I Became the Obsessed Ex-Husband in a Romance Fantasy - Chapter 143
It was a very careful, slow ascent. Far softer than when Dad scooped him up.
"Kyaah!"
Damian's green eyes curved into crescent moons with curiosity and delight.
The transparent membrane wrapping his body was warm, and the sensation of pedaling his feet in midair felt like the greatest game ever.
"Abubu! Kyaah!"
Damian giggled inside the soap bubble and clapped toward Edel. As if asking her to float him even higher.
"Hehe, is it fun?"
Edel smiled warmly and lifted Damian about a handspan higher.
Just then, Rosalyn—who had been swinging a long block in the corner of the drawing room—turned her head.
"……!"
Rosalyn's expression instantly turned serious when she spotted Damian.
"Kyaah!"
Some girl she'd never seen before had appeared and strung up her personal punching bag—Damian—in midair.
'That's dangerous!'
Rosalyn slammed the long block she was holding down onto the floor.
Even though Damian was happily giggling inside the soap bubble, it looked incredibly dangerous in Rosalyn's eyes.
'That idiot's going to cry again.'
Damian was the type to wail dramatically over the slightest bump.
And falling from that height? That was basically a preview of that idiot crying all day long.
'Picking on my little brother!'
A hot flame surged from deep within Rosalyn's chest. It wasn't because she was worried about her brother crying.
'That's something only I can do!'
Every time Rosalyn accomplished something to show off, her brother would pout with a look of unbearable envy.
Unable to just watch, Rosalyn would help him out. Then her brother would grin sheepishly, as if to say "Who said I was upset?"
Making Damian cry and laugh was her privilege as his older sister. She couldn't let someone else steal that.
"Nnngh!"
Rosalyn pushed off the carpet and sprang to her feet. Her usual lazy, indifferent attitude was nowhere to be found.
She put all her strength into her little legs and charged toward Edel at a furious, toddling speed—thump, thump, thump.
Tadadak!
Edel, who had been focused on the spell while watching the soap bubble change color, flinched at the sudden heavy weight clamping onto her calf.
"Hm?"
And then she discovered Rosalyn clinging to her pant leg like a cicada.
"My lady?"
The next moment, Edel drew a small breath.
"……."
Rosalyn was glaring at her with a stern face.
'Put him down.'
A resolute command conveyed through gaze alone, without a single word.
"…Whoa."
Edel reflexively reached out her hand.
"Adorable."
To pat the top of Rosalyn's head.
Edel had been through hell and back in back alleys and had even taken others' lives. To someone like her, Rosalyn's wordless protest was nothing but adorable.
Moreover, Rosalyn's gaze was clear and transparent. Unlike the starving demons she'd grown up with at the orphanage.
It was the gaze of a child raised with love—something Edel had always yearned for and admired.
"Is it because you're worried your brother might get hurt, my lady?"
Edel gently stroked Rosalyn's head while sneaking a glance at the Duke and Duchess standing behind.
It was so soft and squishy. One side of her chest tingled.
"It's alright, this is just—"
Edel couldn't finish her sentence.
'How insolent!'
Because Rosalyn's eyes had turned even fiercer.
From a tiny baby barely reaching her knee, Edel felt a presence similar to the patron standing right beside her—His Grace the Duke.
Kkwaak.
Rosalyn's tiny fingers gripped Edel's calf with all her might.
"Ugh!"
Edel couldn't help but stagger.
It was only the grip strength of a baby, yet it was surprisingly painful.
Because of it, Edel's mana control wavered.
Tok.
At that moment, the soap bubble enveloping Damian burst in midair.
"Mwah?"
The round wall that had cozily wrapped around Damian vanished. Simultaneously, gravity yanked Damian's bottom downward.
"Damian!"
The first to move was Dane.
He reached out both hands to catch Damian, and—
"Oops."
Edel, having registered the situation, also reached out.
She had already chanted a protective spell in advance, just in case. It would activate the moment she channeled mana into it.
The mana flowing from Edel's fingertips was on the verge of forming a wind cushion.
Pat!
Damian's green eyes flashed like lightning. It was the instinct and defense mechanism of a startled baby activating.
Saaaah—
The surrounding air gathered beneath Damian's bottom, forming a mass.
Pwook.
Just before Damian's bottom hit the floor, the softly compressed air mass caught him gently.
Pwoing! Pong.
Damian bounced softly a couple of times on the invisible wind's elasticity, then landed on the carpet most pleasantly.
"Kyaahaha!"
Oblivious to the fact that he had just instinctively cast an incredible spell, Damian erupted in laughter as if he'd been riding a fun amusement ride.
"……."
Dane and Edel stood frozen in place, staring at Damian. Then, as if they had planned it, they turned to look at each other simultaneously.
"Do me!"
Damian crawled over to Rosalyn, who was still clinging to Edel's leg. He tugged at his sister's hem and laughed.
Saying that it had been so much fun just now, and that she should try it too.
"……."
When Damian approached, Rosalyn quickly turned to inspect her brother's condition.
He had no injuries or scratches anywhere, and his face was flushed red with excitement.
"Hmph."
Only then did Rosalyn release Edel's pant leg with a pat. Without any lingering attachment, she toddled back to her earlier spot and plopped down.
'Idiot.'
With a dramatic, Pwwww, of a sigh, as if to make a point.
But Rosalyn's face already showed signs of relief.
Bwung! Boom!
Rosalyn picked up the long block again and started swinging it.
"…Hmm."
Edel didn't miss a beat in observing the scene. Then she turned to face Dane, who was watching her with cold eyes.
"Just now—was that intentional?"
"No, sir. It was a mistake. I apologize."
At Dane's rebuke, Edel quickly bowed her head.
"The young miss's grip was stronger than expected, sir. But I had prepared countermeasures in advance. The young master wouldn't have been hurt."
"Mm."
As Dane's gaze softened somewhat, Edel spoke in a respectful posture.
"Let me finish explaining. When the bubble burst just now, it wasn't my magic that caught the young master."
"Then?"
"The young master instinctively activated magic himself."
Edel's tone grew serious.
"To be this capable at just one year old is extraordinary talent. If you ask other students at the Academy when they first used magic, most would say age five or older."
"I see."
"It would be best to teach him to harness magic as early as possible. It'd be a waste to just leave it untapped."
Edel gazed thoughtfully at the back of Rosalyn's head.
"If power is mishandled, it could catch bystanders in the crossfire."
"…Oh my."
Rose, who had been listening with sparkling eyes, let out an exclamation.
"Then, truly, our Damian… just as you said?"
"So it seems."
"We need to look for a tutor right away. Someone from the Academy's Magic Studies Department."
"Yes. Or having Edel here take it on would work too."
When the arrow suddenly turned toward her, Edel straightened up with a start. Dane was gazing at her with an unreadable expression.
"Me?"
Edel scratched her head and asked shamelessly.
"Is this perhaps punishment for the crime of dropping the young master? You mean to keep me close and work me to the bone?"
"Well, now."
Dane smirked.
"I know you're currently the top student of the Magic Studies Department's second year. You also got a perfect score on this semester's midterms, didn't you?"
"……."
Edel clammed up, forgetting even her flippant banter.
'How does he know such trivial details?'
The answer was obvious.
It was probably Helena-unni, the guild master. She reported on how the Arsil Orphanage kids were doing along with the sponsorship details.
But the most powerful figure in the kingdom remembering the grades of a mere student like her?
Dane Schumichel.
The new master of Helena-unni, who ran the Arsil Guild. A patron with power ranking among the top three in the kingdom.
Without him, would someone who grew up as an orphan and assassin have ever been able to even set foot at the Academy?
'Schumichel Castle says they want us to dispatch a mage. They need someone to check whether the heir has magical talent?'
That was why Edel had raised her hand faster than anyone to volunteer.
Because she wanted to see her patron once more. Because she wanted to repay him somehow.
'…I want to do this.'
And on top of that, she'd been handed the chance to personally teach the children of her benefactor.
She felt like throwing herself down and bowing right then and there.
'No, no. Stop.'
Edel suppressed her racing heart and thought coolly.
Unlike Damian and Rosalyn, who had parents to protect them, she was still an orphan with no one to lean on.
Emotion was emotion, and business was business. To accept meekly here would be no different from lowering her own value.
"It's true I'm the top student at the Academy, but you know I'm still an undergraduate who hasn't even graduated, right? Besides, tutoring a one-year-old baby doesn't exactly match my major, and……."
Edel trailed off while metaphorically crunching numbers.
"So?"
"I'd like you to meet some conditions."
"Conditions, huh."
Dane crossed his arms and looked down at Edel, tossing the word out casually.
"Bold. Are all mages these days like this?"
"I'm good at looking after my own interests."
Since he didn't seem particularly displeased, Edel discreetly pulled a notebook and quill pen from inside her coat.
"First, I understand that a tutor would normally reside at the castle, but since I'm still a student…"
Dane nodded, as if to tell her to continue.
"I'd like His Excellency, a man of immense power who can pressure the Academy, to handle it."
"What kind of pressure?"
"Registering it in the school regulations that observing and educating an unprecedented genius baby counts as field training."
Edel caught the corner of Dane's mouth twitching upward ever so slightly.
"So Edel, what you're saying is—"
Rose interjected, tilting her chin.
"Instead of attending the Academy, you'll teach Damian here and submit reports to replace your major credits?"
"Exactly, ma'am."
"Not a bad plan. If you set your thesis topic as 'Mana Manifestation and Control in Infancy,' there won't be any credit issues either."
"Did you read my mind?"
Rose smiled at the natural flattery.
"If you do that for me, I'll stay close to the young master and support him in handling mana properly. I'll also double as a safety officer in case of emergencies."
Edel said as she wielded her quill pen in her notebook.
"However, my personal work-life bal—rather, research and sleep time must be strictly guaranteed. Maintaining the top rank at the Academy is no easy feat, you know."
"Work-life balance?"
Whether Dane furrowed his brow at the unfamiliar word combination or not, Edel continued without hesitation.
"And exam periods are important too. I'll need paid leave during those times."
"Paid leave, she says."
Dane let out a laugh of disbelief.
As if he found the sheer audacity of someone thoroughly calculating her own interests while being employed by the Schumichel Family amusing.
"And most importantly, the matter of compensation. The sponsorships you've provided so far were under the name of my Academy dignity maintenance fees, so I trust the tutor stipend will be established as a separate contract."
Moreover, having pretended to step back on the pretext of being a student, she was now using that very point in reverse to demand a formal employment contract and stipend.
It was a negotiation attitude befitting a modern mage—prioritizing thorough compensation and rights over sacrifice or devotion.
"Helena taught you well, didn't she?"
Rose burst out with a laugh. Dane, who was laughing along, then spoke.
"You've got more guts than the Academy's headmaster. Fine. I'll draw up the contract as you wish."
"Thank you, Your Excellency!"
Edel snapped her notebook shut with satisfaction and beamed. She had successfully secured solid terms and a hefty price tag.
But Edel's gaze was stealthily drifting toward Rosalyn, sitting in the corner.
'I get to stash away a tidy sum of secret funds AND legally admire that cute, precious little lady every single day. This is an absolute jackpot, isn't it?'
Swallowing down her endlessly impure yet blissful personal motives.