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chapter 8
“Did you fall asleep this way to hear the thump-thump sound again?”
“No, this time she said she wanted to hear thump-thump and heartbeat.”
The couple whispered quietly so as not to wake Lirian.
Ressa smiled softly as she observed the increasingly unique choice of words from their child.
She turned off all the lights around the bed except for a gentle lamp.
The soft glow embraced the couple and their daughter.
“Our lovely child.”
Rustle-
Ressa lifted the blanket and covered Lirian.
“Innocent, cute, and beautiful.”
She looked at her daughter, who was softly breathing poo, poo.
The blanket rose slightly where Lirian lay, creating a small, adorable mound.
Ressa kissed her chubby little cheeks and spoke to Caesar.
“What could have happened to Lirian, I wonder?”
“……”
“It’s sad, but a child can’t stay little forever.”
Children don’t remain young forever.
At some point, they grow up in the blink of an eye, leaving their parents’ embrace and learning about the wide world.
“But Lirian…”
“She still looks so young.”
Their child, who had lived to twenty-five before returning, still looked as lovable as a five-year-old.
It was both a joy and a very strange feeling.
Caesar gazed at Lirian with eyes dimmed by the light.
“…It doesn’t seem to be just a simple reincarnation.”
Parents always see their children as children, even when they grow up and have children of their own.
But there is still a universal perspective in the world.
Lirian didn’t have the mindset of a twenty-five-year-old.
The duke and duchess had been pondering this ever since Lirian confessed the truth about her regression.
If it had been mere childish whim, they would have gladly indulged her. But Lirian’s usual speech, behavior, and thought patterns were far from adult-like.
She was truly closer to a pure child.
“The important thing, though, is that Lirian is still our precious child.”
Caesar gently patted the child who was softly fussing in her sleep.
“She’s a child we should cherish, protect, and help grow.”
“You’re right. Whatever happened to her before, this time we just need to help her overcome it well.”
The duke and duchess smiled at each other.
Then, they noticed the depth in each other’s gaze.
In the quietly deepened atmosphere, the distance between them gradually decreased.
“Kyle.”
“Ressa.”
And finally, at the moment a new history was about to be made—
“Eeeeng…!”
Chop!
Suddenly, a tiny hand popped up between them and blocked Caesar’s mouth with a chop!
Chop-chop! Her little hand firmly smacked her father’s lips.
Naturally, the history of the couple had to pause due to this filial intervention.
Caesar made a sorrowful expression.
“Liri, are you awake?”
Poo-poo…
“That’s right, let’s go back to sleep, our Liri.”
“Eeng!”
Caesar gently soothed the fussing Lirian.
As he expertly calmed her, he muttered a little gloomily.
“…I need to raise her well and get her independent soon.”
Though she was irresistibly adorable, sometimes, really sometimes, he needed personal time.
Ressa chuckled quietly at her younger husband.
“Is that so? I’m curious who a tall, charming young man will take our Liri away.”
“……”
Caesar, tucking Lirian’s protruding hand back under the blanket, suddenly froze.
“Take her away… what do you mean?”
“She’ll date when she grows up. If she finds someone she truly likes, she’ll get married.”
Ressa saw her husband’s jaw trembling.
With a strained voice he said,
“That’s far too early… We should watch carefully for about seventy years, then observe for fifty more if he treats her well, and then look again thirty years later.”
Even though 150 years would have been enough for bones to turn to dust, he was completely serious.
Caesar’s blue eyes flashed dangerously in the dark.
Five years as a doting father. The Demon King realized he still wasn’t ready to let his beloved daughter go.
Independence? No way!
He had already been unsettled hearing that some prince had kept Lirian for eight years. Who was going to take whom?
“Stop saying weird things. You make the decisions, not Liri.”
“But what does a child know?”
“Kids these days know everything, don’t you know?”
“She’s still too young. She might not understand love…”
Ressa reprimanded her husband in denial of reality.
“You think she doesn’t know? You were the same when you were little.”
Caesar’s eyes widened.
“Wha- no, ha…”
He sighed softly.
Ressa pressed her point.
“Besides, you never know. She might already have someone in her heart.”
Caesar looked completely dazed. Ressa smiled faintly.
She cupped his cheek and whispered,
“I know. Even if I say that, I know you’ll be a good father.”
“……”
“Because that’s who you are.”
Caesar groaned softly and leaned his face closer into Ressa.
“If you say that, I can’t betray expectations…”
In the faint light, afterimages overlapped.
Initially polite, but gradually becoming insistent.
And between such parents, Lirian wildly pounded on her father’s broad chest.
“Eeng!”
Chop-chop!
“Go away! Go away!”
Incidentally, Lirian was dreaming of bravely defeating a monstrous abyss that tried to devour her precious chicken.
Dug-duk-dug-duk.
Today was!
“Hide-and-seek day!”
Lirian placed her hands on her hips and exclaimed proudly.
Seran, puzzled, gently patted his sister’s head.
“Weren’t we going to the royal palace?”
“Yes! That’s right!”
“Go carefully.”
“Hey, tiny one! Bring back melon sherbet!”
Lirian nodded.
“Trust me!”
She boldly jumped into the carriage.
Caesar, about to lift her, awkwardly withdrew his hand. He also climbed into the carriage.
“Let’s go then.”
“Go safely.”
Clack, the carriage door closed. The carriage, enhanced with swift magic, began moving forward quickly.
As soon as she sat, Lirian pressed her face to the window, exhaling Hoooh.
A misty breath fogged up the glass.
Adventure!
Her heart pounded at leaving the Demon King’s castle—no, the duke’s mansion—for an adventure.
Friendship!
Of course, adventures involve friendship. She remembered the moment Rose embarked on her first adventure to become the Moonlight Witch, and blushed.
She hoped to make new friends!
And finally, the last piece.
Love!
Watching her daughter shake her legs in anticipation, Caesar smiled warmly.
If Lirian knew she was reciting the “three classic tropes of romantic child adventures,” the doting Demon King might have turned the carriage back to the mansion immediately—but fortunately, that didn’t happen.
Lirian excitedly asked Caesar,
“Are we riding the carriage all the way to the capital?”
“Ordinary people would, yes.”
“Huh?”
Caesar chuckled and pinched her cheek lightly, not hurting her.
“But then our princess would get bored and jump out.”
At that moment, the carriage stopped.
“We’ve arrived at the Magi Tower, Your Grace.”
Just one minute into the ride, Lirian got off the carriage, clinging tightly to Caesar.
“Welcome, Duke Ersioni.”
“Thank you sincerely for visiting.”
“Are the preparations ready?”
“We will escort you to a private room. Please follow this way.”
Caesar, having transformed from a doting father into a cold, dignified duke, strode into the Magi Tower.
Indeed, the Magi Tower.
The reason the head of the Ersioni dukedom—a central noble—could remain at the main estate rather than the capital residence:
This place held the essence of ancient teleportation magic!
Lirian wheee! fwoosh!—after the brief magical ride, she immediately saw the capital’s panorama and…
My adventure? My friendship! My love?!
She frowned.
Unfortunately, Lirian didn’t know that this schedule only lasted three days, making it difficult to do anything.
Lirian Ersioni, five years old.
Realizing the truth of the world.
Romance and adventure had long since perished in the world.
