Chapter 17: 16

A dark night.

Siegfried was immersed in deep thought, with the stacks of documents piled up in front of him.

The object of his worries was Tatiana.

To be precise, it was the matter of raising Tatiana.

‘…… Is it normal to want to study at that age?’

Tatiana was only four years old.

A small and delicate child who seemed like she would be crushed if he grabbed her with one hand.

‘I’m going to be a useful child.’

‘Yes. If I become smarter by reading a lot of books, I can help Siegfried.’

The child’s innocent voice lingered in his ears.

‘This part… … After all, I shouldn’t judge by myself.’

Anyway, since Cesar and Kirios also decided to become guardians of the child, it would be right to discuss the child’s excessive adultness together.

“Tsk.”

Siegfried clicked his tongue in displeasure and picked up the pen.

Siegfried, who wrote a brief description of the child’s condition, sealed the letter and rang a bell to call someone.

After a while.

An attendant entered the room.

“Did you call?”

“Yes. Deliver these letters to Cesar and Kirios.”

“Yes, my Lord.”

The attendant bowed politely and tried to escape.

“Wait a minute.”

“Yes, what is it?”

After hesitating for a moment, Siegfried closed his eyes and asked the attendant a question.

“What snacks do young children usually like?”

“Are you trying to take care of Miss Tatiana?” The servant quickly asked.

Siegfried nodded, feeling heat behind his ears.

“Correct.”

“In that case……wouldn’t she rather enjoy sweet snacks?”

The servant smiled with his eyes.

“It’s because she is young.”

A sweet snack.

Siegfried, who was brooding over the answer, added another word.

“Then…… bring some snacks.”

“What? You mean now? The lady must have already gone to bed.”

The servant asked with his eyes wide open.

It was already past eight o’clock. It’s not too late for an adult, but it was certainly time for a child to go to bed.

After thinking for a moment, Siegfried stood up.

“That’s okay. I’ll go to the kitchen myself.”

“What? But…….”

Leaving the bewildered attendant behind, Siegfried quickly slipped out of his office.

Come to think of it, the child came to the townhouse for the first time today. Everything would be unfamiliar to her.

So, if the child is still awake, he could grab a snack and share a few words with her. If the child had already fallen asleep, it was to check directly whether she was sleeping well or not.

Arriving in the kitchen like that, Siegfried greedily started putting various things on the tray.

“Your Excellency,” the chef carefully dissuaded Siegfried, “These are too many snacks, I don’t think the lady will be able to eat them all…….”

“…….”

It was a reasonable point.

In the end, Siegfried had to take off half of the snacks on the tray with a distraught face.

After turning the kitchen upside down in the middle of the night like that, Siegfried quickly arrived in front of Tatiana’s room.

Knock, knock.

There was a short knocking sound.

“…….”

But no answer came.

With one hand skillfully supporting the silver tray piled with snacks, Siegfried narrowed his brows.

‘It seems she fell asleep.’

Siegfried silently opened the door.

He entered the bedroom carefully so as not to make any sound with his footsteps, and saw Tatiana asleep in the distance on a large bed.

Siegfried, who put the tray of snacks down on the table, cautiously approached the bed.

“…….”

Tatiana was curled up on the bed and asleep.

However, her sleep didn’t look very comfortable. A furrowed forehead and pale cheeks. Tears welled up beneath her closed eyes.

Siegfried widened his eyes.

“Tatiana?”

“Ugh, black…….”

At the same time, the child was breathing heavily.

“…… Help me.”

***

In a room where pitch black darkness had descended, the moonlight, like a blade, poured obliquely through the window that was glaring from a high place.

Bathed in the moonlight, a middle-aged man with an elegant appearance was staring down at me.

His bright blue eyes seemed to be made of ice.

I knew who that man was.

From the Bartoloa clan, the eternal rulers of the demon realm.

He was the current head of Bartoloa.

‘Did you say Tatiana?’

The man slowly bent down to meet her gaze.

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‘Now, take it.’

Then he put a pill in my hand.

The pill, red like blood, shone brightly in the moonlight.

‘Swallow,’ The man commanded.

His gaze at me was cold enough to chill me to my bones.

I wouldn’t even look at a worm wriggling under my feet like that.

In the eyes of the Bartoloa family…….It might be natural that I, a half demon, was worse than a pest.

‘I’m scared.’

I shuddered involuntarily.

I wonder if an animal standing in front of a slaughterhouse feels like this.

However, the pressure from the man in front of me was so intense that I finally gave in to his orders.

And the moment I swallowed the pill.

‘……!’

Demonic energy was forced to run out of control.

I rolled on the floor without even screaming at the terrible pain that crept through my body…..

‘It’s been a success.’

The man only looked down at me, who crawled on the floor like a bug, with satisfaction.

‘It hurts, it hurts……!’

My whole body was burning as if I had been thrown into a pit of fire. A burning pain and chills. Conflicting pains simultaneously set my body on fire.

Unable to breathe properly, I raised my fingernails and scratched at my throat.

‘Sa-save me!’

But then–

“…… ana.”

“…….”

“Tatiana!!”

“Aagh!!”

I opened both my eyes.

My whole body was drenched in cold sweat.

I was choking like a fish out of water.

“Tatiana, are you okay?!”

“Ah, ugh, ugh…….”

“Calm down!”

Someone was calling me with a voice full of worry.

After blinking several times, my vision became clear. That person who was looking down at me with a worried gaze…….

“Sieg…… fried……?”

After panting for a while, I called out to the other person in a questionable voice.

Siegfried nodded and asked me.

“Did you have a nightmare?”

“Yes, yes…….”

I frantically nodded and reflexively extended my hands to Siegfried.

“Please hug me.”

“…….”

Siegfried paused for a moment, then hugged me tight.

The clumsy hands running down my back were very soft.

I rested my forehead on his chest.

The afterimage of Bartoloa’s family, and the blood red pill he held out, flickered in front of my eyes.

If I make a mistake, I think I will fall into his hands again.

…… If so, I won’t be able to escape ever again.

‘No.’

I forcefully grabbed Siegfried’s collar.

Then Siegfried patted me on the shoulder.

“I am not going anywhere.”

“…… really?”

“Yes. So, rest assured.”

The voice that soothed me was kind enough to bring tears to my eyes. Only then did the tension melt away.

Holding onto Siegfried’s neck tightly, I once again plunged into the depths of the abyss of sleep.

***

Siegfried stared at the child in his arms with a complex gaze.

‘I’m not going anywhere; I’ll always be by this child’s side.’

‘So, you can rest assured…’

Even though he said it several times…

Tatiana’s hands didn’t want to come off Siegfried’s collar.

‘Why isn’t this child gaining weight at all?’

Looking down at the child’s pale face, Siegfried clicked his tongue inwardly.

Despite being fed as well as possible during the return trip to the Empire, the child was still noticeably thin.

The slender wrists protruding from between the loose sleeves of the clothes are especially noticeable.

Considering that her figure should have gained quite a bit of weight…

“You should go to bed, Tatiana.”

“Ahh…….”

Tatiana, who had been murmuring, half-asleep, turned over and crouched down.

But she seemed quite stable now.

Seeing how she was quietly resting on the bed as Siegfried laid her down.

Siegfried, who was looking at the child with pity, pulled the blanket over the child and covered her up all the way to her neck.

Even so, Siegfried couldn’t take his eyes off the child for a while.

He muttered like a sigh, “You are still young, and there is no need to hide your pain….”

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