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Chapter 22
At the same time, in the northern village of Sidhett.
The place was in utter chaos.
“The children are gone!”
Ruby’s panicked voice had been echoing through the village for two hours now.
Laura and Loo were nowhere to be found.
Ruby collapsed to the ground, pale and trembling.
It had been a rare day off. Heavy snow had fallen after a long time.
She had wanted to play with the children—build snowmen, have snowball fights—but…
While preparing breakfast, the twins had simply disappeared.
“H-honey! Ruby!”
Ruby’s husband arrived, running breathlessly. Ruby bit her lip, holding back tears, and swatted his back.
“I told you!”
“Ah!”
“While preparing breakfast!”
“W-wait, honey!”
“Did you or didn’t you watch the kids?!”
Knowing he was at fault, her husband silently endured the swats even as he screamed. Ameti helped Ruby to her feet from the cold floor.
“I’m sorry. It’s my fault. But we have to find the kids, right?”
Ruby wiped her tears and nodded.
“Do you know anything?”
Ameti glanced at Ruby and began speaking hesitantly. His words dragged on.
“I think the kids took something I was working on…”
“You mean that heat-concentration thing or whatever?”
“Yes. That… it developed a weird function, something went wrong.”
“What is it?”
Ameti moved his lips carefully. He already imagined Ruby’s reaction. His back hurt just thinking about it—but he had to say it.
Because he was their father.
Ameti closed his eyes tightly and shouted,
“They became invisible!”
“…Invisible?”
Ruby’s tone, sharp enough to feel burning, made Ameti mutter the explanation quickly, like a prayer.
“If they carry the glass I was developing and hide behind it… we won’t be able to see them, we won’t be able to find them.”
“You, you idiot! You should’ve stored that safely!”
Ruby’s shriek struck Ameti painfully. He actually felt a burn on his back again.
Fearing that staying here would only get him hit more and delay finding the children, Ameti hurriedly asked,
“B-but! Do you have any idea where the kids might have gone while invisible?”
“Why do you ask?”
“They’ve been eyeing it for days… I thought maybe they just wanted to play, but that doesn’t seem to be it.”
Ruby’s mind clicked into place as she remembered something. The twins had been acting suspiciously, but she hadn’t been able to put her finger on it.
Practicing taking things out.
Making weird-shaped snowmen and smashing them.
Finally, running off while holding a doll to her chest.
Ah.
A mother’s intuition pointed clearly to one place.
“Let’s go to the castle. I think they went to find Clémen.”
They couldn’t wait the few more nights until they would be allowed to bring her—they couldn’t resist!
Ruby’s face kept shifting from pale to flushed. Ameti patted her shoulder reassuringly.
“Yes. Let’s hurry. Even if they’re not there, it’s a problem. And if they get into trouble, that’s also a problem.”
Seeing her reliable husband again after so long, Ruby nodded.
I hope nothing bad has happened…
Clémen had paused her reading, lost in thought. Outside the window, she could see the greenhouse being built, which triggered some faint ideas.
Herbs… Northern development…
She kept circling around in her thoughts, but couldn’t recall what came next.
“Clémen. It’s almost lunchtime.”
“Ah! Food!”
“Yes. Go get the food.”
Clémen asked without paying attention to Zephyrus’s tone.
“Wasn’t the guild coming?”
“They’re due next week. Why?”
“Is there only one path here?”
“Yes. Only one road that a carriage can travel.”
Clémen closed her eyes, remembering the first time she came to the North.
The reason she had collapsed and been found by Ruby.
She had walked along the main road but veered toward the mountains to avoid a boulder blocking the path.
…Still, it’s been a while. Surely the road is cleared by now, right?
She tried to reassure herself. Rosia had also brought a doctor, so it didn’t make sense for the path to still be blocked.
But some uneasiness kept poking at the back of her mind.
“I’ll bring the food.”
“…Hurry back.”
Clémen ran off. She felt she needed to talk with Rosia.
It didn’t seem Zephyrus had been informed yet.
“Waaah!”
“Don’t cry! Shh!”
As she ran, a familiar voice reached her ears.
She turned—but no one was there.
“Quiet! You’ll be found!”
“Where’s the stove? Stove!”
Uncomfortable. Cold. Scary!
Yet the complaints tumbled out in cute little voices.
She remembered the sounds she had heard in the morning.
Could they have been hiding there all along? How?
She pushed the questions aside—it wasn’t important right now.
Clémen gripped her startled chest and smiled gently.
“Huh? Where have I heard that voice before~?”
The wall shimmered and wobbled. Children’s shoes, maple-leaf-like hands, even round eyes popped out.
Their gazes met.
“Stoveee!”
Suddenly, Loo leapt out from the empty corridor.
“Loo! Ah, I don’t know…”
Laura threw something on the floor, glaring at Loo in frustration.
Clémen lowered her body and spread her arms.
“Who’s coming to the stove?”
“Waaah!”
Loo ran crying into her arms. Laura walked over primly, grabbed Clémen’s cheek, and whispered after checking no one else was around.
“I came to save you.”
“Me?”
“Yes. Mom said even monsters needed the stove, but that was a lie.”
“Heheh. I like the stove.”
Loo’s giggle broke the tension, while Laura pouted but then exhaled, calming herself.
“Monsters don’t need the stove, right? Let’s run!”
Clémen was pulled along by Laura’s hand.
I thought Ruby was on leave today…
The butler was handling Ruby’s morning chores.
What to do, then?
“Kya hahaha!”
“Loo! Don’t laugh, haha! Ahaha!”
The children ran, laughing, carefree.
Despite the worry, Clémen couldn’t help but smile at their voices.
Meanwhile, in Zephyrus’s room.
He could hear the children laughing outside.
A familiar sound. The maid’s children.
The maid is off today.
Worried, he pulled back the curtain slightly to look outside.
“Clémen?”
He saw Clémen walking while holding one child’s hand each, slightly bent in the middle.
“Why are you out there… hurry up!”
The situation was clear enough. She must have found the children while going to get the food.
Unable to leave them alone, she had taken care of them as far as she went.
“What’s this! Wow, what’s this?”
“A greenhouse!”
A child’s high, bright voice reached Zephyrus’s ears.
Faces laughing and chatting happily. Children stepping freely toward the place they wanted to go.
Is that freedom?
If he could go outside, one hand would hold a child’s hand, and the other… Clémen’s.
Zephyrus shook his head fiercely, cutting off the string of imagination rising in his mind.
Even as he imagined sternly, the outside was noisy.
“Greenhouse? What do you do there?”
“You can grow plants.”
“Wow! So we can grow flowers too?”
Laura jumped toward the greenhouse, and Clémen grabbed her to stop her just in time.
Loo, sucking her fingers, dashed into the greenhouse at high speed.
Clémen had been focused on Laura, so her reaction was slow.
“Loo! No!”
It was still under construction—it was dangerous! Nothing was ready inside!
“I wanna go too! I’m going!”
Taking advantage of one hand being free, Laura also ran inside.
Clémen, losing her balance, popped back up like a roly-poly toy and chased the children.
“……”
Zephyrus, watching the scene blankly, drew the curtain again.
For the first time, he was glad they weren’t completely free.
Strength. I need to build strength.
He didn’t know why he thought that—but somehow, it seemed essential to achieving the future he desired.
