And so, after baby Dambi had fallen asleep from exhaustion.
Swoosh. The translucent veil lifted, revealing a man who had been standing with his back against the fireplace.
The teal eyes brimming with powerful magic saw a girl within the tiny fur-ball-like creature.
Shimmering silver hair tinged red at the ends, and small, plump, round ears as white as snow. Tiny hands that looked thin, as though she had yet to put on any weight, and smooth little feet.
A clever and lovable child who had once called him ‘Father.’
Honest, straightforward, and occasionally so bold that she made his heart drop…….
He had gotten that child back.
‘No, I haven’t found her completely yet.’
He must not let his guard down. Kiraxus’s gaze slid toward the jewel shaped like a die in his hand.
The terrible object that had driven his precious daughter-in-law to her death. In this life, he had recovered it in advance.
Because failing to do so had been his first regret.
-You really do live a long time. I never thought you’d use a ‘wish’ for someone else.
At that moment, Kiraxus’s shadow rippled, then slowly rose, taking on the shape of a human.
Though it clearly assumed a human form, the thing with two enormous horns sprouting from its forehead was so ominous that it didn’t feel human at all.
-Will that wish really do? It’s one of three.
“I don’t care. Do it.”
-I accept. I’ll alter everyone’s memories just as you wish.
Clatter, clatter.
The jewel clenched in his hand knocked roughly against itself.
With this, he could erase his second regret.
‘The past of having first entered this place as a maid had clung stubbornly to that child and refused to come off.’
Inside the mansion, it didn’t matter even if such a past existed. He could protect Florin so that no one could look down on her.
But once she entered high society, someone investigated Florin’s background and found her weakness. Eventually, even the fact that she had been a spy was discovered, and Florin had to suffer greatly because of it.
After some time had passed, Kiraxus came to regret that incident as well.
He should have erased her past with his power.
If he had, that little child would never have been hurt enough to secretly cry.
‘Yes, at first, I brought her here because she was useful.’
Since he held the weakness of her being a spy, she couldn’t betray him or act recklessly. As she was from the Holy Empire and had neither family nor friends in the Magic Empire, she was easy to isolate and monitor.
He literally needed a ‘doll’ to play the role of his daughter-in-law, and that was why he brought Florin, who had caught his eye. In truth, even if it hadn’t been Florin, he would have brought anyone who met similar conditions.
‘……That was how it was.’
But that little child had taught him so many different emotions.
He had believed that there was no way he could ever feel paternal love in his lifetime. But whenever he looked at Florin…… strangely, he found himself thinking that perhaps even he possessed such human emotions.
‘In the end, I went this far simply because I couldn’t bear to lose that one child…… Can’t this be called paternal love?’
The corners of Kiraxus’s lips quietly curled upward.
-It’s done.
Tick.
At this very moment, Florin’s past was erased from the memories of everyone except himself and Florin.
From now on, no one in this world would remember that Florin had been a spy or a maid.
‘Florin is simply a child I brought home one day. That’s all that matters.’
His resolve didn’t matter even if no one, not even Florin herself, ever knew about it. He hadn’t turned back time so that anyone would thank him for it.
***
The next morning, I had a hearty breakfast of warm milk, goat’s milk cheese, and savory bread that Nina had brought me.
Now that my stomach is full, I finally feel like I’m going to live.
“If you get it on yourself while eating, it won’t do.”
Kiraxus, who was standing beside me while fastening his cufflinks, held out a handkerchief.
I couldn’t help flinching whenever he reached his hand toward me, but I didn’t avoid him. If he had intended to chop me up, he would have done it already.
‘Besides, that face is beautiful enough to raise the world’s handsome-man index by another level…….’
Dressed in a neat suit with his hair swept back, Kiraxus was dazzling. I wondered if there would ever come a day when I got used to that face.
‘But I mustn’t be fooled. In the original novel, Kiraxus was a lunatic who even made an army out of the corpses of his dead kind.’
And he had even hunted down his own young relatives, one by one, who were hopelessly in love with Rahin. Coldly and indifferently. Without feeling a single emotion.
‘Maybe he’ll throw me out soon.’
Or he might decide at today’s family meeting that he wouldn’t accept me.
‘They’ll probably decide at the family meeting whether I’m allowed to live here or not.’
In the original novel, the Driblyane family also decided many major matters through family meetings. So naturally, whether to take an albino as a daughter-in-law would also be decided at a family meeting.
‘Given my current situation, the best thing I can do is cling to this place as the daughter-in-law.’
But if that didn’t work, I needed to stay as long as possible, save enough money to become independent, and learn something useful. That way, no matter what I did after leaving, I’d at least be able to make a living.
But what was with this room? There wasn’t even a single ordinary jewel.
‘I’m supposed to live extravagantly! Wouldn’t it be nice if there were some jewelry in the display cabinet?’
Then I could sneak one or two pieces under my pillow.
“Ah, according to your documents, your name is Plea.”
“Eek!”
At that moment, perhaps he somehow knew I had been insulting him, because his voice came from extremely close by.
I creaked around to look, only to find Kiraxus leaning his upper body over my head with an extremely calm expression.
“I also found the Holy Empire bastard who sent you here. I tore his limbs apart and threw him to the dogs, so you needn’t worry about them coming after you.”
“……Hic!”
Did you seriously go all the way to the Holy Empire overnight just to wreak havoc?!
‘As expected of a villain! So scary, so scary!’
While I trembled internally, Kiraxus looked me over as I desperately pretended to remain composed and continued speaking.
“I also killed the maid who processed your documents, so there’s no one left who knows about your origins.”
“Y-yes.”
“But I don’t like that name as it is, so I’ll change it to Florin. From now on, your name is Florin.”
Wow, he’s completely unreasonable…….
But since he had gotten hold of my weakness from the very first day we met, I couldn’t protest at all.
Well, I didn’t dislike it since it was a pretty name.
‘Florin.’
A name from this world that I had finally received after seven possessions.
My heart felt strangely tight, and I scrunched up my nose, but then the villain shattered my touching moment to pieces.
“The meatball has wrinkles. Have you lost some of your juices over the past few days?”
“Gyaa! I’m not minced meat! Ah, I mean, I’m not……!”
Only after angrily shouting back did I realize a beat too late who I was talking to, and I slowly lowered my voice into a mumble.
Kiraxus chuckled, ignored my words, and continued talking nonsense.
“She should be given meals with more fat and nutrients.”
Gasp, is he going to give me meat for dinner?
That would be nice.
In fact, the ecosystem had long since been destroyed because of the Saintess who had stolen away the seasons. Herbivorous beastkin could no longer farm, herbivores were starving to death in the fields. Naturally, carnivores were also gradually disappearing these days.
The Driblyane family was enormous, so it wasn’t a major problem for them, but with so many mouths to feed, their everyday meals couldn’t exactly be extravagant.
That was why I had no complaints about having a meatless breakfast.
Compared to the bean husks I had barely managed to scavenge among the maids, this was practically a feast!
‘Well, it would be nice if I could eat something a little sweeter, though.’
Things like cookies, chocolate, or cake.
I absolutely loved desserts, but all the things I had possessed so far had been mere creatures, so I had been forcibly abstaining from desserts this whole time.
It wasn’t like a water strider could eat a cookie.
Rustle.
That was when it happened.
“…….”
A sweet smell?
I twitched my nose at the scent of sugar, butter, and flour blended together perfectly, then turned around to see Kiraxus reaching toward somewhere in midair.
There was a creaking sound from the air, as though he were opening an oven, and then…….
“Coo-kie……?”
A freshly baked cookie, still steaming, appeared on his palm. Then he lowered the precious thing right in front of me as I stared at it blankly!
“Eat it. You need to put on some weight.”
“M-my cookie……?”
Nod.
He raised an eyebrow.
“I put a cooling spell on it, so it should have hardened. You can eat it right away.”
“Cookie…….”
Unable to believe that I had actually been given a cookie, I stared at it in a daze before carefully hugging it to my chest.
Gulp. The buttery aroma made my mouth water.
After hesitating for a moment, I opened my mouth with a little ‘nom’ and carefully took a bite of the cookie.
“!!!”
Tears instantly welled up.
“I-it’s goood…….”
“If you finish it, I’ll give you another.”
“Reeally……?”
“Yes. But while you eat it, listen to me for a moment.”
Nod, nod. My tail began swaying gently without me even realizing it.
‘Maybe Kiraxus is actually a good person.’
It definitely wasn’t because I was an easy marten.
I’m not, uh, the kind of marten who can be won over by a single cookie.
Worried that the cookie might crumble, I began nibbling at it as carefully as possible. Watching me, the corners of Kiraxus’s eyes seemed to soften ever so slightly for just a moment.
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