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IBP 78
Clearly, their eyes had met as she stepped inside.
Chloe, whose eyes were accustomed to the darkness, could see Coco.
However, Coco averted her gaze, her eyes flickering with fear.
It was an expression Chloe had never seen before on the child who always followed her around.
Just as Chloe's face clouded with bewilderment, Caligo, who was behind her, glanced at her and muttered.
“Then, I’ll go in.”
Leaving behind a stunned Chloe, who stood frozen by Coco's unfamiliar behavior, Caligo stepped back into the dark secret passage.
Coco bit her lip hard, as if embarrassed by her own actions.
“Y'know. I, I th-think I was being a bit silly...”
“You weren't silly at all.”
Answering in a low voice, Caligo took another step closer to Coco.
By the time his vision had finally adjusted to the dark.
He saw a small smile etched onto Coco's tear-streaked face.
“Why were you here? Crying all by yourself.”
Caligo murmured softly, lightly resting his forehead against Coco's.
“I can see everything you do anyway.”
“Yeah.”
“No matter what you're doing or where you are, I'll see it all through the shadows. You shouldn't cry alone.”
“Mm...”
“Come find me when things are hard. We're friends. Right?”
Caligo reached out his hand to Coco.
“Coco, everyone is worried about you.”
Even if it was a secret passage in the mansion, it wouldn't have been completely soundproof.
She must have heard the frantic noise of people searching for her.
The roar of the tiger, the chirping of the birds, the squeaking of the mice—she must have heard it all.
But Chloe thought that the child must have been upset enough to want to ignore it all.
“Everyone's worried about me...? I couldn't hear 'cause of the other voices...”
Other voices.
What on earth was that about?
Coco glanced at Chloe for a moment, then closed her eyes again.
Then, Caligo gripped her hand tightly and said.
“Yeah. So, Coco. Let's go out now.”
* * *
I gave a weak smile at Caligo's expression, which seemed to say, 'I'm here for you.'
'Right, that's true.'
I have a friend, too.
Behind me, I could hear the squeaking and chirping of the mice and birds.
They seemed to be worrying about me.
'Duke Ardos and Ruth were really worried about me, too.'
I didn't know.
Because bad voices, like “You're just a piece of trash, a stray dog,” kept ringing in my ears.
I don't think I could hear the voices of the other people looking for me.
Still, thinking that everyone had been worried about me brought a bit of strength back to my body.
I managed to stop my hiccuping sobs.
“Let's go out.”
I reached out my hand toward Caligo.
As I walked out, holding Caligo's hand tightly.
Chloe-unnie looked at me intently and reached out.
“...Why were you crying? Are you sick or something?”
The fingertips pressing gently against my reddened eyes were so kind.
That alone felt like it could melt away the lump in my heart.
'No. Unnie has a new puppy...'
It was just as I was staggering along, gripping Caligo's hand.
From a distance, to exaggerate slightly, a cloud-like swarm of servants began to gather.
* * *
'Gasp, there are too many people.'
I panicked, my eyes darting around.
I hadn't thought about it before because I felt so unwell.
'Everyone was worried because I disappeared on my own.'
Duke Ardos and Ruth also came running breathlessly from afar.
“Coco, did you find her?”
“Yes.”
Duke Ardos strode forward and scooped me up in a big hug.
“You must have been scared. I told them to just close all these damn passages, honestly...!”
Ruth replied from the side.
“You never gave such an order, Father.”
“Anyway. Coco, you little troublemaker! How did you get stuck in the passage? Are you hurt anywhere, hm?”
“Ubu-bu-bu.”
Now that I had regained some composure, it was awkward to explain.
So, I naturally nodded my head, pretending I had just gotten lost.
“Oh, you little directionless thing. I'll have to keep a maid glued to your side, really.”
Duke Ardos lifted me up in a sudden embrace.
My face was buried deep in Duke Ardos's chest.
“Do you know how worried we were, huh? You weren't hurt?”
“I wasn't hu-urt...”
“This won't do. Hm. I'll have to ban entry to this mansion.”
I sniffled my red nose right into Duke Ardos's shoulder.
“But, I don't want unnie to be banned from the mansion...”
“Sigh, you stubborn child... You must have been startled, let's go get some proper rest. And have some warm milk.”
Even while saying I didn't want the mansion banned, I couldn't find the courage to look at unnie.
I felt like the hallucinations still echoing in my ears would torment me.
So, I kept my head buried deep while held in Duke Ardos's arms.
“Oh, my sweet child.”
“Hing.”
This isn't fair.
Hugging a puppy who just stopped crying and patting them like this is cheating...
If you do that, I'll just end up crying more.
While I was sobbing, Chloe-unnie spoke to me in a very low voice.
“Coco, were you lost? Are you sick?”
I lowered my head and shook it side to side.
When I hesitated—whereas normally I would have jumped into her arms—unnie's expression grew even more worried.
“Come here, Coco.”
Unnie reached out her hand to me.
“Come here. Let me see how hurt you are. Let's go wash your nose, too.”
Her expression was one of absolute certainty that I would come.
And indeed, my legs, dangling in the air, almost drifted toward her...
But I paused for a moment.
'But unnie has another puppy besides me.'
What if, while I'm talking to her.
She suddenly says, 'I'm going to forget about Coco and try to live well now. I've brought in a small puppy, too.'... what then?
Then, I...
What face should I make?
My heart, which I had struggled to calm, began to flutter again.
'I need time to organize my feelings.'
I tightly gripped the sleeve of Duke Ardos, who was holding me, and looked down.
“I... I want to stay with Caligo, the Duke, or Ruth.”
“Huh? What? Is this a dream? You chose me?”
Ruth beamed with a huge smile, clearly delighted by the sudden words.
“...You.”
Unnie narrowed her eyes and looked at me, whose face was swollen like a steamed bun.
As if she couldn't believe it.
As if she were trying to read my expression properly.
Duke Ardos also scrutinized my face, seemingly surprised.
Only then did I realize my mistake.
'No... I shouldn't let it show that I'm upset with unnie.'
My heart hurts a lot, but it's absolutely not that I hate unnie.
It's just that I'm afraid she'll tell the truth—that she decided to bring in a 'real puppy.'
I just don't have the courage to face that truth.
So, because I want to see unnie with a smile tomorrow...
I glanced at Ruth, who I thought would be the least likely to understand my emotions, and said.
“...I want to be with Ruth.”
Chloe-unnie's gaze wavered more than any I had ever seen.
'But, there's another puppy at unnie's house.'
And so, I cowardly ran away from that spot.
With one hand holding Duke Ardos, the other holding Ruth, and Caligo and the tiger trailing behind me.
* * *
Chloe stared blankly at Coco's retreating back and thought.
'...This is a first.'
It was the first time that child had shown her their back first.
Only then did Chloe realize.
Come to think of it, Coco had always been the one to reach out first.
“Unnie!”
“Because I like unnie the most!”
That giggling voice still seemed to echo in her ears...
'The way she's acting, as if she's been hurt...'
Why?
A part of her heart kept stinging.
She felt an emptiness, as if the emotions that had filled her had been hollowed out.
However, Chloe decided to finish her tasks.
After sending the children off with Ruth, Chloe settled the situation at the mansion.
The incident of Coco's disappearance was wrapped up as a small commotion.
It was recorded that she had accidentally become trapped in the mansion's secret passage, and it was decided to tentatively close the passage so that no one would enter it again.
Despite this, Chloe's hands kept pausing as she tidied the passage.
'...But, I don't think it was an accident.'
She clearly went in on purpose and hid in the corner.
That's why she seemed to be sulking with her head lowered.
What could possibly be so hard in this world for that tiny thing to have such slumped shoulders?
Even as she used dark magic to close the existing passage, she kept fumbling.
'...I can't do this, it's too distracting.'
Because that tiny back kept coming to mind.
Chloe let out a long sigh and stepped outside her mansion.
“Are you going to find the little one?”
“Huh?”
“For some reason, the little one seemed very upset since this morning.”
She turned her gaze.
Until now, she had moved her hands mechanically, processing work.
But the moment she heard from a third party that 'Coco had been upset,' she suddenly snapped awake, as if doused in cold water.
Chloe was an adult, and Coco was a child.
If something had upset Coco.
And if it was because of something in her mansion...
She should have been the one to reach out and soothe the child's heart.
Only then did Chloe suddenly realize.
That child...
That tiny little child who had come to her like a rising tide had now permeated her life to the point where she could not imagine it without her.
So, Chloe asked the maid pressingly.
“Why was she upset? Do you have any idea why?”
“We aren't quite sure about that...”
“...Right, I see. You finish the cleanup.”
“Pardon?”
Chloe practically ran out of the Haeguk mansion.
It was simply an instinctive premonition.
That if she left Coco like this, she would regret it for a very long time.
And...
In truth, it was the first time she had listened to the voice of her own heart.
That this time, she had to be the one to reach out to Coco first.
So that the tiny child wouldn't have to hold back her tears in lonely solitude.
Following the voice of her heart telling her she must be the one to approach first.
Chloe began to run, almost frantically.
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