“Larien. Why are you frowning?”

He reached out his finger and gently pressed between my eyebrows to smooth out the frown.

“Is it because of what the shopkeeper said earlier? That he thought I was the father, even though the child has a separate father?”

I wondered how he would react if I revealed that Blanche was his daughter.

“Jade, what would you… really, just hypothetically, think if you were Blanche’s father?”

“……”

Jade just stared at my face silently without saying a word.

He took a low breath and then opened his mouth.

“What do you mean?”

The answer came back that he wanted to know why I asked. I couldn’t bring myself to say I wanted to know how he would react if he found out Blanche was his daughter.

“…It didn’t mean anything special. I was just curious if others see you as a father.”

When I made up an excuse that I asked because of the earlier situation, Jade chuckled.

“Ayla asked a similar question.”

“…?”

“She said Blanche resembles me, and asked if she was my daughter.”

I knew then what it felt like for my heart to jump out of my chest.

‘Did Ayla figure something out…?’

She did say at the restaurant that Blanche reminded her of Jade, but I didn’t think she’d actually tell him.

“She said she’d prove it and went into the library to find related books, and hasn’t come out yet.”

“…S-so, did she find anything?”

I flinched at the mention of Ayla searching for books in the library.

In case she found any content explaining why Blanche was born between Jade and me.

“It’s a waste of time. Larien, you’re a sparrow shifter. Do you think it makes sense for you to have my child?”

“R-right. I was just asking. Ayla sure has a good imagination.”

Even with Jade dismissing Ayla’s suspicions, I still couldn’t relax.

“There were times I wished she was my child.”

“…Huh?”

“Larien. She’s your daughter who resembles you. Looking at her makes me feel like I’ve gone back in time. To when I first saw you.”

Because she resembles me.

That explained why Jade was so kind to Blanche.

“I never thought about becoming a father.”

Bang!

In the night sky, various colors of fireworks intertwined harmoniously.

“Larien. I……”

Then Jade’s lips continued to move.

It seemed like he was explaining what he meant, but I couldn’t hear it clearly due to the fireworks.

What did he mean by saying he wished she was his child, but never thought about becoming a father?

‘Isn’t it the same thing in the end? Why does he say he never thought about it?’

“Wow! The sky is twinkling! Something good must be happening! Shu Shu is feeling really good too!”

From far away, Blanche came running with an ice cream, marveling at the sight.

“Dad, I want to see it up close!”

A young girl next to her whined, pulling on a middle-aged man.

“Daughter, how is it?”

“It’s so close and I can see it well! I love it!”

The girl’s face brightened as she sat on the middle-aged man’s shoulders.

“Hmph, I can see just fine from here too……”

Blanche pouted at the sight, burying her face while eating her ice cream diligently.

The contents of the parchment where I wrote things I wanted to do with Jade flashed through my mind.

‘She said she wanted to ride piggyback….’

It was obvious at a glance that she envied the girl.

“…!”

That’s when it happened.

“Now you’ll be able to see better.”

Jade lightly lifted Blanche and placed her on his shoulders.

Bigger fireworks than before burst and bloomed again.

“…Yes! Marquis, you’re so tall that I can say hello to the fireworks!”

Blanche’s voice came out belatedly, with a hint of tears mixed in.

“Marquis. Thank you for letting Shu Shu get off the carriage, buying fruit skewers and ice cream, and giving me a piggyback ride!”

“…You already thanked me earlier, so you don’t have to.”

“But still!”

“Is the ice cream delicious?”

“Of course! It’s even more delicious because I’m eating it when it’s cold.”

The corner of Jade’s mouth lifted up.

I heard him mutter that he didn’t know she would resemble him this much.

‘…He said he wished Blanche was his daughter.’

Somehow, even though I didn’t hear it, I felt like I knew what he said earlier, and now it didn’t matter what he had said.

Seeing Blanche happy was enough.

“Larien. I wish this moment could stop right here.”

“…Huh?”

“I missed seeing you smile so brightly like this.”

Perhaps the emotions that sometimes welled up while giving birth to and raising Blanche…

Were cries of wanting to see Jade.

I wanted to show him Blanche growing day by day.

I wondered what it would have been like if we had loved Blanche together and grown as parents together.

I wanted to see what kind of father Jade would have become.

‘Jade. When I first met Blanche, she was so tiny and really pretty.’

Telling the story of scenes he hadn’t seen made me feel even more regretful.

‘If I had raised Blanche together with Jade……’

I imagined Blanche hugging Jade and calling him Dad.

“Me too. I missed you.”

The color of his eyes, which had been like the sunset I saw earlier when I woke up, blurred and faded.

Jade looked at me with a blank expression, bewildered.

“You know, Jade. From the beginning, with you……”

“……”

“Never mind. Don’t worry about it.”

I hid the inner thoughts that had briefly shone through.

I was still too afraid and scared to reveal the truth.

Jade remained silent the entire time he was taking me to the Boston Earl’s residence.

Even lying in bed, I couldn’t erase his face that had worn a complicated expression somewhere.

Then I heard groaning sounds from beside me and opened my eyes.

“Ungh……”

Blanche was whimpering, clutching her stomach, covered in cold sweat.

“Blanche!”

“Mom, Shu Shu… my tummy hurts so much. It feels like someone is stabbing Shu Shu’s tummy.”

It seemed she had gotten a stomachache from eating ice cream in the cold weather.

I stroked Blanche’s stomach and patted it gently.

“Mmm… Mom’s hand is warm.”

“Blanche, are you feeling better now?”

“My tummy doesn’t hurt anymore because Mom is touching it.”

Soon after, she seemed to feel better and snuggled deep into my arms.

“We shouldn’t eat ice cream from now on.”

“But it was so delicious… Sob. Still……”

Blanche’s face, which had been regretful, suddenly lit up with a smile.

“The statues were amazing, the food was delicious, and watching the fireworks made me happy. I also loved it when the Marquis gave me a piggyback ride.”

She chattered, listing the events and emotions she had experienced at the Ice Festival.

“Mommy is happy that our baby was happy.”

“I think Mom and Shu Shu’s emotions are connected.”

I was amazed at how she came up with such an expression about emotions being connected.

“When Mom is happy, Shu Shu is happy too, and when Mom is sad, Shu Shu is sad too.”

“…Mommy too.”

“I want to go again with Mom and Dad.”

Blanche revealed her inner thoughts. That she wanted to call Jade ‘Dad’ instead of ‘Marquis’.

‘Blanche. Will you give Mommy courage?’

Wanting to be honest with Jade, I hugged Blanche tightly.

Jade sat by the window, breathing in the quiet dawn air.

There was a gentle tremor in Larien’s blue eyes with a hint of purple as she murmured that she had missed him.

She was beautiful.

Her snow-white skin, the blush spreading like watercolor, her downcast eyes…

Nothing had changed from the day he first fell for her.

‘From the beginning, with you…… she said.’

He couldn’t figure out what she was going to say after that.

‘What was she trying to say that made her hesitate?’

He retraced the situation from the beginning.

Larien didn’t seem too pleased when the shopkeeper referred to him while buying fruit skewers.

At first, he thought it was because she had a separate birth father, but the shopkeeper mistook him for the father.

Yet Larien asked what he would think if he really were Blanche’s father.

His breath caught in his throat. He exhaled with difficulty.

Not knowing what kind of answer Larien wanted, he asked what she meant.

She said it didn’t mean anything special.

That she was just curious if others saw him as a father.

He blurted out that he vaguely wished she was his daughter because she was Larien’s child.

His desire for Blanche to be his daughter stemmed purely from the heart of wanting to keep Larien by his side.

The reason he answered that he had never thought about becoming Blanche’s father was.

Though it meant the same thing, being a father put the relationship with Blanche before Larien.

If he only thought about the child without Larien, he couldn’t say for certain if he would still choose Blanche.

In any case, he didn’t want to see disappointment appear on Blanche’s face.

He ate street food he normally wouldn’t have eaten.

Though he regretted it as the sweetness stung his tongue, her face teasing him wasn’t bad.

He didn’t like seeing Blanche envying the girl riding piggyback.

He found it strange that he was even slightly displeased.

Clearly, it was unnecessary for him, who only needed to pretend to be kind to look good to Larien.

Even though he shouldn’t have cared if Blanche was upset, his body moved first.

What if he really were Blanche’s father?

Carrying Blanche on his shoulders and watching the fireworks with Larien felt like they were a family.

It created the illusion of him being with Larien as Blanche’s real father.

It was ridiculous to keep dwelling on something that would never happen.

Even if it were true, he probably wouldn’t have been a good father.

After all, he had always doubted, distrusted, and rejected the love given by his father.

He wouldn’t have known how to give it either.

‘Still, if Blanche were my daughter, Larien and I would have been a married couple.’

A married couple.

Husband and wife.

A relationship where they could share the same surname, and he could officially register Larien under his family registry.

“Larien Rowe……”

As he spoke the name of Larien who had become a ‘Rowe’, his steady heartbeat spread into multiple branches.