For My Derelict Favorite

Kaelus gazed with his purple eyes.

“So we can see the aurora during our stay?”

“Well, yes.”

Hestia shrugged. She added quietly. They’d have to be lucky.

But the children’s reactions had already exploded.

“Let’s go see it tonight!”

“I miss the aurora!”

The butler of Attica, who was standing to serve the meal, smiled slightly.

“I think the boys will be sleeping in the middle of the night…”

Then the two brothers got angry at once.

“I’m not going to sleep!”

“You can wake me up!”

“Oh, yes, yes…”

The butler evaded in a hurry.

Hestia laughed aloud.

“Hahaha, do you miss the aurora that much?” 

“Butler. Is the weather good for the aurora today?”

The butler of the permanent residence, a native of Attica, smoothed his chin and lost in thought.

“They said they saw the aurora yesterday and the day before yesterday, so it might not come out today. There are regular cycles.”

“Really? Then when would be a good time?”

“I think it will be in about four days. My lord.”

The children were soon depressed to hear that they would not see them tonight.

“Then we can’t see it today…?”

“It’s too bad…”

Then Kaelus stepped up and comforted the children.

“It’s okay. We’ll stay in Attica for a month, so you can see the aurora in the meantime. Four days later, I’m sure there will be a more beautiful aurora than anything we’ve ever seen.”

Hestia quickly added, too.

“Yes, your father is right. You didn’t even take a proper nap today, so you’ll sleep deeply at night, right? Then it will be hard to see even if a nice aurora appears.”

Only then did the children grapple with the situation.

“Well, then we’ll have to take a good nap to stay awake at night, right?”

“Well, yes…”

In response, Hestia screamed inwardly. Alas, things went wrong. If you take too many naps, you really can’t sleep at night!

Children who did not sleep at night were nothing short of a disaster in the situation of adults, including their parents. That’s why they’re trying their best to exhaust their children’s physical strength during the day.

Anyway, she had no choice but to take care of it in  the future. Hestia suppressed her desire to cry.

Once she smiled brightly, she said to the children.

“Guys, let’s all have a good night. You’ve had a hard time riding a carriage for days.”

Cree, Leon, and Charis answered in chorus.

“Yes!”

“Yes!”

Hestia was actually the only one who was busy in Attica. The Attica’s lady, who came down to her estate after a long time, had a lot of work to do during her month’s stay.

So while Hestia was busy with the estate, naturally the child-rearing went to Kaelus. Fortunately, as soon as Cree and Leon came to Attica, they became interested in playing with the village children.

When the sons played outside, the guards guarded the permanent residence building and one or two of them always followed. Rather than being particularly dangerous, it was to keep an eye on children who didn’t know where to jump.

Although they failed to see the aurora on the first day of arrival, Cree and Leon enjoyed fun outside with Patton, Paenon and other friends they connected with.

Thanks to that, Kaelus was able to take care of Charis more leisurely.

“Cess. Do you want to go to the forest with your dad?”

“Yes!”

The forest that Kaelus said was none other than the backyard of the permanent residence. How wide, Hestia saw this forest for the first time and wondered if this was the northern scale.

It was already late autumn, so the trees in the forest revealed branches. The floor was thick with fallen leaves.

Cess hopped about on the fluffy leaves.

“Wow!”

Kaelus started laughing. A child of that age would always make such a loud noise when she ran. The same was true of Creos and Deucalyon.

“Be careful, Cess. You’ll fall.”

In case she stumbled on the root of the tree and fell forward, he quickly clasped his daughter’s hand.

“Uh-huh.”

Cess frowned as if she didn’t like her hand being held. Kaelus felt weak at the moment and thought about letting go, but he held on to it because he didn’t know what stones or sharp thorns might be hiding between the fallen leaves.

“No, you have to walk here, not run.”

“Uh….”

Cess’ shoulders drooped. But as a child, she soon became curious about something else.

“Daddy! That….”

Kaelus looked at Cess eagerly pointing. Pretty mushrooms were huddled up.

He had no choice but to restrain Cess once again.

“Well, that doesn’t work either. It might be a poisonous mushroom.”

“Chiii…”

My daughter became sulky. She pouted her lips, and lowered her head.

Kaelus was sweating.

“Phew…”

It was really, really hard to babysit. There were many dangers everywhere to please her, and he was too worried that she would be seriously hurt to release her.

He chose the wrong place to take a walk in the first place. They shouldn’t have come to the forest.

Kaelus made a bold decision. If you realize that you are wrong, you can turn it back immediately.

“Cess, come here.”

He lifted his little girl in his arms and turned around. Cess, who lost interest in the forest, calmly hugged her father and walked out of the forest.

When the two people came out shortly after entering the forest, the gardener, who was cleaning up the fallen leaves in the yard, talked to them.

“I have a few bags of leaves, why don’t you play with them?”

“Can you do that? I’m sorry you cleaned it up after all.”

“Haha, I like it better when the princess is happy.”

The gardener did not hesitate to empty the bag of fallen leaves. Before they knew it, a bunch of deciduous hills were formed on one side of the garden.

Kaelus finally let go of Charis’ hand.

“Do you want to go up?”

“Yes!”

Cess ran out with great force. As she ran up the deciduous hill, her feet snapped with a rustling sound. The laughter of the child resounded in the yard of the mansion.

Kaelus was relieved.

“Ha.”

It is so difficult to play with a child without making them cry. 

Even if you don’t take any particular initiative, it’s actually enough to be next to the kid and cheer them up from time to time.

“Leaves…!”

Charis hadn’t learned a few words yet, but she still seemed to know what she was playing with now. They scattered and stepped on the leaves and had fun.

When Kaelus saw this scene while raising his child, he wondered what was the use of all the toys he had bought steadily. Still, if his beloved child was happy with these little leaves, it was fine.

After playing for a long time, he heard a voice like a savior.

“Duke, the snacks are ready.”

Clarice, the maid of honor, called the two of them. 

Kaelus quickly looked back at Charis.

“Cess, shall we go for a snack?”

“Wow!”

As the game of fallen leaves was getting boring, Cess quickly followed the adults. 

He was glad she didn’t whine to play more.

Kaelus took his daughter’s hand and walked, praying earnestly inside.

If only his daughter took a good nap after eating snacks.

~~~~

Finally, the aurora forecast came out. It was quite reliable because it was predicted by a native of the village.

The children were excited before sunset.

“When the aurora appears, they hear strange sounds!” 

“They say there are other colors besides green.”

Hestia and Kaelus smiled at each other.

“It would be amazing to see it in person. When we first saw it, we thought we were dreaming.”

“Mom and dad already saw it?”

“Not this time, a long time ago.”

Hestia suddenly realized the years passed by. The first time she came to Attica was before she gave birth to Creos, so it was a long time ago.

After that, she went to and from Attica several times, but she was busy working, so she only watched the aurora at night.

“It’s been a while since I saw the aurora, so I’m really looking forward to it.”

Kaelus was careful not to pour cold water on the children’s expectations by paying attention to the way they spoke. Thanks to this, Creos and Deucalyon were very excited to think that their parents expected the aurora just like them.

The butler and the lady-in-waiting did their best to help the duke family enjoy the aurora without any inconvenience. In addition to a thick fur coat, they brought several bed chairs to make it easier to lie down and look up. In addition, they prepared a bonfire to overcome the cold winter air and naturally made sweet snacks to make up for it.

However, the most important thing to observe the aurora without a hitch was for young Charis to go to bed early.

Cess, who played with Kaelus during the day, took a short nap as her father wished, and then recharged herself again and busily went through the wide greenhouse. Although Kaelus was exhausted following her, the sacrifice was not in vain. In the evening, Cess fell into a deep sleep after taking a hot bath.

With this, preparations for seeing the aurora went smoothly.