SRHEBNVW 08

Chapter 8 …

“It’s even more embarrassing to regret later without ever expressing your feelings.”

Because of his classically handsome face, even ordinary words sounded serious coming from Erios.

But beyond that, what he’d just said had sounded genuinely sincere.

I thought he’d waver at least a little at my sarcastic remark…

Getting this kind of response, I didn’t know what kind of face I should be making.

“The nanny from the ducal estate will arrive tomorrow. It should help stabilize Artea.”
“……”
“I’ll do my best for Artea.”

He was right about that. Artea might say she hated her uncle one moment, but her face always lit up whenever she saw Erios. You could tell even from a distance.

She was often spotted out on the terrace where you could clearly see the neighboring house.

Maybe because she constantly felt his presence, she seemed calmer than before. That part was good, at least.

“By the way, Bellona. Why do you keep switching between formal speech and casual speech? What’s your standard?”
“Huh? When did I ever use casual speech?”
“Just now, you…”
“You must’ve misheard.”

Failing to nitpick him, I quickly turned away.

Right now, we were in a ridiculous situation with a runaway niece between us.

It was a special case, nothing more.

I was talking to him because I had no choice—but I had absolutely no intention of getting close to my ex-boyfriend.

Then and now… I really have no idea what goes on in this guy’s head.

—Let’s break up, Bellona.

Up until that last meeting, we’d been spending time together laughing.

But then came the day he suddenly announced our breakup.

—I’ll raise Artea as my heir.

The day he saw the orphaned Artea and stepped forward without a moment’s hesitation…

When my sister and brother-in-law died, I knew Artea needed care, but I hesitated, not knowing what to do.

He, on the other hand, immediately declared that he’d raise her and make her his heir.

Even though we were the same age.

What on earth was he thinking back then?

Seriously… I want to open his head and look inside.

But now, I was done agonizing over a heart I could no longer read.

Erios moving in next door and stirring up my peace had, unexpectedly, brought me an advantage.

Thanks to Artea being so absorbed in her musical, she didn’t even notice when I took the doll.

From the start, I’d wanted to check the cat doll.

Because I had placed a protection spell on it for Artea.

There’s no way someone called a master of magical tools would just hand over an ordinary doll while saying, “This will protect you.”

I had spent a long time carefully casting the protection spell.

It’s set to activate in dangerous situations. If anything had happened to Artea, I’d be able to tell through the doll.

All the thorough preparation paid off—I was able to inspect the doll during her musical.

Vwooom—

I placed the doll onto the magic circle I’d drawn earlier in my laboratory.

It took exactly one hour and forty-three minutes to verify the magic on the doll.

“Nanya’s gone! My doll!”
“It’s okay, Artea. Nanya’s right here.”

My carefully reviewed plan went off without a hitch.

I was able to time it precisely to when Artea went looking for her cat doll.

And I found something.

The protection spell I’d placed on the doll had been activated.

But it wasn’t a welcome discovery.

The protection spell had activated to shield Artea—and then vanished.

Judging from the remaining magical traces… it looks like sleeping incense was involved.

This revealed several things:

First, Artea had been in danger.

Second, the ducal estate had failed to protect her.

On top of that, based on what Artea told me…

Third, she said someone hated me.

Fourth, she’d been thinking about running away for a while.

Fifth, she didn’t like living with her uncle.

It seemed her heart had wavered a bit after actually seeing him in person, but that was only natural for a child.

Precisely because of that, I, the adult, had to step in with a cool head.

So I requested to meet with Erios Killiet.

“You were the one who said we shouldn’t see each other again. Why come looking for me first?”
“I wanted to, but I didn’t know things would turn out like this.”

I bit my lip.

The more we talked, the easier it was to get dragged along by him.

He was shameless enough to say he’d disappear, then move in next door. So I’d better get straight to the point.

“Enough. I won’t take much of your time. I came to tell you to give up custody.”

As expected, things didn’t end easily.

“What kind of uncle abandons his niece?”
“In this case, it means transferring custody to someone who can raise her better.”

I started out politely, but Erios didn’t budge.

In the end, I spat out the sharp words I hadn’t wanted to use.

“Can someone who didn’t even notice a child disappearing from his own estate really raise her well?”
“Precisely because that happened, I intend to do better from now on.”
“Artea’s been thinking of running away for a while.”
“Children exaggerate often. You can’t take everything they say at face value. Bellona, are you sure you can raise her well if you don’t even understand that?”
“Don’t twist the issue. She said she hates living with you.”
“Have you already forgotten how she hated the idea of us breaking up?”

Wow. Look at him flip his attitude in an instant.

Last time, he acted like he understood and accepted everything I said and disappeared. But of course, he hadn’t given up at all.

Why do people keep saying he’s calm and composed? What nonsense.

It infuriated me that I was the only one seeing this side of him!

“I know Artea better.”
“That’s just your opinion.”

And so, the childish back-and-forth repeated.

“I’m her uncle.”
“She’s my niece too.”
“I’d raise her better given our personalities.”
“What are you talking about? You can’t even self-reflect.”

“Ha! You talk like this even while raising her?”
“Bellona. If you’re this dense, how will you understand what the child wants?”
“And you’re so perceptive you didn’t even notice her trying to run away?”
“If you were raising her, she’d have run away the moment she could stand on two feet. Remember when we drank tea and—”
“Don’t bring that up!”

This jerk knows way too much about me!

I took a deep breath.

At this rate, it was just meaningless repetition.

I exhaled seriously and lowered my voice.

“Erios Killiet.”

My sudden change in tone made his expression shift as well.

“The protection spell I put on Artea’s doll has been broken.”
“……”
“I didn’t want to say this, but under these circumstances, I can’t return her to you. Do you understand?”

Regardless of him being my ex… regardless of the sudden breakup…

He was still Artea’s uncle.

I had wanted to talk things through peacefully.

But now that it had come to this, there was no other way.

“I can’t trust you. I mean that seriously. Of course I’m not perfect either, but I’ll do my best.”
“……”
“I won’t send her back to the Killiet Duchy.”

My words had an effect.

Unusually, Erios fell into a long silence in front of me.

I kept my mouth shut too, giving him time to think.

There’s no choice. I have to raise Artea.

This issue needed to be settled here and now.

It might hurt now, but if I wavered here, he would…

“Wait a moment.”
“Huh?”
“There’s a way to make all three of us—no, even Artea—satisfied.”

But of course, Erios had no intention of backing down quietly.

A faint, unreadable smile formed on his pale face.

“Bellona. Remember when I told you I wouldn’t marry someone who hated Artea, and that still didn’t reassure you? You said people’s hearts can change.”
“Yeah, I said that.”
“And you worried about how hard it would be for my ex-girlfriend—you—to visit Artea.”

Why was he bringing all this up now, as if he understood me perfectly?

A creeping sense of dread rose in me.

This usually expressionless man acting like this was always a bad sign.