episode_0059

“I am glad that Mutal has returned, my lord.”

The knight standing guard in front of the main gate of the mansion saluted Athena and said.

For a moment, I felt like he was glaring at me. Maybe it was my imagination this time too.

I didn’t have the confidence to face him, so I entered the mansion looking only at the floor.

I don’t know about other people, but I just couldn’t raise my head to the Knights of Dawn.

Of course. Not only did I reduce one of the Knights to near death, I also forced him into retirement. I had no shame in standing proudly before them.

As I went deeper into the mansion, and the more eyes were on me, the more I began to feel out of breath.

A large number of maids and butlers came out to greet us.

“Welcome, master. And miss.”

Rosewen welcomes us with a warm smile.

“Thank you for your hard work, my lord. And I am glad that you are safe, too.”

The butler greets with a bow.

and.

“Miss….”

Even Alina looked at me with trembling eyes.

I couldn’t bring myself to say hello to her and had no choice but to turn away.

Because the wounds inflicted on her still tormented me.

Besides them, many other people welcomed us.

To be exact, it would be welcoming Athena.

“Mom. Are you okay..?”

Marie looks up at me with a worried expression while holding my hand.

I guess she felt my trembling through the hand we held.

I smiled at Marie, trying my best to suppress the negative emotions that were threatening to burst out.

“Yeah, it’s okay.”

are you okay.

I’m fine.

I was greeted by so many maids and butlers,

I came back to my room, which was so familiar to me.

However, there is one thing that is different from before.

“Mom’s room..?”

It wasn’t that I was alone. It was that I was with Marie.

Marie opens her eyes wide and looks around the scenery in my room.

It was moving around with its eyes shining as if it were a treasure trove.

After wandering around the room for a while, he quickly flew over to the large bed and lay down.

“Mom and Marie’s bed!”

The sight of Marie hugging her pillow with a happy smile was quite a heartbreaking sight.

‘You…are so cute…’

Who said that in this world, only cuteness is justice and truth? It was the moment when I confirmed that those words were true.

I tried my best to suppress the smile that was about to burst out and sat down next to Marie, who was lying down on the bed.

“Marie, won’t Athena give you a separate room? You can sleep there.”

“…..!”

This large mansion had more than enough rooms. There was probably at least one room for a child.

Perhaps there was a room that suited Marie’s taste.

But Marie’s face showed no sign of delight; instead, she was looking at me with shocked eyes.

“Can’t you sleep together with Mom?”

“Huh..?”

Her bright, aquamarine-colored eyes began to slowly fill with tears.

“Marie..alone..sob..”

“Ma..Marie?!”

As the lovely girl began to shed tears little by little, my mind became confused.

“Sigh… Mom. If you don’t like Marie… Alone. Alone…I’ll sleep…”

Her pitiful cries made me realize that I had made a big mistake.

I forgot.

How young a child Marie was.

Athena says dragons don’t need parents, but any living creature with emotions will feel lonely.

The fact that Marie follows me like this is proof of that.

Clearly, she was looking at me like this because she wanted to be liked.

Besides, Marie is just a hatchling, born not long ago.

It was a time when love was absolutely necessary.

I couldn’t imagine how the idea of asking her to have a separate room would have affected her, who treated me like a parent.

From Marie’s perspective, it probably sounded like I was saying I didn’t want to sleep with her.

So that’s why he cries so sadly.

‘I promised to take care of you, Hera.’

But you’re already making this little girl cry.

I’m starting to feel disgusted with myself.

I quickly hugged Marie and wiped her tears with my fingers.

“No, Marie..! There’s no way Mom would hate Marie..”

“…But…a separate room…”

“I did that because I thought Mari might not like cramped spaces. If Mari wants it, of course I want to sleep with her..!”

“I want to sleep with mom…”

Marie speaks timidly with a babbling mouth.

“Then…should I sleep with Mom from now on?”

Her eyes widened at my words, and soon she smiled brightly and hugged me with her cute hands.

“I love you, Mom!!”

“Ugh..!”

The sight of Marie in my arms was so cute that it could almost be called destructive.

Is this the heart attack I’ve only heard of…? If this keeps up, my heart might explode someday.

.

.

.

“….You two are going to sleep together from now on?”

Athena looks at me with her eyes squinted.

Now, Marie and I were resting our bodies, tired from our trip, and having a meal with Athena.

“Yeah. Since Mari is still very young, I think it would be better if we played together more often.”

I decided to share the same bed with Marie until she grew up a bit.

I don’t know if the dragon will go through puberty, but at least until then, we can sleep together.

“No.”

“”Huh?””

A muffled sound came out of Marie’s mouth and mine at the same time.

“You’re being too overprotective, Hera. A dragon doesn’t need that.”

“But..but..”

“And if you keep nagging them too much, they’ll get spoiled.”

Athena gently expresses her refusal.

Not knowing that she would refuse, I looked at Marie with a puzzled look.

“…..”

Mari looks at Athena with cold, sunken eyes.

Her blue eyes, once as clear as the ocean, seemed to have frozen coldly now.

After staring at Athena for a long time, she soon made eye contact with me.

“Marie..I want to sleep with mom..”

The cold look on her face disappeared in an instant, and she began to look at me with the expression a dog that had been drenched in rain might make.

Her appearance was so lovely that I felt a surge of maternal love that wasn’t there before.

I smiled at Marie to reassure her.

Just trust your mom, Marie.

Once I decide to care for this young life, I will keep that commitment until the end.

He clenched his fists and looked at Athena with a determined expression.

“Chae..I decided to take responsibility.”

“What?”

Athena raised one eyebrow and looked at me quizzically, as if she hadn’t expected my answer.

“She’s a dragon, but still, Marie is too young.”

“….uh huh”

“Rain..even though I’m not a real mom..still I want to do what I can..”

Athena’s expression, which seemed to be annoyed, made me feel a little discouraged.

But after taking a deep breath, I was able to finish what I was saying.

“Well..so..please allow me to let you sleep..”

“…..”

Athena glared at me as if she was not pleased with my words.

But then something occurred to him, and after thinking about it for a moment, he looked at me with a smile on his face.

“Hera. Do you think of Marie as your daughter?”

“Uh..yeah..I’m trying to do that.”

“And that feeling will never change?”

For a moment I didn’t understand Athena’s question.

Does changing your mind mean you no longer think of Marie as your daughter?

If that’s what you mean, I absolutely have no intention of doing so.

My parents abandoned me.

I never wanted to be an irresponsible person like them.

I gave Marie a big pat on the head.

“Yeah. I will never change my mind.”

“So you’re saying you’ll look at me as your daughter for the rest of your life?”

“….Yeah.”

Athena looked at me for a moment, then nodded and said.

“Okay. Hera, do whatever you want.”

“Really?”

“Yeah.”

Her willing permission brought bright smiles to both Marie’s and mine.

“Thank you Athena..! ”

“But there is a condition.”

“Huh?”

Athena smiles with a somewhat gloomy expression.

She came close to me, put her mouth near my ear, and whispered in a voice so quiet that Marie couldn’t hear.

“Every night from today. Come to my bedroom after putting Marie to bed.”

“Uh..huh?”

Her words sounded so secretive that it tickled my ears.

Perhaps because of her hoarse voice, the words coming into the bedroom sounded quite lewd.

“An hour will do.”

“..What..What are you going to do..?”

Is there a reason why you have to come here in the middle of the night?

But Athena shook her head, as if it were a secret. She put her finger to my lips and shook her head.

“You’ll find out later tonight.”

Her words were full of questions, but I decided to accept them since I had no particular reason to refuse.

“Okay..okay.”

Anyway, if it’s only for an hour or so, it won’t be too much trouble to sleep.

It wouldn’t be a problem at all if you put Marie to bed early.

Marie was smiling brightly, her face buried in my stomach, perhaps excited to sleep with me.

Feeling a sudden sense of pride, I gently pinched Marie’s cheeks.

“Um…Mom..”

Her perky cheeks stretched out like rice cakes. Yet her cute smile still remained vivid on her face.

‘..Marie is so happy. It’ll take about an hour..’

So I turned my gaze back to Athena to thank her again.

Her expression, which seemed somewhat ominous, caught my eye.

“…Ah..Athena?”

“Huh?”

“Are you okay? Your face is a bit..”

“It’s okay, Hera. Let’s finish eating.”

She says that and picks up the dishes again.

But there was still a chill lingering on his face.

“……”

A lustful smile, as if watching prey right before one’s eyes.

And for some reason, there was a slight tension in her face, as if her lips were constantly watering.

‘Oh….Is it okay?’