Chapter 16
‘Khh, hmm… At this rate I might actually cry.’
Alkaid finally surrendered, unable to turn away from the green eyes brimming with expectation and sorrow.
“Ahem… So, you want to take that home with you?”
“That? That’s not a that. He’s a person.”
Lor widened his eyes as if to correct his father’s wrong word choice. Faced with such pure innocence, Alkaid suddenly felt embarrassed.
“…Fine. You want to take that child with you?”
“Mm-hm! Mama said that if you see someone who’s sick and just walk away, then you’re a bad person. And that kid is sick! So we have to take him and help him.”
Lor’s gaze was filled with the unshakable belief: Of course we’re going to help, right?
Alkaid fell silent for a moment.
By his nature, he would never take such a child along.
On the battlefield, children were not spared. The weak and the sick were nothing more than burdens to the army.
But staring into Lor’s innocent eyes, Alkaid found he simply could not say no.
From the moment Lor insisted on going into that alley, this was already bound to happen.
At worst, he can just be Lor’s playmate.
To think the only direct heir of Grand Duke Atteleon would pick up a playmate off the street.
The entire social circle would buzz if they knew—but Alkaid thought of it casually, then looked at Lor with gentle eyes.
“I want to save him!”
Lor bit his lips tightly, as if to emphasize his sincerity. Even his lips formed a tiny walnut-shaped pattern that looked adorable.
“…Very well.”
Alkaid stretched a hand toward the child.
Shaaaa—
From his fingertips, shadows unfurled.
Like living things, the shadows crept forward and wrapped around the boy’s entire body, as if to swallow him whole.
“Ah—! A monster!”
Lor shrieked in fright at the sight.
“N-no, stop!”
He struggled violently, desperate to run to the boy and help him, to heal his hurts as quickly as possible.
“Please, let him go!”
Lor, close to tears, pounded Alkaid’s arm with his little fists.
Then Alkaid explained in a softer voice than usual:
“…It’s not a monster. It’s my power.”
Strangely enough, when Lor had called it a “monster,” the shadows had seemed to droop, almost dejected. After all, a special ability was deeply linked to its master’s emotions.
But Alkaid deliberately ignored that.
“Poweeer?”
Reassured that it wasn’t a monster, Lor looked up at him with bright, innocent eyes.
“A power is a strength that only those of royal blood can wield.”
“Mm… So then, it’s not a monster?”
Alkaid, nearly crestfallen again, forced himself to answer calmly.
“Yes. You could call it… Daddy’s friend.”
“Friend!”
At that, Lor laughed brightly and clapped his little hands together.
That had scared him, but now he was relieved.
Just like in his storybooks—Daddy’s friend was a shadow!
“Nice to meet you, Shadow! Sorry for calling you a monster!”
Lor greeted and apologized in a bold voice.
“…Yes.”
Alkaid answered in the shadow’s place, then twitched his fingers again.
Swish— The shadow wrapped around the boy began to crawl across the ground like a swollen snake dragging its prey.
Alkaid didn’t care whether the boy got scraped or bruised being dragged along the ground.
But Lor did.
“No! He’s hurt!”
At Lor’s firm protest, Alkaid’s brow furrowed ever so slightly.
It irritated him, the way Lor kept worrying about this child.
But then he relaxed and obediently lifted the boy into his arms.
“Let’s go back.”
“We’re taking him with us, right? You’re going to heal him, right?”
Cradled on Alkaid’s other arm, Lor looked back and forth between his father and the boy.
Tsk. He had only intended to drop the boy off at a clinic somewhere.
But when inspecting the boy’s body with his shadows, Alkaid had discovered something troublesome. He smacked his lips in annoyance.
Alkaid had never once bent his will for anyone.
“…Fine.”
But with a single word from Lor, his stubbornness crumbled into pieces.
He carried the boy back to the carriage and laid him down with unusual care.
Lor’s sparkling eyes, which seemed to say Daddy’s so cool!, stirred a softness in Alkaid’s heart that he hadn’t even known was there.
The journey back home was smooth and quiet.
Lor gently stroked the black hair of the boy, who still lay unconscious.
Alkaid’s gaze on them grew darker.
The carriage bearing the three of them stopped in front of the mansion.
Alkaid stepped out first and held out his hand for Lor.
Lor burst into giggles as he placed his small, soft hand into his father’s large palm.
“Look, I saw this! In a fairy tale, the prince holds the princess’s hand like this!”
With a faint smile, Alkaid clasped Lor’s hand and helped him down.
A grand duke escorting a child with a smile… none of the mansion’s servants had ever seen such a sight.
“Welcome back, my lord.”
The butler bowed deeply.
Alkaid kept his eyes fixed on Lor and only gave a brief nod.
“Oh, right!”
Clapping his hands, Lor marched forward confidently while holding Alkaid’s hand.
At his cheerful voice, the butler smiled warmly.
How long had it been since this cold, cavernous mansion had been filled with a child’s voice?
Moved, the butler wiped tears from the corners of his aged eyes.
“Grandpa! Grandpa!”
“M-my lady…!”
Grandpa…! For the young lady of the house to call a mere butler that was far too much.
Yet since the butler already thought of Lor as his own granddaughter in his heart, he was overwhelmed once more.
“My lady, please, speak comfortably. Just call me butler.”
It would never do for the grand duke’s daughter to speak so politely to a servant. The butler spoke kindly, but firmly.
“Speak comfortably? How? And you’re Grandpa, so why should I call you something else…?”
“Haha, I’m just grateful that you care for me this much…”
But his resolve melted the moment Lor tilted his head in puzzlement. Before long, he was grinning from ear to ear.
“…Must be nice.”
A low voice brushed the butler’s ear.
Startled, he looked up at Alkaid. The tone sounded calm, but after serving him for so many years, the butler knew the truth.
Alkaid was slightly irritated.
And Lor’s eyes sparkled even brighter for some reason.
W-what just happened?
The butler fell silent in confusion.
“Grandpa! I have a favor to ask!”
Lor called out with a ringing voice.
“A favor? You need only say the word.”
“Good Grandpa!”
Lor hugged the butler’s leg tightly and beamed up at him.
Then, with sudden seriousness, he spoke earnestly:
“There’s a sick boy in that carriage. Grandpa, please make him better!”
All throughout the ride, the boy had been groaning in pain.
He must be really, really sick.
Sometimes Mama had groaned like that, unable to get up, and then Grandpa had brought a doctor.
If that boy received “treatment” like Mama had, he’d get better too, right?
Lor’s shining eyes looked up at the butler, whose kindly smile reminded him of his real grandfather.
But the butler’s expression turned troubled.
“My lady, that’s beyond my authority. You should ask His Grace the Grand Duke.”
Allowing the child into the mansion and treating him was clearly overstepping bounds, so the butler quickly passed the responsibility to Alkaid.
“Ahem, ahem.”
Alkaid cleared his throat loudly, as if to say leave it to me.
But Lor, struggling with the butler’s complicated words, looked bewildered.
So Alkaid decided action would be clearer than words.
He scooped Lor up, peeling him off the butler’s leg.
“Wahhh!”
Lor squealed happily as his body lifted into the air, kicking his feet in delight.
Alkaid held him with practiced ease.
The way Lor’s little arms wrapped around his neck so naturally was deeply satisfying.
