Chapter 05
The man’s gray hair fell in strange curls only along the left side of his head. Dark circles stretched long beneath his eyes, and the clothes he wore were gloomy and dull, giving off an overall sinister air.
Eyes smaller than those of an average person turned toward Neya. When she met his gaze, Neya flinched slightly.
“What are you?”
The man asked indifferently.
Neya answered, extremely tense.
“I—I’m Neya……”
“And what’s that supposed to be?”
“My name…….”
While Neya and the man spoke, Azure simply watched the two of them in silence.
Even with the man’s sudden visit, she didn’t seem particularly surprised.
“Gary, why are you here this time?”
She asked as if she were fed up.
The man called Gary immediately lifted the envelope he was holding in one hand. Then he tossed out a single line.
“Let’s have a drink.”
The moment he finished speaking, Azure threw the book she had been holding straight at him.
Bang!
Hit squarely in the face by the book, Gary toppled backward. Caught between them, Neya’s eyes widened as she looked back and forth between the two.
Azure spoke with a dangerous look on her face.
“I told you not to come to our house after drinking.”
At that, Gary shouted as if deeply wronged.
“I only had one sip! Just one!”
“Don’t be ridiculous. I can smell the alcohol from here.”
“That’s your smell!”
“What’s going on? When did you arrive?”
While the two bickered, Shane came out from the kitchen.
Azure flopped back into her seat, irritably raking a hand through her hair.
“Shane, throw that uninvited guest out.”
“Mr. Gary, you’ve got legs, right? Crawl out on your own.”
“Damn bastards…….”
Faced with such harsh treatment as a guest, Gary muttered curses. Then he glared at Azure and shouted angrily.
“Hey! Your friend says he’s having a hard time—can’t you even have a drink with him?!”
“Friend, my ass. You’re just going to whine about how hard your life is again anyway!”
“My life is hard! What do you want me to do—this is my life!”
Gary buried his face in his hands and began to wail. Watching him, Neya fidgeted uneasily.
Shane immediately turned to Neya and held out his hand.
“Neya, come here. We’ll have the milk a bit later.”
Neya walked over and took the hand he offered.
“I’ll show Neya her room, so I’ll leave that person to you, Lady Duke.”
“Ugh, how annoying.”
Azure scowled, but Shane paid it no mind and led Neya up the stairs.
Even as they headed to the second floor, Neya kept glancing back toward the first floor.
“Shane, is that person Mommy’s friend?”
“……”
Shane hesitated for a moment.
Calling him Azure’s friend felt ambiguous, but calling him merely an acquaintance didn’t quite fit either—the two were fairly close.
After pondering how to explain Gary, Shane finally settled on a simple answer.
“He’s the master of the Mage Tower.”
“The Mage Tower master?”
Neya had heard of that title before. The master of the Mage Tower was a fairly famous position within the empire.
“Is he really the Mage Tower master?”
“Yes. Are you disappointed because he’s different from what you imagined?”
“No! He’s really cool!”
Neya blurted it out, then quickly avoided Shane’s gaze.
“Well, he does look a little scary though……”
Indeed, to a child, his appearance was quite frightening—enough that someone less friendly than Neya might have burst into tears on the spot.
“He’s not someone impressive enough to admire. As you can see, he’s just a man who drinks every day and whines about his problems.”
“But he’s still the Mage Tower master! I heard he’s amazing at magic and lives in a really big tower!”
From a child’s perspective, that alone could seem wonderful.
But Shane, who knew Gary’s situation all too well, no longer held even a shred of respect for him.
“I don’t know what you heard at the cat shop to make you idolize the Mage Tower so much, but the current Mage Tower master is no different from a scholar barely clinging to the imperial palace to continue his research. He’s too busy watching the palace’s mood to do what he really wants.”
After delivering that harsh assessment, Shane let out a bitter smile.
“No matter how capable you are, without ambition, you’re no different from a salaried worker.”
That wasn’t something that applied only to Gary.
Neya hesitated, then spoke up timidly.
“But… according to Hyu, the Mage Tower master is really incredible……”
“……”
So that was it. No wonder she seemed excessively starry-eyed about the Mage Tower. Shane sighed.
When Hyu was mentioned, an uncomfortable feeling rose in Shane’s chest again. He didn’t even need to see to know what had become of the child who’d once been closest to Neya.
Instead of continuing the topic, Shane changed the subject.
“This will be the room you’ll use from now on.”
He stopped in front of a room with a blank nameplate on the door. Over the second-floor railing right outside, the living room on the first floor was clearly visible.
When he opened the door, an old wooden door creaked as it rubbed against the frame.
The room wasn’t very large, but it looked more than spacious enough for Neya to live in alone. The bed, seemingly chosen specifically for a child, was just the right size. The pure white blanket covering the pink sheets looked soft and cozy.
By the head of the bed, a sheer white curtain fluttered gently in the breeze coming through the window.
The desk, wardrobe, and other furniture were all matched in white and looked impeccably clean—everything had been prepared just for Neya.
“Wow……!”
Though small, Neya liked this room far more than the ornate rooms in noble estates. Every corner showed care and attention.
Seeing her reaction, Shane smiled.
“I’m glad you like it.”
“I love it!”
Having a room of her own for the first time, Neya hopped around excitedly. Before long, she dashed over and flopped onto the bed, laughing gleefully. The fluffy blankets smelled faintly of sunlight.
“I was thinking of buying you some dolls too, but I figured it’d be better if you chose your toys yourself. We can go buy them together later.”
“Dolls!”
Neya sprang upright on the bed.
The room alone was perfect—and now dolls too! Any disappointment she’d felt about the country estate was long forgotten. To Neya, this place was already the best home.
“My room is at the very end of the second floor, so if anything happens, come find me. Even in the middle of the night is fine.”
“When can we go buy the dolls?”
“Well… if you sleep well and eat well, we could even go tomorrow.”
“I’m really good at that!”
She’d always eaten and slept well at the cat shop too, earning lots of affection from the staff. Ever since she was very young, she’d never even had typical bedtime tantrums.
“It’d be best to go to bed a little early tonight. The downstairs is about to get quite noisy.”
“Downstairs… you mean Mommy?”
No sooner had she said it than a commotion broke out beyond the door.
“I really loved you, Lidia—!”
It was Gary’s desperate voice.
“……”
Shane covered his face with one hand.
“He’s starting again…….”
“Is that the Mage Tower master talking?”
Neya tilted her head.
With a resigned expression, Shane opened the door and stepped out, Neya following suit.
They looked down over the railing at the scene below.
Several bottles were rolling around on the table now. In that short time, just how many had they emptied? Empty bottles were piled everywhere.
Azure was alone, pouring herself drink after drink and gulping it down, while Gary lay sprawled across the table among the bottles, sobbing.
Watching the scene, Shane thought:
‘What a mess.’
It really was a mess—such a pitiful display by adults that he almost felt guilty letting Neya see it.
Neya quietly watched the first floor, then turned her gaze back to Shane.
“Um… don’t you think Mommy and the Mage Tower master really are friends after all? Am I right?”
