#33

“...Ah.”

With a short gasp that revealed her shock, Scandia trembled all over.

“No matter what, I wouldn’t...”

Leonia continued, barely suppressing a burst of laughter.

“You really thought I’d just undress in front of some strange man?”

Between the half-open shirt, the tight training uniform commonly worn at Gladiago peeked through.

Scandia looked at Leonia with eyes full of betrayal.

“Aww, you’re adorable.”

Leonia pressed her lips firmly against Scandia’s, like stamping a seal.

Scandia’s eyes, which had dried out with betrayal, regained their spark and disappeared under her fluttering eyelids.

What started as a gentle press of lips soon evolved into something far more lingering and tangled, lips interlocking and sliding with a sticky intimacy.

“...Look at your face.”

Leonia cupped Scandia’s cheeks with both hands after finally breaking the kiss.

“Have you been eating properly?”

She looked a bit thinner than Leonia remembered.

“You’re making me worry again.”

“That’s my line.”

Scandia replied with a bittersweet smile of her own.

“Have you been eating? Sleeping well at night?”

“I was so angry I kicked the blanket off a thousand times.”

“Your legs must’ve hurt.”

It wasn’t like she had kicked a steel beam, but Scandia still gave Leonia’s legs a sympathetic glance.

To think those delicate legs had kicked the blanket in frustration.

“Did you twist your ankle?”

“More than my ankle...”

Leonia lowered her body slightly as she spoke.

Scandia had been watching her with a slightly sulky expression, but as soon as she saw Leonia sit next to her rather than across from her, a gentle smile spread across her face again.

“I think your ankle, Boom-Boom, is in more danger.”

Leonia then took Scandia’s hand and kissed the back of it lightly.

“I love you, so I can forgive almost anything. As long as you don’t betray me, I’ll forgive you no matter what.”

Her lips remained pressed to Scandia’s hand as she murmured, and the sincerity in her voice felt like a vow — a promise without a single lie.

It was a sudden, unannounced confession, and Scandia’s heart pounded so fast it felt like it might burst through her skin.

“But...”

Just as Scandia reached out to cup Leonia’s lowered face—

“My parents won’t.”

Her hand froze in midair.

A terribly belated realization shot through Scandia’s mind like lightning.

***

The two of them arrived at the Voreoti estate at dawn.

“Even if I’m going to kill you, I should let you sleep first.”

Ferio had been waiting up all night. Upon confirming Scandia’s return, he immediately headed to his bedroom.

Scandia trembled with fear at Ferio’s expression — more terrifying than she had ever seen.

“This is the first time the Duke has ever been this scary.”

Her face turned ghostly pale.

Scarier than when she’d first seen him as a child.

She honestly felt it would be less frightening if he just started yelling at her.

Still, Scandia obediently followed Ferio’s order and lay down in her designated guest room.

But sleep didn’t come easily. In the end, she greeted the morning with open eyes.

“Oh my.”

When she came out of the room and walked into the parlor, she found Varia already awake, greeting her with a polite smile.

“Did you sleep well last night, Heir of the Marquis of Hesperi?”

There was a new wall between them in that morning greeting — one that hadn’t been there before.

“Va...”

Scandia’s lips froze as she was about to say “Lady Varia.”

But Varia, like the eternal snow of the Northern Mountains, showed no warmth. Only the cold, biting chill of her emotions.

Behind Varia’s back, Scandia thought she could see the shadow of a ferocious beast.

One that looked ready to bare its fangs and kill her at any moment.

“Yaaah!”

Then, a high-pitched cry came from behind.

Belleani, dressed in snug, warm pajamas, stood there with her eyes, mouth, and nostrils wide open.

In one arm, she held a black lion doll — the youngest of Leonia’s treasured lion plushie family.

“Pretty Mister!”

Belleani marched straight up to Scandia.

“You want a scolding?”

The baby beast growled.

Belleani had been shaken the night before when Leonia left the estate, and she had asked her parents about it.

“He went to bring back that man.”

“The pretty mister? He’s coming back?”

“Pretty? What part of him is pretty? Our Lea is far prettier.”

“You’re the one who kept singing ‘son-in-law’...”

“What did you just say?”

“...When that man comes back later, Lea, you scold him properly.”

When Belleani learned that Scandia had made her sister cry, it shocked her deeply.

And she had resolved firmly to scold him thoroughly.

“He’s not Pretty Mister. He’s Bad Mister.”

Belleani clenched both fists fiercely and twitched her upper lip.

“Don’t you dare hurt my sister!”

Her glaring eyes were so sharp and fierce that Scandia had to clamp her mouth shut to keep from laughing.

“You know you did wrong, right?”

“Yes, I’m sorry.”

“Then why’d you do it!”

If you knew it was wrong, you shouldn’t have done it!

The unexpected scolding made Scandia’s eyes go wide.

Belleani’s vocabulary had grown alarmingly advanced in the short time they’d been apart.

Even Varia, watching fondly from the side, looked impressed.

“Mister, why are you still standing?”

With that, Scandia promptly dropped to his knees.

A large man hunched down while a tiny child nagged him mercilessly — it was a thoroughly amusing sight.

“If you do it again, I’ll spank you!”

“I’m sorry.”

“Why do something sorry-worthy in the first place!”

“I’ll never do it again.”

“If you couldn’t talk, maybe I wouldn’t hate you so much!”

Belleani’s snowstorm of scolding continued for quite a while.

Where in the world had she learned all this?

Even while being scolded, Scandia couldn’t help but wonder.

“Sigh, kids these days are the real problem!”

With a heavy sigh and a shake of her head, Belleani now looked like an old granny with years of wisdom behind her.

“Quite the morning already.”

At that moment, Ferio appeared.

“Papa, Papa!”

Belleani ran over and clung to Ferio’s leg.

“Lea scolded him.”

“How did she scold him?”

“...Papa, you didn’t see?”

The baby beast looked betrayed.

“Of course I saw.”

Ferio quickly picked up Belleani, who was clinging to his thigh.

But her cold, sharp gaze didn’t fade so easily.

“Lea ★ 𝐍𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐥𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭 ★ went, ‘Rawr!’ all scary.”

Rawr, rawr!

The baby beast raised her tiny claws and roared.

“So scary.”

Ferio answered with the least frightened face in the world.

“...I don’t like you, Papa.”

Belleani pouted.

“No, Papa was scared too.”

“......”

“Look over there. That mister probably peed himself, he was so scared of Lea.”

“But Lea goes potty in the toilet now.”

Belleani proudly patted her diaper-free bottom.

“Then should we lend that mister one of your old diapers?”

“No. I hate that.”

With sharp pronunciation, Belleani rejected the idea and wriggled to get down.

“I’m going to see Sister.”

“Stay with Papa.”

“No. You’re boring.”

Belleani flatly refused and left with her nanny.

Her voice tattling “Papa doesn’t know how to play!” echoed rather loudly.

“...She’s my daughter, you know.”

Ferio frowned, staring at the closed door.

“She’s more like Leo with each passing day.”

“And Leo takes after you.”

So really, she takes after Ferio — Varia said this with a sudden burst of laughter, having finally given in.

“My stomach hurts from holding that in.”

She stood up.

“And where are you going now?”

“I’m hungry. Breakfast.”

She left without hesitation, telling the men to have fun chatting among themselves.

“The kids really take after their mother.”

Ferio muttered, uncharacteristically grumbling that her coldness was just the same.

“Get up.”

Ferio snapped at Scandia, who was still kneeling on the floor.

“M-my legs are asleep...”

The unfamiliar kneeling position had left Scandia with a nasty leg cramp for the first time in his life.

“You’re hopeless.”

In the end, Ferio helped him up and onto the sofa.

Being helped up by his potential father-in-law left him speechless.

Seated at last, Scandia bowed his head in gratitude.

“And I apologize for causing your daughter distress.”

“So you’re aware.”

“I’m sorry.”

“As long as you know.”

Scandia looked up, startled.

That’s it?

Ferio, who openly doted on his daughters, both on the surface and even more deeply within — the kind of man who would never let someone off the hook for upsetting his eldest daughter.

Scandia had been under constant scrutiny from him.

And yet, not only had he let it go this morning, but now too?

This was completely out of character.

“I was prepared to suffer a fracture.”

He finally held out his arm.

“If you could kindly break it in just two neat pieces, I’d be grateful.”

But instead of hearing a bone crack, Scandia heard nothing.

No pain, either.

“You mean to say,”

Ferio muttered, slightly annoyed,

“That warning our Lea gave you wasn’t scary? Just cute baby play?”

“That’s not true. It was the scariest warning in the world.”

“Then that’s enough.”

With the second child having done all the scolding already, Ferio saw no need to waste his own breath.

“Sometimes, letting things go is harder than just hitting someone.”

To someone like Scandia, well-versed in the rough Voreoti ways, this peace-loving punishment worked even better.

“But if something like this happens again...”

Crack!

A loud cracking sound came from the armrest of the sofa where Ferio was seated.

“I’ll give that pretty face all the girls in my house like a nice, rough makeover.”

As he released the armrest, shattered wood fragments fell to the floor.

Only after that threat did Scandia finally relax.

At last, he found peace of mind.

“And I’m actually in a good mood today.”

Ferio tilted his lips in a sly grin, as if asking, Want to know why?

“Because I got scolded?”

“No.”

Ferio smiled even more brightly.

“Because you’re going straight back to the capital today.”

Scandia’s expression, furrowing in confusion, crumpled into panic in an instant.

“My vacation...!”

His royal winter leave, wasted on dealing with the western bandits and their hidden masterminds — ended today.

“What a refreshingly perfect morning.”

Enjoying the sunlight streaming through the window, Ferio headed off toward the dining room — leaving behind the utterly devastated Scandia.

It was just one summer.

They had just managed to meet again, and already had to part.

And for the father?

It was a day that felt as light and clean as if he’d taken a digestive pill.