Ch.359Spiritual Being (4)

I gave them a name, and now all that’s left is to clearly understand Ariel and provide her with basic education until we return.

What I know about Ariel so far is that she’s a mixed-blood angel, not a purebred. She can read minds. And she recognizes me and Arwen as her parents.

Other than that, she appears to be about 4-5 years old and is heart-attackingly cute.

Especially when she calls out “Appa!” with her childish pronunciation, my heart aches. I wonder if this is how I’ll feel when Lilly grows up and calls me brother.

‘Speaking of which, what about Lilly?’

I looked at Ariel who was receiving education from Arwen. Arwen was teaching her words one by one, and Ariel was repeating them.

Ariel recognizes me as her father, and Lilly is my younger sister. Last time, Marie jokingly asked if the family tree would get tangled if she got pregnant.

That phenomenon has appeared in an unexpected form, so it’s quite awkward. I’m not sure how Ariel will grow up, but in terms of family relations, she’s an aunt and niece.

“Repeat after me. I went to the sea.”

“I, went, to the sea.”

“The sea was blue.”

“The sea, was, blue… was blue.”

“Very good, our Ariel.”

Meanwhile, Ariel is gradually learning the language of this world. Perhaps because she has the bloodline of angels that only appear in myths, it didn’t even take 30 minutes for her to start speaking.

All that remains is learning words that refer to objects. She’s mastering even that at an incredible speed, like a sponge absorbing water.

When the student is exceptional, the teacher naturally feels pleased. Arwen was genuinely delighted by Ariel’s amazing learning ability.

“I wonder who our Ariel takes after to be so smart?”

“Appa!”

“Couldn’t you say ‘Mommy’ at times like this?”

“Appa!”

“…”

Occasionally she scratches at the heart. Arwen quickly became dejected at Ariel’s innocent answer.

Despite withstanding all kinds of checks from the Senate, Arwen’s mental fortitude seemed to shatter like glass from that one answer.

“Umm… is Ariel a bad girl?”

“Uh, huh?”

“Is Mommy angry?”

“Ah, no! Mommy’s not angry.”

One thing to be careful about here is, as you can see, mind reading. Since she unintentionally reads inner thoughts, I have to be careful even with my thoughts.

I was watching the mother and daughter playing happily on the bed, then quietly approached them.

I thought it would be good to solve the most important thing first, beyond education.

“Ariel?”

“Appa!”

As soon as I called her, Ariel jumped up and flew to me. Again, she didn’t run—she fluttered her wings and flew.

The wings that had begun to take shape weren’t just decorations. Structurally, the wings were too small for flying, but since this is fantasy, I just accepted it.

I carefully embraced Ariel and spoke with a gentle smile.

“Were you learning well from Mommy?”

“Yes!”

“What words did you learn today?”

“Mommy and Appa and… red, yellow, blue…”

Ariel counted on her fingers one by one, telling me the words she had learned today. That sight was indescribably lovable.

Although she’s not a child born from the pain of women I love, when I see her appearance that looks exactly like me, paternal love naturally forms.

Moreover, the unique atmosphere emanating from Ariel makes my heart feel warm and fuzzy.

“Appa. Appa.”

“What is it?”

“I’m hungry.”

I looked at her when she said she was hungry. Ariel was pointing at her stomach.

Although Ariel is an angel, perhaps because she’s mixed-blood, she has basic needs. She needs to sleep at night and eat meals at regular times.

Meals themselves can be handled by asking Arwen’s attendant, but the problem is sleep. More precisely, not the sleep itself but the timing.

Newborns typically start sleeping through the night from about 50 days, but as you can see, Ariel is closer to 4-5 years old.

So she sleeps through the night, but since we’re in the same room, we haven’t been able to have any intimate time.

Can’t we use a sound-blocking spell? Surprisingly, as soon as we use one, she opens her eyes and wakes up.

As I always mention, elves are descendants of angels, and Ariel was born with angel blood.

She’s basically very sensitive to mana, so even when asleep, she wakes up immediately if magic is used.

‘Let’s feed her first.’

Hearing her say she was hungry, I looked at the sprout on her head. The sprout, which had been standing straight, was now drooping downward, confirming she was truly hungry.

It’s very convenient to check Ariel’s condition through that sprout.

When she’s hungry like now, the stem droops, and when she’s tired, it becomes completely limp.

‘I wonder how long she’ll keep that?’

While thinking about the future of the sprout, I looked at Arwen. Understanding the meaning of my gaze, she nodded and lightly snapped her fingers.

Snap!

As soon as Arwen snapped her fingers, a table set with meals appeared in mid-air.

Various delicacies were arranged, and they felt warm as if freshly made.

The queen’s chamber is Arwen’s private space, and even meals are transported through magic.

Of course, they’re not always transported this way—usually they’re delivered directly. But for our private space, they’re moved by magic.

‘Magic is really nice at times like this.’

There’s no need to worry about poison in the food. As I’ve said before, except for the bedchamber, the eyes of the gods are upon Elodia.

With the gods openly monitoring, it’s impossible to do anything unnecessary. If anyone tried such a thing, they would receive divine punishment.

I walked slowly toward the appetizing food, my mouth watering.

Next to Arwen, food is what I like most about living here. Various foods appear every time, making my palate happy.

The food in Helium wasn’t bad either, but it was too limited. They’ve been semi-forcibly isolated until now and have just started exchanges, so it can’t be helped.

“Shall our Ariel eat too?”

“Yes! Yes!”

Ah, and one more thing.

“Nom nom nom nom!!”

Ariel ate really well. She wasn’t just eating—she was practically inhaling the food.

Even I eat three portions easily since I exercise, but she seems to eat even more than that.

I have no intention of stopping her though. It’s good when a child eats well.

But there’s one thing I should strictly warn about.

“Ariel.”

“Mmm?”

“Let’s not eat with our hands, but use utensils. Can you try following Daddy?”

I need to stop her from eating hastily with her hands like some barbarian.

Her hands and face are already covered with all kinds of food including sauce, but I intend to teach her slowly from now on.

Anyway, Arwen can clean everything with magic.

“Nom nom nom!”

“…Eat slowly, please.”

Of course, it didn’t make much difference. It was like giving a stone knife to a barbarian who was already good at hunting.

Still, seeing her eat so heartily brought a pleased smile to my face.

I think I understand parents’ feelings when they say they feel full just watching their children eat.

‘Parents…’

Not my current life’s parents, but my previous life’s parents suddenly came to mind. People who made me deeply realize the importance of family.

They were ordinary parents that could be seen anywhere, so my memories of them are very clear. People who showed me infinite love and dedication without any complaints despite limited circumstances.

The reason I’m grateful to be born here and have no lingering attachment to my previous life is because my parents passed away in an accident.

I was looking at Ariel enjoying her meal without paying attention to her surroundings, and gently reached out my hand.

Swish-

“Mmm? Appa?”

“Daddy told you to eat slowly, didn’t he? It’s all over your face.”

Instead of using a napkin, I wiped away the crumbs around her mouth with my fingers. After wiping, I put them directly into my mouth to clean them up.

While Ariel was staring blankly, I picked up a piece of food with a fork. It was a dish made with truffle, one of the rare mushrooms.

“Would you like to try this too? It’s a delicious mushroom.”

“Yum!”

As soon as I offered it, Ariel grabbed it and put it in her mouth as if devouring it. She chewed with her mouth full.

Her cheeks were puffed up like a hamster with food. How cute and lovable is that?

“Is it delicious?”

“Yes! Delicious!”

“Good, good. Then…”

I pulled out the fork I had put in Ariel’s mouth. But what’s this?

The front part of the fork, which was surely made of metal, had completely disappeared. There were even clear bite marks from Ariel.

I couldn’t help but be dumbfounded seeing that. Come to think of it, she ate the World Tree seed, which is as hard as steel, because she was hungry.

With a sense of dread, I quickly looked at Ariel. The food in front of her was almost gone.

“Aang~”

Perhaps judging that she couldn’t reach the distant food due to her short arms, Ariel grabbed not the food but the plate with both hands. Moreover, in a stacked state.

It looked like she was eating a hamburger, which momentarily froze my thoughts, but I quickly came to my senses.

“Whoa? That’s not for eating! Put it down right now!”

“H-here’s more food!”

Fortunately, the disaster of her chewing the entire plate was avoided. Somehow, it reminds me of Leona who used to crunch on bones.

Still, Leona only chewed bones, she never thought of eating the entire plate. How strong must her teeth be to do that?

No, before that, I couldn’t understand how she could consider the plate as food.

Perhaps she doesn’t know that plates aren’t food because she was just born recently. This seems most likely.

‘We still have a long way to go…’

I had forgotten that I needed to teach her basic common sense before language. After all, Ariel was a newborn in terms of age.

After the eventful mealtime ended, and Arwen had moved the entire table away through magic.

Ariel seemed pleased with the abundant meal, as she was lightly burping and enjoying the feeling of fullness.

“Was the food delicious?”

“Yes!”

“That’s good. Now…”

What should we do? With Ariel’s appearance, our range of activities had become extremely limited.

If I take Ariel outside, she’ll definitely attract all kinds of attention, but staying inside is too restrictive.

I’d like to take her out. However, I can’t predict what kind of impact that would have.

It would bring a much stronger influence than the Biography of Xenon, so I can’t go out with peace of mind.

But leaving Ariel behind while going out is even less acceptable.

‘I need to entrust her to someone trustworthy…’

Just as I was thinking that.

Knock knock knock-

A sudden knocking sound reached my ears. I was startled and shifted my gaze toward the door.

I wasn’t the only one surprised—Arwen was too. She’s probably thinking the same thing as me.

The moment Ariel’s existence is revealed here, our heads will feel like they’re about to explode.

Meanwhile, the attendant who knocked on the door quietly spoke.

“Your Majesty. There are guests who wish to meet with you and Lord Xenon right now.”

This voice… is it Kayre? I remember his voice clearly because he’s one of the elves I’ve met frequently so far.

Also, Kayre has been appointed as Arwen’s guard knight and secretary. He’s practically the only one who can knock on the bedchamber door.

“G-guests? As you know, I am enjoying time with Xenon. What do you mean by guests?”

Arwen responded in a calm voice after a moment of confusion. As she said, there’s no way he wouldn’t know we’re enjoying our time together.

Yet he knocked on the bedchamber door, which suggests the identity of the guest is not ordinary.

“Guests?”

Meanwhile, Ariel mumbled with her childish pronunciation. I embraced her with both arms to prevent her from making any sudden movements.

“Yes. Normally I would turn them away, but they are people even I cannot treat carelessly… And they came out of concern for Your Majesty.”

“Can you tell me who they are?”

Kayre hesitated for a moment, then spoke in a careful voice.

“Lord Xenon’s fiancée, Lady Reckyless and…”

We’re screwed.

“The Princess of Helium, Lady Cecilly.”

We’re really screwed.

“Scwewed?”

Yes, Daddy thinks we’re screwed.