Chapter 19 - The Little one and the Duke, the Daughter and the Father

When I asked, the boy shut up.

What if he doesn't have a name?

I thought he would be sarcastic, but he opened his mouth, smiling with a neat face without saying a word.

"My name is a little long and difficult for you to pronounce."

Then instead of leaning slightly towards me on the branch, he picked another apple and threw it over his hand and received it.

The apple flew up in the air, then fell into his palm again.

"So just call me Kean. That would be a pleasure."

Kean, it didn't seem like an imperial name.

And there was no one by that name in my novel. Are you just an extra?

While thinking about it, I suddenly remembered what I heard from Henriette last time.

Henriette was the only one who could freely enter and exit deep in the greenhouse, but that boy was also deep in it.

This was the time to address that question.

I looked up at him again.

"By the way, are you a human being, brother? ·······. Huh?"

Obviously, until just now, the boy on the apple tree had disappeared into thin air.

I looked around, but he wasn't anywhere as if he's only my imagination.

I tilted my cheek in question, and suddenly I heard a voice from behind me.

"Little kid."

Surprised by the familiar voice, Henriette stood there.

The apple in my arms fell down.

"D- Duke."

"I wondered where you had fled, you were just in a place like this."

Cold sweat ran down my spine.

I think he noticed that I intentionally ran away.

Henriette, who seemed to be looking for me, frowned.

But when he saw my face, he sighed, and turned slowly, trying to approach.

For so long, I was eating refreshments in silent tension, and through the silence, Henriette's voice was heard.

"Why did you run away from me?"

Flinch. The fork that was cutting the apple pie stopped.

"I- I didn't run away."

"So it's a coincidence that you disappeared from your room at exactly the same time yesterday and today. Even yesterday, the chef said you got a separate snack."

"…"

Those traitors! I came out of the kitchen and asked them to keep my snack a secret, and they finally told him!

As I trembled inwardly, He looked at me, and Henriette's face was fierce, spitting out laughter.

"You lied to me. That's funny."

Is there anyone else in the world who laughs fiercely and says it's funny?

Then he was silent for another long time. He just stuck his chin out and looked at me.

I had a hunch that something big might happen this time.

"Little kid."

Henriette's voice popped up through my thoughts. I answered in a hurry.

"Yes."

"Are you scared of me?"

"W- …what?"

I almost answered 'yes' directly, but then I tried to ask.

Henriette sighed as he tilted her face at an angle.

"I told you the location of my room the other day, but you didn't visit once ·····."

"…"

That's what you told me to do?

I was embarrassed and finally noticed that the fork was flowing from my hand and so I clenched it back, Henriette spoke in a drowsy manner, trimming the title slowly.

"I even put magic on you so that you could come to me without getting lost on purpose ·····That is."

Du-dung.

Eventually, the fork spilled from my hand and fell on the plate in front of me.

I looked at him in great bewilderment, momentarily unable to hide my expression.

That's what you meant? Maybe he was totally twisting his will.

But I have a lot to say.

No, I wish you'd said yes earlier if it was like that.

I've tried so hard not to go near Henriette's room by mistake.

… I couldn't say it directly, so I barely opened my mouth, enduring the hiccups.

"Oh, no. I'm not afraid of you, Duke."

"Why the Duke again?"

As I raised my head with a confused look, he said, frowning as if he didn't like it.

"You used to call me Dad."

"… what?"

"Why do you call me 'the Duke' now?"

I think he heard me talking to the boy earlier.

"Maybe you call me Dad only when I'm not there."

Seeing that you don't ask about the boy, it seems that you two also know each other.

Apart from that, if you ask me with such a scary face, I'll have nothing to say.

Thanks to you, I've been choosing words for a while.

"… if I promise not to be scary to you in the future."

The villain was sighing out.

"Then, you won't run away?"

The silence that came again covered the garden coolly.

Even the maids around me couldn't hide their speechless faces. Their eyes widened at the unexpected answer.

Henriette Cittlet Wensgrey, the villain in my novel, is obviously a childless villain.

His sons used to be like that until the end of the story and left without a hitch, and they were the kind of person who was eventually scheduled to be destroyed because of the evil they did.

He's now hoping I won't run away, afraid of myself.

Like a big beast hiding his sharp fangs and claws from a small animal that erupts in front of him, he is indifferent and still waiting for an answer.

"… yes."

I nodded softly with a puzzled face.

I doubted whether the one in front of me was the villain in the novel, but on the other hand, I was relieved.

A glimpse of hope raised in my head.

Henriette, who lives in his own world, not the type of villain I wrote about, may be a little different.

Most of all, you've already taken good care of me so wouldn't it be good to look forward to it?

"I won't be scared soon. I like the Duke."

With that in mind, I answered and grinned slightly.

Of course, the word "dad" hasn't stuck in my lips yet.

Henriette did not answer for a moment, but his expression was distinctly soft. It's a face that looks like something's relieved.

"And the picture."

Then, as Henriette pulled out, he looked at it with a twitch in his shoulder.

"…This time it was pretty."

The words brightened my face.

It was definitely a more positive expression than last time.

Looking at me, relieved again, cutting a mouthful of apple pie with a fork, he also buried his back deep on the back of the chair.

And then I was very nervous.

"I'll have to get another frame."

"…what?"

Huh? Frame? And what do you mean again?

"More than the previous two."

'·····Previous two?'

My- my two paintings. Wasn't it abandoned?

Unexpectedly, Henriette did not throw away my paintings and kept them.

Even in a frame.

"Eat."

"…yes."

When I was in the middle of confusion, he shook his hand and made a bowl of handmade cookies fly in front of me.

Let's pick one up, it's a little less sugar than last time. Although it still didn't taste good.

Still, it was amazing that it developed so quickly to make me a cookie.

Warm air poured in from beyond the white landscape.

After the meal, I headed to the castle with Henriette.

I thought I'd ask him about the boy I saw earlier, Kean, but suddenly I remembered the reactions of ghosts that were strange.

Maybe he's not really a man.

At that thought, I wasn't going to ask. It was because I thought he would be so scary after it was confirmed that he was not really a human being.

Some say that ignorance is medicine. I just hope we don't bump into each other next time.

I really appreciate him taking me to my room and opening an apple.

'But why did you say you were a guest?'

"Lord!"

I was lost in thought for a moment, and I could see someone rushing in from afar.

Walking alongside Henriette, I pulled my head out, and it was the Knight Commander.

I've seen him from afar once in a while, and he's quickly getting closer to us.

But as he got closer, he looked too big. It's as if a big bull is running.

Suddenly scared, I quickly hid behind Henriette's legs.

"Are you here? Now…"

"Three steps."

"Yes?"

"No, four steps back."

Beyond Henriette's icy voice, I poked out from behind his leg and then met the knight-in-chief who found me with a bewildered look on his face.

It's as big as a giant again. Does he look more like that because I'm a kid now?

He smiled awkwardly at me.

"Oh, was there a lady? Oh no, I'm sorry. I'm too big, right? Children often get scared of me."

The Knight Commander spoke in a rather soft tone, contrary to his tough appearance, and really stepped back four steps in front of me and Henriette.

"Hiding behind you, she seems to really like you."

"Of course."

Henriette replies, somehow his voice felt a little more stiff than before.

So I slightly raise my head and look at his face.

"The kid follows me so well."

····· His mouth was slightly smiling.

The commander of the Knights looked at him for a moment and his eyes widened, and it was not until Henriette returned to his expressionless face as if something had just happened that he came to his senses.

"So, what brought you to me in a hurry."

"Oh, t- this isn't the time. We just had a visitor. ·····."

The gentle flowing air was wonderful.

"Count Semond has come to see you."