Chapter 10

 The World Is Colorful (4)

Ethan, who had been watching the scene sourly, shoved a piece of cake right in front of Bel’s eyes using his fork.

“Try saying ‘Dad.’ Da. Ddy.”

“…….”

“Oh ho? Shutting your mouth altogether?”

He had still not surrendered his stubbornness.

“Leave her be.”

Unable to watch any longer, the dragon Argares added a word.

Having stepped away briefly saying he had somewhere to drop by, he had joined the welcome party late.

“Even a child needs time to get used to things.”

Adding that forcing it would only invite backlash, he clicked his tongue loudly.

Aspe was nodding his head beside him, giving strength to the dragon’s opinion.

“That’s right, Ethan. Once enough time passes and Bel opens her heart, she’ll call you that.”

Even Setia was on the dragon’s side.

Left all alone, Ethan somewhat testily shoved cake into his mouth.

“Hmph.”

“Try getting a little closer with her.”

Seeing her pouting husband, Setia giggled softly.

In the meantime, having obtained a fork, Bel began scooping up and eating cake by herself now.

“Yum!”

The dragon looked fondly at Bel, who was nodding her head in satisfaction.

“Little one. Would you like to eat more of mine as well?”

“There is plenty, Lord Argares. Please, eat.”

“I do not care for sweet things.”

Setia spoke politely, but the dragon gently declined her offer.

Having already heard about Bel, Setia was treating the dragon with an unbothered attitude.

Observing her demeanor carefully, the dragon asked in a low voice:

“Have you looked into the child’s parents at all? It seems you’ve dispatched people.”

The adults’ eyes all turned to Bel at once.

Noticing their gazes, Bel blinked her eyes with cream smeared all over her mouth.

“Whash ya lookin’ at.”

“Wipe your mouth.”

Roughly rubbing the child’s mouth with a napkin, Ethan shot back sullenly.

“Yes.”

Naturally, he had looked into it.

Director Theresa, upon seeing Aspe return to the orphanage last night, had spilled every single detail about the day Bel arrived at the orphanage.

As for the reason she hid her identity, she had dismissed it saying, ‘Just in case.’

Knowing the hidden meaning behind those words, Ethan let it pass without bothering to blame her.

‘She was probably worried I might use the child’s power as a tool for authority.’

From her perspective, she must have wanted to hide it as much as possible.

In fact, even now, Ethan was trying to hide Bel from the Senate, was he not?

“Did you find out anything?”

“We are tracking it.”

They hadn’t found out anything yet.

They had merely confirmed the definitive death of the woman presumed to be Bel’s biological mother.

However, hoping that tracing her footsteps might lead to finding even the child’s biological father, he had urgently assembled and sent out a tracking team.

Along with it was the faint hope that since Bel was alive like this, perhaps one more member of the kindred of the stars might be alive as well.

“I see.”

Giving a brief nod, the dragon’s pupils turned toward Ethan.

“May I ask one thing? You do not necessarily have to answer, though.”

“Why ask then?”

At the crooked response, the dragon parted his lips.

“Why were you not contaminated?”

“…….”

Ethan’s hand, which had been picking at his cake, froze solid.

Setia checked Ethan’s complexion as if watching his reaction.

“……Probably because I’ve been purified once in the past.”

Breaking the brief silence casually, Ethan answered nonchalantly.

“I went blind once when I was young.”

“……You went to find the kindred of the stars.”

“Not me, my father.”

A momentary longing flickered in Ethan’s eyes as he stared blankly at the squished cream.

As his father’s final moment—marred in red—flashed through his mind, a burning sensation welled up inside his chest.

Ethan gripped his fork tightly to hold back the nausea.

“Thish. Yum-yum.”

Just then, Bel’s tiny hand lightly patted the back of his hand.

Her amethyst eyes were blinking purely and clearly.

Ethan poked the innocent child’s cheek with his knuckle, then gathered the squished cake and swallowed it in a single bite.

‘Pebble-sized topic.’

As if she knew anything.

Knowing nothing at all, the way she looked at him as if comforting him was so laughable that a smirk escaped him.

“Thought you said you didn’t like me?”

“Uuu!”

As he kneaded and teased Bel’s cheek, the space between the child’s brows crumpled.

Though she was wrinkling her tiny nose as much as she could, there was no way this was threatening in the slightest.

A rabbit’s hind-leg kick would be more threatening.

‘Those old fossils wouldn’t even have something like this enter their sight.’

Ethan recalled the air of the gloomy, damp basement.

He felt like he could smell mold from somewhere.

‘I need to eliminate the immediate threats first.’

As he slowly closed and opened his eyes, the dark, sunken energy vanished completely.

“Bel.”

“Nn?”

“Repeat after me.”

Ethan kept his lips moving without letting go of the chewing child’s cheek.

Extremely mindful so that even a child with slurred pronunciation could speak clearly—.

“Piss. Off.”

“Pish.”

He was teaching her curses.

“Ethan!”

Appalled, Setia hurriedly covered Bel’s ears.

“You… you…!”

The dragon held the back of his neck, and—

“What a wonderful thing you’re teaching her!”

Aspe rained down fierce criticism upon his superior.

However, what kind of person was Ethan?

“If strange old fogies act friendly, tell them to piss off.”

Without caring in the slightest, he only said what he had to say.

“Got it?”

“Naughty, word. No-no.”

“Sometimes it’s necessary.”

“Ooo-ng?”

Tilting her head as if failing to understand, Bel poked a grape on top of the cake.

Ethan interrupted her as she opened her mouth wide with great enthusiasm.

“Will that even fit?”

Snatching Bel’s fork away, he cut the grape into four pieces and handed it back.

At the sight of him looking after her so naturally, a smile lingering at the corners of Setia’s lips broadened.

“My Lady.”

Just then, her exclusive maid approached quietly and announced the doctor’s visit.

“The doctor is waiting.”

“I shall go now.”

“Together…….”

“You stay with Bel.”

Setia pressed down on the shoulder of Ethan, who was trying to stand up with her.

According to Ethan’s current standards, Setia was still a higher priority than Bel.

However, Setia wished for that priority to be inverted as soon as possible.

“Bel. Stay here eating cake with the mister. I’ll be back shortly after dropping by somewhere. That’s alright, isn’t it?”

“Nn.”

Bel nodded her head bravely.

Reluctantly, Ethan sat back down next to Bel.

As Setia left and her empty place was cleared away, the dragon watching the scene asked:

“Does she have a chronic illness?”

“I don’t know the name of the disease. She’s just been physically weak since she was young.”

The dragon nodded as if understanding.

“So that’s why you adopted a child.”

“I don’t need… I said I was fine.”

Casually trying to blurt out his usual habit, Ethan paused and changed his words.

Seeing his behavior, the dragon smiled faintly.

“Have you tried everything you can?”

“I’m sure I did everything I could on my own.”

“Have you… gone to find a dragon?”

“Those guys don’t meddle in human affairs for trivial reasons…….”

Ethan’s mouth, which had been answering testily, gradually shut closed.

The dragon, Argares, crossed his arms leisurely.

“Indeed. Just as you say, we dragons do not pass down knowledge to humans for trivial reasons.”

If spirits were specialized in resolving special problems like curses, dragons possessed abilities much closer to reality.

For instance, outstanding academic knowledge.

Naturally, medicine was one of them.

“I do not possess the talent to cure eyes that have gone completely blind like the kindred of the stars, but I can at least slow down the speed of an illness.“

Saying so, Argares rose from his seat.

“Treating the guardian of the baby star is no trivial matter. Will you guide me to where the Duchess is?”

Seeing him stand up, Bel quickly stuffed the remaining cake into her mouth.

“Me too!”

At her words saying she would go as well, Argares’s smile deepened.

“I will wait for you, so let’s wipe the cream off your mouth first, little one.”

Placing the stethoscope here and there on Setia’s back, the doctor let out a low sigh.

“It seems inflammation has pooled in her lungs.”

“Is that so?”

“When you breathe, isn’t there a lot of phlegm rattling? Do you have any symptoms of coughing up blood?”

“……I do. Do not tell my husband.”

Smiling like a flower that would fade away at any moment, Setia pressed her index finger to her lips.

Either way, it was only a matter of time before it reached Ethan’s ears.

However, she wanted to push that time back even a little—even just a tiny bit.

Ethan has a lot of affection.

It was because he resembled his parents.

Even though his actions were rough, once he gave his heart, he was a man who would pull out his very liver and gallbladder for them.

“How much time do I have left?”

“……My Lady…….”

“Still, I wish it could be about a year.”

Berta—the lovely child who had just stepped into the Ducal House.

Until that child adapted, she wanted to stay by her side and watch over her.

At least until the bond between Ethan and the child became just a little closer.