Chapter 359: Spirit Beast(4)
Chapter 359: Spirit Beast(4)
Now that I’ve given her a name, the only thing left was to get a clear handle on Ariel and give her some basic education before we headed back.
For starters, what I knew about Ariel was that she was a hybrid angel, not a pureblood. She could read minds. And she recognized Arwen and me as her parents.
Beyond that, she appeared to be around four or five years old, and she was so heart-stoppingly cute it was practically a health hazard.
In particular, every time she shouted "Dadda!" in her adorable toddler lisp, my heart would throb. I wondered if this was how it would feel when Lily grew up and called me "Oppa."
By the way, what should I do about Lily?
I watched Ariel as she received her lessons from Arwen. Arwen was teaching her words one by one, and Ariel was repeating them.
Ariel saw me as her father, while Lily was my much younger sister. Mary had once joked that if she ever got pregnant, the family tree would get all tangled up.
That very phenomenon had now manifested in an unexpected way, leaving me in a bit of a bind. I didn't know how Ariel would grow up, but on the family tree, she and Lily would be aunt and niece.
"Repeat after me. I went to the sea."
"I... went... to da sea."
"The sea was blue."
"Da sea... was... b-blue. It was blue."
"Well done, our Ariel."
Even as we spoke, Ariel was gradually acquiring the language of this world. Perhaps because she carried the blood of an angel from myth, it didn't even take thirty minutes for her to start speaking in full sentences.
All that remained was learning the specific words for different objects. Even those she was absorbing at a terrifying speed, like a sponge soaking up water.
When the student is brilliant, the teacher can't help but feel proud. Arwen was also genuinely delighted by Ariel’s incredible learning ability.
"I wonder who our Ariel takes after to be so smart?"
"Dadda!"
"Couldn't you say 'Mama' at a time like this?"
"Dadda!"
"..."
Though she did occasionally leave a scratch on Arwen's heart. Arwen grew visibly dejected at Ariel’s bright, innocent answer.
Arwen, who had remained unfazed by all the political maneuvering of the Senate, looked as if her mental state had shattered like glass at that single response.
"Uung... Is Ariel a bad girl?"
"E-eh?"
"Is Mamma mad?"
"N-no! Mama isn't mad."
The thing to watch out for, as you can see, was the mind-reading. Since she was unintentionally reading our inner thoughts, I had to be careful even with what I was thinking.
I watched the mother and daughter playing affectionately on the bed before slowly approaching them.
Education was all well and good, but I felt it would be best to take care of the most important thing first.
"Ariel?"
"Dadda!"
As soon as I called her name, Ariel sprang up and flew toward me. To clarify, she didn't run; she flapped her wings and flew.
The wings that had begun to take shape weren't just for show. Structurally, they were far too small for flight, but this was a fantasy world, so I decided to just roll with it.
I pulled Ariel into a precious embrace and spoke with a gentle smile.
"Have you been learning well from Mama?"
"Yup!"
"What words did you learn today?"
"Mama and Dadda and... red, yellow, blue..."
Ariel counted them off on her fingers one by one, telling me the words she had learned today. The sight was so lovely it was beyond words.
Even if she wasn't a child born from the women I loved, seeing her face—which looked exactly like mine—made paternal instincts well up in me automatically.
Furthermore, the unique aura Ariel gave off made my heart feel all warm and fuzzy.
"Dadda. Dadda."
"Yes, what is it?"
"I'm hungwy."
I looked at her when she said she was hungry. Ariel was patting her stomach to show me.
Ariel was an angel, but perhaps because she was a hybrid, she possessed basic biological needs. She had to sleep at night, and she had to eat when it was time.
As for the meals, Arwen could simply ask an attendant, but the problem was sleep. More specifically, it wasn't the act of sleeping itself that was the problem, but the timing.
Newborns usually start sleeping through the night around 50 days, but as you can see, Ariel was closer to four or five years old.
So, while she slept through the night, we couldn't do any "nighttime activities" at all because we were in the same room.
You might ask why we didn't just use soundproofing magic. Surprisingly, the moment we used soundproofing magic, she would snap her eyes open and wake up.
As I've mentioned before, elves are descendants of angels, and Ariel was born with the blood of an angel.
Being naturally sensitive to mana, she would wake up immediately if magic was used, even if she was deep in sleep.
Let's feed her first.
Hearing that she was hungry, I looked at the sprout on top of her head. As if to confirm her hunger, the sprout that had been standing tall was now drooping downward.
It was very convenient to be able to check Ariel's condition through that sprout.
When she was hungry like now, the stem would droop, and if she was tired, it would go completely limp.
I wonder how long she'll have that thing?
Thinking about the future of the sprout, I looked at Arwen. Understanding the meaning behind my gaze, she nodded and lightly snapped her fingers.
Snap!
The moment Arwen snapped her fingers, a table set with a meal appeared in mid-air.
A variety of delicacies were laid out, and I could feel the warmth as if they had just been prepared.
The Queen's bedchamber was Arwen's private space, and even meals were transported via magic.
Of course, they weren't always transported this way; usually, they were delivered in person. But for the sake of our private time together, she was moving them with magic.
Magic really is convenient at times like this.
There was no need to worry about the food being poisoned or anything like that. Again, except for the bedchamber, Elodia was under the watchful eyes of the gods.
It was impossible for anyone to try anything foolish while the gods were openly monitoring them. If they had, they would have been struck by divine punishment.
I licked my lips at the sight of the delicious-looking food and walked over slowly.
Living here, the thing I liked most after Arwen was the food. Every time, a variety of dishes were served, delighting my palate.
The food in Helium was no slouch either, but it was too limited there. They had been semi-forcibly isolated until now and had only just begun to interact with the outside world, so it couldn't be helped.
"Shall our Ariel eat too?"
"Yup! Yup!"
Ah. And one more thing.
"Nom nom nom nom!!"
Ariel was a very good eater. It wasn't just eating; she was practically inhaling the food.
I easily ate three portions myself because I exercised, but she seemed to eat even more than that.
Not that I had any intention of stopping her. It's always a good thing when a child eats well.
However, I felt I had to give her a stern warning about one thing.
"Ariel."
"Uung?"
"Don't eat with your hands; let's try using the utensils. Do you want to try following Dadda?"
I had to stop her from eating ravenously with her hands like a barbarian.
Her hands and face were already smeared with all sorts of food, including sauces, but I planned to teach her slowly starting now.
Besides, Arwen could just use magic to clean up whatever got messy.
"Munch munch munch!"
"...I told you to eat slowly."
Of course, it didn't mean much. It was like handing a stone knife to a barbarian who was already a master hunter.
Still, seeing her eat so heartily brought a proud smile to my face.
I think I finally understood the feelings of parents who say they feel full just by watching their children eat.
Parents...
Suddenly, I thought of my parents from my previous life, not my current ones. They were the ones who made me realize the preciousness of a family to my very core.
They were ordinary parents you could find anywhere, so my memories of them were very vivid. Despite our modest circumstances, they never complained and showed me infinite love and devotion.
The reason I was able to be grateful for being born here and didn't have many lingering regrets about my past life was because my parents had passed away in an accident.
I watched Ariel enjoying her meal, oblivious to her surroundings, and slowly reached out my hand.
Swipe—
"Uung? Dadda?"
"Dadda told you to eat slowly. Look, it's all over your face."
Instead of using a napkin, I wiped away the crumbs around her mouth with my fingers. After wiping them, I put them in my own mouth to clean them off.
While Ariel stared blankly, I picked up a piece of food with a fork. It was a dish made with truffles, a rare type of mushroom.
"Shall we try this too? It's a delicious mushroom."
"Yum!"
The moment I offered it, Ariel snapped it up as if devouring it. She began to chew.
Her mouth was so full of food that her cheeks were puffed out like a hamster's. How could she be this cute and lovely?
"Is it good?"
"Yup! It's yummy!"
"Good, good. Then..."
I pulled the fork out of Ariel's mouth. But what on earth was this?
The front part of the fork, which was surely made of steel, was completely gone. There were even clear bite marks where Ariel had clamped down.
I couldn't help but be dumbfounded. Come to think of it, she had eaten a World Tree seed, which was as hard as steel, because she was hungry.
Thinking the worst, I hurriedly looked at Ariel. The food in front of her was almost gone.
"Aah~"
Did she decide she couldn't reach the food further away because her arms were short? Ariel grabbed the plates with both hands instead of the food. She even stacked them up.
My brain stalled at the sight of her looking like she was about to eat them like a hamburger, but I quickly snapped out of it.
"Whoa, whoa! You can't eat that! Put it down right now!"
"T-there's more food here!"
Fortunately, the disaster of her chewing through the plates didn't happen. For a moment, she reminded me of Leona, who used to crunch on bones.
But even Leona only chewed on bones; she never thought of eating the plates whole. Just how strong were her teeth?
No. Before that, I couldn't even understand how she could mistake a plate for food.
Maybe since she was just born, she didn't know that plates weren't food. That was the most likely explanation.
I still have a long way to go...
Forget language; I had forgotten that I needed to teach her basic common sense first. In terms of age, Ariel was a literal newborn.
It was around the time the eventful meal ended and Arwen used magic to move the entire table away again.
Ariel seemed to have enjoyed the plentiful meal, as she let out a light burp and basked in the feeling of being full.
"Was the food good?"
"Yup!"
"That's a relief. Then now..."
What should we do? Since Ariel appeared, our range of movement had become extremely limited.
If I took Ariel outside, she would undoubtedly attract everyone's attention, but staying inside was too restrictive.
Part of me wanted to take her out. But I couldn't predict what the fallout would be.
It would cause an even greater stir than the Xenon Biography, so I couldn't just go out lightheartedly.
On the other hand, leaving Ariel behind to go out was even more out of the question.
I need to entrust her to someone trustworthy...
It was just as I was thinking that.
Knock, knock, knock—
A sudden knocking sound reached my ears. I jumped, my eyes darting toward the door.
I wasn't the only one surprised; Arwen was too. She was likely thinking the same thing.
If Ariel's existence were revealed here, it would be a massive headache.
In the meantime, the attendant who had knocked on the door spoke quietly.
"Your Majesty. There are guests who wish to see Sir Xenon and Your Majesty."
This voice... was it Keir? He was one of the elves I had met frequently, so I remembered his voice clearly.
Furthermore, Keir had been appointed as Arwen's guard knight and secretary. He was practically the only one who could knock on the door of the bedchamber.
"G-guests? As you know, I am spending quality time with Xenon. And yet, guests?"
Arwen answered in a calm voice after her initial surprise. As she said, there was no way he didn't know we were spending time together.
The fact that he had knocked anyway suggested that the identity of the guests was quite significant.
"Jjon-nim?"
Meanwhile, Ariel muttered in her toddler lisp. I pulled her into my arms to prevent her from doing anything unexpected.
"Yes. Normally, I would have turned them away, but they are people even I cannot treat lightly... and they have come out of concern for Your Majesty."
"Can you tell me who they are?"
Keir paused for a moment before speaking in a cautious voice.
"Lady Rekilis, Sir Xenon's fiancée, and..."
I'm screwed.
"Princess Cecile of Helium."
I'm really screwed.
"Scwewed?"
Yeah. I think Dadda is screwed.
