Papa? Did calling him “Papa” work?
I blinked in wonder.
He didn’t respond further, only silently trudged on. Every time he took a step, the snow that covered the field gently melted away.
Of course, it wasn’t just the snow that melted. The luxuriant trees in the forest also burned up in seconds.
My eyes widened as I watched them turn into ash.
If this continues, all the trees will burn and this place will become like Mingdun mountain!
(T/N: Mingdun mountain is a mountain in South Korea where there are no trees, and so bare soil is exposed.)
Even so, he didn’t seem to care at all.
Seeing how indifferent he was to the environment around him, I began to wonder if the brightly burning trees in front of me were simply illusions.
But it seemed like it wasn’t just me hallucinating. The people behind him were shuffling their feet nervously, with eyes as wide as mine.
“M-Master!”
A few panicked and called out to him, but he paid no attention and continued to make his way across the field.
All the while, the trees that stood tall in the forest flickered with flames.
I began to think that at this rate, all nature here would be destroyed, so I grabbed onto his coat and tugged. He paused, quietly lowering his gaze to look at me.
His calm, steady eyes stared at me in silence, seeming to ask what the issue was.
I stretched my arms, pointing at the trees.
“Papapa!”
“Papa?”
“Papapa!”
It hurts! The trees are hurting!
But his expression held no signs of understanding. Seeing that, I started to feel dejected.
Why can’t I call my papa, ‘papa’?
I thrashed and struggled in frustration. He turned to face the trees, still not understanding why I was acting like this. He lifted his chin, gazing at the distant horizon, before nodding his head, as if he had come to a conclusion.
“Are you saying your dad went over there?”
“Pa?”
“If not, are you a tree spirit?”
“Pa?”
What is this person saying?
I tilted my head in confusion, not understanding the words coming from his lips.
Right after he asked that question, he hung his head, thinking about something with furrowed brows. Then with a firm grip, he pulled me into his embrace.
“But right now, aren’t you all alone? You’ll need protection.”
Suddenly, he began to make long strides across the field. It wasn’t running or jumping, just a repetition of his body rising and landing. The wind whipped past me, the scenery beginning to blur.
The speed he was going at could be considered scary, but his upper body was steady and had no signs of shaking.
He seemed like someone who never held a child before. That’s most likely because the master of the Ardellos family was always preoccupied with increasing his abilities in training and subjugation. Of course, the reason for that was all because of the Delde family. Thus, my biological dad’s immense strength was largely to blame.
My dad made relentless attempts to open the doors to hell, causing endless waves of lower demons to escape. The demons that crawled out onto the continent preyed on humans as nourishment. Even worse, since they were lower ranked, they didn’t have the consciousness of fear. With these demons running amok, the continent fell into a chaos of confusion and despair.
Of course, with Devarus, the guardian warrior, the fate of the continent began to change.
I began to tremble as I recalled the contents of the novel.
I definitely must escape when I become an adult.
There’s no doubt that they’d point their blades at me if they found out I was born in the Delde family. It was certain. After all, his family and friends lost their lives during the rampage caused by the Delde family.
To make things worse, I was a direct descendent of the main branch of the family. It was in my blood. It would be a relief if I was killed in one blow if this was found out by anyone.
I would be lucky if I didn’t get publicly executed in the square.
“Uhh…”
I was flailing my body imagining these horrible things. Yet, his firm hands supported my body without shaking.
His aura enveloped my surroundings, and suddenly, my body was no longer cold or trembling. Maybe it was because of this that all the horrible thoughts I had a moment ago disappeared.
I yawned automatically.
Anyways, where are we going?
I had spaced out, and a random thought popped into my head. I could see the shape of a white castle appear on the horizon.
The castle resembled an elegant swan with fine curves. It had a feeling of flexibility that didn’t really suit the Ardellos family.
It seemed like something built by artists and architects who worshipped the Ardellos family.
Thanks to them, the Ardellos Castle is widely rumored to be the most beautiful building in the continent.
It’s said that the grounds of the castle are so massively wide that it takes a horse an entire day to run around the perimeter.
However, it felt like the knights of Ardellos only needed an hour to run the perimeter.
I squinted up at the superhuman lord.
Who would consider this man a mortal?
No matter what, I must be thoroughly prepared before making my escape.
***
The magnificent visage of the Ardellos Castle slowly revealed itself as we got closer.
It was as if the castle was made of platinum, encircled by a halo casted by the sunlight. I couldn’t take my eyes off of the dazzling building.
Seated in each corner were spires under the pure white arch, which stretched across the sky.
Something interesting about the castle was that in its center, there was an open space with a lake. The reflection of the white castle on the lake’s surface aroused the feeling of watching a fairytale.
Still captivated by the sight, I was frozen with awe in his embrace as we landed lightly in front of the castle.
The rebound from the landing had no effect on him, other than a soft fluttering of the bottoms of his dark blue coat. It was as if jumping from such a height caused him no pain at all. He walked along the lakeside as if nothing had happened.
Needless to say, I too, wrapped in his embrace, was unaffected.
It was the definition of comfort. If my eyes had been closed, I wouldn’t have even realized that we arrived. It was as if we had flown all the way from the snowy fields.
Unfortunately, I had kept my eyes open, and was terrified the entire time. Perhaps it was because I had been thrown down a cliff once, that the fear had increased tenfold.
All the emotions I felt as I fell—the fear of being helpless, the inability to do anything. Remembering those, my body began to tremble and quiver, tears welling up in my eyes.
I burst into sobs.
“Waaaaahhhhh!”
“W-What?”
“Waah, waahh!”
Hic, it was scary! I’m scared!
The head of the Ardellos family stiffened as I thrashed about in his arms. After a bit of hesitance, he began attempting to calm me down, awkwardly patting me on the back. After some time however, due to his innate athleticism, his hands fell into a soothing rhythm.
“It’s alright.”
Those two words were nothing special, just a casual comment spoken passively from his lips, but somehow, those two words made me stop crying immediately.
As I continued to hiccup due to the aftermath of my outburst, he began to hum a lullaby. His touch, suddenly as soft as a mother’s touch, was delicate and calming.
As if this will make me fall asleep…
I yawned.
A wave of langour washed over me, and I realized I had become incredibly sleepy. This was largely due to the fact that I had been tense from struggling on the thin line between life and death, and could finally relax.
His behaviour up until now didn’t seem to imply that he would throw me away.
If so, why don’t I sleep for a bit?
Would he throw away a newborn baby? Yeah, no way.
Making this conclusion, I finally closed my eyes and entrusted my body to the heavy swamp of sleep.
***
The butler, who had recognized the lord from a distance, made his way towards him. In one of his hands he carried a towel, supposedly to wipe the leather shoes of his master, which were covered in snow.
Like countless times before, the lord landed near the lake shore.
The butler bowed deeply to greet the lord, who had come back without fail like always. No, he tried to bow deeply.
That was, until he saw the newborn baby in his master’s hands.
The child was hiccuping as if stricken with fear. Certainly, she was scared after seeing the lord. He, who was naturally born cold as stone, did not display a single ounce of talent for caring for a child.
Knowing this, the butler tried to hold the child instead. The lord stopped him, an unbelievably affectionate tone flowing from his lips. “It’s alright.”
The butler’s eyes grew wide when he noticed that the Lord was also gently rubbing the child’s back.
The snow, caught in the winter breeze, entered the butler’s gaping mouth. Yet he didn’t even flinch, as if he were frozen in shock.
“…My Lord?” the butler asked timidly, as if he saw something he shouldn’t have.
The lord, however, didn’t even bother to respond. He was too busy humming a lullaby to the child in his arms.
***
Ahh, I slept well.
I opened my eyes, awaking from my slumber. Looking around at my surroundings, I discerned that I was in a warm, beige colored room.
A blindingly colorful mobile hung above me, and the cloth wrapped around my body smelled just like the sun.
As I sucked mindlessly on the pacifier, enjoying the pleasant environment I was in, I noticed someone shaking the cradle,
A woman, who appeared to be a maid, was humming a calming tune. Her gaze switched from the window towards me.
She met my gaze, and I blinked. She gasped. “Oh my!” Her eyes grew wide as she looked down at me, filled with intrigue. “How in the world is this child so demure?”
Her expression showed that she was thrilled, but I trembled slightly in horror.
Uh oh, was I too well-behaved?
Right, it’s normal for a baby to cry. If I didn’t want to raise unnecessary suspicion, I would have to act like my age.
I had just made up my mind and was about to fake a cry when suddenly, the cry of another child burst out from somewhere in the room. The child cried as if their life depended on it.
“Waaah! Waaah!!”
The sound was so loud, it echoed across the entire room. I craned my neck, but was unable to catch a glimpse of the one who had caused it.
All the maids had rushed towards the child. The sounds of stroking, the hum of lullabies, and the ringing of toy bells all mixed together to give way to a cacophony of noise.
“Aigoo, Young Master! Look here!”
“Now look here! Here!”
The maids who were busy trying to calm the baby down showed visible signs of exhaustion. The one that had been rocking my cradle looked as if her soul had left her body.
‘Young Master’, huh. He’s the male protagonist then, right?
To meet the male protagonist, Devarus, as a baby, you would think one would be relieved. However, he was screaming so loudly, I felt like my eardrums were about to burst.
Male protagonist or whatever. He’s still so obnoxiously noisy, ugh!
I began to flail about.