TYND 97

The next morning, Theon, who woke up first, finished preparing to go out and waited for Rothy to wake up.

Waking Rothy was very easy. Even calling his name in a very small voice would make him open his eyes immediately.

So he finished his preparations very quietly and watched while holding his breath.

Chiii…

The ferret woke up first and yawned with its tiny mouth open. It stretched its long body and arched its back.

Though it was quite early morning, he didn’t seem to want to sleep again. He slowly crawled across the bed and tried to lick Rothy’s cheek.

Theon was waiting for Rothy to wake up, but he wanted him to wake naturally, not be awakened, so he picked up Chi-chi.

Chiiik…

Chi-chi fussed, pretending to bite Theon’s finger. Theon pointed to Rothy with his index finger, then brought it to his lips to make a “shh” gesture. Chi-chi understood and lay obediently on his wrist.

Despite those efforts, Rothy woke up soon anyway.

He wriggled his small body under the blanket, then stretched.

A slender arm popped out from under the blanket.

His five fingers spread wide while stretching were so cute.

Heung.

The small hand groped around the bed.

It would have been nice if that hand was looking for him, but Theon knew what Rothy was searching for.

Chiii…!

And Chi-chi knew very well too. Chi-chi, who had been patiently waiting, jumped down before Theon could stop it.

Chiik!…chi!

Chi-chi squeezed itself perfectly under Rothy’s palm. Rothy wrapped Chi-chi in his grip and squeezed it. Chi-chi also rubbed its body against his palm. Chiii… such a happy sound flowed out.

After squeezing him to his heart’s content, Rothy opened his eyes.

“Theon.”

Seeing Theon sitting right beside him, Rothy smiled brightly.

Theon helped support Rothy as he wriggled to sit up.

“You woke up early. We’re eating breakfast by the seaside today, right? I’m so excited.”

“……”

“Theon?”

Rothy tilted his head, looking at Theon, who didn’t respond. Then, after checking Theon’s expression, he thought ‘Ah, I was cute again,’ and closed his eyes tightly, preparing to receive a kiss.

As expected, Theon showered Rothy with kisses.

Rothy had to lie back down right after sitting up to receive the barrage of kisses.

Chik…

After they’d been doing this for a while, Chi-chi squeezed between their faces. Its eyes were triangular.

Since this wasn’t the first or second time, Theon removed Chi-chi without even looking. When he tried to hold him in his hand, Rothy laughed briefly and took him back. Then he gave Chi-chi a kiss.

When Theon’s brow furrowed, Rothy held Chi-chi with both hands and lifted its tiny front paws to gently touch the wrinkles on Theon’s brow. The pink, soft paw pads touched him, but rather than smoothing out, the wrinkles deepened. Chi-chi also scowled along with him.

“Why are you frowning like that?”

“This little guy keeps interfering.”

“It gets very lonely. It’s only seven years old. Still very young.”

“We should start separation training soon.”

“What’s separation training?”

“It’s educating an animal so they don’t get anxious when separated from their owner or left alone, but wait stably for their owner’s return. It’s education that must be done when raising animals.”

Rothy’s eyes grew large.

“How can such cruel education exist…? I’m so shocked…”

“Everyone does this education. It’s not cruel.”

Theon deliberately spoke even more firmly.

Every time they kissed, Chi-chi would squeeze between their faces, and when he held Rothy in his arms, Chi-chi would deliberately cry demanding attention, and even when he was quietly watching sleeping Rothy, Chi-chi would deliberately get in his line of sight and plop down covering Rothy’s face.

He could no longer tolerate this.

“But every time he’s left alone, Chi-chi will be so scared and sad. And since I don’t leave Chi-chi alone, that education isn’t necessary…”

“Someday there will be occasions when you’ll have to leave him alone.”

Rothy’s eyes grew teary. The moment he saw his green eyes moistening, Theon’s mouth opened by itself.

“Not now, later. Much later.”

Heeng…

“Depending on the situation. If it’s not necessary, we might not do it.”

“Mmhmm…”

Only after immediately reversing his firm decision did Rothy’s expression improve a little.

Theon arbitrarily poked Chi-chi’s pink nose, who somehow looked triumphant.

“You said you’ve been with Chi-chi from the beginning.”

“Yes. Since he was this big.”

Rothy demonstrated “this big” with his fingers. Seeing him point to the first joint of his index finger with his thumb tip, Theon found it so adorable that he grabbed Rothy’s hand and kissed his fingertips.

“That tickles.”

“It must have been very cute.”

“It was so cute. It’s still cute now. Chi-chi is my family. Theon is my family too. You two need to get along well. Got it?”

“Got it.”

“Kiss each other here.”

Rothy held Chi-chi up to Theon’s face.

Chik! Chiii…!

Thanks to Chi-chi struggling and escaping, no disaster occurred.

While Rothy washed, Theon dressed Chi-chi. The sea breeze was cold, so the clothes were somewhat thick. When Chi-chi complained about being hot, Theon showed it the clothes Rothy would wear.

Chiii…

Seeing Rothy’s clothes, which were almost like a winter coat, the ferret immediately understood.

Even after getting fully dressed, Chi-chi didn’t leave Theon’s side. Instead, it squirmed up onto his thigh. From several experiences, it knew there was an obstacle on the right side, so it climbed onto the left thigh and lay down flat.

Theon stroked Chi-chi’s round belly.

He was truly grateful that this small ferret had taken care of young Rothy so he wouldn’t be lonely.

Children and animals who entered the laboratory one after another only to come out as corpses. Among them, this ferret was the only one who didn’t die, and must have been such great comfort to the child.

‘Come to think of it, Chi-chi never appeared even once in the future dreams.’

It seems the separation training had succeeded by then.

A short while later, Rothy came out warm and fluffy.

Rothy put on the clothes Theon had prepared. He didn’t refuse the thick coat either. He packed his own bag. When he wore the cute navy-colored bag crosswise, Chi-chi slipped inside.

In this bag were books to read while looking at the sea, and a dark blue-furred wolf doll to play with using puppet magic.

“I’m ready. Let’s go.”

“Right.”

Theon carried Rothy in his arms as they left the room.

“I’m seventeen years old. I don’t get carried around.”

Instead of saying there were no seventeen year olds who carried around dolls, Theon coaxed him once more.

“We’re the only ones on this floor. No one’s watching right now, so it’s fine.”

“But Theon is watching. I want to look the most mature to Theon…”

“Enjoy this now. Once you become an adult, you’ll want to look young again.”

“Why?”

“Because I won’t indulge you then.”

“So you’re indulging me a lot now?”

“Yes.”

“Thank you…”

Rothy rubbed his dazzling white hair against Theon’s nape. Theon smiled at the white hair brushing his cheek.

As promised, he carried him only to the corridor, then put Rothy down in the elevator.

“Theon, about tonight’s minstrel performance. I saw in the magazine that there are even stage effects that sparkle like starlight. Aren’t you excited?”

“I see.”

Unfortunately, Rothy wouldn’t be able to see the minstrels’ performance. The sea breeze was sharper than expected, and his health wasn’t good, so they planned to cancel all outdoor activities from the afternoon and stay indoors only.

But Theon didn’t tell Rothy.

‘Lord Rothy will be very disappointed. He’s been looking forward only to the performance. He’ll surely blame himself for not managing his health properly.’

‘Right. So you all can deliver that news.’

‘……’

They had decided to leave delivering such unpleasant news to Ultje, Jay, or Chungnip.

Heading to the restaurant, the group was already prepared and waiting.

But everyone’s expressions were strange. Uncomfortable, complicated, troubled… somehow chaotic atmosphere.

“What’s wrong?”

“Ha… this is really… Lord Rothy, unfortunately today’s outdoor schedule is cancelled.”

“……!”

Shocked by Jay’s answer, Rothy trembled in place.

“Why? Because I’m weak…?”

“That’s not it, it’s really cancelled. Even our perfectly healthy master can’t see it. The organizers announced that they can’t hold stage events or even the night market for several days. Whether you’re healthy or frail, all outdoor schedules have been forcibly cancelled equally.”

Theon also raised an eyebrow.

“Did some accident happen?”

“An accident, well… ha, really… According to the organizers, all the places where outdoor events were scheduled turned into swampland… The night market street, the outdoor stage, as if some dark mage cast a curse…”

Jay trailed off while glancing at Naran Daisy. Chungnip and Ultje also looked at the young guard mage. Theon’s gaze also turned toward Naran Daisy.

Naran flinched, then quietly lowered his eyes and turned his head slightly.

‘So let’s eliminate the outdoor performance.’

As mentioned before, the guard mage who was a former assassin had a tendency to be ruthless and reckless when it came to Rothy’s sake.

“Oh no. If a dark mage really did that, they’re a really bad dark mage…”

“It can’t be helped. Today we’ll have to spend time together indoors. Reading books while looking down at the sea. Taking a nap when sleepy, playing tag with Chi-chi when bored. Jay, is the fireworks display still scheduled?”

“Yes, it is.”

“Good. Since fireworks are noisy, it’s better to watch from a soundproof indoor space anyway.”

“Theon…”

Rothy said with a sad face.

“How sad people must be… I’ll go restore it for them.”

“……”

“Removing a swampland curse won’t even take 5 minutes…”

It was a natural reaction a Grand Mage would show.

Naran Daisy made an expression that said, ‘This isn’t what I intended…’