#4
“Na na na na~”
Opening the large door with both hands, Noah stepped outside and looked alternately at both sides of the long corridor with its red carpet. Although he had visited a few times in his previous life, he didn’t know all the paths of the large and spacious castle.
Where would a seven-year-old boy likely be?
Humming a tune while examining both sides, Noah began walking to the left. He was looking mostly upward, admiring the high-quality decorations and fresh flowers scattered sparsely throughout the corridor.
Being small with short strides, it took Noah quite a while to reach the end of the corridor, and at some point, the humming from his lips had stopped.
“Where am I…?”
Once again, what stretched before him was an extremely long corridor. It would have been nice if there was someone passing by, but standing in the middle of a luxurious and elegant corridor without even an ant in sight, Noah turned around.
He considered returning to the room he had first left, but having walked quite a distance, he didn’t want to. When a man draws his sword, he must cut something. Scolding himself for momentarily seeking comfort, Noah pressed his lips firmly and clenched his fists.
“Forward… forward… the Earth is round…”
The Earth is indeed round, but what madman would walk around the Earth on foot?
After boldly walking on the plush carpet for a while—a distance that wouldn’t be so far for an adult but was quite long for a three-year-old child—Noah’s steps gradually slowed.
He felt hungry, his legs hurt, and he missed his mom.
Following a child’s capricious nature, Noah’s lips, which had been full of hope just moments ago, pouted up and down. He hadn’t been a person with such severe mood swings, but as sadness washed over him, Noah stopped and looked around again.
Having wandered around this much, someone should have passed by.
He had tried using his brain by pushing every door he saw with both hands while walking down the corridor, but the massive doors didn’t budge at all. At this point, it seemed stranger that the door to his original room had opened so easily.
“Sniff…”
His lips were pouting, then tears welled up, blurring his vision, and Noah wiped his eyes with his clothes. Let’s go back. If he returned, Lucas would surely come looking for him.
For a three-year-old child, adventure still seemed too harsh. Noah’s footsteps were infinitely slow as he walked back down the corridor to where he had been.
Walking dejectedly with slumped shoulders, Noah’s face was soon wet with tears, and occasionally his small shoulders would heave as he hiccupped.
Needlessly wiping his nose with his hand, Noah rummaged through his pocket. He suddenly remembered the cookies Elisa had wrapped in a small handkerchief. A small smile bloomed on Noah’s face as he found the cookies wrapped in the handkerchief from his pocket.
Who has time to move aside to not block the path? Noah sat down in the middle of the corridor, and as his small fingers wiggled, two chocolate cookies appeared. Like a ghost who died eating looks good too, without hesitation, Noah grabbed the cookies with both hands and quickly took a bite.
Sweet, crispy, and delicious, yet sad. While munching on the cookie, sometimes laughing, a tear would drop when he thought about the long way he had to walk. Then he would eat the cookie again and chew diligently.
Cookie crumbs fell on his clothes making a mess, and melted dark chocolate stuck to his hands, but Noah didn’t care. After finishing one cookie, he quickly picked up the remaining one.
“Uh… huh?”
Just as he opened his mouth wide to bite into the cookie, hands slipped under his armpits, and Noah’s eyes widened as he was suddenly lifted up. He was even more surprised because someone had lifted him from behind rather than from the front.
“Hello.”
Noah’s mouth opened with a “heh—” when he saw the person who held him with one arm like Lucas did. Still tightly gripping the cookie like a lifeline, Noah stared at the face of the person meeting his gaze.
In his entire life, he had never seen someone who looked like this.
Should he say handsome, or beautiful? Could he describe him as being like an angel yet also like a devil?
If Lucas’s hair was pitch black, this person’s hair had a blue tint. His long dark blue hair matched his dark blue eyes.
As he turned slightly, a streak of light from outside illuminated his face, and his dark blue eyes changed to a mysterious blue color.
“Wow…”
Having watched him even blink, Noah instinctively let out an exclamation.
“Not many people can wander around here, who might you be?”
“Noah!”
“Noah?”
“Yes. Noah Schwein.”
“Ah… the precious young master of the Grand Duke of the North.”
When the man asked his name in a gentle voice and immediately recognized who he was, giving him a soft smile, Noah abruptly held out the cookie he was holding.
I don’t have anything else, so would you like to eat this for now?
The best way to win someone over is usually with food.
Besides, this cookie is the most delicious thing I’ve eaten since I was born.
“I can’t take a cute baby’s snack.”
“Delicious.”
“Yes. Shall we go find the Grand Duke together?”
Noah blinked rapidly at the touch of a hand on his cheek. Handsome, with good manners, a nice voice, and judging by his clothes and demeanor, he seemed like a nobleman. Calculations began to run quickly in Noah’s small mind.
No ring on his finger, not quite a young man but closer to a beautiful boy in appearance, so there might be an age gap. But isn’t there no border or distinction in love? With brown hair and reddish eyes being the imperial family’s symbol, he didn’t look like royalty.
Probably not royalty, there might be an age gap, but he doesn’t seem to have a fiancé yet, and how much more wonderful would this beautiful boy be when he becomes a young man…
Having completed his thoughts, a solemn expression settled on Noah’s face.
The brave shall win the handsome man.
“What’s your name?”
Ah, I think I already failed with my pronunciation. He wanted to ask in a serious voice with a serious tone, but with his mushed pronunciation and baby voice. Moreover, seeing the man’s lips curve into a beautiful arc, Noah’s eyebrows drooped.
“You want to know my name?”
“Yes!”
“If I tell you my name, will you remember it?”
“Yes!”
Like a child answering a kindergarten teacher’s question with all his might, Noah nodded his head vigorously while answering promptly.
When the man who was carrying him and walking toward the room Noah had first left stroked his head, Noah quickly moved his head closer to the man’s hand.
One shouldn’t be too friendly and kind to strangers, but Noah removed one hand from the cookie he was holding with both hands. He wanted to touch the man’s eyes and hair that changed to a mysterious color whenever they caught the sunlight.
As Noah reached out his hand toward the man, he noticed the chocolate on his hand and quickly rubbed it against his chest. I can’t touch with dirty hands.
The man’s hair, which he didn’t avoid even though he must have known Noah’s hand was coming toward his face, was extremely soft, and the man smelled really good.
“If I tell you my name, what will our baby give me in return?”
“Marriage!”
Ah. After blurting out words that hadn’t passed through his brain, Noah’s hands tightened in surprise at his own words. Simultaneously, he accidentally pulled out a few strands of the man’s hair he had been touching, and a flustered response burst from Noah’s lips.
“Oh… hurts… sorry. What do I do.”
And Noah quickly touched the man’s head with apologetic hands. The cookie he had been gripping tightly fell to the floor, and his hands, sticky with chocolate and greasy from the cookie, were now tousling the man’s silky hair.
He wanted to clean the man’s hair, but the more he tried, the more chocolate and cookie crumbs got on it. In his remorse and helplessness, Noah brought his chocolate-covered hands to his lips.
Even though one side of his beautiful hair, which shone gorgeously in the sunlight and was as soft as silk, was now clumped together with sticky substances, the man was smiling too beautifully. Then, as he took Noah’s dirty hand away from his lips, Noah’s mouth drooped even more.
“I should look pretty when meeting His Majesty for the first time, right?”
The man’s hand briefly sparkled, and simultaneously, Noah’s hand became clean. The light continued to emanate from the man’s hand, and wherever his light-infused hand touched Noah’s body, something magical happened.
His messy hands, his lips and chubby cheeks covered with cookie crumbs and chocolate, and his frilly shirt that had become stained from rubbing his hands to clean it—all became fresh and clean.
Noah knew that magic was used in many aspects of daily life, but seeing magic used before his eyes for the first time, his green eyes kept following the man’s hands.
Alphas and Omegas were rare, but even rarer were magicians. Judging by his use of water just now, he might be an elemental magician. In any case, the man Noah had just set his sights on was an extraordinary person.
“Now you look pretty.”
When the man’s long, straight index finger poked Noah’s soft cheek, Noah’s face turned as red as a ripe peach.
He said I’m pretty. He said I’m pretty.
“Cute?”
“Yes. You’re cute.”
Great. Being cute is good enough. They say beauty is momentary, but cuteness is eternal. Being cute and pretty means I’m halfway to success.
“What’s your name?”
Noah slowly blinked his large eyes at the man who kept talking around in circles without telling his name, though he needed to know it first to do anything.
“…”
“Derik?”
“Derik is the name of the Silver Dragon who rules the Austen region.”
Although he seemed to clearly say Derik, Noah tilted his head at the man’s words, who was reconfirming what Noah already knew.
“If you learn my name, you’ll have to marry me, would that be alright?”
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
