A welcome guest came to the drawing room in the annex.
It was Elston, whom I met for the first time in a long time.
“If you’ve moved your dwelling to the Shiaster’s, you should have told me. I went to the Evanror viscounty without knowing that.”
“Ah, you did?”
“Yes!”
Eh, well. Just that.
Aren’t you the Wizardry Tower lord for whom spatial movement magic is easier than a piece of cake?
When I made a sour face, Elston started talking in rapid-fire bursts.
“Do you think magic just comes out? It’s all about carving up the wizard’s bones and flesh! My body is hurting so much right now.”
Aha. Really?
“Then it must be difficult to be holding Axion. Give him to me.”
“….Th-that.”
Elston, who was holding Axion as if he were holding a treasure, secretly hid Axion from me.
“It hasn’t even been a minute and a half yet.”
“You said you were tired?”
“Ahem. This small pre… no, such a small baby, I can easily hold him. No matter how tired I am!”
He was using 3 of the right-to-hug Axion for 30-second tickets I gave him at once.
“Then, well. Whatever.”
Reading the look of defeat in his eyes, I grinned and leaned back on the sofa.
“So, is there no problem with Axion?”
“Hm.”
Elston, who was huffing and puffing as if he was angry, looked serious at my question.
“According to Miss’s words, it’s strange that Axion can’t speak.”
“Yes.”
As soon as Elston came in for the routine checkup, I grabbed him and told him that Axion was strange.
‘According to the original novel, Axion’s development was unusual from the time he was a very young baby.’
That’s why he was able to wipe out the Evanror Viscount family that had abandoned him at the age of 7.
So Axion, who is probably about a year old now, should be able to speak by now.
‘I think it is time for those innocent eyes to start to disappear.’
He remembered very specifically what happened when he was abandoned. Even if he was a one-year-old, his cognitive abilities did not seem to be at the level of a baby.
‘But he continues to be the same.’
I crossed my arms, staring into Axion’s cute eyes.
Due to this, Axion’s education couldn’t even begin.
‘When I came here, I tried to find a teacher with my rigid living expenses.’
As Axion, who I had thought would grow well, remained the same, the plan was foiled.
“I don’t know much about child development, hmm. Don’t boys usually develop slower than girls?”
Elston tilted his head as he looked down at Axion in his arms.
“I don’t think it’s enough to worry about.”
“No. Our family is so unique that we develop three times faster than others.”
“What?”
Even though I blabbered things that didn’t make sense, the answer that I got was the same.
“Well. If I had to guess, I think it could be a side effect of having the Demon Dragon’s dragon heart in his body, but I can’t give you a definite answer.”
You’re saying it’s a side effect of having the Demon Dragon’s dragon heart in his body.
Although it was a possible hypothesis, it was not due to a side effect.
‘In the original novel, he grew up well with the Demon Dragon’s dragon heart in his chest.’
Axion, who had experienced all kinds of misfortune since he was young, grew exceptionally as if he grew up by feeding on misfortune. I’m sure it was that kind of setting.
Suddenly, while I was thinking about that, a crazy idea crossed my mind.
‘By any chance, are you not growing up because you aren’t unfortunate?’
I slowly blinked my eyes.
Elston seemed to be muttering something in front of me, but I couldn’t quite hear it.
It’s really strange because I suddenly remembered what Axion said to Vanilla in the original novel.
‘I am a being who grew up by eating misfortune. The source of my strength is my hatred of everything in the world. Do you dare handle someone like me?’
A being that grew up by eating misfortune.
Hatred of everything.
Those words floated in my head. I swallowed, and the saliva I swallowed hit my throat and went down. Somehow it had a bitter taste,
At the same time, I felt the hair on the back of my neck standing up.
A baby who won’t grow unless he’s unfortunate.
‘Then, it’s as if he’s a being who was born to be unfortunate.’
I stared at Axion, who was held in Elston’s arms.
The child, with a clear face, stretched out his small hand and pulled Elston’s hair.
The child in front of me was a pure, innocent baby. A baby so full of loveliness that it would be impossible to imagine that he would have been born with such a terrible fate.
“Miss?”
Elston called me with a bewildered face, perhaps thinking it strange that I had become serious.
I did not answer as I was lost in thought.
So, it means that Axion is not growing up because he is not as unfortunate as he was in the original novel.
‘If my assumption is true, while I’m taking care of Axion…. So, if he lives a happy life, doesn’t that mean he won’t grow up for the rest of his life?’
Then, since I won’t die a terrible death, my goal of surviving will be achieved.
It’s true that I should be happy, but my heart was only depressed.
I felt uncomfortable at the thought that Axion would not be able to grow normally and live fully in this world.
Seeing that I had that feeling, the thought occurred to me that I had truly accepted Axion as my child.
“Hey, Miss. Is something wrong?”
No, wait.
Let’s not think this crazy thought is true.
I realized that I had gone too far and shook my head.
“What did you just say? Elston.”
First of all, now was not the time to think about this assumption.
It seemed like finding out more would have to be postponed until after the meeting with Elston.
“What? Oh, oh…”
At the sudden question, Elston widened his eyes and parted his lips.
“I asked what it is like to stay with Duke Dazar….”
Dazar?
Ahh. We are getting along really well.
I deliberately answered in a bright voice, leaving behind the thoughts floating in my head.
“It’s indescribably perfect.”
At those words, Elston’s eyes sparkled strangely.
Looking at those eyes, this time they seem quite like a dark curtain1Mastermind.
I shook off that nagging feeling and asked playfully:
“What’s with those dark curtain-like eyes?”
“Wha-what?”
Elston looked perplexed at the question that popped out.
“What do you mean dark curtain?”
Even at face value, Elston’s voice, trembling like a leaf, seemed suspicious.
But I already knew he was the mastermind, so I pretended to be indifferent.
“I’m just saying. Well, there is something like that. On the outside, he pretends to be on the main character’s side, but it turns out he’s actually the boss of an evil group. He helps the main character, but you come to find out that he has an underhanded scheme and secretly forces the main character into a trap, that kind of character.”
“…..Cough, cough!”
Looking at Elston, who suddenly started coughing, I kindly held out my hand.
“Oh dear, Axion. Come here. Ahjussi 2Respectful term for older/middle-aged man is coughing.”
“The boss of an evil group, I’m not like that!”
Elston cried out as he anxiously looked at Axion who had escaped from his grasp. Then his eyes widened, and it seemed he had said those words without realizing it.
There is a saying that a slip of the tongue is a reflection of a person’s true heart.
‘Hmm. You’re not the boss of the evil group?’
I roughly shrugged my shoulders and patted Axion.
Teasing Elston also made me feel a little better.
“Where is there a good wizard like me? Rather than me, Duke Shiaster is closer to the axis of evil.”
“Hmm?”
Oh my. How could Elston’s thoughts suddenly be the same as mine?
“So you have to be careful. Since you live so close.”
“Last time you told me he was a graceful and outstanding person.”
“W-well that’s because I didn’t think you would end up living together like this. Sniff.”
“So. Why is he the axis of evil?”
Elston lowered his voice slightly.
“This is a rumor that everyone in the know knows. It is said that among transcendentalists there are sometimes people who remember their past lives.”
Remember past life….?
Elston saw my surprised face, and his eyes sparkled again.
“And Duke Dazar is said to be such a case.”
Dazed in surprise, I asked a question that naturally occurred to me.
“What does that have to do with the axis of evil?”
“That…”
Elston furtively turned his gaze, clicking his tongue as if he had made a mistake.
“It’s because of the bloody storm that blew through the Shiaster duchy in the past.”
Leaving those last words, Elston hurriedly left, saying he was running out of time.
It was clearly like he was avoiding talking.
In an instant, only Axion and I were left in that place.
“He remembers his past life…..?”
I don’t think that setting was dealt with in the original novel.
As I was thinking that, it suddenly occurred to me that Dazar never really appeared in the original novel.
‘Oh….? What happened to Dazar in the original novel?’
Do the chapters get unlocked after a period of time?😭😭or will the future chapters all be permanently locked😭😭🙏🙏
I will unlock one chapter every two weeks. I’m going on a short hiatus, but I should be back to my one chapter a week schedule in the next month or two.