Chapter 41

woof! woof!

“Ahhhh!”

Blin jumped up and biting the maid’s arm with its sharp teeth.

“Blin!”

Blin put the sleeve of the maid and ran after Theor.

Theor ran away.

Behind him, he heard the maid screaming, but he ran without looking back.

He ran frantically along the winding stone path of the garden.

He didn’t even know where he was going.

All he had to do was run away and hide.

Theor ran for a long time.

At first, he was in front and Blin followed, but at some point, Blin ran ahead, and Theor himself was following Blin.

After running for a while, Blin stopped.

Theor who ran out of breath also paused for a moment.

“Blin… huff… huff… are you looking for flowers?”

The place where Blin stopped was a flower bed where yellow flowers grew tall.

A place where tall yellow petals line up like waves.

It was a flower bed of Tokar.

Blin tried to enter the flower bed.

“Blin, don’t!”

Theor grabbed Blin’s neck with both arms and prevented it from entering the flower bed.

“Theor?”

A familiar voice came from behind.

Kaizen was standing at the entrance of the road leading to the flower bed.

“Your Majesty!”

Theor ran and hung on Kaizen’s legs.

“Theor?”

Kaizen was on the way to the annex to meet Astelle.

He hasn’t seen Astelle for a few days since he last visited.

While he was contemplating whether he should visit her, he got an answer from Astelle.

She said thank you for sending the dresses and jewelry.

Astelle apologized that she was late to thank him because she was too busy organizing the gift he had sent.

Kaizen received the letter and plucked up his courage, so he headed to the annex to meet Astelle.

When he walking towards the annex, he saw a child running around.

Theor was the only child to run around here like that.

Theor, who had been running for a while, broke the road toward the flower bed.

So Kaizen also came to the flower bed.

Kaizen looked down at Theor’s frightened face, then asked.

“Why are you here alone?”

Astelle never left Theor alone.

She always had a maid by his side to keep an eye on him.

Although she was asking the maid to keep an eye on Theor in case something went wrong or an accident, in Kaizen’s point of view, she protected Theor so thoroughly.

But now, Theor hugged Kaizen’s legs.

His little face was wet with sweat and tears.

“I was in the garden, and the maid tried to catch me.”

“Catch what?”

“She tried to get me!”

Theor explained to Kaizen what had just happened.

The words of a five-year-old child were a bit confusing, but Theor did a good job of explaining it for his age.

He went into detail without omitting key points.

Kaizen quickly grasped the situation.

He was playing in the garden, and the maid who cared for him had disappeared, and then a strange maid appeared to catch him, then he had run away.

“Have you really never seen that maid before?”

Kaizen asked if it was possible that she was the maid whom Astelle had sent to bring Theor, but he wondered if Theor had misunderstood and he had run away, so he asked to confirm.

Theor answered with all his heart.

“Really! It’s the first time I’ve seen her.”

“……”

If this was real, it was serious.

How dare you try to kidnap a child from the palace where the emperor is staying?

‘Why are you trying to take this little boy?’

Kaizen looked down at Theor.

Theor was trembling with fear.

“Theor.”

Kaizen gently held the shuddering little child.

“It’s fine now. Do not worry.”

Theor looked up at Kaizen, crying, and buried his face in his arms.

The child’s body was small and fragile.

Kaizen patted Theor’s back with his clumsy hand as he walked slowly.

A small sniff could be heard in his arms. Kaizen patted Theor on the back, comforting him tenderly.

“It’s okay. Nothing to be afraid of. With me, no one can catch you.”

His body, which had been trembling, gradually found stability.

Kaizen brought up another topic to distract him

“When I go to the capital, I will go to the zoo and show you a real live bear.”

“Really?”

Theor raised his face at the word bear.

“Yeah. Let’s go to the park in the square and buy some toys in the shopping mall.”

Although he had never raised children, he worked hard to come up with things that children would love.

He’ll have to get his attention on anything so he’ll break free from his fears.

“Go to a place that sells sweets, buy candy canes, and see a play at the theater…”

Theor asked in surprise.

“A play? Does anyone in the capital do plays?”

“Yeah, there are several theaters. Do you like a play?”

Theor recalled a play he had seen with Astelle a few months ago.

When a traveling troupe came to the village where they lived, Astelle took Theor to see a play every day.

Theor fell in love with the first play he had ever seen.

After the play, Astelle asked the head of the troupe to take Theor backstage.

When he entered the preparation room made by pitching a tent, the actors were dressing up and changing clothes.

Theor was a little shocked to learn that the prince and princess he saw on stage were actually fakes made by actors.

But after hearing his mother’s explanation, Theor quickly understood what a play was.

The two went to the theater a few more times after that.

Theor became very fond of theater.

“Yes! I like plays. It’s fun.”

“If you want, I will show you a performance in the Grand Theater.”

“What is a grand theater?”

“It’s a big theater in the capital.”

Theor listened to Kaizen and nodded his head.

After seeing an actual play, he played a play with his mother at home.

He initially did simple fairy tales and later began practicing other plays.

It was a play in which his mother becomes Aunt Astelle.

Theor was realizing that he shouldn’t call his mother in front of others.

His mother said it was all just a play, but it was clear to him that she had some other reason for doing this play.

“Our Theor is so clever.”

With that thought, his grandfather just smiled sadly and stroked Theor’s head.

“Okay. This is very important. So you should listen carefully to what your mother has to say.”

“Yes, Grandpa.”

Theor no longer had any doubts and practiced the play diligently.

As his mother told him, he called her Aunt Astelle.

“I think we’ve arrived.”

They’ve arrived at the annex.

Kaizen took Theor down.

“Don’t tell your aunt what you said to me.”

Astelle didn’t want to stay long in the capital.

Even when Kaizen advised that this child be raised in the capital, she flatly refused.

She would be more worried if she knew what happened to Theor.

“Then it’s a secret?”

“Do you know what the secret is?”

“Yes. I know.”

“Really?”

Theor answered in a witty voice.

“Mhm. The secret is that you shouldn’t tell anyone.”

Theor recalled a memory his grandfather once told him of the secret.

“A secret should never be told to other people. If someone tells you it’s a secret, no matter what, you shouldn’t tell anyone else, got it?”

“Yes, Grandpa.”

Since then, Theor has not told anyone that Astelle is his mother.

Because a secret is something that must to be hidden.

Just like he has to hide his eye color in front of others.

A satisfied smile appeared on Kaizen’s lips.

He ruffled Theor’s fine hair with his hands.

“Cute boy.”

***

Hannah was cleaning the room after helping Astelle with the dress she was going to wear to the ball.

Theor hasn’t come back yet, even though she had put all the clothes boxes in order and finished cleaning them.

“Theor is late.”

Astelle murmured anxiously.

Hannah got up.

“I will send the maid to bring Young Master.”

“Okay.”

Then one of the maids rushed to her.

She was the maid who accompanied Theor to look after him.

“Lady!”

The maid came inside and she begged Astelle for her forgiveness.

“I’m sorry, the Young Master has disappeared.”

It felt like her heart was sinking at that single word.

“What?”

“I heard a voice calling me, so I went there for a while… in the meantime, the Young Master suddenly disappeared. Forgive me, Lady.”

“Who called you?”

The maid replied with her face turned white.

“That… I don’t know. I chased after him and there was no one there…”

The maid, who was taking care of Theor, heard a strange voice and left him, and then Theor disappeared.

There was something wrong.

Astelle turned to Hannah.