TYND 94

TL: Motokare

“Whoooooaaaa…!”

Screeee…!

“Waaaaahhh!”

Screeeeeeing!

A boy with fluffy white hair and a weasel with thick white fur both exclaimed in wonder as they stared at the squirming infant. The little baby was none other than Emperor Dierm and Empress Chrystelle’s first child, Asheena Ress Halphaeus Zibiah, who’d be turning one in a week and was really tiny. Wearing a lacy bonnet with tiny fists curled up, she looked up at Rothy and Chi-chi with big round eyes, smiling brightly like she was glad to see them rather than afraid of strangers.

When Rothy tentatively offered his finger, the baby grabbed it immediately and caused him to visibly tremble with a soft ‘Waaaah~’. Theon who was watching Rothy becoming all emotional was all smiles. 

“Rothy, you like her that much?”

“She’s so adorable. I’ve never seen such a tiny baby before.”

“In my eyes, you’re just as small.”

“Theon, that isn’t the right thing to say… How can you compare me to a baby?”

“……”

Pfft—

The emperor sniggered before receiving swift retribution when the empress jabbed him in the side with her elbow. Clearing her throat, Empress Chrystelle adopted a solemn and dignified tone. 

“Lord Rothy, could I pet the weasel once?”

“Yes, please do.”

Rothy held Chi-chi out towards the empress who immediately made strange cooing noises while stroking the weasel. Eventually, Rothy simply passed Chi-chi over to the empress. 

Scree~…

The weasel didn’t look pleased, but it didn’t resist either, flopping limply while allowing the empress to pet it however she pleased, and she was nearly euphoric.

The emperor, watching this warmly, said.

“Archduke, I shall allow you the opportunity to hold my Asheena.”

“I decline.”

“Of course, for an Aura Master and head of an imperial founding house to hold my darling Asheena would be an unimaginable honour in your lifetime. Since we’ve come all this way, we’re giving you this chance, so quit declining and hold her already.”

The emperor picked up the baby from the cradle, holding her with surprising ease. Theon tried to refuse but Rothy’s eyes were sparkling so brightly that he ended up holding out his arms.

But he couldn’t hold the baby. She took one look at Theon and burst into tears. 

Uwaaaah~ 

The empress and wet nurse quickly soothed the wailing princess.

This was a normal reaction to a man one hundred and ninety-eight centimetres tall and weighing one hundred and five kilograms, who’d spent half his life on battlefields.

“Theon isn’t scary at all, even if he looks it… When he holds me, his posture’s really comfortable, and his arms are warm, and he’s incredibly gentle… It breaks my heart that he’s misunderstood like this…”

Rothy looked upset, then bounced out of the reception room like he’d thought of something good. Theon, of course, followed him like the besotted husband he was. The emperor, awkwardly left hanging, hesitated for a moment. 

“What was that? Chungnip, should we follow too?”

“Just wait here. They’ll be back soon. By the way, why’d you name her ‘Asheena’?”

“Someone told me Asheena’s an old word that encompasses joy, laughter, fun, and happiness altogether. How’re you finding the North, by the way?”

“It’s great and it’s not nearly as cold as I thought. The people are friendlier than I expected too. Your Imperial Majesty, you should come up north for a holiday sometime. You haven’t seen Elsea Falls yet, have you?”

“I’ll visit once Asheena’s a bit older. You’ll be our guide, right?”

“Of course.”

The emperor, empress and Chungnip, who were practically childhood friends, chatted while they waited until the host couple returned, but Theon was carrying a cute little box decorated with pink ribbons.

“What’s that? A present for my Asheena? But my daughter likes pens more than ribbons.”

“This is for decorating Theon.”

“Decorating… Archduke Theon?”

“Yes, Your Grace, please sit…”

Theon sat down in the chair with the box cradled in his arms, and Rothy opened the lid to reveal lacy headbands, flower hairpins, pink ribbon hair ties and similar trinkets. He clipped several tiny ribbon pins, each no bigger than a fingernail, into Theon’s jet-black hair.

“Theon, don’t worry. Once we make you all adorable and pretty, the princess definitely won’t be scared of you anymore.”

“……You’re right.”

Theon sat there and let Rothy pin whatever he wanted in his hair. The ruthless northern archduke was transforming into something adorable. The empress, who’d been watching in shock, whispered to the emperor.

“I think you’ve lost.”

“Looking at this, I’m not so keen on winning anymore……”

Asheena wasn’t afraid of a Theon that was covered in ribbons and flowers. Theon looked somewhat uncomfortable as he held the baby in his arms, rocking her clumsily while Rothy was grinning from ear to ear.

Finally, it was the little princess’s feeding time, and the empress took the food from the wet nurse to feed her herself. The baby ate obediently, her tiny lips working away as she kept her eyes locked on Rothy the whole time.

“Asheena seems very taken with Lord Rothy. Lord Rothy, would you like to try feeding her yourself?”

“Nah… I mean, no… I’ll definitely make a mistake…”

Rothy turned pale as he refused, so the empress didn’t insist. Chungnip however, raised his hand. 

“I’d like to try feeding her.”

“And I’d like to refuse.”

“Oh, come on, that’s mean, Your Imperial Majesty. Have you forgotten our friendship?”

The empress chuckled and handed the baby’s food to Chungnip, who scooped up a tiny bit with the small spoon, blew on it gently, and fed her. The princess opened her mouth to accept, her eyes still glued to Rothy.

Meanwhile, Theon and the emperor stood a little distance away, watching the cosy scene, when the captain of the imperial guards brought a chair over.

“Your Imperial Majesty, please have a seat.”

“Oh, it’s fine. My legs don’t hurt yet.”

“Please sit.”

Imperial Guard Captain Irène Zoua grabbed the emperor’s arm and forcibly sat him down. The emperor gave Theon a look that said, ‘You seeing this? The disrespect’. 

“Sir Irène.”

“Yeah, go on, tell him off. Does this even make sense? A captain of the imperial guards defying the emperor.”

“You still have your hands full raising His Imperial Majesty.”

“What?”

“It’s what I’ve always done, so I don’t mind. Thank you for your acknowledgement, Your Grace.”

“What?”

The emperor pouted.

“Raising? Aren’t you the one who’s actually doing the raising? You’ve coddled him so much that compared to when I first saw him, he’s grown a lot… well, not grown exactly, but his cheeks have filled out, and those fishbone limbs are now just normally thin.”

Theon’s mouth curved into a smile. All that effort over a year and a half to put some weight on Rothy had paid off.

“I hear your spouse was quite disheartened about not coming of age this time. But what can you do? I’m thinking of raising the age of adulthood even further.”

“You’re raising it to nineteen?”

“Next year. And I’ll tell you now, my ultimate goal’s twenty.”

“Nineteen’s good enough.”

“No. Nineteen’s not enough either.”

“But the empire’s considered nineteen the age of adulthood since before the war.”

“I know, but how do I put it? Somehow, nineteen just doesn’t feel right. Somehow it has got to be twenty. It’s like I’m being compelled by an unknown power…”

“……?”

Theon couldn’t understand what he meant, but it didn’t matter what the official age of adulthood was anyway since he had no intention of touching Rothy until his body grew to match the young man from his dreams, even if Rothy came of age. Just thinking about having to comfort Rothy who kept getting frustrated about the ever-rising age already made him feel troubled.

“Why, are you in a rush for Rothy to come of age? Was it so you can dump all the consort duties on him like the budget reviews, correspondence management, and hosting duties?”

“Ultje already handles those. Rothy’s already overworking himself with his current duties.”

“Ah… that magic promotion policy, you’re actually pushing that through?”

Theon had experienced firsthand how useful magic could be during the Human-Demon War. Finding people with magical talent was difficult, but he believed that was exactly why they needed to educate and encourage magic even more. Parents in the North prepared weapons like swords, bows, and spears when their children could walk and run. He wanted to build a culture where they’d ready wands and staves too.

Rothy was organising a curriculum for teaching magic in the magically barren North, and he was personally tutoring the region’s few mages to raise the overall level of magical knowledge.

“The appearance of mages in the land of knights… This should be interesting.”

“……”

This time even the captain of the imperial guards who usually protected the emperor looked away. Following the emperor, Droight’s battle machine Meghan Rhys arrived along with Princess Meleena of Toran and Saint Romerie of Solten, one by one. Apart from Givarche’s swordsmaster who was in exile, all the core members of humanity’s allied forces had gathered once more.

The group caught up and shared what they’d been up to after reuniting for the first time in a year and a half. The banquet went on late, and Theon had a drink for the first time in ages. Late that night, Rothy jumped onto the bed with his cheeks flushed red.

“I’m so happy… I never thought this day would come…”

Nobody was more thrilled about the reunion than Rothy since he’d always carried a one-sided affection for them. He gently touched Meghan Rhys’s mechanical hand and let out a squeal while stamping his feet, then ran over to hug Theon. After shaking hands with Meleena, he looked up at Theon with watery eyes and bragged, 

“I shook her hand…!”

When he prayed to Seará with Romerie, tears rolled down his cheeks and Theon nearly had a heart attack. His joy was so overwhelming that even Meleena, who was naturally sunny and upbeat, stood there dumbfounded thinking, 

‘This is our first-time meeting each other. What’s going on?’