Rather Than The Son, I’ll Take The Father

Maevia’s slightly flushed cheeks turned a brighter red.

Resisting the urge to touch Maevia’s cheek, Aedis said,

“It’s still too early to be relieved.”

“What?”

Aedis pulled a small box from his arms.

It contained a ring inside.

“Is it a magic tool?”

“No. It’s just an ordinary wedding ring.”

Maevia had been looking at the ring indifferently and parted her lips blankly.

“…… A wedding ring?”

“Originally, I was going to joke that I wouldn’t let you out of here if you didn’t accept it…… But if I do, my neck will be blown off.”

Even though his laughter was childish, Maevia detected a slightly nervous tone.

She shouted quickly, afraid that Aedis would change his mind just in case.

“Of course I will take it!”

“…….”

“Put it on me right away. I am very happy!”

Maevia’s voice was distinctly excited.

He smiled and kissed her palm lightly.

“Thank you for accepting, Wife.”

Instead of letting go with his lips right away, he continued to kiss her fingertips.

It was a pious look, like a sacred ceremony dedicated to a God.

He finally slipped the ring onto her finger.

Maevia blinked.

The pure white jewel crystals on her finger shined beautifully like snowflakes.

But Maevia’s face stiffened rapidly, out of harmony with her soft aura.

Pink eyes saturated with brilliance stared at Aedis.

“Aedis, I can’t stand it.”

“…… Eve?”

Maevia bit her lower lip and she tried to hold on somehow, but eventually she realized that it was only a matter of time before she spoke frankly.

“I think I’m going to hit you a little bit.”

* * *

“…… So I hit you because I got a wedding ring and lost control of my strength?”

It was just ridiculous.

Aedis had just explained everything to me as I couldn’t remember anything that had just happened.

The wedding ring on my fourth finger was also shocking, and as soon as I received the ring, I was thrilled and beat my husband.

I even got into Aedis’ soul.

Aedis read the emotions that appeared on my face, sighed and laughed.

“As you can see, Wife.”

Aedis said he was fine, but he must have suffered internal injuries.

“Why didn’t you avoid it?”

“It contains the wife’s love, how can I avoid it?”

“Just dodge! And treat it, too!”

“But with treatment, the wound will go away.”

“It is natural that the wound will disappear with treatment. Don’t say strange things.”

I spread the light and healed Aedis’ wounds. Finally, the light completely left my body.

The light flew all around me and eventually landed at my feet. I wondered if it was going into the shadows like Aedis, but the light moved and solidified into a bright yellow chick.

“Pyaa!”

“…… Are you trying to look cute?”

The light continued to read my thoughts, so it must have noticed that I had a weakness for animals.

“Beep?”

I turned away from the chick with a confused face.

“What about Kadan? Did he just die?”

“He went to a bad place.”

“You mean roughly dead and cleaned up, right?”

I also asked the chick to check.

“Did you prevent Kadan from switching to another body?”

“Pyaa!”

“Well, don’t pretend to be cute.”

Besides, even if it pretended to be a chick, an ordinary chick can’t begin to survive in a snowy field like this. Anyone could see that it was a suspicious young chick that made one wonder if it was really a small sized beast.

“Ppiiippiii!”

“…….”

“It looks like it wants to be liked by the wife.”

…… Well, it didn’t matter.

Even though it was the power I received from the beast, Aedis spoke without malice, so I let my guard down a little.

* * *

It was still evening when we returned to Cyclamen Castle.

It wasn’t the middle of the night I last remembered, it was closer to early evening.

I heard that he handled Kadan with ease, so ……most of the time he would have passed in Aedis’ shadow and soul.

A whole day that I can’t remember passed, and someone called me before I had time to be flustered.

“Maevia!”

It was Monica. Even though she had barely regained consciousness and had no energy, Monica ran desperately.

Why are you barefoot on this cold day?

“Monica? Where are your shoes?”

Monica grabbed me, not caring about her own red, swollen feet.

“How about your shoulder?”

I reassured Monica.

“Well, I treated your stabs very cleanly. But suddenly I needed a wound, so I stabbed it again. Anyway, it was all better, so there is no need to feel guilty.”

“What are you talking about?”

Monica grabbed me and shook me as if she hadn’t seen the unidentified chick next to me.

“I needed to lure some guys out. More than that, Monica, it’s not an empty boast when I said that I would erase your memory. I even issued a silent order.”

“No, I don’t want it!”

“…….”

“This is not…….”

“…….”

Monica’s hand holding me shook slightly. As we waited in silence, Monica cleared her throat and spoke again.

“I’m sorry, Maevia. I will apologize even if you do not accept it.”

I laughed bitterly.

“I’m glad you’re okay, Monica. I’m sorry, too.”

“I feel like an idiot for falling for such tricks, so please don’t apologize. What happened to that bastard? Of course you took care of it, right?”

“He went to a bad place.”

I quoted Aedis, but then I saw Charlie, who belatedly ran to catch up with Monica.

“Oh Monica! Why would you just run away!”

Monica’s shoes were in Charlie’s hands.

“Eve! Scold Monica!”

“Wh-what did I do?”

It was quite noisy, so Tollyman and Procyon in the castle showed up. But no one paid any attention to the chick, who seemed to feel awkward to be here.

“Master! Your Grace!”

“Ppii…….”

…… Judging by how sad it was, it didn’t seem like it was deliberately trying to avoid attention.

I ignored the weakly hovering chick for a moment and spoke to Procyon.

“Sir Procyon? Why is your face so thin?”

Suddenly Procyon fell to his knees.

“I have committed a mortal sin! I will be punished with death!”

What sin?

“Are you talking about going out with Sir Azena without permission?”

Procyon was weeping.

“It’s all my fault! I thought it was just an order from Count Elliott, so I thought it would be okay to disobey it…… !”

“…… Sir Procyon, see me later.”

Tollyman cast a cold gaze at Procyon. There was a mountain of reports to be submitted, but this time I left the clinging Tollyman entirely to Aedis. I had someone to meet before I did anything else.

My destination was Regen’s bedroom. However, only Paimon was dozing off in the bedroom.

I didn’t know if he bothered Regen’s eardrums with his stormy chatter.

[“Uhhh……. Eve is…… tone deaf…….”]

This punk?

I covered Paimon, who was talking in his sleep, with a blanket and left Regen’s bedroom.

“Where did Regen go?”

“Pyaa?”

“…… Ordinary chicks can’t casually follow the pace of people walking.”

“Pyaa!”

The chick puffed up its bright yellow fuzzy down.

“Okay. Then, if you help me find Regen, I’ll treat you a little better.”

“Peep peep peep!”

The chick immediately jumped up and down.

Well, chicks can’t just fly a few inches in a good mood like you do.

I crossed the corridor, leading the star-dusting chick.

Regen was in a room where the portraits of former grand dukes and duchesses hung. The portrait I brought with me when I came to the North was also hanging next to Aedis’ portrait.

First of all, I watched Regen’s actions for a while.

“M, M…….”

Regen hesitated in front of my portrait, unable to utter a word starting with ‘M’.

It was just cute to see him sighing through his small lips.

“I also have to say hello to Her Grace quickly…….”

I couldn't hold back my laughter for long, so I spoke to Regen.

“I also really want to be greeted by Regen.”

“Heee! Your Grace?!”

I waved my hand at Regen.

“I have been there. And now it’s all over. No one will bother Regen.”

“… … .”

Regen stared at me with his drop-like eyes.

“So, when spring comes, let’s go out and play to our hearts’ content. The capital is, of course, and I’ll show you the Marquis of Morgana. The Marquis Castle is just as pretty as the Cyclamen Castle.”

Regen didn’t need to say thank you or sorry. Regen also finally recognized that fact.

Regen came up to me first and hugged me tightly.

“Regen, do you want to sleep with me and Aedis today?”

“Gre, great!”

Regen didn’t ask if he could. So I think I was a lot happier, too.

Regen and I went back to the bedroom where Aedis was waiting. Aedis had already finished bathing, as if he had cut off Toliman’s whining like a knife. Regen’s eyes widened.

“Does Father sleep, too?”

“In recent years.”

Aedis answered in a languid voice. Suddenly, a curiosity arose.

“Aedis, what have you been doing all this time while I was sleeping?”

“I was just by my wife’s side.”

“… … .”

“Very quietly.”

Aedis didn’t bother to explain. Honestly, there was no doubt about Aedis that way.

Laying Regen next to Aedis, I asked.

“Aren’t you bored?”

“How could I have been bored when I was happier than ever.”

Hehe. Of course, the wife is happy, but her husband’s iron wall was so strong that there were more anxious days.

I got a little nervous and only smiled at Regen.

“I’ll wash and come back. Regen, if you feel sleepy, you can sleep first.”

“No! I want to wait!”

Thanks to that, I didn’t stay in the bathtub for long and came out quickly, but Regen really waited for me with eyes open.

He’s cute.

Aedis and I lay down with Regen in the middle. It was a wide bed, so even with one child, there was plenty of space. Regen buried his nose in the blanket and rolled his eyes.

“Can you not sleep?”

“Time seems to go by too fast.”

“Why? We can sleep together again tomorrow.”

“Tomorrow…… too?”

I gave a wide smile.

“Sure. Tomorrow, the day after tomorrow, and the day after that. From now on, we can sleep together every day.”

As I pressed the word “every day” and emphasized it, Aedis narrowed his brows while patting Regen.