Lutis, who was pushed to have tea time, sat at a table set up in a corner of the garden facing the child.

From the child’s perspective, it was just snack time, so the excitement was clearly visible all around.

Right in front of them was their favorite snack, across from them was their father they hadn’t seen in 4 years, and beside them was their mother, a ghost but one they could see, hear, and touch.

“Hehe.”

It wasn’t an ordinary situation in many ways.

But regardless, it was a gathering of the whole family, so from the child’s point of view, they couldn’t be happier.

Holding the juice glass with both hands and blushing while smiling, the child looked at Lutis and said:

“Father.”

“……”

“Father.”

“…Yes.”

“Father……”

“……”

Lutis, who had been responding to the child’s calls, realized they weren’t expecting an answer and picked up the coffee cup in front of him with a sunken expression.

By now, even Lutis couldn’t fail to understand.

-……

The child had never once hated or resented them.

Even though they had been confined and neglected, all they felt was longing and missing them.

……That was simply all there was to it.

If anything, their modest desires weren’t for grand things or objects, but entirely pleas for affection.

It was laughable how both parents were exactly the same in having such a child yet being quick to think of running away out of fear.

The child’s short legs, characteristic of young children, swung gently under the chair.

-The weather is nice……

Sunlight streaming through the tree shadows under the canopy, a comfortably cool breeze, and the garden where only the occasional bird chirping could be heard in the quiet surroundings.

It looked like a peaceful moment.

Except for the awkward moments when Lutis hesitated being alone with the child, it was exactly as it appeared.

“Ith okay……”

“……”

“Can you just twy one bite of the cake……?”

The child, who had been staring blankly at the cake in front of them, asked Lutis tentatively.

He vaguely remembered seeing that on the paper the child had given him too.

‘Since I can’t eat food……’

It was something he couldn’t do anything about, even seeing the child’s wistful expression.

So Lutis had to fill in for what he couldn’t do himself.

It was impressive to see them offer their favorite dessert to their father before eating it themselves.

After a moment’s hesitation, Lutis quietly leaned forward and ate the cake the child offered.

“……”

While he didn’t dislike desserts.

Aeli noticed Lutis’s jaw slowing down subtly, as he wasn’t used to eating such sweet things, and chuckled.

As she pulled at the corners of her mouth to smile, the child had already scooped up a spoonful of their own cake and put it in their mouth.

The child spoke while putting the cake in their mouth.

“It’s my birthday…… Mari made me a chocolate cake.”

“……”

“Actually, I’ve eaten cake before, and it was all delicious then too……”

“……”

“I wanted to eat it together. So—”

“……”

“So I was waiting……”

“…I see.”

When the child spoke one-sidedly, Lutis would occasionally give a brief response.

Even after repeating this a few times, the child never brought up anything that might hurt Lutis.

For example, how they took care of a potted plant for a week because they missed their father.

Or how they cried because that plant broke.

Or how they thought he disliked them because he still didn’t show up after that.

-……

“So next time, I want to eat together.”

The child said this while still swinging their legs back and forth under the chair with their gaze lowered.

Knowing that this was the child’s own way of being considerate.

“…Do as you like.”

Lutis’s hand gripping the teacup visibly tensed for a moment.

After that, an uncertain amount of time passed, and only when the sky that had been blue began to turn red with sunset did the child, who had run out of things to talk about, stop moving their mouth. By then, the cake that had been half-left on the child’s plate was completely mashed up.

“……”

“Oh, and……”

“……”

“And alsoooo……”

It was clear that they were trying to continue the conversation even though they had run out of topics.

‘……They’re doing this because they want to spend more time with their father.’

Aeli sighed as she belatedly realized why the snack time, which should have ended briefly, had been dragged out until sunset with conversations that weren’t even that interesting.

It was to try to extend the time spent with Lutis somehow.

Because if they finished the snacks in front of them or the conversation completely stopped, the tea time would end there.

“Um…… so……”

Since even this tea time had been obtained through persistent begging, the child didn’t know when Lutis would meet them again after this.

Aeli was watching silently, unable to interfere with this scene, when Lutis, who had been maintaining silence or giving only brief answers until now, slowly opened his mouth and asked the child:

“……Meals,”

“Yes, yes?”

“……I heard you’ve been having meals in your room until now.”

“Well, yes…… How did you know……”

“……”

“……?”

“……Why did you do that?”

Lutis glossed over the child’s question and only asked why they hadn’t come out of their room to eat.

Of course, he couldn’t say with his own mouth that he had been receiving reports on how they had been living since coming to the main house.

The child answered Lutis’s question.

“Well……”

“……”

“If I go to the dining room to eat, too much comes out, and alone—”

“……”

“Alone, it feels like wasting, but if I eat in my room, not as much comes out……”

It was true that bringing food to the room naturally simplified things to some extent. But it wouldn’t make such a significant difference to feel…

-……

The child must have known this too. Then there’s only one answer, isn’t there?

They just didn’t like eating alone in that big place.

“……”

“Ah, that! Fa, Father, can I drink your drink too?!”

Unable to bear the silence, the child hurriedly rolled their eyes and pointed to Lutis’s teacup, which was still about half full, and exclaimed.

Lutis looked back and forth between the child’s fingertip and his teacup before wordlessly handing the cup to the child.

Watching the child receive it and quickly gulp it down in one go, Aeli thought.

‘……Wait. That must be cold by now and will taste very bitter to Adi—’

Bleh—

Sure enough, before it could even go down their throat, the child’s tongue rejected the bitter taste, unable to handle it.

Without even time to process through the brain, they spit it out, causing coffee to drip down their small mouth.

What surprised Aeli was what happened next.

“……Ah, brrp, cough! ……?”

“……”

Lutis had reached out across the table with startled eyes to catch the coffee dripping from under the child’s chin. He was half-standing from his seat.

The child blinked their big eyes blankly and called out to Lutis.

“Fa—”

Before those words could even finish.

Lutis, who had straightened his posture and taken out a handkerchief from his bosom, turned his back while wiping his hand soaked in coffee.

“It’s getting late, so we’ll end the tea time here.”

“……”

At those words, the dejected child hung their head low, not even thinking to wipe the coffee still dripping down their chin.

Aeli quietly watched the child fidgeting with their fingers before turning her gaze back to Lutis once more.

Lutis, who had stopped after taking a couple of steps, opened his mouth.

“Unless there’s something unusual, from now on come down to the dining room for meals.”

“……”

“……I’ll try to make it for dinner time.”

“……!”

Whoa.

The child looked up at Lutis in surprise.

Although he had already walked away with his long legs and was quite far, the child didn’t mind.

So those words meant……

He was indirectly saying he would try to make time regularly from now on.

It was a few days later when something noticeably changed.

As if the words he had said to the child that day weren’t entirely false, Lutis would come to the dining room and have meals with the child in the evening, even after being cooped up in his office all day.

Occasionally there were days when he couldn’t make it due to lack of time, but on such occasions, he would send a servant in advance to leave word.

-Adi, there’s still a long time until dinner, what are you doing like that already?

“But it’s not that long until then……”

-……

You haven’t even had lunch yet. The words Aeli couldn’t bring herself to say out loud lingered in her mouth.

Even if the conversation during meals was mostly just the child reciting how their day went with Lutis occasionally responding.

Even that was good enough for them to wait all day like this, so lately their afternoon schedule was practically nonexistent.

‘No, it’s not just the afternoon that’s missing.’

This is like having the whole day mortgaged.

If there’s anything fortunate, it’s that the ratio of words exchanged has been gradually increasing, so these days it could be called a conversation, more or less.

‘But if this continues, it’s a bit.’

Just as Aeli was sighing and pondering deeply.

Knock knock.

“Ah……”

At the sound of knocking on the door, the visibly dejected child opened their mouth slightly.

If someone came to knock at this time, it meant that Lutis would not be appearing for dinner today.

The child turned around, trudged over to the bed, flopped down face first, and said:

“Come in……”

Somehow hearing the muffled voice buried in the pillow, the servant opened the door and spoke:

“I’ve come with a message from the Duke.”

“Mmm, I get it so go now…… I want to be alone……”

“The young master’s quarters are ready, so he says to bring you over.”

“……Huh?”

At the servant’s unexpected words, the child lifted their face buried in the pillow and looked at the servant.

Their eyes were round as if about to pop out.