Side Story ~ 7
Suddenly, a brief scream echoed, and the gaze of the two people turned to one place.
There, Elsie, who had fallen over in a corner of the living room, was visible.
Even the white milk spilled all over the wooden floor.
“Elsie, be careful. Are you okay?”
“You didn’t get hurt?”
Without anyone needing to say who would go first, the couple approached the child.
“Yeah, but the milk…”
Elsie seemed to fumble for a moment, then opened her eyes wide after a while. Then she looked down at the floor and said,
“Mom, Dad, but there’s something here.”
And Seriniel realized belatedly.
”This place… there is something at this place where I spilled milk.”
Seriniel’s face, staring at Elsie and the floor, was filled with numerous emotions.
“This is… a place to hide something important, like a safe.”
“Why?”
“Some people hide things in places like this villa.”
Resting his arm on Seriniel’s shoulder, Lexion replied with a smile.
“But what if I find out like this? And is this place always empty like this?”
After peeking under the floor, Elsie tilted her head with a puzzled expression.
“The person who built this place must be disappointed.”
“Then shall we do this?”
“How?”
“Let’s put everything that happened today here, our memories. Then the person who built this won’t be disappointed, and our family will have new secrets together, Isn’t that cool?”
“Yeah!”
Elsie smiled brightly. Lexion and Seriniel did too.
“We should have a really, really fun day today. That way, there will be lots of memories to put in!”
“Okay, then should we go out in front with Dad?”
After roughly wiping the milk, Lexion looked at Elsie and asked.
“Okay!”
As soon as the answer came, Lexion slowly reached out and lifted Elsie, who was frowning. Then, with a gesture as if to say, “Let’s go see Mom,” he led the way.
Seriniel glanced briefly at the small indentation on the floor.
A space filled with memories of her father and herself, and a space where Belles had hidden the Magic stone and evidence of rebellion.
This cramped and secretive space would never be abused like that again. As the family continued to visit the villa together in the future, it would be filled with new memories.
“Let’s go quickly! We’re busy. The sun will set soon.”
Elsie urged impatiently as if she had caught a bird. Seriniel smiled as if she couldn’t stop her, and with her family, she left the villa.
Soon, the sound of the door opening and closing was heard, and a warm silence settled in the sun-filled villa.
—
Elsie was truly like an untethered calf.
Seriniel thought to herself, If I had known she would enjoy it so much, I would have brought her here sooner. I had a sudden thought, but I decided to put aside my regret. After all, there would be many more memories to build here in the future.
Elsie frolicked in front of the villa with Lexion. After playing tag for a while, Elsie got tired and asked Lexion to teach her the self-defense technique he had mentioned last time.
In fact, there was a complex background even to teaching her that technique.
Originally, Lexion had taught Elsie swordsmanship, but when he saw her fiercely attacking the training dummy, he changed his mind, saying, “Swordsmanship is too dangerous, so it’s better to do it when you’re a little older.”
Anyway, whether it was swordsmanship or self-defense techniques, Elsie didn’t seem to care much. She looked happy and excited, so that was enough.
After learning the self-defense technique from Lexion for a while, Elsie stumbled and fell while running alone, and the problem was that while helping her, Lexion also got hurt.
Of course, he was only slightly injured, at most, his palm was slightly scraped, but Lexion exaggeratedly complained even more than Elsie.
“I’ve never seen anyone ask for bandages for such a small scrape, Lexion.”
“It may seem excessive, but you never know because it’s so painful that you might die.”
“Lies, It’s just because Mom cares!”
Lexion didn’t respond to Elsie’s words at all, but sometimes, there were moments when no response was the most certain answer, just like now.
“Even though I know that you, my lord, have fought countless battles and suffered countless injuries… But…”
While bandaging Lexion’s hand, Seriniel suddenly thought of something from the past.
“But… Even so, each time you get hurt, whether it’s serious or not, it’s the same pain, isn’t it? Of course, my lord would say he’s fine, so don’t worry.”
On the day Lexion returned with injuries to his hands. She had followed him to the bathroom to help him.
“But there’s no such thing as getting used to that kind of pain. And there’s no such thing as getting used to pain from injuries. Even though you may be accustomed to getting hurt, it doesn’t make the pain any less.”
At that moment, she thought that way, so she always wished for him to make a fuss. She hoped he would make a big deal out of even the smallest injury, just like someone who was completely unfamiliar with pain and injury.
Seeing Lexion before her eyes exactly as she had hoped, Seriniel lovingly bandaged his exaggerated injuries. Now Lexion wouldn’t be accustomed to pain and suffering. They would have become very unfamiliar emotions to him. For now, there was only happiness and joy, and there would be even more in the future. That alone made Seriniel very happy.
“My daughter is very much like me. She seems to have talent even in self-defense.”
Touching the bandaged hand, Lexion gently kissed Seriniel’s lips.
“If she’s like you, she’ll be good at everything. Right, Elsie?”
“Yeah! Of course. But I hope Elsie becomes someone who’s good at fighting.”
“Uh?”
“Because Dad is good at fighting too! Very good.”
Lexion made a slightly awkward expression, then carefully continued.
“Elsie, fighting should only be done when absolutely necessary. Do you understand what I mean?”
“What about Dad?”
“Dad is the same. He only fights when absolutely necessary.”
“But Dad fought with some men in front of Paul’s shop last time.”
Elsie said, rolling her eyes, and Lexion looked at Seriniel’s reaction.
…It was just a little while ago.
That day, the couple had gone to Paul’s shop with Elsie.
The fight had broken out when they were having a good time, saying goodbye to Paul and getting on the carriage.
“Duchess of the Rosenvester is quite a handful…”
Those unpleasant words had come from nobles who had a slight friendship with Calian.
“And what about Duke Lexion? What’s so good about a woman who has remarried… and why does he keep fighting?”
They probably didn’t know that Lexion, like a ghost, was listening to their conversation.
Lexion immediately got off the carriage and punched those who were gossiping about them.
If Paul hadn’t intervened to calm Lexion down, things would have gotten even more serious.
Anyway, it was wrong to have such an incident in front of Elsie. Lexion, who was aware of the extent of his actions, apologized sincerely to Seriniel, saying that “next time, I’ll take Elsie to a secluded alley where she can’t see and fight there” and after being scolded several times, he stayed in seclusion for a few days.
“…It’s because that person said something bad to Mom, Elsie. Dad was just trying to protect Mom.”
“Yeah. Dad said it should only be done when necessary.”
Lexion muttered.
“When was that?”
“When someone bothers Mom or says something bad. That’s when Dad has to fight.”
“Then I’ll do that too!”
“What?”
Seriniel looked at Elsie in disbelief.
“If someone bothers Mom or says something bad! I’ll fight with Dad. To do that, I have to learn hard both self-defense and swordsmanship. And Mom said that Dad is the strongest person in the world!”
“…”
“So will you teach me? Dad.”
“If it’s for that reason, of course. I guarantee you, Dad can teach you everything about fighting from the basics to advanced.”
Lexion replied with a serious expression, and Seriniel looked at her daughter with a helpless expression.
“Do you know that? Every time, I feel really proud, Seriniel.”
“…Proud of what?”
“Proud that my daughter is so much like me.”
If she resembled him twice as much, it would have been a battlefield.
But because this troublemaker of a woman was so lovable, Seriniel just smiled and said nothing.
