The hand holding the spoon moved without a moment’s rest.
“Eat slowly. You’ll get indigestion if you rush.”
When I set a glass of water down in front of him, Caelus lifted his lowered head and giggled.
His mouth was completely smeared with curry.
Whether it was because he was just that hungry or because it actually tasted good, it was a deeply gratifying sight for the person who had cooked it.
Dampening a handkerchief slightly with water, I wiped around his mouth.
I could feel him flinch for a split second when I reached my hand near his face, but Caelus ultimately accepted my touch quietly.
He even did something cute, leaning his head forward slightly.
“Would you like some more?”
“Y-Yes…!”
He answered immediately, too.
‘It really must not have been bad.’
I even felt the subtle illusion that the corners of my mouth were turning upward.
Giving him more rice and curry, Caelus focused on his meal once again.
Watching that sight for a moment, I picked up my spoon as well.
Maybe because I was the one who made it, but the curry suited my taste perfectly.
It was moderately spicy while not being too salty…
As the warm food entered my stomach, I felt my body relaxing.
A late dinner, combined with warm and reasonably tasty food—it was the perfect situation to unwind the tension that had gripped me all day long.
Naturally, I could focus entirely on the meal.
Though the thought of kimchi crossed my mind from time to time.
Once I had finished a good portion of my food and looked opposite me, Caelus’s bowl had been wiped completely clean.
My eyes locked perfectly with the kid, who had been watching me while drinking water.
“How was it? Did the food suit your palate?”
“…Yes!”
That was all.
‘Usually, at times like this, people conventionally say it was delicious…’
Caelus simply looked at me, beaming as if wondering what the problem was.
“Was it… delicious?”
“Yes!”
‘No, I mean…’
Just in case, I checked the quest, but it was still in an uncompleted state.
It seemed it would only process as complete if the exact word “delicious” came out of Caelus’s mouth, just as written.
“If it was delicious, you should say it was delic—”
No. Let’s not resort to this.
Closing my mouth, I succumbed to a strange wave of misery.
[If an answer is intentionally induced, it will not be recognized as a success.]
To make matters worse, the system chimed in to kick me while I was down.
‘I get it.’
Let’s give up for today.
It wasn’t as if the quest had a time limit anyway, so there was no need to rush.
“Thank you for the meal.”
I muttered out of habit as I set my spoon down.
Then, standing up from my seat, I transferred the empty dishes onto the trolley.
Caelus remained seated opposite me, blankly watching my movements.
“……?”
But suddenly, the kid hopped down from his chair and began helping me move the dishes onto the trolley.
It wasn’t an action befitting a prince, causing my train of thought to halt momentarily.
Misinterpreting my freeze, Caelus suddenly flinched and dropped his gaze straight down to the floor.
‘No, why are you walking on eggshells around me?’
My chest felt tight again.
The words ‘You are a prince, you don’t need to do this’ surged up to my throat, but I couldn’t bring myself to spit them out.
Throwing words carelessly at a child who was already completely disheartened would only sound like a scolding.
After calmly filtering my words, I knelt right down in front of him.
Enoch was seventeen and wasn’t particularly short. Granted, Caelus would grow to be much taller than Enoch later on, but right now, this was the only way I could look up at him from below.
“Your Highness.”
At the quiet call, Caelus’s shoulders gave a sharp shudder.
Without thinking, I reached out both hands and lightly grasped his.
They were still small, soft hands.
“This is my job. It is something Your Highness does not have to do.”
‘Besides, I’m your kidnapper. What on earth am I supposed to do with this naive prince, seriously.’
Instead of an answer, Caelus nodded his head vigorously.
His thick honey-blond hair shook frantically up and down.
Somehow, it felt like a reaction that meant he hadn’t really understood.
‘Don’t tell me…’
“Your Highness, did you do this in the palace as well?”
A moment later, Caelus’s head moved up and down once again.
I was utterly dumbfounded.
No, how is this even possible?
It felt like reading a novel that threw historical accuracy straight out the window just to engineer a dramatic situation.
While a novel can’t always be perfectly accurate, aren’t there still forced settings that make you frown from time to time?
‘It makes no sense.’
No matter how diminished Caelus’s standing had become, what kind of insane servant would dare force a prince to do such labor?
‘If the Imperial Consort ordered it, it might be plausible, but…’
Even so. Isn’t there a line that humans must maintain as human beings?
Is it because I lived in Korea that I can’t understand these power-mad people?
However, whether I believed it or not wasn’t the important issue right now.
Because a child exposed to such an absurd situation was standing right in front of my eyes.
Caelus was proving what he had endured through his own actions.
“Your Highness.”
At the low call, the kid’s shoulders flinched.
“You do know, right? That this is not something you are supposed to do.”
Caelus nodded with difficulty.
His shoulders, heavily slouched like a child who had been severely scolded, caught my eye.
“Your Highness did nothing wrong. And I am not scolding you for it either. How could I dare scold Your Highness? So, you don’t need to shrink back.”
“A-A-A-Are… you n-n-n-not angry?”
He was definitely terrified.
Seeing how he was stuttering more severely than anything I had seen so far.
I wanted to say something, anything, but I felt at a loss, not knowing what would be best.
If I were a slightly better person, I would have given him words that could comfort his heart.
So, instead of words, I merely stroked Caelus’s small hands gently.
“Not at all. If I look angry, it’s just because my natural expression is harsh.”
“……..”
“How could I ever dare be angry with Your Highness?”
This much I could guarantee.
No matter what anyone said, I was a kidnapper, and I had to get on the prince’s good side.
Caelus cautiously lifted his head.
The moment our eyes met, I gave a faint smile.
In my heart, I wanted to beam broadly at him… but I thought it would look incredibly awkward and strange.
‘What if he gets more scared because of that?’
Fortunately, Caelus didn’t avert his gaze upon seeing my smile.
After lightly patting the protagonist’s slouched shoulders, I stood up.
Then, I quickly cleared the dishes.
“Please rest. I’ll clean this up and be right back.”
Caelus nodded slowly.
Before long, night fell, bringing deep darkness.
Because the lab was located underground, light didn’t filter in well even during the day, but the arrival of the night was vividly palpable.
The places without lanterns became so much darker that one couldn’t see an inch ahead.
After turning off the room’s light, I summoned a small ball of light using magic.
Caelus’s sleeping face was half-revealed under the soft glow.
Perhaps because he had washed cleanly, his cheeks, which had been a bit smudged during the kidnapping process, looked completely soft and fresh.
‘He really sleeps well. Do kids this age usually sleep a lot?’
I tried to recall what I was like at twelve, but there was no way I could remember.
While I thought it could be normal since he was in a growth spurt, it was still a little strange.
Caelus slept far, far too much.
Even when I returned after roughly finishing the dishes, Caelus was sitting in his chair, nodding off.
It was only moments ago that I managed to wake him up, wash him while he was half-asleep, and tuck him into bed.
‘Is it an aftereffect of the kidnapping?’
To say that, he didn’t seem to fear me, his kidnapper, in the slightest…
Caelus wasn’t afraid of me.
One could think it was an act, but that didn’t seem to be the case.
The emotion of fear isn’t something you can hide just because you want to.
It was an even harder emotion to conceal for a mere child.
If he were truly terrified of me and scared of this kidnapped situation, wouldn’t it be more natural for him to be unable to sleep?
At any rate, no fear or dread could be felt from Caelus’s face when he looked at me.
If anything… he showed a level of favorability that I couldn’t even comprehend.
Whenever I looked into those violet eyes staring intently at me, a strange feeling washed over me.
Guilt, pity, and…
The joy that comes from someone needing me.
