Chapter 10

“It’s dangerous. Mommy will carry you.”

Carinne’s words prompted Nittens to hug her tightly around the neck. He pressed his face against her neck and grinned widely. Being embraced by her was something Nittens truly cherished.

“We only ate fruit yesterday, so Mommy will make you something today.”

“Wow, you’re going to cook?” Nittens retorted in astonishment, his mouth wide open.

She smiled awkwardly as the child looked at her with a mix of seriousness and surprise, silently questioning his mother’s abilities.

“You can cook?”

“Umm...”

Carinne was hesitant, but the child looked at her with excited eyes. His twinkling eyes appeared as if they were on the brink of spewing fire.

Avoiding his gaze, Carinne nodded her head.

“Yes. Of course I can.”

Her voice sounded quite confident, but of course, she had never cooked before, so her eyes shook like an earthquake.

Nittens, unaware of Carinne’s true feelings, kept exclaiming in response.

“Mom, over there!”

Just as Carinne stepped out the front door of the villa, the child pointed toward the backyard. Carrying the child, she followed the direction he was pointing in.

The sunlight falling on her skin felt very pleasant.

Is this the first time in my life…?

It was her first time waking up in the morning and taking a leisurely walk like this. Her movements were unhurried and sluggish.

“Oh, the big water...”

Carinne only realized what Nittens had been talking about once she entered the backyard.

The villa was not modest in size, and there was a pond—a fairly sizable pond bordered by circular stones.

“Ma! Put me down! Put Nitty down!”

With wide eyes, Nittens swung his feet. Eagerly, his arms swung towards the ground.

Chuckling, Carinne put him down. The moment his feet hit the ground, Nittens dashed to the pond and dropped to his knees in front of it.

His eyes twinkled as he brought his face closer to the water, as though he was going to dunk his nose in it.

“Mommy! There’s something in it!”

“Hmm?”

Carinne squatted down next to Nittens. The pond was quite deep. There was a reflection of the child on the pond, and fish of various colors were swimming beneath the surface.

“They’re fish.”

“Feesh?”

“Fish.”

“Feeesh!”

Nittens still couldn’t get the pronunciation right. Whenever Nittens, who always spoke firmly and clearly, displayed this kind of behavior, Carinne couldn’t help but chuckle.

“Yes, they are called fish and they can breathe in water.”

“Whoa!”

“They can’t breathe outside the water, so you can only watch them, okay?”

“Okay...” Nittens replied, placing his nose as if he were going to submerge it into the pond.

Carinne stroked the child’s head while watching him lean in so close to the pond without even blinking.

“Nitty, this is your first time seeing fish, right?”

“Yes!”

Beside the child, Carinne sat down, wrapped her arms around her knees, and silently observed Nittens. The vitality in his sparkling eyes made her go quiet.

“You can look at them as long as you want.”

After nodding, Nittens looked down for a long time, his eyes gleaming.

When he stretched his hand out and gently dipped it in the water, the fish swarmed in as if he was giving them food. Startled, he promptly pulled his hand away.

“Wow...”

“Whoa...!”

The child’s exclamations of wonder continued. Carinne stroked the child’s hair.

On a beautiful morning, the two sat in front of the pond in silence for a long time.

***

“Mom, let’s go explore!” Nittens whispered under his breath as Carinne, unable to withstand the harsh sunlight, stayed buried beneath the blanket.

Blinking his eyes, Nittens stood there, and when he received no reply, quickly dashed out of the room.

They had been in their new home for a month. Nittens was fed up with waking Carinne up every morning and eventually relented.

However, his cheeks, which were sunken before, had gained some volume after eating three regular meals and fruit every day.

The meals prepared by Carinne were unappetizing, yet the meat served alongside was always tasty, when grilled with a dash of salt.

Lately, Carinne lovingly pinched his cheeks, which had plumped up ever so slightly.

Anyway, Nittens always woke up early.

Carinne continued to look worn out each morning, and he got tired of waking her up.

That said, the child was bored when he was up alone. So today, he decided to go exploring alone for the first time.

He was still wearing his pajamas, but he set out to explore, carrying a little trowel that his mother had given him as a gift.

His biggest challenge was the stairs.

Standing in front of a set of stairs that were quite high for a child, he exhaled heavily while his ruby-like red eyes gleamed beautifully.

Soon, Nittens plopped down and laid flat on the floor. He started on the top step and wiggled his butt, carefully making his way down the first stair.

Once again, the child went down on his knees to proceed to the next step, carefully placing his foot down.

Extending his hand, he delicately put the trowel next to him, knelt again, and descended to the next step.

After performing the same action many times, the child eventually reached the ground floor.

“Yes!”

Once more, he clutched the trowel in both hands and proceeded to walk.

The entrance he and Carinne always used to get to the backyard was tightly shut.

Nittens’ mouth dropped open. He shook his head and redirected his path.

“Umm.”

The annex was more spacious than he thought, and another opening was hard to find. Truly, at this stage, most kids would have grown weary and surrendered, yet Nittens was a boy of determination.

Eventually, he found another door leading to the backyard.

Upon Carinne and Nittens’ return last night, it was apparent that a door had been left unlocked. Nittens first threw the trowel through the crack and then pushed his body through.

He shoved his body through the opening with a groan, and came out on the other end.

The opening was so narrow, it would’ve been impossible for anyone with more flesh to pass through. However, since Nittens was still underweight, it wasn’t that difficult.

Today, as always, he headed to the pond.

The pond was always bustling with colorful fish, and it had become a daily routine to sprinkle the carp food that Carinne had supplied him.

Scooping up a handful of carp feed from under the tree, Nittens held it securely to avoid any spillage as he waddled back to the pond.

Nittens made a real effort, but he still ended up spilling some feed. Due to the excessive amount of carp feed he had scooped up in the small trowel, a substantial portion fell to the ground.

However, he was so focused on walking ahead, he hadn’t noticed.

At last, when he got to the pond, only a small amount—just one third of the original amount—remained in the trowel.

“Huh...?”

It was only upon reaching the pond that Nittens realized there was only a small amount of feed left in the trowel, prompting his head to tilt to the side.

When he turned around, holding onto the shovel with a little more force, he saw the feed scattered along the path he had just taken.

“Ugh...”

Tears welled up in his eyes. Startled, he quickly wiped away his tears with his sleeve.

Tumble. Splash.

In the midst of wiping away his tears, he let go of the trowel with a tiny amount of feed remaining by mistake, and it promptly fell into the pond.

Nittens’ eyes grew big. The trowel dropped with a plopping sound and plunged deeper and deeper.

“Oh...”

Nittens stood frozen. He couldn’t even scream. He tried to extend his hand quickly, but it was already too far below the water’s surface for him to catch it.

“Mommy...”

The child stomped his foot.

A short while ago, when he was in the market with Carinne, he couldn’t take his eyes off the trowel. Noticing his interest, Carinne had bought it for him.

It was a precious gift. Tears welled up in his eyes again.

“Also, please check in with me when you go out.”

“Oh, I’m sorry for not introducing myself sooner. My name is Therian. I’m one of the vice-captains of the Knights of the Kayen Archduchy.”

As Nittens was about to burst into tears, a conversation from a month ago popped up in his head. Carinne had mentioned to him that Therian was their “helper.”

Nittens rubbed his eyes with the back of his hand.

“Terry!” he shouted. He clenched his fists with red eyes. He cautiously walked towards the front entrance of the villa.

Who was it that said occurrences were the product of random chance and happenstance?

Guards were always on duty in front of the villa, but there were moments when they were absent during shift rotations.

Within that short span of time, lasting approximately five to ten minutes, Nittens exited the villa.

“Terry…”

He repeated the name with determination, as if he didn’t want to forget it. He was impatient as he waddled forward.

Looking down while walking, he raised his head when he was startled and then continued walking, still looking at the floor.

“Terry…”

Nittens chanted Therian’s name, eagerly moving his feet.

“Wait.”

Vaster, who had just finished urgent work and was returning to the mansion after fifteen days away, halted while walking in the direction of his manor.

The knight commander, Wistin, and butler, Vincent, who were walking behind him, also came to a halt.

His narrowed red eyes were fixed on one spot.