“Cough, hack! Cough!”

Startled by the sudden movement, Aeli lifted her head and looked straight ahead with wide, surprised eyes.

Her chest, which had been rising and falling rapidly as if exhaling held breath, twitched roughly.

How long had she been watching that scene?

“Phew…”

Lutis, who seemed to have finally calmed down, sighed and covered his face with one hand as he got up.

As if it was too much effort to go to the desk to ring the bell, he staggered to a stop in front of the bell pull.

Knock knock.

“Your Grace, it’s Ailton.”

“…Come in.”

At last, the butler, responding to Lutis’s call as he frowned deeply, opened his mouth while knocking on the door.

His tone was irritatingly calm and composed, without a trace of agitation, even though he had been nowhere to be seen when Aeli had been searching for him earlier.

“It’s still quite early, but… if you’ve been coughing, shall I have a bath prepared for you?”

“No, that’s not why.”

“Pardon?”

“I didn’t call you for that…”

Lutis’s face, which was frowning as much as possible, looked extremely displeased at a glance.

Nevertheless, if Aeli thought he looked hesitant, it was probably because of his slightly trembling fingertips.

After a long while of just moving his lips, Lutis roughly mussed his hair and spoke.

“…Go to the annex.”

“…Pardon?”

“You did this last time too. Seeing how you keep asking again, it seems you’re truly deaf. Should I start looking for your replacement now?”

“…”

“I won’t say it twice. Move. I hope you at least understood what you’re supposed to go see.”

“…Yes, I apologize.”

“You all have so much to apologize for. Anyone watching would think I hired you just to hear apologies, don’t you think?”

Do your job instead of apologizing. Lutis glared fiercely at the butler as he spoke.

It was an unmistakable tone, reminiscent of a certain incident from the past.

The butler, quickly bowing his head and leaving the office, once. Then Lutis, who appeared to be lost in thought as he stood still in his place, once more.

Aeli, who had been alternately looking at the two while rolling her eyes, hurriedly got up from her seat and thought.

‘I’m not sure what’s going on, but…’

…Did it work? Is Lutis really telling him to go check on the child?

Aeli raised her hand to touch her throat. She was dumbfounded by the series of events that she had desperately hoped for but couldn’t understand. Her skin felt like it was tingling.

– Ah. This is not the time…!

Aeli stared blankly at the door where the butler had left several times, as Lutis just stood still without saying a word or making any particular movement.

Then, with a realization that seemed like a death throe, she abruptly turned around and left her place.

The butler who had heard Lutis’s order had moved, so he would surely be heading to the annex to check on the child.

She had to arrive first to explain to the child who might be awake, so as not to startle them.

“…Hah,”

Meanwhile, in the office where only Lutis remained alone, unaware that even Aeli had left.

Lutis covered his face with both hands, recalling the voice he had heard just before opening his eyes.

Why are you doing this to me?

When he desperately wished to see her even in a dream, she never appeared, but after nearly four years, this is what she says when she finally shows up.

…Even then, she didn’t show her face.

He was even chased away before he could say a word. It was a dream that felt merciless and even resentful in many ways.

“…I must be really weak these days.”

Otherwise, there’s no way he could have heard Aeli’s tear-filled voice that he had never heard before.

In short, it was a bizarre dream.

However, Lutis eventually had to call the butler from this early morning. He could have just ignored it, but the dream was too unsettling, and even if it was a bizarre dream, he couldn’t dare refuse Aeli’s request.

That was the superficial reason.

‘I did as you wished…’

Please, even if it’s just for a moment, let me hear your voice one more time.

This was the real reason.

“I can’t remember well what your voice sounded like anymore…”

While he could somewhat alleviate his longing for her face by looking at her portrait, he couldn’t do the same for her voice.

He knew that she made a very pleasant sound when she laughed, but he couldn’t recall whether that sound was high or low.

He hadn’t forgotten that her voice generally rose at the end when she called him, but he wasn’t sure when those occasional times were when it was different.

He was terribly afraid that he might forget like this little by little, and one day when he recalls Aeli’s death, he might no longer feel pain.

“…”

Lutis remained standing still with his face buried in his hands for a long time before slowly moving his feet.

Anyway, now that he was awake, he needed to wash up.

– Adi! Are you alright…

Aeli, who had hurried back to the attic room before the butler arrived, opened her mouth in a much more comfortable voice than before.

Of course, her worries hadn’t completely disappeared, but she felt that they had overcome a major hurdle, as at least the child could be seen by a doctor when the butler arrived.

‘…?’

But where did this child go…

Aeli’s face gradually hardened as she looked for the figure that should have been on the bed. Compared to when she had circled the mansion five times, it hadn’t taken that long to return this time.

It had been just over ten minutes at most. Aeli was greatly flustered by the child who had disappeared without a trace in that time, and her eyes searched the empty space.

‘Did… did he go outside in that condition?’

She had hurriedly come in through the window, so she hadn’t checked the stairs where the child usually went.

It would be difficult for him to even stand properly, so if he were to misstep while going down the stairs…

At the terrible assumption that came to mind, in Aeli’s head, the child was already crying loudly while clutching his grotesquely twisted arm, covered in blood.

‘First the roof, and now this!’

At this point, she wondered if she was just a fool who couldn’t properly input precautions.

She had personally experienced that the child was someone who shouldn’t be taken eyes off of for even a moment at this time. It was unbelievable how many times she was making the same mistake.

Aeli, who was terrified, was about to hurriedly go out the door when.

“…Ma.”

At the faint sound that suddenly rang in her ears, Aeli quickly turned her head. But the child was still nowhere to be seen.

– Ah, Adi? Are you there?

A few seconds passed.

Aeli, noticing that the bundle of blankets fallen on the floor was wriggling slightly, hurried her steps and moved in front of the pile of blankets.

– …Adi?

With a glimmer of hope, she called the name once more. Soon after, a little black bean-like head popped out from the top of the wriggling blanket bundle.

At that point, all that was left to do was to wait for the butler to arrive.

However, Aeli, who had just felt relieved, found herself plunged into another worry by the child’s words.

“Don’t, don’t go…”

– Adi. Are you alright? Goodness, why are you on the floor like this—

“Don’t, don’t go, mother…”

…Huh?

What did I just hear? Aeli, who was lowering herself to match the child’s eye level, froze with her eyes wide open.

Was the term of address that just came out of the child’s mouth really referring to her?

After being frozen for a moment, Aeli shook her head slightly and spoke. She must have misheard.

– Adi, look carefully. I’m not your mother—

“Don’t leave me alone again…”

– I won’t go. I’m not going anywhere. We promised last time, remember? I said I’d stay with you until you tell me to go. Right?

“…”

– Come on, open your eyes wide and look at me. Can you recognize who I am?

“Mother…”

Aish, that’s not it! Aeli covered her eyes with her hand, wearing a troubled expression. It seemed that what she had heard before leaving the room earlier wasn’t just an illusion.

That meant the child was so sick that he couldn’t even properly recognize people.

Now that she looked, it wasn’t a situation where she could feel relieved at all. Aeli bit her lip, her face becoming somber again.

It was right after confirming that expression that completely unexpected words tumbled out of the child’s mouth.

“If, if I get better too…”

– Huh?

“Then… then can I keep calling you mother?”

– …What?

At her unconsciously lowered voice, the child, with a pale face, tremblingly showed her something while shaking his hands.

It was something the child had taken out to show her, as it would fall to the floor immediately if it touched her hand.

…The inside of the pendant necklace she had seen when the child fell earlier.

– …

“Mari said… it’s mother when she was young, but… but here mother’s por, portrait…”

– …

“…There’s no picture. She said to take this instead.”

As he said, inside the pendant was a tiny portrait of Aeli from when she was young.

Even though it was said to be from when she was young, it was actually a picture taken as a memento before her debutante after graduating from the academy, so it wasn’t really that long ago.

It had been less than 5 years before Aeli’s death.

In other words, it was just a slightly younger version of her current face. Even for a young child, it wasn’t a significant difference that would make her unrecognizable.

Aeli asked in a trembling voice. She tried not to show signs of being shaken, but it wasn’t easy.

– When… when did you receive this?

“As a third birthday present…”

– …

“When giving this, Mari said I look like mother, so she li, liked it… So I didn’t want to cut it…”

– …

“I was sca, scared… Sob, I was afraid you’d leave if I acted like I knew you were mother… So I pretended not to know…”

– …Huh.

A short sigh escaped. It wasn’t a meaningless breath, but it wasn’t a great resentment or criticism either. What could such a short syllable do?

The child, shrinking his neck, spoke hurriedly in a hushed voice.

“I’ll… I’ll be good from now on. I’ll cut my hair and won’t leave any food. I won’t call you mother anymore…”

– …

“Don’t leave me… alone again…”

I’m sorry for lying, waaah. As if to represent his illness, unlike the crying heard last evening, a weak sound leaked from the child’s mouth.

At the thin, trembling cry that seemed about to stop at any moment, Aeli felt as if her eardrums were about to be torn out.

It sounded so loud that she wanted to leave this place right away, but.

Even at a moment like this, she couldn’t take any action, as the sight of his face, reddened with fever and becoming damp with tears, weighed on her mind.

“…”

It was heartbreaking.