Aeli let out a bitter laugh at the situation that truly brought tears to her eyes.

‘No, if the child was one year old, it must have been right after I died…!’

Although there may have been a gap of a few months in between, it was still not a very long time.

At most, it would have been enough time for those around to collect their thoughts.

It would have been just a fleeting moment, enough for the gossip to circulate busily among those who enjoy talking about others before gradually dying down.

…Perhaps it was even shorter than that.

-…….

As she was trembling with clenched fists, her face cold,

Hiccup!

Aeli turned her head at the small, cute sound that filled the quiet room.

The child, with a very bewildered expression, startled and covered her mouth with both hands.

“Ah… that, hic! That…”

-…….

“Appa is really not, hic! Not a bad per-, hic!”

Not really. Aeli, who easily guessed the unfinished words, nodded with a bitter smile.

Anyway, there was no need to ignore the child’s anxious appearance just to be angry right now.

‘…This is for later.’

Whether to punish or curse, it wasn’t a problem that could be solved right away anyway.

So, let’s do this when Lutis crawls back home.

Having quickly reached an agreement with herself internally, Aeli gestured towards the half-eaten food on the tray.

-I’m sorry for speaking carelessly. Shall we finish our meal now?

“……”

-…Child?

“Tummy…”

-Does your tummy hurt?

Shake shake. The child denied it, pushing her lips into her mouth.

Then, as if checking the atmosphere, she rolled her eyes around and quietly put down the knife she was holding onto the tray.

Looking alternately at her own belly and the tray, the child, seeming deflated under Aeli’s gaze that just watched, played with her hands and bowed her head deeply.

“I’m full…”

-After eating just that much…?

Aeli asked with wide eyes at the child’s words.

All she had eaten so far was at most half a bowl of soup portioned for a small child, two bites of salad, and about half of a small bread.

If we were to add more, maybe one small piece of steak that looked barely touched.

There were various types of food, but if gathered together, it was just enough to have tasted.

‘…No wonder she seemed a bit small for a four-year-old.’

If she had been eating like this all along, it wasn’t incomprehensible that her build was smaller than her peers.

Aeli matched eye level with the child and coaxed gently.

-Then shall we eat just three more bites each?

“……”

-You don’t want to? Hmm… then how about two bites?

Hesitating while chewing her mouth at the gaze met from a distance neither close nor far, the child soon reached out her hand over the tray.

Before long, her cheek rose plumply, moving when viewed from the side.

Aeli, who had been watching that scene intently, smiled faintly. She felt as if her complicated feelings were melting away.

How many minutes had passed like that?

“I ate it all…”

Aeli blinked slowly at the gaze staring at her.

She had been so absorbed in watching the soft cheeks move that she only now realized the hand that had been busily moving between plates had stopped.

Aeli stared blankly at the short legs dangling under the bed and opened her mouth.

-Then shall we wash up and go to sleep now?

“……”

-Um, do you sleep here too? …First, if we call a maid or servant,

“You promised to tell me after we finished eating.”

…Are you really not my mommy? The child hesitantly opened her mouth and asked.

Aeli, or rather, the child’s mother who was no longer a living person, fell into contemplation.

‘Should I… tell the truth about this?’

Humans were inherently creatures that did not tolerate deviations from the frameworks they set for themselves.

For Aeli, who had witnessed enough of the malice and hostility poured out when this proposition was not upheld during her lifetime to be sick of it, well.

The fact that the child alone noticed her presence, which no one else had detected, was not entirely welcome.

At first, she thought it was good that she wasn’t completely alone, but once she became somewhat aware of the situation….

‘…Maybe it would have been better if no one could see me.’

That’s right.

The treatment the child was receiving right now was clearly not normal in any way, and if on top of that she could see ghosts, what would happen?

‘She was talking to thin air…’

‘They say she can see the dead madam.’

‘No, I mean. How can that make any sense?’

‘Looking at how the Duke hasn’t returned to the mansion for years, the answer is clear. There must be some problem.’

A sigh escaped involuntarily at the scene that came to mind without even trying.

Aeli couldn’t cover everything that was said behind her back, even if she could handle what was said to her face. Moreover, now that she didn’t even have a body, how could she do all that?

A child talking to herself in empty space and a child muttering that she can see her dead mother.

Weighing which would be better between the two, Aeli made a decision. In fact, there was nothing to reconsider.

-…Unfortunately, I am not your mother.

If it was the former, she could at least be dismissed as an imaginary friend given her young age, but not the latter.

‘It’s perfect for being branded as mental illness.’

The child had been separated from her parents almost as soon as she was born and had never been outside the annex, let alone the mansion.

Whatever the truth, the environment surrounding the child would make others perceive it that way.

…If bad rumors circulated in a situation where there were no adults to protect her, it wouldn’t be good in many ways.

She didn’t want to be a parent who blocked her child’s future path just to satisfy her own desires. As Aeli, who thought so, was trying to put on an awkward smile,

“Then… why do you look like me?”

-…….

“Mari said black hair isn’t very common…”

-Th-That’s….

As the child said, black hair wasn’t common in the empire.

If you looked, it wouldn’t be completely absent, but it was very rare, appearing as scarcely as beans in a drought.

Even among the much more numerous commoners it was like that, so among the nobles, the Maison family, Aeli’s birth family, was almost the only one with black hair.

But it didn’t seem likely that the four-year-old child in front of her would know that much.

Aeli looked down at the clothes she was wearing.

‘……’

Even if you did a forward roll while looking, it wasn’t clothes a commoner would wear.

It would be better to play it safe rather than take a gamble. Aeli, who was searching for a suitable excuse, hurriedly opened her mouth.

-A-Actually, I’m a guardian spi-, no, ghost sent by your mother!

“……”

-I was also a person from the Maison family when I was alive, so maybe that’s why we look alike? Besides, your mother’s birth family… I mean, your mother’s parents all have black hair too.

“……”

-It’s not just you and me who look alike, is what I’m saying.

“…Mmm, I see…”

The child nodded with a disgruntled expression at Aeli, who was putting on an exaggerated performance, spreading her arms wide.

It’s ruined.

Even at a glance, she seemed dubious.

Aeli forced a smile and rolled her eyes at the story that even a four-year-old doubted.

‘Then what am I supposed to do here! I wasn’t good at composition even when I was at the academy!’

How else could it be that while Lutis passed the class in one go, she had to retake it twice because she messed up all the exams and assignments?

She almost got held back because of that.

If that was the shape when given time to study and think, what could be expected from a story improvised on the spot?

‘Ah, my mouth corners hurt.’

Just as her face, fixed in a smile, was starting to feel stiff. The child asked another question.

“Then, will you stay with me now?”

-…Huh?

“You said my mommy sent you…”

-…….

“…Is that not true…?”

Y-Yes! Aeli, who unconsciously affirmed to the child asking with a gloomy face, screamed internally.

What was she supposed to do if she said yes when she didn’t even know how long she would be in this state?

Moreover, she was planning to leave secretly when the child fell asleep!

She had the illusion that her heart, which had already stopped, was pounding. That’s how shocked she was.

“What’s your name?”

-Uh…?

“If we’re going to be together, I should know your name. Otherwise, I’ll have to keep calling you ‘hey’…”

-Ah….

She couldn’t tell her usual nickname just in case.

But Aeli wasn’t good at naming things herself, like just now.

[Brother, I want to raise this one.] […Aeli. I’ve told you many times, but we can’t raise a mole in the mansion.] [No! I will raise it! Are you disrespecting our Jalapeño right now?] [What is that, hah….]

In the end, the mole Jalapeño had left for the forest owned by the Maison family while Aeli was away eating snacks. The culprit was, as expected, her cousin.

Recalling an incident from over 10 years ago, Aeli gave up. Creation was indeed impossible.

-Lia. Call me Lia.

“Lia?”

-Yes. And you are….

“…I don’t have a name.”

And I’m not a baby either. The child hung her head low at Aeli’s words.

Seeing her deflated and gloomy appearance, Aeli’s fist clenched involuntarily.

‘I really feel like I need to punch Lutis in the solar plexus about five times to feel better.’

But alas, there’s no body to punch with.

Aeli, who hadn’t even dreamed that the child was more depressed about being treated like a baby than about the name, met the child’s eye level again and asked.

-Then… shall we decide on a temporary name to call you for now?

“…Temporary?”

-Mm, a name to call you until your father gives you a name. That’s what we call temporary.

“Wi-Will he give me one?”

Aeli smiled faintly at the child who couldn’t hide her expectation, her eyes twinkling as she suddenly raised her head.

Seeing such a visibly joyful appearance made her feelings complicated.

Originally, she should have been enjoying whatever it was to an overflowing extent, incomparable to now.

‘Strictly speaking, it’s not a name I’m giving now, but.’

Aeli nodded and slowly opened her mouth.

[I’ve decided on a name for the baby.] [Wait, by yourself? …What about me?] [Oh come on, just listen first. I really struggled to come up with this one, it’s not weird. Really!] […What is it.]

-Adi.

Let’s call you Adi.

The child smiled brightly upon hearing the name given with the meaning of ‘grow up more nobly than anyone’.

Under the moonlight seeping through the small, old attic window.

Confirming the white skin shining through the thin cloth, Aeli said to the child.

-Then since it’s late, shall we get ready for bed?

“Yes…”

Hehe. The child, her cheeks suddenly flushed pink, nodded and headed somewhere. It was a room in the second-floor corridor.

Entering the room following the child, Aeli looked around and realized.

This must be the room she originally used.

The child, who had gathered what looked like pajamas from somewhere, opened a door presumed to be the bathroom and spoke.

“I’m going to wash up, so don’t go anywhere!”

-Then, going in is…?

“…! Th-That’s not allowed either!”

After shouting loudly in response to the teasing, Aeli, who had been staring blankly at the closed door, removed the smile she had been wearing on her face.

She had noticed from the careless, almost neglectful management of clothes, meals, and living quarters.

-…Don’t tell me they’re not even providing proper care.

A four-year-old young master gathering his own clothes to wear and entering the bathroom? Does this make any sense?

Aeli ground her teeth. Needless to say, her mood didn’t improve even until the child finished washing, changed clothes, returned to the attic, and lay down under the blanket.

-Sleep well.

“Tomorrow too… you’ll stay with me, right?”

-…….

“When I open… my eyes… if you’re not…”

The child, who was trying to keep her drowsy eyes open while speaking, soon fell fast asleep.

It seems young children fall asleep even while talking. This was another fact she didn’t know.

Aeli, who had been staring at the sleeping child’s face for a long time while crouching by the bedside, muttered.

-…Can’t I stay a little longer.

There’s still so much I don’t know. Couldn’t I stay at least until Lutis returns?

A dead person staying by a living person’s side wouldn’t do any good. She wasn’t unaware of that. But still….

But what parent could easily walk away, leaving their child alone in plain sight?

With a body that needed neither food intake nor sleep, Aeli lingered around the child’s bed until the sun rose faintly.

Then she shook her head and turned her body.

‘I have to go. There’s nothing good about me being here. …What if some strange rumor spreads because of me?’

She really didn’t want to see the child becoming unhappy because of her anymore.

I should go out somewhere, anywhere, and not even come near the mansion. Aeli, who had firmly resolved this, took a step.

[This is the timeline separator]

And exactly one hour later, she withdrew that resolution.

Why?

“Sob, sob…! Lia, where did Lia go…! …Waaah!”

Because the child, who had woken up and somehow climbed up at some point, was crawling around on the roof of the annex, crying loudly.

…Oh my goodness.