Chapter 6 - A Strange Relationship
writer:Kaya      update:2022-08-15 17:03
  Since then, Hannah rarely took her eyes off of me, and I also lost my chance to get out of the room. One night, I noticed that the door was opened.

  I thought. But no one came in.

  I quickly got out of bed and speedily slipped out of the door. There was no one in the corridor at night, but that was fine.

  “You’re here.”


  I was about to jump in surprise. The person who was outside my door was father.

  “You looked like you were going to slip out, and I thought that you would definitely come out if the door was left open. Ah, hey, wait!”


  It seemed that father had finally said something, but there was no need to listen to him brag about snaring his daughter. Because he could have entered the room if he wanted to see me.

  I started crawling while ignoring father. My goal was the stairs.

  “Where are you going? Why are you sneaking out of your room in the first place?”


  o

  I pretended not to know what he was talking about and continued to crawl.

  “Why are you ignoring me?”


  I stopped crawling.

  “Da, daai.”


  “Wh-what?”


  “Dai, agya, to, deeu.”


  “What are you saying?”


  I was getting extremely irritated at father who was standing up and looking down on me.

  I grabbed father’s leg, and he flinched for a second, but he knew that I would be hurt if he moved; so he stood there quietly, baffled at the situation. I held onto him and stood up. Father widened his eyes in surprise.

  “So you can stand?”


  I hit father’s leg while in anger.

  *HIT HIT*

  “Why are you hitting me? What is it you really want?”


  But, I suddenly staggered, when I took my hands off his legs to hit him.

  “Watch out!”


  Father’s hands moved out immediately to hold me up.

  “I honestly don’t know what you’re trying to do. Listen, babies are well-behaved……” 1)

  “Aai.”


  My feet dangled uneasily in the air because he was supporting me by the armpits while hoisting me in front of his eyes.

  “Eeu.”


  “Aau.”


  It felt ridiculous, and I laughed.

  “You.”


  “I’m sure Sebas did this.”


  Father awkwardly pulled me closer to him and hugged me.

  “Dau.”


  I put my head on father’s chest and shook my hands happily.

  “So I pass?”


  “Dau.”


  “Do you want to go down the stairs?”


  “Aai.”


  Apparently, father walked around with me in his arms until I fell asleep.

  “Lately, Leila-sama doesn’t wake up much in the mornings.”


  Hannah complained to Sebas. He looked at me with an all-knowing look on his face and said, “There will probably be times like that. But, she’ll probably learn to wake up properly during this time, so it’s fine.”


  Father started coming here every day. And for some reason, he never entered my room; instead, he opened the door and waited for me to come out. And once I got tired from crawling around, he would gently pick me up and wander around the mansion.

  That was all there was to our relationship.

  Then, the weekend came around, and brother came home.

  “I can only be with her on the weekend, so let her sleep on my bed.”


  “Your bed is high, Luke-sama, so it’s dangerous for Leila-sama to sleep there.”


  “I’ll sleep on the sofa.”


  “Your body won’t be able to rest that way.”


  For some reason, brother’s love for me keeps increasing.

  “I heard that Luke is home.”


  “Otou-sama.”


  “It’s nearly time for you to practice your magic circulation, but what are you doing?”


  It was rare for father to show up during the day. There was tension in the room and brother hugged me tightly on his knees as if he was protecting me.

  I tapped brother’s knees.

  Father saw that and frowned.

  “Well, fine. I’ll ask you later during dinner.”


  “Ok,” brother replied and hugged me again.

  I didn’t know father well, but I also didn’t understand the relationship between father and brother. They would eat together when they were home, but they didn’t look to be on good terms. And, I heard an unbelievable thing.

  “Neei, dau, nyo, eeou?”


  “It’s fine, Lei. Even if Otou-sama is cold, I’ll protect you.”


  “Daai, too, Niini.”


  My body and mouth still don’t move well even if I know what I want to do and say in my mind. There was a limit to how frustrated I can feel. At that time, Sebas winked at me.

  “Lei.”


  Before I knew it, he started calling me Lei, and I gave up and let brother hug me.

  That night, the door opened with a creak again. I moved as quickly as I could as a baby and went out the door.

  But it was his trait not to reach out to me here. I wanted to move freely in this wide corridor. The baby who crawls as quickly as she could to the stairs and the man who stares at her as she does this; that was father and I., And recently, I’ve been giving the stairs a try. I stepped down the stairs one foot at a time. When I get tired, father would carry me, and we would walk. That was our current custom.

  He also carried me today too when I got tired halfway down the stairs, and a voice called out to him from below, “Otou-sama.”


  “Niini!”


  I happily stretched out my hands, but father held onto me tightly.

  “Lei, Otou-sama, what are you two doing at this time?”