Ch.352Chapter 352 Epilogue – Hey, Who Are You? (2)

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Hmm, calm down, calm down.

This is startling, but if I panic too, I won’t be able to do anything.

“Waaaaaah!!”

Let me think carefully about what to do with this suddenly crying little kid.

“Daddyyyyy!! Mommyyyyy!!”

How hard could it be to comfort a little girl who’s lost her way and desperately looking for her parents?

Yeah, it was about 15 minutes ago?

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After leaving our room, Shizu and I walked toward the beach we’d set as our destination, chatting along the way.

We weren’t planning to swim in swimsuits.

The main purpose was to enjoy the atmosphere of this exotic place, unlike anywhere Shizu and I had ever been, while roaming the vast sandy beach.

Moving your body and taking in sights naturally builds memories and enriches the heart, but it’s equally natural that physical energy gets depleted in the process.

“Let’s hurry.”

Shizu gently pulled my arm, urging me toward the beach, and her steps showed no sign of fatigue whatsoever.

Beyond showing no fatigue, every movement of her body overflowed with vitality, as if everything that happened last night had given her strength.

Seeing her looking so much better than me, who had barely regained my senses after breakfast, memories of last night involuntarily came to mind.

“I’m coming.”

But now wasn’t the time to reminisce about last night with such indecent thoughts.

I followed after Shizu, who was already heading toward the beach some distance ahead.

As I followed, it naturally caught my eye.

The radiant beauty emanating from your back as you took light steps without a care in the world.

And simultaneously, I felt growing anticipation for the days ahead when I could fully enjoy seeing you like this.

The path we’ll walk together won’t always be smooth, based not on one-sided effort but on mutual understanding and respect.

But compared to those hellish days when we had to face each other with swords drawn, blocked by unavoidable reality…

The future ahead, filled with uncertainties I’ve never experienced, is much better.

Oh, I got lost in thought while walking, and now she’s disappeared from sight.

With a smile at how you still run around excitedly when you’re in a good mood, just like always.

“Come with me!!”

I continued walking, urgently calling out to Shizu.

Though she was out of sight, I could find her through her energy, so my steps continued smoothly.

But something felt strange.

I sensed it when I realized that Shizu, who should have been far ahead of me, was standing still at some point.

…What’s going on? We were so close to stepping onto the sandy beach she was so eager to reach, so why did she suddenly stop right before our destination?

My curiosity persisted as I kept walking, but it took only a moment for that curiosity to be resolved.

“Kal…”

Shizu wore a troubled expression with a hint of awkward smile, the kind one makes when facing a very embarrassing situation.

“Waaaaaaah!!”

Because she was held back by some little girl, unable to move forward.

That’s when it happened. The plan to make this meaningful second day of our nearly-honeymoon trip, despite the late start, began to fall apart.

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I paused my steps and looked at both Shizu and the little girl clinging to her.

The child was stuck to Shizu like glue, showing no sign of letting go, as if tied to a pillar.

“Waaaaaaah!!”

She was crying loudly enough to shake the entire area.

Anyone would recognize this as typical lost child behavior, but there were several peculiar aspects to the situation.

It was strange that in this tourist area, a lost child was crying loudly enough to raise the dead, yet no one who looked like a parent was coming.

“Sniff! Waaaaaaah!!”

Above all, the volume of the girl’s crying voice was unusually powerful for a child.

I suppose it’s not strange that my energy sense didn’t detect her—being a young child, she wouldn’t have any kind of energy to sense.

Anyway, the sight of this young girl lost and crying in the middle of a tourist spot gave me an odd sense of dissonance from a distance.

Enough to make me hesitate to approach her carelessly.

But knowing it would be wrong to continue on my way without comforting a lost crying child just because of some physical discomfort, I was about to continue walking when…

“Hey? Are you okay?”

I could see Shizu instantly erasing the troubled expression from her face and replacing it with kindness, comforting the child with a voice as gentle as her expression.

Perhaps because she had experienced similar feelings of fear when left alone as a child herself.

With the gentleness of Shizu carefully embracing the child’s shoulders on both sides, trying to ease her fear…

“…sniff…hic…hic!!”

Though the child’s voice was still full of tears, there were signs she was gradually calming down.

She really is so kind. Smiling at that gentleness, I found myself approaching Shizu’s side as she was too busy comforting the child to look my way.

“Sniff…hic!!”

The child, whose crying had begun to subside, turned her head toward me at the sudden presence.

Only then could I properly see the child’s appearance, which had been partially hidden by Shizu.

And the moment I saw her, I couldn’t help but be startled.

It was impossible not to be surprised.

From a distance, I wasn’t sure, but up close, as soon as our eyes met, I could see her distinct silver hair, so identical to our family’s that for a moment I wondered if she might be related to us.

Unless it was an extremely rare case like mine, where I inherited my mother’s dragon blood strongly, resulting in red hair.

This silver hair, common to everyone belonging to Lanos, is extremely rare to see in the Empire.

Even though it could be passed down through branch family members, it rarely manifests except in direct descendants.

In the Empire, hair color alone can indicate one’s status, with the Lanos family’s silver hair and the Proxian family’s golden hair (to which Shizu belongs) being prime examples.

Who would have thought I’d meet a child with our family’s representative hair color at a tourist spot, neither in the duchy nor on the islands?

But while her hair was silver, there was nothing about her face that resembled anyone in our family.

Not me, not my sister, not my father.

Just one thing—her eye color was black like mine.

If I were to compare it with my own eye color that I often see in the mirror, hers had much more luster. The color might be similar, but the impression her eyes gave was completely different from mine, so even this couldn’t really be called a resemblance.

And her face, which struck me as remarkably pretty and cute even from that brief glance, was far from our family’s characteristically thin and sharp features.

Of course, she wouldn’t look like Shizu who’s comforting her now.

But I couldn’t help thinking that when she reaches a certain age, she’ll need a veil or something to cover her face when going out, given how beautiful she’ll likely become.

Anyway, my surprise at seeing this child of unknown identity was beginning to subside when…

“…”

As she stopped crying and stared at me intently without saying a word, I began to feel something strange about her gaze.

“Are you… Daddy?”

The moment I heard those words coming from this sniffling child’s mouth, I felt my mind go blank.

Who…? Daddy…?

Child, what are you saying?

I thought I might be hearing things, my senses still not back to normal after the shock of seeing this child’s appearance, but…

“…Kal?”

Hearing Shizu’s voice, still gentle but with a subtle hint of coldness and bewilderment, it seemed I hadn’t misheard.

Fortunately, her hands continued to comfort the child even as she spoke in that tone.

No, no! This isn’t right.

Calling someone “Daddy” who just officially proposed to Shizu last evening and barely shed his bachelor status?

Child, what on earth are you talking about?

Despite the warm southern sunshine of early spring beating down on us…

For some reason, a strange chill and cold sweat were running down my back.

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Let me get straight to the conclusion.

The bombshell statement from the girl who suddenly called me “Daddy” upon seeing me, causing me shock and Shizu despair(?), was resolved before I could even say anything.

“Not… Daddy…”

Thanks to the dejected voice that came from the child’s mouth after she examined my face more carefully.

In her panicked state, desperately looking for her parents…

I was starting to feel sorry for her, thinking she had hastily called me “Daddy” upon seeing someone who resembled her father, only to quickly realize her mistake once she calmed down a bit, but…

“You’re… not as handsome as Daddy…”

Listening to this child firmly stating I wasn’t her father in that dejected voice, why did I feel myself becoming depressed?

I’ve always been aware that my appearance is rather stern, though I’ve softened a bit lately.

Being pointed out so straightforwardly by a child made me feel like sharp metal was poking at my heart.

Anyway, seeing my face sink into gloom, this little lady also seemed to realize her mistake.

“I’m… I’m sorry!!”

She hurriedly bowed her head and apologized to me.

I wasn’t too concerned about the unintended revelation of her true thoughts that had dealt a critical blow to my heart, given the chaotic situation.

But seeing her recognize her mistake and apologize with a clear voice despite her young age, I could tell she had received good family education.

“I must have startled you. I’m sorry.”

Just as I was about to accept her apology and lighten the mood with some banter…

“Young lady!! Miss Flora!!”

A man’s urgent voice, the kind you’d only hear if your head was on fire, came from not too far from where we were standing.