Chapter 59: The Angel’s Farewell

“Matthias!”

Carefully poking his head through the window to make sure the nanny was not in the room, Fria immediately spotted Leon’s brightly smiling face.

“I waited every day! Why did you come so late?”

Believing the angel’s promise to return, Leon had chased his nanny away every evening and stood by the window waiting for Matthias to appear.

“Have you been well? Running around and eating lots of delicious things?”

Leon nodded vigorously.

“Yep! I did everything Father told me to do!”

“Good job!”

Climbing down from the windowsill, Fria pulled the small boy into a hug. Leon’s soft, warm body smelled faintly of sugary sweets.

“You just had a snack, didn’t you?”

“How did you know?”

His eyes widened instantly with innocent amazement.

“Can you really know everything I’m doing?”

“Of course.”

The lie came naturally now.

Faced with Owen and Leon, two people of the same bloodline yet completely opposite personalities, Fria always found himself wearing different expressions.

“Whenever Leon thinks about me, I can see Leon too.”

“So that’s why! Earlier, while I was eating cookies, I wished Matthias would come. I wanted to share them with you.”

“Were they good?”

“Yeah! But sorry. I ate them all.”

Leon lowered his head dejectedly, and Fria gently ruffled his hair.

“That’s okay. As long as Leon eats well and grows big and strong. But did you brush your teeth?”

“…No.”

“You have to brush them! Otherwise the Tooth Fairy will steal your front teeth!”

Making the same frightening face Gir had once used on him as a child, Fria repeated the warning.

“I’m not scared! If the Tooth Fairy comes, I’ll defeat her!”

Leon puffed out his chest proudly and planted his fists on his hips.

“You’re brave. I was scared of the Tooth Fairy when I was little, so I brushed my teeth diligently.”

“Is the Tooth Fairy stronger than an angel?”

Leon looked up at him anxiously.

“Are you scared now?”

“No!”

Even as he denied it, Leon opened his mouth wide and checked that his front teeth were still there. While feeling around his upper teeth, his face suddenly darkened.

“This is bad, Matthias! My tooth is about to fall out!”

“It’s loose?”

“It’s wiggling! The Tooth Fairy must be angry!”

“Let me see.”

Fria bent down and carefully examined the loose tooth. It would not come out immediately, but it would likely fall out soon.

“When you wake up tomorrow morning, make sure you tell your nanny. She knows exactly how to remove a tooth without making the Tooth Fairy angry.”

“The nanny does?”

If Leon told her, she would probably summon the imperial physician.

“And if you leave the tooth by the window, the Tooth Fairy will take the old one and leave you a present.”

“A present too? But what if the monster under my bed eats the Tooth Fairy?”

Displaying the boundless imagination of a child, Leon pointed toward his bed.

Walking over, Fria peered into the darkness underneath.

“Can you see it? Is it there?”

Leon pressed himself tightly against Fria’s back.

Under the bed. Inside the wardrobe. Behind drawn curtains.

Fria remembered nights from his own childhood when he had been convinced something was lurking there, leaving him too frightened to sleep.

“It won’t come out anymore starting tonight. I just sent it home. It promised not to come back.”

“Really?”

Fria, the angel and exorcist, nodded confidently.

Having dealt with the monster beneath the bed, he moved on to the creature supposedly hiding in the wardrobe. Leon hurried after him.

Inside the wardrobe there was nothing but neatly hung clothes.

With exaggerated motions, Fria flung open the doors and performed an elaborate “exorcism.”

Turning back toward Leon, he said,

“You don’t need to worry anymore. Nothing will ever hurt you-”

Then he froze.

“You don’t need to worry anymore. Nothing will ever hurt you.”

Whose voice was that?

It was not Gir’s.

It belonged to someone from even earlier in his childhood, someone who had cared for him before Gir ever appeared in his life.

That person had emerged from a wardrobe, chased away imaginary monsters, and comforted a crying child.

Fria could not remember the face.

Only that the man had been very tall.

That his broad chest felt safe whenever Fria buried himself against it.

That riding on his shoulders had made the world seem exciting and beautiful.

That it was because of him Fria had come to love high places.

Because he missed him, he had begun climbing trees.

That man…

“Matthias? Did the monster run away? Is it gone now?”

“Huh?”

The moment Fria turned toward Leon’s voice, the memory vanished completely.

‘What was I just thinking about?’

“Matthias! Why aren’t you answering?”

Stamping one foot in frustration, Leon demanded a response.

“The monster… the monster is right here!”

“Ah! That tickles!”

Laughing helplessly as Fria attacked his sides and stomach, Leon squirmed and twisted away.

Tomorrow Fria would return to his own residence.

He could not promise when they would meet again.

Gently stroking Leon’s hair, he explained that he would be busy for a while and would not be able to visit.

“One day, when Leon is living happily and no longer waiting for me, we’ll meet again.”

“When? When I’m six? Or seven?”

“Time moves differently for angels. We might not meet again until Leon is an adult.”

“That long?”

“We’re secret friends. Even if we don’t meet, we can still feel each other, right?”

Leon pondered the idea before arriving at his own conclusion.

“Okay! Then I’ll think about Matthias really hard. Watch over me. And come see me again.”

Children cannot clearly distinguish between dreams and reality.

Fria had heard that he himself used to invent imaginary friends and tell stories about playing with them, much to his nanny’s concern.

A child’s days should be filled with wonder and joy.

As Leon experienced new adventures and discoveries, he would eventually forget his secret angel friend, Matthias.

Fria memorized the boy’s face.

‘Thank you for giving me such a precious memory.’

****

“Lord Fria!”

The young maids waiting outside the main palace rushed toward him the moment they saw him.

Within seconds they had surrounded him, firing off stories about everything that had happened during their separation.

“Lord Fria! Do you know how shocked we were when His Majesty suddenly ordered us back to our family homes?”

“We thought all three of us had been dismissed! We were so upset because we thought you hadn’t even tried to stop it!”

“Did you hear that Lord Livron got engaged? Can you believe he had a fiancée all along and hid it from us? Apparently being apart only made their feelings stronger. The wedding announcement came out of nowhere!”

“Oh, don’t remind me. The moment my mother heard that story she started nagging me to get married too. I had to go on a hunger strike just to come back and serve you again! Don’t I look thinner?”

Fria studied Judith carefully.

Had her cheeks slimmed down?

Was her jawline sharper?

Honestly, he couldn’t tell.

If anything, she looked rounder.

“Look properly!” Judith pouted.

Unlike Judith and Isabel, who took turns talking nonstop, Olga simply offered a quiet bow.

“Have you been well, Olga?”

“Yes. I returned to Lord Lindgart’s residence.”

“Lindgart again?”

Isabel sounded exhausted.

“Didn’t you have anywhere else to go?”

Ignoring the rude question, Olga answered calmly.

“No. Going home would only mean another mouth to feed. I feel more comfortable in the palace.”

The moment Olga finished speaking, Judith turned eagerly back to Fria.

“And what about you, Lord Fria? We heard all sorts of rumors! They say His Majesty dotes on you so much that he keeps you hidden away where no one else can see you.”

The sparkling anticipation in Judith’s eyes was more intimidating than anything else.

‘Here it comes,’ Fria thought.

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