ISDM 14

Chapter 14

‘He looked so serious, I wondered what was wrong.’
Dad must have been hungry.
Teo and I, in the middle of our morning exercise, were practically carried by Dad like luggage to the dining room.

Teo was sitting to one side, surrounded by the maid girls, using a teaspoon to eat soup and finely chopped meat.
Everyone’s expression was so stiff it was almost scary, and every time they saw the baby fumbling with food, they clenched their skirts as if restraining themselves.

“……”

Meanwhile, Dad, sitting at the same table as me, was cutting the meat on his plate with a strangely complicated expression.
Every now and then, I could hear him muttering, “Why am I… why on earth…” Hmm, maybe he wasn’t fully awake yet.

“By the way… ah… Duke.”
“Yes?”

A thick piece of meat was placed on my empty plate. I poked at it and said,
“I told you I’d help you regain your memories, right? I’ve been thinking about it all night and… I came up with a fairly effective method! Want to hear it?”

It was actually a method I’d thought of before, but I said it anyway.
Dad paused while transferring meat to my plate and looked at me blankly.

“You thought about it all night?”
“Yes. Why?”
“…So that’s why it looks like boiled spinach…”

Huh? What does that mean?
I just blinked, not understanding, and Dad let out a long sigh.

“This is the bedroom I prepared for you. Sleep at night.”
“……”

I shivered, remembering the previous night when I trembled from the thunder. I shook my head. Best not to dwell on it again.

“Anyway! Can I tell you about the method?”
Instead of answering, Dad slowly sipped his sparkling drink. His eyes briefly flicked to my glass.

“Well… I don’t usually listen to kids who haven’t drunk carrot juice.”

Ah, it’s really hard to even get a word in!
Still, I obediently drank the juice without complaint.

Gulp. “Done?”
“Go ahead and tell me.”

I started calmly.
“Last time, when we watched the video together, Duke, the corners of your eyes did this little thing when you saw the cabin scenery.”

I pointed at the corner of my eye with my finger, raising it slightly upward.

“That’s usually not a normal dad… it’s a look you make when something seems familiar but you can’t quite remember. It’s an unpleasant feeling.”

Like when thinking about the shopping list, or where I hung my tomato-red socks, or whether my height was measured yesterday or this morning.

“…Me?”
“Yes.”

Of course, Dad, Calek, looked as if he had never heard this before.

“So, what’s the conclusion?”
“How about visiting Lepi Village with me? If we go see the house we used to live in, something might come back to you!”

The basic course for dealing with memory loss:
Go to places or objects filled with memories!

‘And I have some things I want to take with me.’
Since I left Lepi Village in a hurry, I didn’t bring everything I wanted.
‘Especially the gifts Dad gave me, the Teo doll, and carefully preserved seeds—I really want to bring those.’

I quietly recited my little list of treasures in my head.
There were too many gifts from Dad to count, but I definitely wanted to take the first socks and shoes I got.

“Hmm.”
Dad narrowed his eyes slightly and looked at me.

“Well, it’s not a bad idea. I was planning to go there once anyway.”
“Oh, then!”
“But right now is inconvenient. There’s a parade next week.”
“Yes! We can go after that!”

Of course, of course.
I have tasks at the parade too.

With a short agreement secured, I returned to my clattering meal.
But Dad’s meal couldn’t proceed smoothly because his aides came in one after another, reporting on next week’s parade.

‘Even with such thorough preparation, Elisa is still going to have an accident.’
Since it’s Dad’s work, I assumed there were no mistakes in the planning. I chewed slowly, recalling the scenes I saw in my dream.

‘Well… natural disasters can’t be helped.’
Human error can be prevented, but natural phenomena are beyond control.

Last night, I stayed up not just because of the thunder.
‘I saw a more detailed vision of the parade accident in my dream!’

So, a week later at the parade, an unexpected accident will happen. That is…
‘A sudden labyrinth appears. A building collapses as a result.’

A sudden labyrinth is one that appears without warning.
All magical beast labyrinths in the empire are normally detected in advance by the Mage Tower, which predicts their scale and location.

But as always, there are exceptions.
Those are the sudden labyrinths that appear like an accident. This is extremely rare.
If it appears this time, it would be the first in about 100 years.

‘Dad can handle the beast, but the problem is the building near Elisa collapsing.’

I thought carefully and looked up.
Elisa’s late duke father hadn’t been seen even once since the first day. I heard he went out of the capital or something.

‘It would be best if Elisa didn’t attend the parade at all, but that’s practically impossible.’

I gazed quietly at Dad’s profile.
He had now completely put the meal aside and was discussing matters with his aides in earnest.

‘I can’t tell Dad about the labyrinth now.’
He would question the source of the information, or dismiss it as a child’s fanciful imagination.

‘Ugh. I guess I have to take action!’
I need to find Elisa’s location and prevent the building from collapsing.
To do that, I need to figure out the parade route first.

‘There was a big tree by Dad’s office window, right? I should ask it for help.’

Good. Task acquired.
I returned to quietly eating my meal.

At that moment, a maid pouring water beside me spoke.
“Hey, rookie.”

She seemed to be one of the senior maids who helped me bathe yesterday. Was her name Kate?

“Huh?”
“You’re chewing on your hair right now.”

Cough.
I quickly spat it out. No wonder it tasted off.

Actually, my hair was a total mess.
I had tossed and turned terribly last night, and my hair is naturally fine and thick, making it difficult to manage.
I tried to comb it with the brush in the bedroom this morning, but it felt like my scalp would be pulled out, so I gave up.

“I tried to tie it myself earlier, but it was too difficult… Ha! I’m actually good at tying tomato stakes!”
“Tying tomato stakes at your age? A prodigy. Hmm, lift your head. I’ll tie it roughly for you.”

Kate said. I lifted my head.
The touch of her thin fingers threading through my hair felt unfamiliar. After a moment, I heard a low, frustrated groan.

“It’s terribly tangled. I don’t think this can be sorted out. Since it’s like this, how about trimming it?”
“No… I don’t want that.”

I answered reflexively.
‘Dad said my hair is a treasure.’
He said tying my hair every morning was one of his joys.
But now there’s no one to do it… managing it is too hard.
‘Should I cut it?’
I hesitated a little.

“If you don’t want to, fine.”
The maid took a comb from her apron.
“I’ve never handled hair this fine before. It’s difficult.”
“Ouch. I just… ouch. I’ll cut it. Ouch.”

I had to cut it. Definitely.

“Ah, I’m really sorry, rookie.”
The maid quickly apologized.

Then, a huge, solid hand suddenly intervened.
“It’s too noisy to focus.”
“Huh? G-Grand Duke?”
“Dad?”

Damn, and it’s not even lunch yet—twice in a row. I pulled out a notepad and scribbled a line.
“Sorry, I’ll do it outside…”
“Move.”

Shash-shash. Shh-shh.
“Ho?”

The back of my neck emptied quickly. A large bun of hair, standing up like the morning sun, appeared.
Dad, having dipped a bit of sunflower oil from the table, skillfully combed my hair and rolled it neatly—taking less than a minute.

“You fuss over things that aren’t even difficult…”
He paused mid-sentence, then muttered, “…damn it.”

Clap, clap, clap.
The servants watching clapped as if enchanted by the impromptu trick. Dad buried his face in his hands and muttered,
“Damn body memory…”