Aeli let out a small groan at the stinging pain.

Old habits die hard, and she almost broke her nose.

As she raised her head while wiping away the tears that had welled up with her fingers, she noticed something.

“……?”

Her vision seemed unusually bright, and she realized that her hood had fallen off, probably due to the momentum of her fall.

Aeli’s face, which had been blinking rapidly in bewilderment, turned to shock. Judging by the sound of approaching footsteps that had stopped, whoever it was had likely already come very close to them.

‘Should I put the hood back on now, even if it’s too late?’

Although it was close to dawn, it was still dark and the surroundings were dim.

So they probably hadn’t seen her face. Aeli, who had been thinking positively, covered her face with both hands not long after.

The dress she was wearing was mostly covered by the cloak. Even if they had seen her face, she could insist that they had mistaken her in the darkness.

……But there was no way to deal with her clearly exposed jet-black hair.

‘Ah, no? Should I say it’s dark brown hair?’

It seemed like a breakthrough for a moment, but even so, it was inevitable that rumors about Lutis would spread.

At this hour, he had brought an unfamiliar woman who looked exactly like his dead wife into the mansion.

Aeli was certain that this fact alone would become the gossip of the century throughout the empire.

It was a type of scandal that would not only worry about the dishonor she would have to bear, but also spread throughout the mansion, and perhaps even to other countries.

Wasn’t it obvious that while waiting for the interest to die down, they would be severely troubled by those curious about the truth of the rumors?

‘It’s a problem that Lutis and Adi will suffer, but if that happens, the restrictions will be too severe when I’m already hiding out……!’

A future where the possibility of her identity being exposed would also rise vertically was envisioned.

It hadn’t been long since she had set foot in the mansion at Lutis’s persuasion, but before even a minute had passed, let alone a day, she was about to be caught.

She had come up to the capital to keep the child safe, but before she could even investigate the suspicious aspects, she had been reduced to being tied down.

Aeli slightly opened her mouth in disbelief at the reality that had suddenly approached regardless of her will.

However, contrary to that action, no meaningful words escaped through her parted lips.

After moving her lips for a while, Aeli muttered softly after some time had passed.

“What did I do so wrong to deserve this……”

The world couldn’t be like this. In the worst case, as she had just imagined, they might all be headed for the guillotine together.

How should she get through this situation?

At that moment of despair.

“…… Mo, mommy? Da, daddy?”

As a familiar voice rang in her ears, Aeli raised her head that had been buried in her hands.

The moonlight streaming in through the window in the corridor illuminated a small figure that had approached close by.

Aeli slowly blinked and opened her mouth.

“……Adi?”

“…….”

“What is this……?”

The child in pajamas was looking this way with a rabbit doll tucked under one arm.

As she turned her head to gaze at Lutis, Lutis, who had his brow furrowed, opened his mouth.

“……I told you to calm down and watch where you’re going.”

Only then did Aeli, who realized that the owner of the footsteps was the child, widen her eyes and alternately looked at Lutis and the child.

No wonder he had not only let her down easily but also remained calm despite seeing her in a state of panic.

……It seemed he already knew.

“Oh, oh……”

Aeli, who had staggered while sitting, raised both hands to her chest, almost simultaneously as Lutis, who was surprised, supported her back.

She could feel her heart, which had been beating incomparably faster than when she was in Lutis’s arms, slowly finding its pace.

For a moment, Aeli, who trembled slightly with the rushing sense of relief, froze for a while and then laughed, shaking her body.

There was no time to be embarrassed by the fact that she had made a fuss, thinking all sorts of thoughts without knowing anything.

“Why, excluding me, are you two doing this at this hour…… Mo, mommy?”

“Ah, ahaha…….”

“Wha, what, what− Oh, oh oh?”

“Haha…… Heu− heung…….”

“……!”

The child, who was startled by Aeli’s sudden burst into tears after laughing, jumped up and down and ran over.

It wasn’t a figure of speech; the child literally hopped.

Lutis, who was standing behind, was anxiously and gently stroking Aeli’s back.

“……Aeli, if you cry like that in your current state, your body will suffer. Calm down a little,”

“Da, daddy…… Mommy is weird! Laughing and crying, waah!”

It was when the child, who had approached close by, threw away even the doll and was looking around.

Aeli stretched out her arms and hugged the child to her bosom.

Burying her face in the small shoulders and sobbing, the sound of gasping breaths rang in her ears. She didn’t know if the owner of the sound was the child or Lutis.

Although it was right to reassure them as they seemed quite startled, she couldn’t do that because only sobs mixed with saltiness spilled out whenever she opened her mouth.

Lutis, who had been observing the situation, spoke instead of Aeli with a troubled look.

“Da, daddy! What do I do?! Mo, mommy won’t let go!”

“……She’s doing that because she was surprised and relieved, so it will be alright. Rather, since dehydration may occur, we should bring some water−”

“……Huh?”

The child, who had interrupted Lutis’s answer in the middle despite asking the question, widened his eyes in surprise.

It was when he wriggled in the arms that hugged him tightly and placed his small hand on Aeli’s shoulder.

The child, who alternately looked at his hand and Aeli’s cloak several times, slightly lifted the black cloak.

“……Oh, oh oh?”

Was it because the familiar dress and body underneath were no longer translucent unlike before?

The child blinked rapidly and grabbed Aeli’s arm.

Feeling the warmth and soft flesh unique to a living person, the child fainted and screamed.

“What…… What is this?!”

“Hic, heung…….”

“So since the floor is cold, if you two could at least go into the bedroom−”

……Sigh. Lutis sighed deeply, stopping mid-sentence.

Aeli, who was crying incessantly this dawn, and the child, who was startled and trembling.

He had already realized that no matter how much he shouted between the two, it was of no use.

It was truly a chaotic scene.

Aeli, who had been hugging the child like that with her head deeply bowed for a long time, finally entered the bedroom when the pitch-black sky was dimly lit.

It wasn’t that she went with her own feet, but rather, Lutis, who thought this couldn’t go on, carried her and the child side by side.

“…….”

Sniff.

It was the moment when Aeli forcibly opened her swollen eyes.

Aeli unconsciously drew back her body that had been sitting on the bed at the hand that was suddenly stretched out in front of her.

“For now, at least drink some water. If you feel hungry, I’ll have someone prepare a meal early, so tell me.”

“Oh, then I…… I’ll give you this! Mommy’s eyes are red and hurt!”

Lutis handed her a transparent glass of lukewarm water.

The child also created a couple of ice cubes the size of Aeli’s fingernails on his small palm using magic.

‘I think he roughly explained it to Adi while I was crying…….’

The child, who had been tilting his head with a face that seemed to have experienced as many strange things as Aeli, nodded after a while.

Perhaps because seeing ghosts and touching them wasn’t normal from the beginning, Aeli felt that the child’s boldness was gradually growing.

Aeli, who was thinking that with a blank face, took the glass of water and unconsciously dropped the ice the child had given her into the glass with a plop.

“…….”

“…….”

“Uh…… That’s not how you do it, r, right?”

There was an awkward silence.

As she was blinking quietly, Lutis and the child spoke again.

“Since you haven’t consumed anything for a long time, if something cold suddenly enters, you may get indigestion. I intentionally adjusted it to a lukewarm temperature, so I’ll give it to you again.”

“…….”

“Don’t drink it hastily, but slowly and little by little.”

“Uh…… I gave you the ice to put on your eyes. I don’t know if you can eat it, but I can give you more if you want……”

Lutis took the glass from Aeli’s grasp and poured water again while advising her.

Similarly, the child also kept fidgeting his hands, creating new ice, then pausing and observing before adding.

When it became evident that the father and son were side by side, watching her closely, Aeli finally took a deep breath and replied.

“……Okay.”

Anyway, it seemed that her existence wasn’t discovered by anyone other than the child and Lutis.

For the sake of the two who were anxious seeing her unable to easily compose her emotions, it seemed better to smile at this point.

Aeli took the glass of water Lutis handed her and sipped it slowly.

Honestly, when the water touched her parched tongue, thirst rushed in and she wanted to drink it all at once, but she didn’t put it into practice because she was conscious of their gaze.

In the meantime, the child, who had crawled up on the bed and sat on Aeli’s lap, raised his head, not knowing what to do.

“Th, then……”

“Ah, yes. Al− Ahem! ……What is it, Adi?”

“I, my hands are cold……”

As the child made a tearful face with the melting ice on his palm, Aeli just blinked.

Lutis took the ice that had been in the child’s hand, wrapped it in a handkerchief, and handed it to Aeli.

“For now, I’ll do this, so keep it on your eyes. The handkerchief will get wet when the ice melts, but that will be better than nothing.”

“…….”

“If it’s damp, will mommy catch a cold……?”

“…….”

“…….”

“…….”

Lutis closed his mouth with an oops face at the child who looked at him and asked.

It was too late when he said that wasn’t it, and Aeli and Lutis sweated at the child who had become sullen.

It took over an hour just to soothe him and put him back to sleep, which was nothing out of the ordinary.

And around the time the child had just fallen asleep in Aeli’s arms.

Lutis hesitated for a moment before opening his mouth.

“……The Emperor said to have the child blessed by the Pope at the temple sometime next week.”

“……What?”

On a sunny morning with birds chirping.

It was an emergency.