“Mom’s pat is a remedy. Mom’s pat is a remedy.”

“……What?”

Oops, this is Sione’s regular catchphrase.

‘I made a mistake…….’

Due to my constitution that tends to binge on snacks and desserts, I sometimes suffered from indigestion.

Whenever that happened, Sione would hold me and pat my back, and the short song she sang like a lullaby became a habit on my lips.

“Hmm, it’s nothing. Let’s say I didn’t feed you. Can you give me some tea?”

“It’s okay, now back off a bit.”

The boy who pushed me away glared at me with a confused expression, whether he was offended or agitated.

Perhaps he was embarrassed that his blatant lie about hating snacks was exposed?

“Let’s say I didn’t hear you say you didn’t want it. Calm down.”

“I’m not angry. I’m just a little surprised.”

“Surprised? Ah, because your throat hurts?”

I tilted my head and asked, but the boy closed his lips as if it was obvious.

Could it be, is he going through puberty?

“Let’s talk about what you need to do. You said you had something to say.”

“Ah, yes. It’s very important. You might not know.”

“……What?”

After that, I slowly explained the situation to the boy.

His father had cast a bad spell, and if he tried to escape outside the palace, his heart could stop.

Of course, it wasn’t that he would immediately die.

According to Sione, if he gets farther away from me, he would feel chest tightness and gradually feel pain, and only when breathing became difficult would his heart stop, so it wasn’t completely uncontrollable.

“So, to sum it up, I have to stick to your side to avoid dying?”

“Um, will it be like that?”

“I’m going crazy.”

A deep sigh flowed from the boy, who bowed his head and covered his head with both hands.

Well, it’s not unreasonable to be so agitated.

He was dragged into a kingdom teeming with vampires and found himself in a situation where he couldn’t even escape.

“But…… Where exactly is this? I know it’s near the Empire.”

“What? You don’t know where this is?”

“Nobody told me. I didn’t hear anything before I came to this building.”

Ah, these cruel people.

How can they drag such a kid to a strange place without even a single explanation of the situation?

‘I had my suspicions when they cast that strange spell… My father really has no affection.’

Of course, even if they had told him in advance, nothing would have changed.

If my father had decided to bring him, escaping would have been impossible.

‘But I’m different.’

No matter how much this child in front of me was brought here to serve as an ingredient or function for the cure, I had no intention of treating people in the inhumane way my father did.
I was only ever in a position to seek help from the boy, and I thought that proper compensation should be given to those who had shown me kindness.

The first step I chose to take was to inform him precisely of the current situation.

“This is the royal palace of Tzepes. Have you seen it before?”

“……Tzepes?”

“Yeah. The vampire country.”

The boy’s face, which had been blank as if he couldn’t believe what he had heard, began to twist gradually.

Now he seemed to realize just how dangerous a place he was in.

“My goodness. I thought it was just a kingdom from the old stories. This is really Tzepes?”

“Yeah. That’s right.”

“So you’re a vampire too?”

“Don’t worry about it.”

As I nodded in response, the boy’s face fell into despair.

His face was gloomy, as if the world had come to an end.

“A kingdom of vampires, not even ordinary demons. Now I’m as good as dead.”

“Hey, who’s going to kill you? That’s not why I brought you here.”

“If not food, then what? Ah, maybe you plan to raise me for fun since I’m a rare species?”

Though he spoke lightly, a desperate anger and sadness flowed from the boy’s eyes.

Quietly meeting his gaze, I felt like I could understand how he had been treated in the world.

“You must find my situation amusing. Like you’ve gotten a new toy to play with. You’ll feed me enough to raise me, and when you get tired, you’ll kill me with your fancy magic, right?”

“No. No one can do that to you. You’re my responsibility now. Because you’re my person.”

“What?”

The boy stared at me blankly, his face like he had been slapped on the back of the head.

He looked like someone who had overheard a secret that should never have been revealed.

“I promise. No one will touch you without my sayso. If anyone does, I’ll protect you.”

“You’ll protect me……?”

“Yeah. I’ll even remove the magic from you later on. I’ll set you free.”

So, help me out a little.

I wanted to say that, but it seemed like I was pushing my emotions too much, so I held back.

Like anyone else, this child would need time to accept this hardtobelieve reality.

“I’m small, but I’ll keep my promise. So you can trust me.”

“…….?”

“What’s wrong? Why aren’t you talking? I’m serious!”

Puffing up my chest and shouting with confidence, the silent boy slowly opened his mouth.

“Then show me proof that I can trust you.”

“What proof?”

“I had a dagger among my belongings. Give that back first.”

A dagger? Did he have something like that?

‘Come to think of it, Rosa took care of his stuff.’

On the day of the banquet, Rosa returned in the same carriage as the boy, holding a small box.

That box, handed to her by a soldier of the palace, contained the boy’s belongings.

‘I think she said she’d put it in the storage room.’

Unable to go to the storage room, I decided to test the summoning magic I had learned during my lessons with Sione.

And I closed my eyes and concentrated to find the metal piece that matched the boy’s magic.

I had practiced this a lot while finding hidden magic desserts, so I could easily find the dagger.

“If I show you this, will you trust me?”

“……For now.”

“Good. Just wait a moment.”

I took a moment to catch my breath and then used my magic to cast the summoning spell.

Although I was nervous about failing since it was my first time, fortunately, the object that perfectly fit the description appeared with a pop in my palm.

“Is this right?”

I floated the object wrapped haphazardly in cloth in midair and handed it over, and the boy’s thin pupils instantly expanded.

“It’s my mother’s dagger. I was worried I might have lost it…….”

He seemed particularly anxious. Perhaps it was something related to his parents.

Watching relief slowly spread across his tense face, I felt a sense of satisfaction in one corner of my heart.

“I’ll thank you for now. It’s something your father took, but I got it back.”
“Greetings are useless. Instead, I have something I’m curious about.”

“What is it?”

“I asked yesterday too. What’s your name?”

The boy who was tucking a dagger into his bosom stopped his movement for a moment.

Then, after appearing to contemplate for a bit, he looked at me directly and answered.

“Raven. Raven Arcana. But don’t call me by my last name. I don’t like to hear it since it’s my father’s last name.”