Ch#115
Tie stood on the first floor of the mansion with her mouth agape.
"Whoa!"
This place was Agavert's new base—and finally, Tie's home.
The basement warehouse and utility rooms were enormous, there were countless rooms,
"Waaah……!"
and the view from the second- and third-floor terraces was no match for the Cheonggyecheon nightscape.
"Tie's house is, hngguh, a park!"
And on top of that, the house was ridiculously huge.
It would take a full 20 minutes for Tie to walk all the way around it.
Veil, standing in front of the central staircase, chimed in dazedly.
"……Y-Yeah, it's pretty great, for real."
At that moment, a chandelier the size of a mid-sized magic beast's torso hung above his head.
Tie nodded and darted past him.
She ran this way and that around the first floor, shouting.
"Waaah! Tie's house, Tie's house!"
"Astie. You'll fall."
Lucarion and Ppuppu chased after her in a flurry.
Veil stuck out his tongue but smirked anyway.
"Guess she was pretty pent up from all that house hunting or whatever."
Basto nodded.
"Yeah. With the info brokers tailing us right after we arrived at the Capital and all. Must've been watching their step a lot."
"We've finally arrived at a proper home…… Everyone worked hard."
As even Nordics spoke up, the tension melted away, and the members broke into silly grins one after another.
"Hello."
Someone approached them cautiously.
Basto's eyes widened slightly as he turned.
Across from him stood a woman with neatly pinned graying hair, smiling at the members.
She was the one who had opened the front gate earlier.
"I'm Marshal. You heard from Adelin, right?"
"Yes."
Marshal.
Adelin from Kaldbain-Ridge had recommended her as the utterly trustworthy mansion manager, saying she'd been overseeing the place even back when it belonged to the princess.
"Go ahead and unpack first. I've prepared all your rooms, and there's food in the kitchen."
Sure enough, Marshal exuded a warm, down-to-earth vibe.
"Figured you'd like meat, so I slow-cooked pork shoulder with garlic and veggies. You must be hungry, right?"
And the smell of the pork she'd cooked had already filled the mansion.
Most of the members, who had skipped dinner, started salivating.
But Basto hesitated for some reason, glancing at Tie.
"That's true, but Tie……."
Marshal burst into laughter.
She looked at Tie, plastered to the window, with affectionate eyes and said.
"Let our Captain explore to her heart's content. I heard you've been through a lot. How wondrous must a new home be to a child's eyes?"
She clapped as she turned to the members.
"Come on, now! I'll take care of the Captain from here, so everyone eat dinner and get some good rest?"
Basto shut his mouth.
But before he could reply, Marshal was already heading toward Tie.
"Aigoo, our Captain. So nice to meet you—I'm your Aunt Marshal."
At Marshal's greeting, Tie turned her head.
Having been fiddling with the coal piled by the fireplace, her hands were pitch black in no time.
Marshal naturally wiped the child's hands with her apron and said.
"What's our Captain's name? Can you tell Aunt?"
Tie's eyes went wide before her mouth opened in a big grin.
The child politely bowed at the waist and said.
"Hello, Aunt. Tie's name is Kim Astie!"
"What're you doing? Coming or not?"
Just then, Veil, heading to the kitchen, called Basto.
Basto turned midway through the introductions between Marshal and Tie.
"Uh…… yeah."
But for some reason, he couldn't quite bring himself to move.
Marshal's words from moments ago kept echoing in his ears.
'I'll take care of the Captain from here…….'
She'd take care of Tie from now on?
Objectively, it was a good thing.
How much had they struggled with child-rearing that didn't suit them?
Whenever they gave in to the kid's nagging even once, Veil would nag right back as if he'd been waiting…….
'But why does it feel like this.'
Shouldn't it feel freeing, like regaining his freedom?
Yet why did it keep feeling…….
"Well then. Aren't you curious what our Captain's room looks like?"
"Yeeees!"
"Since it's the Captain's room, it must be the best one, right? Maybe this floor? Or the thiiiird?"
"Th-third floor?"
Before they knew it, Tie had completely let her guard down, clutching Marshal's hand tight.
"Basto! You coming or not?!"
Veil called again.
Basto had no choice but to move.
But his face was already clouded with gloom.
"Tie only relaxes when she's with me……."
He grumbled to himself sullenly.
* * *
Was this Tie's heaven?
Tie lay spread-eagled on the deep pink bed, thinking.
The ceiling was packed with big and small fairies.
At first, she thought they were stickers, but Aunt Marshal told her.
Those fairies were all hand-painted by an artist.
Hearing that, Tie asked Aunt Marshal.
'Then will the painting uncle come again later?'
'Don't you like the ceiling? Want me to have him change it to something else?'
Tie squirmed shyly and replied.
'No, have him paint more on the walls too. Um…….'
Then she showed the Tani Pang character embroidered on her unit uniform.
'This is Tani Pang, but Tie wants Sparkle Pang and Fluff Pang on the walls.'
'Oh my, those eyes are sparkling so bright.'
Aunt Marshal seemed a bit flustered but nodded soon after.
Tie went downstairs to the dining room in a good mood and ate dinner.
Dinner was like the braised pork belly she always got from 107-room Grandma when making kimchi.
"Uwaaah, Tie's belly's gonna burst!"
"Tie. Check this out."
As she lay drumming her belly on the bed, Lucarion called her.
Sitting up, she saw Lucarion and Ppuppu standing in front of the wardrobe.
"Lots of pink clothes."
"Really? Wow!"
Only then did Tie check the clothes and rush to the wardrobe.
"Princess dresses!"
Tie flipped through her clothes in ecstasy.
'What color clothes does Tie like?'
No wonder Adelin unnie had asked so enthusiastically back in Kaldbain-Ridge!
"All this is Tie's……!"
She was so happy, snot bubbled out unbidden.
Lucarion stared at her in surprise.
"Tie, are you crying?"
Tie shook her head vigorously.
"Not crying."
Of course, her heart had fluttered a bit—that much was true.
Because this spacious room, the glittering princess dresses, the toy boxes piled in one corner.
"No one at Hanbit Kindergarten had these but Tie……."
They were things impossible to have back in Jongno-gu.
But Tie soon bravely wiped her nose.
"It's fiiiine! Now Tie has them too!"
She wasn't the Tie without an Elsa dress while everyone else in the quail class had one anymore!
Lucarion gazed at her with a strange expression.
"Tomorrow, wear this one!"
In the meantime, Tie stood on tiptoe and pulled out the sparkliest dress of all.
She draped it over her current clothes and climbed onto the pink-blanketed bed.
"Hehe."
Laughter kept leaking out.
"A room this big means I can play hide-and-seek with Dad too."
This wasn't a rented place like Gold Apartment Complex 106-ho, paying monthly rent.
It was truly Tie's house.
Tie knew very well how hard paying monthly rent was.
Dad had to work every day in Jongno-gu because of that rent.
But now, that life was over.
'Dad doesn't have to work anymore. Now we have a house, and Tie earns money too!'
Right now, the first floor was stacked full of magic beast cores Agavert had collected.
Tie planned to go to the reward bureau with Basto tomorrow morning to cash them in.
'How much will we get?'
There were more than a few cores—maybe 100,000 won? Or 300,000?
'The day after, we have to go to the Grand Commander's house too…….'
As she thought about it, sleepiness gradually crept in.
Tie wriggled, and the hem of the princess dress she'd just put on brushed her fingertips.
In her drowsy haze, Tie fiddled with it.
"Gotta wear it tomorrow too……."
She mumbled.
