This was the first time the Prince, Nii-sama and Gill were meeting, but they had already greeted each other while we were eating, so everyone more or less knew each other .
“Lei, I’m sure it’s painful, but can you talk about when you got kidnapped?”
“Ai . ”
If Herman were here, I’m sure he would say, “What are you saying to an infant? How stupid,” but the people here were all those whom I trust . No one thought it was strange when I agreed .
“If you don’t mind, Luke-san . ”
Bart interrupted, “We’ve heard about it from Lei . I’m surprised that she remembered since she’s still a baby . It might be faster for us to talk and then get Lei’s confirmation . ”
“Lei?” Nii-sama looked at me for what to do .
“Thath ow . ”
“I see . Then, Bart and Your Highness, please . ”
“Alright . ”
Bart put his hand on his forehead for a moment as if he recalled something . “From when we met at the border, no, from the beginning . ”
Was the situation when we met too painful? Or did he want to start with what Nii-sama wanted to hear?
“According to Lei, she was woken up in the middle of the night by a maid named Hannah and was put into a dragon basket by the time she noticed . ”
“So, it was Hannah, after all . ” Nii-sama looked bitter, and Jude closed his eyes for a moment .
“They kept running and…”
“Bread and wather . No pothatho or shweethsh . ” (Bread and water . No potato or sweets . )
“Ah, Lei . ”
Nii-sama stood up and hugged me . He put me on his lap and changed his sitting position .
“Hannah shaid why me . Maththhew medishon . Remingthon, Owashan quith . ” (Hannah said why me . Matthew medicine . Remington, Okasan quit) I rapidly said what I remembered . “Hannah misherabwe . ” (Hannah miserable)
Nii-sama nodded and made eye contact with Jude . Perhaps, it was just like they had investigated .
“Do you remember the criminal’s face?”
“Ai . If Lei sheesh, Lei wnowsh . ” (If Lei sees, Lei knows)
After that, they asked me about it in detail, and I answered where I could .
“Otou-sama told me about when he saw Lei at the border . The Rug Dragon concluded that Otou-sama and the guards were his enemy, and ran away . ”
“I can explain that,” Bart raised his hand .
“Rug Dragons have the trait of being adopted parents . They raise individuals who have strayed from their parents as members of their group . The Rug Dragons concluded that Lei was their child, and treat her precious, pfft, treat her preciously . ”
The Wester group, including Alistair and the Prince, laughed slightly . How rude .
“It got really impatient when it looked like it was being taken to the pasture . It wouldn’t give Lei back . ”
“It went that far? Rug Dragons also like me too, but they don’t do that . ”
“Rug Dragons also like Alistair . ”
Gill looked surprised when he heard that . He might know about this . But, he didn’t say anything and listened silently .
“We didn’t hear much from then, so it’s just a guess . First, we found bodies which probably belonged to the criminal and a Rug Dragon . They were killed by the Hollows . ”
Nii-sama’s hands which were holding me twitched .
“At times like that, we report it if they have IDs, but if not, then we take things of monetary value and leave them as they are . Therefore, we didn’t know what to do when we saw that the Rug Dragon had died as if it was protecting something and that something was a girl . The girl had already died . Apparently that was Hannah . And when we turned the girl over, Lei was there . ”
“That’s…”
Nii-sama buried his face in my hair .
“At first, we thought the baby was also dead, but then we turned the Rug Dragon over and knew that she was still alive . ”
“Thanks . Honestly, thanks . ” Nii-sama’s voice trembled .
“What? It was just a coincidence . It was Alistair who decided to help and take care of her . ”
“Alistair . ”
Nii-sama held me tighter as if he wouldn’t let me go .
“Thanks, Alistair . Thanks . ”
“No, it’s fine . ” Alistair looked embarrassed and nodded .
“She can’th shee thhe wighth of day . Sowwy, Hannah shaid . ” (She can’t see the light of day . Sorry, Hannah said) The room fell silent at my words .
“She shaid be quieth . And thhath shhe wash happy by my shide . ” (She said be quiet . And that she was happy by my side) My voice trembled .
“Howwowsh come . Hannah hugged me . Then ith wash morning . ” (Hollows come . Hannah hugged me . Then it was morning)
I did my best .
“Hannah didn’th do anythhing wrong . Hannah’sh bwue eyesh are preththy . She waughed withh me . She wovesh lei . Hannah, Hannah ish…” (Hannah didn’t do anything wrong . Hannah’s blue eyes are pretty . She laughed with me . She loves Lei . Hannah, Hannah is…) I don’t know what I wanted to say anymore .
“Waah . Wwwaaaah . Hannah . Hannah . ”
Who can stop a baby when they suddenly burst into tears? Mill gently lifted me up from my surprised Nii-sama who had frozen .
“Lei!”
“Luke-san, I’m not going to take her . I’m just going to sooth her a little . See, Lei . ”
“Uoah, waah . ”
“You can cry . You can cry . ”
“Waah . ”
Mill always hugged me whenever I was sleepy . I clung to him and cried .
“It was right after that . The Hollows appeared again,” Bart began .
“It had the appearance of the dead girl . We told her to hide, but she didn’t . She saw us cut through the Hollow with the girl’s appearance with a Rhodolite . ”
“No way…”
“Then when she had a fever . She cried . That was the fourth time she’d cried in half a year .
She was an important person . Even if she was paying for her mistakes, I thought many times that she wouldn’t have died if she hadn’t been by my side . There’s nothing I can do even if I went back to the past . Still, the pain in my heart didn’t disappear .
The tears that flow down will never dry whenever I think that she’s gone forever .
◊♦◊♦◊♦◊ (Bart’s POV)
“She fell asleep . ”
“Let her sleep here . ” Dory immediately replied to Mill . Lei was laid down comfortably on the sofa, and a towel was put over her .
“This is the first time I’ve heard about what happened from Lei . I thought that it was no use listening to it . But, I can’t believe she kept it in without forgetting about it,” I whispered as I looked back at Lei . Everyone also looked at her . It’s heart-breaking . The Prince was holding it in, but his eyes turned red .
“I always thought she was playing innocent . I can’t believe she was holding onto something like this,” his whisper was actually rude to say in front of her brother .
“Luke-san, Lei might have been holding back since she joined us, but she had a lot of fun and is healthy . It’s no use regretting it . ”
“… . Yes . ”
“And I’m sorry, but the real troublesome story starts from here . ”
“… What?”
I pondered about all the things I have to talk about from now . Should I start from when she used the barrier box? Dammit . He’s not the Prince . We’ll make Luke-san angry .
It might have been good that Lei fell asleep . Cold sweat ran through my body as I began to talk, “Then, I’ll start with when Lei activated the barrier box . ”
“Hah?” Luke-san got up from his chair . I knew it . I wonder if I’ll still have my life before this conversation is over .