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Chapter 8
Jean, who had been watching Vivian carry the egg around nonstop even through dinner, finally asked.
No matter how much she liked that gem, at this rate it looked like she would even bathe while hugging it.
“Vivi, isn’t it heavy? Want Daddy to hold it for you?”
“I’m okay. It’s not heavy at all!”
Actually, it was a little heavy. But the moment she heard Jean offer to take it, the egg started making a huge fuss about never handing it over, so she couldn’t show it.
Pouting as she looked down at the egg, Vivian suddenly remembered something and hurriedly called out to Jean.
“Daddy, Daddy! Come here. There’s something you have to do.”
“Hm? What is it?”
“Let’s go to my room first! I put it there.”
Holding the egg with one arm, Vivian tugged on Jean’s sleeve with the other.
“What could it be? But Vivi, your room is downstairs, isn’t it?”
Vivian fidgeted with her lips.
The expression Jean had worn that morning when he volunteered to do the dishes lingered in her mind, making it hard to confess that Peter had taken her room.
‘Daddy will feel sad if he finds out how I lived. I shouldn’t tell him!’
“…Th-that room was given to Peter. This is my room now.”
“……”
There was no way Jean failed to understand the situation. But Vivian’s effort to think of his feelings was both lovely and heartbreaking, so he pretended not to notice.
Opening the door, Vivian pointed toward the corner of the room.
“Ah, Daddy! Over there, the painting! Get the painting out!”
“The painting? What painting— Ah.”
What Vivian pointed to was a portrait of Jean and Vivian together.
Jean had bitterly regretted never leaving behind a painting with his wife, so he had saved up every bit of money he could and commissioned an artist to paint one.
Originally, it had hung where people could see it as soon as they entered the house. But Ron and Mary had taken it down and tried to throw it away. Vivian had begged and begged until they finally relented and merely stored it in the room instead.
It was so large that a grown man would have to spread both arms wide to hold it. Carrying it up the stairs had been so difficult that the scar she got back then still remained on her leg.
She had looked at it until it wore thin, but the more she stared at it, the more she missed him.
Eventually she could no longer bear to look at it. She had shoved it into the corner and tried to forget about it, so she hadn’t remembered it immediately.
‘But Daddy came back now!’
It was time for the painting to return to its proper place.
“This painting was still here…”
Jean had thought it had been thrown away long ago, and he walked toward it with trembling eyes.
There he was in elegant clothes as if for his wedding day, and little Vivian held dearly in his arms.
Thanks to the painter’s incredible skill at capturing the sunlight streaming through the window, simply looking at the painting felt like reliving the air of that moment.
How beautiful the weather had been.
How light Vivian had felt in his arms.
How lovable the sweet scent unique to babies had been.
Recalling every memory vividly, Jean wiped at his eyes and hugged Vivian tightly.
“Thank you, Vivi. You kept this painting safe. Should we hang it back where it used to be?”
“Yeah! I want to see it the moment we walk into the house again, just like before.”
“Alright. And from now on, Vivian’s room is your old room again. Okay?”
“Okay! But…”
Still holding the egg in one hand, Vivian cupped the other hand around Jean’s ear and whispered.
“Can I keep sleeping in Daddy’s room with you? I don’t want to sleep alone in my room.”
Before he left, she had insisted on sleeping alone in her own room.
Feeling both tender and overwhelmed with affection, Jean smiled softly and whispered back.
“Daddy always welcomes you, Princess.”
A week passed before they knew it.
Vivian no longer doubted Jean’s existence. Once she realized her father wasn’t going to leave again, the child became much brighter.
And a week was more than enough time for Jean to grow used to seeing his daughter constantly carrying around an egg.
But not this time.
Jean spoke in a fairly stern voice.
“Vivi. I told you not to hold the egg while eating, didn’t I?”
“Yeees.”
[No! Don’t put me down! I think I can hatch soon!]
“But you’ve been saying that for a whole week.”
[No, this time it’s real! Five minutes, just five minutes.]
“Ugh.”
“Vivian.”
Caught between Jean’s stern gaze and the whining egg, Vivian dragged a nearby chair over and placed it right beside her before setting the egg on top of it.
[Didn’t I say just endure it for five minutes? Hmm? Hm. Fine. This should be acceptable.]
Vivian sat with her side pressed tightly against the chair to the point it became hard to use her utensils, and the egg finally quieted down as if satisfied.
“Daddyyy, the egg kept begging me to hold it, so I couldn’t help it. It says it’ll come out soon, so just wait a little!”
Seeing even that arrangement dissatisfy Jean, Vivian spoke with the exhaustion of someone worn out by childcare, and his stern expression naturally softened.
“I’m only letting it slide today. Starting tomorrow, you have to sit properly while eating, okay?”
“Mhm! I want to sit properly too, Daddy.”
[To talk about the honorable duty of caring for this body like it’s some bothersome chore!]
Vivian merely pretended to clean out her ear with a finger.
The egg saw that and bounced angrily on its own.
“Eh?”
Bounced?
Vivian froze with her mouth open while reaching for her fork.
The egg was definitely moving.
Unable to contain its frustration, it wobbled atop the chair like a roly-poly toy, and then—
Crack—
A jagged fracture spread across the surface of the brilliantly shining egg.
“Ah! Daddy! The egg! The egg is hatching!”
“Huh? The gem really cracked!”
“It’s not a gem, it’s an egg!”
[Little human! I thought rather highly of you for helping me, but how dare you treat my words like dog crap?!]
“This isn’t the time for that! The egg is cracking! Are you finally coming out now?”
[Whaaat? The egg is cracking? H-huh? It really is? Light, light! Ukikiki! I’m free!]
The egg bounced several more times, the cracks growing deeper and clearer.
Soon more than half the shell split apart, and at last the being that had been talking to Vivian all this time revealed itself.
[Ukikiki!]
“What… is that?”
Wearing half of the eggshell like a hat on its head was—
A monkey.
A baby monkey with black fur and red eyes.
“A-a monster! Vivi, c-come here!”
Seeing the monkey hatch from the egg, Jean jumped in shock and hurried around the table to scoop Vivian into his arms.
The monkey, stretching its stiff body, heard him and immediately screeched angrily again.
[To call this noble body a monster! Ignorant human!]
“Daddy, it says it’s a monkey?”
“Monkeys don’t hatch from eggs, Vivian!”
[I am not a monkey, human!]
“It says it’s not a monkey.”
Vivian replied while pressing a finger against her lips.
Since Jean couldn’t understand the monkey’s words, it only looked like Vivian was blurting out nonsense by herself.
But by now, Jean could no longer dismiss Vivian’s words as childish imagination.
He had looked ready to grab a knife from the table and attack the monkey, but Vivian’s voice calmed him a little.
“…Were you really talking to it all this time, Vivi?”
“Daddy thought I was lying this whole time?”
Vivian glared at him sharply, and Jean awkwardly dragged out his words.
“N-nooo…”
Meanwhile, the monkey finished stretching itself and climbed onto the dining table. Puffing out its chest proudly, it declared:
[The outside air is refreshing! Human. And little human. Allow me to formally introduce myself. I am a divine beast left behind by a dragon.]
“It says it’s a divine beast, Daddy.”
“A-a divine beast?”
“It says a dragon left it behind.”
In the empire where Vivian and Jean lived, there was a legend that the founder of the nation had been born between a dragon and a human.
But monsters and magic had long since vanished from the world.
People considered it nothing more than a fairy tale told to children, and Jean had been no different.
Yet now, legend itself stood before them.
[Kneel before me and worship!]
‘…I don’t know what it’s saying, but I don’t think Daddy needs to hear that.’
Vivian ignored the monkey’s words.
Completely unaware of how arrogantly the little monkey was speaking, Jean cautiously asked,
“U-um… Divine Beast… sir? May I ask one thing?”
[Indeed! Human. Unlike the little human, you know how to show respect! Speak!]
“It says it’s okay, Daddy.”
“Why… are you specifically a monkey?”
Silence fell.
