CH 53

‘That child…’.’

Herace, who recognized Miguel, faltered with a wary gaze. However, Miguel, who was covered with dirt, smiled innocently and greeted her with his mouth shape.

Hello.

Herace hesitated for a long time before going outside where the child was. The high wall outside the glass greenhouse was still there, casting a deep shadow even in the middle of the day.

‘There’s no way he’s crossed this high wall…… by any chance?’

Herace, who looked at the child full of dirt, then looked around for any gaps in the wall and immediately asked the child.

“……how did you get in here?”

“Hello, I’m Miguel. It’s not my first time seeing you, but it’s my first time saying hello, right? Hello, Madam.”

He was mature and bold, unlike his age. Herace opened her eyes wide in surprise at the child’s ability to speak fluently. No matter how different children are, is it possible for a child who is still less than five to speak that way? She couldn’t believe it even when she heard it.

“Teachers often praise me for being faster at learning than my peers.”

The child laughed and said, as if he had guessed what Herace was thinking. Herace somehow felt a little dim.

‘He’s about the same age as Erzen. I know I shouldn’t show my ugly jealousy to the child just because my impression of him is bad. He’s as young as Erzen.’

In the first place, the child and she were not related and comfortable enough to talk with each other. Herace thought ill of the child because of her jealousy. As she judged, she bit her lips down. She managed to greet him back calmly, trying to hide her cool expression.

“Yes. You’re late to say hello. I’m……”

“I know. You’re Erzen’s mother, aren’t you? I recognized it right away because you look just like Erzen.”

However, the heart that was barely suppressed collapsed the moment she heard her son’s name. Herace took a step closer to Miguel.

“Do you know Erzen?”

“Yes! I know him very well. He’s a cute little brother.”

Miguel’s words immediately burned her with anger, sorrow, and at the same time with relief. A complex emotion that even Harace herself could not judge shook her lungs and stabbed her heart. She felt the pain and looked down at the child with a stiff face. Even though he looked like Ezekiel, his face that looked so similar to him was smiling beautifully as he bent his eyes at her.

‘Erzen and I… Erzen and I…….’

Hate surged when he saw a face that looked just like that man. Erzen was not even recognized as his child, but this child was enjoying everything Erzen would have with a face that looked just like him. Herace unknowingly spat out her feelings for the child.

‘I hate him.’

But as soon as she realised her feelings for the child, she blushed in shame.

What is wrong with me? No matter how much I hate this child. This child was not the cause of the situation she and Erzen are in now. The person to hate and resent the most…… It was the man who looked like this child.

‘He’s (Ezekiel) the one who caused me and Erzen pain. This child was born to trouble us. Still, I shouldn’t do this….… I can’t do this.’

Herace stepped back with the foot she had approached to the child. Then Miguel took a step closer to her with his amber eyes shining even more.

“I couldn’t believe my eyes, but you are really beautiful. As much as the sculpture over there. You look very much alike.”

Herace turned her eyes along Miguel’s fingers. What the child was pointing at was a long-haired fountain sculpture in the glass greenhouse. Herace chuckled at the statue. The statue and she didn’t look very much alike.

“I don’t look like the Snow Fairy. But thanks for the compliment.”

Unlike Herace, whose curves are in harmony, which gives the overall weak and soft impression, the statue gave a slightly frighteningly cool and inhuman impression. No wonder, the statue was a sculpture of an alien being in the Northern legend.

Snow Fairy. In the North, the statue was called the Snow Witch. It was a symbol of a cold, arrogant, hard-to-reach beauty as its name suggests.

“It’s not the Snow Fairy, It’s the Snow Witch. People of the capital call it the Snow Fairy which originated from the Snow Witch of the Northern legend to make it sound soft and weak. I think any proud northerner who knows the true history of the North would call it the Snow Witch.”

Miguel frowned slightly at Herace’s words and made a clear explanation. Herace, who had a small smile after thanking him for the compliment, was once again surprised by the child’s deep knowledge.

The word ‘Witch’ itself is considered a very bad term after the Holy War. The word ‘Snow Fairy’ is used more often in the North, but some of the proud northern families still taught their descendants that Snow Fairy should be called Snow Witch.

“You studied a lot. You must have been praised a lot by your teachers.”

“My father taught me this. He told me to call it the Snow Fairy, but I prefer the word Snow Witch.”

Herace tried to stroke Miguel’s red-faced head as if he was happy with the compliment, but when she heard that he had learned it from Ezekiel, she clasped her hands tightly together. She asked bitterly, thinking of Erzen.

“Ezeki……, did your father teach you that, too?”

The corners of the child’s mouth rose slightly at the words of Herace. The child replied shyly, but in a confident voice, fiddling with his feet wrapped in silver.

“Yes. My father is closer to me than anyone else. He teaches me many things.”

“……He seems to care about you a lot.”

Hearing the child’s answer, Herace realized. As long as she is Erzen’s mother, she will never be able to truly like this child. It would be best to treat him with a hidden hatred like now.

It reminded her of the Duchess Ulysses, who hated Ezekiel, the illegitimate son of the Duke of War. In the past, she thought she (Ulysses) was cruel, who hated Ezekiel as if she wanted to kill him. But now finding herself in the same situation, Herace thought she was better than her (Ulysses). At least she was honest with her heart.

‘I’m being narrow-minded. However…….’

Herace, who thought it was hard to see Miguel’s face anymore, asked the last question before sending the child back.

“By the way, Miguel, as I asked you earlier, how did you get in here? There wouldn’t have been an entrance.”

“This is where I have been wanting to come for a very, very long time. Thanks to you, I know everything about this place!”

The child spoke confidently with both hands on his waist. His pure face and bright voice seemed to have no intention to hide anything from her, and Herace hesitated to ask where it was.

“Do you want to know where I came in?”

The big round eyes quickly faded. His voice was also subtle, which was different from before. On the day when Herace suddenly lost consciousness before being taken back into Serpence Castle, she remembered the voice she heard just before she fainted.

[Do you want my help?]

It must have been an illusion, but why is the memory so clear?

Herace took a close look at Miguel. The child’s face, which she saw again, was pure. Miguel looked at the silent Herace and turned in a cheerful motion and gestured to follow him.

The outdoor garden outside the glass greenhouse was more like a small yard than a garden. The distance between the glass wall and the outer wall of the greenhouse was within 10 steps. And even that was decorated with various plants and shrubs, so the actual space to walk around was remarkably small. Miguel went to the corner of the narrow space and stuck close to a round shrub.

Following Miguel’s gaze, Herace looked behind the shrub and saw a very small hole. A hole that even a small child has to crumple into. In addition, there were lush shrubs outside the wall, so it was dense with branches. But even so, Herace was both surprised and pleased to find it. There’s a passage through here.

Miguel looked at Herace’s face and whispered in a small voice as if telling her a secret.

“It’s a secret passageway that adults can’t find nor use. But Lucy and I can go through it.”

“Lucy?”

“It’s a white little dog I have. I showed it to Erzen, and he really liked it.”

When Erzen’s name popped up again, Herace looked at the hole more persistently. If I dig some more dirt under the hole…….

“I don’t think I can use the hole anymore if I grow up a little bigger. I dug up the soil, and the roots of the tree are touching here. I’m barely passing by even now…….”

The wish was quickly broken. Miguel leaned down and groaned, twisting between the shrub and the wall, and made a regrettable remark as if he had heard Herace’s inner thoughts.

Herace flinched because she seemed to have been caught, and then bowed down in front of Miguel, who came out to her side again. She made eye contact with a child who was messed up with dirt and leaves and patted his head. She couldn’t really like him, but she wanted to show kindness to the child who tried hard to come here through being dirty.

“Thank you for letting me know your secret, Miguel.”

“…….”

“But don’t ever come here again. It’s a dog hole, but branches outside can hurt you. And if you get dirt on pretty clothes like this…….”

The hands removing the leaves and shaking off the soil were very friendly. Miguel cut off her words as he stared at Herace, who arranged his hair and clothes.

“I’ll bring Erzen when I get a chance.”

“…….”

Erzen. Herace’s words stopped at the name of her son.

Can I see Erzen? If she could meet her son, whom she was forced to separate from..…. A great temptation engulfed Herace, who craved for his son. She turned her head away from Miguel’s eyes.

“My teachers will turn a blind eye to it once in a while if I tell them that I want to play with my brother. They are pretty lazy. Then we can come here together.”

“…….”

“It breaks my heart that Erzen cried because he wanted to see his mother. I live with my mother…… It’s so pitiful to leave my younger brother alone. If we are careful of the branches and wash the clothes later, no one would know. So don’t worry.”

Herace’s eyes, which had been shaken by conflict, stopped when she heard that he felt sorry. She was alone. And Erzen was alone too.

‘Erzen was crying? Looking for me?’

Herace raised her head slowly. She looked at Miguel with blue eyes full of tears as if pleading. However, she shook her chin and did not ask Miguel to bring Erzen.

As the silence lengthened, Miguel twisted his mouth knowing that Herace wouldn’t notice it. The child showed a hateful smile, took a step back from Herace, and put himself in the gap between the shrub and the wall.

“I’ve got to go.”

Miguel grunted and dug into the gap as hard as he could when coming here to see Herace through the hole. The child’s body slid gently through the shrub like a flexible snake. The voice of the child that arrived over the wall rang in the ear of Herace, who was dazed sitting on both knees.

“I’ll be back next time, so please wait.”