Rather Than The Son, I’ll Take The Father

Regen clasped his fern-like hands and made a courageous determination.

“I will protect Your Grace.”

“As I said before, I am not weak enough to be protected by the eight-year-old Lord.”

“Yeah. I will protect you though.”

Are you pretending to listen?!

[“Oh, were you a good kid?”]

I heard the sound of a slight increase in Paimon’s favorability toward Regen.

I couldn’t let go of lingering feelings and wept.

“Do you remember when Lord used magic? I even broke the ice spear with my finger.”

“It is useless to convince me. Your Grace needs protection.”

He couldn’t be so adamant.

As if he was trying to express his will with his whole body so much that he would not be shaken by any sweet treat, Regen tightened his eyes and straightened his waist.

No, I was just stating the truth—

Suddenly, I felt like an endangered animal that would be in big trouble if I didn’t receive the utmost care.

For me, who wanted to deny reality, Regen spoke step by step and point by point.

“My father is really, really strong. The nanny is also strong enough to lift me with one hand and put me on the bed if I fall asleep in a strange position at my desk. But not Your Grace.”

Aedis already knew this, but Mrs. Theresa must have some kind of power.

I thought about holding Regen, who was stunned when I drank the blood of the beast.

Soon, I vaguely remembered how much Regen’s weight was.

Ugh, unless I drink the blood of the beast again, it’s absolutely impossible with my one hand right now.

Regen spoke again as it was his turn to give the medicine after giving the illness.

“Nevertheless, it’s nice that Your Grace always said warm words.”

“That…… I’m glad it’s been of some help.”

Although my sense of injustice was not greatly relieved, the opponent was Regen, so I put a smile on my face.

Come to think of it, Procryon had asked if I had any plans to keep calling Regen by his first name.

If it’s Regen, I’ll give him permission.

But I said it out of pity.

In the end, I swallowed the words that lingered in my mouth.

“It was fun to eat today, Lord.”

And I swallowed my tears as well.

I can’t call your name today, let’s try next time……

Even for Paimon, sunbathing time, which was only for a short time out of 24 hours, seemed very precious.

He kept complaining that the empty room he was using was dark, and in the end I said that he could use my private room where he stayed when he was sealed in a stone statue.

Aedis gave me the whole floor with a great view, and my private room had some of the best light in the castle as well as that floor.

The brightest room in Cyclamen Castle was used by Regen as his bedroom, and the second brightest room was mine.

“It’s an hour! It’s 59 minutes, an hour, I’m just going to go back to you Eve after watching the sun for an hour, so don’t have too much fun with the Demon King!”

“Ugh, yes.”

Paimon waved his wings to greet me, and I returned to Aedis.

Aedis was looking at a book with detailed instructions on how to make dessert, just like yesterday.

It’s not like he was a servant, but where did he get a book like that?

Did the butler bring it to him, or did he buy it directly from a bookstore?

I sat across from Aedis and stretched out my arms.

It was a small, round tea table, so I could barely touch Aedis.

“Aedis, Lord said it’s good that I said kind words to him.”

“Is that so.”

Aedis answered without looking at me.

“…… I’ve seen you secretly pushing back the chair.”

Wow, betrayal.

You are still maintaining your vigilance.

Aedis coughed.

But I did not come closer again.

If I had kissed him, then maybe would he have kicked me out of the castle?

I remembered a slip that Sarah carefully selected just before coming to the north, but that seemed unlikely to be taken out even if I died of old age.

If I had worn it and slept with him, I would have been divorced soon.

One day, I woke up suddenly, and I didn’t know if it was in a big mansion or something.

Holding on to suspicions that are not unreasonable, I continued the conversation for the first time.

“Why doesn’t Aedis also say a warm word to Lord?”

“He wouldn’t be as happy as hearing from the wife.”

“Is it possible? I’m sure he would be delighted.”

I didn’t have to wait long until I could prove my point.

A little more time passed, and while Regen was taking a break from class, he came over to enjoy tea time.

I glanced at Aedis without missing a moment.

Aedis reluctantly opened his mouth.

“Regen, if there’s anything difficult, you’re welcome to tell me.”

At that, Regen opened his mouth abruptly and dropped the bread he was eating.

“Father, what did you eat wrong?”

“……”

“I can do it on my own! Don’t worry!”

The way he showed confidence was strange, but he was not impressed at all.

“Please also depend on me, Lord.”

When I intervened, Regen had a completely different reaction.

“Uh…… Yes! Then help me with my homework!”

Aedis threw his gaze at it.

What?

Why is the answer different for me?

“Then, should I ask Aedis to help too?”

“No?”

Regen gave a slightly disgusted look, and he refused.

“It’s really nice to spend time with my father, but homework is homework, so I want to do it alone!”

What is the difference between me and Aedis?

I couldn’t understand the meaning of ‘homework is homework,’ so I asked again.

“What about Mrs. Theresa if you didn’t want Aedis?”

“Your Grace…… do you hate me?”

“Of course not!”

“For me, it is enough for Your Grace to help.”

I still didn’t quite get it, so I called Sarah as soon as Regen returned.

Sarah was not surprised.

“The Lord? Mrs. Theresa says he likes to do things alone. She thinks he wants to look like an adult. She also said the Lord is a person who feels a strong personal independence.”

Even though Regen is eight, I know he hates it when he’s treated like an eight-year-old.

What worries me is that, nonetheless, my help is limited to ‘homework’.

“Then, Lord doesn’t really need my help, so should I see it as deliberately pretending to need it? He was trying to cheer me up. After all, homework doesn’t require much effort, so it’s perfect for that purpose, isn’t it?”

“Well, if it were true, would it be a bad thing? It means that the Lord likes Your Grace!”

Yes.

“Sarah, Regen wants to protect me.”

“How proud is that!”

“The problem is that Regen has already seen me using the blood of the beast to improve my physical abilities. He knows that I made a contract with the spirit. But! Even so! He still thinks he shouldn’t depend on me other than to help him with homework.”

I tapped the table with my finger.

“He says Gilbert is scary, but he would protect me.”

When I spewed the sadness and injustice of how I was portrayed as the object of protection for an eight-year-old, Sarah did not spare comfort and encouragement.

“Don’t cry, Your Grace. It is because there are so many extraordinary people around Lord. I also found out Mrs. Theresa exercised quite harshly. Even the first Lord, who was expelled, has the nickname of the best swordsman in the Empire anyway, and my mouth hurts when I have to talk about the Grand Duke.”

“So, only for a limited time, the strong me was relatively buried?”

When our eyes met, the strongest husband, who helped Regen see me as the weakest, even though it was not intentional, smiled.

“Eve? You’re not going to assassinate me, are you?”

I rolled my eyes at his tongue-in-cheek comment.

I’m not going to take it lightly.

“Not so long ago, Lord was worried that I would crumple Gilbert, but how did this happen?

“Isn’t it because Your Grace has been sick a few times? You’ve been sick for a long time, especially lately.”

“Suddenly, I want to slap Shaula on the back.”

As I talked about the cause of my pain, Sarah laughed.

“Your Grace, you must cherish your hands. Ah, come to think of it, Shaula-sama skipped breakfast today.”

I squinted.

“Sarah, if she’s bothering you and you’re taking care of her……?

“Eve! Eve!”

Suddenly, Paimon poked his face out the window.

Even though the words were blurred by the appearance of her disturber, Sarah waved her hand violently in denial.

“No, not at all!”

As if Paimon had slept, he glanced at Sera, who would not be able to see him anyway, with blank eyes.

“Can I stay here?”

The hour that was emphasized like that had not yet passed.

Maybe my room wasn’t good either?

I nodded my head to Paimon and let Sarah out.

When Aedis was the only one left in the room, Paimon was drunk with the scent of sunlight and flew in.

“Why are you here so early? My room is still sunny.”

“It’s fine there. But it’s noisy.”

“Noisy?”

“I’m annoyed that your subordinates keep coming and going. They’re messing around.”

As Paimon grumbled, he quietly sat down on my lap.

But my curiosity did not go away, but rather increased.

“Messing around? Wouldn’t this be cleaning time?”

Since I shared the same bedroom with Aedis, my room had no choice but to be quiet.

The maids came to clean up only at set times, and even that was once or twice a day.

Also, the cleaning time is not long.

Because there’s nothing to mess around with. It’s a bit strange?

“Did you see how they messed around?”

“Huh. Turning things like boxes upside down and putting them back in place? Is that cleaning?”

I supported Paimon so he wouldn’t fall off my lap, and my eyes sank.

“Well. Maybe it’s not cleaning, it’s searching for something. Without my permission.”