Why is this man acting like this all of a sudden?
Isn’t he incredibly loyal?
“…P-pardon?”
I watched him nervously and took a bite of my sandwich.
“I admit he’s a great person, but his personality isn’t exactly likable…”
“Give me that.”
At that moment, the man, who seemed a bit annoyed, snatched the orange juice I was holding.
“!”
In an instant, I lost my precious sustenance and shouted.
“Why are you taking juice from a kid?”
“You said you only need protein and carbs. Why do you need juice?”
“Still, taking it back is just mean! Even dogs aren’t disturbed while they eat…”
“You should be grateful I gave you a sandwich in the first place. Ungrateful children can’t stay in the garden. Get out.”
“A, ah, mister!”
What’s going on? Why is he suddenly so angry?
“Get out.”
“No! Ugh.”
The man tried to grab me.
I held onto the bench with all my might, my fists trembling, but his huge hand easily lifted me by my armpit.
“Mister!”
He carried me forcibly towards the garden entrance.
“Ah, mister! Why are you doing this all of a sudden?”
“There you go again. That mouth of yours.”
“Mister!”
“Keep your little mouth shut and go to the annex. Now.”
And with that, the gardener, without a blink, placed me inside the mansion. The door closed behind me.
“…Is this real?”
Did I just get kicked out of the garden for saying one thing? Is he really this petty?
And it wasn’t even about him. It was about the head of the house.
Don’t most servants gossip about their masters behind their backs?
I thought he was loyal, but not to this extent.
I stood there, staring blankly at the closed door, my mind frozen.
Then suddenly, there was a loud thud from beyond the door.
“?”
The door burst open, and there stood the gardener.
He looked down at me with his sharp eyes and spoke.
“I don’t need a kid’s juice either. You drink it.”
Then he shoved the juice back into my hands and disappeared again.
Standing there dumbfounded, I finally came to my senses.
Naturally, I chuckled.
“…In the midst of all this.”
Unbelievable.
“He still gave me the juice… Is this flirting? If you don’t plan to raise a kid, don’t give them juice!”
I shouted towards the now empty garden.
* * *
[Ariena]
The name of the garden, written in elegant cursive, was named after his wife.
Only the direct descendants of the Kreutz family could enter this well-maintained garden, but it felt strangely barren like a desert.
This was because all the direct descendants of the Kreutz family went missing during the war fought by Calypse.
‘I’m alone.’
Calypse, who had ended the war, gazed at the silent garden.
And he reached one conclusion.
‘The war was pointless.’
Behind him, a long shadow fell.
The people who once cheered for him, the emperor who praised his wartime achievements, the nobles who looked at him with envy—all seemed like hollow shells.
‘I wanted to protect my pregnant wife.’
His eldest son, Cedric, who once held a wooden sword, saying he would help him someday.
His second son, Lucas, who knew nothing but books, waving goodbye when he ran out to see his father off.
…And his soon-to-be-born daughter, Eve.
The war he joined to protect the kingdom’s people was actually for his family.
“Haa-.”
His face, as he looked at the empty garden, twisted as if he were about to cry, but all he could let out was a long sigh.
Because behind him, knights awaited his orders.
“…Dismissed. Everyone, rest.”
“Yes, sir!”
The cheers for the war hero disappeared after that day.
The Kreutz family searched the entire Frozen Kingdom for the missing wife and direct descendants, but only the dark faces of the knights returned.
“I’m sorry, Your Excellency.”
On the 159th day of the search, before the knight who had been watching his mood could even open the door, Calypse realized.
The knights’ expressions were becoming more like his own.
‘I need to wear a mask.’
From that day on, Calypse’s daily routine began with putting on a mask.
The grief of losing his family was his burden, not theirs.
As he wore the mask, the knights, initially puzzled, gradually began to see his mask as a symbol of a rational and cold-hearted head of the family.
He also stopped visiting the garden he used to go to daily.
“Who are you to enter the garden?”
On the rare occasion he tried to enter the garden,
“I’m the gardener hired by His Excellency.”
He even resorted to absurd lies while hiding his face under a hood.
His grief could be revealed, but not that of the Duke of Calypse.
Thus, the Kreutz family regained its vitality.
As if nothing had happened.
As if only Calypse knew his family had disappeared.
Every night, he was awakened by the screams of his missing family.
From the shadows following him.
From the empty chair across from him.
From the dining room where he ate alone.
Every moment of breathing was suffocated by the guilt of not protecting his family.
One day, Calypse no longer needed his mask.
Because he had decided to join his family.
He had never thought about how to end his life.
But once he made up his mind, he was the type to follow through.
The only thing he had failed to do was protect his family, so he felt he should quickly join them as an apology.
[Death Potion]Standing in the garden for the last time, he took the potion out of his pocket. Just as he was about to uncork it,
“Excuse me!”
Someone intruded into his and his family’s space.
“Someone scary is chasing me. I’ll hide in your robe for a bit.”
The intruder was a tiny blonde child.
With her hair tied in two pigtails like a small arrow.
Big eyes like sapphire blue.
“Phew, thank goodness.”
Without waiting for permission, she hid in his robe and sighed in relief, as if she had found her safe place.
“…?”
He was so stunned he forgot to assess the situation and looked down.
A small white hand emerged from his robe, followed by a face glaring at someone.
It was a maid from the Kreutz family.
‘…What is this,’
But he had no time to wonder.
The scary person the child mentioned was the maid, and the maid was looking for the child. He could figure that out without asking.
“Have you seen a young child running this way? About five years old, a girl.”
As the maid approached, he tucked the child’s head back into his robe.
‘Probably the maid’s daughter playing around.’
If that were the case, it was fine. Before he died, he could at least be a hiding place for the child.
But
“She said she knows where the Lady is.”
When he heard news about his almost abandoned daughter, the senses that had been as still as a grave began to stir slightly.
So, he decided to send the maid away and talk to the child alone.
The little girl didn’t readily reveal where the Lady was. Instead, she started listing her own conditions.
“Be my dad. A dad who protects me from bad people.”
A cheeky little girl.
“What’s the range of my protection?”
His face hidden behind the mask twisted for the first time then.
‘…Range of protection?’
Her language skills were not those of an average five-year-old, but the reason his face twisted was different.
The child’s will to live radiated from her whole being.
“…My goal is to survive, eat delicious desserts, make friends, and find a boyfriend. What do you think? Don’t you want to help?”
But to want to live for such reasons.
He couldn’t understand it.
Wanting to live just to eat tasty things. To make friends, and find a boyfriend?
And now, with no one around?
An orphan with no family on the streets?
To find hope in such trivial things?
He was at a loss for words. It made no sense, but he couldn’t crush the child’s dreams either.
In the end, his resolve to join his family gradually faded.
Partly to find his youngest daughter.
But also, because he grew curious about this child’s identity.
Then one day, in a laundromat, he saw a small blonde head and chuckled to himself.
The fabric the child was handling glowed blue.
It was a reaction to using a poison skill.
When he saw the writing on the fabric, he was convinced. The child was a spy sent by the Pose family.
‘To think I’ve been manipulated by a five-year-old. I must be getting soft.’
He closed his eyes in exasperation.
Angry at Pose for using a child’s vulnerability and at his own stupidity, he felt a bitter laugh rise.
Feeling some resentment towards the child who tried to deceive him, he was about to call the knights.
But then,
“Haa- If I’ve done this much, I can survive, right? I really want to get away from the Pose family….”
A sigh, too mature for a child, caught his attention.
As if asking him to listen.
The child, struggling to sigh, neatly folded the fabric with the writing on it.
It was strange.
It should have been a directive, and she should have hidden it after checking, but she didn’t.
Instead, she laid it out openly so the writing was visible.
As if hoping someone would see and understand.
“Who made you do laundry?”
“…Huh?”
Calypse caught on immediately.
‘Mister, haven’t you thought about raising a child?’
The words she had said while following him around all day were not just jokes.
They were cries for help.
“Your Excellency! I think we’ve found a spy from the Pose family. There’s writing on this maid’s clothes…”
“I know.”
Now it was time for an adult to help.
Calypse didn’t even look at the fabric the knight brought.
But his eyes, which had been dead, glimmered with their usual brilliance, a vivid red.
“Bring the maid named Dorothy to my office immediately.”
