The child who had just woken up and come down to the dining room looked at Lutis with bread in their mouth.

“Wh-aht ahre you doing?”

“…Don’t talk with food in your mouth.”

At Lutis’s words that it was against table manners and to speak after eating, the child chewed vigorously.

After busily moving their jaw and swallowing, the child asked again.

“Then am I go-, ah-, achoo! …going together?”

“Even if we go through the gate, it’ll be a few weeks by the time we reach the capital, so yes.”

“Is elder brother going together too?”

“…Who?”

“The elder brother in the study.”

“…”

Lutis shook his head with an expression that said he had much to say but wouldn’t. From the start, he didn’t seem to like the child and servant being close, so it was natural.

The reason for keeping them as live-in staff was simply to keep them close for surveillance.

One might think it would be easier to monitor them by taking them to the estate, but that could be done by assigning someone separately.

Lutis took out a handkerchief and wiped the bread crumbs from the child’s mouth as he spoke.

“It’s not an official trip, so there won’t be many people. At most, just some guard knights and servants to attend to us.”

“Why?”

“…There’s something I need to verify.”

“Wh-when are we going?”

“We’ll leave as soon as preparations are done. Around the weekend, I’d say.”

The child touched their clean mouth and counted on their fingers.

When there was about one finger left unfurled, they mumbled softly.

“…Then it’s tomorrow?”

“That’s right.”

“…Really?”

At Lutis’s brief affirmation, the child was shocked. The child stood up abruptly and shouted at Lutis as if he were a scoundrel.

“How can you say that just now!”

“…”

“I haven’t prepared anything yet…!”

The child made a pitiful face, saying if they were leaving tomorrow, they wouldn’t be able to pack properly.

Even when Aeli explained from the side that the servants would take care of packing, it was of no use.

“It’s my first time going on a trip!”

“It’s not a trip, but.”

“Th-then it’s my first time going outside!”

Lutis responded to the child’s exclamations as if he had anticipated this reaction. Aeli quietly rolled her eyes.

She thought the situation seemed familiar because Lutis was experienced in this.

‘How can they have a personality like mine when they look like Lutis.’

She wondered anew. Of course, it was natural for their child to have a mix of their looks and personalities.

Even if she understood logically, it was still awkward. Aeli gently rubbed the child’s back where Lutis couldn’t see, trying to soothe them.

-Adi, it’s okay. You can still prepare if you go now.

“But… I haven’t finished drying the rabbit doll yet…”

-Should I ask Mari to dry it by morning?

It was just the day before yesterday that Mari had taken away the rabbit doll Lutis had gifted, which the child carried around all the time, saying she needed to wash it.

Recalling how the child had drooped their eyebrows and peered at the damp doll, Aeli scratched her cheek with her palm.

Even if Mari couldn’t dry the doll by morning, it would dry nicely during the carriage ride, so there was no need to worry.

Just as she was about to open her mouth to make the child aware of this fact.

“Wh-what time are we leaving tomorrow?”

“We’ll depart around noon. You’re still young, so we can’t take away your sleep time.”

“Oh…”

“…”

“…Then I’m going to my room now! Father, please finish eating!”

With words that might have been consideration, the child turned around and left the dining room.

They didn’t know that Lutis had finished his meal long ago and was waiting for the child to finish eating.

[This is the timeline separator]

And it was dawn the next day.

The child who had asked Mari to dry the rabbit by morning while returning to their room after finishing dinner the night before…

-Adi… don’t you think we woke up too early?

They were in the middle of packing a mountain of items on the bed into luggage before sunrise.

Since they would be using a warp gate anyway, the actual round trip by carriage would only take about three days at most.

Aeli held her forehead at the sight of the luggage, which looked like they were going on a long overseas trip. This was too excited.

“But I haven’t finished packing yet.”

-We’re not returning to a foreign country or going on a long trip somewhere. When we arrive at the duke’s estate, everything you need will be prepared there, so you don’t need to pack so much.

“…”

-Besides, if you just shove things in randomly, everything will get damaged.

It’s not like the duke’s estate was in some remote area. She wasn’t unaware of the fact that packing before a trip was the most exciting part, but at this rate, they’d need to prepare several luggage carts.

Crucially, considering the child’s condition, having fallen asleep late at night after packing until late and then waking up again in the early dawn, shouldn’t she stop them at this point?

‘How happy must they be about going out to toss and turn for over an hour before finally falling asleep, only to wake up before sunrise?’

Thinking this, Aeli gently pressed down on the child’s hand as they were about to put the twelfth set of clothes into a luggage bag as big as their upper body.

Staring at the protruding lips, Aeli spread the small hand she was holding and scratched the palm with her index finger.

“Ah, hehe, it tickles…!”

-Let’s stop and go see Dad instead? He should still be sleeping now, so you can sleep a bit more next to him.

The child, who had been giggling and twisting their body from the ticklish palm, quickly nodded.

Finally letting go of the child, Aeli watched as they approached the door connecting to Lutis’s bedroom with small steps.

Since the rabbit doll was still with Mari for drying, the child had a pillow in their arms instead of the doll.

Click.

“Fa-father?”

“…”

“…Huh?”

The child, who had been walking towards the bed after opening the door, suddenly stopped and tilted their head.

It was because Lutis, who should have been in bed, was nowhere to be seen.

‘…I saw that the light in the study was off though?’

As Aeli was looking puzzled just like the child, twisting her head this way and that.

The child, who had been rolling their eyes around scanning the room, moved towards where the couch was.

It was then that Aeli’s eyes narrowed as she discovered Lutis trying to sleep in an uncomfortable position on the couch.

-Why is he sleeping here when there’s a bed?

“Umm… because he likes it here?”

-…

“But mother.”

-Yes?

“I can’t sleep with Father here. It’s too narrow.”

-Y-yes, I suppose so.

The couch seemed barely enough for just Lutis, let alone accommodating both father and child. It was due to his height approaching 190 cm and his build.

Rather than a bulky muscular physique, it was closer to a firm build. But because of his naturally large frame, his shoulders were very broad.

“Nng…”

Aeli smiled gently at the child who was struggling to make space for themselves while staring at Lutis with a lingering look.

It was as she was lightly laughing and scanning the table in front of the couch.

-…?

Something caught Aeli’s attention.

‘…Wait. Isn’t that a sleeping drug used for wild beasts?’

Why is that here? Aeli frowned as she thought.

It was a drug that required extreme caution as it could cause an accident where someone trying to sleep well for one night might end up sleeping forever if misused on humans.

It’s not even recommended for those with severe insomnia…

[What’s that?] [Sleeping drug. It’s ground into powder so you might accidentally inhale it, so don’t come close.] [It doesn’t seem like anything would happen just from smelling it a little.] [I’m measuring to experiment how effective it is. It’s dangerous, so get out.] [But I’m bored―] […Alright, come here if you want to sleep forever. You think I can’t put my little sibling to sleep as an elder brother?] [M-mom! Elder brother is bullying me!]

…She remembered hearing this from her family tree mate.

Aeli sighed, unsure whether to say she had heard this or experienced it herself.

‘Ah.’

It was then that she realized something was strange.

A Swordmaster not only failing to suppress his presence but even pushing his body while making noise right in front of someone’s face, yet they don’t wake up?

Hoping it wasn’t the case, Aeli frowned slightly and shook her head.

‘…He didn’t seem to have trouble sleeping though.’

That’s because while she had seen him staying up late quite often due to backed-up paperwork, that was different from insomnia.

Just on the day the child was sick, and afterwards, she occasionally went to the next room to see Lutis sleeping when the child fell asleep…

-…

Come to think of it, had she ever seen him sleeping in bed even once? Aeli suddenly felt as if her mouth was burning.

Looking back, it seemed closer to napping rather than proper sleep.

Aeli turned her gaze to look at the couch. The child had already closed their eyes and was lying down, wriggling into Lutis’s embrace after managing to make space somehow.

‘And here I thought it was fortunate he seemed fine lately.’

Could it be that was the result of relying on medication?

If the speculation was true, this was nothing more than enduring. It was just building a sandcastle that looked good on the surface.

Aeli looked down at the sleeping child and Lutis and made a resolution.

It seemed she needed to observe more closely how Lutis was faring.

Eventually, as dawn passed and the sun reached its highest point.

Aeli looked down at her body with one question in mind.

She was a ghost. Floating in the air and passing through all objects.

Therefore, getting into the carriage was a very easy task, but

Could she move along with it once the carriage started moving?

To get straight to the conclusion, the answer surprised her.

-Uh…?

As soon as she heard the sound of horses galloping, Aeli was left alone on the road, blinking rapidly and turning her head.

She could see the back of the carriage already running far away.