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Chapter 20
The night had grown deep.
In the darkness, the door of the cabin quietly opened and Baron stepped outside.
He walked a little distance away, sat on a rock, and looked up at the night sky while listening to the sound of waves crashing against the shore.
Soon, Ignis Fatuus flew near him, giving off alternating bright and soft light. In that glow, Baron’s red eyes and restless expression were clearly revealed.
Then the ground trembled slightly. Feeling even Kamen’s presence, Baron let out a faint laugh.
“There’s nothing for you to do today. Don’t come out until I call you separately. Rest.”
The light disappeared, and everything became quiet again.
Baron hugged his knees.
He stared at the sea and the sky for a long time before letting out a sigh.
When he had sat beside Hailey, shared a blanket, and opened the book together, he had felt very happy.
But while reading the fairy tale, his emotions had gone up and down. He could clearly see Regent Anna’s scheme behind it.
He already knew she was ambitious. But he hadn’t expected her to extend her influence even into children’s stories.
Children who read that story would unconsciously fix their thoughts.
They would grow up believing that the Emperor must live as a hero, defeating the monsters of the Northern Gate. That it was the duty of someone with special powers.
They would believe that because of that, the Empire was safe and happy, and that there could be no better ending.
Under the Emperor’s protection, the Empire was safe. To anyone, it looked like a happy ending.
If one Emperor sacrificed himself to save the Empire, and in return the people even deified and worshiped him, then even Baron thought that life was being valued greatly.
But perhaps because he knew even that was Anna’s scheme—
Or because he could guess what effect such ideas would have as they slowly sank into children’s minds—
Or perhaps because he feared that the people’s thinking had already changed like this, even if he hadn’t fully realized it—
Baron felt sick to his stomach the entire time.
His heart felt empty, and he even felt as if he were being abandoned by the world.
“That doesn’t feel right.”
Maybe that was why he reacted immediately to Hailey’s murmur, even though he had thought she was asleep.
“A hero is still a person. They just don’t say it, but I think the ending of the fairy tale is wrong.”
At her words, Baron felt a sting in his eyes for some reason.
When she hugged him and asked how he felt, his throat tightened and no words came out.
He was almost relieved that it was too dark for Hailey to see his expression.
Then he realized something.
The emptiness and the feeling of being abandoned had disappeared with just one hug from Hailey.
Her hug and goodnight kiss were truly warm.
“The warmth between people. The temperature of the heart.”
Baron softly repeated the words Hailey had said, then let out a small laugh.
“She’s really a strange woman.”
Then his face turned bright red, and he buried it between his knees.
“And I’m even stranger for not wanting to let someone like her go.”
It had only been a few days since he met Hailey.
It was truly strange.
The next morning, she woke up unusually early. She felt refreshed.
Looking beside her, Baron was still deep in dreamland. He must have kicked off the blanket in his sleep; one leg was sticking out cutely.
She neatly covered him again and went outside with seeds to plant in the field.
Beyond the sea, she could see a large mass of dark clouds.
It looked like heavy rain would fall in the afternoon, so there was no need to water the garden.
After sowing all the seeds, she noticed the tide had gone out. The rocky shore was now exposed.
“Maybe I’ll check after breakfast.”
Baron was still sleeping soundly. She considered waking him, but decided not to and prepared a simple meal for herself.
“They say kids need lots of sleep to grow.”
Bread, milk, and strawberry jam.
She left Baron’s portion on the table with a note saying she would step out for a bit, then grabbed a bucket and a small hoe and headed outside.
After walking about five minutes in the wind, a small shining light—bright enough to look radiant even in the morning—followed her like a puppy.
“Could it be… Search?”
As soon as she finished asking, the light grew stronger, wrapped around her body once, and made her jump in surprise.
“Wow. It really is you, Search!”
The floating light moved up and down, as if nodding.
She had heard it was smart enough to understand human speech. Being able to communicate like this felt amazing.
“Did you sleep well?”
Search moved up and down again.
“Did you eat?”
Another nod.
“Did you follow me because you wanted to come along?”
Even though she didn’t need light during the day, she felt happy at Search’s response.
“Alright. Let’s go together.”
Search wrapped around her once more, leaving a long, beautiful tail of light even in daylight.
“Baron said it’s an insect, but it really looks like a spirit.”
Thinking she was walking with a spirit made her feel special, and she couldn’t help smiling.
As she hummed softly, Search swayed its light in gentle curves, as if matching her rhythm.
Soon they arrived at their destination. With each step she took, tiny streams of water spurted out and disappeared here and there. Clams were squirting water.
She stabbed her hoe into the ground and a large clam popped out.
“Wow, that’s big.”
Scraping nearby, three more clams rolled out at once.
She picked them up and turned over a flat rock.
An octopus clung tightly beneath it, wriggling strongly in the light from Search.
“There it is!”
She couldn’t hold back her cheer.
“Alright, octopus for lunch!”
Octopus sashimi, octopus soup, grilled octopus skewers, stir-fried octopus, marinated octopus, octopus pancakes, salted octopus…
Excited, she flipped over more rocks where octopuses might hide.
As expected, she found them one after another.
“…?”
But after placing the sixth octopus into her bucket and looking back—
“What is this?”
Where she had lifted a rock, a fist-sized oval hole had formed. A dark blue glow faintly surrounded its edge.
“I’ve never seen this before. What lives inside?”
Curious, she dug around it with her hoe. Despite the rocky ground, the hole widened easily. As it grew, the dark blue glow also became stronger.
But she eventually gave up. Seawater kept flowing in, making it hard to see inside.
“Should I put my hand in?”
She muttered, but felt uneasy.
“I’ve heard there are sea slimes… Maybe I should bring gloves or tools.”
At that moment, Search shone brightly and moved quickly left and right in front of the hole.
She stepped back obediently.
The light was blinding, but it also felt like a warning not to touch it.
“Alright, let’s go home.”
Search flew ahead toward the house.
When she returned, Baron was sitting in front of the door. As soon as he saw her, he jumped up.
“Noona! Did you go tide hunting?”
“Yeah. Did you eat?”
“Yeah, I saw the note. But you should’ve woken me. It would’ve been nice to go together.”
“You were sleeping so cutely.”
A faint blush appeared on Baron’s cheeks. She smiled without meaning to.
“You need to sleep well to grow—”
She stopped mid-sentence, noticing something different about him.
“Wait, Baron. Didn’t you get taller?”
“What? That’s impossible.”
“No, I think you’re taller than yesterday. Hold on.”
She measured him with her eyes.
“You really did grow. Even your face looks a bit different.”
Baron’s eyes widened, then he shook his head.
“There’s no way you’d notice growth in just one day.”
“Really?”
“Of course.”
His certainty made her doubt herself.
“Then should we ask Mr. Raven later? He saw you yesterday. He’d notice if you changed.”
Baron hesitated, then nodded.
“Fine.”
“Good.”
She rolled up her sleeves. It was time to prepare her special lunch.
She checked the soaking tanks by the house.
Sea cucumbers were in the small tank. In the large one, several conchs and two blue crabs were swimming.
“Alright. Crabs, conchs, sea cucumbers. Time to move out.”
After taking them out and adding the clams and octopus she had caught, Baron stared in horror.
“W-What is that?!”
“Octopus. Don’t you know?”
“I mean, I know what it is, but why did you catch it? Don’t tell me you’re going to eat it?”
She laughed at his reaction.
“Of course I am. Don’t people eat octopus here?”
“Of course not! It looks weird. There aren’t even any recipes for it.”
“There are tons of recipes. If no one eats it, that’s why you don’t know how.”
“It must taste bad.”
“You said no one eats it. How would you know?”
“….”
“I’ll handle it. Go read your book.”
Baron pouted and walked away without arguing further.
She washed rice and started cooking it. Then she made a clear soup with clams, crab, and cabbage.
She sliced the sea cucumbers, put the conchs on the fire, and grabbed an octopus.
The strong octopus wrapped its long, wriggling legs tightly around her arm.
“Ahh!”
The scream that followed was Baron’s.
He threw his book aside and ran over in shock. He grabbed the octopus clinging to her and threw it onto the floor.
“How dare it!”
Smack!
