“Yes.”
It was an answer without a moment’s hesitation.
“. . . .”
I had peeked nothing but my eyes out from the crackling blanket when Ajussi looked at me and let out a long sigh.
“There must be something wrong with your eyeballs and the back of your head.”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“Neither do I.”
His voice dragged, laced with resignation.
Though my body burned with fever, laughter kept slipping out for some reason. I was simply glad to hear that he had come looking for me.
I clutched a handful of blanket and pulled it up to hide the corners of my mouth.
“Stop laughing and go to sleep. You’re running a fever.”
A cool hand brushed across my forehead.
“Now that I see it, you’re just a little magnet for accidents. I picked up something I shouldn’t have.”
“Think of it as karma.”
“And you talk like a little old man.”
Ha, so were you planning to cast me off?
“Though I’m paying for my si—”
“Saying it cutely won’t help. I meant your word choice was the problem.”
Ah, is that so.
“I wanted a cute little youngest, but I guess that’s not happening. Dreams really don’t come true.”
That was enough to snap my hazy mind awake.
“You’re taking me with you? To the North?!”
Without realizing it, I shot upright. My vision whited out for an instant, but that didn’t matter anymore!
“If you get up suddenly—! Ha, have mercy. You’ll give this old man a heart attack.”
“You can’t die! But . . . why? Why did you change your mind all of a sudden? You hated the idea so much . . . !”
Ajussi let out a long sigh and carefully laid me back down. His clumsily patting hand brought me calm in an instant.
“I didn’t hate you.”
Another deep sigh.
“Really . . . it was because I wanted you to live well.”
“. . . .”
“The world is finally quiet, isn’t it.”
I fell silent.
If the hero who returned victorious from war looked somehow shabby in this moment . . . was it my imagination?
Where the sword is swung, ruin remains.
Leviathan Zebert might be the one who understood that emptiness better than anyone.
That he had said he didn’t want to take me was, of course, partly because taking responsibility for a child was no simple matter, but . . .
‘It might also be that he didn’t want to increase the number of people by his side . . .’
Because he must have thought that the place beside him was a ruin.
“Ajussi, I . . .”
Feeling my eyelids slowly grow heavy, I whispered softly. The sleep crashing over me like waves was too hard to resist any longer.
“I think it’s quietest by your side, Ajussi.”
Leviathan fell silent for a moment.
“Is that so.”
A large, warm hand covered my eyes.
* * *
Several days passed.
I had completely recovered.
Of course, a low fever still lingered, so I was still confined to bed . . . but even that seemed like it would be gone today!
“Hehehe . . .”
Lying in bed, I let out a dark chuckle.
The Zebert Knight Order building in the capital was as vast and magnificent as its reputation suggested.
I had claimed the inner chamber there, lying with my arms and legs flailing about, drawing butterfly shapes in the air.
“You seem to be in a good mood today?”
No sooner had I heard a knock than a familiar face appeared.
“Huh, Goldie?”
What’s he doing here?
“Hello.”
Eyes peeking through the gap in the door curved gently.
“May I come in for a moment?”
It was a polite question. I sat up in bed and straightened my posture for no reason.
“How did you get here?”
“Mm, on foot.”
“. . . .”
As if I’d asked because I thought he flew.
“It looks like what you were worried about worked out well. I’m glad.”
“Yeah. Well . . .”
I answered vaguely and looked the boy up and down. He was no longer wearing the clothes distributed at the shelter.
I’d felt it since the first time I saw him, but as expected, this guy . . .
“I heard on the way here that you’re going to the Zebert household?”
“Huh? Yeah. That’s how it turned out.”
“Then are you being adopted into House Zebert?”
“Proba . . . bly?”
“Ahaha. Why do you sound so unsure?”
That’s because the seal hasn’t been stamped yet.
That ill-tempered Ajussi might change his mind again; you never know.
At that moment, the blond who had been staring at me suddenly bent down.
“Wh-what? So suddenly.”
Sparkling mint-colored eyes filled my vision.
“. . . As I thought, it is.”
Close! Too close!
“Wh-what did you say?”
“Mm, nothing. . . . His Grace must have his reasons.”
The blond muttered something incomprehensible and straightened up.
“Sorry for disturbing your rest. I’ll be going now.”
“Uh . . .”
“See you again.”
As if he’d never intended to stay long, he walked away without a second thought. Thanks to etiquette drilled into his body, even his steps were elegant.
‘What on earth did he come here for?’
I stared at the spot where the boy had stood with an uneasy feeling.
‘More importantly, as expected, he’s . . . the Fourth Prince, right?’
The fourth prince of the Bamilron Empire.
Rihit Bamilron.
‘The future Crown Prince.’
In the original story, Rihit steadily eliminated his rivals and became Crown Prince.
No one had imagined the ambition hidden beneath his frail, gentle impression.
‘Why on earth was that prince at the shelter?’
The more I dug, the deeper the mystery.
“I don’t know.”
I flopped back down onto the blanket.
Anyway, the struggle for the throne had nothing to do with me.
“Whatever, I’ll just enjoy this peace!”
* * *
Several more days passed, and finally the day to leave had arrived!
Ajussi had been away since morning. I heard he had swept through the Imperial Palace like a storm.
“So you’re really going to open a nursery after all!”
I only learned much later that the Emperor had clutched the back of his neck in exasperation.
Amid the whirlwind of the Duke’s sudden return journey, talk of the mana examination had completely vanished.
The fact that none of the fugitive mage’s characteristics matched mine had also played a part.
“Your head?”
“Fine.”
“Nausea?”
“Nope.”
“Coughing . . .”
“Ah, stop dawdling!”
I thumped his solid shoulder. It felt like punching a stone wall.
We had stopped by the Central Church in the capital.
“Who said I was dawdling?”
Ajussi glared at me with fierce eyes.
Before me lay a document stamped with the Imperial seal.
The content was simple. It meant that Leviathan Zebert would verify my identity and protect and support me until I reached adulthood.
In simple terms, he would become my guardian.
‘I knew it.’
Well, of course.
Taking in a child of unknown origins as an adopted daughter into a high-ranking ducal house was no simple matter.
‘Well, whatever.’
After all, I could stay by Ajussi’s side now!
Since I’d planned to leave once I achieved my goal anyway, this might actually be a cleaner method.
‘It’s kind of like the orphanage . . .’
In my previous life, I had grown up in an orphanage.
I’d had to become independent upon reaching adulthood, and honestly, I had been at a loss back then.
The world had been harsh, and I’d had nothing. Maybe getting hit by the reincarnation truck had actually been a blessing.
‘This time, I’ll prepare thoroughly and become independent!’
But first, stop the ending.
I clenched both fists and steeled my resolve.
Ajussi signed with elegant penmanship while holding me in one arm. I couldn’t stop wiggling.
I wanted to sign too! I wanted to complete that document quickly!
“Quit fussing.”
He laughed faintly and set me down on the floor. I quickly snatched up the pen and lunged for the paper.
Ru. Bi. An.
I carefully wrote my name in crooked letters, dotting the characters emphatically.
“. . . Earthworms? Is this the Iosian script?”
“It’s the imperial language!”
Ajussi crossed his arms and scrutinized the paper as if it were an indecipherable code. Regardless, I thrust the document toward the priest waiting nearby.
Only when the church’s seal was stamped with a bang in the empty space did it happen.
“It’s legally binding!”
Beaming with joy, I held up the paper and hopped.
“You really do know all sorts of strange things.”
“Hehe.”
“Arms.”
When I spread my arms wide, he expertly lifted me up.
He submitted the document to the priest, and we left the church.
As if driving the point home once more, he said to me,
“As I said earlier, Rubi. The choice is yours.”
I recalled the conversation from before we came to the church.
“Whether you think you can live with me in the North—see for yourself and decide. That’s why I’m not adopting you right away.”
It meant he was giving me a choice so that if I ended up not liking his home, I could refuse at any time.
“But I’ll still be by your side anyway . . .”
I trailed off, wrapping my arms around his neck, and heard a low laugh.
“Yeah. I really don’t know why you’re so attached to me.”
“It’s not like you’re a baby bird that imprinted on me,” he muttered. The warmth of his hand stroking the back of my head had already become familiar.
“Anyway . . .”
“. . .”
“For the time being, you’re the youngest in our house.”
It felt as if a bonfire had flared to life in my chest.
“Hehe.”
A laugh slipped out on its own. He tapped the tip of my nose.
“Let’s go. To the Zebert estate.”
I was finally leaving this capital. Together with the hero!
“Yeah!”
Ajussi, I swear I’ll save you. So you save this world too!