It was after thoroughly enjoying a boat ride.

When the wind blew by the lake and the child sneezed briefly, Lutis returned to shore.

Though the child whined to play a little more, it was already starting to sound nasally, so it was no use.

“I’m really fine though……”

“I said no.”

“……”

The child looked up at Lutis, pouting at his firm attitude.

As luck would have it, the clothes the child was wearing were beige checkered top and bottom, making them look like a little detective, so Aeli thought the child was adorably cute to death.

It was an incorrect phrase given that she was already dead, but anyway, that’s how it was.

The child grabbed Lutis’s waistband, flapping it a couple times as they spoke.

“Let’s play more.”

“No.”

“……Just a little bit.”

“……”

“Really just a tiny bit…… The sky is blue, see? It’s not time yet……”

Lutis let out a troubled sigh at the child clinging tightly to his waistband and looking up at him.

Of course, it was natural since he had already fallen for this same tactic several times before.

Lutis finally threatened the child. It was because he had the intuition that if he kept getting dragged along like this, it would lead to big trouble in the future.

Lutis said to the child:

“I have things I need to do, so I have to go inside. So you stay here by yourself.”

“Huh……!”

“If you don’t like that, then now—”

“Really?!”

“……”

Correction. The one who was no use was Lutis.

Contrary to his expectation that the child would follow him in surprise, the child instead beamed and bounced up and down in place.

Seeing this, Aeli’s mouth twitched as she coughed dryly.

“……”

If Lutis went inside, the child could play freely with Aeli, so in reality, it was no different for the child than playing with dad and then mom coming to play instead.

Either way, it was a win-win situation for them.

However, Lutis, unaware of these inner workings, sighed and eventually shook his head.

If he forcibly carried the child inside, they seemed ready to sulk and go on a hunger strike for a while, but leaving them alone was out of the question as it would literally be abandoning a child by the water.

“……Only until sunset. No more than that.”

“Okay!”

The answer was already decided.

Lutis caught and stopped the child who was about to run straight into the bushes as soon as they got permission.

Lutis wrapped a thin muffler, which a servant had packed for their outing, around the child’s neck before letting them go.

Though it was clumsily tied solely for warmth, the child laughed cheerfully, saying it was nice.

“I’ll go play over there and come back!”

“Don’t go in too deep. Play only where I can see you.”

—……If it’s within your sight, it seems like they could go to the edge of the forest and it wouldn’t matter.

Aeli spoke, not hiding her disapproval upon hearing Lutis’s words.

The child went into the bushes.

Lutis took out a strangely shaped book, which he seemed to have brought to read, and sat down leaning against a tree.

Wondering why it looked strange, upon closer inspection…….

‘The outside looks fine, but the inside pages are tattered like an old book.’

It was clearly a book cover put on to hide it from others.

The kind of book an adult male might secretly read when no one else was around.

—Oh……?

Wondering if it could be that kind of book, Aeli’s eyes sparkled as she cleared her throat. She sat down next to Lutis.

‘The child’s father reading such, huh? How……No, that’s not it.’

Well, Lutis is a man too, so does it matter……?

Aeli blinked rapidly as she tried to gauge Lutis’s age. Having woken up to find several years had passed, she had to calculate his age each time.

‘How old is he now? Mid-twenties…… Twenty-five? Six?’

Anyway, he’s still young, so it wouldn’t be strange.

Thinking this, Aeli, unable to suppress her curiosity, sat down next to Lutis. She pretended to rest her chin on his shoulder as she rolled her eyes.

The contents of the book she read like that were…….

Far from being that kind of book, it was an ancient text in archaic language.

Even reading a few words was difficult, so Aeli frowned and shook her head vigorously from side to side.

—……What on earth is he reading?

Aeli looked at Lutis’s face.

What she had recoiled from and rejected after reading just a few lines, Lutis was reading intently, not seeming bored at all.

Judging by how quickly the pages were flipping as they turned, he was either reading urgently or skimming diagonally.

However, Lutis wasn’t the type to read books carelessly, and…….

“……”

As soon as the child’s gaze on him disappeared, he kept furrowing his brow, looking visibly bothered by his stiff eyes.

Yet he didn’t stop reading, which meant he was hurriedly reading whenever he had a spare moment, even with stiff eyes.

This was also why Aeli remained by Lutis’s side instead of following the child inside.

She was concerned about the dark circles under his eyes that had noticeably deepened over the past week.

‘I’m not sure what Adi is playing, but it seems like they’re enjoying an amazing playtime for now.’

Giggles could be heard not too far away.

Occasionally, black hair would poke out between the bushes, and there were flashes of light, suggesting magic was being used as well.

Right after treating the foot on the first day, the messy hairstyle was also neatly trimmed, so even rolling around and running in the grass wouldn’t make the hair disheveled.

After discreetly checking that the child was lying down and playing in the grass while making various excuses, Aeli looked at Lutis again.

Then she opened her mouth.

—By the way, did you know I haven’t seen you sleep since you came down from Rattliff Castle?

“……”

—I don’t need to sleep so it doesn’t matter for me, but you’re not like that. What’s keeping you so busy that you can’t even sleep? Is a Swordmaster not human……

“……”

—That medicine is yours, right? I haven’t seen you take it since coming down here…… Well, of course you didn’t take it since you didn’t sleep.

Hmm, okay, then never mind that. Aeli, who had been chattering to herself without anyone listening, nodded her head slightly.

As she stretched her arms upward, the sunlight passing through her translucent palms made her eyes squint.

Narrowing her eyes at this, Aeli slowly lowered her hands and smacked her lips softly.

Lutis sitting against an old tree reading a book, and Aeli hovering around him.

The scenery of sunlight filtering through the leaves and sparkling on patches of grass was quite peaceful. Aeli continued speaking.

—……Anyway, I saw that medicine in the inner pocket of your coat. The number of pills left was the same as when I last saw it.

“……”

—Take care of your health. If you get sick, aren’t you the only one who suffers?

With those final words, Aeli sprang up from her seat and headed towards the child.

It was about time to check if they were playing well after leaving them alone this long.

“……ma.”

—…….

“……Um, Mama!”

—……Ah, yes?

“You have to say your lines!”

—Um…… Okay…….

Aeli trailed off, blinking her eyes.

When the child suggested playing with dolls, she had readily agreed, thinking it was a cuter game than expected and getting into it.

—Your Excellency, I’ve been informed that meal preparations are complete. Shall I have it sent up to your office?

“I told you earlier, why are you asking again? It’s an execution!”

And yet, why was she now thrown into the middle of this ruthless role-play situation?

It was clearly evident that Lutis’s behavior had not been good for the child’s emotional development.

Aeli stared at the adorable rabbit doll hopping up and down angrily above the bushes. The child was making it move with magic.

Aeli looked at the scene uneasily before speaking.

—……Adi. Isn’t execution a bit much just because the maid asked? People can make mistakes sometimes, you know.

“But this is just play, right? It’s not real!”

—No, even if it’s play, this is a bit…….

Finding it difficult to know where to start correcting this, Aeli hesitated. Meanwhile, the child, who had briefly glanced up at the notably darkened sky, stood up.

The child dispelled the magic moving the doll and hugged it to their chest before asking Aeli:

“But Mama, the sky isn’t even red yet, so why hasn’t Papa come to get us?”

—……Oh, you’re right?

Aeli tilted her head in agreement with the child’s question.

Come to think of it, he had certainly told the child to play only until sunset and then come in.

Forget the sunset, the sky was already dark, indicating it was now evening.

As it seemed it would become pitch black if they waited much longer, Aeli said to the child that they should stop playing and go inside now.

“Mmm……”

—We can play again tomorrow. It’s dinnertime now, aren’t you hungry, Adi?

At Aeli’s words, the child nodded slightly and emerged from the bushes.

As Aeli slowly followed behind the child, who was hugging the doll and running towards the tree where Lutis had been sitting earlier, she chuckled at the sight of the rabbit’s ears flapping with each of the child’s bounces.

And not long after, the child who had spotted Lutis suddenly stopped and blinked rapidly.

“……Huh?”

—……? Adi, why did you stop there…… Huh?

Wondering what was wrong, Aeli was about to ask the child but soon found herself reacting the same way.

Aeli’s mouth fell open in astonishment before she knew it.

‘I did tell him to take care of his health and asked when he sleeps, but, um…..’

She didn’t expect him to sleep right away.

Lutis was leaning against the old tree with his eyes closed, still holding the book he had been reading.