/
Chapter 174
Translator: Yonnee
—
“Where in the world did you get this from? There’s even a wheel in here.”
As he found the sieve-turned-wheel on the third floor of the dollhouse, he reached in and made it spin.
Rattle, rattle. Perhaps the sound made Pororing perk up, so he jumped into the wheel at once.
“Squ— Squ— Squeak— Squeak—”
Pororing vigorously ran in his wheel, and as if he was having fun in there, he started making delighted squeaks.
It was the perfect house for a squirrel.
“Your Highnesses, why did you go looking for caterpillars and fruits when you already prepared so much food?”
Sera asked Rosé and Ferre, who were absolutely smitten with Pororing.
“Because we wanted to give Pororing a special meal.”
“We gotta find out what Pororing likes so that we can give him loooots of it.”
Rosé and Ferre stared pleasantly at Pororing, each of them cupping their cheeks with both hands. As if they were happy just to see him, the twins never took their eyes off Pororing.
Even so, this was the perfect situation to broach the uncomfortable subject looming in the air, and Helios was the first to speak.
“But we still have to send him back. Roseline. Ferreritan. You secretly brought him back when you were supposed to set him free in the forest.”
He still spoke gently, but his tone of voice had a hint of unmoving steel to it. As soon as he finished saying this, the twins’ expressions instantly turned sour as they looked back at Helios.
“Nuh-uh. No matter what Hyung says, Pororing is ours.”
“Ferre’s right! Pororing wants to live with us. Look! Pororing loves us so much!”
“Yeah! Pororing knows he’s ours!”
Ferre held out one cute hand towards Pororing, who then jumped out of the wheel and climbed on Ferre’s hand.
“Squeak— Squeak—”
And then followed a cute command.
“Pororing! Jump!”
“Squeak— Squeak— Squeak—”
Ferre flicked one finger at the same time he gave the signal. And, apparently understanding what Ferre said, Pororing jumped and flipped in the air.
At the unexpected, yet extraordinary talent being displayed, both Sera and Helios gaped in surprise.
“Pororing! Tail!”
“Squeak! Squeak! Squeak—”
This time, Pororing wagged his tail gently.
Instead of wagging like a dog’s tail, the squirrel’s tail waved as if it was seaweed in the sea. Seeing this, Sera’s eyes went wide open.
“Pororing! Bang!”
Beside Ferre, Rosé pretended to shoot Pororing.
Surprisingly, plop! Pororing plopped back and showed his white belly, playing dead.
“Squeak!”
Was it because this was a world where magic was present? Sera clapped her hands unconsciously, staring amazedly at the squirrel which was exceedingly different from the ones she saw in her previous world.
“Wow
 That’s amazing!”
“See? Pororing understands us! And he wants to live with me and Ferre! That’s why you have to let him stay.”
But the moment RosĂ© said this, Sera snapped out of her reverie and shook her head. She nearly forgot her objective—which, honestly, was how it usually was whenever she’d get dazzled by the three siblings here. Pororing seemed to fit in well in that regard.
“Your Highnesses.”
Sera tried to persuade the twins once again, citing the same reasons she already told them before.
However, when she called them in a gentle voice, Helios looked at her and gave her a silent signal with his soft eyes.
‘I’ll talk to them,’ his eyes seemed to say.
“RosĂ©. Ferre.”
Helios crouched down to be on their eye level, and he gingerly pulled his younger siblings into a hug.
With Pororing squeezed in the middle of their chests, Ferre and Rosé set aside the squirrel well and raised their heads.
“Are you gonna say no, Oppa?”
“We wanna raise Pororing, Hyung.”
While Helios’ eyes contained an infinite amount of kindness, he smiled as though he was feeling apologetic.
“You know that Pororing must have a mother, too, right?”
A heavy feeling weighed down on the twins the moment they heard this. Their expressions went stiff, as if they already knew what their older brother was going to say.
“RosĂ©. Ferre.”
Helios patted the children’s backs slowly.
“I
I hate it. Don’t talk about that, Oppa.”
“Hy
Hyung. Noooo. Don’t.”
The twins were already in tears. Knowing that the dam was about to burst any time now, Sera took a step forward and stood close by, comforting the children together with Helios.
Helios gave a glance at Sera, thanking her wordlessly, then he turned to look at the children again.
His lips slowly opened, and he imparted the needed, but difficult truth to the children.
“Pororing is as young as you both, RosĂ© and Ferre. He’s going to miss his mom and dad.”
And the moment the words ‘mom and dad’ were mentioned, RosĂ© and Ferre buried their faces into the base of their older brother’s neck. Patting their heads, Helios’ expression was grave as well.
“Just like how we miss our parents.”
In the end, Rosé and Ferre burst into tears.
“Huu
 uu
 uwaaaah!”
“Hu
 huua
 uwaaah!”
Their cries of sorrow echoed in the room. After a long pause, Helios slowly spoke again.
“We know how it feels. And Pororing’s mom and dad will miss him, too.”
“Hu
 uwaah, then Po
 Pororing’s mo
mom and d
dad also c
can’t raise Pororing? Heli O
ppa.”
“Uwaaah. Hyu
Hyung
 Pororing
”
“Just like we live in the palace, Pororing and his parents also have a house in the forest. We shouldn’t take him away from his family.”
“Me too, and Ferre
 mom and dad
 uwaah. Like Pororing, we wanna see Mom and Dad
”
“Uh
 huuk
! Me, too, like Po
roring
 I wan
na see Mom and Dad.”
Pat, pat.
Helios and Sera hugged the children for a long time.
Until their tears stopped.
Until Rosé and Ferre could breathe slowly again.
Sera and Helios comforted them like that.
For the first time, Sera saw the great sense of loss that Rosé and Ferre had been carrying all this time. They rarely ever talked about their parents.
She was heartbroken by this. At the back of her mind, this was the reason she hadn’t brought up the word ‘parents’ until now either.
Sera held them tightly for a very, very long time as well.