Chapter 08 …
“Ugh! You, you what are you!”
Ron flailed like a fish pulled out of water and forced himself upright.
It seemed he had finally gathered the will to respond properly. I smiled brightly and answered his question.
“Yep. I’m Tania.”
Ron scrambled off the sofa, still panicked.
Like a stray cat full of suspicion, he kept his distance from me and shouted in agitation.
“I wasn’t asking for your name!”
I tilted my head slightly and replied calmly.
“Oh? Then what were you asking?”
“Why you were sitting on me!”
“Oh, that. You were being rude to a stranger, so I thought we were getting comfortable with each other.”
Ron ran a hand through his hair in disbelief.
“Oh my god, Father brought home a crazy kid!”
“Ha ha, the way you yell so fiercely is kind of cute.”
He seemed to have grown up being showered with affection by the merchant guild master.
In other words—spoiled.
“Who are you calling cute? You’re at least a handspan shorter than me!”
Ron glared at me, his face bright red as he huffed and puffed.
Ah. Not good with compliments?
Seeing his reaction, my lips curled up again.
He really is just a kid.
I couldn’t hold back my laughter anymore and burst out.
“Puhaha, then what do you want instead of ‘cute’?”
“Just get lost in front of me!”
Of course, he responded with harsh words again, but I only smiled and tilted my head.
“But I kind of like you, Ron. I want to stay next to you.”
“…W-what?”
It seemed to be the first time someone his age had expressed affection like that, so he looked genuinely flustered.
With his personality, any girls who liked him probably cried and left immediately.
I narrowed my eyes into smiling crescents.
“Of course. You’re very cute.”
“I said don’t call me cute!”
“Even your tantrums are cute.”
“You—!”
Seeing how much he hated it, I briefly considered switching my wording.
“Hmm. If you don’t like ‘cute,’ how about ‘pretty boy’?”
“I’m not talking to you anymore!”
Ron, now properly angry, eventually turned and ran away.
I stood up from the sofa, ready to follow him.
“Waaait~ play with me a bit.”
As I casually handled Ron, the employees watching us whispered in admiration.
“Wow… I’ve never seen anyone smile like that while dealing with Ron.”
“Me neither. That bratty kid is actually getting pushed around.”
At that moment, as if their discussion had ended, the merchant guild master and Uncle Aiden came down the stairs, each from one side.
Before they even reached the bottom, I hurried over and asked:
“So? What’s the verdict?”
The guild master frowned slightly as he spoke.
“We checked the mercenary badge you’re carrying. It’s from the Golden Flower unit.”
Golden Flower Mercenary Corps.
It was a group once belonging to a legendary mercenary king, and only proven experts were allowed in.
Their success rate was extremely high, and unlike other mercenaries who often caused trouble, they were known for being exceptionally reliable.
I smiled faintly.
“See? I told you they were trustworthy. I have a great eye for people.”
The guild master lightly pushed my forehead with his finger and said firmly.
“Even so, it was wrong of you to trustfully throw yourself into a stranger’s home.”
“Yes, yes. My bad.”
I raised both hands in surrender.
He sighed softly.
“You seem to have your own reasons, so I won’t stop you. But if your foresight shows you a bad future, come here anytime.”
“Uh… if you say that so loudly, Uncle Aiden will hear—”
“I want him to hear it.”
I glanced at Uncle Aiden.
He didn’t look offended—in fact, he seemed to think it was natural.
“By the way, Tania.”
“Yes, Guild Master Uncle.”
“What’s wrong with that kid over there?”
At the end of his gaze was Ron, curled up on the sofa like a cat, glaring at me.
I shrugged lightly.
“I called him ‘pretty boy’ after he said he didn’t like ‘cute.’ That’s how he ended up like that.”
✦ ✦ ✦
That night.
Tania lay in bed for a while before slowly sitting up and mumbling.
“Yesterday I was so tired I just took Uncle’s bed without thinking…”
Now that she thought about it, if she slept in the only bed, where would he sleep?
As expected—
When she quietly opened the door, she saw Aiden leaning back in a chair, trying to sleep.
Right. There wasn’t even a sofa in this house.
So he really slept in that uncomfortable chair again?
Tania sighed softly, hugged a pillow, and looked like a child who hadn’t slept well.
“Uncle…”
At her small voice, Aiden slowly opened his eyes as if he had been awake the whole time.
“…What is it?”
“I’m scared of sleeping alone.”
“That’s strange. You slept alone just fine yesterday.”
She had been caught.
But Tania still had her secret weapon.
She traced a circle on the floor with her toes and said sadly,
“…Then what if I say I was jealous of kids who sleep with their parents?”
At that moment, Aiden’s expression changed.
He had already guessed she had lost her parents, but hearing it directly from the child herself was something entirely different.
A crushing sense of guilt surged through him.
He forced it down and said quietly,
“…I’ll stay with you.”
As Aiden stood up, Tania smiled brightly and rushed back into the room.
She patted the edge of the bed.
“Here!”
Aiden, who had brought the wooden chair with him, glanced at the empty bed.
“You said I’d stay with you, not that I’d lie in the bed with you.”
But Tania ignored him and looked at him with sparkling eyes.
Just getting him into the room was already half a victory.
“No matter how much you look at me like that…”
“Mm?”
“It’s still no…”
“Mm?”
…fine. It’s fine.
Aiden shut his eyes tightly.
How could he refuse a face like that? It was pure trickery.
In the end, he surrendered first.
“…Alright.”
He lay down carefully at the very edge of the bed, as far away from her as possible.
Tania watched him and let out a small amused laugh.
“Hehe.”
“What’s so funny?”
“Nothing… everything.”
That he was alive in front of her.
That their first meeting in this timeline was different, but his attitude toward her remained the same.
She felt an overwhelming sense of relief.
Aiden, unable to bear looking at her genuinely happy expression, closed his eyes.
“Stop talking nonsense and go to sleep.”
“Okay. Good night, Uncle!”
“…Yeah.”
The sight of a child so happy just to lie in bed next to her guardian made his heart ache unbearably.
Every moment with Tania made him feel like a criminal.
How long had he been lying there when—
Hearing her steady breathing, Aiden thought she had fallen asleep, and she quietly spoke.
“Uncle.”
“….”
“You know, bad memories tend to come back the more you try to forget them. So instead of forcing yourself to forget, it’s better to fill yourself with good memories to cover them up.”
Just like how she escaped her own nightmare in the previous timeline.
“So… I’ll become that kind of existence for you.”
So you can smile even about a failed first love.
After saying everything she wanted, Tania drifted off to sleep without hesitation.
Aiden, realizing her breathing had evened out, clenched his chest in pain.
Since the moment I first held you as a newborn, you were my everything.
You didn’t need to try to become such a being—you already were one.
I’m just grateful you’re alive like this.
He wanted to pull her into his arms until she almost broke, and tell her again and again.
But he couldn’t bring himself to act on it.
Looking down at her small, round forehead, he gritted his teeth.
Tania.
What on earth am I supposed to do to protect you?
