Chapter 36
<38화>
“…Are you awake?”
Embarrassed, Calips hurriedly sat back down.
Whether Lucas was asleep or awake, he had only said what he wanted to say, but it felt like he had laid out words that were far too solemn before even offering an apology. A dry cough escaped him.
“Ahem. I thought you were sleeping.”
“I woke up in the middle.”
“Since when?”
“Since the moment you opened the door and came in, Dad.”
“…….”
That meant he had heard just about everything.
Calips sighed and muttered, “You’re a light sleeper.”
“I have to be, to protect myself,” Lucas replied matter-of-factly, causing Calips’s heart to sink once again.
“Hmm.”
One of Calips’s eyebrows quirked up involuntarily.
He felt it was time to speak. After a moment’s hesitation, he looked into his son’s eyes and began.
“About Marquis Lillis.”
“…….”
“If you had told me sooner, I would have smashed the Marquis’s head in regardless of any successor test. Why didn’t you tell me?”
“He told me you said five thousand gold was too expensive and that you weren’t going to bring me back.”
“What?”
“The Marquis. That’s what that jerk said.”
Just as Calips was about to ask if he had actually believed that, Lucas narrowed his eyes and murmured, “That was back when I was three years old.”
Ah. Right. He couldn’t blame him or resent him for believing such nonsense and hating him.
His heart ached at the thought of how difficult it must have been for a mere three-year-old child.
‘I’ll have to take my time killing Marquis Lillis over the next five years.’
Cursing the Marquis inwardly, Calips lowered his head. An overwhelming sense of self-reproach was slowly spilling over.
What was even more heartbreaking was the fact that Lucas, despite everything he had endured, appeared more composed than he was.
“But I’m okay now. Actually, I understood everything. I’m the Young Lord of Crost, after all.”
“…You don’t have to force yourself to understand. You can hate me as much as you want. I’ll take it all.”
“I only acted like that at dinner because I was a bit scared, and it was impulsive. Even if I’m the Young Lord of Crost, there are things I’m afraid of, you know?”
Wriggle.
Still lying on his stomach, Lucas propped up his upper body and arched an eyebrow.
“Dad. So, about that. How could you say something like that?”
At the sudden question, Calips, who had been hanging his head, looked up.
“Say what?”
“That you don’t care what happens to the world? Goodness, is that something a Duke should say?”
“I lost all of you because I was too involved in the affairs of the world. I’m saying I won’t let that happen again.”
“As the Duke of Crost?”
Calips meant he would be devoted to raising his children from now on, but his son seemed dissatisfied and kept pressing him.
“The Duke of Crost is a human being, too.”
“But…”
“Right now, Dad has no reason to live if it’s not for you and Aisha.”
At those words, Lucas knit his brows fiercely.
“But I endured five years thinking only of the Crost family!”
The sleeping Aisha rolled over onto her back, her mouth hanging open.
Lucas lowered his voice as much as possible so as not to wake her, but his eyes were filled with frustration.
“I told myself I could survive because I’m a Crost. I told myself a direct descendant of Crost wouldn’t lose to something like this, and I held on for five years in that cage…!”
Calips was at a loss for words.
“If the head of the family says being a Crost is no big deal, then what does that make me for holding on like that?”
“Lucas.”
“So, protect both.”
A small fist rose into the air.
“Get stronger, and use our abilities to protect both the people and us.”
His pinky finger popped out from the fist, which was clenched so hard it had turned white.
As Calips narrowed his eyes, unsure of what to do—
“Oh, seriously!”
Unable to contain his frustration, his son shimmeled over, grabbed Calips’s pinky, and forced a promise.
“Aisha and I are going to get stronger, too.”
“…….”
“We’re going to get stronger and stronger under your protection, Dad. And then we’ll protect the people, too. It’s not like you have to do it all alone.”
“…….”
“Keep your promise.”
At the determined demand to keep his word, Calips finally began to see his son clearly.
Lucas was not just a child.
Even after being hurt and exploited by others, he was someone who knew the mission of Crost—the duty to care for those weaker than himself even in such circumstances.
He was someone worthy of the ability known as the Little God chosen by the heavens.
“…….”
For a long while, Calips could not take his eyes off his son.
It was a request from his son, who had returned after enduring countless hardships.
“I promise you, on my life.”
He had no reason to refuse.
“Mmn….”
The bed was exceptionally warm.
The Duke’s Castle in Crost always tried to keep the interior warm against the cold winds.
But today, how should I put it? It felt like even my heart was being toasted.
Purr—
Waking to the sound of Lucas’s gentle snoring, I realized someone was holding my hand, which was balled into a tiny fist like a baby caterpillar.
‘He didn’t let go once while we were sleeping.’
A total tsundere, as expected.
Last night, he had grumpily forced me to sleep, saying, “Do you think I’m doing this because I like you?! Even if he’s locked up, it means Marquis Lillis is near us! I can’t let you go because I’m worried!”
“…Anyone would think I’m Lucas’s daughter.”
Yawn—
I muttered to myself as I let out a long yawn, then froze.
Besides his hand, there was another giant arm.
A long, lean arm covered in fine muscle.
A palm so large it was incomparable to mine.
The fingers, thick and long at the joints, were calloused here and there like someone who spent a lot of time gripping a sword hilt.
…Who else is here besides Lucas and me? Is it really Marquis Lillis?
That’s impossible, but it’s even more impossible for an adult man’s arm to be in this bed, isn’t it?
Roll—
I tried to roll over to see who it was, but the sleeping Lucas furrowed his brow and gripped my hand tight.
‘Oh dear.’
I should wait until the maid comes before I move.
Feeling a bit disappointed, I lifted my head just to peek.
“Huh?”
Above the crown of Lucas’s head, who was curled up like a cat, I saw the face of the Duke.
“…Did the three of us sleep in one bed?”
Why?
When did this man join the party…?
Regardless, I think I knew why the cold morning felt so unusually warm.
‘Waking up in the arms of a father and a brother is a very warm thing.’
“Mhm.”
Hum, hum—
Seeing the two of them, I hummed involuntarily.
It felt like I had become a baby bat being protected inside a cave within another safe cave.
‘…Is that the right metaphor?’
My heart felt ticklish.
But it wasn’t an excited feeling; it was more like the purring of a cat.
It was an emotion I was feeling for the first time in my life, so it felt awkward to put into words.
‘How should I describe this situation?’
As I lay nestled between the two men, deep in thought—
Knock, knock.
The maid opened the door and entered, her eyes going wide when she saw us.
“The happy family—no, the Masters are still sleeping. I will bring the meal later.”
The answer was found quickly in an unexpected place.
Yes.
It was family.
At that same time, in the Queen’s Palace of the Frozen Kingdom.
“Has Knox not arrived?”
At Queen Consort Grace’s question, the man shook his head.
“The entire North is in an uproar right now, so he won’t be able to come. They say Marquis Lillis kidnapped the direct heir of Crost.”
“What?”
Queen Consort Grace, who had been looking down at a paper with an exquisite drawing of a monster, widened her eyes.
“Who kidnapped whom? How is this story unfolding?”
The last news she had heard was that Young Lord Lucas had been found.
“It means the House of Marquis Lillis is ruined now. Apparently, he even sold the kidnapped Young Lord into slavery and disguised it as a disappearance.”
“…Good heavens. Was it to make his own son the successor? The Marquis has gone mad.”
“Indeed.”
“A man like that would be perfect as fodder for the Raptors of Corruption.”
The Queen Consort clicked her tongue and sat down heavily.
The Raptors of Corruption were four-legged, beast-type monsters that inhabited the North in massive packs.
“Perfect fodder, indeed.”
The woman standing next to the man added her two cents.
“By the way, I heard that’s not the only reason Lord Knox can’t come.”
“What else is there? How dare he skip the Queen Consort’s gathering.”
“They say he’s busy fulfilling Lady Aisha’s bucket list!”
“Aisha?”
That name….
Queen Consort Grace blinked her pale green eyes as she recalled Knox’s words from the last meeting.
‘She is a child who makes a cheep-cheep sound when she walks, looks like she has arrowheads stuck to both sides of her head, and has eyes so large they cover half her face.’
Knox had been serious back then.
He had been so serious that the monocle he wore while explaining had emitted such a glare it nearly blinded the members of the gathering.
“…At that point, isn’t she a fairy rather than a person?”
Queen Consort Grace murmured dreamily.
In her mind, a winged fairy with hair shaped like arrowheads was already fluttering all over the place.
