#16
Noah, who had briefly stopped lost in thought, took a few bouncing steps forward when Aeongi gently pushed his back with his snout.
“Do you think I’m strange too?”
Noah, who knew numbers and letters without being taught, had been living with people calling him a genius lately. It wasn’t as if he could pretend not to know what he already knew. But he couldn’t reveal that he knew everything either.
When Noah fell into such delusions, it was Aeongi who pulled him out. He was the only one Noah could say anything to.
“Strange, right?”
Even when he said such things, Aeongi would just push his back with his snout, nudging him forward.
Pushed by Aeongi’s snout into the reception room, Noah quickly turned around, but his path was blocked by the large Aeongi in front of him.
“Doesn’t it look delicious? It’s walnut pie made with fresh walnuts we picked this time.”
No. I don’t want that walnut pie. I really don’t want it. I hate it the most.
Didn’t you say it was apple pie? Where did my apple pie go?
Was it just his imagination that Aeongi’s expression, which had been reluctant until just moments ago, now seemed to be mysteriously smiling?
“Oh, starting tomorrow, a tutor will come to teach you many things, young master. You only need to study for exactly three hours a day.”
Don’t do that. Just a little, cut just a little. I don’t need that much.
With a soulless expression, Noah sat on the sofa and instinctively reached out his hand, waving it when he saw Elisa cutting a large piece of walnut pie and placing it on his plate.
“Are you that happy? Young master likes studying and is so smart, you’ll do really well. They said it was delayed a bit because they brought someone good from the capital. Aeongi, do you want some pie too?”
I’m not happy at all.
Already studying at five years old?
Was the educational fervor that high in this neighborhood too?
Wasn’t it supposed to be about playing like crazy until before elementary school?
“That…”
Noah reached for the plate with the small pie. Perhaps because he was smaller than his peers, everyone who was usually lenient with him was strict about only two things: eating and sleeping.
At least sleeping was easy since he would fall asleep as soon as his head hit the pillow, being a young child, but eating was really not easy. Even if he ate just one bite, he had to eat everything evenly, and picky eating was not tolerated.
So even though they knew he liked sweet snacks based on fruits like apple pie, cookies, and cake, they would offer him nut pies like this.
Earlier when he went out and asked what the snack was, they lied and said apple pie.
“Would you like it with milk? Shall I give you fruit juice?”
Although he clearly asked for a small piece, Elisa, who knew Noah’s intentions all too well, pretended not to hear and continued with another question. The two knew each other too well.
“Milk.”
Since there was nothing good about insisting, Noah cut off a small piece of walnut pie with his fork and put it in his mouth. And while Elisa was doing something else, he quickly tapped Aeongi’s nose beside him with rapid taps.
Usually he was good at reading the situation, but today Aeongi kept his mouth tightly shut, so Noah glared at him with his big eyes and moved his mouth soundlessly.
‘Open your mouth quickly!’
Then Aeongi slightly turned his head away.
This guy, he understands but pretends not to? In his urgency, Noah grabbed Aeongi’s upper lip tightly with both hands and pulled it upward.
‘I said open your mouth! Quickly!’
Noah, who wanted to quickly feed Aeongi and destroy the evidence before Elisa saw, struggled while holding onto Aeongi’s thick upper lip. Each time he moved the upper lip up and the lower lip down, sharp and large teeth were revealed, but Noah’s eyes didn’t register such things.
In his urgency, Noah quickly looked back and confirmed that Elisa was still talking with another maid.
‘I’ll sing you a lullaby when you sleep!’
Since Aeongi had sharp hearing, Noah spoke almost without making a sound, just moving his mouth. At the same time, Aeongi’s mouth opened wide. After looking back once more to confirm, Noah grabbed the part loaded with walnuts with his hand and shoved it into Aeongi’s mouth.
Then he quickly sat back properly in his seat and ate a little of the pie crust.
“Oh my, you’ve already eaten this much? See? Since you eat it often, you can eat it well. Aeongi, do you want some pie too?”
Noah, who had been chewing the pie crust in his mouth and exaggeratedly moving his jaw as if he had eaten a lot, smiled triumphantly knowing that Elisa had been completely fooled.
Meanwhile, Aeongi, who had swallowed the walnut pie that Noah had placed on his tongue without even a hint reaching his liver, stared blankly at the large whole walnut pie placed in front of him. They gave Noah 1/12 of a slice, but gave him a whole pie.
The freshly baked walnut pie held a subtle warmth along with its rich aroma. I hate this more than apple pie?
Aeongi, who had been sitting, quietly got up. Until just moments ago, Noah had been excitedly urging him to hurry, saying it was apple pie, and it had been amusing to see him horrified at the sight of walnut pie. But a whole pie, a whole pie.
“Where are you going?”
Though Noah’s call came from behind, Aeongi leisurely left the castle. Disheartened by receiving a whole walnut pie, Aeongi left the castle and didn’t return until the sun set and late night came.
There were times when Aeongi would disappear for short periods of two to three hours, or long periods of half a day. Being a mountain beast, he must have gone to the mountains, but when Aeongi, who always returned punctually when the sun set and it was time to sleep, didn’t come back, Noah sat by the window just looking outside.
“It’s because of the walnut pie!”
Noah’s lips pouted as he finished preparing for bed, wearing animal pajamas filled with soft cotton that covered him completely from head to toe without any gaps.
Whether they made pajamas for each animal, today it was a giraffe. No matter how much heating they did, since they used old-fashioned fireplaces for heating, everywhere in the castle was cold. That’s why Noah always slept wearing the animal pajamas with the hood pulled up.
With the hood on, a cute giraffe head doll was attached to the top of Noah’s hood. Raising one hand up, Noah fidgeted with the giraffe’s small horns. If he could sleep warmly nestled in Aeongi’s embrace while wearing this…
“Noah, you need to sleep now.”
“I know…”
Noah climbed down from the windowsill and got onto the bed.
“I have to sleep alone. Aeongi will come.”
Since Aeongi hadn’t returned and Loren was about to call Elisa to watch over his bedtime, Noah quickly grabbed Loren’s collar.
“Then, shall we sleep with mom and dad tonight?”
“I don’t want to.”
Single heaven! Couple hell!
Why would I sleep there? Since I’m sleeping alone like this, hurry up and make a younger sibling.
Definitely a beta or alpha younger brother. Then I think all my worries would disappear.
Noah climbed onto the bed and pulled the blanket up to his neck. Though Loren’s worries continued about how cold it would be and what if he got scared sleeping alone, Noah slightly raised one hand and waved it, signaling for her to leave.
Only after hearing the heavy door open and close did Noah sit up again. The large bed felt so empty. It seems that while you don’t notice the spot you’re sleeping in, the empty spot shows.
Elisa’s embrace was truly warm too, but having experienced Aeongi’s embrace, this felt so empty.
Getting down from the bed, Noah dragged the thick blanket behind him.
He dragged the blanket to in front of the fireplace and made it into a round shape like Aeongi’s embrace. Since it was closer to the fireplace, inside the nest-like blanket was warmer than on the bed.
“Tomorrow I’ll have to go catch Aeongi. Taking lots of chocolate cookies he likes…”
Noah, who entered the blanket nest he had made, opened his small mouth wide and yawned languidly. It’s very cold outside, but since it’s where he originally lived, it should be fine.
Noah’s worries about this and that couldn’t continue for long. Soon Noah’s drowsy and peaceful breathing harmonized with the sound of firewood burning in the fireplace.
Past midnight, almost dawn.
Noah’s bedroom door, which had been firmly closed, opened. It was Aeongi, whom Noah had been looking for so desperately. As Aeongi entered and slightly moved his tail, the open door closed silently.
A small sigh flowed from Aeongi’s mouth as he looked at Noah sleeping soundly among the pile of blankets in front of the fireplace. And where the large snow leopard had been just moments ago, a tall, sturdy man with silver-white hair was standing.
“What if you get sick sleeping alone on such a cold day?”
The man’s touch as he embraced the child wrapped in blankets was infinitely careful. The subtle warmth emanating from the small child seeped into the man’s body.
“Aeongi?”
“Yes.”
At Noah’s small murmur as he was held against the man’s chest without even being able to open his eyes, the man pulled up Noah’s fallen hood and patted his back.
“I waited…”
Though the pronunciation was slurred and drawn out, and the voice was too small, the man who heard that sound clearly gestured with his hand, and the blanket on the floor was neatly arranged on the bed.
“That’s why I came.”
In Noah’s hands, which had been grasping the soft collar just moments before, was a handful of Aeongi’s fluffy and soft fur, as always.
“Where did you go?”
Rather than responding to Noah’s voice, who had been slapping his face with small hands from morning to wake him up, Aeongi closed his eyes even tighter. Though rough hands continued touching his cheeks and even his eyelids to make him open his eyes, Aeongi, who had been stubbornly keeping his eyes closed, suddenly opened them wide.
“I missed you.”
It was the moment when he was about to turn his head away because Noah was roughly touching him to wake him up and even touching his snout. It was because Noah pressed his small lips to Aeongi’s moist nose tip and whispered while rubbing his soft cheek against the side of his snout.
While stroking at a pace neither fast nor slow, Noah continued speaking.
“If you’re going to go, tell me before you go. You’re my only friend.”
He had thought of him as a child who threw tantrums, played pranks, and was completely clueless about everything, but he never expected him to say such things.
“I’ll say goodbye properly, tell you to go well and take care. So tell me before you go.”
Unable to see Aeongi blinking at these touching words that followed, Noah once again pressed his lips near Aeongi’s snout and rubbed his face against it.
“Anyway, you’re a beast so you can’t talk. Hurry up and get up. I’ll ask Lucas to make you a collar.”
Ah… what was I expecting from just a little kid?
Embarrassed by his momentary emotional response, Aeongi closed his eyes again.
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
