“My cousin Jacqueline said it’s useful in daily life, so I’ve learned it.”

“Oh.”

If it’s magic learned from the clever Jacqueline, it’s trustworthy.

“Well, then, if it’s not too much to ask, Duke.”

Seeing me pleased, Ashton looked at me with a faint smile.

“Eh?”

‘Did he just smile?’

I rubbed my eyes and looked at Ashton again, but his lips were straight.

‘…Did I see wrong?’

Well, why would someone who had been grabbed by the scruff of the neck by me smile?

I must be imagining things.

Mocking myself, Ashton began chanting a spell.

“Be clean.”

Tiny droplets of water wrapped around me, and in no time, I felt as fresh as when I had first set out.

“Woah!”

“Are you satisfied?”

“Totally, it’s awesome!”

Giving a thumbs-up, Ashton modestly brushed it off.

“Thank you. I felt so grimy… Ah, I need to get up, darn it.”

I tried several times to get up, but my legs kept slipping, not obeying my brain’s command.

“Ugh.”

‘Should I accept his support after all?’

Ashton asked me again, seeing my struggle.

“…You seem to be having difficulty. Would you like me to escort you, sir?”

“Um… What are you going to do?”

Responding to my question, Ashton offered me his broad back.

“Please climb on. I’ll carry you until Duke Keaton arrives.”

‘Hoh, tempting.’

It wasn’t being carried like a princess, nor like baggage. Just a regular piggyback ride, allowing for comfortable travel.

“Hm, well then… I’ll take you up on that.”

“Feel free.”

Staggering over, I got on Ashton’s back.

“…You’re surprisingly light.”

“I’m of average weight, you know.”

“No, you should eat more and gain some weight.”

‘Like my mom says…’

With me securely on his back, Ashton walked steadily without showing any sign of strain.

His back was so comfortable that I began to feel sleepy.

“Yawn.”

‘You look ugly when you yawn.’

Suddenly, Zero was back on my shoulder, munching on sunflower seeds. Though not a real hamster, he sure was funny.

‘Shut it. Do you want to become rat poison?’

‘I’m bored, that’s all…’

‘I’m tired. Go play with the Benedict spirits or something. I don’t have the energy to chatter with you.’

‘They talk too much. And they treat even an apprentice Throne like me with contempt.’

‘How is that my problem? Do what you want. Go away.’

My head drooped. My eyelids felt heavy.

‘But didn’t Ruse try to say something earlier…?’

Recalling the words Ruse had wanted to say earlier, I asked.

“Ruse… didn’t you want to say something to me earlier?”

My voice, laden with drowsiness, slurred the words.

Blinking through drowsy vision, I saw Ruse’s blue hair.

“…No. It was nothing.”

“Is that so?”

“…Yes.”

Somehow, Ruse looked as though he had a complaint.

‘What’s bothering him?’
Ah, perhaps Ashton hadn’t cast the cleansing spell on Ruth and the others for a reason…?

With that thought, I fainted on the spot.

‘It’s warm…’

Leaning against a solid shoulder, I dreamt a rare, happy dream.

A peaceful time when my lost parents would hug me tightly and sing lullabies.

“Sleep well, my child.”

“Even the birds in the front and back yards, and the lambs, are all asleep…”

A voice full of affection. The warm touch I felt. The comforting sensation of having my hair gently stroked.

Things I had lost a long time ago.

‘Mom, Dad…’

I miss you so much. It’s so hard for me.

I want to go back to the home everyone is waiting for…

‘Shouldn’t you have taken me with you?’

If so, there’d be no reason to feel loneliness…

‘I’m sorry for surviving alone.’

And being alone is just too lonely.

I swallowed those unreachable words. I didn’t want to see even in a dream my parents’ faces distorted.

“Sleep well, my child…”

In the cruel dream that would vanish upon waking, intoxicated by a warmth that seemed illusory, I dozed off lightly.

Perhaps because she was very tired, Elizabeth Keaton couldn’t fight off her sleepiness and fell into a deep sleep.

“Mom… Dad…”

“…”

“Don’t go. Don’t leave me alone…”

A single transparent tear flowed through Elizabeth’s silver eyelashes as she muttered mournfully in her sleep.

Adjusting her position so she would be more comfortable, Ashton recalled his own childhood, where he had desperately repeated similar words.

“Ah, Father! That’s not true. Please believe me!”

“Enough. Commander, remove this child.”

“Father! Father! Don’t abandon me, please!”

‘…Unpleasant memories.’

It was a time when he was unjustly kicked out of the palace shortly after the death of his beloved mother.

He had pleaded not to be abandoned, arguing against the injustice, but his father, the Emperor, had turned a deaf ear.

‘Was she in a situation similar to mine?’

He had often heard stories about how Duke Keaton didn’t like his troublesome daughter much.

‘Does she miss even such a father?’

Ashton felt a desire to comfort the woman who revealed her vulnerability only in her dreams.

A compassion he had never even given to himself began to well up.