CH 4.50

‘No way…’

Rosé doubted her eyes and shook her head. Suddenly, her face became hot. At that moment, the vendor’s voice was heard again.

“In that sense, how about giving this cute daughter a puppy as a gift?”

“… Hmm.”

He looked at the vendor and then saw Flitta. She opened her mouth as Flitta rolled her eyes as she held the white puppy in her arms, then quietly put the puppy down.

“I don’t necessarily want a puppy… … .”

“A puppy is not just a thing, Flitta.”

He spoke his words in a low voice towards Flitta. Even after Flitta set her puppy down on the floor, she couldn’t let go of her lingering feelings, and as she pet the little body, she looked up at him.

“It is one life. That weight is never light.”

“…”

“It means taking responsibility for someone’s life, even if it’s just an animal. Can you do that?”

He asked his daughter seriously. Rosé looked at him while cooling the heat on her cheeks and smiled.

She was convinced that he didn’t buy the puppy too easily not because the puppy was not suited fpr the Grand Duke’s house, instead, telling his daughter the weight of life.

He is a father.

To his child.

“You have to be that little guy’s family and be his friend. It’s not that you play together and forget about him when you got bored, you have to take care of his daily life and take care of him when he’s sick…”

Rosé’s expression, which had been smiling happily, gradually hardened. The words of Haven, who could not know the change, continued.

“It also means that dogs have a shorter lifespan than humans, so we have to be with him even in his death. If you’re prepared for that, I’ll buy it for you.”

Her tears flowed. Rosé couldn’t keep an eye on Haven and Flitta any longer than hurriedly lowered her head. Drops of tears appeared on the ground. Then, as Flitta pondered, she heard her answer.

“Okay.”

“Are you serious?”

“Yes. I’ll take care of the puppy.”

Rosé closed her eyes briefly before opening in and tears welled up in her eyes and they fell. And as if nothing had happened, she naturally raised her head and looked at Flitta.

Flitta held the puppy in her arms again and looked at her father, her lips pursed as if she had made up her mind. Rosé’s gaze, which had been looking at the child, moved to Havven this time. He, too, looked at his own child with serious eyes.

Time had passed just like that.

Haven smiled and he readily agreed.

“All right, great. I will buy it for you.”

“Yehey!”

As soon as Flitta heard his permission, she rubbed her cheek against the soft fur of the puppy in her arms. Haven, who was watching the scene, paid the calculation himself.

The vendor alternately looked at the father-daughter pair and smiled.

“I thought he was tall and handsome, but he is so amazing! Dad is making sure his daughter is well-educated. Your wife must be blessed to have you as her husband.”

Rosé smiled awkwardly as her face blushed at the vendor’s joking remark. She couldn’t think of anything to answer- neither yes nor no.

“Puppy, let’s go home together!”

Flitta excitedly exclaimed as she held the puppy tightly in her arms. As if she had remembered something, she turned to Rosé.

“But Mo… No, Rosé.”

Flitta approached Rosé and tried to call her mother, but corrected her title with a sad look. However, she gave up her regret and brought out her original words.

“Will Nanny hate seeing puppy?”

“Ah….”

Only then did Rosé think of her nanny. Even without the need to imagine hard, it is clear what Nanny will turn out to be. Since Flitta is born to a lowly mother, she might say something that would hurt Flitta while discussing the dog’s bloodline.

It was the moment when Rosé and Flitta both made indescribable faces at the same time. Haven, who had paid the price, opened his mouth in a nonchalant voice.

“She can’t say anything about the puppy. My daughter wants to keep the puppy, she’s just an employee.”

“… Yes?”

“Flitta, you are my daughter. The only daughter of the Haven Guinters.”

He said to Flitta as if to affirm. Flitta looked up at him with her quivering eyes as she cradled her puppy. Even though it was obvious, the child bit her mouth tightly as if crying.

“Whether you own a dog or what else you do, that is entirely up to you. No one should interfere with your decisions. You can’t let anyone decide for you. Got it?”

“… U, uh yes.”

Flitta hesitated, then she gave a small answer, rubbing the tip of her nose against the dog’s head. Her face and ears turned red, not only in Haven, but also in Rosé’s eyes.

Haven stroked Flitta’s head very lightly and moved on. Flitta was shocked, unconsciously lifting one of her hands to her head.

She seemed to be trying to feel the place where his hand had passed.

She seems to want to feel her father’s body temperature once again.

“Woof, woof!”

That was the moment. The puppy that was being held by Flitta struggled and fell down.

“Ah! Puppy!”

No matter how small the puppy was, it was too much to hold in the short arms of a child. Moreover, it was even more like holding one arm instead of two arms. Anyway, despite the child calling for the puppy that had been lost in the wind, she quickly ran forward.

“Puppy! Stop there!”

Flitta then started running after her puppy. And the moment Haven and Rosé were about to catch Flitta, a boy approached her child and fell down.

“Princess!”

“Flitta!”

Rosé and Haven were surprised and called Flitta. Flitta ran toward the puppy, but saw the boy who had fallen in front of her, and fell on her back. But instead of crying, she crept toward the boy.

“Are, are you okay?”

Her eyes widened because the boy’s condition looked bad.

The boy, who looked six or seven years older than Flitta, was breathing heavily and trembling without getting up.

Flitta stretched out her hand towards the boy and she opened her mouth in surprise. But before that, Haven held her.

“D, Dad?”

“Are you hurt anywhere? Why did you suddenly run away like that? And what if you got lose in the way?”

He raised his voice as if genuinely surprised, which shocked Flitta, looking at him with her pale greeneyes were her tears welled up. At that moment, Rosé approached and stopped Haven.

“Don’t blame her too much, Your Highness. It’s not like the princess did it on purpose…”

“A small mistake can create something you will regret for the rest of your life.”

Haven severely scolded Flitta despite Rosé’s words. Perhaps he would have continued nagging if he hadn’t heard the boy groan.

“Ahhh, uugh.”

“Right! Little boy, are you okay?”

Only then did Rosé realize the boy’s existence and hurriedly turned around. Haven also cast his gaze at the boy.

“His fever is very high, Your Highness. That’s why I think he looked like a bit dull…”

When Rosé put her hand on the boy’s forehead, she was startled and said to Haven. He narrowed his brows, then he put Flitta back down and walked towards the boy. In the meantime, the puppy, which I thought had run away, returned to its young owner, and wandered around wagging her tail without notice.

“… Tsk, that’s right.”

He got down on one knee and studied the boy closely. A look of guilt crossed his face as he hadn’t noticed the seriousness of the boy’s condition because he was startled to see that his daughter had knocked her bottom.

“I think this brother is very sick… his forehead was inexhaustibly hot, Rosé.”

Flitta, who had been crying, approached the puppy and opened her mouth. Then, squatting down between Haven and Rosé, she stretched out her hand toward the boy.

“Brother, wake up, can you hear me?”

It was the moment when Flitta whimpered and tried to get the boy up, he let out a pined moan, suddenly bending over and coughing.

“Cough! Cough!”

“I can’t. I should carry this boy … Sir Pedwin.”

Haven narrowed his eyes and hurriedly put the boy on his back. Then I looked around him and called my escort driver. Then he saw Pedwin, whom he hadn’t even known was nearby.

Rosé and Flitta opened their eyes wide in surprise when they saw Pedwin suddenly appearing. But Pedwin casually lowered his head toward Heyburn.

“Yes, Your Highness.”

“See if there is a therapist nearby. I’m going to take this guy and get him treated.”

At his command, Pedwin quickly turned around.

* * *

“So, turn left in this alley….”

Pedwin escorted him to the home of a therapist he had figured out. The boy who had been carried on Haven’s back was carried by another knight who accompanied Pedwin to escort him.

And Haven, Rosé, and Flitta were heading to the therapist’s house with their guidance.

‘No way…’

Rosé felt her mouth go dry at the familiar alley scenery. At the same time, she hardened her expression.

‘It couldn’t be, right? I don’t think so.’

The house of the therapist she visited yesterday was right here. But she thought it was impossible. No matter how much chance there was, she believed that this kind of coincidence would not happen.

However, the uneasy light gradually grew over Rosé’s face to the point where it was colorless for her to believe that.

“Ah! That seems to be the therapist’s house.”

Just then, as Pedwin guiding them along the way, as if convinced, he confidently pointed to a house. At the same time, Rosé’s expression was disturbed. That was the same place she had gone into yesterday.

‘Why it has to be this?’

No, there wouldn’t be that many healers on the estate, so she didn’t even know it was natural.

‘Still, why?’

Rosé forcibly swallowed the words that kept lingering in her mouth. Pedwin was unaware of the anxiety she was feeling, calmly approaching the door, and knocked on it.