~Chapter 03~
I was holding up a mirror in my hands, checking my face.
Fortunately, it seemed Sertien wasn’t getting motion sickness. He sat in front of me, happily watching the scenery outside the window.
‘No matter how many times I see it, it’s still amazing,’ I thought as I looked at my reflection in the mirror.
My appearance was completely unique, and since everyone who saw me called me beautiful, it was only natural.
Fair skin, long wavy pink hair, and blue eyes—all of these features suited my appearance well.
My eyes were round and gave off a gentle, kind feeling.
While I was staring at my appearance absentmindedly, Sertien, who had come over to me at some point and was watching me, spoke.
“Mom, why do you keep looking in the mirror? You’re pretty, so you don’t need to look.”
I lowered the mirror and looked at Sertien.
To say something like that so casually… this child’s future worried me.
Whose son is he, really?
I watched Sertien closely, and he, perhaps feeling shy under my gaze, laughed and wiggled awkwardly.
I could now understand why my knight earlier had said Sertien and I looked alike.
Now that I thought about it, Sertien’s eyes were very similar to mine.
Is that why they said we looked alike?
“I love you, Mom!”
I sighed softly as Sertien continued to call me “Mom.”
But it wasn’t something I could deny.
Besides, Sertien was cute, so being called “Mom” wasn’t all that bad.
I asked Sertien,
“Hey, is ‘Seri’ a nickname?”
“What’s a nickname?”
“Well… it’s like a cuter way of calling someone’s name.”
“I don’t know, but Mom always called me Seri!”
So it was a nickname…
Talking to a young child wasn’t easy.
But I wanted to get as much information as I could about his parents, so I kept asking questions.
“Seri, do you know your dad’s name?”
“Hmm… hmm… what was it again…”
“What does your dad look like?”
Since he didn’t seem to remember the name, I tried asking this instead, and Sertien’s eyes lit up at my question.
“My dad is really handsome.”
“Really?”
“Yeah! He has black hair like me, and everyone says he’s handsome.”
Well, with parents resembling this little doll of a child, it made sense they’d be good-looking.
“What about your mom?”
“Huh? Mom looks like you!”
“…”
I paused, trying to make sense of what Sertien was saying.
Considering everything Sertien had done so far, I had a feeling his real mom might look like me.
But if there was someone who looked like me, I would definitely know about it…
Especially if she was the wife of someone connected to the palace.
“Seri, do you get along well with your mom?”
“What do you mean? Mom is right here with me.”
“No, I mean… before you met me again, what was your mom doing?”
Having no choice, I referred to myself as “Mom” and asked him that way.
At my question, Sertien’s face suddenly turned sad, as if he remembered something bad.
Could a child this young really have something that made him look this sad?
I could sense right away what must have happened to Sertien’s real mother.
“…Mom didn’t seem to like me and Dad… She was always lying down, and then one day she just disappeared. Dad said she went to the moon.”
Sertien looked like he was about to cry at any moment.
Feeling sorry for him, I instinctively hugged him, and Sertien smiled, not shedding any tears.
“But I’m happy I got to meet Mom again!”
It was clear that Sertien’s real mother had passed away.
He was still so young, and I felt sorry for him.
I could now understand why he followed me around, calling me “Mom.”
He must have missed his mother that much.
Although I couldn’t truly be his mom, I decided to take care of him well while we were together.
Though, with no experience in raising children, I wasn’t sure how well I’d do.
With a rattling sound, the carriage came to a stop.
Sertien, who had been nestled in my arms, looked out the window and exclaimed with excitement,
“Wow!”
I followed Sertien’s lead and looked outside.
Before I knew it, we had arrived in the city of Reed.
Reed was even more vibrant and bustling than the capital, where the royal palace was.
It seemed this was because Reed was a port city, with many people coming and going.
Sertien excitedly jumped out of the carriage.
“We’re here… Oh!”
“Thank you. I’ll call for the carriage again later, so you can head back to the palace for now. Wait a second, Seri!”
I hurriedly thanked the coachman, who had started to speak calmly but was cut off by Sertien’s sudden jumping out. I quickly followed Sertien out of the carriage.
I couldn’t believe how much energy Sertien had—he was so fast.
Just as I was starting to worry I might lose him, Sertien thankfully stopped.
“What’s that?”
I turned my head in the direction Sertien was pointing.
He was talking about the distant lighthouse.
“That’s a lighthouse.”
“A lighthouse?”
“Yeah. It shines light at night because it’s dark.”
“Wow, that’s amazing! What’s this!?”
Even though we were supposed to be looking for Ered, Sertien was pulling me along, asking question after question, “What’s this? What’s that?”
It seemed like it was his first time visiting such a busy city.
I finally managed to calm Sertien down.
“Seri… Let’s explore more later. We have somewhere we need to go right now.”
“Huh? Okay!”
He seemed to listen well, at least.
Sertien nodded and obediently followed me.
Now I was even more curious about who his father was.
“Seri, do you not go out much?”
“Huh? Dad is always busy, so it’s hard to go out.”
Well, if his father brought him to the palace, he must be a high-ranking official. And in this country, high-ranking officials were always swamped with work.
His mother had passed away, and his father was always busy… what a tough situation for such a young child.
Determined not to lose Sertien again, I tightly held his hand as I looked around.
How was I supposed to find Ered in this bustling city?
I considered going to the headquarters of the knights who guarded the city for help, but I figured it would just make things more complicated, so I decided against it.
Besides, I didn’t think they’d be much help. It would be faster to visit an information broker I knew well.
And if I went to the knights’ headquarters like this…
“Mom?”
It was obvious they’d get the wrong idea when Sertien kept calling me “Mom.”
If the knights saw us like this, it wouldn’t take long for rumors to spread that I was married throughout the whole kingdom.
‘I’ll just quietly find him, catch him, and drag him back to the palace…’
I made up my mind about what to do next, and just as I was about to head off with Sertien, I realized that he had disappeared.
“Seri?”
I had heard that watching over a child was hard, but I didn’t expect him to vanish the moment I looked away.
“Seri! Where are you!?”
As I called for Sertien and pushed through the crowd, people started to stare at me.
With my striking appearance, people already tended to pay attention to me even when I stayed quiet. Now that I was making a scene, I could feel all eyes on me.
“Where could he have gone…”
I didn’t mind the attention, but I wasn’t exactly seeking it either, so I looked around quickly, determined to find Sertien.
I was confident in my ability to find him.
It didn’t take long before I spotted the back of a child with familiar black hair in the crowd.
Relieved that I’d found him so quickly, I was about to call him out.
But I soon realized that Sertien wasn’t alone.
For some reason, a group of people had gathered around him.
Sensing that something was wrong, I pushed through the crowd to get closer to Sertien.
“Hey, you’re the one messing with our business.”
It was a rough, arrogant voice.
The group surrounding Sertien looked like back alley thugs.
In front of them was an elderly man, and it seemed like he was the victim of their harassment.
“I’ve been running my stall here for 10 years. You all just showed up and caused trouble for me,” the old man said.
“Old man, I’ve told you before. We bought this land recently.”
“You threatened me with your gang and forced me to sell my land, and now you talk like that?”
“Watch your mouth, old man. If you don’t want things to end up like last time, you’d better pack up and leave now.”
As soon as the thug finished speaking, one of his underlings stepped forward and kicked the old man.
The elderly man fell, and screams echoed from the crowd.
This was the kind of thing that happened often in such a big city.
Gangs like this would take over areas, claiming control over local businesses and expanding their influence.
It had become such a problem that the kingdom was trying to stop it somehow.
The knights’ headquarters here were probably already struggling with this issue.
I hesitated, unsure if I should intervene, thinking I might interfere with the knights’ plans.
But just then, Sertien suddenly shouted at the top of his lungs.
“What are you doing!?”
‘What do you think you’re doing!?’
When I saw Sertien run in front of the old man to block him, I nearly fainted.
