Chapter 06 

After the intense reunion between uncle and niece ended, Aylesia finally had the chance to properly exchange introductions with Thermion.

“Thermion Haran von Retis. Eleanor’s uncle.”

“Aylesia Millenoff. And yes, I’m the witch you’re thinking of.”

When she answered with a bright smile, Thermion paused and frowned slightly.

“… So you admit you’re a witch?”

“Even if I deny it, you’ll believe whatever you want anyway. So sure—let’s go with witch.”

The crease between Thermion’s brows deepened.

Still forcing a friendly smile, Aylesia silently reviewed his personality.

Dotingly obsessed with his niece. Polite. Zero resistance to adult women. If he gets mad, no one can stop him.

He wasn’t a tyrant, but in the original story, Thermion was basically a cold-blooded ice blade.

He didn’t trust people easily, and his words and actions were often ruthlessly blunt.

The only exceptions were a handful of people close to him—
most notably his niece Eleanor.

When it came to her, he always yielded.
He didn’t care about others’ opinions, nor about ruining his own dignity.
If Eleanor was happy, he endured anything.

In a situation like this, the best strategy was to push him using Eleanor as the excuse.

“I’m sure we have a lot to talk about, but how about we eat first?”

“…What?”

Snap!

With a flick of Aylesia’s fingers, a large table and chairs appeared.

The ladle floating in the air began filling bowls with stew.
and wooden spoons settled neatly beside each one.

Thirteen bowls and spoons—exactly enough for all the knights surrounding the cottage.

“I made the stew. Ellie loves it. And it’s lunchtime anyway.”

“You want us… to eat? Right now?”

Are witches just fundamentally crazy?
Or had he already been bewitched like Eleanor?

Thermion wasn’t even sure if this was still reality.

“We’re eating inside. Come along.”

“…We?”

He shook his head sharply to collect himself.
He pretended not to see the stew bowls floating beside Aylesia.

“You’re not going to eat with your niece? Aren’t you her uncle?”

If he didn’t want to, fine.
He’d be the one missing out.

Holding Eleanor, Aylesia walked off first.

“…This is madness.”

Eleanor still wouldn’t even look at him.
Staying outside any longer would only make things worse.

“Eat while you wait.”

“Will you be alright, Your Grace?”

A knight asked cautiously.
Thermion grumbled in response:

“It’s not like she’d poison her own dinner.”

Wearing a deep scowl, he trudged toward the log house.

* * *

“Thank you for the food!”

“Was it good?”

“Yes!”

Eleanor answered brightly after finishing her stew to the last drop.
Aylesia dabbed the child’s mouth with a handkerchief.

If someone saw them, they’d assume she’s the real mother.

Thermion, arms crossed, glared from across the table.

He had emptied his own bowl a while ago.
It was annoyingly delicious, which only made him more irritated.

“Sorry to keep you waiting.”

“…It’s fine.”

His voice said, “fine.”
His expression said, “I will murder someone.”

He had finished eating in under five minutes and had been silently glaring ever since.
Honestly, it was impressive he had waited without exploding.

Still, since he cared so much for Eleanor, Aylesia decided to start with the thing he must have been dying to ask.

“So, how I met Ellie was—”

“One moment.”

He raised a hand to stop her and turned to Eleanor.

“Ellie.”

“What?”

“Are you hurt anywhere? Were you cold? Did you sleep well? Eat well?”

His face still radiated icy hostility.
But his voice toward Ellie was unbelievably gentle.

The sudden change in tone made Aylesia widen her eyes.
Eleanor flinched and nodded.

“…Yeah.”

“What did you do all this time?”

“Um… well…”

Eleanor stretched out her tiny fingers and wiggled them as she answered.

“I played tag with Wolfie, built a house with Bear, picked fruit with Deer, and Snake-Snake gave me a slide ride at the lake…”

“…I see.”

Wolf—fine, he saw that one earlier.
But Bear? Deer?
And Snake-Snake… Could that possibly be the monstrous serpent from the lake?

Thermion fell silent, unable to understand anything she said.

“They’re my friends,” Aylesia added.

“…Do witches normally have such…eccentric companions?”

Were childhood fairy tales all lies?
He muttered weakly, and Eleanor suddenly declared,

“Teacher isn’t a bad witch! She’s pretty and nice and super strong! Uncle dummy!”

“Sweetheart, you can’t call your uncle a dummy.”

“Siiiing.”

Aylesia placed Eleanor on her lap and soothed her before continuing.

“I met Ellie about two months ago. I was taking a morning walk by the lake, and she suddenly appeared behind me.”

“In the middle of this forest?”

“Yeah. I thought about taking her home somehow, but she showed me the pendant around her neck. That one, right?”

She pointed toward the shelf by the bed—
where Eleanor’s pendant rested inside a small wooden box.

“She said her uncle would find her as long as she kept it. So I stayed put and waited. I didn’t want to move and risk you two missing each other.”

“She could’ve kept it on her neck. Why did you have her take it off?”

“What if she lost it while playing?”

Thermion looked unconvinced.

Her answer wasn’t wrong,
but it felt like there was something more behind it.

“With your skill, you could easily find a missing pendant.”

“There’s always a chance something could happen. It could get damaged.”

“Two months is plenty of time to take her home. Even if you had missed us, it wouldn’t have been a disaster.”

“Ellie said she wanted to wait here.”

“That’s right, Uncle! I said I wanted to wait!”

Even with Eleanor backing her up, Thermion’s suspicion didn’t ease.
He was wondering if the witch had talked Eleanor into staying.

“But I’m glad you two met safely.”

“…I’ll accept that for now.”

Reluctantly responding, Thermion still looked uneasy.

Not easy at all…

The truth was, Aylesia hadn’t gone to the duke’s territory on purpose.
To change the ending, she needed the original plot to stay roughly on track.

“So the conclusion is—you were protecting Ellie.”

“I wouldn’t call it protecting. We just lived together.”

“…Either way.”

Thermion exhaled, stood up, and bowed politely.

“I apologize for my rudeness earlier. I acted without confirming the situation.”

“Huh?”

“And thank you for taking care of Eleanor.”

Aylesia’s mouth fell open a little.

This terrifying man… bowing his head?

The original had warned a thousand times that he was a niece-obsessed maniac.
But seeing it in person was something else entirely.

“So what now?” she asked.

“I intend to take Ellie home. And I will properly compensate you, Lady Millenoff.”

“Compensate?”

“If there is something you want, speak freely. It may take some time, but I will honor it.”

He didn’t seem to be lying.
Even if he was suspicious, the gratitude itself was sincere.

Still, Aylesia couldn’t just agree.
She deliberately threw a sharp question back at him.

“You’re taking her just like that? According to whom?”

“What?”

She curved her lips into a crooked smirk.

“What do you mean by that?”

Thermion’s voice wavered—
a sign his calm was cracking.

A stranger challenging him about his own niece—of course he’d be shocked.

This is all for your and Ellie’s happiness, I promise.
She felt guilty manipulating his devotion.
but she had to—for their future.

“You didn’t even ask Ellie if she wants to go home. If you’d done your job as her guardian properly, she wouldn’t have ended up here in the first place.”

“That is…!”

He opened his mouth to argue—

—but shut it tight again.