Chapter 163.
2024.02.10.
When May came, the bathtub was filled with flowers of five colors.
It was Melly's job to fill the bathtub Blair used with flower petals.
'Yesterday it was red roses, today lilacs, I wonder what flowers she'll fill it with tomorrow.'
Blair smiled at the scent of the flowers Melly had filled and finished her bath pleasantly.
The place she headed after leaving the bathroom was Asiel's room. It was to say goodnight to the child and to watch over him as he fell asleep.
Since Asiel was born, for the past 8 years, except for days when she was sick or there was a special occasion, it was a routine she never missed.
"Asiel, are you asleep?"
When she knocked, along with a clattering sound from inside the room, Asiel's urgent voice was heard.
"W-wait a moment!"
Though the scene inside the room couldn't be seen, just from the sound, she could tell the child was hiding something.
A bittersweet smile spread across Blair's lips as she waited.
'He's reached the age where he has secrets now.'
She felt somehow sad that he was making secrets from her, thinking he had grown up quite a bit, but still, she had no intention of forcibly uncovering the child's secret.
After waiting a moment, the closed door soon opened and Asiel appeared.
The child with slightly wavy black hair and violet eyes that looked as if violets had been steeped in them was coming to resemble the portraits of Herdin in his childhood, in sequential order.
"I left my toys all over the place, so I was cleaning them up..."
Before Blair could even ask anything, the child mumbled and listed the reason for being late to open the door. It definitely looked like he was hiding something.
However, Blair didn't ask further and changed the topic.
"Are you ready for tomorrow's banquet?"
"Yeah! I also prepared a gift for the baby."
Tomorrow, all three of them were scheduled to attend a banquet held at the Fellick Marquisate. It was the first birthday of Johan's youngest daughter.
Blair stroked the child's head.
"Well done. Lucy will be happy."
"What about Dad?"
"Dad went quite far today, so it seems he'll be late. Mom will put you to sleep today."
"You don't have to put me to sleep..."
Asiel spoke carelessly, then realized his words might be heard differently and hastily added.
"T-that is... I don't mean I don't like it, it's just that it's bothersome for you, Mom. You must be busy. And I'm not a baby anymore either."
Blair blinked at Asiel's statement.
Of course, he had grown a lot compared to when he was a newborn, but he was still smaller than Blair. Small enough to still fit snugly in her embrace if she hugged him.
Despite that, the way he said he wasn't a baby anymore was both cute and somehow made her feel a bit sad.
"It's not bothersome. You are Mom's top priority."
Asiel lay on the bed, and Blair turned off the lamp next to it. Unlike before, casually. It was a big change that occurred after becoming a mother.
"Ah, right."
Asiel, who had closed his eyes in the dark room, suddenly clasped his hands together as if remembering something. It looked like he was making a wish.
"Asiel?"
When Blair looked at the child with puzzled eyes, Asiel whispered with his eyes still closed.
"Didn't you say before, Mom, that if you had a wish, you prayed every day? So lately I've been praying every day before going to sleep too."
Blair then recalled that a few days ago, she had told Asiel about her childhood.
'If you pray earnestly every day, sometimes God hears that voice and grants it.'
Of course, the childhood wish for Katrina to love her was not fulfilled.
But there was Esmeralda who loved her like a daughter in Katrina's place, and she received love overflowing.
And the wish she had made for Herdin also took a very long time, but it was ultimately fulfilled, so it could be said that wish was granted.
Blair waited a moment until the child opened his eyes, then asked casually.
"What kind of wish is it?"
"A sib..."
Asiel, who was about to tell his mom like usual, seemed to realize something belatedly, and clamped his mouth shut.
"They say you shouldn't tell your wish. So it's a secret."
"That just makes me more curious?"
"Still, no."
At the child's firm attitude, Blair chuckled and stroked his soft hair.
"God will surely grant your wish too."
Then she kissed the child's round forehead and whispered.
"Have sweet dreams, my baby."
The soft and tender voice, like down feathers, settled into the darkness of the night.
Whenever Asiel heard his mother's voice like that, he felt as if his chest was filled with that down. When he felt that way, his true feelings always leaked out before his thoughts.
"I love you, Mom."
"I love you too."
The footsteps resembling his always elegant mother faded, and soon the door closed quietly.
Asiel, who had been looking toward the closed door, quietly got out of bed and took out a book he had hidden in the drawer.
When he brought it to the window, bright moonlight illuminated the book's cover clearly.
It was a book tailored to a child's level.
Asiel, who had been reading the book carefully with a quite serious expression, reluctantly lay down on the bed only after hearing the chiming clock announcing 10 PM.
No matter what, he couldn't be late for tomorrow's banquet.
The child closed his eyes and once again made an earnest wish.
'God, please let me have a sibling!'
* * *
"Happy birthday, Lucy!"
Along with applause, cheers erupted loudly.
The outdoor banquet held under the sponsorship of the Fellick Marquisate was more bustling than usual.
Usually, at banquets where children attend together, separate spaces are made for children, but today's banquet gathered parents and children all in one place.
Because today was not an adults' banquet, but a children's banquet.
Adults conveyed their congratulatory greetings while presenting the gifts they had each prepared, and children ran around the banquet hall, drifting away from their parents.
Asiel was no exception either.
Asiel, who had claimed a table with his friends and sat down, dipped bread in chocolate fondue and ate while looking at where the protagonist of today's banquet was.
At the end of that gaze was Johan's youngest daughter, Lucy.
'Cute.'
While Asiel couldn't take his eyes off the baby, a girl eating cake next to him interjected.
"So, you're saying you want a sibling, Asiel?"
Senika was the daughter of Count Arbon, one of the children close to Asiel.
Asiel nodded.
"Yeah. If possible, a younger sister would be nice, but a younger brother is okay too."
Then Jamie, sitting on Asiel's right, on the opposite side from Senika, shrugged as if he couldn't understand at all.
"Why? Younger sisters are just no fun and only bothersome."
"Right. Older brothers are just no fun and only stupid."
"What?"
"You started it first!"
Senika and Jamie soon started bickering. The two children whose snarling faces resembled each other were twin siblings.
Asiel, familiar with that situation, ate snacks with a calm face even while caught between them.
Liliana, sitting across from Asiel, asked.
"But, Asiel. Why do you want a sibling? They chase after me all day long. Playing with them is boring. It's no fun."
Liliana had two younger siblings below her. Friends who had siblings seemed unable to understand Asiel's feelings.
At that time, Joshua, who had been quietly eating snacks, agreed with Asiel's feelings and chimed in.
"I understand how Asiel feels. I wish I had a sibling too. If I had a sibling, I could make them do the errands my older brother orders me to do."
Asiel recalled the friend who had complained about his older brother always teasing and tormenting him, and he thought he understood why Joshua said that.
But Asiel knew.
'Everyone says that, but they get along well with their siblings.'
The way Senika and Jamie bickered, the way Liliana found her siblings bothersome, and the way Joshua went hunting together with his older brother even while being teased—all of it was enviable.
Among his friends, only Asiel had no siblings.
Asiel ate the cake with a deflated expression.
Perhaps sensing that mood, BiBi, who was wrapped around Asiel's neck like a scarf, rubbed its head against the child's cheek.
"Pyi."
After Asiel was born, BiBi became Asiel's best friend. It had already been like that before, but while living with Asiel, it became even more friendly with humans to the point where it could be taken around.
Liliana, sensing that Asiel's expression had become gloomy, quickly changed her stance.
"B-but you have BiBi."
"But BiBi is actually older than me."
Asiel took out small-cut jerky from his pocket and gave it to BiBi, adding.
"And most importantly, BiBi isn't human. They can't play ball with me, or do swordsmanship training."
"Pyi?"
When BiBi tilted its head, Asiel hastily corrected himself.
"Of course, that doesn't mean I'm disappointed in you, BiBi. You're doing your best as my sibling."
"Pyi!"
Only then did the Arbon siblings, who noticed Asiel's gloomy mood, quietly sit down. Senika, who was eating cake while observing the mood for a moment, asked.
"But a sibling is something Mom and Dad have to make for you. Have you talked to them about it?"
Asiel sighed. It wasn't that he hadn't tried talking to his dad.
But the answer he received was...
'That's a bit difficult.'
'Why?'
'On the day you were born, looking at you, I made a promise.'
'A promise?'
'That I would give you all the love I can give.'
It was a resolution made from guilt over not being able to treat him well in the past life, and love for the child who had come back to him carrying the memories of a painful past.
But Asiel, who couldn't know his dad's feelings, still wanted a sibling.
'I'm prepared to yield even Dad's love to a sibling.'
Of course, all of it would be a bit difficult though.