Some time later.

The boy sniffled, his face swollen.

It was clear that he was quite embarrassed, with a reddish hue evident even on his dark skin.

“Are you done crying now?”

The child said, wiping the boy’s tear-stained cheeks with his fingers.

It was the exact same action Aeli would do every time the child cried.

The boy slowly nodded, as if feeling awkward.

Lutis, who had been watching the whole process, asked the boy.

“With your hometown in that state, do you have somewhere to rely on?”

“Re- rely?”

“… Do you have somewhere to go?”

Upon hearing Lutis’ words, the boy hesitated for a moment.

It was obvious at a glance that he had nowhere to go. If he had a place to return to, he wouldn’t have wandered the streets like that when he first ran away.

However, the boy glanced at Lutis as if he had something to say.

“Well…”

“…”

“… I don’t. But there’s something I have to do, so I won’t go to the orphanage-”

“What is it?”

“…”

The boy paused before speaking. He knew as soon as he woke up that Lutis had caught the slave traders, but the real culprits were not them.

They were merely underlings who did as they were told for money.

The boy blinked slowly and then opened his mouth.

“… I’m grateful that you caught those people for me and treated me like this, but that was something you did, not something I asked for.”

“…”

Hearing the boy say he would personally take revenge on those who took away his daily life, Aeli became lost in thought.

She knew how he felt. But was that really a path to recommend to a child who was barely over ten years old?

– …

When a person becomes overly absorbed in one thing, they are bound to be unhappy. Even if they were a different species, people were still people, so it would be no different.

It was natural to worry even if he wanted it himself.

That’s when it happened.

Lutis, who had been listening to the boy’s words in silence, opened his mouth.

“It’s a good idea. As a rule, if you have a goal, you grow.”

“…?”

“But for now, I can only call it recklessness.”

“What-”

“Do you have a specific plan? As you might expect, the ones presumed to be behind this are not in a position that a non-human kid could easily reach even if you chase them for a lifetime.”

“Wh- who…”

Lutis shrugged his shoulders. It was close to an expression of what’s the point of knowing when you’re not even sure.

It implied that he wouldn’t tell, and the boy kept biting his lips at the action.

When it got to the point where blood was faintly visible, Lutis looked down at the boy and continued.

“I don’t like humans, but my son doesn’t seem to dislike you.”

“…”

“And I have something to find out from you, so stay here for the time being. There’s no need to go back when we have the same goal.”

Lutis answered the face that seemed to ask where his opinion had gone.

It was with the words that he would answer what the boy was curious about once he grew up enough.

The boy couldn’t hide his absurd expression at the words that he would give him a grace period of sorts until he started his revenge.

However, that decision of Lutis was his way of apologizing for not being delicate enough in the first conversation with the boy who had opened his eyes after a week. Knowing this, Aeli let out a sigh.

He could have just said it, but he was always unable to be so honest like that.

“But…”

– Oh, yes?

“Is the talk all over now? I have something to ask…”

The child, who had been quietly listening to the conversation so far, blinked rapidly and asked.

When Lutis affirmed, the child quickly escaped from the boy’s arms, where he had been held until now, and faced the boy.

The child opened his mouth.

“Um, so.”

“…”

“What’s your name?”

As if all the waiting until now was to ask this.

The boy moved his mouth for a while at the gaze looking up at him brightly, and answered.

“… It’s Sioren.”

“Oh, I see.”

“…”

“…”

… Huh.

When an awkward silence followed, Aeli finally realized with an ‘oh no’.

The basics when asking for the other person’s name was to introduce yourself as well.

It was natural that she should also let him know if she heard it.

“…”

– … Oh my.

There’s no name?

She had forgotten because she had been calling the child by his prenatal name.

Aeli was so shocked at herself for forgetting this that she raised her hand and hit her forehead hard.

Smack!

“…!”

“Urgh…!”

Hmm, the physical force I give myself packs a punch. Aeli rubbed her stinging forehead and looked ahead.

As soon as the loud sound was heard, the two men became restless and opened their eyes wide.

They couldn’t openly show concern because there were eyes watching, but the child and Lutis trembled their pupils slightly.

– … It’s okay. More importantly, Adi, are you going to leave that boy, no, Sioren like that?

“Ah…!”

The child opened his mouth slightly and turned to look at Sioren.

Since Aeli was invisible, it would only look to Sioren as if Lutis and the child had suddenly gasped.

Sioren, who had been rolling his eyes with a puzzled face, asked the child.

“… What’s your name, baby noble?”

“Oh, me? My name is…”

“…”

“Well, it’s, uh, uh… am… amazing.”

“… Pardon?”

“… Ack…”

As if he made a slip of the tongue, the child reflexively turned to look at Lutis.

Under the silent pressure to hurry up and come up with a name for himself, Lutis greatly flustered and twitched his hands.

‘Seeing it, it doesn’t seem like he hasn’t thought about it at all.’

I don’t know exactly when he wrote it, but there was a time when I stopped by Lutis’ office and saw a paper where he had diligently written something.

There was an ancient language dictionary next to the paper with short words scattered messily, so maybe that was a trace of him pondering about a name.

But judging from that reaction, it was clear that he hadn’t decided yet.

– …

Judging that she couldn’t give a name so haphazardly for something other than this, Aeli opened her mouth.

She meant to let him know a nickname for now since they just needed to call him.

“…”

“… Baby noble?”

“Don’t… don’t call me that. I’m not a baby…”

“Then what should I-”

“… Call me Adi.”

The child spoke with a dissatisfied expression.

Directly after, there was an incident where Sioren corrected the title to Lord Adi, and he shouted back to just call him by his name, but well.

“Then Adi, please call me Ren.”

“Okay, Ren.”

“…”

“… Ren?”

Ah, this isn’t it. The child made a greatly flustered face and covered his mouth with both hands.

“Re- oh, um…”

“…”

“…”

“… Please call me Sion.”

“… Okay.”

… I expected as much.

[This is the timeline separator]

It was the next morning.

Perhaps because he had regained consciousness after a week and had used too much energy crying his heart out, Sioren fell asleep again not long after finishing the conversation.

After Aeli and Lutis took the child away, saying to let him rest for now.

[Mommy, Daddy. Do this for me.] [Yes?] [Hold one foot each and swing me while walking…]

They went back to the bedroom and played with the child all day. Although Lutis couldn’t touch Aeli, the child could touch both Lutis and Aeli, so it was possible.

Was it because he had so many things he wanted to do? It took more than half a day just to carefully listen to things that weren’t even that great.

Thanks to that, the child, who had fallen asleep again late at dawn, was trying hard to make up for the lack of sleep by barely opening his eyes in the morning.

Aeli sat on the bed, hugged the child who couldn’t hold his head up, and patted his back.

– Adi, you have to wake up now.

“Hmm… five more minutes…”

Perhaps familiar with the embracing arms, the child couldn’t come to his senses and rubbed his face against Aeli’s neck with his arms around it.

Aeli pondered for a moment and opened her mouth.

– … No matter what, isn’t that too much? You said you’d play with Sioren in the garden today.

“Oh… gasp! Big brother!”

The child, who finally lifted his head with a start, looked around.

Aeli smiled slightly and put the child down on the floor, seeing that he didn’t seem to have the sense to even figure out where he was.

‘He really meant it when he said he’d be his little brother.’

Of course, he had frantically shaken Sioren, who had his eyes half closed after all the commotion was over, saying to talk casually now.

Lutis had left before the child woke up to go on an estate inspection that had been pushed back.

[… You’re even postponing the estate inspection? After seeing that sight as soon as you arrived?] [But it’s only been a day since I got to see you-] [He even took unauthorized leave… The war has ruined him…] […]

Actually, I had seen the scene where he was about to tell the assistant who came that he would clear his schedule for today, so I had pushed him out saying to go.

Furrowing his brows as if it was a headache, Lutis left, saying that he would be back before sunset, so rest comfortably, and drove away all the servants around.

Since he couldn’t clear his schedule, he was probably trying to finish early by compressing it, but if that happened, in the end, the ones who would die would be the retainers below.

Anyway, Aeli, who gave a boring consolation, was able to have a conversation with the child without worrying about other people’s eyes for the first time in a while.

So she dissuaded the child who was about to go find Sioren’s room in his pajamas and got him ready.

As soon as the child finished getting dressed, he went to find Sioren’s room without even eating.

Click.

“… Adi?”

Perhaps sensing the presence, Sioren opened the door and came out before the child even knocked.

Behind him, a bowl of thin soup that had just been prepared for a meal could be seen.

The child looked up at Sioren, who was easily a head taller than him, and said,

“Are you eating now?”

“Yes.”

“I told you to call me just brother, Sioren. Let’s eat together.”

“Oh… okay.”

When Sioren nodded awkwardly at the child’s words, it happened.

Thud thud.

At the sudden sound of hurried footsteps, Aeli turned her head.

– … Lutis?

Lutis, who had clearly left in the morning to go on an estate inspection, was looking down at them, panting heavily.

… With a letter bearing the imperial seal in one hand.