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Chapter 12
“……?”
But even after quite a while, there was no sound at all.
Neya slowly lifted her eyelids.
Azure was sitting at the dining table reading a book, as if nothing had happened.
“…She’s not going to scold me?”
Neya looked at Azure in a daze.
Sensing her gaze, Azure opened her mouth lazily.
“What?”
“Ah, n-nothing……”
Neya quickly shook her head.
“You two are up early.”
At that moment, Shane came down the stairs. He looked so neat it was hard to believe it was early morning.
“You’re working hard from the morning, Neya.”
“Hehe.”
“I’ll put another toy box downstairs too, so make sure you clean up as you play, alright?”
“Yes!”
Neya nodded and began picking up the toys around her one by one.
She didn’t throw tantrums and followed instructions well. From this alone, Neya seemed quite mature for her age.
Shane smiled as he watched her tidy up on her own, then said to Azure in a suddenly more curt tone:
“I’ll put the toy box in the corner, so it won’t get in the way.”
“Do whatever.”
Azure brushed it off without much interest.
“I guess I should buy another toy box.”
Shane mentally added another item to his shopping list.
Even though he had already bought so many things for Neya, new necessities kept piling up endlessly.
Then his eyes drifted to the calendar on the wall. It was already nearing the end of summer.
“Neya.”
After a brief thought, Shane called her.
“It’s getting chilly, so I think we should buy some thicker clothes. Want to go out together today?”
“Yes!”
Neya immediately jumped in excitement. Every time they went out, Shane bought her lots of things she wanted, so outings with him were one of her favorite things.
Of course, Shane also enjoyed going out with Neya just as much.
“Princess, did you hear that? We’ll be having lunch out separately, so—”
“I’m coming too.”
“…Pardon?”
Shane tried to finish casually, but froze at the unexpected reply.
For a moment, he wondered if he had misheard.
Azure had always strongly disliked going outside. After moving to the countryside, she rarely left the house at all.
Shane asked again without realizing it.
“You’re going out, Princess?”
“What? Got a problem with that?”
“No……”
Azure glared at him briefly, then turned her eyes back to her book.
“Why is she suddenly doing something she never does?”
Shane, who had been observing Azure for a long time, was confused.
“Is she finally about to die?”
It was a rather reasonable suspicion.
After breakfast, the three of them went to a nearby town.
Since Gary wasn’t there to use teleportation magic today, they were traveling by carriage.
“Where are we going?”
Azure asked Shane. She was wearing sunglasses and a brimmed hat, carefully covering her face.
Shane took out a notebook and checked the schedule.
“Mostly just clothes for Neya and toys. But while we’re at it, if there’s anything you need, Princess, we can buy it too.”
He remembered Azure complaining that she had run out of books to read. In the quiet countryside house, reading was basically her only hobby, so no matter how many books she had, she ran out quickly.
At that, Azure tilted her head irritably.
“Why keep buying toys? She already has plenty.”
“I only buy one each time we go out!” Neya replied for herself. Since their first outing, they had kept the promise of buying exactly one new toy each time.
“Anyway, whether it’s toys or clothes, I’m paying for it myself, so don’t worry about it.”
As Shane said, all expenses for Neya were being covered by him.
The Duke had given Neya as a “gift,” but there was no additional financial support for raising her. And since he couldn’t take it from household funds, all costs related to Neya came out of Shane’s own pocket.
Of course, this was possible because the salary from the Hartless ducal house was quite substantial.
More than that, even without his salary, Shane was already wealthy. His family was among the richest in the Empire.
“You’re already rich. Why are you even working?”
“Are you seriously asking that? All of this is because of you.”
Shane frowned in annoyance and glared at Azure. Azure coughed awkwardly and looked out the window.
“……?”
Only Neya blinked in confusion at the two of them.
Before long, the carriage stopped in a bustling district, and they got out.
The first place they went was a clothing store, to buy the thick clothes they had come for.
After buying a lot of clothes for Neya, they went to a toy store and bought one toy as promised. Neya chose the same chick plush she had bought before.
Azure looked at her and said, as if she couldn’t understand:
“It’s the same as the one you already bought. Why again?”
Neya protested, her voice heated.
“Lumi is a yellow chick, and Coco is a white chick!”
“They’re the same.”
“They’re different!”
Watching them bicker, Shane let out a dry laugh.
“Neya’s done shopping, so let’s go buy what the Princess needs. Should we go to the bookstore?”
“Oh, before that. Come with me.”
Azure walked off somewhere on her own. Neya and Shane followed, puzzled.
Where she stopped was a liquor store.
Shane complained with a displeased expression.
“Do you really want to bring a child to a place like this?”
“I’m not drinking it here, I’m just buying it. So what?”
Azure filled a basket with cheap alcohol.
Seeing the bottles pile up, Neya grew anxious.
“Mom, if you drink too much alcohol, you might die early!”
She said it with pure concern.
But Azure burst out laughing.
“That sounds great. If you think of other ways to shorten my lifespan, let me know. Try everything and make me go faster.”
“……”
Shane let out a long sigh.
Azure ignored them and examined the bottles, then spoke irritably.
“I don’t even know how much to buy. Gary hasn’t been drinking much lately either.”
“Then drink alone. You’re good at it.”
“It doesn’t go down well alone. Shane, what about you?”
“You know I don’t drink.”
Shane was someone who didn’t touch alcohol at all. A truly upright young man.
The complete opposite of Azure. Azure clicked her tongue in annoyance.
“I don’t get what’s fun about your life.”
“Your life doesn’t look that fun either, Princess.”
Behind her sunglasses, Azure’s red eyes turned toward him.
“You’ve gotten bold lately.”
“Turns out leaning on the family name isn’t so bad.”
“……”
Azure’s expression grew even colder. Neya, sensing the tension, began to panic.
“…Enough. Pay and come out. I’ll be waiting at the carriage.”
Azure set down the basket and left the shop, clearly avoiding the situation.
“Shane……”
Neya called him worriedly, grabbing his sleeve with small hands.
Looking up at him with teary eyes, she asked:
“Why are you fighting with Mom…?”
“We’re not fighting. This is just how we always are.”
Shane quickly tried to reassure her.
As he said, this kind of exchange between them was very common. So common it barely counted as a fight.
He crouched down to meet Neya’s eye level and apologized.
“I’m sorry. I didn’t think it would scare you. I’ll be more careful.”
“……”
Even as he promised, Neya could tell immediately.
It wasn’t that they wouldn’t fight anymore—they would just fight where she couldn’t see. It wasn’t the first or second time, so she understood that much.
“…Does Shane hate Mom?”
“Yes.”
He answered honestly without hesitation. Shane couldn’t bring himself to lie, even kindly.
Whenever he had the chance, he would mock Azure, and Azure would get irritated but ultimately let it go without saying anything.
Clearly, Azure was the master, and Shane was supposed to be her subordinate—but the relationship looked completely reversed.
“Sometimes Mom seems to really listen to what you say.”
Neya had often wondered about that.
Shane smiled faintly.
“It’s because the Princess owes me a big debt. That’s probably why.”
“A debt?”
It was hard for Neya to understand, so she simply tilted her head.a
