#6
“Abby-ah…….”
Lucas’s heart, which had plummeted for those few seconds upon hearing from the royal nanny that Noah was missing—a feeling he never wanted to experience again—was in stark contrast to Noah’s exceptionally busy and fussy behavior today.
Noah, who usually sat quietly and ate snacks when held like this, kept squirming. The small hands that had been batting Lucas’s knuckles were now grabbing his fingers and trying to push them away.
“…….”
When Lucas looked down, sparkling green eyes were fixed on him. Noah’s large eyes curved into crescents as he gave a bright smile and then tap, tap—hit Lucas’s hand again. Perhaps the new environment had sparked the child’s curiosity.
As Lucas relaxed his grip and set Noah down on the plush carpet, Noah moved faster than ever before. Raymond, who had been instrumental in safely finding the lost Noah and had even received a ball as a reward, found himself unable to leave the room and was engaged in conversation.
The presence of the Emperor and the Northern Duke, along with the Crown Prince and the Northern Duke’s prized omega son, made the situation as uncomfortable as sitting on a bed of nails for Raymond. Although he was a promising talent of the Royal Magic Tower, he was still just a seventeen-year-old boy, and the only thing that lightened the heavy atmosphere even a little was Noah.
“Show me fire.”
Raymond, who had been wasting mana on silly tricks at Matthew’s incessant requests—”show me fire,” “show me water,” “show me simple magic”—from where he sat right beside him, felt his gaze drawn to Noah, who was coming towards him.
Beaming with inexplicable joy, Noah ran over and immediately latched onto one of Raymond’s legs. The little baby’s chin rested on Raymond’s knee. Seeing the short arms reach out for him, Raymond ended the pointless magic show and quickly scooped Noah up, settling him on his lap.
“Would you like some milk?”
Feeling the burden of Noah’s intensely bright gaze on his face and the small hand tightly clutching his collar, Raymond wrapped a hand around Noah’s belly. The child’s soft, warm, and pliant little body nestled perfectly into his embrace.
“Cookie.”
Whether he truly loved cookies or not, Noah declared firmly, “Cookie,” instead of milk, filling the drawing room with everyone’s laughter. And Raymond’s hand, which had been reaching for the milk cup, touched the cookie next to it instead.
The cookie Raymond picked up was placed into Noah’s two hands. Noah took a big chomp out of the cookie, munching away diligently, then tilted his head back to look at Raymond.
Matthew was eating fruit, and Alex and Lucas were drinking tea and talking. Raymond, however, hadn’t put anything to his lips since entering the room.
Noah, who had been utterly captivated by Raymond’s stunning looks, finally realized how uncomfortable this situation must be for him.
“Remona…….”
He wanted to call his name properly, but his disobedient tongue, as usual, was calling him strangely.
“Yes.”
“Dwink dis.”
Although it was the cookie he’d been eating, Noah raised both hands and brought it to Raymond’s lips.
“You should eat a lot and grow big and strong, young master.”
“Remona…… you eat too. Dat one?”
Perhaps judging that the cookie wasn’t to his taste, Noah pointed to the fruit with one hand.
“It’s alright.”
“Milk?”
If not fruit, then milk? Noah pointed to the milk next to it, but he quickly closed his mouth as Raymond’s fingers touched his lips. Every time Raymond gently brushed the corner of his mouth, Noah’s small, full lips quivered.
He tried to eat carefully, but the crumbly cookie powder quickly settled around Noah’s mouth, on his hands, and on his clothes.
“Baja-baja.”
Noah said, waving one hand.
“Pardon?”
“Banja! Ebbibbibbibbi. Banjjak!”
Wondering if he needed to practice pronunciation by biting a pencil at home, Noah painstakingly corrected his mispronunciation, still waving one hand. Raymond’s sparkling touch would clean it up in an instant.
A smile bloomed fully on Raymond’s face, as if he had understood. Handsome people become even more handsome when they smile, Noah thought absently, admiring Raymond’s face. Then, seeing Raymond’s hand reach for him again like before, he clapped. Thanks to that, the cookie he was holding in one hand fell to the floor, and the powder on that hand scattering into the air was unimportant.
“Waah.”
As Raymond, who had cleaned Noah’s face, hands, and clothes, opened his palm, a small water droplet danced and moved above it. The droplet floating in the air vanished with a pretty shimmer the moment Noah’s fingertip touched it.
Was playing with soap bubbles like this when I was little? A clear laugh spilled from Noah’s lips each time a bubble formed on Raymond’s palm and he popped it.
After playing bubble-popping for a while, something else caught Noah’s eye. A water droplet had formed on the tip of Raymond’s index finger. And Noah, whose instincts preceded reason, grabbed Raymond’s hand with a thud in his two small hands, and his rounded, pursed lips charged towards the finger.
As the tip of Noah’s red, cute tongue touched the droplet on the index finger, the droplet vanished instantly again. It tasted sweet yet cool, like a carbonated drink, with a refreshing sensation. Noah’s eyes widened round.
This feels like drinking cider?
In the blink of an eye, another droplet appeared. This time, Noah touched it not with his fingertip, but with his tongue.
“Raymond.”
Noah, who had tightly gripped Raymond’s hand with both of his and was now sucking on the index finger with slurp, slurp noises, just rolled his eyes towards the source of Lucas’s voice.
Why are you interrupting while I’m eating something delicious?
The corners of Noah’s eyes, focused on consuming the droplets that sprang up like a tiny fountain from Raymond’s fingertip, lifted upwards.
“It’s fine if he eats it.”
You say it’s fine to eat, so why did you stop making them? Noah gritted his teeth and chomped down on Raymond’s index finger. Contrary to Noah’s desire to eat more, as Raymond’s hand moved away, Noah pouted his lips.
“Noah, come here. It’s time to go.”
He was clearly smiling, and his voice was soft, so why didn’t Lucas seem happy? Noah swiftly turned his head away from the man calling him.
Then, he buried his face in Raymond’s embrace.
Raymond, want to come home with me? You know the Austen region has lots of mines, right? They produce magic stones and plenty of magical ingredients there. If you marry me, it’ll all be yours. You can have it all.
“Before that, you have to hug me too, Noah.”
Even Alex, who had been quiet until now, uttered the shocking request to hold him. Noah shook his head side to side and burrowed deeper into Raymond’s embrace.
Raymond, don’t get the wrong idea. I’m not that easy of a guy.
I’m not the type to just hug anyone willy-nilly just because I like them.
“Eh…….”
But, as always, nothing went according to Noah’s wishes. He was clearly holding onto Raymond tightly, but sure enough, hands grabbed him by the sides and arbitrarily carried him away.
Instead of Raymond’s scent, which put him in a good mood, an unfamiliar fragrance tickled his nose. Noah looked at Raymond. Although his body was being held by Alex, and he was being hugged so tightly he could barely breathe, his heart still belonged to Raymond.
“Papa! Me too, me too!”
These guys…
A small sigh escaped Noah’s lips as he was forcibly passed from Alex to Matthew.
“So, when are you returning to your territory?”
“Tomorrow.”
Noah’s gaze, having been passed from Matthew to Lucas, remained fixed on Raymond. Raymond, wearing a soft smile, was also looking at Noah.
This is so heartbreaking. Noah stretched his small, maple-leaf-like hand towards him, but it couldn’t reach.
“That early?”
“I can’t leave the territory unattended for long. For once, Loren says he wants to go early too. Says he wants to show Noah the snow.”
Whatever conversation was going on around him, Noah, who had been solely focused on Raymond, quickly looked back and forth between Raymond and Lucas upon hearing their exchange. Out of gratitude for finding him, Lucas was inviting Raymond.
Hearing Lucas offer the magic stones and various magical materials that Noah had already decided to give away himself caused the corners of Noah’s eyes to droop. Since I don’t have enough charm yet, I was going to use material things to woo Raymond, but Lucas made the first move.
And when Raymond responded to Lucas’s offer with a bright smile, saying it would be an honor, the corners of Noah’s mouth turned down.
“Waaahh!”
As Lucas, holding him, stood up and the final goodbyes between those leaving and those staying began, Noah couldn’t hold back and burst into tears.
I wish I were thirteen, not three. Lamenting the situation spinning out of his control, Noah cried sob sob.
“Noah, sleepy? Or should we take the milk with us?”
At Lucas’s words, someone appeared with a bottle of milk. Noah quickly and firmly accepted the bottle given to him. He knew he was at an age where he should be weaned off the bottle, but lying down and sucking milk from it was quite a pleasant feeling, so he enjoyed it once or twice daily.
Hic, hic.
Swallowing his tears, Noah put the nipple in his mouth.
Raymond was said to be the next Magic Tower Lord. So, if he wanted to see him, he could just go to the Royal Magic Tower. For now, he was only three and had to be content with making this impression, but every year when he came to the capital, he would seek him out.
If he kept making impressions like this, Raymond would get used to him, and when he became an adult, then…
With eyes brimming with tears, Noah looked at Raymond and suck-suck-sucked the milk from the bottle.
―Young master, I will definitely come to see you.
Noah, who was waving his hand politely to say goodbye to Raymond, Alex, and Matthew, blinked at the voice that suddenly sounded in his head. It was Raymond’s voice, so he looked at him, but Raymond was just bowing his head in their direction.
