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Wow. Wow……
I had been struggling to somehow make those warriors my protectors. No wonder it didn’t feel real when I heard the proposal I had been dreaming of.
I swallowed my dry saliva and asked again, “But….even if I’m a mixed-race?”
“What do you think we’ve come all this way for?” Siegfried asked calmly.
I mumbled through my lips, “Uh…….”
“We fought to create a world where no one suffers, for the liberation of mankind and the fair treatment of all races.”
His blue eyes looked straight at mine. It was an unwavering, clear gaze.
“Wouldn’t it be strange for us to pretend that we don’t know such a vulnerable child like you?”
“Siegfried.”
“So, don’t worry about that part.”
After drawing the line like that.
After hesitating for a moment, Siegfried carefully reached out his hand.
‘What, what’s with your hand? You’re not going to hit me, are you?’
I flinched reflexively. At that moment, a big hand landed on top of my head.
Was that all? Siegfried just patted my head clumsily!
“No matter whose blood you have inherited, you are just a child who should be protected.”
“……..”
I stared blankly at Siegfried. For a moment, that was all I could do.
Tak.
Tears began to drip down my cheeks.
Oh, what the hell is this?
I was startled and wiped my eyes with both hands.
“Hey, Siegfried!” Kirios, who had been watching with both eyes on them, raised his voice. “Because you’re being so blunt, the kid is crying!”
“Oh, no. But I didn’t mean to make the child cry……….?” Siegfried was in rare straits.
Cesar narrowed his eyes and rebuked him, saying, “Miss Tatiana is still young. You need to be a little gentler, so that she doesn’t get surprised.”
Then he rolled his eyes and turned back to look at me.
“Right, Miss Tatiana?”
“…….”
I couldn’t help but look at the three arguing with tears in my eyes.
This was the first time for me.
Someone was carefully examining my mood, and everyone was making a fuss just because I was crying?
That is, this was the first time I’ve been treated as a child who needs to be protected.
I shook my head reflexively.
“Ah, no. I’m not surprised or scared…….”
I could feel the eyes of the three men gathering my way. I felt the tip of my nose beginning to sting again.
From the beginning I didn’t mean to cry. I was really fine….
I smiled as brightly as I could with my teary eyes.
“Because you asked me to go with you, it’s because I really like it!”
All right, I finally caught the warriors!
……. Of course I was satisfied with that, but more than that, what struck me the most was that it was new to me.
This is how it felt to have an adult guardian. It was such a relief.
I mean, I feel really protected.
The feeling ticked my heart like it was rubbed with a feather. Although it was an unfamiliar feeling, it wasn’t a bad feeling.
No, rather.
‘………I think it’s a good thing.’
I wriggled my fingers.
“Yes, sometimes you can cry if you get emotional.” Cesar, who nodded, took out a handkerchief and held it up to my nose. “You can be excited.”
“…. Excitement?”
So, this, this is it, right?
The time when you blow your nose with the help of an adult?
I glanced at Cesar slightly, but Cesar only nodded casually.
“Yeah. Hmph.”
“……..”
It was a long pause before I could bring myself to blow my nose.
The handkerchief must be dirty since my nose was in it, but Cesar didn’t care at all; he folded his handkerchief and wiped away my tears with a clean corner.
“However, if you cry for too long, your body will be tired. Don’t overdo it, okay?”
“……..”
In the belated embarrassment, I just pretended it never happened.
“I didn’t cry.”
“Yes, yes. You didn’t cry.”
“This is just….my eyes are so dry that I shed tears.”
“Okay, you know that?”
Cesar, who replied with a smile on his face, carefully wiped away the tears and the runny nose. The hands that patted her back and the gazes of the three warriors looking at me were so unfamiliarly kind.
“Tati is sleepy. I want to sleep.”
I covered myself with a blanket to avoid their eyes.
***
The next day.
I left with the warriors, vacating the Demon Castle, where I had been imprisoned for a long time.
A long journey followed.
I had all sorts of new experiences.
It was my first time camping, first time lighting a bonfire, and first time watching the warriors compete with each other.
“Look, kid. This is what I got.”
Pointing to twelve neatly arranged yellow berries the size of my head, Kirios shrugged his shoulders proudly.
“That’s a lot of them!”
As I clapped her hands, Kirios shoulders rose to the sky.
Cesar was also a great cook, and this was especially true of the tree nuts he roasted with salt and pepper on them. They were delicious enough to melt on the tongue!
For your information, Kirios suddenly summoned a fireball, asking why it was such a hassle to bake, and then burned all the fruits he had picked……
Before going to bed in the evening, Siegfried sat me down by his side and told me the name of the stars in the sky.
Every day was fun, as if I had gone to a picnic.
To be honest, after I entered the empire, I was worried that people would point fingers at me because I was a demon.
“There’s nothing to be nervous about.”
Cesar patted my shoulder reassuringly.
“Why are you scared? If there are guys saying anything to you, I’ll blow them all up.” Kirios pushed up the corners of his lips and grinned.
“Kirios, as the owner of the Magic Tower, keep some dignity in your words and actions. But I agree with what you said,” Siegfried added as he narrowed his eyes.
After a lot of time, we finally arrived at the Imperial Capital.
The Capital City I visited for the first time….
‘Wow, that’s really amazing.’
I clung to the carriage window, unable to take my eyes off the view. Countless landscapes passed by through the window. Well-organized streets with no bumps, pedestrians walking the street dressed up beautifully, and colorful buildings all passed by.
It’s like a city where a princess from a fairy tale lives, right?!
But then.
“Tatiana, you’re going to fall out of the window.”
With a brief click of the tongue, someone lifted me by the armpits and moved my tiny self into the carriage.
It was Siegfried.
“Be careful.”
“Yes.”
I answered like that with my mouth, but she couldn’t help it because my eyes kept turning out of the window.
So, while I was peeking out the window.
“By the way, who will take care of the kid and raise her from now on?”
Kirios suddenly dropped a bomb!
Oh my god.
I froze in place.
Siegfried glared at Kirios at once.
“Do you really have to bring up such a topic in the presence of the child?”
“Why? It’s where the kid will live in the future. Rather, don’t you think she should know?”
Kirios shrugged.
Siegfried looked caught off guard at the answer.
Then he exclaimed briefly.
“Kirios, it’s been a while since you said the right thing.”
“What?”
Kirios was furious.
But Siegfried and Cesar were already discussing my future without paying any attention to Kirios.
“At first, I was trying to find a good family, but…….”
“It’s kind of like telling other people. Since she is a mixed race, it might be uncomfortable for Miss Tatiana.”
I quietly listened to the conversation of the three people.
“Since we’ve decided to take care of her, I want to see Miss Tatiana grow up healthy.”
“That’s right. In case the little kid awakens as a demon, it is better for us to take care of her ourselves….”
Kirios, who had been sympathetic to Cesar’s words without much thought, looked back at me in a moment of shock.
“Hey, kid. It doesn’t mean that you’ll run wild……!”
“I know.”
I nodded meekly.
In fact, just by looking at the accumulated ill feelings between the demons and humans, those three people’s acceptance of me was a great generosity.
Kirios tried to make an excuse.
“Well, I didn’t say that because I hate you. You know, right?”
“Yes, I know.”
When I smiled brightly as a sign of reassurance, Kirios let out a sigh of relief.
Such a huge debate ensued.
“Then I should be the guardian of Tatiana…….”
As soon as Siegfried opened his mouth, Kirios took a stand.
“No, why are you taking her?”
“Isn’t it right that my family, which has the best knights in the empire, take her in to prepare for Tatiana’s demonic awakening?”
“No, there are excellent mages who roll around in the Magic Tower, right? Even if that kid runs out of control, couldn’t we stop that much?”
Siegfried furrowed his eyebrows at Kirios impregnable defense.
“I am against it though. What would you do if the child grows up eating your guts out?”
“Hey, what are you talking about?! That won’t happen!”
Kirios straightened his face and jumped up and down.
At the same time, Cesar intervened in the conversation.
“If you’re going to approach it that way, isn’t it reasonable for me to be Miss Tatiana’s guardian?”
“What?”
“What does that mean?”
Kirios and Siegfried looked back fiercely at Cesar.
Wow.
I swallowed my dry saliva.
It’s the first time I’ve seen these two look so serious….