that’s enough.

“Eric.”

Roderick knelt in front of his son.

“You will become much stronger and happier than me.”

He cupped the child’s face with both hands and caressed it.

Though his face was an exact replica of Roderick’s young face, his expressions were unmistakably like his mother’s. The feelings of those days when he could only imagine his child’s face and let time slip by suddenly resurfaced, threatening to burst from deep within his chest.

My son, I don’t want you to become like me when you grow up.

“By any chance, does Eric have any faint spots on his body?”

“Spots?”

“On his left chest, or side, or back. Anyway, somewhere near his heart.”

“No. Nothing at all.”

Recalling his conversation with Erica from a few days ago, he felt relieved again. Roderick enveloped his son’s small hand holding the wooden sword with his large one.

“Yes, you will definitely become much stronger and happier than me.”

The child had become interested in swordsmanship after being impressed by the battle he had secretly witnessed in the forest that day. That meant he had seen what Roderick was doing. His relief became meaningless as he felt a chill again.

“Eric.”

“Yes!”

“What did you say you saw in the forest that day?”

This was the third time he had asked, but far from being annoyed, Eric excitedly reenacted with his wooden sword while chattering away.

“Bad men were rushing at you like this, but you went whoosh whoosh with your sword, and they all went ugh! and collapsed……”

Roderick couldn’t wait for the child to finish his story, which he continued without taking a breath, and asked the most important question.

“You said the sword was shining brightly.”

“Yes!”

Roderick half-drew the sword at his waist to show him.

“Did it shine like this? Or differently?”

“Like this!”

The child was simply describing how the metal shone in the sunlight as “shining brightly.” He wasn’t talking about blue flames. Only then did Roderick sheathe his sword again and let out a deep sigh of relief.

“Eric! Close your eyes!”

That day, when he saw Eric with his eyes open, he thought his heart would stop.

“Those who learn of your identity must pay the price of that knowledge with death.”

He had almost been forced to kill his own son with his own hands.

“Block it!”

Thwack.

“……Mister.”

“Yes?”