Chapter 167

Yurina didn’t respond, just looked at his face. Even though he now could do what he wanted without considering her feelings, he was waiting for her response with a somewhat anxious face, as if he would easily agree if she said no.

Yurina carefully held his face, which looked like a puppy waiting for its master’s permission with food in front of it, with both hands. Then, she kissed his forehead and cheeks a few times.

Chu, chu, chu. As the sound echoing in the quiet room grew louder, Reynard’s smile deepened.

“Okay, let’s do it.”

She murmured, her lips meeting his.

“If it’s what you want, I like it too.”

* * *

The next day, the two people who had gone down that street yesterday saw the same children selling flowers.

As the two approached, a girl came forward with a half-smile. She took the freshest flower from the basket and handed it to Reynard, her action seemed as natural as if she had prepared it in advance.

“This is a gift.”

The girl’s cheeks turned slightly red. The little boy peeking out from behind her was interested in the basket Yurina was holding.

Hoping she might give him something tasty today, Yurina, suppressing her bursting laughter, offered him candy. The boy put the candy, as big as his thumb, into his mouth and smiled happily.

Reynard pinned the flower given by the girl to Yurina’s ear and then kneeled down in front of the child.

“Do you want to come with me?”

“Excuse me?”

“I’ll protect you. If you go with me, you won’t have to worry about starving or shaking in the cold anymore. You won’t have to worry about people harassing you.”

It was similar to what Yurina said when she first met him.

Taken aback by the sudden words, the hesitant girl asked.

“…Why?”

“Your brother will be a great magician.”

“A magician? But our mom and dad said that magicians are amazing people. There’s no way Tom could be one. Our parents weren’t magicians.”

“Magic is innate, but it’s not necessarily inherited…”

As he explained, Reynard cringed as if he bit his tongue and corrected himself.

“Magic is something you’re born with, but it’s not something you inherit from your parents. Even if your parents weren’t magicians, Tom could still be one. And Tom will definitely become a magician.”

As if to prove his point, Reynard stretched out his hand towards the girl. A flower bud appeared in his empty hand, and soon it bloomed into a flower exactly like the one the girl had given him.

“Wow.”

Tom, who was busily chewing his candy, came over and lightly touched the flower. Then, the red flower lit up white.

“You see?”

“Really, really can Tom become a magician?”

“Yes, really.”

“If I follow you, will Tom get to eat lots of delicious things?”

“Yes, he will. And you will too.”

“Me too?”

The girl mumbled in surprise. Reynard tilted his head slightly.

“Of course. You’re coming with us too.”

Yurina observed their interaction from a distance with a soft smile.

Reynard, who had taken Yurina’s hand and grown into an adult who could now extend his hand to other children, and the children who were waiting for someone’s hand. This was probably the first of many relationships the two of them would build in the future.

She looked up at the sky.

The early summer sunshine falling overhead, the cool sea breeze from afar, the clear sky that looked especially high today.

It was a great day to start new relationships.

4. Happiness and Blessings

“Woah!”

Tom’s clear voice flowed in from the open window. Betsy, who was pouring tea for Yurina, smiled as she put down the teapot.

“It looks like they’re having class in the garden today.”

“Right. The flowers have bloomed, so it looks like they’re having a lesson with flowers today.”

Yurina took a sip of tea and walked over to the window. The garden visible directly from her room was filled with flowers Reynard had planted for Yurina.

Sitting at the table among them, Reynard and Tom could be seen having a lesson.

“Today, we’re going to change the color of this flower.”

Reynard shook a white flower in front of Tom’s eyes. Every time the flower shook, red liquid began to seep into the white petals and soon turned into a red flower.

Tom, who was gaping at the sight, clapped his hands.

“Wow!”

It was nothing more than Reynard demonstrating magic unilaterally rather than a lesson. But it was just the right lesson for Tom, who just turned six. It was about getting a child who can’t even read properly yet interested in magic by showing magic.

Yurina gently smiled as she watched Reynard stroking Tom’s head.

Tom has been here for already two years. That meant it had been two years since Yurina and Reynard got married.

Reynard hasn’t become a professor yet, but he started teaching some magic subjects at the most famous academy in the Empire, and arranged a facility to take care of homeless children in the territory.

It wasn’t perfect since it’s only been two years, but they were slowly finding their place.

Tom ate well and played well, gaining weight on his body and face. The same was true for Tom’s sister, Annie. Betsy taught her a little bit of maid work, and Annie turned out to be surprisingly clever, so Yurina was considering sending her to the academy if she wanted.

Everything seemed perfect.

But Yurina, who thought there would be no more concerns, had a big concern recently. She let out a sigh as she watched Reynard pinch Tom’s chubby cheeks and tease him.

‘He likes kids so much…’

After getting married, Yurina and Reynard got along very well. As time went by, their burning love turned into a comfortable affection, but their love never thought of cooling down.

Reynard was especially so. He poured unchanging affection for her, from the time he first whispered love to her until now. Even at night, Yurina had to endure quite a bit with him.

Betsy laughed and said that Reynard, who came home early without staying out overnight, was still in the honeymoon phase.

However, Yurina and Reynard never talked about children, either before or after marriage. 

When Yurina took care of a lost child in the Crohn Kingdom, Reynard asked her if she liked children, that was the entirety of the conversation they had about children.

Moreover, they never talked about their own child. Rather than not doing it because there was no reason to do it, they intentionally avoided that topic. Reynard, who still felt guilty about his mother dying giving birth to him, didn’t say anything, but he seemed worried about what would happen if something went wrong with Yurina giving birth.

Yurina knew his mind well, so she deliberately didn’t bring up the topic of children.

They were able to do that because there was no particular affection for children, nor a sense of obligation to have a child.

Some people might worry about what to do without a successor, but Yurina, who wasn’t born a noble, didn’t particularly think she had to continue the line. The same was true for Reynard, who was born and raised as a commoner.

It’s not that a family is complete only when there are children. They thought it would be enough if they just loved each other passionately like a blazing fire, whether there were children or not.

‘It would have been better if he had no interest at all.’

Reynard, who grew up as an only child and didn’t easily give his heart to his peers, surprisingly liked children.

He asked Yurina if she liked children, but he was the one who was more interested in children. He listened patiently to Tom’s stuttering and stammering words, and he accepted everything Tom wanted to do. Even when Annie said that Tom’s habits were getting worse, Reynard just laughed and said it was okay to that extent.

At first, Yurina thought that he was just fulfilling his duty as a patron, just like how she treated Reynard well as a patron. But he considered Tom and Annie as his little siblings, beyond being a patron.

Not only that, from some point on, he unconsciously gave attention to the children he encountered in social circles or downtown.

Yurina could vaguely tell from his somewhat distant look that he wanted a child.

If neither of them want a child, it’s okay not to have a child.

But what if one wants a child?

Yurina unwittingly overlaid the face of a son who looked like Reynard on the face of Tom, who was running around the garden with his arms and legs swinging hard.

Blonde hair like Reynard and blue eyes like herself. Eyes that gently curve when he smiles like Reynard’s. The bright and resonant laughter of a child, and Reynard, who holds that child in his arms and smiles as if he’s happy.

It was a sight that warmed a corner of Yurina’s heart just imagining it.

Reynard has always wanted to have a family. The reason he wanted to get married to Yurina as soon as possible was because he wanted to become a family with her.

This was a man who always said that Yurina was his entire world, but Yurina wanted to show him a wider world.

* * *

“Yurina.”

Reynard sat in the middle of the spacious bed and beckoned to Yurina. His hair was wet, as if he had just bathed.

As Yurina climbed onto the bed and approached him on her knees, he seemed to have been waiting for her, and extended a white towel.

“Dry me.”

Even though he could have dried himself with magic, he often asked her to dry his hair like this. It seemed like his way of yearning for affection, and Yurina always indulged him without resisting.

Now too, she accepted the towel without any complaints. Reynard bowed his head a little more to make it easier for her to dry his hair.

As Yurina gently touched his hair with the towel, he let out a low chuckle. It was a refreshing laugh that made her feel good just by listening to it.

Yurina followed his laughter, and unknowingly asked:

“Do you like this that much?”

“Yes.”

Reynard hugged Yurina’s waist and buried his face in her chest. His lips touched her chest, with the sensation of wetness and the sound of a small sigh.

Even though it was a kiss over her pajamas, it felt as vividly warm as if it had been done on bare skin. Yurina paused for a moment, then calmly dried his hair again.