Masera’s babysitting skills were confirmed at the Raphael Orphanage.
“Why, why are you crying? Did something sad happen?”
“Bwaaah!”
I was holding the loudly crying baby, not knowing what to do.
Taking care of a baby was incredibly difficult. In front of a baby who couldn’t understand my main weapon, conversation, I was just a helpless being.
“Would you like to give him to me?”
Masera, a domestic man wearing an apron over his shirt, took the baby and skillfully held him in his arms.
“Woong…”
Soon, the baby, who never stopped crying, had a comfortable expression.
Was it not just me who felt comfortable with his large, broad chest?
Looking back and forth between Masera’s and my chest area, comparing them, I looked at the baby again.
To be exact, he wasn’t just being held, but lying face down on his arm.
“Wow, what’s the principle? He wouldn’t stop crying no matter how much I held him.”
“It’s to release the gas.”
“Gas?”
As soon as he finished speaking, a ‘poong’ sound came from the baby’s bottom.
I, who happened to have my face near there, turned pale and stepped back.
“Eek, a cute but nasty smell.”
“You’ve experienced the process of a baby digesting milk through your sense of smell.”
Captain Carlton, who had come along for the children’s check-up, smiled at me.
“Am I right? I know your husband better than you do. If you have any questions in the future, ask me.”
He spoke provocatively, like an evil government.
As Captain Carlton said, Masera, a master of childcare, quickly understood and resolved the babies’ complaints just by listening to their cries.
“How can you be so good at it? You’re really amazing. They say babies like people with pure souls, is our husband not just pure but transparent?”
At my storm of praise, Masera looked like he was dying of embarrassment.
Then Captain Carlton, who was holding a struggling and crying baby, asked with a sulky expression.
“So, am I a dirty and corrupt soul?”
“You have the soul of a doctor that everyone fears.”
He instinctively knew that the other person was a terrifying being, yes.
While Captain Carlton was examining the baby’s condition, Masera, who was already holding the baby in his arms and putting him to sleep, said.
“I took care of them a lot when I was in the facility as a child. At that time, the adults almost neglected the babies with low survival rates…”
Masera stopped talking and sighed.
I approached him and smiled to lighten the mood.
“Then you must like babies?”
At my question, he changed the baby’s position, who was groaning, and looked hesitant.
“…I don’t dislike them.”
It was a strangely unsettling answer, but I didn’t pry deeply. It was because his face had darkened.
“Unfortunately, giraffes can’t live in cold regions. But it’s pitiful to keep them locked indoors.”
Cynthia conveyed words of comfort to Stan, who had come to volunteer at the orphanage with her.
“Instead, I’ll show you a cute dog wearing a giraffe headband. He’s decided to live with me from now on, and I named him Giraffe. He’s a dog who has reformed from the Organization life.”
“Woof.”
Stan, seeing the Organization-born guard dog wearing a giraffe headband, nodded.
“His original name was Nicolaus Copernicus, but it’s become much easier to call him.”
“Dogs should not have more than three syllables in their names, as there are many times when they need to be called urgently…”
Cynthia glanced at Stan, who seemed slightly disappointed.
“There’s a hot country across the sea where many giraffes live. I’ll send you there on vacation, so you can go and see them? If you think you can withstand the extreme heat, I’ll set up a giraffe sanctuary there.”
Stan scratched his head and smiled awkwardly.
“I don’t intend to go that far. The promise to buy a giraffe back then… meant let’s meet again alive.”
“Hmm, then what do you want to do? You must have had a dream, right?”
At her question, he stroked Giraffe, who was now a companion dog instead of a guard dog, and gazed somewhere with a sentimental expression.
“I don’t know about dreams, but I think I can find something to like besides giraffes in the world. I’ll look for it while assisting the CEO, as I’ve always done.”
He didn’t look like someone who would assist anyone, looking like an Organization boss, but he smiled and continued.
“Being by the sunlight obsessed’s side, I think I’ll come to like many things.”
At this, she flinched and looked around.
Masera, chopping wood with an axe in the distance, was visible.
What’s with the way he talks? I thought it was an Organization romance novel.
“Don’t say things like that in front of my husband. It’s too flirty.”
If our prickly husband heard those words, he might have chopped you instead of the firewood…
“You’re my type in terms of looks, but I’m not interested in married women.”
Even those words are dangerous! I don’t want to be imprisoned!
Cynthia put her finger to her lips, meaning to be quiet.
“But what is the CEO’s dream?”
At his question, she smiled sweetly and took off the giraffe headband from the dog Giraffe.
“Me? Living a life looking forward to tomorrow.”
After a moment of silence, he rubbed his chin and curved his lips.
“Am I in the CEO’s tomorrow?”
“I told you not to do that. Your life is in danger, you know?”
“You pay a lot, and the working environment and benefits are good. So are the subordinates, so I hope you’ll keep me employed for a long time.”
“We’ll see what you do.”
Beyond Cynthia, who answered simply and clearly, children were seen running towards Stan in the distance, calling out to him.
“uncle Giraffe!”
He had often come to the orphanage with Makia during his Organization life, so he was very close to the children.
A child, hugging his leg and smiling, asked.
“uncle, is uncle Makia not coming anymore? I miss him.”
Stan’s lips closed into a straight line, then he wore a lonely smile.
“Um, he probably won’t be able to see you for a long time. He’s gone on a long trip.”
“Did he go to catch a dragon? Like a hero?”
“That’s right. Shall we go read a fairy tale about dragons and heroes? I also brought ‘Eat confidently anywhere’ desserts.”
‘Eat confidently anywhere’ was the name of Nadia’s dessert shop.
Stan, lifting the smallest child high in his arms, took the hands of the remaining children and left. The dog Giraffe followed closely behind.
“Giraffe! Why are you following that man? I’m your owner now!”
She tried to hold him back, but Giraffe didn’t even pretend to listen.
Ah, I haven’t been recognized as the owner.
Cynthia watched Stan and Giraffe’s receding figures with warm eyes.
“…Everyone has a warm sunlight within them.”
Unlike his initial expression, which was always scary and cold, he now showed a smiling face often.
That must be his true self, right?
I hope that man, and my cute subordinates, will one day become rabbit-like husbands and live happily with wolf-like wives and fox-like children.
While smiling contentedly, imagining a former) Organization member modestly wearing an apron and assisting his wife, she felt a tickling breath on the top of her head.
“Princess sunlight obsessed.”
Masera, who had approached Cynthia from behind, was looking down at her.
“…I told you not to call me that?”
“This child keeps following me. Even though I told him it’s dangerous.”
In his arms was a young child.
He was a boy of about three years old, and he had been toddling after Masera since earlier.
Cynthia smiled brightly at the child.
“How cute. What’s your name?”
Perhaps because he was very shy, the child rubbed his face against Masera’s chest and smiled bashfully.
“Erwin. My last name is… umm.”
The child wiggled his small fingers and checked the necklace around his neck.
Children often don’t remember their last names well, so parents often give them necklaces with their last names written on them in case they get lost.
‘The fact that he’s here even with that… means he’s lost his parents.’
“Erwin Vistalis.”
At the child’s words, Masera’s face seemed to harden slightly.
“Vistalis?”
“Yes.”
Masera’s expression changed subtly as he looked at the child’s light greyish-brown hair.
He was reminded of a woman and a baby he had met long ago while tracking down a spy.
The woman was killed by Lieutenant General Lev’s gun, and the baby was left alone.
“Leave him. Whether he dies here or goes to an orphanage, it’s his fault for being born to parents who were war criminals.”
The baby’s cries and Lieutenant General Lev’s heartless voice still seemed to be pulling at his ankles.
Years later, the captured spy asked Masera with a resigned face.
“…Is the baby healthy?”
The spy couldn’t bring himself to ask if they had even killed the baby. He didn’t even resent his wife’s death.
He just swept back his greyish-brown hair and smiled.
“Young officer. You’ll also become a husband to a woman you love and a father to a child someday, right? When that time comes, you’ll be able to understand my feelings now.”
The spy’s name, who disappeared as dew in the execution ground, was Fabian Vistalis.
“But, even if I know my last name, I don’t know my mom and dad’s names and faces.”
Masera’s eyes darkened as he looked at the brightly smiling Erwin.
What is derived from the war of killing each other was not only physical pain.
I’m sorry.
For not being able to do anything back then.
Masera swallowed the bitter regret inside.
That night, Masera couldn’t answer Cynthia when she asked about their plans for children.
Even when there was a misunderstanding and a happening occurred before, he only took care of Cynthia excessively and didn’t show any moved or happy reaction.
It was because he himself couldn’t understand what his own feelings were.
‘I wonder if she was hurt.’
Masera looked at Cynthia, worrying inwardly.
As expected, she was pouting her lips like a duck.
