Ch#87
Kiriel raised his hand and slowly stroked the child’s small back.
At the tender touch, Bunny let out a soft whimper and wriggled into Kiriel’s chest, burrowing closer.
“My daughter, where do you think you’re going?”
“…….”
“I’m not sending you anywhere. I won’t abandon you or hate you. You don’t have to do a thing. It’s fine if you’re not useful, and you don’t have to share that information. You don’t even have to do the ancient elf stuff if you don’t want to. Dad will go to the imperial palace and flip everything upside down right in front of the Emperor.”
As always, his voice was languid and devoid of ups and downs, yet somehow soft and affectionate, and Bunny’s eyes widened hugely.
“You can throw tantrums, skip what you don’t want to do, and act as spoiled as you like. You don’t have to do anything on your own.”
“…….”
“You’re still just a little kid. Lean on Dad a bit more. I… I just want you to grow up happy like a child.”
“But… then I won’t become a great grown-up, and if I can’t be the super big Demon King, what’ll I do?”
At Bunny’s words, Kiriel chuckled lowly and stroked her hair.
Joy flushed Bunny’s cheeks pink.
“Then you’ll just be the daughter of a slightly less great dad. If it doesn’t work out, Dad will make it happen for you.”
Bunny blinked a couple of times, then burst into childish giggles before suddenly throwing her arms around Kiriel’s neck.
“Daddy, I wike you!!”
“Me too.”
Kiriel patted Bunny’s back and coolly cast his gaze down at the notebook as he spoke.
“I like our daughter too.”
* * *
“Bunny! Come on in.”
“Huh? It’s Noel. You healthy?”
“Not Noel, Roel. Thanks to you, I’m all better. Healthy as can be. Abba Mama said you were coming today, so I came out to greet you.”
The Crown Prince, Roel, grinned broadly and strode right up to Bunny in an instant, spreading his arms wide in welcome.
“Yeah. Hi, I mean hello.”
Bunny glanced at the approaching Roel with a rather uninterested look, nodded lightly in greeting, then clung tightly to Kiriel’s leg like a sloth and dangled there.
“Ah, hold my hand and let’s go. I’ll show you around, Bunny.”
“Bunny feels monkey-ish today.”
“Monkey? Is that why you’re hanging on? Hmm, I can’t exactly hang off ‘father-in-law’s’ leg either…”
Father-in-law?
Kiriel looked down at the Crown Prince with a somewhat baffled expression.
Sensing the gaze, the Crown Prince bowed politely at the waist, his face beaming with a bright smile. And he was doing this to the young lord of a ducal house with no official title, no less.
‘As expected from imperial blood—cunning as a fox.’
He used to offer only the bare minimum nod of courtesy. Now he seemed like a completely different person, the picture of politeness.
Sure, his daughter was adorable, but he had no intention of engaging in a childish contest of wills with a kid fawning over her, so he nodded indifferently in return.
The attendants who had followed the Crown Prince swallowed hard, making themselves scarce from sight.
‘His Highness the Crown Prince…’
‘He’s smiling?!’
‘And smiling that big…’
The Crown Prince they remembered had been arrogance incarnate.
It was only natural for royalty, so no one complained, but fundamentally, he had always seemed far too stoic and solemn for his age.
But look at him now.
Cheeks flushed red, arms spread wide—and ignored.
Yet there he was, trotting along beside Kiriel, who walked indifferently with Bunny dangling from his leg. It was like seeing someone else entirely.
He seemed almost like an innocent boy his age now.
‘And Kiriel Udiya…’
‘Kiriel Udiya walking around with a kid hanging off his leg…’
‘They said he adopted a daughter recently, and it looks like it’s true.’
How many times had they been stunned today alone?
The servants fought to keep their gaping mouths shut and swallowed nervously.
It was astonishing and surreal to see the man who treated people like they didn’t exist, who holed up in the temple and never showed his face no matter how many times the Emperor summoned him, now walking casually with a girl-child lump hanging off his leg.
“Bunny, even monkeys get hurt if they fall from trees, so tell me if it’s too much.”
“Neeing.”
And he even seemed practiced at dealing with kids.
“Bunny, sorry about last time. I got you in trouble, didn’t I? Abba Mama chewed me out big time. And thanks for saving me.”
“Wasn’t Bunny who saved Noel. It was Daddy.”
Bunny pointed at Kiriel with her finger.
Kiriel looked down at Bunny, who dangled so contentedly from his leg, and let out a short sigh.
No sooner had Bunny finished speaking than Roel whipped around to face Kiriel.
“Ah! Thank you too, father-in-law.”
“…I was merely going to retrieve my daughter. And I’d prefer you change that form of address.”
Kiriel narrowed his eyes in mild displeasure, and Roel blinked his eyes wide before nodding.
“Yes! If father-in-law’s uncomfortable, I’ll call you Father. And speak casually with me. I don’t want to hear formal speech from my fiancée’s friend’s father.”
“…….”
Kiriel let out a low groan at the cunning Roel’s words.
But getting involved in the love affairs of clueless five- and nine-year-olds hardly seemed mature, either.
“And His Majesty?”
“Abba Mama’s in the drawing room. You and Bunny are just here for tea with us today, Father.”
Kiriel nodded at Roel’s words, his eyes crinkling softly at the corners.
After discussions with the Emperor, they’d decided to handle this matter in utmost secrecy and let it drop. Only the Emperor, Kiriel, and Bunny would be present.
Along with the Emperor’s tight-lipped shadows, of course.
And it looked like the Crown Prince would be there too, somehow.
“Bunny.”
“Yeah?”
“If you’re done feeling like a monkey, come down now.”
Even with a hefty child clinging to one leg, Kiriel walked on steadily until they reached the drawing room where he was to meet the Emperor. Only then did Bunny hop down from his leg.
Bunny was the perfect picture of a free-spirited child—mature in one moment, utterly whimsical in the next.
Kiriel took Bunny’s hand and gave a small nod, and the soldier guarding the Emperor’s drawing room announced their arrival.
“Come in.”
With the Emperor’s permission, Bunny went inside holding tightly to Kiriel’s hand.
Roel sidled up and gently took Bunny’s other hand.
“Well, well, you must have had a long journey. Was the trip too taxing?”
“It was arduous.”
“I wasn’t asking you, Young Lord Udiya.”
The Emperor smiled and pointed to the sofa table laden with fancy desserts and cookies as he looked at Bunny.
“It’s good to see you getting along with the Crown Prince. I heard you like chocolate, so I prepared all sorts. Come, eat as much as you want. Thank you for coming all this way.”
Bunny glanced at Kiriel upon seeing the smiling Emperor.
‘Human big boss really does shine brighter.’
But so what.
Even if Daddy didn’t shine quite as much, loving him was Bunny’s job.
Feeling Bunny’s gaze, Kiriel bowed his head. Their eyes met, and Bunny blinked before suddenly thrusting up a thumbs-up toward him.
“Don’t wowwy, Bunny’s a woyal guy.”
Hah.
Bunny smirked cynically and clenched her fist with proud determination.
Kiriel, who had been watching her quietly, spoke up.
“…Bunny’s a girl, so it’d be a loyal lady.”
He still had no idea what context that phrase had come from.
‘A loyal woman?’
Even as he pondered it, Kiriel scooped Bunny up and set her on the sofa before taking a seat beside her.
