Little kids with bigger misfortunes p2

It's only when Yurei accidentally dropped his painting brush, that he noticed Muriel and Ned in the room, As he glanced at them, the boy's heterochromic eyes were identical to Muriel.

"Mother!" in a second, Yurei jumped from his seat, happily hugging Muriel who hugged him back tightly.

"Painting rabbits again My dear?" Muriel fondly asked, And Yurei nodded excited.

"You are getting better and better everyday! once you finish it I will let you hang it anywhere you like!" Muriel Said, Yurei jumped once more excited "Anywhere! Anywhere?"

"Anywhere, Anywhere." Muriel replied to him, "So can I give it to Garrick?!" Yurei asked smiling big, Muriel nodded with a yes.

The boy instantly ran back in a rush to finish his painting while ignoring Ned's presence, Yurei was beaming with happiness as he sat back to work on his canvas.

Ned was a little hurt by being ignored, and it made Muriel chuckled as he knows his child cannot spare attention that easily for anyone, especially when painting.

"Garrick plays with the children a lot, they grew fond of him, he is in a way like an unofficial nanny." Muriel explained to the young doctor, "Remember when I told you I don't like kids much, that's because I can't see myself as a parent, I didn't have good role models for that sort of thing." Ned said.

Muriel remained silent for a second, unsure of how to respond to that statement, he glanced at Ned's face who was fixated on Tacito by the balcony.

Sighing, "Due to his injury, Tacito cannot speak, we managed to help him learn how to eat and swallow normally again, but he was not as cooperative with learning how to talk again, and I cannot blame him, the trauma is far from over for him.

But thankfully Garrick pursued him into learning sign language.

I was so proud of the progress Tacito made, I made it a requirement for servants working at the castle to learn at least some basics of signing to communicate with Tacito, including Myself!" Muriel said smiling proudly.

Ned stood there in awe, "Next time I call you an angel Muriel, just take the freaking compliment Muriel. " he said.

Muriel giggled at first but then quickly frowned, "Still, I feel like a bad mother most of the time, I get frustrated raising these little Angels alone.

God forbid, I never harmed them, I would rather end myself before I hurt any of them! but sometimes I cannot handle the stress children bring, I find myself breaking down or lashing out even in front of them."

"Oh for god's sake! being angry and stressed because of kids, it's a completely normal thing! as long as you control those feelings and don't end up hurting your kids, you're not a bad parent!

With everything bad happening in your life Muriel, and people just straight out abandoning such a kind soul like yourself, You're empty and need a recharge!

If you are empty and have nothing to give, yet you still continue giving Muriel, what you're giving won't be a gift, it'll eventually be a misfortune." Ned replied.

Taken by his reassuring words, Muriel smiled At the young doctor, "I suppose you are right...but you just made yourself sound like a hypocrite.

You said that you do not think you will be a good parent, I think the opposite... though becoming a parent is one's personal choice, I understand if your choice was to be childless." the young king spoke while admiring the painting Yurei was working on.

All of the sudden, the music that was playing stopped and Tacito was walking back inside the room after playing the violin out in the veranda, but he stopped in his tracks when he spotted Muriel and Ned.

Tacito kept eying Ned for few seconds, he was a little nervous seeing a stranger in his playroom but the fact that Ned was standing beside a smiling Muriel, was enough of a reassurance to him.

Ned stared back at Tacito now that he can finally see his face, and that stare made the boy tensed up once again.

The boy with the White hair, had Light Freckles making a line across his face, and although his expression was a little grim, Tacito still appeared as innocent and curious as any child in his age.

The only thing that gave Ned chills about the boy's appearance, was actually his gleaming red eyes, Tacito's red eyes were glaring back at the doctor.

"Boys! may I have your attention for a minute! I must introduce to you, my new doctor." Muriel spoke grabbing the attention of the two seven years olds.

Yurei and Tacito placed their items away and walked towards Muriel, Ned smiled at the two kids even though he was still a bit chilled by Tacito's glares.

"This is Ned Valentino, he is the new doctor i hired, and he is also my friend from when I was just a child like you two." Muriel explained to the kids, Tacito was unamused while Yurei smiled at the doctor, so Ned smiled back at him.

"I'll give you my painting instead! since you're new here Mister Ned!" Yurei said, "Thank you for your generosity my little prince! you can call me Neddie!" Ned replied bowing to the giggling little Royal artist.

Tacito signed something to Muriel, And Ned noticed that and replied to him "Don't worry, I only mean well for You and your mother Tacito." Ned said.

Tacito's glares grew fiercer as he realized that Ned can understand him, "Oh my! I forgot you can understand sign languages Neddie!

Well Matilda did mention that you were the one who taught her in the first place." Muriel stated, feeling himself getting impressed again by the young doctor.

Noticing that the glares still continued, "You don't like him brother Taci? I think Neddie is cool...not as cool as Garrick but cool." Yurei said casually.

Ned felt a little bit humiliated by the little painter's statement, but remained silent about it.

Tacito signed something else again and this time it was directed to Ned, "Hurt my mother and you're dead." he signed.

"Tacito! do not say such things!" Muriel scolded him, "Don't worry Muriel, I see where he's coming from.

if anything little Momma's boy, I'm here to make sure your mother isn't hurt, that's what doctors are for." Ned replied to the glaring boy with red eyes.

In this moment, Ned decided to say something extra to Tacito but instead of saying it, he signed to the boy to calm him down.

"From now on, let's protect your Mommy together." Ned signed.

The tension seemed to finally drop as Tacito's expression turned softer, he was glaring no more, and instead there was a wave of sudden peace that washed over his face.

Muriel smiled deeply, he felt most grateful to that moment where he decided to bring Ned back into his life.

Ned noticed that smile of Muriel, how genuine and pure it felt and felt grateful for taking the king's offer as well.

When Ned came into the royal palace less than few hours ago, he was thinking of everyway he could make himself a successful rich man.

Few hours ago, he was an absolute pragmatic, Ned aimed to climb the ladder and use anyone even the king however he liked to get where he wanted to, but something about Muriel from the moment they reconnected, made him feel this unusual urge to make the young king happy, and to keep him safe instead.

Ned came to collide with the reality that the rational rather than emotional mindset, doesn't apply to him when it comes to Muriel.

...An hour later...

Ned found himself sitting on a child-size chair talking with Tacito about literally everything, while Yurei ignored them as he focused on his painting instead.

Muriel was in the balcony, he fell asleep on a chair without anyone realizing it, until a gust of wind blew from outside into the room, it chilled Ned and made his body start shivering, so he went to shut the balcony's door as he hates feeling cold.

And As he approached the balcony, Ned found a tired and sleeping Muriel, shivering as well in his chair.

Ned removed his lab coat and covered Muriel with it as he did his best to pick him up, despite how heavy it felt for him.

He brought the sleeping king inside, resting him on a sofa while he shut down the balcony's door.

At that moment, someone else came into the room, it was Garrick.

Ned and Garrick stood there staring at each other for a while in confusion, before one of them spoke "Ned... fancy meeting you here."

"Hello, unofficial nanny Garrick!" Ned teased him, but Garrick smiled, "So Muriel told you how much I love these kids."

"You're lucky because I don't compliment people this easy, but you're going to be a great dad someday Garrick."

"I don't know what you're talking about Lovely, anyone can be a good parent if they tried hard enough."

"I don't think I'll be a good parent, not with the shitty role models I got for parents."

"You're still luckier to have a parent, I'm an orphaned kid Ned, I don't have role models, good or bad... Actually nevermind what I said, maybe it's better not to have parents than to have shitty ones."

With that statement, Silent took over the room, there was a pained expression on Garrick's face, one that Ned knew it was because of his sloppy mouth that made him bring out the parenthood subject.

Noticing that Ned was now also upset, "Don't feel bad about me lovely, unless you wanna ease the pain and become my family instead." Garrick joked winking, he was hurt remembering his own past but he didn't want it to rub on Ned.

Garrick was hoping that the young doctor will get angry because he flirted with him, and say something mean to lighten the mood, but Ned instead walked outside the room in a hurry.

Tacito signed to Garrick asking him what's wrong, and Garrick replied that he doesn't really know.

"Go after him, I'm watching over Mom." Tacito signed, the little boy moved his chair closer to where Muriel slept and sat down.

So Garrick signed him a goodbye and gave Yurei a hug before he left the room, and found Ned outside, few steps away from the room.