Chapter : 20
“Have you already had dinner?”
“……No.”
The way he answered after careful thought was as cautious as choosing the correct answer to a test question. But that wasn’t how playing house was supposed to work.
After being told he could just say whatever he wanted comfortably, Sirius corrected his attitude and answered confidently.
“I didn’t eat.”
“Then let’s eat together. Oh my! There’s nothing prepared for dinner at all. Shall we prepare it together?”
“Okay.”
Elena led Sirius to sit beside her. Then she poured the flower petals she had gathered beforehand onto a large leaf.
“Honey, you cook this.”
“……How?”
“You just stir it like this.”
A short twig was placed into Sirius’s hand.
He stared at it with a puzzled expression for a few seconds, then began poking the petals carefully with cautious movements.
He’s not secretly practicing swordsmanship with that, is he?
While keeping a hawk’s eye on Sirius, Elena gathered small leaves together with a pebble and crushed them.
She planned to boil it all on a stone and make a wild-grass soup.
Thump. Thump.
As she focused, the fresh scent of grass tickled her nose.
Before she realized it, Elena was smiling.
The sunlight settling into the garden was warm, and only the occasional clear chirp of birds could be heard.
Playing childish games beneath a large, towering tree like this was honestly fun and enjoyable.
“I’m done.”
“Wow, it smells like delicious pasta!”
Her excited mood naturally led to playful behavior.
Elena leaned in and sniffed the pile of petals on the leaf as if it were real pasta.
A small laugh rang out above her head.
She looked up at Sirius.
Unexpectedly, his face looked more relaxed than ever.
“Since it’s made from flower petals, it’s flower-petal pasta.”
“Yes. The name of this dish is flower-petal pasta.”
Sirius even played along perfectly. He’d grown quite accustomed to playing house.
But that thought didn’t last long—he caused another incident.
He put one of the petals into his mouth.
“What are you doing, eating that?!”
Startled, Elena hurriedly told Sirius to spit it out.
Spit it out, quick! You wolf—or maybe you’re just a little mutt!
The Sirius who had seemed endlessly mature now looked like a complete troublemaker.
She scolded the boy firmly.
“You’re only supposed to pretend to eat.”
“But it looked tasty.”
“Please say something that makes sense.”
“Okay, honey.”
……Honey?
Flustered, Elena quickly regained her composure.
Ah right, they were playing house.
Sirius seemed to understand that once honorifics started, it meant they were fully in play-house mode.
Still, for some reason, Elena felt unsettled.
When she said “honey,” it felt like nothing—but when Sirius said it, it made her feel strange.
“So what do we do after dinner?”
“Huh? Ah… then we go to sleep.”
Strange or not, the game had to continue.
Elena cleared away all the leaves they’d used as dishes and spread a thin blanket she’d brought from her room on the floor.
“Is this the bed?”
“That’s right. Shall we lie down together?”
After being shocked once by her drawing a line on the floor and calling it a house, Sirius now seemed to genuinely see the blanket as a bed.
Such good adaptability. Praising his sharp mind, Elena lay down on the blanket.
“But I have a question.”
Sirius, lying quietly beside her, spoke up.
He must have been bored just lying there.
“You said we’re a married couple. Don’t we have a baby?”
“A baby? There are play-house games where a baby appears. But there are only two of us, so there’s no one to play the baby.”
“I see. Then I guess we can only go as far as making a baby.”
W-what did you say?!
Shocked, Elena shot upright.
This kind of vulgar development was unacceptable in play-house!
“If you suddenly get up, we can’t hold hands.”
But the face Elena looked down at couldn’t have been more innocent.
And… holding hands?
Completely thrown off by this unexpected turn, she asked cautiously.
“Why do you want to hold hands?”
“A maid told me that if a married couple holds hands while sleeping, a baby is made. You should remember that from now on too. She said it’s common knowledge.”
Phew. Thankfully, Sirius had simply picked up the most childishly incorrect explanation possible.
The only indecent thing here was Elena’s own thoughts.
Feeling self-conscious, she flopped back down.
Now that she thought about it, the least ten-year-old-like person here was herself.
“May I hold your hand, honey?”
“……Do whatever you want.”
As Elena muttered absentmindedly, she felt warm body heat in her hand. At the same time, a gentle breeze passed by.
Jet-black hair and pure silver hair fluttered softly together.
Elena saw Sirius slowly close his eyes.
“This feels fun.”
A faint smile appeared on his lips.
Mesmerized by that smile, Elena unconsciously lifted the corner of her mouth—then suddenly realized something and shuddered.
Fun? If that was the case, then this was either fortunate… or very bad.
“I feel kind of nice….”
Sirius whispered lazily with his eyes closed.
His quiet voice soothed her startled heart, and Elena’s mind slowly calmed.
She closed her eyes just like him.
‘Right. Playing house is usually pretty fun. Of course Sirius could fall under its spell.’
Even she had once gotten so absorbed she forgot herself, so it was no surprise that a genuine ten-year-old like Sirius would be the same.
But it was fine. There were still plenty of things left on her list besides play-house.
Then perhaps because she let her guard down, Sirius suddenly said something unexpected.
“And I liked learning what an ideal family is.”
“This was just a game, though….”
“Teach me things like this again sometime. I don’t know if there’s anything better than this, though.”
Finding things to learn even in a game—and asking to be taught other games too?
Elena’s eyes snapped open.
Yes. This was where it went wrong.
The reason the play-house plan failed was because it was too fun and educational for Sirius.
At this rate, she might end up becoming not only his writing tutor, but his play tutor too.
That would naturally mean failing at becoming a useless person.
Elena began re-evaluating her list.
Sirius really wasn’t someone you could approach lightly.
That meant she had to choose a game from the list that had absolutely nothing to learn from, no matter how hard you looked.
After careful consideration, she tearfully deleted half the list.
Then, after much deliberation, she finally unfolded her second plan.
‘Watching ants.’
It was truly meaningless.
And therefore, perfectly childish.
Elena circled “Watching ants” on the list in her mind.
Once she decided, the sooner she acted, the better.
“Let’s play house again today.”
But the execution hit a wall from the start. Sirius suggested playing house again.
Judging by how he said it the moment he put his pen down, he clearly liked it a lot.
That was a very bad sign for Elena.
“How about playing something else? We already did that once. You even asked me to teach you a new game last time.”
“That’s true, but let’s play house just one more time. Then we’ll do something else. Okay?”
The slightly raised ending of his words carried an unconscious charm even he didn’t realize.
Honestly, that was cheating.
Elena clutched her chest at the deadly display of cuteness.
But play-house was the one thing she had to avoid.
Because before falling asleep last night, she finally realized why hearing Sirius call her “honey” had felt so unsettling.
‘Sirius is going to kill more than ten fiancées in the future!’
And yet she’d volunteered to be called “honey.”
It was like she’d boldly offered her own life for him to take.
Shuddering at her own actions, Elena pulled herself together.
Then she shut her eyes tightly and spoke with firm resolve.
“No. We’re playing something else today.”
“But I was the one who suggested playing first today. Then shouldn’t we play what I want?”
“…….”
Illogic was stronger than logic.
Having her own argument thrown back at her exactly as she’d used it yesterday, Elena had nothing to say.
Nothing would work against Sirius’s illogic.
What should she do?
After a brief 고민, Elena decided to use an attack even more frightening than illogic.
“But… h-hic….”
When she suddenly looked like she was about to cry, panic spread across Sirius’s face.
Good job, Elena!
She rubbed her eyes roughly, as if deeply upset. Unfortunately, not a single tear came out.
“There’s something I really want to do. Sniff.”
“W-why? What is it? What do you want to do?”
Faced with tearless tears, Sirius became flustered and immediately backed down.
Surprised? Kids cry over nothing all the time.
Using the moment to act even more childish, Elena puffed out her lips in a sulk.
“If I tell you, will you do it with me?”
“Yes! Of course!”
Sirius nodded vigorously, fists clenched.
He looked so innocent it was hard to believe he’d someday grow up to tear people apart.
He’s kinder than I thought….
Feeling a stab of guilt, Elena spoke in a voice so small it was like crawling into a mouse hole.
“Watching ants….”
“That sounds fun! Let’s go right now.”
Her hand was suddenly grabbed.
Even without knowing what it was, Sirius enthusiastically agreed—and held onto her hand.
