Chapter 161.
2024.02.08.
As the doll disappeared from before her eyes, Asiel's gaze naturally turned toward Herdin.
Thinking that Asiel might burst into tears again, he tensed inwardly as he observed the child's disposition.
"Uueh."
The small brows of the child, who had been staring intently at him, furrowed. It was usually a sign that Asiel was about to start crying.
The moment Herdin tensed at that, a miracle occurred.
Asiel didn't cry even after seeing him. Though she did furrow her brows as much as possible and make a face.
At the unbelievable change overnight, Herdin's pupils gazing at the child began to shake violently.
"Asiel, are you not scared of Dad anymore?"
"Uuung."
Herdin stared blankly at the child for a moment before carefully picking her up.
He worried that she might really cry this time, but surprisingly, Asiel stayed quietly in his arms. It was the first time this had happened since she started being shy around strangers.
A smile slowly spread across his lips as he held his son in his arms again. In that one month, the child had grown a bit heavier.
"Thank you, Asiel. For granting your mother's wish."
He wanted to kiss her on the lips like before the stranger-anxiety phase started, but he decided to hold back, thinking it was too hasty.
Herdin carried Asiel and headed straight for the couple's bedroom.
Just as he opened the door and stepped inside, he ran into Blair, who had just woken up and was about to head to the child's room.
"……Herdin?"
"Blair, look. Asiel doesn't cry even when held by me."
Before he could even finish speaking, Blair's eyes widened in surprise as she discovered the child in his arms.
"Oh my."
"Uwaaah!"
The child, who had been quietly resting in Herdin's arms just a moment ago, urgently reached out her small hands toward her mother the moment she appeared.
Blair stared blankly at the child doing so.
She couldn't believe the miracle that had occurred in just one night. At the same time, one possibility crossed her mind.
'Could it be that Asiel understood what I said yesterday?'
Thinking it was an absurd, silly notion, Blair still smiled brightly and took the child's hand.
"Our baby is not only smart but also kind-hearted."
Seeing her mother smile happily, the previously blank-looking Asiel finally laughed with a gurgling sound. Herdin, watching his wife and son, also smiled along with them.
The appearance of the three family members smiling as they looked at each other resembled each other greatly.
* * *
A month later, through the delicate work of a painter, the family's first portrait was completed.
Blair, who had been agonizing over where to hang it for days before the portrait was completed, finally made up her mind on the day. To hang it in the couple's bedroom.
After that day, Blair would stand in front of the portrait and admire it whenever she had time.
Waking from sleep, Herdin instinctively sought warmth, then felt the empty spot beside him and opened his eyes.
His heart dropped at the fact that Blair had disappeared, but recalling her recent behavior, he turned to look in the direction where the portrait was hung.
As expected, Blair was standing there, looking at the portrait.
Seeing that sight, he felt both proud and sorry at the same time.
'She likes it that much.'
I should have suggested it sooner, first. Then you would have been happier for a few more days.
Herdin got out of bed, threw on a robe, and approached his wife with leisurely steps. Sensing his presence, Blair turned around.
"Did you sleep well, Herdin?"
"Yes."
He wrapped his arm around her waist and asked.
"Do you like it that much?"
Instead of answering, Blair looked at him. Her eyes, catching the morning sunlight, sparkled with happiness.
Blair added a beat late.
"Of course, I like the real thing better than the painting."
"Such temptation in the morning is problematic."
At that, Blair laughed, then gently leaned her head on his shoulder and whispered.
"Thank you, Herdin. I know you worked really hard this time."
Herdin chuckled and kissed her head. Then they stood side by side looking at the portrait.
A frame containing happiness, hung over the memories of a painful past.
The two looked at the portrait until Blair first moved her feet, then crossed over to Asiel's room together.
But the moment they entered the room, they heard the child's sorrowful crying.
"Waaah!"
"Oh my, what could have made our young master sad?"
The voice of the flustered nanny, dealing with Asiel who wouldn't stop crying, also followed.
When Blair approached upon hearing the sound, the nanny quickly handed the child to her mother's arms and reported.
"She had milk as soon as she woke up, her diaper was changed, and she doesn't seem to be in pain anywhere, but she keeps being fussy."
"Asiel, did something upset you?"
"Huuung……."
The child, who had been crying to the point where the area around her eyes turned red, gradually stopped crying once held in her mother's arms. Just as it always was whenever Blair came.
"That's right, Mommy's here now, so it's okay."
Blair skillfully patted the child's back and soothed her, but her face showed an anxiety she couldn't hide.
Asiel was growing faster than her peers.
Not only physically, but her behavioral development was also rapid. Sitting, crawling, and even babbling were all fast.
But Blair wasn't simply happy about this fact.
Perhaps as a reaction to the rapid growth, Asiel was sensitive. There were many days when she cried for no reason at all.
At first, worried that she might be sick somewhere, they called the primary physician, but the answer that came back was……
'The young master is very healthy.'
Only words that the child was growing well.
Just in case, they called Agnes to check their parenting methods, but Agnes also spared no praise, saying the two's parenting method was excellent.
It was a relief that there were no health or emotional problems, but Blair couldn't let go of the worry in one corner of her heart.
'Asiel in the previous life wasn't like this.'
Asiel in the previous life also had rapid physical growth, perhaps because she took after Herdin, but her behavioral development wasn't much different from other children.
Moreover, she was a gentle child who rarely fussed or cried.
'……No, I shouldn't think like that.'
Blair, who had unknowingly been comparing Asiel from the previous life with Asiel in this life, hastily shook her head.
The two children were the same, yet clearly different. Therefore, it was natural for them to be different from each other.
But even if the two children were different beings, the fact that she loved them both more than her own life remained unchanged.
Blair felt a guilt that constricted her chest at the fact that she had unknowingly had such thoughts, and she held the child preciously in her arms.
"Mommy and Daddy love you so much, Asiel."
So please, just grow up healthy.
Please be very happy by our side.
Asiel, who had been sniffling with a face still bearing traces of tears, smiled brightly as if she understood her mother's words.
* * *
The child grew quickly.
The tiny child who couldn't do anything alone somehow came to eat on her own with small hands like fern fronds, walk, and convey her intentions with words instead of crying.
Even though she had already gone through the process once, Blair often shed tears because she found it both regrettable that the child was growing so fast and admirable at the same time.
And as the child gradually grew, her sensitive temperament largely disappeared.
The person who had the hardest time due to her innate sensitivity was Asiel herself, so Blair considered it fortunate that the temperament had faded.
Of course, even if she had grown up with it, the two would have loved the child just as much.
"Dis is sea."
Asiel, soon to celebrate her second birthday, was enjoying reading picture books. Whenever she had a chance, she would open a picture book and chatter away.
Thanks to that, her vocabulary also increased rapidly.
"Dis is boat. Daddy made it."
Asiel chattered, pointing at the boat drawn in the picture book with her small index finger. Finding that voice lovable, Blair smiled and kissed the child's round head.
"That's right, it's a boat. Our son has a good memory. You even remember Daddy making the boat."
Perhaps it came to mind upon seeing the boat, Asiel asked.
"Where did Daddy go?"
After the stranger-anxiety phase of her early days passed, Asiel became much closer to her dad. She would sometimes even look for Herdin while playing with Blair.
She loved her mom, but it seemed playing with her dad was more fun.
Blair wasn't the least bit disappointed by that. It was what she had desperately wanted both in her previous life and in this one.
For the child to be loved by her dad, to love him back, and to grow up happily.
Seeing that sight, Blair felt a sense of happiness.
"Daddy is working in his office."
"Work?"
"Yeah, work. He makes boats, builds houses where the boats sleep, and even builds big houses by the sea."
"Let's go see Daddy."
At the child's sudden suggestion, Blair gave a troubled smile.
When the child looked for her dad while Herdin was working, Blair would explain why she couldn't meet him right now and soothe her.
But still……
'Wouldn't it be okay to visit sometimes?'
Was it because it snowed last night, or because the child pleading to go see her dad was especially lovable today?
Or was it because she wanted to see him, whom she had also seen this morning?
After pondering for a moment, Blair decided to follow her whim for once. Unlike her usual self.
"Alright, let's go see Daddy."
Thus, she arrived in front of Herdin's office with Asiel.
Making eye contact with the child who was only waiting for her mom to open the door, Blair made a gesture of knocking.
Only then did Asiel remember the etiquette her mom had taught her, and with her tiny hand, she knocked on the door knock-knock and opened her mouth.
"Daddy, Ati's here."
Ati was an affectionate nickname Asiel used to refer to herself, as she couldn't pronounce her own name properly yet.
It was cute how she used honorifics, following her mom's example of door-visiting etiquette, even though she could only speak informally otherwise.
While Blair was chuckling at the sight, footsteps quickly approached, and the door flung open.
"Young Master! Did you come to see me?"
The first to greet Asiel was Ruth, with a silly look on his face. Behind him, Herdin approached, glaring at Ruth with dissatisfied eyes.
"She came to see Dad, I'm telling you."
Just as Herdin said that and tried to pick Asiel up, Asiel's eyes contorted as if about to cry, and she suddenly pushed him away.
"No!"