Again, it was around the time when the day was getting brighter and the outside of the window was turning light blue.
Ellie’s mind was filled with a complex mix of thoughts, unable to recall how she had managed to bid her son goodnight with a cheerful smile the previous evening.
She had made a promise she couldn’t keep, even though she knew she shouldn’t.
-This is a problem too… Sigh.
But there was something else.
After spending the whole night trying to sort out her emotions, it suddenly occurred to her around dawn.
It was good that the child could use magic. The ability to independently master something without even being taught was truly a blessing and a fitting thing to do.
……If only the child was not of the Ratcliffe bloodline.
[What will our child become when he grows up?]
[…You’re worried about that even though he’s not even born yet?]
[No, it’s just. You’re a swordmaster and I’m a mage.]
TL/N: She meant that he had swordsmaster blood while she had mage blood.
Maybe he’ll be a sword mage if he has the talent. Of course, only if the baby wants to.
Leaning against Rutus with her back against the couch, Ellie spoke in a somber voice, her mouth nibbling on a piece of apple Rutus had just handed her.
To Ellie’s words, Rutus asked with an expression that he was willing to listen to everything.
[What are you talking about? Of course he’ll be a swordmaster.]
[What? You were the one who was nagging me, don’t decide on the baby’s career before he’s even born!]
[No, I’m just saying that if it’s one of the two, it can’t be a mage.]
[That’s what I’m saying!]
[How is that the same? The Ratcliffes are all bad at magic after all.]
[Yeah, magic! … Huh?]
What? Ellie, who had been leaning forward in anticipation of the continuation of the statement, froze as she turned around halfway.
Rutus, whose eyes met Ellie’s from a fairly close distance, said with an expression of disbelief.
[You didn’t know?]
[…….]
[No one in the empire doesn’t know that, no. More than that, I mentioned it when we went to the Count’s mansion just before. The Count and Countess were so sorry?]
[I, I know too!]
[When did you hear about it?]
Ellie, who had quietly averted her gaze from Rutus, who had his eyes narrowed and his mouth open, replied.
…In the drawing room, tea time?
Smack!
Ellie, who had put her hand on her forehead at the clear sound of the light blow, glared at Rutus and shouted.
[Ouch! Why did you hit me?!]
[…Uh, did it hurt? I hit you lightly…. So, so sorry. A,Are you in a lot of pain? Is it swollen…? It looks a little red, I’ll call the physician for a moment.]
Rutus, even after she let go of the smack, floundered like a dog caught in the rain at Ellie’s words.
He gently stroked her forehead as if handling a very fragile piece of handicraft.
The words he blurted out without thinking showed how embarrassed he was. In fact, the slap was only loud, but strangely enough, it didn’t hurt that much.
Even that must have been Rutus’ intention.
Nevertheless, Ellie, who had become even calmer in the face of Rutus’ excessive embarrassment, had to reassure him.
[No… it’s not that bad. I was just mad, that’s all. It’s fine.]
[…But still, let’s get it checked just in case.]
Even though it didn’t seem to be a success.
After applying ointment to the wound that he hadn’t even called the physician for, Rutus spoke softly.
[But…]
[Yeah?]
[It wasn’t in the drawing room, it was in the dining room. Not tea time, but lunch time.]
[…Hey! Are you serious?!]
[Hahaha! Oh, I get it. I won’t do it again. Don’t be mad.]
It’s not like I’m alone. What if the baby gets startled? Huh?
Rutus bent over, laughing like a child. It was to stop Ellie, who was about to get up from the couch she was sitting on.
As a result, they ended up in a position that looked like they were hugging each other strangely, and Ellie, whose field of vision was filled with Rutus’ chest, blinked her eyes quickly.
It made sense.
Rutus, who had been quietly looking at the suddenly calm Ellie, then lowered his head to Ellie’s forehead. It was clear that she could feel something warm and moist touching her forehead, and she smelled a cool and sweet cotton scent-
‘Oh, this isn’t it, right.’
Anyway, that’s the point.
Anyone with Ratcliffe blood can’t use magic.
I don’t know why, but maybe that’s why Rutus was so good with the sword.
So here’s the problem.
-…How does Adi use magic?
Ellie speculated that since Mason’s blood was mixed in, it was probably just a coincidence, but she didn’t know for sure.
It was all just speculation. In short, there was no certainty.
Watching the sleeping child and wandering around the bed all night, Ellie finally finished sorting things out after dawn.
Since it didn’t seem like a problem to be solved immediately, she had no choice but to tell him not to use magic in front of others.
The sound of raindrops tapping on the window echoed in Ellie’s ears, who had been closing her eyes with a feeling of increasing frustration.
As Marie said last night, it had been raining since early morning.
‘Maybe it’s because of the weather that it seems unusually dark.’
Usually, by this time, there would still be plenty of time left even after the sun rose, but outside was still gloomy.
Yeah, that was all.
Perhaps because of that, she couldn’t even hear the sound of the birds chirping that she always heard in the morning.
It seemed like the child wanted to sleep in today. Well, considering the chaos from yesterday and the fact that it was later than usual to go to bed, and it was dark outside, it was perfect for sleeping in.
Thinking so, Ellie decided to continue admiring the soft cheeks of the child pressed against the bedding.
Knock-Knock
“Young master, are you still sleeping?”
A few minutes later, she turned her head at the sound of knocking from outside the door.
Ellie, who was sure it was Marie’s voice, checked on the child. He was sleeping soundly, apparently not having heard the question.
After a few tens of seconds, Marie knocked on the door again, murmuring outside. It seemed like she was considering whether to just quietly enter or not.
Creak-
“As expected. You’re still sleeping.”
In the end, Marie cautiously opened the door and glanced at the sleeping child on the bed before nodding slightly. Of course, she couldn’t stop the sound of the latch from inside the room.
Since Marie knew that the child fell asleep late last night, she didn’t seem to have any intention of waking him up right away and moved stealthily.
As Ellie, who naturally followed Marie, glanced around, something caught her eye.
-…Did you bring the flowerpot already?
Seeing the small flowerpot held preciously in Marie’s hands, Ellie rubbed her cheeks with her palms as she walked over. Well, she could only take a few steps in the narrow room.
‘Since he told her late last night, I thought she’d do it after the rain stopped.’
While wandering behind Marie, Ellie carefully observed the flowerpot on the desk. The petals seemed to be covered with droplets, as if it had been brought from outside in the rain.
Marie, who simply put the flowerpot down and quickly left the room, was very discreet and quiet.
Indeed, she was the only one who had come all the way to the bed to wake me up since I was a child, even though I was a light sleeper.
-Adi would like it when he wakes up-, huh?
Ellie tilted her head in confusion as she stared at the sheet of paper next to the flowerpot.
It seemed like it had been a bit more tucked away a moment ago.
He never told me what she usually scribbled on it, and after discussing everything, he always hid the paper somewhere I had never seen it before.
‘He tucked it between the book papers yesterday too.’
Unable to close the book cover in time, the wind from Marie’s movements seemed to have moved the paper.
…To cut the chase: she failed to protect the child’s privacy. It was because she couldn’t resist the temptation of curiosity.
Ellie’s expression turned strange as she feigned ignorance and looked at the exposed paper with her eyes half-open.
This was a feeling that was difficult to describe in words.
<Mommy>
<Daddy>
<-Adi>
There was a drawing there, drawn with the clumsiness typical of a young child.
Whether or not it was marked to indicate who was who, the words were written above the heads of the smiling faces, and Ellie swallowed hard when she saw a round ink mark near the child’s nickname, as if the child had hesitated for a moment at the end.
A picture of two adults smiling in a flower field, with a small child in between them, reaching out their hands and holding his parents’ hands.
They looked like a harmonious family, even at a glance.
-…….
Ellie knelt down by the bedside of the sleeping child without saying anything.
Looking at the family drawn in black ink, without even a single common coloring tool, she just felt like she had to.
* * *
“Oh, Flowers!”
-Marie came while Adi was sleeping and left this for him. Shall we go and say hello to our flowers and ask if they slept well?
Of course. The child, who had been wriggling around in his bed and discovered the flowerpot on the desk, jumped up as if he had been sprung and exclaimed. It was in the blink of an eye.
Coming out of bed cautiously at Ellie’s words, the child nodded his head and went straight to the flowerpot, his face beaming and his mouth open.
“Hellooo?”
-Do you like the flowers?
“Yes, they’re really, really pretty.”
-You should say ‘I’ll take good care of you’. Are you still sleepy, our Adi?
“Ummm, ‘I’ll take good care of you!”
I wonder if that ‘Ummm’ was positive or negative.
Ellie, who lightly buried the unknown truth, smiled gently and said.
-Good. Then shall we say thank you to Mari when she comes for giving us the flowers?
“Yes!”
The child nodded vigorously and muttered in response to Ellie’s words.
I’ll take good care of you every day, so you have to bloom for a long, long time. Do you understand?
An angelic-looking little boy with a mischievous smile and a bright flower.
A lovely combination that made Ellie smile involuntarily, and it wasn’t until Marie brought him a slightly late breakfast that she finally stopped smiling.
“Did Marie bring this?”
“Oh, you’ve already seen it?”
“Yeah.”
“I saw that it looked like it was going to rain hard, so I went out at dawn to get them before the petals fell off.”
“Thank you.”
“It’s nothing.”
It was precisely because of their subsequent conversation.
Ellie, who was watching Marie and Adi chat animatedly with a warm smile, suddenly glanced around.
‘…Why is she so flustered all of a sudden?’
The mansion was in a state of disarray due to the servants who had been running between the main house and the annex for the past few days… but it wasn’t to this extent.
Ellie’s eyebrows furrowed as she thought it was a bit too much to ignore and just let it go.
Adi, who seemed to have noticed the chaotic atmosphere, opened his mouth to Marie, his eyes darting around restlessly.
“But Marie, by any chance, Is there anything going on today?”
“Huh?”
“Everyone seems busy….”
At Adi’s question, Marie, who had been trying to read the mood with a slightly apologetic expression, answered carefully. I think it’s because the Duke came very early this morning.
Hmm, I see.
‘…Wait a minute. Not ‘I see’?’
* * * *
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