Chapter 18
“What… what did you say…?”
What did I just hear?
Kaleo, who was kneeling on one knee to make eye contact with the children, suddenly fell backward and landed on his butt.
The nearby servants also froze, stunned.
“Father…”
“Uh, uh…?”
“I’m sorry…”
“……”
“Nini has lived wrongly all this time…”
A self-deprecation too shocking to be uttered by a four-year-old.
But Nibelia kept repeating to herself, “I have lived wrongly. Nini is a bad child.”
Then she staggered weakly past Kaleo.
Kaleo couldn’t bring himself to stop her.
“Sh-Should I hug her?”
Deter, who followed behind cautiously, asked.
He didn’t know how surprised he was when he saw the little lady who had suddenly apologized to him earlier that day while picking up the kids from kindergarten.
“No…”
Nibelia shook her head.
“Nini has to do it alone. I don’t deserve help.”
“……”
“Deter.”
“Yes, yes…”
“I’m sorry for everything…”
“Miss, why are you like this? It’s scary…!”
Terrified, Deter finally dropped to his knees.
But Nibelia had already climbed the stairs on her own, stumbling up to her room.
“……”
“……”
Those left behind were overwhelmed with shock and fear.
“Um…”
Then, Arep mustered courage and broke the silence.
He pulled a letter out of the yellow backpack from the mage tower kindergarten and handed it to Kaleo.
“The mage tower lord said to give this to the adult.”
Lying face down on the bed, Nibelia kept replaying what had happened today at the mage tower.
“People have to endure sometimes. You can’t live however you want. Even if you’re a very strong cat.”
“People are different from cats. We live together, considerate, sometimes yielding. That’s how we live.”
“In other words, Arep temporarily forgetting you doesn’t mean you should pout and run away.”
Honestly, Nibelia didn’t fully understand everything Magia had said.
When Magia said those things, Nibelia had just thought to herself, “Ugh, so talkative. Noisy. Such nagging.”
But the fact that the teacher bowed and apologized to Magia because she was missing shocked her.
She also couldn’t forget how worried Arep looked.
“……”
Slowly, Nibelia turned over and lay flat.
The ceiling she always saw looked a little different today.
“…Nini is really mean.”
“Truly mean people don’t say things like that.”
Nibelia glanced sideways.
“Grandma…”
Muniel had silently entered the room and was sitting on the edge of the bed with a gentle smile.
Nibelia wriggled again and rested her head on Muniel’s thigh.
A gentle hand stroked the child’s head and back.
“Did you have fun at kindergarten?”
“No…”
“Oh dear, why not?”
“Nini is such a bad kid, the teachers apologized.”
“What bad thing did you do?”
“I sneaked into the mage tower lord’s room alone, and my finger almost rotted.”
Nibelia held out her index finger.
“Oh no, your pretty little finger almost disappeared?”
Muniel fussed, gently stroking the small finger and blowing warm breath on it.
The soft, pale finger was plump and squishy, like a kitten’s paw.
“It was rotting here, but the mage tower lord treated it.”
“Did you say thank you?”
“Yeah.”
“Well done.”
“But Nini wandered around alone without permission, so the teachers apologized. I also left Arep behind. So Arep looked for me.”
Nibelia’s spirit drooped again as she buried her face in Muniel’s thigh.
“Nini is the leader, but she abandoned her subordinate…”
Muniel swallowed a bitter smile.
‘The effect of sending her to kindergarten is showing so quickly.’
Finally, this wild child realized that her actions could trouble others.
“Nini.”
A gentle voice reached Nibelia’s ear.
Nibelia raised her head slightly.
She had clearly been crying, leaving faint tear stains on Muniel’s skirt.
“So what should you do from now on?”
“Don’t wander around alone.”
“That’s it.”
If she learned that, it would be a very valuable lesson.
Adults always taught children that.
That’s why Nibelia always tried again even after failing to earn money. She wasn’t scared of making mistakes.
“You learned from your mistake, right? Then just don’t do it anymore.”
Nibelia sat up straight and nodded.
“Don’t just roam around wherever you want alone.”
“Right.”
“When I go to kindergarten tomorrow, I’ll say sorry to the teacher.”
“Very good.”
Muniel asked one more thing to her granddaughter, who was growing up so noticeably.
“Are you scared of crowded places?”
“No! Nini is a strong cat!”
Nibelia quickly corrected the misunderstanding.
“But, strangers make me a little bit like that. Strangers…”
“Is it hard?”
“A little. And, uh, um…”
Remembering the hard memories, Nibelia squeezed her eyes shut and hunched her shoulders.
Watching her with pity, Muniel said:
“How about asking Arep?”
“Arep…?”
Muniel wiped the wet corners of Nibelia’s eyes with her finger and said:
“A subordinate’s job is to protect the leader.”
“Arep will protect Nini?”
“The leader has to give missions to the subordinate. Otherwise, the wolf might be too gloomy, right?”
“But Nini is strong! She’s the leader!”
Leaders have pride. How could she ask a subordinate to protect her?
Nibelia firmly refused.
But Muniel explained once more.
“Because you’re the leader, you have to make your subordinate strong. Will you let your subordinate keep acting spoiled? Nini is still a child, but she’s trying hard to earn money. She failed miserably, though.”
“Th-That’s true…!”
Though she had utterly failed.
Nibelia nodded.
“You see? The more you love, the stronger you raise.”
“Nini loves Arep! I’ve loved him since forever!”
“Yes! That’s it!”
“I’ll raise him strong! Because I love him!”
Cheered up, Nibelia hurried off the bed.
Then, with a more spirited step, she opened the door and stepped out.
But Arep was already waiting there.
“Arep!”
Nibelia smiled brightly as she approached him.
“Did you come to see Nini?”
“……”
Hesitating, Arep nodded.
“Are you okay…?”
“I’m fine. Nini isn’t hurt. I just, um, reflected a little.”
“Nini is a child who knows how to reflect.”
Muniel praised her while stroking her white silver hair that resembled hers.
Giggling, Nibelia said to Arep:
“Arep!”
“Yes.”
“I’m your leader! Got it?”
“…Yes.”
Arep nodded for now. As the child of the adults who took care of her, he felt he had to obey.
“So Nini will protect Arep!”
“Yes.”
“But! You have to protect Nini too. Because you have to grow strong! This is your mission, got it?”
“……”
Flustered, Arep pressed his lips tightly. His red eyes flickered anxiously as he looked to Muniel for help.
Nibelia couldn’t wait and pressed him for an answer.
“Got it?”
“Oh, you shouldn’t be so bossy.”
Muniel gently stopped the excited Nibelia.
“You have to speak kindly. Gently and politely.”
Nibelia hesitated briefly and then said:
“Protect Nini, okay?”
“That’s not kind; it sounds like you haven’t learned proper speech.”
Holding back a laugh, Muniel explained more kindly to the increasingly embarrassed Arep:
“Nini finds it hard to be around strangers. She went through a painful experience before.”
“Painful experience…?”
Arep’s eyes widened.
The boy looked at Nibelia in disbelief.
Their eyes met, and Nibelia silently nodded.
‘Ah, so that’s why…’
Now he understood why the usually talkative and brave Nibelia was silent and why she ran away at kindergarten.
Arep saw Nibelia in a new light.
‘She’s amazing.’
Even after going through painful experiences, she could live without showing it.
‘I can’t do that.’
Feeling miserable, Arep’s head drooped toward the ground.
Muniel spoke:
“So, could you stay by Nini’s side?”
“Me…?”
Arep hesitated.
‘I’m weak…’
He lacked confidence.
But—
“…How?”
Instead of refusing, Arep asked how he could protect her.
From the moment they first met, this little girl boldly declared she would protect him.
He still didn’t know why, but having someone promise to protect him was a first.
And how difficult it was to say that — Arep painfully realized right then.
‘I can’t run away…!’
He didn’t want to become like the people who abandoned him at the orphanage.
“How can I protect her?”
Muniel couldn’t take her eyes off Arep’s determined red eyes.
Watching with pride, she asked Nibelia:
“How about that? A very wonderful subordinate, right?”
Nibelia was too overwhelmed with emotion to answer, and she hugged Arep tightly.
