Nellis and Ruperi's eyes went wide.
Seeing their startled faces, Hadel nearly let out a laugh.
But he barely held it in. He had warned his son not to wander about alone at night, yet here he was, having broken that promise. He needed to scold him.
Keeping a stern face, Hadel looked down at Ruperi.
Paul, the teddy bear, was—as always—in his son's arms.
'Something is strange. Was that bear always so eerie?'
- Lately, it has had such an unsettling air about it. Every child who looks at it gets frightened and starts crying, so I was about to take it off the shelf…….
For a moment, Hadel remembered what the shop clerk had told him.
At the time, Hadel had not sensed the aura the clerk mentioned.
Instead, the bear had somehow looked lonely, so he had bought it as a gift for Ruperi. But now that he looked at it, an eerie aura did seem to cling to the teddy bear, just as the clerk had said.
'Surely my suspicion is not right.'
Several weeks earlier, Hadel had dealt with the Dikidia curse mages who had infiltrated the estate.
Yet even after resolving the matter, one question had remained unanswered: another sinister aura he had felt at the place where they encountered the curse mages.
Hadel had wondered whether curses had always felt so cold.
'But it did not seem to belong to the curse mages who took their own lives.'
Had someone else been there? He had asked Ruperi, but his son had only looked puzzled.
- Was there anyone else? No. There was no one.
As Hadel tilted his head, Paul caught his eye.
A cute, light-brown teddy bear.
It was the toy Ruperi had grown the most attached to lately.
But did its atmosphere not resemble the sinister aura that had lingered in the corner of the garden?
That might have been when he first began paying attention to the teddy bear's unsettling aura.
'I must be tired. If a teddy bear were enchanted, there is no way I would fail to notice.'
Blaming his fatigue for such absurd thoughts, Hadel set them aside.
However, on his way to the bedroom, incomprehensible conversation drifted out from Praten's study, forcing Hadel to recall them again.
- So Paul just does not want everything in shades of blue?
- Even after thinking it over, I don't think a four-tier cake will work. Let's make it three tiers.
It sounded as though Ruperi was speaking with someone.
His voice belonged to Ruperi, but the other party seemed to be Paul, the teddy bear.
Then Ruperi let out a soft laugh and spoke in an excited voice Hadel had not heard in recent memory—no, perhaps never before.
'What is this?'
Hadel's thoughts came to a halt. A chill went down his spine, and he could not even bring himself to look inside.
As he stood there in a cold sweat and listened to their conversation, Ruperi emerged from the study.
- Ruperi, I told you not to wander around alone at night.
At the sight of his son's face, the words came out reflexively. Hadel's amethyst eyes quickly swept over Praten's study.
But he could not sense any sinister aura.
'Was it only doll play?'
Anchina often played with dolls with Ruperi, so it was plausible.
Hadel hardened his expression and reprimanded him.
"Ruperi, are you listening to me?"
"I am. I'm sorry."
"It is enough that you understand what you did wrong. If it happens again, you will be severely punished."
Ruperi looked dejected. He slumped his shoulders while hugging the teddy bear, and Hadel's heart softened.
"But why did you come to the study?"
"Ah, Paul—"
Paul?
"……Brother said he is holding a surprise birthday party, so I came to look at the plan."
"You came to look at the plan?"
"Look. Paul is happy because I included his opinions."
Ruperi took the teddy bear's arms and shook them from side to side, as though Paul were waving them happily.
'It really was just doll play.'
How ridiculous, to consider the possibility that the teddy bear had been enchanted or possessed by a ghost.
Hadel inwardly laughed at himself for entertaining such a preposterous idea and relaxed his tense body.
More importantly, a surprise birthday party?
'Praten said it was a secret.'
Once he grasped the situation, Ruperi continued.
"But you do not have to hold a birthday party."
"You do not want one?"
"You will cancel it because you are busy, just like before, when the Miten people—no, when Miten causes trouble."
"……"
"So you do not have to hold a birthday party."
It felt as if Hadel had been struck on the back of the head.
He had thought everything would be fine because Ruperi had seemed understanding whenever they failed to take care of him due to being busy. But in truth, Ruperi had been giving up little by little.
'Wait, how old is Ruperi now? He will turn eight on his upcoming birthday, so…….'
Something had gone terribly wrong. Realizing it, Hadel stared blankly at Ruperi.
When his father only gazed at him, Ruperi tilted his head.
'Could Father think the Miten people will attack again?'
That was why he had said there was no need for a birthday party.
Just as Ruperi was about to give up again—
"No! I will make sure to hold your birthday party!"
Hadel quickly came to his senses and raised his voice.
***
Hadel could see why Anchina had suggested a birthday party.
He had agreed to help with Praten's plan and to draw Ruperi's attention elsewhere, but Hadel knew whose idea the plan truly had been.
- This cannot continue. Ruperi's birthday is coming up, so what if we hold a surprise birthday party?
- A surprise birthday party?
- If we do, Ruperi's heart may soften again.
Anchina was Ruperi's personal maid.
When she had said she had helped raise a younger sibling, Fin had recommended assigning her as Ruperi's maid. Hadel had not expected her to involve herself in the family's affairs as well.
But now, his initial displeasure had turned into praise.
'I should raise her wages. What a good idea she had.'
A surprise birthday party would show Ruperi that his parents, brother, and everyone around him still cared for him.
That was why Hadel was currently playing with Ruperi.
He had spoken with such resolve, but the doubt in Ruperi's eyes made him feel that he needed to bridge the distance between them. And after watching Ruperi, he found that his son quite liked adventures.
That was how they arrived at this.
"Ruperi, can you see? There is a knight over there. What should we do when a knight is coming this way?"
"Knock him out, or take another path."
"But we are sneaking back to your bedroom, so we should take another path."
"That's right! We should take another path!"
They were playing at being assassins as they headed back to Ruperi's bedroom without being spotted by the patrolling knights.
Ruperi followed Hadel with shining eyes.
It was exactly as Hadel had thought. Ruperi loved adventures.
'This would be good for rebuilding our closeness.'
Whether Hadel felt wistful or not, Nellis, the teddy bear watching the father and son, found the whole thing absurd.
'Excuse me. Can you not see that every knight approaching us hesitates and slows down?'
Duke Kreuz was ordering them to do so with a look.
Even so, Ruperi, whose Mana Sense was so keen, failed to notice a thing. He judged the situation solely by Hadel's words, which Nellis could not understand at all.
'Then again, how could he notice? His father is playing with him after such a long time.'
At times like this, he was every bit a seven-year-old child.
Even if he no longer pretended otherwise, Ruperi still loved his father.
The father, son, and teddy bear headed toward Ruperi's bedroom while avoiding the knights.
They hid in darkness, slipped into empty rooms, and took detours to find safe paths.
As they earnestly immersed themselves in the game, Nellis eventually became engrossed in it as well.
"Paul, what did you say we should do in a situation like this?"
"Paul says we should hide in the darkness!"
Ruperi raised the bear's stuffed arm and answered for him.
That was because Hadel had begun asking Paul for his opinion as well as Ruperi's.
"Well done, Paul. That is exactly what we should do. Shall we continue?"
Hadel stroked the teddy bear's head.
Then he headed into the darkness, but an unfamiliar sensation left Nellis dazed.
'Duke Kreuz patted my head……?'
It was a large, warm touch.
Nellis had never felt such a steady, reassuring sensation even from Aplin, and her heart stirred.
'Is it because he is a father?'
But the father Nellis knew had always coldly ranked his children according to their abilities.
As she only blinked, unable to understand the strange feeling, sharp amethyst eyes shining even in the darkness brought her back to her senses.
'It is Duke Kreuz. He is only playing along because I am Ruperi's toy.'
Not long afterward, Hadel, Ruperi, and the teddy bear reached Ruperi's bedroom.
Ruperi's face was flushed with excitement, and Hadel was pleased to see his son's reaction.
And the teddy bear was merely eerie as ever; it was neither enchanted nor possessed by a ghost.