✧ Chapter 7 ✧
“Lulu.”
It was a dirty brown rabbit doll, worn with age.
“Where did your owner go?”
Of course, the doll didn’t answer.
Luka will have nightmares without Lulu.
Elliot couldn’t believe it.
Luka never let this doll leave his side.
Yet he had run away without it.
How could a five-year-old and a seven-year-old leave home on their own?
Especially after getting past the mansion’s strict security.
But there were no signs of kidnapping.
No ransom demands either.
So where were they?
A huge reward had been offered, and wanted notices had been spread throughout the Empire.
Yet no one had reported seeing a little girl with black hair and purple eyes…
Or a little boy with silver hair and blue eyes.
Their appearance was so unusual.
How could no one have seen them?
Besides…
Luna could read.
She knew the Grand Duke’s family crest.
There was no way she hadn’t seen the notices saying they were looking for her.
Unless…
His imagination kept leading him toward terrible possibilities.
No…
That can’t be it.
Every day felt like hell.
Even soft food felt like chewing sand.
And whenever exhaustion forced him to close his eyes for a moment…
He felt guilty for sleeping.
Will this hell continue tomorrow too?
Please… don’t let this become an endless nightmare.
He roughly rubbed his face.
Just then—
Bang! Bang!
Someone knocked urgently on the door.
“Your Grace!”
“What is it?”
“We’ve just received a very reliable report.”
“Report immediately.”
“The girl was about this tall.”
“She had black hair…”
“And purple eyes exactly like Yours…”
As he listened to the witness’s report from a woman who owned a clothing shop in a village near the Black Forest…
Elliot’s dull eyes slowly became sharp again.
“She clearly heard the witch calling the children Luna and Luka.”
“The witch herself called them Luna and Luka.”
There was nothing more he needed to hear.
“Gather the knights immediately.”
Elliot stood up at once as he gave the order.
Ah…
Today was another wonderful day.
By the time I fed the children dinner and put away everything we had bought…
It was already bedtime.
My days used to feel so long…
I lay down on the sofa and closed my heavy eyes.
Creak…
The door slowly opened.
Looking up, I saw Luka standing in the doorway, rubbing his sleepy eyes.
“I hafta pee.”
“When I asked before bed, you said you didn’t.”
I took him to the bathroom.
Helped him wash his hands.
Then tucked him back into bed.
But…
The moment I closed my eyes again—
Creak…
The door opened once more.
“What is it now?”
“Are you thirsty?”
“Mmm…”
Luka shook his head.
Then he slowly walked toward me and climbed onto the sofa.
I moved farther inside to make room for him.
I thought he was going to sit beside me.
Instead…
He used my arm as a pillow and lay down.
“What is it?”
“Are you scared?”
Instead of answering…
He curled into a little ball and buried his face against my shoulder.
“But your sister is with you.”
“Sis sleeping.”
“I’m not sleeping.”
A grumpy voice came from behind the door.
Luna walked over.
“What are you doing here?”
“You have a bed.”
“Why are you sleeping on the sofa?”
She scolded us like a proper little princess.
Then…
She climbed onto the sofa too.
Was she scared as well?
No matter how mature she acted…
She was still only a child.
The tiny sofa was far too small for three people.
In the end…
We all moved to the bed.
It was only a single bed.
So we had to sleep tightly pressed together.
Still…
The warmth beside me felt comforting.
The children had said they were sleepy.
But instead of sleeping…
They kept chatting like children on a picnic.
“Huff it.”
Luka held out his index finger.
On the way home, he had accidentally grabbed a chestnut burr and pricked himself.
The pain medicine and ointment had already worked.
It didn’t hurt anymore.
But he had been asking me to “huff it” all evening.
He probably just wants to be spoiled.
He’s still at that age.
I gently blew on his finger.
Just like he wanted.
Then I softly patted his little bottom.
Before long…
His tiny body stopped moving.
His quiet breathing told me he had fallen into a deep sleep.
When I looked to my other side…
Purple eyes were staring straight at me.
I held out my arm.
After hesitating for a moment…
Luna slowly rested her head against it.
As I gently patted her small back, I asked,
“You must have had a hard time taking care of your little brother.”
She was only seven years old.
She acted mature.
But she was still just a child who deserved to be spoiled.
“Not really…”
Is she still forcing herself to act like an adult?
“If it had been me…”
“Without a home…”
“Without food…”
“And without an adult to protect me…”
I would’ve cried almost immediately.
Luna fidgeted for a while.
Then she quietly whispered,
“…The outside world was much scarier than I expected.”
There it is.
She’s finally speaking honestly like a child.
My eyes stung.
“And even so…”
“You protected both yourself and your little brother all the way here.”
“That’s amazing.”
“…Thank you.”
“But from now on…”
“Leave the adults’ work to me.”
“And you can just be a seven-year-old.”
I gently stroked her hair.
She became so quiet that I thought she had fallen asleep.
Then…
She carefully spoke again.
“Hazel.”
“Yes?”
“…Can we…”
“…stay with you forever?”
“Of course.”
Once again…
My eyes filled with tears.
Someone…
Wanted to stay by my side.
I’m lonely.
That had always been my favorite saying.
But ever since these children entered my life…
I hadn’t thought those words even once.
I simply hadn’t had time to feel lonely.
“I want to keep living with both of you too.”
I kissed both children on their foreheads.
Then I looked out the window at the moon.
Please let the three of us live happily together like this.
And then…
I made one more wish.
Please don’t let their father ever come looking for them.
Perhaps…
That second wish was too greedy.
Because…
The very next day—
He arrived.
“Are you… the children’s father?”
The moment I asked…
His purple eyes shook.
His sharp jaw tightened.
No wonder those children look like dolls.
Even someone like me—
Who didn’t usually care about appearances—
Couldn’t help staring at the unbelievably handsome man before me.
Although we were standing inside my cottage…
His silver hair sparkled as if sunlight itself had settled upon it.
His face looked as though the greatest sculptor in the world had carved it from flawless white marble.
If not for his trembling silver eyelashes…
And the color in his lips…
I would’ve believed he was an actual statue.
Huh?
Did I stare too much?
His smooth forehead immediately wrinkled into a frown.
Even when he’s frowning, he’s handso—
“Ah!”
The tip of the longsword in his hand suddenly stopped just inches from my throat.
“Hazel the Witch.”
“You are sentenced to death for kidnapping.”
Kidnapping?!
I understood why he would misunderstand.
But shouldn’t I at least get a proper trial before being executed?
Without another word…
The man raised his sword.
The silver blade flashed coldly in the sunlight pouring through the window.
Seriously?
And in front of children too?
Doesn’t he know that’s terrible for their education?
I quietly lifted one finger.
I was just about to swap the sword in his hand…
With the chicken outside the window—
“Brother!”
“Don’t!”
Luna suddenly broke free from the soldier holding her.
She spread both arms wide and stood protectively in front of me.
Brother?
Not their father?
Well…
He did look far too young to have children this old.
“Luna.”
“Move aside.”
“Young Lady!”
“Please come over here!”
Young Lady?
Wait…!
Only then did everything click into place.
Silver hair.
Purple eyes.
A face like a sculpture.
Expensive clothes.
And the eagle crest engraved on the man’s sword sheath.
He’s the Grand Duke.
I looked back and forth between Luna standing in front of me…
And Luka crying while a soldier held him.
Wait…
Why are the missing Grand Duke’s children here?
I couldn’t believe it.
The two children who had spent an entire week with me…
Were actually the Grand Duke’s daughter and son.
At the same time…
Every mystery that had been piling up finally disappeared.
They didn’t know where mushrooms grew.
They had never worked in a field.
They had never baked a cake.
Of course.
They belonged to one of the greatest noble families in the Empire.
Ah…
I completely misunderstood everything.
While I stood there in shock…
Luna was dragged away by her brother.
“Let me go!”
“Luna.”
“Listen to me.”
But Luna was stubborn.
She grabbed the hand holding the sword.
“If you execute Hazel…”
“I’ll starve myself forever!”
The Grand Duke’s eyes shook.
“Then… I’ll exile her instead—”
“Then I won’t eat carrots either!”
“You never ate carrots in the first place.”
Luka finally escaped from the soldier.
He ran over and hugged the Grand Duke’s leg.
“I eat them now!”
“I eat the ones Hazel makes!”
“What?”
The Grand Duke looked even more shocked than before.
His eyes moved back and forth between me and the children.
Then…
He noticed the half-cut carrots still sitting on the chopping board.
His eyes narrowed.
“What exactly…”
“…did you do to my brother and sister?”
Once again…
The sharp tip of his sword pointed at my throat.
What did I do?
I cured their picky eating.
And this is how the Grand Duke says thank you?
I glared back at him while carefully stepping backward so the sword wouldn’t stab me.
But perhaps he thought I was trying to run away.
He immediately stepped closer.
The blade pressed even nearer to my neck.
Hmm…
Can I turn his sword into a chicken first…
Or will he stab me first?
For the first time…
I truly felt that I might die.
