If it’s not blackmail, then there’s no explanation for why Kian suddenly grabbed Sikar’s hand so affectionately.

Perhaps sensing my suspicious gaze, Sikar was staring intently at me.

‘Ah, no. Sikar has always stared at me like that.’

Just as I was about to ask Sikar about this matter, Kian grabbed my collar.

“Mother. Please don’t suspect the Duke.”

Goodness. Kian spoke as if he could see right through my thoughts, making me jump in surprise.

“Huh? Kian, what’s gotten into you all of a sudden?”

“I’ve decided to get along well with the Duke from now on, Mother!”

“Why did you suddenly decide that?”

Though I found Kian’s thought admirable, I couldn’t take his words at face value—children don’t change overnight without good reason. Something must have happened…

Kian looked slightly flustered and scratched his cheek as he mumbled,

“Well, you see…”

As expected, he couldn’t come up with a quick answer.

Just then, Sikar abruptly cut in.

“I promised to treat him well. So Kian also promised to treat me well from now on.”

As he said this, Sikar placed his hand on Kian’s shoulder, and Kian grabbed Sikar’s leg.

“Yes, that’s right, Mother. The Duke has been kind to me, so I’ve decided to be kind to him too.”

Their behavior felt so staged that I couldn’t easily dismiss my suspicions.

So I circled around them and asked,

“Did something happen during your walk? Or did you two really make some kind of pact to get along?”

“The latter. We made a pact to get along.”

“Yes, Mother. I fully agree with what the Duke said.”

“But why… do you two look so unnatural together?”

Now, without even being prompted, they were looking at each other and laughing, “Hahaha.”

So I pulled Sikar aside slightly and said,

“Sikar. You didn’t threaten Kian, did you?”

“Threaten? Do you think he’s the type to be threatened by me? Kian isn’t a child who’d cave under threats from me.”

“Then why is he acting like this? It’s strange for him to change overnight. You know my suspicion is quite reasonable, right?”

“The two of you are really grilling me. It’s because you don’t know how reckless that little rascal is. I’m the one who was threatened, actually.”

“Threatened…? What do you mean? What threat did Kian make against you?”

“Well… he said he wouldn’t open his heart to me unless I treated you well.”

Seriously? That can’t be called a threat.

“How is that a threat? Anyone would say something like that.”

“I can’t tell you everything, but yes, that counts.”

“Enough. More importantly, calling Kian ‘little rascal’—I’m declaring that word a forbidden term from now on.”

“Forbidden term? You mean I’m not allowed to say that word? Me?”

“Yes. As a father, you’re banned from using that word.”

“If I break this forbidden term, will I get some kind of punishment?”

I hadn’t prepared a specific punishment—it was a spur-of-the-moment idea. But if I set a forbidden term, I should assign a penalty to make Sikar cautious. What should the penalty be?

While I was pondering, Sikar smirked again with his signature icy sneer.

“Somehow, I’m curious… I’m even looking forward to hearing what the punishment is.”

“How can you look forward to it when you don’t even know what it’ll be?”

“Well… since you like me, maybe the punishment will be something like… a kiss? Or maybe a hug? Or… what else…?”

He’s falling into another ridiculous misunderstanding. Fine. I’ll show him just how dangerous that misconception is.

Therefore, I decided to assign him something he absolutely loathes.

“Really? So you’ll strictly follow the punishment, no matter what?”

“Well, I’ll do whatever you want. Rules are rules.”

“Good. I want you to say, ‘I love you.’”

At that moment, I saw Sikar freeze completely, stiff as a statue.

Even if he were to die tomorrow, he couldn’t do this, right? His resistance was already coiling up like a serpent.

Just moments ago, Sikar had been looming over me as if ready to devour me—he now turned around and walked straight back to his original seat.

In short, he sat beside Kian and pretended to focus calmly on sewing clothes.

Even after Sikar and I finished cutting all the remaining fabric, Grandmother hadn’t arrived, and Kian had already fallen into a nap.

“Sikar. Could you go check on Grandmother and see what’s going on?”

“The moment I start looking for her, I’ll become the tactless grandson.”

“Tactless grandson?”

“Can’t you tell from the fact she hasn’t come yet? She wants us two to be cozy together.”

How can I possibly know if that’s true or not?

“Is that really true?”

“When I was little, Grandmother often did this. I think I mentioned it before, but I’ll say it again—she did the same when she wanted me to have a younger sibling.”

Again, I felt bloated despite not having eaten anything.

To end this conversation, I turned my gaze toward sleeping Kian. He was frowning again in his sleep.

“Sikar. Kian is frowning again.”

Sikar glanced at Kian with indifferent eyes and said,

“Do you think Kian is having a nightmare?”

“I’m not sure. But every time I see little Kian sleeping with a frown, my heart aches.”

“Still, he’s much better than before. He’ll be fine soon.”

“How can you be so sure?”

“Because he’s being well protected by you. Smoothing the wrinkle between his eyebrows will help a lot.”

Still, Sikar’s words gave me some comfort.

I was about to smooth the wrinkle between Kian’s eyebrows when I remembered that Sikar and Kian had promised to get along better from now on.

“Hmm… you should be the one to smooth Kian’s brow. Since you promised to treat him better, you should do this too.”

For a moment, Sikar seemed to glare at me.

“Huh? Did you just glare at me?”

“No, I didn’t.”

Even his feigned innocence was laced with sarcasm.

Anyway, he dropped the act, cupped his hands gently, and began carefully smoothing the wrinkle between Kian’s eyebrows. And truly, Kian’s brow relaxed immediately.

“What happened? Is he really okay?”

“I only said that because you were so worried—but it seems he really is fine. You don’t need to worry so much.”

Sikar stared silently at Kian for a while longer, then chuckled softly.

“This kid is just an ordinary little brat when he’s asleep.”

Did he just smile at Kian? Or did I misread his sneer?

‘No. He definitely smiled.’

“You—you just smiled at Kian, didn’t you?”

“Me?”

“Yes. You smiled at Kian just now.”

“It was just a slight chuckle.”

“But you’re not that kind of person. You never smile or chuckle at anyone. You only scowl, get angry, ignore, or sneer.”

“Really? Then can you believe me now? That I’ve truly resolved to treat Kian well?”

Hmm. Smiling at someone like that seems to come only from genuine affection. Just deciding to be kind doesn’t automatically make you smile at someone.

For once, I felt Sikar’s resolution to get along with Kian might actually be sincere.

If so, that would truly be fortunate—for both of them.

‘Then… maybe it’s time to rein Sikar in a bit.’

“Sikar. How about sleeping together with Kian tonight?”

Sikar, who hadn’t been touched by anyone, nearly fell off his chair on his own, then stared at me as if he’d heard nonsense.

“What did you say?”

“Since you’ve decided to get along with Kian, it’d be nice for you two to sleep cozily together tonight. And I’ll sleep cozily alone with Grandmother for the first time in a while.”

I often recalled the memories of sleeping alongside Grandmother, hungry and humble, back when Kian briefly stayed at that commoner’s house—I’d been missing those days.

How could I ever forget the time I spent with Grandmother? She was the first person I relied on after coming here.

“Anyway, I’ll sleep with Grandmother tonight since it’s been so long. You sleep with Kian. Understood?”

“Cough. Well, even if I agreed, Kian might not want to. He’d probably hate it more than I would.”

“No, he’ll like it. He said he’ll get along well with you from now on.”

Was I being too much? I didn’t think it was such an unreasonable request…

But it seemed like quite an unreasonable demand to Sikar—he wore a deeply shocked expression.

“So you mean… sleep together… with that little rascal…?”

“I told you that’s a forbidden term. Didn’t I also say that if I use it, my punishment is saying ‘I love you’?”

“There’s always a first time for leniency. I’ll let it slide this time.”

‘It sounds like he’s doing me a favor.’

“And don’t you think the punishment is too biased? I can’t agree to it.”

“Fine. Then tell me what unbiased punishment you have in mind. I’ll listen and decide whether to accept it or not.”

Perhaps because the punishment of saying “I love you” was off the table, Sikar’s expression seemed noticeably more relaxed. He thought for a moment, then took my hand and kissed the back of it, saying,

“A kiss on the back of the hand sounds nice.”

I yanked my hand back as if it had caught fire.

“This—this isn’t right! You can’t just randomly kiss my hand before we’ve even agreed on the punishment—that’s cheating!”

“What, was my demonstration too poor? I could make it deeper, if you’d like.”

This crazy man, doing it again.

“You know what? Then you should’ve demonstrated saying ‘I love you’ too. Why didn’t you do that?”

“I didn’t set that ‘I… whatever’ as a punishment. I’ve never said those words in my life. I never will. So if you’re thinking of forcing me to say it, forget it.”

“I can’t accept this hand-kissing punishment either!”

“Then what punishment do you actually want?”

So I aimed for a more realistic penalty.

“How about playing with Kian—folding colored paper, playing spirit games, anything—as long as you play with him.”

“That’s not a punishment—I was planning to play with him anyway. Pick something else.”

Something else? What else could there be?

As I pondered deeply, a truly brilliant idea struck me.

“I’ve thought of something good.”

“Your overly excited expression makes me suspicious. If it’s something weird…”

“Give Kian an airplane ride! That’s what I want!”

“An airplane ride…?”

This time, I grabbed Sikar’s hand myself. Sikar flinched and stared intently at his wrist, which I was holding.

“Come on, search your memory for flying objects.”

Then, to mimic how fathers give airplane rides to their children, I raised both hands and tilted my body left, then right, repeating the motion several times.

“Like this. Do this for him.”

But Sikar wasn’t looking at me—he was staring fixedly at his own wrist in my grip, holding it tightly.

‘Did I startle him by grabbing him suddenly?’

“What are you doing, Sikar?”

Sikar then extended his hand toward me and said,

“I didn’t see it properly. Grab my hand again.”