* * *

My idea was very simple.

If left alone, he could end up in a state of ‘I pity you for not knowing the beauty of love.’

How sad would it be if he’d become a great villain who would destroy the world without ever receiving any kindness in the past?

He could even ignite a desire for revenge against me.

And giving kindness and taking care of others is the answer that has been proven through countless romance novels.

But if I’m too good to him, he might become obsessed with me in an instant!

‘Then it doesn’t have to be me!’

Maybe I could take care of him just enough so that he wouldn’t become too attached, by changing my appearance, voice, and even my name.

Even now, my appearance is that of a generous grandmother who makes your heart feel warm and at home.

Just looking at me makes your heart feel warm, like a hometown.

‘I’ve never had a grandmother, but this could work.’

I took out a small hand mirror from my pocket and checked my appearance.

Lying in the warm underbrush for some reason, memories of my grandmother rolling up noodles come to mind…

It was the image of a kind grandmother who could create memories even with someone who didn’t have a grandmother.

‘It’s absolutely impossible for someone to become obsessed with this.’

I was proud of myself for coming up with a simple yet perfect plan.

I confidently placed my hands on my hips and stuck out my belly.

‘Experience the warmth and taste of life!’

“Wha…t.”

With a slight twitch of his eyebrows, he looked at me with trembling eyes.

‘Seems like a stronger reaction than I expected?’

He quickly regained his composure and glared at me.

“What are you doing?”

“This boy, what kind of nonsense is that to say to this grandma?”

“What?”

With a sigh, I put the basket down on the ground.

And I noticed that the restraint connected to his feet was firmly fixed to the wall.

He was still barefoot.

‘Well, I guess it would have been uncomfortable to wear those shoes.’

As I thought that, my heart ached as I looked at his feet, covered in dirt and filled with coldness on the cold stone floor.

Spring was coming, but the underground prison was still as cold as mid-winter.

I should have brought something to wrap his feet in before I came here.

‘It’s clear that he won’t even accept it if I offer it to him now. I’ll have to bring it next time.’

Since he had refused to eat, there was no reason for him to accept something to wrap his feet in.

I entered the cell with a basket in hand.

“What are you doing?”

“You… boy! It’s grandma!”

Creak!

I blinked my eyes as I took out a warm cloth from the basket.

“Come over here and sit down. Your legs will hurt if you stand.”

But he glared at me with such a fierce look that it felt like my heart was shrinking.

Even after seeing the image of a warm grandmother who could create memories that didn’t exist, he was still so guarded. Impressive.

“Come on, grandma wants to clean you up. Or do you want to do it yourself?”

“Get out of here!”

Whack!

The kid hit my arm.

His long nails scratched my arm, leaving a red mark.

He hesitated for a moment.

I guess it was because of the mindset of honoring the elderly.¹???? (????) is a concept in Korean culture. It emphasizes the importance of maintaining order and hierarchy between individuals of different ages

How frustrating, this is K-romance fantasy!

‘If this were my real appearance, you wouldn’t have blinked an eye!’

I took advantage of the opportunity to approach him again, but he resisted like a stubborn cat who didn’t want to take a bath.

The problem was that the cat was too big and strong.

It was fortunate that he didn’t scratch me with his nails again, but it seemed like we were just going to struggle against each other without any progress.

‘I can only stay in this form for an hour!’

I have no choice.

“Stay still!”

A bad cat who hates taking a bath needs to be forced to take one!

When I pressed the button I had brought, he flinched and collapsed.

“Ouch, heavy.”

I groaned as I caught him.

Even a small child is heavy.

Well, he’s bigger than me.

“You…!”

He stretched out on my lap and glared at me.

The restraints that paralyzed his limbs seemed to be working well.

He couldn’t move his body like a cat under anesthesia.

“Come on, grandma is trying to take care of you. It’s not scary. Aren’t you a good boy?”

His body was as cold as ice.

I wiped him with a warm towel carefully.

“Stop it. Ugh, don’t…do that.”

“If you wanted to do it yourself, you should have listened to grandma. Then we would both have been happy.”

The half-dried scab didn’t look good, tangled with dust and debris.

I took out a new towel and gently wiped away the dirty scab, then applied antiseptic.

“It stings, it stings!”

Since some of the wounds had been left untreated for a long time and had developed pus, I applied the antiseptic almost as if pouring it on.

It must have stung like salt was sprinkled on it, but he didn’t even flinch.

“Oh, you’re enduring it well. You must be a general’s grandson~”

“…uck.”

Huh? Did I just hear a curse word at the end?

It must have been my imagination.

I applied medicine to the wound and wrapped it with a bandage.

“Okay, all done. You endured it well. You did the right thing by leaving it to Grandma, didn’t you?”

“I don’t know what kind of joke this is, but it’s not funny at all, so…ugh!”

I wiped his lips with a new towel as he spoke without thinking.

“You need to wash your face too. You can’t stay dirty.”

“Stop it!”

“Come on, stay still. What if the towel gets in your mouth?”

The child rebelled a few more times, but he quieted down when I tried to stuff a towel into his mouth whenever he opened it.

His limbs were paralyzed and he couldn’t move, so he had no choice but to give up when the towel was shoved in his mouth.

‘Of course, his gaze could kill me.’

Anyway, I could clean his face quite comfortably.

I looked down at his face on my lap and marveled at it anew.

His eyes, nose, and mouth were delicate and beautiful, as if they had been crafted by a god who had worked overtime for more than a year.

I wiped along his round cheeks, cleaned his straight nose, and looked up at him.

His even forehead, neat eyebrows, and slightly upturned eyes.

And those mysterious purple irises that seemed to hold the secrets of the universe.

‘Ah…’

Unknowingly, I stopped even moving my hand and stared at the kid’s eyes for a while.

I didn’t even realize that our eyes had met.

I was just captivated by the whirlwind of emotions, pain, and confusion swirling within that mysterious light.

As if I were the first person to step out into space and witness the endlessly expanding universe.

My hand, resting on the child’s cheek, lost its strength and slipped down smoothly.

‘Oops.’

Finally, I snapped out of it and withdrew my hand.

The child furrowed his brow and averted his gaze.

Looking at his tightly closed eyes with deep wrinkles, I realized with a jolt.

‘I must have stared at him too much.’

I felt a bit flustered and embarrassed.

I finished wiping the child’s face.

While I was wiping his face, the child didn’t open his mouth or his eyes.

The torchlight in the prison made her face red and watery.

As I watched the shadows created by his long eyelashes flickering along with the torch, I marveled once again.

He was like a single flower blooming in this prison where the sun couldn’t reach.

No, his beauty surpasses even that of a flower that would bow its head.

‘I did well to prevent him from being killed.’

Losing such beauty would be a loss for humanity.

‘Meet a good person just like those heroines in novels and have about twelve children.’

Just that alone would be a remarkable achievement contributing to humanity.

After wiping his face completely, I took out food from the basket.

For a few days, all he had to eat was soft white bread warm mushroom soup, and water.

I tried to loosen his paralysis a little, but he didn’t resist like an angry cat this time.

He quickly got up and moved away from me, though.

“Here, eat this.”

“I don’t need it.”

“You haven’t eaten anything until now. You need to eat to get your strength back.”

“Get lost!”

Crash!

The white bread he pushed away rolled onto the floor.

“This boy! You’ll get punished if you refuse to eat!”

I got angry and took out another piece of bread from the basket.

“But I knew you would do this, so I prepared one more!”

I’ve figured out your pattern!

I’ve seen it in a romance fantasy novel once or twice.

Refusing to eat is something that happens to the weak.

“If you don’t want to eat, you can eat later. You need to eat well to get better.”

“It doesn’t matter if I don’t get better. No, it’s better to die like this.”

“Don’t casually say that you’ll die, young boy!”

She glared at me with sharp eyes.

“Cut it out with the jokes.”

“I’m serious.”

It’s true.

Leave out dangerous anime, obsession, and revenge.

I was purely worried about the child who was talking like that.

“Eat well and get better, both physically and mentally.”

“What are you up to?”

“I don’t have any plans.”

The child looked at me with eyes that didn’t believe me at all.

“Whenever I see a sick child, I can’t help but want to take care of them.”

“……”

I couldn’t hear what the child muttered as they turned their gaze away.

“When your body is weak, your mind is also weak. Only bad thoughts keep coming up.”

As I tidied up the dirty towel, I said,

“Eat a lot and get better soon. Then you’ll think of something different from before. This old grandma who has lived for a long time guarantees it.”

After picking up even the bread that fell on the ground, it was time to go back now.

Slowly, an hour has passed.

That kid is also on guard against me, so even if he ate in front of me, he would pretend not to care.

“Grandma is leaving now, boy. No need to see me off.”

He’s not saying goodbye at all.

Hmm, but aren’t you going to eat it and leave it as it is?

“…Refusing to eat is bad. If you don’t eat, next time I’ll force-feed you even if I have to paralyze you.”

Perhaps he had no intention of eating, as the child’s eyebrows twitched.

“If you don’t want to eat like a baby in grandma’s arms, then eat.”

“I said I don’t need to.”

“I take that to mean you want me to feed you if you don’t.”

Ignoring the child’s protest, I walked out of the prison with a lighter basket in hand.

I should give the fallen bread to the birds in the garden.

* * *

As I stepped outside, the soldier was surprised to see me.

“G-Grandma?”

Oops, I forgot for a moment.

I nodded my head nonchalantly.

“Hey there, child. How have you been?”

“Yes, I’ve been well… Huh?”

The soldier, who was naturally answering, furrowed his brows as if something was strange.

“Do you remember when this Grandma saved a pie for only you in the kitchen back in the old days?”

“Yes… I remember. As I was crying from intense training, you saved me a pumpkin pie. There was nothing as delicious as that pumpkin pie soaked in tears.”

“Yeah, that’s right.”

I nodded my head with a warm smile.

“But, well, although it feels like there really is such a memory… Who are you?”

“I’m someone sent by the young lady. Don’t worry.”

I thought he was a fool, but he’s still doing his job, this uncle.

The soldier was about to ask more questions out of curiosity, but he closed his mouth when I showed him the insignia.

Once I was fully out, I stretched.

Before I knew it, my arms and legs had transformed into a chubby little kid’s.

“As expected, it’s not something that can be done in one go. But if I keep going, it will get better, right?”

Even though the disguise had been removed, there were still elongated gashes on my arms.

Seeing that made me a little uneasy.

“No, no! It will be fine!”

I clenched my fists tightly and gathered my determination.

“Ruru?”

When I turned my head, I saw Dad.

“Dad!”

I ran happily towards Dad.

But Dad’s reaction was different from usual.

With his face completely frozen, he stared blankly at one side. Wait, my arms?

Following his gaze, I saw my arms.

More precisely, there were long red gashes on my arms.

“What is that on your arm?”

I hesitated and closed my mouth.

If I tell him that kid did this, he’ll go crazy this time and kill him!

What should I do?

“I, I got scratched by the grass!”

The grass didn’t intentionally harm me, it was just something that happened as I passed by. So it shouldn’t matter, right?

And he can’t tell them to kill the grass.

Hehe, the clever tricks of Lady Ruru!

That’s when it happened.

“Summon all the gardeners immediately.”

My dad’s voice, spoken in a low tone, froze the back of my head with self-satisfaction.

Ah, Dad?

Is it really necessary to make such a fuss?

“Yes, Your Highness!”

“This must not be taken lightly! The gardeners must be held accountable immediately!”

“How dare they allow the grass to harm the young lady!”

No, wake up. It’s not like the gardeners allowed it because they wanted to. They should be stopping the fire, not pouring oil on it.

In an instant, the gardeners were dragged out.

There were dozens of them, turning pale and trembling.

‘No, what is this….’

Who would have thought that just saying I got scratched by the grass would lead to this.

“Wimp! They said you were hurt!”

Ixion and Ares came, I don’t feel happy about it at all.

“My little sister has a wound on her arm. Where is it?”

After Ares looked at my arm, his red pupils darkened.

“It seems like you all want to die.”

“If you just wanted to die, it would have been easy to ask for it. Why use this method?”

Ixion looked down at the gardeners with a fierce smile.

A ferocious energy emanated from the boys.

“Execution!”

“Absolute death penalty!”

“Definitely execution!”

People shouted.

Dad firmly shook his head.

Oh?

As expected, my dad is the leader of the Phearaton family!

‘No matter how much of a fool he is for his daughter, he still has some sense!’

Is it reasonable to kill all these gardeners just because my arm got scratched by the grass?

He needs to calm down the situation!

Dad finally opened his mouth slowly.

“Simply executing all the gardeners is not enough.”

Huh?

“Destroy all the grass in every place my daughter can go, and burn it to the ground.”

What?

Why are there no sane people here?

I let out a deep sigh.

‘I have no choice. I have to do something.’

I used the crying skill I learned when dealing with the knights and Viscount Dier.

“Dad…”

“What’s wrong?”

Dad immediately embraced me.

“Are you really going to uproot and burn all the flowers and grass?”

“Yes. So don’t worry.”

I pressed both of my hands against my cheeks and looked at him.

“Then, then are you going to burn Ruru flower too?”

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  ???? (????) is a concept in Korean culture. It emphasizes the importance of maintaining order and hierarchy between individuals of different ages