Chapter 22
“Why on earth would you do something so foolish and tell a lie that’s bound to be exposed right away…?”
Rustle.
Calyx, who had been speaking sharply, fell silent at the sound of steady breathing.
The child’s cheeks, fingertips, and even ears were flushed red. He looked utterly pitiful.
Calyx removed the child’s robe.
The clothing, old and worn out, had sleeves far too short. Cheap shoes and a filthy body—he looked nothing like a noble.
‘This kid, a duke…?’
Nonsense.
He pulled the blanket back up over the child.
“…Father.”
A voice from the other bed made Calyx turn his head.
“Aiden. Why are you up? Were we too loud?”
“Yes, a bit.”
The young boy rubbed his eyes groggily as he sat up.
Silver-gray hair.
Light reddish eyes.
Pale skin, so translucent that his veins were visible.
And an expressionless face, unbefitting a child.
It hadn’t taken long for the once-cheerful child to become like this. A mysterious illness had wrecked his life overnight, turning them into wanderers.
The back of Aiden’s right hand was covered in something dark, making it hard to even see its natural color.
And that wasn’t the only part. Half of Aiden’s upper body was covered in bizarre tattoos.
The black markings looked like a child’s doodles at first glance, but up close, they resembled unknown letters. Still, no one had been able to identify them.
Calyx had visited countless experts.
Yet all they could say was that it wasn’t a disease, nor a curse, nor anything else known. But as Aiden grew, the tattoos spread, and the boy was tortured by intermittent pain, barely able to function in daily life.
As Aiden glanced around, his gaze landed on the child buried under the blanket, and he frowned.
“Who’s that?”
“Probably your future sibling…?”
Silence followed.
“Are you insane?”
Aiden’s incredulous voice rang out as Calyx shrugged and inspected the fruit he had received from the child.
It was a pure white fruit with a faint golden glow—it definitely looked unusual.
Maybe… just maybe. That thought was beginning to creep into Calyx’s mind as well.
He scratched at it with a fingernail, but the color didn’t come off like paint, nor was there any strange chemical smell. Instead, it gave off a rich, sweet scent like real fruit.
Calyx had an animal-like intuition and a keen nose that could distinguish between edible and inedible just by smell.
He was certain now.
‘This is edible!’
At the very least, it wasn’t poisonous.
“Son, want to try this?”
“What is it?”
“A fruit of Arfedis.”
“…!”
“—Or so the kid said.”
Aiden’s eyes widened in surprise, but then quickly filled with disappointment.
“You’re joking, right? You don’t actually believe that, do you? The problem with you is that you believe anything too easily. How many times have you been tricked before…!”
“But it didn’t seem like the kid was lying. Of course, he might’ve been tricked by someone else and brought some strange fruit from somewhere.”
Calyx admitted honestly.
Truthfully, even he didn’t believe it was real.
But what if—just what if—there was the tiniest chance?
What if the child really was a noble and happened to have something like the fruit of Arfedis rolling around in their treasure vault?
Of course, Calyx knew how foolish and hopeful that assumption was.
“There’s no way that thing is real. That’s their bag, right? I bet if we dig through it, we’ll find ten more of the same thing!”
Aiden, who normally spoke little, got so worked up that he jumped out of bed and flipped the bag Calyx had left on the nightstand.
Clatter. Roll. Roll…
The room fell into sudden silence.
“…”
“…”
They were real.
Aside from the one Calyx was holding, five more of the same fruit tumbled out of the bag.
“See?!”
Aiden, momentarily stunned, shouted.
Faint golden light glowed from the fruits.
Truth be told, Calyx had already felt a sliver of hope, wondering if this mysterious-looking fruit might actually be the real thing.
“You always fall for scammers! I’m never going to be cured anyway!”
“…”
“And you think this thing is going to heal me?”
Aiden, his pale face flushed red in anger, grabbed one of the fallen fruits and bit into it furiously.
“There’s no way something fake like this would actually—!”
And at that moment—
A golden light enveloped Aiden’s body.
“…!”
“H-Huh?!”
As Calyx, startled, tried to approach, Aiden—eyes wide—suddenly began devouring the fruit in his hand like a starving man.
At the same time—
The bizarre tattoo on the back of Aiden’s hand began to blur, then melt away.
“…!”
Calyx’s eyes flew open in astonishment.
Aiden staggered, then collapsed to the floor.
“Aiden!”
Calyx quickly caught him and placed a finger under his nose.
He was breathing.
His breaths were calm and steady. It looked like he had simply fainted.
Calyx quickly unbuttoned Aiden’s shirt.
“…!”
It was gone.
The black, grotesque tattoo that had covered his right upper body… was nowhere to be seen.
“…It was real?”
Calyx laid Aiden back on the bed, then looked down at the sleeping child—Eve—with trembling eyes.
The white fruits still rolled gently across the floor.
The next day.
“So I just have to be your dad now?”
“Hi.”
“…?”
The moment he opened his eyes, two faces that looked just alike were staring right at him.
He nearly jumped.
It was a rather jarring sight for someone waking up still groggy from sleep.
Not even the messy hair and scruffy beard could hide the man’s striking features.
Lowering his gaze, he saw bandages wrapped around his hands and feet—proof he had actually been frostbitten.
Judging from their expressions, it had worked.
“The fruit…”
“I fed it to him before you woke up. The traces of the illness in his body are all gone. I still can’t believe it, but it looks like the fruit you brought is the real thing.”
Calyx scratched his head with a doubtful expression.
But he had seen the results with his own eyes—he had no choice but to believe.
I gave him a pitiful look and nodded.
“Then you’re really going to be my dad now…?”
“Well, yeah… but wait, where on earth did you even get that fruit…”
“Anyway, here, please stamp this.”
I reached into the side pocket of the bag filled with fruits and pulled out a piece of paper, holding it out to him.
“A stamp?”
“Yeah. A signature is fine too. A thumbprint would be best.”
I even took out a red inkpad and popped the lid open for him.
“I kept my promise. If you suddenly change your mind and run away, it’s totally my loss.”
“Huh?!”
“You just need to be my dad until my coming-of-age ceremony. Like a contract marriage.”
I grabbed Calyx’s hand and pressed his thumb firmly onto the inkpad.
As I moved the now-bright-red thumb toward the paper, Calyx’s eyes suddenly flew open.
“W-Wait, stop!”
Plop.
He resisted just as I was about to press his thumb down.
“Hey.”
“‘Hey’? You little rascal! You’re really trying to stamp a contract without reading it first? Even someone as dumb as me knows you’re supposed to read every single word first!”
Calyx snatched the paper from my hand and began wiping his finger furiously with a tissue.
“Almost lost my nose to a contract from a brat no bigger than a sausage.”
…He’s not just going to use the fruit and ditch me, right?
My heart pounded nervously.
As Calyx scanned the paper, his eyes suddenly narrowed.
He must have noticed the official Duke’s seal stamped in the signature section.
He turned to me with a pale face.
“Kid.”
“Yeah?”
“…Are you really a duke?”
