Chapter 2

"Ether, Mommy's done wrong by you all this time. You haven't done anything wrong, not one thing. You're not a demon's child either. And you're not someone who deserves to be in pain. From now on, Mommy won't say things like that, and Mommy won't hurt you anymore..."

She wanted to say I hope you won't be afraid of me, but that felt like asking too much for her own sake, so Iberin swallowed the words.

"I'll step outside, so get plenty of rest in here."

In the end, Iberin chose to remove herself from the situation.

"W-wait...!"

But Ether grabbed at the hem of her clothes in a panic.

Of course, the moment he realized what he'd done, he let go.

"What is it?"

Ether said nothing, just shook his head over and over and curled himself into a small ball. He buried his face between his knees, hiding himself away, and Iberin hesitated.

Should she go over and hold him, or leave him alone for now?

"Ether, should Mommy go?"

In the end, instead of deciding on her own, she chose to ask Ether.

"Or should I stay?"

"..."

Ether trembled slightly, but didn't say a word.

"I'll do whatever Ether wants."

Ether still didn't speak.

Iberin just stood there quietly and waited. After who knew how long, Ether carefully lifted his head.

When their eyes met he buried his face again, but a moment later he was sneaking peeks at her.

More importantly, Ether had a high fever, and it suddenly hit her that letting him stay like that wouldn't be good for him.

He needed to lie down and sleep properly.

She wondered if the medicine had worn off and he just couldn't fall asleep. Thinking she should call the doctor, she took a step.

That was when it happened.

"D-don't go... please don't go..."

Ether whispered in a small, trembling voice.

When Iberin turned back to look at him, she could see he was thrown by his own words and didn't know what to do with himself.

Without hesitation, Iberin walked over to Ether and pulled him into her arms.

Ether went limp against her, completely still.

His body still burned hot to the touch, the fever clearly far from gone.

"I was going to call the doctor. You seemed unwell."

"Mmh..."

Ether rubbed his forehead against her shoulder and let out a slow breath.

"I-I'm okay, so..."

"You're okay?"

"Yes..."

"Alright. I'll stay with you then. Sleep a little more."

Iberin carefully lay down beside Ether.

Gulp.

The sound of Ether swallowing was painfully audible.

Ether snuck a glance upward, meeting Iberin's eyes.

Wanting to come across as gentle as possible, Iberin gave him a small smile and pressed a tiny kiss to his forehead.

"Eep..."

"Stop staring and get some sleep."

Ether wore an expression like he wasn't sure if this was a dream or reality. Soon enough, his fever spiked too high for him to keep thinking straight, and he closed his eyes with shallow breaths.

---

Iberin was the first to wake. She'd slept soundly through the night, and when she saw that Ether's fever had broken, she smiled softly.

But the moment she felt the bony little body in her arms, her face hardened.

She had to get something into him.

She got up carefully so she wouldn't wake Ether, and the maid happened to arrive with breakfast right then.

The original Iberin must have eaten lightly in the mornings, because breakfast was nothing more than a bit of fruit.

"Bring some soup that Ether can eat."

After being sick all night and on an empty stomach, fruit didn't seem like a great choice for Ether's first meal of the day.

"What? Y-yes, my lady."

While the maid went off to fetch the soup, Ether opened his eyes.

When he saw Iberin still beside him and let out a small breath of what seemed like relief, Iberin smiled.

Maybe it was because he was still a child—she was relieved that lowering his guard didn't seem to take him very long.

"Ether, you must be hungry."

"Yes."

"Is there anything you'd like to eat?"

"Anything's fine."

"Anything? What's your favorite thing to eat?"

"...Bread."

"Bread?"

"Yes."

"What kind of bread?"

A normal kid would say meat, or something sweet like cake or cookies.

A wave of unease hit her—surely he'd at least had those before?—and then Ether tilted his head and answered.

"Bread..."

"I mean what kind of bread."

There were so many kinds of bread.

"Brown bread..."

Pressed for details, Ether added the clue: 'brown.'

Just then, the maid returned carrying a steaming bowl of soup.

"Maid."

"Yes?"

"What was the brown bread Ether used to eat?"

It seemed like this maid would know, so she asked.

"Why are you asking that all of a sudden?"

"Because Ether said it's his favorite."

"Oh..."

The maid's mouth clamped shut like a clam.

"What is it?"

"It's the bread given to the slaves, my lady. It's nothing but rye with no other ingredients—dry and rough on the tongue."

Iberin's brow knitted. Ether had said brown bread was the most delicious thing he knew. Which meant—

"The truth is, the young master has never eaten anything else..."

The maid said carefully, watching Iberin's face.

"I'm the one who ordered it that way, aren't I?"

"Yes..."

It was a heavy feeling.

The castle's servants had only done what Iberin told them to do. The Grand Duke lived on the battlefield, so the one who was always near Ether was Iberin.

No matter how unjustly she treated Ether, they had no option but to stay silent.

If they wanted to keep their own lives, that is.

And as far as the world outside knew, the Grand Duke's house was a cursed family.

Iberin herself had been given a death sentence just for giving birth to Ether, so it wasn't hard to see why no one would want to get too close to him.

Iberin swore to herself, over and over, that she'd undo every bit of this from now on.

---

"Open up."

"...I can eat by mysewf."

When Iberin blew on the hot soup and held the spoon out to feed him, Ether wriggled his little hands and mumbled.

It was adorable. Iberin smiled gently and answered.

"Mommy wants to feed you. Is that not okay?"

"...Oh."

Ether fumbled and hesitated, unable to get the words out, then finally opened his mouth carefully.

Maybe it was because Iberin was feeding him, or maybe because it wasn't the bread he was used to—he hesitated a little, but the moment he took his first bite, his eyes went wide.

For Ether, it had to be a taste he'd never experienced before.

A pang went through Iberin's chest as she watched him.

"Is it good?"

"Yes."

"Another one. Open up."

"Ahh."

The soup must have really suited his taste, because Ether didn't stop. His mouth kept moving without a break.

He polished off the whole bowl, and then Iberin handed over the fruit the maid had brought too.

Eating fruit for the first time, Ether wore the same expression he'd had with the soup and worked through it eagerly.

But then Ether suddenly froze. Iberin, who had been watching him fondly, tilted her head in confusion.

She hadn't done anything—wondering what she'd messed up this time, she asked Ether.

"What's wrong?"

"I ate it aww, I... I'm sorry."

"Hm?"

"Bweakfast... this is, my lady's bweakfast..."

Ether kept watching her face anxiously. The sight was heartbreaking and adorable at the same time, and Iberin couldn't help but let out a small laugh.

"You're not... mad?"

Ether didn't seem to know what to do with this version of Iberin.

That was understandable.

"I'm not mad."

"...Really?"

"Yeah. From now on, Mommy's never going to be mad at Ether. Mommy's only going to love you."

"Love...?"

Ether murmured the word love under his breath.

"Yes. Love."

Iberin pulled Ether into her arms and rubbed her cheek against his.

The sudden physical contact froze Ether on the spot. But the most shocked person of all was the maid watching everything from the side.

"Eep."

She was so startled she let the sound slip out without meaning to.

The second Iberin's gaze flicked over to her, she clamped her hand over her mouth in terror.

As if to prove a point to the maid, Iberin kissed Ether on the cheek.

The maid's shock wasn't just about Iberin's sudden change in attitude—the bigger reason had to be that she thought of Ether as a cursed being.

"M-my lady!"

The maid scrambled to stop her the instant the kiss happened.

"If you keep doing that and your health gets worse..."

"What?"

"N-nothing. It's just, you're already not well..."

Iberin shot the maid a glare sharp enough to cut, but the maid couldn't take a hint.

Sure enough, the moment the maid finished speaking, Ether—who had been sitting still—started squirming.

"L-let me go..."

To be fair, from the maid's perspective, Iberin had thrown a fit every time she got sick, so the maid was probably scared the fit would come crashing down on her this time.

"Ether, Mommy's not sick."

"L-liar..."

"Why is that a lie?"

"Aww the time, you were sick... 'cause of me..."

"I'm not sick. And it wasn't because of Ether. Mommy had it all wrong. I'm sorry."

"Not... because of Ether...?"

"That's right. Not because of you."

The squirming finally stopped. Ether settled down and leaned his head lightly against Iberin's chest.

Then he peeked up at her, gauging her reaction.

When Iberin silently stroked the back of his head, he let out a relieved breath.

"Hyuuu..."

It was so cute Iberin nearly punched through a wall, and she kissed Ether on the cheek one more time.

Ether's cheeks turned bright red. It was impossible to believe that this adorable, lovable child was going to grow up to be a villain.

If only from this point on, he could just grow up gently, the way he was right now.

Iberin didn't know how much time she herself had left.

She might die tomorrow, for all she knew.

After all, she'd only ever been a minor character who showed up in the Grand Duke Ether's flashbacks.

"Ether. Mommy's going to do everything for you that she didn't do before. What do you want to do most?"

She didn't actually know why she'd ended up inside this novel, but she hadn't had much attachment to her original life anyway.

She hadn't been unhappy, but she hadn't been happy either.

It had been a lukewarm sort of life.

That was why she'd thrown herself into novels so completely, and why she'd envied the people inside them who lived such dramatic lives.

And out of all of them, Ether—whose life seemed to be one unhappy thing after another—was the one who'd lodged in her heart.

She'd wanted him to be happy, but the author of the original novel had killed Ether off.

So Iberin had a wish.

Even if Ether's future was full of misery, she wanted there to be at least one past memory he could think back on and smile about.

"I-I don't know..."

"You don't? Then how about Mommy just keeps holding you like this?"

"Yeah, I'd like that..."

Ether nodded slowly, his face still flushed pink.

---

She'd been holding him for who knew how long when she noticed that after staying stiff for a stretch, he'd finally gone limp. Looking down, she found Ether asleep with his mouth hanging open.

"Pfft."

Iberin burst out laughing at his blissfully unaware sleeping face. Then she carefully laid him down on the bed and pulled the covers over him.

She gazed at Ether's sleeping face for a long while before turning her head to look at the maid.

The maid was still frozen in place, fidgeting nervously.

"You. Over there."

"Yes?!"

Iberin had only called for her, but the maid jumped half out of her skin like something had scared her badly.