[The young master was searching for the madam in the air……] [……] [He showed tears, telling her not to leave. Given that he was looking at the air and not people despite others being around, I suspect he might have seen an illusion……]

Lutis recalled when he first heard those words from the servant.

It was a day I had doubts about the peculiar situation, as I had experienced something similar around that time.

After that, I replaced all the servants and called the child to the main house.

There was no reason to keep him in the annex anymore, since the protective magic that was the reason for hiding the child there had already broken.

“……”

In truth, I thought he would resent me for keeping him confined in a small building for years without allowing a single outing.

Even though I hurried to end the war and return after realizing the magic had broken, I avoided meeting him for that reason.

I lacked the courage to face the moment when that face resembling Aeli would look at me with contempt.

Afraid of that, I avoided meeting him even after finally calling him to the main house. And yet…

[Ah, no! Don’t go!]

How could such a small life be so pure?

I thought I would be satisfied just watching from afar, even if I received resentment.

For someone like me who failed to properly manage and took away what the child should have rightfully enjoyed, even that much would be more than I deserved.

So he truly just did what he could for the child within limits of not being noticed.

Belatedly, he tracked down the craftsman who had decorated the room back then to fix the faded parts, and even though he stayed up nights for nearly two weeks in the process, he was just glad.

He believed he could be satisfied with that.

[Priest, it’s okay if you don’t call. But……] [……] [I’ll give you this…… Please, treatment…… Won’t you go together……?]

I had steeled myself like that, but if I faced a smiling face handing me flowers with a scratched face covered in dirt.

If that wasn’t enough, and the child couldn’t hide wanting to be together even a little longer, making clumsy excuses, resembling someone so much.

[Father……]

What more could I possibly do beyond this?

He couldn’t understand the unconditional affection of one who had grown up righteous despite not having been given anything.

Even though he had experienced something similar once before, it was still unfamiliar.

The sight of blushing cheeks while uttering the embarrassing title of “Dad” was quite lovely.

The small hand reaching out to offer me to eat first, despite it clearly being their favorite snack, and the voice saying they want to eat cake together on the next birthday, soothed my constantly on-edge nerves.

Though the visible scenery hadn’t changed at all, only then.

I felt the sunlight shining warmly, and realized the summer breeze was fresh.

So to put it in one word……

[Ah, and……] [……] [And also……]

I was happy.

With just one small warmth added, I realized how meaningfully life could change.

The world kept throwing hope at him by showing him this.

Each time, he was reminded of someone who should have been here originally, and it was unbearably painful.

[I know. The room, Mom decorated it for me, the person who brought me earlier told me. The rabbit too, Dad gave it to Mom when she was young, right?] [……] [I was happy because it felt like Mom gave me a gift. But they said Dad worked hard to fix it…… The rabbit too…… It was precious to Dad, but he gave it to me……] [……] [……I’ll cherish it preciously. I like the gift, but that’s not all……] [……] [It means you like me enough to give me something you cherish so much.]

Just like long ago, he still couldn’t sleep well.

On the rare days when he closed his eyes as if passing out with the help of medicine, he floated somewhere as if sinking into a deep mire before opening his eyes as if being chased.

Though surviving day by day like that hadn’t changed at all, strangely it felt like he could breathe a little easier……

It was a ridiculous thing to say. At the same time, paradoxically, it felt like he might die at any moment.

“……”

Every evening when the child comes chattering with a smile, he responds with brief affirmations.

On days when the child occasionally seeks to play or reaches out arms asking to be held, acting spoiled, he complies without a word.

It was a rule he kept on his own, though no one had forced it.

Giving everything that was asked for was almost completely unlike his usual personality…… but it was a judgment that came from thinking that’s what someone he knew would do.

If they weren’t by his side, he followed their traces by imitating.

And at those times, Lutis would bow his head alone in the study every night.

[I don’t want to……] [……] [Actually, Mom and Dad loving me…… is what I like best……]

Why are you so lovable?

Loving someone to death is both a blessing and a curse.

The days of looking down at the ground were increasing.

[This is the timeline separator]

As Lutis had more direct encounters with the child, this is what he realized.

Young children often did incredibly outlandish things beyond imagination.

When he asked the butler or the captain of the knights, they said the child was mature for their age, so he wondered what the average was like……

As he frequently encountered perplexing situations, Lutis gradually increased seeking advice.

It was mostly asking the butler who already had children, the servants of the main house, or looking up books.

Knock knock.

Knock knock knock!

That day too, after not sleeping a wink all night, he came out of the bedroom frowning at the sound of bold knocking. Lowering his head, the child was there.

“I’m going to plant flowers in the annex garden. Father, together……”

The face looking up while holding a trowel and watering can in both hands was pitiful.

“Please go together……”

“……”

Did they know what day it was to be doing this?

Unable to resist the upward gaze, he headed to the garden. Only then did Lutis realize what flower bed the child was trying to plant in, and his mouth opened slightly.

He had only come out thinking it was his duty to show the child before sunset.

“……”

“……All done!”

The life that originated from you has recreated what I abandoned while preparing for you, and smiled proudly.

For someone who had never once given flowers to the gravestone, to watch that sight……

It was a very strange feeling.

Lutis, who had been staring blankly at the child, slowly opened his mouth. It was asking if they would like to go somewhere together.

And so he took the unknowing child’s hand and led them to Aeli’s grave.

“……? Oh, Mom’s name is written on the stone!”

The child who read the neatly written letters on the gravestone gestured and looked up at me.

Originally there was a coffin under here, but I had secretly moved it at dawn before departing for war, so it was actually just a gravestone in name only.

“……She would be happy if you greeted her.”

“Greet?”

“Yes. ……She longed so much to be called ‘Mom’.”

At Lutis’ words, the child tilted their head and turned to look at the empty air behind.

Thinking the child was perplexed not knowing what kind of place this was, Lutis inevitably reminisced.

[Dad, no, Father said I started speaking at three months old.] [That’s early.] [Right? So he said he bragged to the family that our child was a genius and got scolded by Mother.] [……] [I wonder if it’ll be like that for us too?] [……Who knows.] [If there’s someone who gets scolded for making a fuss when our child starts speaking, I feel like it might be me. Not you, but getting scolded by Mari.]

I wonder what voice this child will have when they speak? I want to see quickly.

The face that was laughing while saying such things, how was it now? It was blurry.

Though I knew they were smiling, what was the shape of those gently curving eyes? Lutis lowered his gaze after trying to recall for a moment.

He couldn’t tell if it was right to make a child who didn’t even properly understand what death was greet an empty patch of ground.

“……Mom, hello.”

To you who longed so much to be called that by the child, to the child clumsily greeting thinking their mom was watching.

It felt like the wrong thing to do.

Even while convinced of that, he was furious at his own powerlessness to do anything in the end.

That night, tossing and turning unable to fall asleep for a long time before going outside, it must have been because of that.

Lutis once again stepped towards where Aeli’s gravestone was, which he had visited during the day.

Alone in the darkness of the pitch-black forest, a neatly arranged flat surface caught his eye.

There was a time when this place had been terribly dug up, causing him a headache.

[You’re telling me posting sentries had no effect? Is that supposed to be an explanation?] [The cause was indeed wild animals as reported previously. We are preventing visible animals like deer, wild boar, rabbits, and foxes from approaching, but in the case of underground animals like moles, unless we dig up the entire ground, we can’t catch them all……] [……If you’re going to let the grave get to this state because you can’t catch one animal, I don’t know why you even underwent knight training.]

Upon investigation by posting guards, it was determined that wild animals were responsible for digging up Aeli’s grave.

What was strange was that although it was close to the mountains, this clearing that could be reached just by going a little way down the walking path had been chosen as the burial site, so animals didn’t usually come down here.

Moreover, they didn’t touch anywhere else, only severely digging up the area around Aeli’s grave.

Lutis, who was at the height of sensitivity, snapped.

[Then pave the surroundings with stone so they can’t dig it up.] [My lord, but to do the construction, we would need to remove the grave……] [……We can’t leave it like this either, so there’s no choice.]

So Lutis ordered that the entire area around Aeli’s gravestone be paved with stone.

Another unexpected point was, well.

[M-My lord! You should come see this!]

Perhaps it was that despite being buried for several months, not only had the coffin not rotted, it was in far too good condition.

The sight of unknown roots wrapping around the coffin as if protecting it was incredibly strange.

Tensed up, Lutis cut away the roots enveloping the coffin and opened the lid.

Though he didn’t have the courage to see the skeleton inside, he thought if there was a problem with the coffin, it would be right to transfer the body.

And so, in the finally opened coffin, Lutis discovered.

[……]

Aeli’s corpse, with eyes closed, unchanged and exactly as it was at first.