Chapter – 24
“Big sis! Look, it’s a paper boat!”
“Yeah. Shasha, you folded it well.”
Marie picked up the scattered scraps of paper from the floor and gently patted Shasha’s head.
Shasha smiled brightly and began fiddling with another piece of paper with her tiny hands.
Then suddenly she lifted her head and stared toward one side.
“Shasha?”
Puzzled, Marie followed her gaze.
There, beyond a long sheet of parchment, stood Crofot, looking in their direction.
The moment his eyes met Marie’s, he flinched and quickly turned his head away.
“Big sis… why is Crofotu acting like that?”
“Hmm… I wonder.”
Three days had passed since the various incidents.
Since then, the lessons had continued smoothly. Marie still felt sorry, but she had mostly moved on and didn’t ask about the doll anymore.
Everything seemed to have returned to normal…
…but for some reason, Crofot had started acting strangely.
“Crofot?”
“What.”
“What are you doing here?”
“I have something to do.”
“In our room?”
“…Yes.”
He had come out of the storage room where he usually shut himself in and was now lingering around Marie and Shasha.
“Crofot, what are you writing?”
“It’s nothing. Don’t worry about it.”
“Huh? It looked like my name was written there…”
“You’re mistaken.”
He kept glancing at them while scribbling something constantly.
“Crofoto! Why are you following us?”
“I’m not following you. We’re just going the same way.”
“Is Crofotu going to the bathroom too?”
“…No.”
Whenever they got too far away, he would come trailing after them again!
Normally they only saw him during Shasha’s lessons or at mealtimes, so his constant presence was impossible not to notice.
Finally, Marie stood up abruptly.
She had been staring at Crofot—who sat at a desk in the middle of the study pretending to read a book.
Shasha’s gaze followed her as Marie strode over and stopped in front of him.
Crofot looked up.
“What.”
Marie hesitated before speaking.
“Crofot… do you perhaps have something you want to say?”
“No.”
“Then why do you keep looking at us?”
Crofot cleared his throat and hurriedly began gathering the parchments.
“I wasn’t looking at you. I don’t know why you’d think that.”
“What’s that?”
“Don’t worry about it. Go play.”
Then he stood up abruptly and moved away.
“Wait a second, Crofot!”
Marie reached out in surprise.
But Crofot’s long legs carried him out of the study too quickly for her to stop him.
Marie blinked her round eyes in confusion before rubbing her forehead.
“Unni, did Crofotu just run away?”
“No… yes.”
“Why’s Crofotu acting like that?”
Marie wondered the same thing.
Why would that cold, arrogant, lazy archmage be watching their every move?
There must be something going on.
For a moment a plausible theory flashed through Marie’s mind, but she shook it away.
Crofot cares about us, but he doesn’t get unnecessarily close.
There’s no way he’d be curious about our past… right?
* * *
But sometimes the impossible happens.
Crofot sighed as he looked over the observation records he had written about Marie and Shasha.
8:00 AM – Wash up briefly and change into indoor clothes. Help prepare breakfast in the kitchen.
9:00 AM – Mariposa sits in the study reading. Shasha builds a castle out of books. Even though she’s told not to…
11:00 AM – The children wander around the antique shop playing useless games. Pretend cooking, hide-and-seek, etc.
And in the afternoon…
Crofot frowned and crumpled the paper.
An archmage had spent three whole days observing them…
…and achieved absolutely nothing.
Every day was the same.
A peaceful routine.
Nothing unusual.
Crofot hated wasting time.
He realized this method was wrong.
I need a different approach.
Further observation was useless.
Shasha had too few thoughts to uncover anything, and Marie was too perfect to find anything suspicious.
He needed a more direct method.
“Crofoto?”
“…Hm.”
“Are we not doing our lesson today?”
Thus, he chose this moment.
Crofot looked at Shasha, who was staring up at him with sparkling eyes.
A deep sigh rose in his chest.
How do you question a four-year-old…
Marie was far too perceptive.
If he asked even one or two questions, she would immediately realize what he wanted to know.
But perhaps Shasha would be different.
“Four-year-old.”
“Yes!”
“There’s something I want to ask.”
“You’re curious about me?”
“Yes.”
Crofot put his pipe in his mouth and thought for a moment, choosing his words.
Having lived alone for so long, conversations with others were difficult for him.
Before Shasha could get bored, he finally asked bluntly:
“You knew that your sister is afraid of loud noises.”
Shasha’s eyes widened.
After hesitating, she nodded slowly.
“Mariposa said it started about a year ago. Is that right?”
“Yes.”
“Do you know why that happened?”
There was no more direct question than that.
Crofot clicked his tongue internally, calling himself an idiot.
“I don’t know.”
But Shasha shook her head.
“You don’t?”
“I don’t know… I really don’t.”
Her clear face showed no sign of lying.
Crofot frowned and leaned back in his chair.
After hesitating for a moment, he quietly asked:
“Mariposa said it started after your mother died. Is it related to that?”
“Mom…?”
For children, the word mother was like a bomb.
Shasha’s ocean-blue eyes grew moist.
Crofot hurried to comfort her.
“It’s alright. You don’t have to answer if you don’t want to.”
“Mom…”
Shasha spoke with a trembling voice.
Crofot watched nervously.
“Mom died because she was cold.”
“Cold?”
“Yes. She was sick and cold, so she died.”
Her neatly cut curly hair swayed as she shook her head and wiped her tears.
“So it’s different from why unni is like that. I don’t know.”
“What about a loud sound or something big happening…”
Shasha shook her head again.
“No.”
“Mom died because she lost too much blood. Unni said so.”
Blood?
Crofot’s thoughts tangled.
He had expected some kind of explosion or accident.
He wanted to ask more, but Shasha didn’t look well.
He closed his mouth.
Talking about a child’s dead mother had been a mistake.
“…I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have asked.”
Shasha looked up at him with tearful eyes.
Then she shook her head bravely.
“It’s okay.”
Crofot hesitated before patting her head.
Shasha blinked in surprise, then blushed and smiled.
He didn’t want to hurt the children.
He had already behaved harshly with them many times and failed half his duties as a guardian…
…but even so, he didn’t want to wound their hearts.
However, if he didn’t understand them properly, the same incident as before could happen again.
Even if it was only for a few months, he felt responsible for letting them live peacefully here.
“We’ll skip today’s lesson. You can go play.”
“Really?!”
“Yes.”
“Yay! Crofotu is the best!”
Shasha cheered with both arms raised.
Only at times like this…
Crofot smiled faintly as he watched the child run out.
But soon his expression hardened.
Blood.
Cold.
Their dead mother.
The things Marie and Shasha feared.
Nothing connected.
Crofot sank into deep thought and put his pipe back in his mouth.
* * *
That night.
After another peaceful day, Marie and Shasha lay down to sleep.
When Marie took out the fairy tale book she had been reading before, Shasha grabbed her sleeve sleepily to stop her.
“Unni.”
“Yes, Shasha. What is it?”
Shasha stared quietly at Marie’s gentle face in the candlelight.
After hesitating, she pulled the blanket up to her mouth.
“Today Crofotu asked about Mom.”
“About Mom?”
Marie’s green eyes widened.
“What did he ask?”
“He asked if unni being sick had something to do with Mom.”
“Me being sick?”
Marie tilted her head.
Then she realized something and frowned.
He must have meant when she collapsed after hearing a loud noise.
“So what did you say?”
“I said no. I wanted to tell him how Mom went to the sky…”
Shasha’s blue eyes slowly closed.
Rubbing her eyes sleepily, she continued mumbling.
“But Crofotu said it was okay, so I stopped.”
“I see…”
“Mm.”
Marie sighed quietly so Shasha wouldn’t notice.
“Were you okay, Shasha? Talking about Mom?”
“Mhm.”
Shasha’s eyes closed completely.
Her sleepy voice answered softly.
“A little scary.”
“I thought so.”
“But Crofotu didn’t keep asking, so it was okay.”
“Crofot isn’t the type to force things out of people.”
“Mhm.”
“If he asks again next time, I’ll answer instead. So you won’t be scared.”
Shasha smiled with her eyes closed.
Marie hugged her and slowly closed her own eyes.
That day came back to her.
The cold alleyway.
The red blood scattered across the ground.
The sticky blood soaking into a pale neck and a worn dress.
The sea-colored eyes once full of life slowly fading away.
The day their mother died.
Marie’s breathing began to tremble.
Holding Shasha tightly, she whispered:
“I’m sorry. I’m sorry, Shasha…”
Shasha didn’t answer.
Already deep in sleep, the child’s steady breathing filled the dark silence.
Marie blinked her tearful green eyes and swallowed her shaking breath.
