Chapter 34

“Eat quickly, my arm is hurting.”

Enria said, weakly moving the fork with the piece of meat skewered on it up and down.

Caldeon, who was watching her with a peculiar gaze, quickly bit the meat on the fork and put it into his mouth.

Chewing the meat with his perfectly sculpted lips, he looked down at Enria’s hand, which was cutting more meat, and said, “Wouldn’t it be easier if you came over here to feed me?”

“……Pardon?”

“Come next to me and feed me.”

Enria’s face turned red again at Caldeon’s sudden suggestion, and she blinked her eyes for a moment.

It was certainly difficult to feed him the food from across the table due to its enormous width, so Enria slowly rose and moved to the seat next to him.

The quick-witted Chavel and the attendant entered the dining room, quickly moved Enria’s plate and fork to her new seat, and left.

Sitting next to Caldeon, Enria could feed him the meat more comfortably than before.

Hayden received the baby food Caldeon spoon-fed him, and Caldeon received the meat Enria gave him.

A smile spread across Enria’s lips as she watched the father and son.

Caldeon put down Hayden’s baby food spoon, picked up a fork and knife, cut a piece of meat, and held it out to Enria.

“You eat too.”

“I’ll eat by myself, so please don’t worry and just eat a lot, Caldeon.”

“How can I not worry when you’re not eating anything. The food you feed me is more delicious than what I eat myself, so keep feeding me. I’ll take turns feeding Hayden and you.”

At Caldeon’s words, Enria’s face flushed, and she asked if they shouldn’t just eat separately, and Caldeon could just feed Hayden as usual, without the need for all the trouble.

Caldeon firmly shook his head at that.

“I like it when you feed me. It makes me feel loved.”

“I-I already love you, Caldeon, even if I don’t feed you!”

As Enria shouted in surprise without meaning to, a languid laugh burst from Caldeon’s lips.

“I know.”

Caldeon whispered in a voice so sweet it felt like her ears would melt away, then slightly bent his upper body, pressed his lips to Enria’s forehead, and continued.

“But I love you many times more than you love me.”

Enria’s eyes widened to the point of popping out at the first direct confession of love.

She had quite often thought that Caldeon might love her.

From the accidental kiss when she was drunk to the nightly sessions that continued without a single break, she had felt that he loved her as much as she loved him.

There was a moment when she thought she had been abandoned, but seeing him continuously searching for her for nearly two years, and then immediately canceling the plans he had made through the illusionist Tearen to bring her and Hayden into his family, she became certain of his love.

However, she had never heard a direct confession of love from his lips, so the casual declaration of love during breakfast was naturally startling.

As Enria walked with Caldeon and Hayden in the Grand Duke’s castle garden, she involuntarily kept replaying his morning confession.

“This way.”

Caldeon, holding Hayden, reached out his hand to Enria.

Enria, who had been walking absentmindedly, looked at his face and then his outstretched hand before firmly taking hold of Caldeon’s hand.

Due to the cold weather, both of their hands were cold, but warmth quickly spread where their palms met.

“It seems like hardly anyone comes out to the garden path.”

Enria looked down at Caldeon’s shoes sinking deeply into the snow where there was no clear path and said.

She wasn’t struggling at all since she was stepping on his footprints, but she was worried that Caldeon, who was making the path, might be finding it hard, which prompted the question.

She wore a heavy, long fur cloak to ward off the cold, and Caldeon was holding Hayden, who was also tightly bundled to keep the cold out, so she thought just walking must be exhausting for him.

Her own long fur cloak, which bundled her up tightly to prevent her from catching a cold, made her steps heavy.

“It’s a shortcut.”

Caldeon, who answered Enria’s question, nodded towards a spot where the sparsely scattered, snow-covered trees were beginning to line up more densely.

“If we pass through there, it’s right by the frozen lake.”

The lake closest to the Grand Duke’s castle was sometimes mentioned by people from other regions because of its size and the shape of its frozen surface.

The completely frozen lake surface had patterns that looked like large raindrops had been sporadically imprinted on it, making it both mysterious and strange, so some people intentionally sought it out.

A small villa was built near the lake for that reason, but after it was discovered that the northern lake was connected to the Forest of the Demons’ lake, it was no longer open to people from other regions.

Given that, Caldeon had initially only intended to walk around the castle’s inner garden and had not planned to bring Hayden and Enria all the way to the frozen lake.

However, Enria had expressed a wish to visit a place she had always wanted to see on their first outdoor walk as a trio, so he changed his mind.

When she first came to the Grand Duke’s castle to suppress his rampages, he had been very busy and preoccupied with hiding her existence, so he hadn’t thought about them taking leisurely walks together.

When Enria, feeling stifled from living virtually confined to the castle every day, occasionally expressed a wish to walk, he had only allowed her to walk in the small garden in front of the castle.

Therefore, this time, even if a slightly dangerous situation might arise, he wanted to give her what she wanted.

“Wow……”

A look of surprise, akin to rapture, spread across Enria’s face as she faced the frozen lake, making him feel that his decision to come was the right one.

“It looks like a god dropped raindrops from the sky.”

Enria mumbled as she saw the large and small droplets scattered chaotically across the surface of the completely frozen lake.

Caldeon looked at her and smiled softly.

“It would look much better from the second floor of the villa.”

At his words, Enria turned her head to look at the villa situated near the lake.

“In the past, when people didn’t know this lake was connected to the Forest of the Demons’ lake, many people from outside must have come to see it.”

He explained that the villa was built for those visitors, and then recounted an incident where a fish monster appeared in the lake and caused the death of a mother and daughter who were sightseeing, leading to the prohibition of access and the villa being used only occasionally as a resting place for the Jupiter family.

It was true that other regions were not free from monsters, but the North had been particularly troubled by frequent monster attacks, which gave the local lords a hard time.

Because of this, the cold North felt increasingly isolated.

Caldeon, the current lord, was born with dark magic, enabling him to deal with monsters much faster than his predecessors, and the North was gradually finding more stability.

“For now, I just want to look at it up close.”

Shaking her head at Caldeon’s words, Enria gently placed one foot on the rigidly frozen surface of the lake and asked, “Can we go on it?”

“The ice won’t break, but be careful.”

“Yes.”

“Um-ma, um-ma.”

Hayden also seemed curious about the lake surface and struggled, stretching his two arms toward Enria.

Caldeon carefully lowered Hayden onto the ice surface and bent down next to him. Since the child had just started walking, he was being cautious in case he fell.

“Shall we hold hands, Hayden?”

When Enria offered her hand to Hayden, he quickly grabbed it. Then, he stretched his other hand toward Caldeon.

As Caldeon naturally took Hayden’s hand, the three family members stood side by side, as if connected as one.

Caldeon and Enria smiled at the child as they moved slowly, matching Hayden’s small steps.

“Bah-da! Bah-da!”*

[*T/N: The word for ocean in Korean is 바다 (Bada).]

“Did he say ‘ocean’? It’s not the ocean, it’s a lake.”

Hayden continued to babble, seemingly very excited about something.

“Sea? It’s not the sea, it’s a lake.”

“I think he’s saying ‘pretty,’ not ‘sea.'”

As Caldeon and Enria inferred Hayden’s words and followed the child’s slow pace, Hayden, walking wobbly on his small feet while holding their hands, suddenly lifted both legs and dangled.

With a chuckle, as Hayden’s two feet lifted into the air, Caldeon and Enria simultaneously tightened their grip to prevent him from falling.

Finding it amusing, Hayden repeatedly dangled from their hands and then put his feet down, and Caldeon and Enria gently swung their joined hands to make it more fun for him.

Hayden’s laughter grew louder as he swung back and forth like he was on a swing.

Caldeon and Enria also let out soft laughs at Hayden’s giggles.

That was when it happened.

The center of the lake cracked with a sharp, cracking sound.

As soon as he heard the ice splitting, Caldeon quickly picked up Hayden and pulled Enria’s hand.

A fish monster burst out from the cracked ice in front of the three people who had quickly retreated from the lake.

It had a fish body and head but human-like hands and feet, making it look very grotesque.

The fish monster, which appeared with a huge jet of water, was rapidly multiplying its numbers.

Caldeon quickly handed Hayden to Enria, drew his sword, and rushed toward the fish monster.

Enria also instinctively created a barrier with her divine power, encompassing Caldeon and herself.

‘Should I summon a spirit?’

While Caldeon moved around, slicing the fish monsters’ bodies, Enria pondered whether she should summon a spirit, seeing the increasing number of fish monsters leaping out of the crack.

She considered calling upon a spirit to help.

But she quickly realized she didn’t need to.

With just one swing of his sword, Caldeon beheaded a fish monster, meaning that no matter how many monsters sprang up, their numbers did not increase.

However, among the many fish monsters that leaped out, one with unusually glistening scales emerged, putting Enria and Hayden in danger.

The shining fish monster flew toward Hayden as soon as it sprang into the air.

Realizing this, Caldeon turned and was about to unleash a sword strike toward the shining fish monster when the monster simultaneously shed its scales, attacking Hayden and Enria.

Enria instinctively erected another barrier in front of herself to defend, and Caldeon swiftly dashed forward and severed the head of the shining fish monster.

And at that moment.

The severed head of the shining fish monster, whose head was cut off by Caldeon, instantly opened its mouth and flew toward Hayden.

It was the moment Enria’s barrier was destroyed by the scales, leaving Hayden and Enria naturally exposed to its mouth.