Chapter 10
The World Is Full of Colors (4)
Ethan, who was watching the scene with a pouting expression, shoved a piece of cake in front of Bel’s eyes with his fork.
“Say ‘Daddy’. Da-ddy.”
“…”
“Look at this kid. You’re closing your mouth altogether?”
He had yet to give up his stubbornness.
“Leave her be.”
Unable to watch any longer, the dragon Argares chimed in.
He had temporarily stepped away, mentioning he had somewhere to stop by, and joined the welcome party late.
“Even a child needs time to get used to things.”
Adding that forcing it would only breed resentment, he clicked his tongue loudly.
Aspe nodded beside him, lending weight to the dragon’s opinion.
“He’s right, Ethan. Once enough time passes and Bel opens her heart, she’ll call you that.”
Even Settia took the dragon’s side.
Left completely outnumbered, Ethan shoved a piece of cake into his mouth rather spitefully.
“Hmph.”
“Try to get along with her a little.”
Watching her sulking husband, Settia giggled softly.
In the meantime, Bel, who had managed to acquire a fork, began scooping up and eating the cake on her own.
“Ma-i. (Delicious.)”
The dragon looked fondly at Bel, who was nodding her head in satisfaction.
“Little child. Would you like to eat mine as well?”
“There is plenty, Lord Argares. Please, help yourself.”
“I do not care for sweet things.”
Settia spoke politely, but the dragon gently declined. Having already been informed about the dragon, Settia treated him with an unfazed, natural demeanor.
Carefully observing her attitude, the dragon asked in a low voice:
“Have you looked into the child’s birth parents? It seems you sent people to investigate.”
The adults’ gazes turned to Bel all at once.
Sensing their eyes on her, Bel blinked, her mouth coated in cream.
“Mer ba. (What look at?)”
“Wipe your mouth first.”
Ethan replied gruffly as he roughly rubbed the child’s mouth with a napkin.
“Yeah.”
Of course he had looked into it.
Last night, when Director Teresa met Aspe upon his return to the orphanage, she had confessed everything about the day Bel arrived at the orphanage.
As for the reason she hid Bel’s identity, she dismissed it simply as “just in case.”
Understanding the hidden meaning behind those words, Ethan did not bother to blame her.
‘She was probably worried I’d use the kid’s power as a tool for political gain.’
From her perspective, she would have wanted to hide it as much as possible.
In fact, wasn’t Ethan currently trying to hide Bel from the Senate as well?
“Find out anything?”
“We’re tracking it down.”
Nothing definitive had been uncovered yet.
They had only confirmed the death of the woman presumed to be Bel’s biological mother.
However, hoping they might find the child’s birth father by tracing her tracks, Ethan had hastily dispatched a search party.
Since Bel was alive like this, there was also a sliver of hope that at least one more member of the Star Clan might still be alive.
“I see.”
Nodding lightly, the dragon turned his eyes toward Ethan.
“May I ask you one thing? You do not necessarily have to answer.”
“If so, why ask at all?”
At Ethan’s crooked response, the dragon opened his mouth.
“Why are you not corrupted?”
“…”
Ethan’s hand, which had been picking at the cake, came to a dead stop.
Settia glanced nervously at Ethan’s complexion.
“…It’s probably because I’ve already been purified once.”
Breaking the brief silence nonchalantly, Ethan answered casually:
“I went blind when I was little.”
“…You sought out the Star Clan.”
“Not me, my father did.”
A fleeting trace of longing flashed through Ethan’s eyes as he stared blankly at the smudged cream.
As the vision of his father’s final moment—drenched in red—surged into his mind, a hot sensation rose in his chest. Ethan gripped his fork tightly to suppress the nausea.
“Dis. Nyam-nyam.”
Just then, Bel’s tiny hand tapped the back of his hand.
Her amethyst-colored eyes were blinking softly and clearly.
Ethan poked the innocent child’s cheek with his knuckle, then gathered the smudged cake and swallowed it in a single bite.
‘Just a tiny pebble.’
What does she even know?
It made him laugh because it was laughable how she was looking at him as if trying to comfort him when she knew nothing at all.
“Didn’t you say you hated me earlier?”
“Uu!”
As he kneaded and teased Bel’s cheek, the child’s brow furrowed.
Though she bunched up wrinkles on her tiny snout as hard as she could, there was no way this could be threatening. A rabbit’s hind-leg kick would be far more threatening than this.
‘Those old geezers wouldn’t even notice something like this.’
Ethan recalled the foul air of that damp, dark basement. It felt as though he could smell mold from somewhere.
‘I have to get rid of the immediate threats first.’
As he slowly closed and opened his eyes, the dark, sunken aura vanished completely.
“Bel.”
“Oung?”
“Repeat after me.”
Without letting go of the child’s cheek as she chewed, Ethan moved his lips distinctly.
He paid utmost attention to enunciating so that even a child with slurred speech could say it clearly—
“Fuck.”
“Fuk.”
He taught her a curse word.
“Ethan!”
Settia gasped in horror and hurriedly covered Bel’s ears.
“Y-You…!”
The dragon clutched the back of his neck, and—
“What a wonderful thing you’re teaching her!”
Aspe launched a fierce critique at his boss.
However, what kind of man was Ethan?
“If strange old men try to act familiar with you, tell them to fuck off.”
Without caring in the slightest, he merely said what he wanted to say.
“Got it?”
“Ba-ad word. No-no.”
“Sometimes it’s necessary.”
“Uu-ung?”
Tilted her head as if she couldn’t understand, Bel poked a grape on top of the cake with her fork.
Ethan interrupted her as she opened her mouth wide with great enthusiasm.
“You think that’ll fit in your mouth?”
Snatching Bel’s fork away, he cut the grape into four pieces before giving it back.
Seeing him care for her so naturally brought a gentle smile to Settia’s lips.
“My Lady.”
Just then, her personal maid quietly approached and announced the doctor’s arrival.
“The doctor is waiting for you.”
“I shall be right there.”
“Together…”
“Stay here with Bel.”
Settia pushed down on Ethan’s shoulder as he tried to get up with her.
To Ethan, Settia was still a higher priority than Bel.
However, Settia wished for that priority to be reversed as soon as possible.
“Bel, stay here and eat cake with Mister. Mommy will be back in just a moment. Okay?”
“Oung.”
Bel nodded bravely.
Reluctantly, Ethan sat back down beside Bel.
Watching Settia leave and her empty seat being cleared, the dragon asked:
“Does she have a chronic illness?”
“We don’t know the name of the disease. Her body has just been weak since she was little.”
The dragon nodded as if he understood.
“That is why you adopted the child.”
“I didn’t need… I told her it was fine.”
Ethan reflexively blurted out his usual habit before catching himself and changing his words.
The dragon smiled faintly upon seeing his reaction.
“Have you tried everything within your power?”
“We’ve obviously done everything we could.”
“Have you tried seeking out a dragon?”
“You lot don’t meddle in private human affairs…”
Ethan, who was responding testily, slowly shut his mouth.
The dragon, Argares, crossed his arms with an easygoing air.
“Yes. Just as you say, we dragons do not meddle in human affairs to share our knowledge casually.”
If spirits specialized in resolving specific problems like curses, dragons possessed abilities closer to reality—such as superior academic knowledge.
Naturally, medicine was one of them.
“While we do not have the ability to cure completely blinded eyes like the Star Clan, we are capable of slowing down the progression of a disease.”
Saying so, Argares stood up from his seat.
“Treating the guardian of the Little Star is hardly a private affair. Will you lead me to where the Duchess is?”
Seeing him rise, Bel hastily stuffed the remaining cake into her mouth.
“Ppu-doo! (Me too!)”
At her demand that she was coming along too, Argares’s smile deepened.
“I shall wait for you, so let us wipe the cream off your mouth first, little child.”
The doctor, who was placing his stethoscope here and there against Settia’s back, let out a low sigh.
“It seems inflammation has accumulated in your lungs.”
“Is that so?”
“Is there a lot of phlegm when you breathe? Any symptoms of coughing up blood?”
“…There is. Please do not tell my husband.”
Settia pressed her index finger to her lips, smiling like a flower that might wither at any second.
In any case, it was only a matter of time before it reached Ethan’s ears.
However, she wanted to push that moment back even a little—just a tiny bit more.
Ethan possessed deep affection.
It was because he took after his parents.
Though his actions were rough, once he gave someone his heart, he was the kind of man who would give them everything he had.
“How much time do I have left?”
“…My Lady…”
“Still, I hope I have about a year.”
Berta, the lovely child who had just entered the Duchy—Settia wanted to stay by her side and watch over her until she adapted.
At least until Ethan and the child grew a little closer.
