Chapter 64

Just then, it happened that a bird was passing by outside.

“Bird!”

Something flashed in the child’s mind. In fact, everything he did was hazy until the baby met Astel and took the potion she gave.

However, he remembered clearly that a large adult wearing a drooping robe tapped his wrist.

Then his body became smaller and softer than it is now and became a red bird.

He had become a flying bird. Immediately, the child tapped and pressed his wrist.

“Let’s go!”

Soon, his field of vision turned round and round, and wings sprouted up in his arms.

Poof! At the end of that little noise, the child became a little parrot and rolled on the floor.

“Hey…”

Fluttering, it was his first time flying, but it was fine. The parrot jumped to the window and threw itself into the sky.

Then, with a bang, he crashed to the floor without a hitch.

❅

Duke Anais left the bedroom window open.

Before sleeping, he was glad to be hit by the cool wind. But a strange scent flowed in from outside the window.

Strictly speaking, it was the smell of the child Astel had brought.

Beasts have a well-developed sense of smell. The foreign scent was immediately recognizable.

He headed for the window with neither slow nor quick steps. He doesn’t know if the timing was good or bad.

In any case, he could not fly and could see the bird quickly crashing to the floor.

A bird smaller than the palm of his hand and lustrous feathers. A bird flapping its wings like it’s swimming, but descended downward as if being pushed against gravity.

Whew!

The bird, which had fallen through the wind, slid its beak into the branch of the beautiful tree and clung to it.

He struggled to wrap the branch with his wings rich in red feathers like fallen leaves, but with a little more strength, the branch seemed to break.

Until then, the Duke only looked down at the parrot.

‘I hate beings such as the young and weak.’ The Duke thought.

But if that child dies, Astel will be sad. Duke Anais tapped on the window sill without realizing it.

Then the bird in the tree fluttered and was brought to his window. The bird, standing proudly with its pointy feet on the window sill, spread its soft wings.

Then he gently rubbed the Duke’s hand, which was on the window sill.

“What is it?”

“Fly!”

Not the chirping of a bird, but the cheerful voice of a child. He grimaced as he watched the bird leaping over the back of his hand.

“You…”

It bothered me quite a bit with his slender legs stumbling over my hands.

With his hands off the window frame, the Duke sat on the sofa. And so far, the bird spread his wings proudly on the back of his hand and the Duke tapped the bird.

With a bang, the child turned to his original appearance. Holding out his harmless little hand. Tears welled up in the child’s eyes.

“Doggy! Duke! Come!!” (Dog, Duke, Come with me!)

Despite the child’s noisy appearance, the Duke stared at the child expressionlessly.

Still, I couldn’t sleep because I kept thinking about Astel’s pampering and caring for this child at mealtime earlier.

“I don’t think it’s a newborn beast. What is it?”

“Sick…! She hurt!” (Astel is sick, she’s hurt)

Tears filled up in the child’s pea-colored eyes. He raised his hand and carried the child onto his desk.

“Don’t cry with those eyes.”

“I— don’t cry!” (The baby copied the Duke’s words)

The child, who wiped his eyes with his very small hand, pouted his lips. However, the Duke had no intention of arguing with this child.

“For whatever purpose, no, what did you come here for.”

In response to the cold response, the baby quickly clings to his desk. A sweet smell escaped and lingered at the tip of his nose.

“Aste, mom, sick. Save her!”

“What…?”

“Aste hurts!”

As soon as he heard the child’s words, the Duke got up. The child, who was struggling hard next to the desk, jumped down and quickly caught up with his leg.

“Let’s go!”

He didn’t slow down, but he opened the door for the child to get out.

“Come out quickly.”

I could see Cassian’s face in the child’s face, but… Because his eyes were too much like Astel’s…

As he and the child went into the hallway, he passed the surprised maids and opened Astel’s door without hesitation.

Astel lay on the bed unconscious. Her forehead was sweaty, and her red lips were slightly open.

“Astel!”

The child, who came running late, said with his mouth wide open.

“Closed eyes!!” (Her eyes are closed!)

The child took one more step and muttered fearfully, “Dead…” (she’s dead)

The Duke whispered slowly toward the child in a strangely furious tone, “She’s not going to die.”

“Waaahh…”

The child, who had been weeping and pondering, smiled broadly at the Duke’s words and nodded.

“Don’t die!”

“…”

Thinking it was a problem with the imprint, he took Astel’s hand in silence.

But she still didn’t open her eyes. As he looked at her face with excitement, he suddenly felt a surge of anxiety.

—’Open your eyes.’

—’Don’t die…’

Recalling the afterimage of the past, he shook his head inwardly.

It was different now than it was then… He leaned over her forehead as he held her hand and kissed her briefly on the forehead.

But there was not even a movement. Instead, he frowned at the heat of fever.

“…Dad.” (빠 can be from oppa/brother and appa/dad)

Dad, did you say?

Astel was an orphan who lost her parents at an early age. He concentrated on her voice so that he could properly hear her mutterings.

“I miss you…”

“…”

“…Sian” (Cassian)

Now I’ve heard it clearly. Whom Astel calls out.

“I am…”

He placed a hand over Astel’s frowning forehead. His gaze was warm as he looked at his exasperated opponent, but his voice was filled with sorrow.

“It’s not Cassian Gray.”

“…”

He swept over her forehead slowly, “So, please remember.”

Fortunately, it was a mild fever. It didn’t seem too serious.

But humans are weak. Some people die from low fever.

With a slight frown on his face, he immediately saw himself entering the Delphinium room and giving orders while looking at the crowd of maids and Astel’s exclusive maids.

“We need all the healers in the castle.”

“…Need all healers!” (The child copying the Duke’s words)

The baby sang along with his voice like a humming parrot.

The maid’s eyes widened at their words. Astel, laying on the bed, couldn’t be seen clearly by the maids, so it was impossible to judge her condition.

But the Duke’s expression was too dark. No matter what heinous thing it was, it was a frightening look that anyone would have receded if it were now put before the Duke of Anais.

Moreover, given the need for all the healers in the castle, Astel’s condition may be more serious than it seems now.

The maid bowed and said, “I’ll have it ready right away, Sir.”

Deep in the night, all the vassals in the Duke began to move busily in perfect unison.

❅

There was a faint sound of someone arguing in my ear.

“What kind of disease is it?”

“It’s a cold. Phew, I think she’ll get better after a day off…”

“I think it’s nonsense.”

“Well, it’s not…”

“Getting excited calling out the name of a bizarre man.”

Strange accents were mixed with the word ‘weird’.

“Well, it’s a normal delirium phenomenon in a patient who suffers from over-fatigue… I’ve given her some medicine, so it’s better if she rests a little…”

“She will get better after taking a day off.”

“Yeah. She’ll get better like she has washed up! I— I, I’ll risk my life.”

Their voices died down naturally as I frowned.

“It must be noisy. Then I’ll leave the medicine here and go out.”

“It’s hard work, but rather than leaving the patient alone, I think we need a maid to watch over, sir…”

The Duke of Anais growled, saying, “I’m here.”

And everything became quiet. Breaking through that silence, something that had been submerged in the subconscious kept trying to come to mind.

I closed my eyes, frowning. The smell of clean grass reached the tip of my nose.

It was probably a stabilizing herb. As soon as I smelled the fresh grass, something else tried to creep up my consciousness.

Someone’s hand touched my forehead as if to soothe it.

“Umm…”

I endured the pain, quietly letting a moan out of my mouth.

How long has it been? The voice of the doctor who had just unpacked his luggage in the village of Delang Lucia was faintly heard.

—If you have a fever even when you touch it… Although the symptoms are similar, it doesn’t seem like an imprinting fever, sir.

It seems to be the sound of the video sphere or a slight crackling feeling.

“I see.”

Again, a heavy hand reached over my forehead and patted it.

“Don’t be sick.”

—’Don’t be sick.’

I raised my hand to rub in front of my cloudy eyes. It seems that the Duke is by my side, but I didn’t have strength in my body.

But it’s strange, I think I heard something…

—’Are you okay?’

It was a very small voice. It was only for a moment that I suspected that it was speaking to me.

Because every time I closed my eyes, I started to see something in my darkened field of vision.

I closed my eyes tightly again. And, all of a sudden, I fell asleep.

What I saw in front of me was definitely near the grass of a hunting ground used by nobles.

‘This is where I used to live.’

I squinted for a moment, ‘Is it a dream?’

An afterimage of the past unfolded before my eyes as if I were watching a movie. The first thing I saw was my childhood self and a very small boy sitting on the lawn.