By Zephyria 
So, what exactly is “fine” about it?
It was still funny and absurd, but seeing Bliss acting so excited and talking nonsense made Cassian want to tease him. Cassian asked with a straight face.
“Are you saying you’ll marry Papa? You just told me I’m like Papa.”
Now he’ll be speechless. Just as Cassian grew curious to see how this little brat would navigate this crisis, Bliss came up with a brilliant solution.
“I’ll be the baby and the partner too. That’ll work.”
As Cassian froze for a moment, Bliss went a step further, shouting with a bright smile.
“Honey-Daddy!”
He felt like he had just heard something very dangerous. Feeling a sudden wave of dizziness, Cassian quickly steadied himself and took a deep breath. What on earth was he exchanging words with a snot-nosed brat for? Overwhelmed by a sudden sense of futility, he walked on without another word. The wetlands, their destination, unfolded before their eyes.
“Whoa, it’s huge! It’s super huge! Cassian, look! It’s this big!”
Cassian flinched and whipped around. There was Bliss, excitedly shouting while repeatedly raising and lowering his binoculars.
Phew. Cassian unconsciously clutched his chest, then quickly looked away, feeling embarrassed. It seemed the damage from the previous day was greater than he thought. Perhaps for the rest of his life, he would live in terror, his heart dropping whenever he heard the word “huge.” A chill ran down his spine for a moment, but Cassian soon composed himself.
It was ridiculous to be so swayed by the words of a mere seven-year-old.
He shook his head vigorously a couple of times and focused back on assembling his equipment. Meanwhile, Bliss was completely absorbed in birdwatching, moving his binoculars here and there in search of birds.
“Did you see many birds?”
Cassian asked as he placed the assembled field scope on the ground and adjusted the focus. Bliss answered with a cheerful “Yup!”
“I can see everything, even the beaks, with this! It’s amazing!”
The child continued to chatter in an excited voice.
“A little while ago, I saw a bird that was all white, but only the top of its head—right here—was red.”
“The crown.”
When Cassian provided the word, Bliss repeated “crown” before hurriedly continuing.
“The other birds with it were all white, but only that bird had a red spot there. I wondered why, and then guess what? Another bird started pecking at it with its beak!”
A bird being bullied, Cassian thought indifferently. The animal kingdom wasn’t much different from the human one. Being ostracized or bullied by the herd for being weak was a common occurrence.
“Poor thing.”
Bliss seemed to pity the bird. Just as Cassian was about to give a lukewarm response, thinking that children are just like that, Bliss spoke again.
“I think it got caught cheating. It should have just gotten a divorce first; once you go bald, no one will want you. What a shame, it’ll have to live the rest of its life lonely and alone. And it’s bald, too.”
Cassian stared silently at Bliss, who continued to sigh, saying, “Bald and living alone.”
“…How old were you again?”
After a pause, Cassian asked. Bliss answered brightly.
“Seven!”
Exactly as Cassian knew. He frowned and asked in a slower tone than usual.
“But you… who told you about things like getting caught cheating or getting a divorce?”
Could it be that the relationship between Ashley Miller and his partner was worse than it appeared on the surface?
There are countless couples whose public image differs from their reality. This is even more common among the upper class, who value prestige, and “show window” couples are not uncommon, so perhaps the Miller family was in such a situation…
“Larien did!”
At the unexpected name, Cassian frowned and asked.
“Lari… who?”
Looking up at the bewildered Cassian, Bliss answered excitedly.
“Larien, my sister!”
Ah. Just as Cassian finally realized Larien’s identity, Bliss continued.
“I watched The Sweet Betrayer with Larien, and Larien said that people who cheat should have all their hair plucked out to make them bald. The main character’s husband cheated, so the main character and her family beat the husband up. It was intense. They plucked his hair out and hit his dick and just used whatever they could get their hands on, like this, like this!”
Watching the snot-nosed brat swing his two fists wildly, Cassian found everything tedious.
“Do you even know what cheating is?”
To Cassian’s question, Bliss answered while still running around the ground.
“Of course I do! It’s when you get hit in the dick and go bald.”
What does he know?
Cassian simply shut his mouth and focused on his work.
Right, what would a mere seven-year-old know.
Considering that Bliss had blabbed to Papa less than five minutes after promising to keep a secret, it was equally ridiculous that Cassian had held such high expectations for a seven-year-old.
No, I’m the worse one. He’s seven, but I’m an adult.
Adding this self-reflection, he soon took his eyes off the field scope and beckoned Bliss.
“Come here and look at this.”
“Whoa!”
Bliss, who pressed his eye to the lens as instructed, let out another cheer. Cassian, who had adjusted the telescope so the child could observe the birds at his height, spoke.
“That’s a rare kind of bird, so we’re lucky. You can often see endangered birds in these wetlands, so I’ve come here often since I was young.”
He had always thought it was very lucky that such wetlands were part of the estate. Thanks to that, he could observe birds in peace whenever he felt like it, without any rude intruders.
“Do you see the bird with the black tips on its feathers? That bird comes here around this time and crosses the ocean to the opposite continent when the season changes. Isn’t it amazing for something so small?”
“Yeah! It’s amazing!”
Cassian chuckled at the sight of Bliss, who was obsessively watching the birds while repeating his words. Just then, a flock of birds flew in. Cassian told him to wait a moment, moved Bliss aside, and turned the field scope toward the flock to adjust the focus.
“Now, look.”
He waited for the child to put his eye to the lens again before speaking.
“Those birds came here to mate. If we wait, we might see the male perform a courtship dance for the female. Seeing them dance in a group is quite a spectacle.”
For a considerable amount of time, he gave Bliss information about the birds and told him interesting anecdotes. While observing the birds, Bliss listened intently to Cassian’s words, completely losing track of time. So, when it was finally time to return, Bliss’s shoulders slumped in visible disappointment.
“We can just come back again next time.”
Cassian patted Bliss on the head as if to comfort him, but the child couldn’t quite cheer up. Seeing this, Cassian opened the back seat of the car, took something out of a bag, and held it out.
“Here.”
Bliss, who had been repeatedly looking back toward the birds in regret, tilted his head upon seeing what Cassian was holding.
“What is this?”
There was nothing written on the cover of the fairly thick book. While Bliss turned the book over in curiosity, Cassian spoke.
“It’s a bird compendium I made.”
“Huh?”
Bliss snapped his head up at the unexpected words and hurriedly opened the pages to look inside. The pages were filled with bird drawings that were clearly hand-drawn and descriptions written in a neat hand.
“Did you draw all of this, Cassian? And you wrote all this too?”
“Yes.”
Cassian said with a faint smile.
“It’s good to record the birds you’ve seen yourself when observing them. It’s helpful for recalling memories and enjoyable to look back on later.”
“Are you really giving it to me?”
“Yes.”
As Bliss shouted in excitement, Cassian nodded and added.
“About half of it is empty. You can fill the rest. Well, do you think you can do it?”
“Of course!”
Bliss answered instantly without a second thought. Cassian gave me a gift like this. My friend gave me a book he made himself. A treasure that is the only one in the world! His heart swelled so much it was almost hard to breathe.