“Then, I’ll push you.”
“Okay.”
Lohan gently pushed Aileena, who was seated on the swing.
The light breeze brushed past Aileena’s hair that was silvery, thin, and fine, like a thread of silver.
The feeling of her body floating every time the swing was pushed forward gave her a thrill and refreshing feeling she’d never felt before.
Unable to contain her excitement, Aileena swung her short legs with glee.
The pink shoes her mother had handpicked for her to wear today gleamed under the bright sunlight.
“Should I push a bit harder?”
“Yes!”
Forgetting her earlier comment that swings were for children, Aileena answered loudly with excitement.
Her white cheeks were flushed with joy.
“Can you see the sky clearly?”
Rohan pushed Aileena’s back harder, sending the swing higher.
“Wow!”
Aileena let out an exclamation.
The higher she rose, the closer the sky seemed.
She felt like she could reach out and grab the clouds.
Entranced, Aileena stretched out one hand, grasping at the air toward the sky.
Although she couldn’t catch the clouds as she had hoped, she felt the refreshing breeze filling her palm.
For the first time in a while, the always quiet and composed Aileena, who usually behaved cautiously at home to avoid worrying her sick mother, burst into a smile as radiant as a blooming flower.
“Aren’t you scared?”
“Higher! Higher, higher!”
Aileena laughed out loud and swung her feet vigorously back and forth.
While Rohan watched her with satisfaction.
“It’s mine!”
Raphel, who had been walking over hand-in-hand with Tia, spotted someone on the swing and rushed forward.
A tiny tyrant had made his appearance.
“Who are you?!”
Raphel stomped over to the swing where Aileena sat, shouting angrily, clutching his snow globe in both hands.
Tia, who had accompanied him, looked visibly uneasy.
She had suggested coming to the swing to cheer up Raphelion, who was feeling down due to Wilhazelle’s absence.
When he heard a swing had just been installed, he wanted to be the first one to ride it, so Tia took him there but didn’t expect that someone else would already be on it.
And that someone was a girl who seemed to be Raphel’s age.
“Young master, you’re here?”
Rohan remained unbothered and continued to push Aileena’s back.
“It’s mine! Get off, get off!”
Raphel furiously tugged at Rohan’s clothing.
He had come to the garden after Tia mentioned the swing was a gift from his uncle, Chase, only to find someone else occupying it.
Another child using his swing that his uncle got for him before he could…
“Ah, ah. You shouldn’t do that. You’ll get hurt!”
With surprising strength, Raphel managed to sway Rohan’s legs.
Aileena, who had been having fun on the swing, glanced at Raphelion who suddenly appeared and then spoke with a calm expression.
“Please let me off.”
“You don’t want to swing anymore?”
“No.”
Reluctantly, Rohan stopped the swing.
Aileena jumped down from the stopped swing, straightened her disheveled clothes, and smoothed her hair to calm herself down.
“You can swing more if you want.”
Rohan felt a tinge of regret as Aileena changed from an excited child to her usual, mature self.
“It’s alright. The baby wants to swing.”
“Baby? I’m not a baby!”
Raphel, who had been puffing out his cheeks and fuming, got upset when he was called a baby.
“Really? But you’re so much shorter than me.”
Aileena stood in front of Raphel and gestured at their heights with her hand.
Her hand, extending above her head, clearly rested above Raphel’s.
The two children had about a two-finger height difference.
Frustrated at being shorter than Aileena, Raphel stood on his tiptoes to seem taller.
But Aileena mirrored his action, lifting her heels as well, maintaining the hight difference.
“Ugh! Who are you?!”
Annoyed at being outdone again, Raphel planted his hands on his hips and demanded.
He was already acting like the future master of the Halos family.
Rohan chuckled inwardly as he watched the two children.
“And who are you?”
Aileena crossed her arms and tilted her chin up confidently, refusing to back down.
“Raphelion! Who are you!”
“Why should I tell you my name? Hmph.”
Unlike Raphel, who answered bluntly, Aileena turned her head away.
There was a hint of annoyance in her blue eyes, as if she didn’t want to deal with him.
“You, you…!”
Raphel’s small body trembled with a sense of defeat he had never felt before.
Aileena glanced at the snow globe in Raphel’s hand and said teasingly.
“How childish, carrying around a snow globe. So baby-like.”
The snow globe he was holding looked like it had stars in it.
Such a thing only suited babies.
Aileena thought that she, being an adult, should just let it go.
Just when she was about to leave.
“It’s not childish!”
Raphel, unable to contain his anger at the comment that he was childish, kicked the dirt with his foot.
The dirt landed squarely on Aileena’s pink shoes.
“…”
Aileena, who had been composed until now, froze.
She stared blankly at her once-clean shoes, now covered in dirt.
Her bright blue eyes wavered, like she’d been struck by lightning.
“Lady Aileena, are you alright?”
Rohan hurried over to brush the dirt off her shoes.
He then crouched to meet her gaze.
“…”
Aileena was staring at her shoes with a face that looked like she was about to cry.
Soon, her vision blurred as tears welled up.
But she clenched her lips tightly, determined not to cry.
‘I mustn’t cry. If I cry, Mother will be sad.’
Crying was for the weak, only something children did.
Aileena suppressed her growing emotions.
“Hmph.”
Raphel snorted, demanding that Tia lift him onto the swing.
Tia, who had been keeping an eye on the situation, reached out to lift Raphel.
Then…
Thud
Dirt slid down Raphel’s back.
“L-Lady Aileena!”
Rohan shouted in surprise.
Before he could intervene, Aileena had scooped up dirt and flung it at Raphel.
She had vowed she wouldn’t cry, but not that she wouldn’t fighting back.
Aileena stood tall and glared defiantly at Raphel.
Raphel, stunned, stood still with a blank expression.
He was trying to process what had just happened.
When he realized he had been hit with dirt, he bolted toward Aileena.
“Young master!”
Tia hurriedly chased after him, but Raphel had already grabbed Aileena’s hair.
“Apologize!”
“You started it!”
Raphel yanked at Aileena’s hair.
She retaliated by grabbing his hair.
“Young master, Lady Aileena! Stop, you’ll get hurt!”
Rohan tried desperately to separate them.
But because their emotions were raging, the children were holding onto each other tightly and refused to let go.
“Let go!”
“You let go first!”
Like angry little bulls, they tussled and eventually tumbled to the ground, rolling in the dirt.
“Ouch, you brat!”
“Idiot!”
The two children rolled around in the dirt and even threw small punches at each other.
The adults were trying their best to separate them, but it was no use as they held each other tightly by the collar.
The commotion caused a cloud of dust to rise.
It was utter chaos.
“Please stop this! Both of you!”
“Young master, enough!”
Finally, Rohan pulled Aileena away, and Tia scooped up Raphel, ending the fight.
Both children, however, continued to glare at each other, panting heavily with anger.
“Come here!”
“You come here!”
Held in the adults’ arms, Raphel and Aileena continued to kick at the air, growling at one another.
