“What is all this?”
Startled, Aisha looked at Jeron.
“…Why are you coming only now?”
“Huh?”
“…Forget it. I’m not telling you.”
With a sullen expression, Jeron sharply turned his head away.
From the way he spoke, it seemed he had been waiting for Aisha.
He had waited, and when she didn’t come, he got upset and caused a scene.
Flora greeted Aisha with a haggard expression in the meantime.
“…Are you okay?”
“Yes. I’m fine.”
“For now, could you please tidy things up here?”
“Of course.”
Jeron sat curled up, not turning his head even once toward where Aisha was.
Aisha paused for a moment, wondering how to handle this.
According to Deikan’s advice, this father and son absolutely needed Aisha right now.
Aisha felt like her shoulders were heavy for no reason, but if it was to survive, what couldn’t she do?
“Jeron.”
Aisha approached him.
“I’m sorry I came late.”
She apologized first.
“…”
Jeron didn’t budge.
“But I thought Jeron would be waiting, so I hurried over like this. Can’t you forgive me? Hm? I’m sorry.”
“…You hurried over, uh…?”
At the words “hurried over,” Jeron flinched and finally asked.
“Of course. Maybe I was really tired so I dozed off, but the moment I opened my eyes, I thought of Jeron and ran over.”
“…Really?”
“Of course.”
“…Okay.”
Jeron quietly nodded, and a brief silence settled.
It didn’t seem like he had been that angry after all.
Aisha poked Luzbel in the side.
They had both heard Deikan’s advice, yet he was being this stiff.
He needed to at least try to do something.
When Aisha pressed him with her gaze, Luzbel, who had been silent for a long time, finally managed to say a word.
“Hello.”
Jeron merely stared at Luzbel with a slightly dumbfounded expression, showing no particular reaction.
“…What did you do today?”
“Oh. I was curious about that too. Jeron, what did you do today?”
As Aisha made a fuss and chimed in enthusiastically, Jeron replied in a mumble.
“Nothing.”
“Huh?”
“I just stayed around.”
“Weren’t you bored?”
“…Not really.”
Come to think of it, she wondered whether the child was doing well with his studies.
When they were at the cabin, it didn’t seem like an environment where he could really learn anything, though he did seem to have done some sword training.
Aisha poked Luzbel in the side again.
Like a wind-up doll that talked when pressed, Luzbel reflexively asked,
“Is there anything you want to do?”
Jeron looked Luzbel up and down once more with an expression that clearly said, “What’s wrong with him?”, then turned to Aisha.
“You… Are you curious too?”
“Huh? Uh, I am curious, but…”
‘You, huh.’
She wasn’t even hoping he’d call her Mom, but “you”?
Now that she thought about it, Jeron had never really used any specific term to refer to her.
It seemed he called her “that woman” when talking to the servants.
That alone was shocking enough, but “you” felt especially harsh.
“…There’s nothing I really want to learn. I don’t even know what I’m supposed to learn.”
“Th-that’s fine. You can figure it out little by little from now on. Haha.”
“…”
“Let’s try lots of different things. Together.”
“…Together?”
“Yeah, together. But Jeron, are you really going to call your mom ‘you’?”
“…Don’t want to.”
“Huh?”
She had only asked whether he was going to call her “you”, but an immediate “don’t want to” came back in response.
When the flustered Aisha blinked, he said,
“…I don’t want to call you that.”
“Mom?”
“Yeah. I don’t want to…”
“Mm… haha…”
Right.
It was understandable for him to dislike it right now.
Thinking that she needed to try harder, Aisha told him he could call her whatever felt comfortable.
“But ‘you’ is a bit much, so could you call me by my name instead?”
“Name?”
“Yes. I have a name too. Aisha Valencia.”
He didn’t look particularly eager, but even he seemed to realize that calling her ‘you’ was a bit much, and he nodded.
“Call me.”
“…Ai…sha.”
“Call me that from now on, Jeri.”
“…Jeri?”
“Yeah. I just thought of it, but I figured it would be nice if Jeron had a nickname too, so I made one. It’s cute, right?”
Aisha smiled gently and called him “Jeri” once more.
“What about me?”
Luzbel, who had been sitting still like he was glued in place, suddenly asked.
It seemed it was starting again.
“Beli.”
“What?”
“Luzbel is Beli. I thought it through.”
No, wait.
In truth, she hadn’t thought it through, but afraid he might get jealous over their son again, she blurted out a nickname as if she had already prepared one.
And surprisingly, it was pretty good.
Jeri-Beli.
Nicknames sharing a similar sound, it was too cute.
“…Beli.”
Luzbel seemed quite pleased to have a nickname of his own. He shyly flushed and murmured his nickname.
“I’ll make one for Aisha too.”
“Okay.”
“It would be nice if we matched with the same sound. Shali? Ari? Both sound kind of bad.”
At that moment, Jeron spoke quietly.
“Isha.”
“Huh?”
“I’ll call you Isha.”
“Oh? Did Jeri make Mom’s nickname?”
At that, Luzbel bristled and protested,
“I don’t like Isha. Make it Aili.”
“Isha.”
“Aili. It should match with ‘li’ to be pretty.”
“Don’t want to!”
“I don’t want that either.”
The two of them bickered.
They had always been cold toward each other, barely even talking properly, but this was the first time they were actually exchanging words and expressing their opinions.
Even if it was an argument, Aisha liked it.
“What’s wrong with Aili?”
“Isha gets to choose.”
Being pressured to choose her own nickname was a bit awkward, though.
***
From Aisha’s perspective, she had to take care of both Jeron and Luzbel, so it was hard to choose just one.
So she suggested rock-paper-scissors, and the victory went to Jeron.
Luzbel stubbornly pressed his lips together, but when she asked if he was really the kind of man who couldn’t accept his defeat, he said no and obediently accepted the nickname “Isha”.
“Isha.”
In the end, Jeron seemed pleased that the nickname he chose was adopted, because he kept calling her name.
Luzbel, on the other hand, looked dissatisfied.
Still, he didn’t express it outright. He just looked sulky.
“Pfft.”
His expression was so honest that the servants watching couldn’t hold back their laughter, which pretty much said it all.
“S-sorry.”
“It’s okay. I think I know why you’re laughing.”
“…It looks nice.”
Flora smiled again, her cheeks puffed up.
“Thank you for saying that.”
It felt a bit like she was raising two children, but even so, it felt good.
“Isha.”
“Yes.”
If they were going to call her fondly, she should answer properly.
It wasn’t a sight she got to see often, after all.
“Jeri, shall we go eat dinner?”
“Are you hungry?”
“Dinner…?”
Unlike Luzbel, who reacted sensitively to the mention of a meal, Jeron was rolling his eyes around.
“Wouldn’t you eat together with us today too, Jeri? It’s Mom’s wish.”
“…A wish?”
“Yeah. I’m asking you.”
“…Asking.”
When Aisha held out her hands with an earnest expression, Jeron finally nodded.
Of course, Jeron, who had a very rigid side to him, still didn’t allow any physical contact.
Even so, this was the first time since Jeron had come to the manor that they were eating together, and that alone made Aisha happy.
***
Now Aisha could eat meals like everyone else.
She liked that she could eat as much meat as she wanted.
The only downside was that the food here was quite greasy, so after eating a certain amount, it became heavy.
She wasn’t someone who liked sweet foods to begin with, so she didn’t particularly enjoy desserts either.
To soothe her unsettled stomach, she had started enjoying raw vegetables.
Thanks to that, the weight Luzbel had carefully put on her over the course of a month was quickly dropping off again.
“Jeri, try this too.”
Aisha wanted to know what Jeron liked to eat.
“Beli, do you like this too?”
Of course, while taking care of Jeron, she didn’t forget to take care of Luzbel as well.
“Yes. I like it.”
“I think this is tasty too.”
“You should eat some too, Isha.”
Luzbel cut Aisha’s steak into bite-sized pieces and handed it to her.
Eating steak three times a day had started to feel a bit heavy, so she wasn’t reaching for it much.
“Thank you.”
Still, since he’d gone to the trouble of cutting it for her, she picked up a piece and ate it.
“Aaah, try this.”
Luzbel picked up one of the side dishes and offered it to her.
“I can eat…”
“Aaah.”
“…Aah.”
Feeling his firm intention to feed her, she had no choice but to open her mouth.
It tasted like vegetables pickled with something refreshing.
Eating it alongside the meat helped cut through the greasiness a bit, making it just right for her taste.
Still, for Aisha, who had a Korean palate that preferred spicy food, it was the kind of flavor that would get tiresome after eating a certain amount.
“Since it seemed like you don’t really enjoy meat, I specially asked the chef for this.”
“Really? Thank you. No wonder it felt like something I’d never had before.”
She was genuinely grateful that he had gone out of his way to think of her.
“I’m glad it suits your taste.”
Luzbel smiled proudly.
“Ah, Jeri, do you want to try it too?”
As they chatted with smiles, she felt an intense stare and looked over to see Jeron glaring at them as if he might bore holes through them.
Aisha dipped the pickled vegetables and brought them to Jeron’s mouth.
“…I’ll eat it myself.”
“Okay. Try it.”
Jeron took the fork and put it into his mouth.
“Blegh.”
It seemed it was far too sour for a child’s palate.
After chewing a little, he spat it right back out with a gagging sound.
The miserable look on his face made it very clear just how badly it didn’t suit his taste.
“Ugh!”
That was when it happened.
It didn’t stop at just spitting it out. He suddenly threw up everything he had eaten.
“Jeri!”
Even Luzbel looked startled, and Aisha hurried over to check on Jeron.
“Let go!”
But Jeron forcefully shoved away Aisha’s care.
“Ugh…”
As if the nausea kept rising, he kept dry heaving over and over.
