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“Catherine, you might realize as you continue observing…”
“Your Majesty should be more observant instead!” Here!
Excited as I was, I quickly took a seat and put Haniel down. Rashid swept back his hair in vain as he looked like he was about to say something important, but couldn’t ignore the look in my eyes as he met mine.
“….” Sweetie, quick! Thinking that this was the right time, I patted Haniel’s tail. You promised mommy!
Haniel must have remembered it as she shyly swayed her body side to side instead of staring at me wide-eyed.
“Haniel, if you ever find out that your eldest brother didn’t do it intentionally…”
“I’m not sure what you’re up to but let’s get up…”
“Please wait. Shh.” I put a finger to my lips and Rashid kept quiet in frustration. Instead, his shadow was slowly casting upon both Haniel and my heads.
[…Mommy.] Haniel didn’t cower in fear like before. Quick! You can do it!
I was growing impatient while hoping Haniel would quickly show what she had prepared for Rashid before he started showing his frustrations.
[…Hing.]
Her black beak dawdled, alternating between the sky and the ground. Even my hands were sweating as the nonchalant Rashid watched closely.
“Now, quickly…”
Tap tap… tap. After taking two steps forward, Haniel finally took one more step towards him.
Oh my. As I covered my mouth in surprise, Rashid’s head bent down further.
“I didn’t want to ask further, but just what am I supposed to be looking at….”
“Your Majesty! You saw that, didn’t you!”
“….”
“You saw it!” Three steps, she took three steps towards you! I stood up quickly, biting my lips as tears were forcing out of my eyes, but Rashid just slowly blinked.
Still looking confused, I quickly pointed at Haniel. “Ah, I thought she had made great improvements since the last time you met. Of course Your Majesty has no interest in such details so you wouldn’t be aware.”
“I saw it.” I don’t think you did.
“I definitely saw it.”
“What?”
“Whatever you said… earlier.” Hmm. Even though I narrowed my eyes at him, Rashid looked up calmly. Besides his neck which had turned slightly red, he looked as if he had known everything that was happening in this world.
“What’s with that arrogant look? Did you think that I wasn’t aware?”
“No, of course not.” You must have known.
Rashid smiled, as he too, knew that I couldn’t spit on a smiling face.
I looked down, about to compliment Haniel for her courageous act, to find her standing on my feet. [Mommy, I did it! Haniel did all of it!]
“…Y, yes.”
Though she did it in a flash as if completing a mission, she still did it. I was more than relieved to see her take a step forward if this meant that she could get closer to her brother.
I couldn’t help but turn around to show how proud I was to Rashid and wanted some sort of reaction from him. “Look, she’s so excited about the ribbon… Um.” I went ahead of myself again.
The pearls on my hair pin dropped at the impact of me suddenly lifting up my head. Though the pin’s joint was originally weak to begin with, I never expected it to show its weakness before Rashid. But, oh well. It wasn’t precious to me, nor did I have to show my glam side to him. I could just slowly pin it back after showing off how great my dear Haniel was and it wouldn’t be much of an issue….
“Y, your Majesty!”
“…Go on.”
Before I could put Haniel down, Rashid took action before me. I had tried to turn away as I recalled the previous incident but this time, our heads bumped into each other first.
Click. I felt a slight shock from his hand as he fixed the pin for me.
“…Uh as I was saying, my daughter originally took a step towards you… but this time.”
“Yes, she took three steps.”
“…”
“Go on.” Even after fixing up my pin, his hand stayed there for a while. Thinking that his hands had been withdrawn, his deep voice and words left a deep impression. “I’m always listening.”