BDHD 13

Chapter 13

“What’s wrong with her?”

The kid’s breathing sounded strange.

Her skin was flushed and swollen, yet her face was deathly pale.

“W-What is it?! You……!”

The kid gasped and wheezed, unable to catch her breath.

Cassian’s face drained of all color.

This was the exact wheezing sound made by soldiers whose airways melted under scorching heat, leaving them unable to breathe.

Seeing her body go completely limp, he instinctively scooped the child into his arms.

What is this? Why, why is this happening?

Did someone poison her drink?

There’s no way monster fluids were in the cake.

Could it be because she saw something she shouldn’t have?

Did she have a fit because I tried to send her to the orphanage?

She isn’t choking, is she?

Is it really because I’m cursed……?

“Hey, hey! You can’t do this!”

“Sir, calm down! W-We need to get to a hospital!”

At the orphanage teacher’s shout, Cassian burst out of the building and flagged down a passing carriage.

“Hospital! Take us to the hospital! It’s an emergency! Emergency!”

“What?!”

Checking inside through the window, the coachman let out a shocked shriek at the sight before him and whipped the horses.

“Gaaah! Hospital! Hospi-taaaal!”

As the carriage rolled violently down the road, Cassian rubbed her back continuously.

The kid’s breathing grew worse by the second.

When her face—once as fair as a pearl—turned from red to a purplish hue, Cassian felt like he was truly going out of his mind.

He knew how to slay monsters, slash formless evil spirits, and trample demons, but he had no idea what to do when a tiny child had a seizure.

Cassian, who had never once trembled in front of a monster, was now shivering violently out of sheer terror because of the tiny child in his arms.

Thanks to the coachman driving the horses at a breakneck speed, they reached the hospital in the blink of an eye.

Cassian ran to the doctor while holding the child.

“It’s an allergic reaction.”

“An… an allergy?”

The doctor skillfully administered an injection. Slowly, her breathing began to ease.

“What did you feed the child today?”

“Eggs and bread…… but she ate those yesterday too. She also ate cake. It was peach cake…… ah.”

Cassian unconsciously sucked in a breath.

The late Iris had a peach allergy as well.

It made sense…… because that was something she inherited from Iris’s mother, Henrietta.

A bizarre sensation echoed through his heart.

Cassian stared intently at the collapsed child.

“If she has a peach allergy, there’s a high chance she’ll react to similar fruits as well. Please screen her food carefully from now on and keep medicine on hand at all times.”

“When will she open her eyes?”

“She’ll regain consciousness soon, so don’t worry too much, Guardian. Just wait a moment.”

After rattling off a list of precautions, the doctor left to treat another patient, leaving Cassian alone to guard the child’s bedside.

Her complexion looked much better than before, having returned to its usual fair tone, but Cassian himself was still holding his breath.

His mind was frozen, and the chill of winter settled deep inside his chest.

Although invisible to the naked eye, his hands were trembling uncontrollably.

Sniff.

Cassian took a breath and swallowed his running nose.

He had genuinely thought she was going to die.

He thought the child was going to die right in his arms, so hopelessly.

As he buried his face in his palms, his own warm breath reflected back onto him.

He recalled the letter from that woman, Henrietta.

She, who also had a peach allergy, had written in her rough handwriting:

「Did you know I have a peach allergy? I almost died eating a peach when I was little. That’s why I never eat peaches.」

When he first learned of Henrietta’s peach allergy, Iris hadn’t been born yet.

So he had thought simply: ‘If I make it back alive, I’ll never have to see a peach for the rest of my life.’

「But I think Iris takes after me. I gave her a tiny piece just in case, and her whole body swelled up from an allergy. I wish she had taken after you in things like this. It breaks my heart so much.」

When he learned that his daughter also had a peach allergy, he came to hate peaches.

Even on the battlefield, where food was scarce and people ate whatever they could get, he threw away wild peaches without touching them.

That was how much he loved his daughter.

Enough to sacrifice his life for her.

Enough to ruin himself from the war hero Cassian Calypso into the absolute worst trash of the capital.

Cassian fiddled with the child’s tiny hand, trembling all over.

‘Please, open your eyes quickly.’

Cassian was terrified.

To be completely honest, it was just painful because the kid looked like Iris—it wasn’t that he disliked her.

If he actually hated her, he wouldn’t have washed off the meat sauce piece by piece just to feed her.

When he tore up chicken meat and watched her chew on it, he felt like crying for no reason, wondering if his own daughter would have eaten like that if she were still alive.

That was why he had tried to send this child to the orphanage.

Because every time he looked at her, he kept thinking of Iris—and whenever he thought of her, his already broken heart plunged further down toward the bottom of the abyss.

‘I don’t want you to die.’

If anything, he wanted her to live well.

Healthy and spirited.

Laughing a lot, eating well, and being happy.

He prayed and prayed inside his heart.

I take back saying you were a nuisance.

I apologize for calling you a stalker and all that.

‘So please, open your eyes quickly.’

The doctor said she would wake up soon, but he couldn’t rest easy until he confirmed it with his own eyes.

No one had ever expected Iris to die like that.

Life always betrays expectations.

That was the truth Cassian knew.

“Mmm…”

The child’s eyelids fluttered, and soon, a pair of golden eyes emerged.

“(Mister…?)”

Looking at those hazy, sleep-drenched eyes, Cassian buried his forehead against the bedsheet and exhaled the breath he had been holding.

Thump. His fallen heart was still tumbling through the mud, but his mind was flooded with the single thought that she was alive.

Even while his dark skin had drained of color to a corpse-like pallor, he rubbed the child’s cold hand and whispered:

“I-It’s okay. Uh-huh, it’s okay. Everything’s okay now.”

It’s okay. She didn’t die.

He couldn’t tell if he was talking to himself or to the child, but as long as the kid was fine, everything was fine.

The monster mister wasn’t actually a monster.

He wasn’t a monster; he was a whee-wooh whee-wooh worry-eagle mister.

Even after the doctor in the white gown examined me, he kept asking nagging questions.

“Are you okay? You’re not itchy or having trouble breathing?”

“(I don’t hurt anymore. So don’t worry.)”

“Do you know you shouldn’t eat peaches? You know what a peach is, right?”

“(I know what peaches are too! It’s my favorite fruit! But why can’t I eat them?)”

“Listen here, kid. You almost died eating that. Don’t go anywhere near a peach tree from now on. Got it?”

“(Whaaaat?!)”

“Haa. I really lost ten years of my life today.”

Looking closely, the worry mister’s eyes were as red as a rabbit’s.

Oh no. He really cried, didn’t he?

Imagining a grown adult crying whee-wooh whee-wooh made me suddenly feel sorry for him.

‘I’m mature now, so I don’t cry very often.’

Even though we were both crybabies, I was the type who only cried when I couldn’t hold it in, while the mister was a red-eyed worry eagle.

By the way, was he really that sad because I fainted from being sick?

Feeling a sense of responsibility, I gently patted his back.

The mister’s shoulders flinched, maybe because he thought I was going to hit him.

“(Don’t be scared. I’m a really good kid. I don’t hit just anyone.)”

“……”

It’s true, though.

To build more trust, I pulled out my secret ultimate move that I had been hiding. That is—!

“Hee-hee-hee-heet.”

It was the smile that even melted strict Mister Michael.

Whenever I smiled like this, Mister Michael would pass by and subtly slip me an extra piece of candy.

Even Teacher Annemarie laughed in the middle of scolding me, which saved me from getting punished as much.

When I giggled hee-hee, the mister stared at me blankly before letting out a deflated, helpless breath at some point.

“What are you smiling about after barely surviving? Haa.”

“(I told you I’m really fine!)”

I bounced right up! I grabbed the mister’s arm and shook it.

When his expression didn’t soften even as I wiggled my butt around, I threw myself into his arms and hugged him.

Remembering his pale face before I passed out, I really wanted to reassure him.

“(Pat, pat. You’re okay now, right? Is your heart pounding all better now?)”

Other grown-ups usually hugged me back when I hugged them like this, but the mister just froze up stiffly instead.

Plus, his body was so hard that it was actually uncomfortable.

“(Oh, come on! When I pat you like this, you’re supposed to give me a big squeeze back!)”

When I wiggled my body to tell him to hurry up and hug me, the mister raised his arms very slowly.

A palm as big as a pot lid wrapped around my back.

It was a strange posture—neither fully holding nor just resting his hands on me—so when I looked at him with a pout, I saw his red-rimmed eyes again.

“(Eek! I’m a super good kid, so I don’t hit people recklessly! Don’t be scared!)”