By Zephyria 
The armored knights, all identical in size and appearance, were surely hollow inside, yet they looked as if they might spring to life at any moment. Bliss trembled violently, gripped by the fear that if they turned their heads and spotted him, they would charge forward and snatch him by the scruff of his neck.
Hurry, hurry.
After freezing for a moment, Bliss began to move his legs urgently. He had to get out of here. Before those knights moved, before they reached out those cold steel hands to grab him…!
“Uuu, uuuuu.”
Fearful whimpers escaped his lips. The faster he ran, the longer the shadows stretched, and the armored knights appeared larger, as if they were about to pounce on him. The cold wind brushing against his back was surely caused by the clumsy swing of a knight who had narrowly missed catching the child. What do I do, what do I do?
The wind blew outside the window. The old window frames rattled with an ominous sound. The moment the moon, which had been hidden behind drifting clouds, revealed its face again—
“Waaaaah!”
Seeing an armored knight thrusting its head toward him, Bliss finally burst into loud tears.
Waaaaah!
Cassian, who had been fast asleep without even dreaming, twitched an eyebrow at the faint sound reaching his ears.
…What is that?
He remained still with his eyes closed, but the faint noise continued. As his senses woke up one by one, the sound turned into a certainty. Someone was crying. And very loudly at that. In the end, he had no choice but to get up with an irritated sigh.
“What on earth is it?”
Swallowing a yawn, Cassian trudged across the room. As he turned the doorknob, the sound of a child wailing immediately flew through the slightly open gap of the door.
“Waaaaah, waaaaah.”
Cassian paused for a moment. Even though he already knew the answer, he felt a desire to deny it, thinking, ‘Surely not.’ He needed a bit more courage to ignore the option of ‘closing the door and pretending not to know without confirming the truth.’ However, the continuous sound of the child’s crying kept pricking at his conscience.
“Sigh….”
Eventually, Cassian let out a sigh and stepped out into the hallway. He walked steadily toward the small, white lump lying face down and sobbing in the middle of the corridor.
“Bliss.”
“Waa, waaaa! Save me, please save me!”
He reached out while calling the name, but the moment he touched him, the child recoiled in terror and began to wail even more hysterically. Cassian patiently spoke to Bliss once more.
“Bliss, calm down. It’s me, Cassian.”
“Heuuu, heuuuu.”
“Bliss, I said it’s me. Cassian, your friend. We agreed to get married.”
“Heuu, hu.”
Only then did Bliss’s sobbing subside. As the child cautiously lifted his head, his face was a complete mess, smeared with tears, snot, and drool. Cassian gave a gentle smile toward the round face illuminated by the moonlight.
“Are you feeling a bit calmer now?”
“Cas, Cassian. Cassiaaan.”
Bliss burst into tears again and lunged at Cassian. Lightly lifting the child’s small body into his arms, Cassian patted his back, saying, “There, there,” while waiting for him to settle down.
Ah.
He felt a damp sensation on one part of the arm holding the child. He didn’t even need to check to know.
…The little brat peed himself.
With a deep sigh, Cassian simply closed his eyes. Meanwhile, Bliss buried his face in Cassian’s shoulder, sobbing and wiping away the remaining tears and snot.
12.
“Haaaa.”
Only after drinking half a cup of hot chocolate made by Cassian did Bliss finally let out a sigh of satisfaction. Although his eyes and entire face were swollen, and he had swapped his wet pajamas and underwear for one of Cassian’s shirts in a hurry, he looked far more relaxed than before.
Of course he would. He must feel completely safe now.
Cassian found the situation absurd, but thinking of the child who had trembled in fear in the darkness, his heart couldn’t help but soften.
I was scared to walk down that hallway when I was little too, so this kid is probably no different.
Thinking that, a surge of mercy welled up in his heart. The anger and irritation he had felt toward the child before falling asleep were now gone. Instead, another question took their place. Now that the sobbing had subsided and the child had calmed down to some extent, Cassian finally spoke up.
“Bliss, what on earth were you doing out there?”
It was the question he had been wanting to ask. At Cassian’s question, Bliss blushed and gave a silly grin.
“I was going to your room.”
“My room? Why?”
He immediately became guarded, but the answer was predictable. Bliss looked at Cassian fervently with his swollen eyes and replied.
“To sleep together, of course! Since we’re getting married, we have to be together all the time. We sleep together, and we use the same room!”
Why on earth is his memory so good?
Cassian felt the blood drain from his face. Well, he waited a whole year to get here, so of course he remembers that. Am I the one who’s slow-witted, then?
A deep sigh escaped him from a newfound sense of self-deprecation. At this rate, his plan to leave here early in the morning would go up in smoke. Just as he felt a sense of despair at the little brat’s defense, which left him no room to escape, Bliss spoke.
“We share a secret, right?”
Those words literally ‘pissed’ Cassian off. What? Secret? A secret? This damn brat—he had intended to just let it slide and move on, but the kid was daringly chatting away in excitement.
“Do you not know what a secret is?”
Unlike Cassian, who spat the words out while grinding his teeth, Bliss answered brightly.
“I know. Shh.”
Shh, my foot! Cassian’s fist trembled, though he couldn’t bring himself to throw it at the child who was making a shushing sound while blocking his lips with his index finger. He spoke again.
“That’s why I’m asking if you know what that means.”
When he muttered in a very low voice due to the rising anger, Bliss finally seemed to realize something was wrong. He glanced tentatively at Cassian and mumbled.
“…I know. It means not telling anyone.”
“Then why did you tell Daddy?”
“Eh?”
At Cassian’s immediate accusation, Bliss’s eyes widened. Looking down at the child who seemed flustered, as if he hadn’t imagined such a situation, Cassian spoke rapidly.
“Yes, I saw you on the phone. You said you’d keep it a secret, but then you were chatting away excitedly. Why on earth did you do that? You said you knew what a secret meant!”
Bliss couldn’t answer and only gaped. Thinking about how he was likely searching for an excuse in that tiny head made Cassian feel like a hysterical laugh was about to burst out. Go on, say something. You wicked little brat. I’ll listen to see how plausibly you can make it up.
Bliss stole several glances at Cassian, who was sitting on the opposite sofa with his arms crossed, glaring at him with menacing eyes. The child, who had been shifting his gaze uncertainly and breaking into a cold sweat, finally opened his mouth.
Though it would likely just be some nonsensical rubbish.
“…I’m sorry.”
Cassian paused at the unexpected words. To the frowning man, Bliss confessed haltingly with his head bowed low.
“I’m sorry, Cassian. I was just so happy that I wanted to brag about it. I’m sorry.”
Bliss’s voice began to tremble. Ah, damn. Cassian regretted it for a moment, but it was too late. Bliss was already sniffing and wiping away tears.
“This is the first time I’ve ever had a secret. No one ever tells me secret stories….”
He had barely stopped crying, but Bliss began to pour out tears again. Seeing him wail loudly, the anger in Cassian’s heart vanished, replaced by guilt. After watching the child cry and apologize blankly, he snapped out of it and hurriedly brought over some tissues to rub his face clean.
“Stop crying. What do I do if you keep crying? I said stop. Here, blow your nose. Hmph.”
“Hmph.”
Bliss obediently blew his nose as told and took a sharp breath. Cassian took out a new tissue to wipe the remaining snot and looked down at the face. If he left him like this, he felt it would become a total mess.