“An unmarried lady… shouldn’t touch a strange man’s body… like this.”

Right, that happened. I smiled softly without realizing it. We were so young then. The Zachary from that day overlapped with the child before me now.

“…Pardon?”

“Ah, sorry. I just remembered something else.”

When I smiled, the child’s mouth opened slightly.

“But I’m sorry, I’m not a lady.”

“S-sorry… I’m sorry…”

“No, it’s fine.”

I shook my head at the flustered child. They seemed like such a gentle child – how did they end up here? And looking so much like Zachary…

“Do you know Zachary?”

I finally had to ask this small child who was the spitting image of Zachary.

“Ah…! You can’t!”

However, the response was unexpected. The child trembled violently at my words, hurriedly closed the door as if worried someone might hear, and came closer to me. Then, joining their small hands together, they whispered to me like sharing a secret.

“You’ll be in b-big trouble if you say our Uncle’s name so casually.”

I tilted my head in confusion.

Come to think of it, Zachary’s reputation within the palace seemed a bit strange since earlier.

“Is that so?”

When I asked slowly, the child readily answered with a “Yes~”. They looked so adorable.

This is somewhat relieving.

Though it would obviously never happen, I had worried that Zachary might have had a child somewhere else since they looked so similar. But they said uncle. From the circumstances, it seemed Zachary had found a lost royal child.

“Do you live with your uncle? Are you close?”

Zachary would surely have treated them kindly. I asked with that intention, but the child’s expression crumpled as if about to cry again.

“No… I want to be close, but…”

“Hmm, but?”

“I think Uncle hates me.”

…What should I do? They look like they’re about to cry.

I tried my best to hide my confusion, but I didn’t know what else to do. I had almost no experience talking with children.

“That can’t be true.”

Though I tried to comfort them, the child still looked sad. What had Zachary done to make the child act like this? He should be kind and gentle to children…

“No, he really hates me…”

However, the child started to sob as if remembering something. I felt I shouldn’t mention Zachary anymore in front of them.

What could I use to comfort the child?

Looking around, I found a blank piece of paper. I quickly started folding it. The crying child glanced at me, and I moved my hands as fast as I could to present the folded paper.

“Would you like to see this?”

The pointed ears protruding from the round, chubby face poked the child’s cheek. Though it was crude from being made hastily, I held it out trying to appear confident.

“Do you know this animal?”

Please don’t cry. Please don’t cry.

As I smiled while silently pleading, perhaps my feelings got through. The sobbing child opened their eyes wide. Then, after moving their lips slightly, they looked at me with sparkling eyes.

“A… rabbit?”

With an incredibly adorable expression.

***

It had been nearly a week since Oscar’s disappearance. As soon as Zachary heard Oscar had vanished, he immediately left to search for him. But due to the fierce blizzard, he couldn’t find any trace of Oscar.

“It seems he left of his own accord…”

They had sent someone to contact the Serpentine mansion, but word came back that he hadn’t gone there either. Had he run away then? But that didn’t seem right since not even a few sets of clothes were missing.

Zachary searched desperately for Oscar. He couldn’t use his holy power to search. He worried that if he used it wrongly, it might worsen Oscar’s condition.

“How many more knights can we mobilize?”

They needed to increase the search party even more. With the fierce blizzard, Oscar might be buried in the snow. Zachary’s expression turned cold as the mere thought made him dizzy.

“I have something to report!”

Just then, a servant rushed in urgently. Zachary’s gaze grew even sharper watching them. Judging by the servant’s expression, they clearly hadn’t brought good news.

“Crown Prince Azrael disappeared on his way to lessons…”

“Huk.” The servant reporting collapsed to their knees. The pressure filling the room was so intense they couldn’t even lift their head. The knights were no different. As they staggered while looking at Zachary, the air around him seemed to flow differently. Pure holy power filled the room violently, as if about to crush everything.

“F-forgive me!”

Zachary’s hair floated in the air from his holy power. His cold eyes swept around him as if thoroughly disgusted.

In truth, the Empire’s welfare was none of his concern. Though he was born and raised here, he had no good memories of this place. He had only come to resolve this because Oscar seemed troubled. But these people didn’t deserve even Oscar’s smallest worry or attention. They couldn’t do a single thing properly, couldn’t even protect one person they were supposed to guard.

Wouldn’t it be better if they all died?

Rather than moving with such incompetent beings, wouldn’t it be better to search for Oscar alone?

If he killed them all, there would be no one to worry about and nothing to be annoyed by. Normally his thoughts wouldn’t have become so extreme, but after a week of searching for Oscar and imagining all sorts of scenarios, Zachary’s mind had become completely worn down. Just as blue light flickered in his eyes like when madness took hold…

“P-Prince! Why are you here? Haven’t you received the report?”

A knight burst through the door and spoke to Zachary in surprise.

What news could it be this time? Thinking there couldn’t possibly be anything more surprising, Zachary’s eyes widened at the knight’s next words. At the same time, the servants and knights who had been collapsed on the floor barely breathing could finally catch their breath and cough.

Everyone present stared at Zachary’s face. His murderous expression from moments ago had vanished.

“…Who, where?”

****

Zachary headed to his bedroom. Even reaching the door, his expression remained disbelieving. The door was already slightly open. After hesitating, Zachary slowly opened it.

This better not be a lie.

Zachary had decided not to forgive the knight if this was a lie told to calm him down. As he opened the door thinking he would kill everyone this time, his foot hit something made of paper…

A lion?

Zachary raised his eyebrows, unable to hide his confusion. The lion’s mane was jagged as if cut clumsily, and its features were quite free-form.

Could this really be called a lion? As he stared skeptically at the paper lion, he suddenly lifted his head at a sound reaching his ears. His gaze fell on two people huddled together by the window.

“Fold it like this, then pull.”

A gentle voice spoke kindly. His eyes, which had been swirling with blue energy until just now, immediately calmed at that voice. Zachary, who had been watching stiffly, slowly began to approach.

“Then put your mouth here and blow.”

“It’s in-inflating!”

“Amazing, isn’t it?”

The soft voices grew louder. At the same time, he noticed paper scraps scattered all around the room. They must have made so many already – there were all sorts of animals and strange shapes whose forms were unrecognizable.

“This becomes a ball.”

“Wow.”

Zachary stared at Oscar, who was smiling without noticing his presence. He had been separated from him for two months, and spent a week searching for him. Though he tried his best not to show it outwardly, every minute and second away from Oscar had been burning Zachary up inside.

Yet Oscar, who had caused him such heartache, was smiling in the sunlight streaming through the window. Just as he had always looked, no, even more beautiful than before.