Chapter 70
“Milady, she’s heavier than you’d expect.”
“It’s fine! I’m not so frail that I can’t even carry a tiny little thing like this!”
Sia let out a small sigh at Marie’s words. Ever since she’d tripped on the stairs, she seemed to have gained a reputation for being fragile. Not only Nox, but Cedric and Marie too treated her like a patient.
She admitted humans were more delicate than cat werebeasts, but still, wasn’t treating her like a patient going too far?
Grumbling, Sia picked up a slice of shortcake on a small plate. She cut a piece off with her fork and held it up in front of Anna’s mouth.
“Ah.”
“Ahhh.”
Anna opened her mouth wide, copying Sia, and accepted the cake. She was so adorable that Sia barely managed to stop herself from squealing.
“Mm!”
Apparently liking the cake, Anna cupped her tiny palm-sized hands to her cheeks in delight, and Sia clutched at her chest where her heart was. And that tail tapping against her own clothes was unbearably cute…
“If I had a little sister like this, I wouldn’t wish for anything more.”
When she was very young, she had wished for a sibling. Her older brother had always ordered her around, calling her his little bratty sister and dumping all sorts of trivial chores on her.
But as she grew older, she stopped wishing for a sibling. If another little sister had been born into that household only to be treated the same way she had been, it would have hurt her deeply.
On the other hand, if that sister had been loved instead of her, she would have felt bitter too.
In the end, no younger sibling had ever been born, but right now, she thought that if she had a little sister like Anna, she would truly be happy. It was then that Marie, quietly standing by her side, spoke softly.
“Even if having a younger sibling isn’t possible, wouldn’t having a child be?”
“…Huh?”
“I love Anna dearly, but if I had a child of my own, I think I’d find a new kind of happiness.”
“…R-Really?”
“Of course. They say your own child is different, after all.”
Sia froze for a moment at Marie’s words but was brought back to herself by the small hand tugging at her sleeve. Anna, cream smeared around her mouth, had her mouth open wide.
“Ahhh.”
“Hehe.”
Finding her unbearably cute, Sia quickly popped another bite of cake into Anna’s tiny mouth. She then wiped the cream from the corner of the child’s lips with her finger, placed it into her own mouth, and sank into thought.
A child…
…If she really had a child with Lord Nox, would they be as adorable as this? With cat ears and a tail…
Even after sending Anna and Marie back to the adjoining room and returning to her own bedroom, Sia couldn’t stop thinking about it.
That night, a small black kitten appeared in her dreams. One eye shone blue and the other gold as it gazed at her. Sia immediately realized this wasn’t Nox.
His left eye was gold and his right blue, but this kitten’s colors were reversed.
Overcome by a feeling she couldn’t put into words, Sia held the kitten in her arms, unable to say anything for a long time. No, she couldn’t bring herself to speak at all, simply basking in its tiny warmth.
* * *
After the terrifying Nox left, Louis sat heavily on a sofa in the reception room. Dylan silently followed and set down a teacup beside him.
“A warm cup of tea will help calm you, Your Highness.”
Thinking the Crown Prince must have been quite startled, Dylan poured a full cup of tea, hoping it would soothe him.
But Louis didn’t move, simply staring at the cup. Dylan, watching him lost in thought, called out again.
“Your Highness, the tea is cooling.”
“…Ah. Thank you.”
“You seem quite shaken.”
Dylan, who rarely found himself pitying Louis, thought the Crown Prince looked just a bit pitiful now.
“I was startled, yes…”
But contrary to Dylan’s assumption, Louis’s mind was occupied with other thoughts. That instinct, the one that made his hair stand on end, was buzzing in his head.
He was deeply suspicious of Nox, whose attitude differed from the other lords he had met. Suspicious to an extreme.
“More than that, Dylan.”
“Yes, Your Highness.”
“Don’t you find something off?”
“…What do you mean?”
“The Duke’s demeanor.”
“I wouldn’t say suspicious, but it was clear he was furious. And it’s not something hard to empathize with. Any male would lose his composure if intruders were prowling his territory. If not for this unusual situation, I would have advised against Your Highness’s orders myself.”
At Dylan’s answer, Louis gave a short laugh and drank the now lukewarm tea. After a few sips, he set the cup down quietly and murmured,
“That sort of sharp, rough demeanor is what a male shows when he’s protecting his female…”
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