Aeli, who inadvertently caught sight of Sioren’s round head, hurriedly turned her head.

It was only natural to do so, as she was now blatantly exposing her face without any recognition-reducing brooch, cloak, or anything else.

“……”

Did he see? Did he see me?

She could feel cold sweat trickling down the nape of her neck.

It didn’t take long for her to grasp the actual situation and turn her head, but it was more than enough time for him to catch a glimpse of her face.

She had tried her best to avoid directly encountering others since Noel took her brooch.

Even if that period was only a little over a day, it was disheartening that her efforts had gone to waste.

Aeli thought with her eyes tightly shut.

‘How the hell did I even get here?!’

Unless she crawled or flew, she obviously walked here on two feet.

But that’s not what she meant.

She clearly remembered persuading the child to visit the training grounds to see Sioren – what was all this about?

Aeli examined Noel and Lutis with trembling eyes.

Lutis and Noel seemed just as flustered, not even attempting to open their mouths, let alone respond to Sioren’s greeting.

‘If those two would just say something, I could at least try to divert attention…!’

As luck would have it, her position was right between Noel and Lutis, directly in front of the door.

Aeli, who was about to wrap her head with both hands, awkwardly lowered her arms and clenched her fists.

It would be troublesome to draw more attention here by moving unnecessarily.

……For now, just stay still as if dead.

“What is this-”

“No! I said no!”

“……”

Though unintentional, thanks to the child shouting at Noel right after she had that thought, Aeli felt the gazes being dispersed.

Lutis sighed and asked the child, who was stammering in bewilderment.

“Why are you here?”

“You can’t come here-! Ugh,”

“-I believe it hasn’t been long since you were told to play outside.”

“……”

Disregarding the question and not sparing him a single glance, Lutis picked up the child to face her when she pretended not to hear him out of excitement.

Realizing that she had been lifted by Lutis, the child, who had been flustered, soon made a tearful face and turned her head to find her side.

“Mari-, elder brother……”

“Don’t push it onto others and answer for yourself.”

“……”

“……”

“Ah- Abba……”

“……”

From the fact that even her cute act didn’t work, it was a tragedy for the child.

After looking up at Lutis’s face for a while with drooping eyebrows, the child just cried, whined, and threw a tantrum.

Based on her experience so far, Aeli felt that the child had some difficulty regulating her emotions, but even she had never seen her being this disobedient.

Quite taken aback, Aeli was about to gape.

It wasn’t long before the child, who had been flailing in Lutis’s hands, froze. Because,

Bam!

“……”

“……”

The small arm that had been flailing around suddenly slapped Lutis’s chin.

Aeli, who was startled for a moment and tried to approach, straightened her body at Sioren’s gaze directed at her.

‘It’s not that I’m not worried, but…..’

Is this really the level where I have to intervene in that mess while attracting attention?

Aeli quickly racked her brain.

The force of a young child flailing is unexpectedly not weak.

However, even so, it wasn’t enough to deliver a meaningful blow to a Sword Master.

He was probably at a level where he could easily handle a few fully armed Auror users with his bare hands.

‘Then-.’

……Is there really a need for me to go?

It was a very apologetic judgment, but there was no other way. Aeli conveyed a heartfelt apology to Lutis in her mind.

The flailing child seemed to have realized that what her fist touched was Lutis’s face, as she was frozen stiff.

The child, who had been flailing, carefully chose her words at Lutis, who was just silently looking down at her.

“Ah, no. I, well….. Huh?”

“……”

“Blo- blood! What is this?!”

Correction. She stopped halfway through choosing her words and widened her eyes upon seeing the bloody mark on Lutis’s arm that was holding her.

She had an expression of not understanding what was going on at all.

When there was no answer from Lutis, the child gave up looking up at him and quickly turned her head.

Aeli, who inadvertently made eye contact with the child, moved her lips without being able to say anything.

“Blood, blood……”

“……”

The child, who discovered the bloodstain on Lutis’s side from when he caught her as she was about to fall earlier, was horrified.

Her already large eyes widened even more, to the point where it was concerning if her eyeballs would pop out.

‘……Right, I wondered why she wasn’t surprised.’

She just didn’t notice it right away because she was too excited.

If she reacted this much to just seeing a trace of blood, who knows how much she would have been shocked if the bleeding hadn’t stopped in that short moment.

Aeli didn’t know whether to consider this a blessing in disguise or feel sorry for showing the child an unsightly sight.

Somehow, she felt like she had been experiencing this kind of thing often these days, and a sigh naturally came out.

‘Moreover, Adi has already seen Lutis get hurt before……’

Was it at the ducal residence?

The child had directly treated him when he deeply cut himself by grabbing the broken pieces of a vase she cherished, causing blood to pour out.

If we’re talking about getting hurt, she herself, who almost got her throat slit by Noel, was no exception, but it seemed that the memory of that day was quite shocking.

When Lutis first got hurt, the child was startled and tried to treat him, and when she got hurt, the child angrily confronted Noel.

“……”

“……Hic!”

But seeing her pale and trembling, not any of the previous reactions, made her heart ache.

‘Apart from seeing blood, it wouldn’t be good for the child to see her parents getting hurt repeatedly in the first place.’

Just looking at her reaction now, the answer was already obvious.

Aeli, who observed Lutis properly holding the hiccupping child and stroking her back, admitted that she had been complacent.

……This is not just empty words, I really need to be careful from now on.

It was at that moment when Aeli pressed her lips together and caught her breath.

“You, you……”

“……”

“-Sob! It’s, it’s you again! Whenever you come, you keep getting hurt!”

She even dropped the uncle title now.

Noel, who was downgraded to ‘you’, seemed to think he was guilty as well, as he couldn’t bring himself to open his mouth.

No, to be precise, he seemed to try to find something to refute, but it was closer to having nothing to say as he was clearly the culprit to anyone’s eyes.

As that was actually true, if Noel wanted to appease the young lady’s anger now, there was no other way than to prostrate himself and beg earnestly.

‘-But actually, I’ve never seen her get that angry either.’

Even if he does that, I don’t know if she will forgive him.

Aeli blankly stared at the child in Lutis’s arms.

The child, who had yelled that nothing good happens when Noel comes, was glaring at him and huffing and puffing.

This pattern is familiar so far.

“You- you’re bleeding! You bully……”

“……”

“What will you do if Abba dies, what is this because of you! Wahhh…….”

“……I won’t die from this.”

“Abba doesn’t know! You don’t know! He’s really hurt…… Wahhh!”

The situation where the child couldn’t even think of directly punishing Noel like she had been, and was crying so loud that the whole residence would shake, was not very familiar.

“……”

Well, in terms of knowing whether one will live or die, the injured party seems to know better.

Aeli, who chose to keep her mouth shut wisely, blinked rapidly.

The child was crying even more furiously at Lutis’s words to comfort her.

Seeing Noel sweating profusely in embarrassment, Aeli was convinced.

Seeing him like that, she won’t forgive him even if he prostrates and begs now.

“Wah- wahhh! Wahhh…….”

“……”

“Wahhh, hic! Cough- cough!”

“……Let’s move to a different place first.”

Lutis spoke softly to the child, who was crying and coughing so much that she seemed to be choking on her breath.

Although he ordered to clear the corridor, due to the extremely loud sound, a few servants passing by outside looked up and stared at the window.

Lutis gazed down at the child, whose face had turned bright red from crying, coughing, and crying again for a long time.

Switching the child to one arm, Lutis wiped the child’s tear-stained cheeks with his hand that wasn’t stained with blood.

“You help Sioren return to his room. After that, you may return to your quarters and rest.”

“……Yes.”

At Lutis’s command that fell simultaneously, Mari quietly bowed her head.

“Young master. I will escort you to your bedroom.”

“Uh- yes, yes?”

At Mari’s voice guiding him, Sioren fumbled and looked at the child sobbing with her face buried in Lutis’s shoulder.

It was an added bonus that Sioren’s gaze soon turned to Aeli after he slightly nodded his head.

“……!”

Aeli hurriedly lowered her head at the eye contact.

Come to think of it, since she hadn’t encountered him after being freed from her ghostly existence, she must be a stranger to Sioren.

Of course, even when she was a ghost, Sioren couldn’t see her, so it wasn’t much different.

‘But I can’t introduce myself in this situation. And Mari is here now too!’

Anyway, that’s how it was.

Sioren, who had stared at Aeli for a while with a curious look, soon turned his gaze and followed Mari.

Mari turned her back straight away without sparing Aeli a single glance.

Although she knew it couldn’t be helped, Aeli smacked her lips as it somehow felt disappointing.

Lutis spoke only after Mari and Sioren disappeared from sight.

“Let’s go to the drawing room.”

“Treatment first……”

“……Shall we go after finding the physician first?”

As expected, there were no parents who could win against their child.