Chapter 25…
Clarissa extended the back of her hand without hurrying, a small smile playing on her lips.
Before long, a young pup with anxious, blue eyes approached her, wagging its tail.
“All right.”
As if responding to Clarissa’s praise, the puppy carefully nuzzled her hand with its nose before tumbling entirely into her arms.
“So cute. Really. I can’t believe such a gentle little thing exists.”
Clarissa stroked the adorable creature cradled in her arms with affection, tossing a mildly reproachful glance at Mari.
This time, Mari couldn’t hide her indignation and puffed up her cheeks as she grumbled.
“That’s only how he behaves in front of you, Clarissa!”
“What are you talking about? Have you ever seen such a well-behaved puppy?”
Receiving Clarissa’s gaze that silently demanded she make sense, Mari tapped her chest in frustration. She glared at the white fluff ball that only acted obedient in front of Clarissa.
Clarissa shot Mari a fearsome look, but Mari, who had long since suffered at the hands of the white creature, didn’t back down.
“…He’s not even a puppy to begin with.”
The revelation of the creature’s origins caused Clarissa’s golden eyes to widen.
She quickly glanced around in surprise.
“Shhh! Be quiet.”
After confirming that no one was nearby, Clarissa placed her finger against her lips.
With a stern expression, she hushed Mari and then briskly urged them to move on.
“Come on, let’s go.”
And with that, as if nothing had happened, she quickened her pace.
“We need to introduce our little one to her beautiful owner quickly.”
Clarissa returned to the reception room where Aryan was waiting, holding the calm white creature carefully with a triumphant expression.
“Ta-da! Have you been waiting long?”
Her voice rang through the room, excited at the thought of Aryan’s joy.
But noticing Aryan’s mood had already dimmed, Clarissa quickly scanned him.
“No, it’s nothing.”
‘Nothing? But that expression…’
It was clearly a forced smile.
A reasonable suspicion crossed her mind that someone might have troubled him. However, while Mari and she had caused a commotion in the hallway outside the reception room, they hadn’t even seen Belisa, her attendants, or a single insect—leaving only suspicion.
“Did… anything change?”
Speaking thus, Clarissa gently presented the wriggling little creature in her arms before Aryan.
“Ah…”
“Really, you don’t know?”
Contrary to Clarissa’s expectations, Aryan seemed completely unaware of the implication behind her words.
Suppressing a small smile at the helplessness of it all, Clarissa cheerfully announced again:
“Say hello! This is Aryan’s new friend!”
“P-pleased to meet you.”
Their differing blue eyes met.
Aryan looked at the small, white creature offered to him and, in his surprise, gave a polite greeting.
Clarissa laughed at his innocent reaction.
“Haha! What is this!”
“Did I do something wrong again?”
Aryan’s crystalline blue eyes rolled in confusion.
“Yes, Aryan’s new friend…”
As always, Clarissa didn’t deny it. She simply placed the creature, who looked so much like him, into his arms.
“She likes being held like this.”
Aryan’s eyes trembled slightly as he hugged the unfamiliar yet warm presence.
Clarissa stepped back slightly, observing the still-awkward pair.
A beautiful smile bloomed on her lips.
It resembled the color of early autumn flowers just beginning to bloom.
“Yes, she’s lovely.”
Thump, thump. Aryan’s heart jumped in a strange rhythm.
The ‘puppy’ nestled in his arms gazed at his flushed cheeks.
His lips twitched, wanting to say something, but no words emerged.
Finally, after a long pause, he asked a question that slightly startled Clarissa:
“…May I know the new friend’s name?”
“Whi… Huey! Huey.”
Clarissa hastily stopped herself from calling it “Whitey,” settling on a more fitting name.
The name, though not much different from “Whitey,” seemed to please Aryan.
“Huey.”
Like Clarissa, a genuine smile spread across his face.
His soft boyish voice, not yet deepened, tickled her ears.
“That’s a nice name.”
“Y-yes… it’s a g-good name.”
Feeling the air around them grow warmer, Clarissa hesitated in her words.
Though young, Aryan was still very much the hero of the story.
Though she had never forgotten, realizing it anew made Clarissa’s heart race against her will.
“Huey is brave, so she’ll protect you well, Aryan.”
Clarissa deliberately looked at Aryan’s rounded head, trying to hide the rush of embarrassment.
She didn’t notice the shadow that fell across Aryan’s face at her words.
His lips twitched briefly.
The smile he recreated remained beautiful but no longer shone as brightly.
“…Thank you, my lady.”
Night came as it always did.
Aryan lay on his bed, completely transformed by Clarissa’s influence, glancing at the sky still tinged with blue.
At his fingertips was the soft fur of the little life Clarissa had left with him.
He gently stroked the fur, sharing a small warmth.
Beside him lay a small sheet of paper, left from earlier, revealing everything.
‘Since that day, Lady Lisa has not conducted any special “training” for Lord Aryan.’
Though faint, the handwriting was legible.
To an outsider unaware of the circumstances, it might seem trivial that a mother had guided her son.
Clarissa’s intention was similar.
Aryan, though slightly oblivious to worldly matters, was not so naive as to fail to grasp the note’s meaning.
Clarissa had acted to protect him and checked on it regularly.
He could have been angry or simply embarrassed.
But his first emotions upon discovering it were not so simple.
Disappointment, embarrassment, relief, and frustration—feelings that started and ended somewhere unknown floated restlessly.
‘She knew all along.’
That he wasn’t entirely loved. A single word recently learned stayed etched in his mind.
He bit his lips and slowly spoke:
“Clarissa must think I’m very pitiful.”
His trembling voice poured out only to the creature who could not answer.
“If….”
With each word, a sharp ache flared in his chest.
Huey, feeling the warmth, lifted her head slightly and looked at her friend.
“If I keep feeling so pitiful…”
In the night stripped of blue, a visitor came silently with the darkness.
It was the same moon as the day she first offered her warmth.
“Will you stay by my side?”
He knew it was a foolish question.
Still, Aryan clung to that foolish question.
Her warmth had been too comforting at first.
Now, that warmth had become a raging fire, leaving deep burns on Aryan’s tender heart.
He was afraid.
Afraid she might leave, now that he realized he was no longer hurting.
Moonlight fell on Aryan’s cheeks, just like that day.
His chaotic emotions couldn’t even form a prayer—they spilled over helplessly.
Huey’s soft whimpers filled the room.
Aryan wrapped Huey in his arms with all his strength.
“I’m sorry, Huey. Was that too difficult for you?”
Huey let out a short cry in response to Aryan’s near-monologue.
Her silvery hair grew slightly damp.
In the night so silent that even their breathing could barely be heard, the boy had grown a little.
