IVMF 6

Chapter: 6

“Young master, I’m here.”

“Mm.”

“Is this a gift that came for you? You didn’t accept it?”

“I didn’t.”

Heos didn’t even spare the box Miliana was holding a glance. Still, the unpleasantness in his mood was obvious from the air around him. As the aura of the curse growing stronger seeped out of him, Miliana hastily released her ether in response.

Shoo, shoo—curse. Go away!

Normally, the black mist would soon lose its strength and fade. But today, it seemed to vanish only to bloom again, over and over.

This is an emotional issue!

Miliana turned her gaze to Heos. She could feel that he was, in fact, paying attention to the gift box.

“…Do you know who sent that gift?”

“Huh? No… I don’t.”

A maid had simply thrust it into her arms.

“It’s from my father.”

Ah. That gift. Before he’d gone berserk, a maid had come in a soothing tone, saying she’d brought a present.

“…….”

To think the very thing stirring emotions strong enough to amplify the curse was his father’s gift…. She had roughly expected it, but setting the curse aside, their relationship was clearly very bad.

I might need to fix this father–son relationship… That’s the only way to weaken the curse, even a little.

Miliana studied Heos closely.

“…Aren’t you happy?”

At that, his brows knit sharply together. Rather than joy at receiving a gift, he looked angry. Miliana forced herself to hand the gift to him.

“Aren’t you going to open it? It’s a present His Grace gave you. Let’s see what it is.”

He glanced briefly at the box, then finally snatched it with his small, fern-like hands and ripped the wrapping off roughly. It wasn’t excitement at seeing what was inside, but anger—as if asking why anyone would buy something like this.

Proof of that was the crushed box left behind.

The gift was a toy soldier set, popular among boys his age. It was good for strategy games and helped develop children’s thinking skills.

When she’d lived at the orphanage, the boys had wanted it badly but couldn’t afford it. She remembered them carving vaguely human shapes out of sticks to play with instead.

“What kind of gift do you think this is?”

She didn’t understand the question. It looked like a perfectly ordinary gift, but to Heos, it was something else. Miliana gazed at him quietly.

She was an orphan and had grown up in an orphanage. There were many kinds of children there. Some had been abandoned from infancy; others were left there with promises that their parents would return after a few nights, often accompanied by gifts.

Is he mistaking this for that kind of gift…?

Before he’d gone out of control, she had heard him say that the Grand Duke would abandon him too, talking about farewell gifts. Given that, the suspicion made sense.

Was he anxious because his mother had been driven out without explanation, while the man called his father never showed his face, only tossing gifts his way while focusing on work?

As if venting that anxiety, Heos often spoke in ways that doubted his father Kaiden’s affection.

He’s still at an age where he needs more love than he gets.

Miliana spoke calmly, from the perspective of a third party.

“I think it’s a gift given because he was thinking of you. Toy soldiers are popular with boys and are good for brain development. Isn’t that an excellent choice by His Grace, considering your future?”

Heos’s eyes gradually clouded over. As faint thorny vines spread through the room, the knights flinched and took a step back.

Miliana wasn’t afraid. She was confident she could calm him even if he went berserk. After a long silence, Heos finally spoke.

“It’s the first time… I’ve ever gotten a gift. Before, he never paid attention at all….”

“Maybe he thought he needed to change?”

“Miliana, do you think my father loves me?”

Heos scoffed. Though still a child, the pressure he radiated was intense.

“Isn’t he going to go berserk again? The annex collapsed not that long ago.”

The knights muttered under their breath. The vines that had spread across the floor slowly retreated, avoiding obstacles.

Heos stared fixedly at Miliana. It almost seemed like he was expecting something. She hesitated, glancing around.

She hadn’t observed him for long, but one thing was certain.

Others saw him as someone dangerous, like a bomb about to explode. And they didn’t acknowledge him as the Grand Duke’s son.

Whether or not he was acknowledged as a son was beyond Miliana’s control.

Lost in thought, she failed to notice Heos’s condition. Then, from behind, a trembling knight shouted,

“Hey, maid! Hurry up and calm him down! Can’t you see he’s about to lose control?”

The knight clicked his tongue irritably. Miliana’s position was an awkward one.

She was only here because Heos desperately sought her out and because she had a record of stopping his rampages. Otherwise, she wouldn’t be allowed anywhere near him.

After all, he was the Grand Duke’s son and a relative of the imperial family.

She was kept by his side simply because he liked her. A commoner like Miliana didn’t truly belong there. As if to hammer her status into her head, the knight deliberately called her “maid.”

“Ah! I’m sorry!”

Snapped back to reality, Miliana steeled herself.

“He’s planning to let me relax… and then abandon me. Just like my mom.”

It sounded like he was talking to himself.

Cracks began to spread across the toy soldier’s body, something a craftsman must have made with great care. He was gripping it so tightly that his slender arms trembled. Sensing the unstable energy, Miliana quickly moved to calm him.

“Young master!”

When she gently took his hand, the clouded look in his eyes slowly cleared.

“There’s no way His Grace would abandon you. Don’t you remember last time? When you thought I was threatening you, you subdued me immediately. Isn’t that proof that he cares about you?”

He looked at Miliana, who spoke so brightly, as if she were absurd. It wasn’t something the person who’d been attacked should be saying.

If Heos hadn’t stopped, she would have been badly hurt. And if she hadn’t called herself his mother, his father’s anger wouldn’t have been directed at her.

Guilt, rather than anger, took hold of Heos. As it did, the curse’s force weakened slightly.

“I’m sorry….”

“Sorry? Why would you need to apologize to me?”

“My injury….”

“Oh, it’s nothing—just something saliva would fix. What matters is that you’re safe, young master.”

“…….”

Seeing him calm down, Miliana let out a sigh of relief. More than the injury, she was happy that the curse was weakening.

Master, I’m doing well, right? It’s all thanks to what you taught me!

When Miliana herself had struggled to control her power, Plera would hold her hand or place a hand on her back to help her feel and control her ether.

That experience helped now.

“It wasn’t something you wanted, was it? Right?”

At those words, Heos’s eyes trembled.

“You’re the only one… who says things like that. Everyone else says it was my fault….”

His voice was no louder than an ant’s whisper. Miliana strained to hear, but nothing more reached her.

Suddenly, anger surged up again. Grinding his teeth, he said,

“I still hate it.”

Heos flung the broken soldier away as if throwing out trash. The impact knocked its head clean off. The rest of the soldiers followed, dumped straight into the trash can.

Was that muttering… a curse directed at His Grace?

Miliana stared blankly at the shattered toys.

“W-what do you think, young master? Do you think His Grace cherishes you? Your opinion matters most.”

Carelessly saying He loves you could only provoke resistance—especially when that person was already the object of resentment. It was better to guide him to realize it himself.

“What are you talking about?”

His eyes widened as he stared at Miliana, and she couldn’t help but smile.

Everyone said he was frightening, but the way he looked up at her with round, red eyes reminded her of the rabbit she’d once raised at the orphanage.

“If you feel differently, that can’t be helped.”

“That’s weird.”

“Huh?”

Heos looked into Miliana’s clear, brown eyes.

She felt a little different from everyone else. At first, he’d thought she was similar to his mother—something about the aura around her. But she wasn’t. Not like his mother, and not like anyone else.

The biggest difference was her gaze. Unlike the servants who looked at him as if he were a terrifying monster or a pitiful failure, she was different. His father, who never came looking for him, never said he loved him. Yet she didn’t automatically deny his words. She said that his thoughts were valid.

Maybe that was why being near her made him feel at ease. Like magic.

“When I’m with you, I feel calm. I feel good.”

Miliana was deeply moved to see Heos take her hand first for the very first time.

I’m always the one reaching out first… Have we gotten closer?

The child clung to her hand, craving warmth—so far removed from the future massacre he was said to become. Just moments ago, he had been deeply sorry about the injury on her back. With the curse suppressed even a little, Heos returned to being an ordinary child.

His irritability was all because of the curse placed on him—because she wanted it that way.

When you look at him like this, he’s just a normal, innocent kid….

Miliana didn’t know what kind of heart Erphilsia had to place such a curse on this child. Why would someone want to curse a child they’d raised with affection for eight years? Had there been no affection at all?

The curse made him acutely sensitive to negative emotions—especially anger and hatred toward others—leading him to kill his father, the servants, even his relatives. She couldn’t understand that ambition.

If it were me, I wouldn’t have done that.

Without such a curse, Miliana could have lived peacefully with Plera in a forest cabin, free from threats to her life. Thinking of her master made her hands tremble.

It’s going smoothly. The curse on the young master has weakened a lot. At this rate, I might be able to resolve it with my own power, without the medicine Master made. I’m a full-fledged witch, after all!