AIGOO, IT'S HARD TO RAISE A SON

NEOMA was shocked when she found Lewis by the pond.

Her son just came out from the water and he was bleeding all over. She had been there so she knew that the wounds he got were from the bites of the monstrous fish in the pond.

[Oh my gosh!]

Secretly escaping her palace to look for Lewis was worth it.

Stephanie and Alphen said that she didn't have to look for her butler herself– that they would just ask the other servants to look for him instead. But knowing how the servants looked down on Lewis, she knew that they wouldn't search for her son.

So when Stephanie and Alphen left her room, she used the window to get out. Thanks to the darkness, she managed to avoid the royal knights patrolling around her palace until she got to the pond.

"Lewis!" Neoma scolded him firmly when she reached him. She wanted to hold his shoulders and shake him until she knocked some sense into her son. But she remembered that he hated skinship unless he initiated it. And she didn't want to accidentally hurt him. "Why did you jump in the water?!"

Lewis intense gaze focused on her face. "Princess. You reckless. You hurt. Me not with you. Me hurt the same."

Okay, it took her a while to get what he meant by that.

"Are you saying that if I get hurt when you're not with me, you're going to hurt yourself the same way I got hurt as punishment?" she asked with furrowed brows. "Are you serious?"

Lewis didn't need to answer– the fire in his eyes already told her that he was dead serious.

"Lewis, are you upset because you weren't by my side when I got hurt?"

He nodded firmly.

"Oh," she said. "But escorting my esteemed guests is also a part of your job as my butler, Lewis. I understand your feelings, but I hope you also understand that being my butler doesn't only mean that you have to stick to me like glue 24/7. That's the reason why I insisted that you have to study."

The fierceness on Lewis's face disappeared.

Now he looked like a poor puppy that was kicked by his cruel owner.

[Gosh, my son's angelic face is making me feel like I'm the worst mother in the world.]

"Princess angry?" Lewis asked in a very sad voice that kicked her conscience again. "Princess hate me?"

[My heart…]

She didn't know that being a mother could be this hard until that very moment.

[Aigoo, I want to scold him but his pitiful face is bad for my heart.]

"I'm not angry and I don't hate you," she said, giving in to Lewis's puppy eyes. Gosh, why was she so weak against pretty people? For sure, her ugly layers and superficiality would really be her end someday. "Lewis, I apologize for making you worry. But I want you to know that if you want to continue being my butler, you can't hurt yourself the same way I got hurt just because you weren't able to protect me." She pointed at the pond. "What if you overestimated your ability and you weren't able to get out of the water? Would you die in peace knowing that you'd never get to see my pretty face again? Gosh, that's a huge loss for you."

Lewis looked shocked as if he just realized that he could have died. And had that happened, then he would never see her again. "Sorry, Princess."

She just smiled and nodded, relieved that she finally knocked some sense into him.

And she was glad that they already resolved their problem because Stephanie, Alphen, and some royal knights arrived.

Neoma covered her mouth with her hands when she yawned. "Let's go to Madam Hammock and get her to treat your wounds, son."

Lewis shook his head. "Me not princess son."

***

"GLENN failed his mission to retrieve the Devil's Grimoire from Duke Sloane."

Neoma stopped putting sugar cubes in her tea after she heard what Emperor Nikolai informed her.

Right now, they were having tea in the rose garden of his palace. They didn't get the chance to have breakfast together like planned because the emperor was busy that morning. And it looked like it had something to do with Sir Glenn's mission.

Now she understood why the knight was nowhere to be found.

Lord Kyle Sprouse was in Sir Glenn's place instead. The count was standing in the entrance of the rose garden with the other servants and several royal knights.

"When did you send Sir Glenn to retrieve the Devil's Grimoire?" Neoma asked worriedly. "Is he okay?"

"I sent him to the duke's mansion last night– right after you informed Glenn about what you found about Duke Sloane," the emperor explained. "I told Glenn to pretend as a thief. But when he arrived at the duke's mansion, Duke Sloane was already in a critical condition because of poisoning."

"Oh."

Her father raised a brow at her. "Your reaction is quite bland."

"Well, Duke Sloane touched a book that humans aren't supposed to own," she said. "His demise is something I already saw coming."

"The duke is still alive."

"Shame," she said, then she sipped her tea.

She didn't want to sound calloused but was she supposed to feel empathy for the person who almost killed her? Gosh, if her life was an anime series, she probably wouldn't be the protagonist because of her lack of empathy.

[I'm a girl who already died twice. I don't care who dies as long as they're not close to me. I just want to survive and become a lady of leisure this time.]

In short, she was already jaded.

"So Papa Boss," she said after putting her teacup down on the coaster. "Is Sir Glenn hurt? I don't see him around."

The emperor sipped his tea first before he explained. "When Glenn found Duke Sloane in a terrible state, he immediately searched all over his room for the Devil's Grimoire. It only took him a while to find what he was looking for. But instead of a book, Glenn found a crumpled piece of paper in the duke's hand. We think it's a page from the Devil's Grimoire."

She stopped drinking tea midway when she realized something. "Papa Boss, did Sir Glenn get poisoned when he touched the paper?"

He nodded, obviously surprised by her quick thinking. "How did you know?"

"There's a reason why people started saying that the Devil Grimoire shouldn't be owned by humans," she reasoned. "Papa Boss, how's Sir Glenn?"

"Fortunately, Madam Hammock managed to save him. Glenn is out of danger but he needs to rest," the emperor said. "But instead of worrying about my knight, you should worry more about your butler."

Her brows furrowed in confusion. "What do you mean by that, Papa Boss?"

"The paper that Glenn found in Duke Sloane's hand is the page of the grimoire that teaches how to catch foxes," Emperor Nikolai said. "It looks like someone else is interested in your little foxy boy butler, Princess Neoma."

"Aigoo." Neoma let out a deep sigh. Her physical body in that world was only five-years old. But she already felt like an old woman based on how exhausted she was. "It's so hard to be a single mother while raising a very precious son."

***

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