✧ Chapter 10 ✧
Nox’s gaze stopped at that spot.
Looking more closely, he realized that the writing was a name, and it was engraved with the name ‘Lactea.’
“What? Could this have been made in advance for his own son?”
She had willingly given something like this to him.
Nox once again felt sorry for having suspected her. He told her that he would definitely repay her, both for the bracelet and for everything else she had done.
“I guess that must be it, right?”
Rivera also agreed with him.
“Au!”
She let out one short, loud, and cute babble.
Perhaps her small body could not handle such a busy day, because Rivera quickly fell asleep in Nox’s arms.
Nox carefully laid Rivera down on the bed. After looking at her for a moment, he quietly left the house.
The place he arrived at afterward was—
None other than Aura’s house, which he had visited earlier that day.
Knock, knock.
After knocking on the door and waiting for a little while, he heard small footsteps from inside.
Then the door opened.
“Who is it……? Hm? Nox?”
Aura tilted her head with a puzzled expression.
“You saw me earlier today. What brings you here again? Is there something else you wanted to say?”
“Well, that is……”
“Could it be that you wanted to see your teacher again?”
“What?”
“Well, I suppose anyone would want to see me one more time if they had the chance to see such a beautiful woman as me. Yes, I understand.”
Nox shuddered at her words. Looking tired, he pressed his index finger against his temple and said,
“Haah. That isn’t it, so don’t get the wrong idea. I came because I forgot to tell you something important.”
“Something important? What?”
“That is……”
The reason Nox had come all the way here to tell her was essentially a request.
He wanted her to keep Rivera’s power a secret from now on and not tell anyone about it.
Even now, there were more than a few people who were wary of Rivera simply because she was human. If this matter spread, it could cause even greater confusion here.
Aura had already thought about that to some extent, and she had no intention of mentioning it anyway.
So she nodded in agreement.
“Alright. Then for the time being, let’s keep this matter between the two of us. Like you said, with the situation as it is now, it would only cause unnecessary confusion.”
Just as they made this secret agreement—
“Oh, right. Come to think of it.”
“?”
“Since you’re here, there’s something else I want to tell you.”
Nox heard something he had not expected.
“Actually, during the Elders’ meeting, I really was one of those who opposed your child living here.”
“Ah, that…… Yes, I know. Muzika told me.”
“Yes. But I didn’t make that choice simply because I wanted to reject humans. I was wondering whether you could really raise a human here properly.”
Even though Rivera was Nox’s daughter, she was still human.
Naturally, there would be many difficulties in raising her here.
Aura had thought that if they found a suitable human in the human world and sent Rivera there, perhaps the child could have a better life.
After all, humans were naturally meant to live among other humans.
“Even so, the reason I didn’t tell you that directly was……”
She had seen the way Nox looked at Rivera and treated her, and realized that there was no need to say it.
After all, there probably wasn’t anyone in this world who could love and cherish Rivera more than he did.
“I see……”
After learning Aura’s true intentions, Nox quietly let his voice trail off.
Unlike the other Elders, Aura was actually neutral. She did not particularly like or dislike humans.
So when someone like her had previously opposed allowing Rivera to stay, Nox must have been extremely confused at the time.
Of course, his anger and sense of betrayal had been even greater than his confusion, which was why he had never directly asked about her intentions until now.
‘So that’s why…… you made that choice back then.’
Anyway, after learning that everything had been a misunderstanding on his part, Nox felt a little relieved, as if a stone that had been stuck inside him for a long time had finally been removed.
“Anyway, if there is anything you don’t know or anything you find difficult, tell me anytime. Raising a child isn’t easy.”
Nox felt awkward because he kept remembering how angrily he had acted earlier.
He glanced sideways at her before answering.
“Hmm, that may be true, but isn’t raising a child also your first time?”
“Me? Technically speaking, I’m experienced.”
Aura approached him and poked him right in the middle of his broad chest with her finger.
“I already climbed over a very biiig mountain called you in the past.”
“……”
With a playful smile, Aura put her hands behind her back and turned away.
“Then you should go home now. It’s already very late.”
She took a few steps away.
At that moment, Nox took something out from inside his clothes.
Whoosh!
He threw it toward her.
“Take this.”
“!”
Aura caught the flying object.
It was a small brown pouch.
“What is this?”
“It’s a return gift. Well…… I received something from you, and there was also what happened earlier today. I just couldn’t let all of that pass without doing something.”
“Hmm, really? But as I said earlier, I already settled everything by hitting you once.”
Aura raised her fist.
Remembering the pain from that moment, Nox rubbed his side.
“……I haven’t, so please take it. Then I’ll be going.”
“Well, alright.”
Nox immediately left.
Aura watched his back as he walked away, then shrugged and loosened the string of the brown pouch to see what was inside.
Her sky-blue pupils widened for a moment before settling down.
Then—
A small smile appeared at the corner of her mouth.
After her brief meeting with Nox, Aura looked around the unusually quiet house.
She quietly entered her son’s room.
“Son?”
Breathing softly—
Lactea was asleep in the middle of the room, curled up like a cat on the soft, thin carpet.
After Rivera had left, he had stayed depressed for a long time and refused to leave his room.
Eventually, he had fallen asleep from exhaustion.
“You’re asleep.”
The basket filled with fresh fruit nearby was still untouched.
Normally, Lactea would have eaten it without complaining, but today, he had not even touched it.
“Did you really miss Rivera that much after she went home?”
Aura found the sight both cute and a little sad, so she gently stroked his head.
“Kyiu……”
Perhaps he liked the warm and ticklish feeling, because Lactea rubbed his head against her hand.
But his expression was still gloomy.
“I wonder what he liked so much about her.”
As she continued looking at her son, Aura quietly recalled the sight of Rivera from earlier that day.
Black hair, shining pearl-like silver eyes, small and delicate white hands and legs, and plump cheeks that looked as if she had candy in her mouth.
“Heh. Well, with looks like that, I suppose it’s understandable that he would be interested.”
Was she among the prettier humans?
No, perhaps even among the most beautiful?
Aura had lived for a very long time and had seen humans several times, but she had never seen a human child as beautiful as Rivera.
Even compared with dragons, who were said to possess beauty far beyond humans, she was not lacking at all.
“……A human born from a dragon’s egg.”
It was something too strange to simply call unusual.
Aura slowly closed her eyes while lost in thought, then opened them again.
“I don’t know whether this situation will turn out to be good or bad. But because of that child, this sacred land, which has been peaceful for such a long time, is certainly going to become lively again.”
And she also hoped that things would go well in that direction.
Aura muttered to herself, then looked at her sleeping son’s face again and gave a gentle smile.
After that, she opened the pouch she had received earlier and looked at Nox’s gift again.
The moment she saw the gift—
Pfft!
She let out another small laugh.
“Even after becoming a father and turning into a full-grown middle-aged man, you’re still the same when it comes to things like this.”
