Deflower 2

“Where, where?”

“What? Something in Bliss’s eye?”

“Wow, Bliss’s eye is all red! Look at that, it’s red, right? Strawberry, strawberry!”

“Did a bug sting him?”

“Idiot, he must have gotten hit by someone. Bliss is stupid, after all.”

“What? Bliss, who hit you? Who was it? Tell us quickly!”

From behind the clamoring siblings, the eldest, who had been staring intently at the youngest, spoke.

“If he was actually hit, it’s a serious problem. Because it means someone hit a Miller.”

At those words, the atmosphere suddenly turned cold. Normally, he never got involved in such childish antics. Frankly, he was too old for that sort of thing, but his personality was also cynical. His attendance at this party was more or less a duty as a member of the Miller family. The minor troubles that occurred there were something he naturally ignored and brushed aside.

But if someone attacked a ‘Miller’, that was a completely different story. It meant they had no fear of the name ‘Miller’. Nathaniel, frowning as if displeased, and the other children all looked up at Bliss, nestled in Papa’s arms, with cold, hardened faces. In the quiet silence, Papa, Ashley Miller, who had remained silent until then, finally spoke.

“Nathaniel is right. Bliss, who dared to do such a thing?”

The precious Miller had to be held accountable for the bruise on the youngest’s eye. As everyone watched with angry expressions, Bliss, who had been watching the reactions around him with bewilderment, hesitated and then opened his mouth.

“I, I did it.”

A very brief, awkward silence fell. A quiet moment passed, as if everyone was replaying what they had just heard, and then, as if suddenly released from a spell, everyone began speaking at once.

“What? Bli, you hit yourself? Why?”

“What on earth did you do all of a sudden? Is it not that your head is bad, but that you have no brain?”

“Don’t tell me, Bli, you wanted to test how hard your head is?”

“Idiot, then you should hit your head, why hit your eye? Oh, wait, Bliss, could it be you can’t tell the difference between your eye and your head?”

“Sounds plausible enough for Bliss. He’s a fool.”

“No, Grayson, Stacy! You idiots! That’s not it!”

Listening to them, Bliss couldn’t hold back his anger and stomped his feet in Papa’s arms. Soon after, everyone fell silent and stared at him. As if asking, then what on earth happened? Bliss let out a big sigh and finally spoke.

“Earlier, some kids I don’t know came swarming over.”

“Came swarming over?”

“They swarmed over?”

“Grayson, Stacy.”

Ashley Miller gave a stern warning to the two who couldn’t wait and jumped in impatiently.

“I told you not to interrupt others while they’re speaking, didn’t I? Everyone be quiet, no one opens their mouth until Bliss finishes speaking.”

At the coldly dropped voice, the children tensed and closed their mouths. After quickly scanning his now-quiet children, Ashley finally turned his gaze to Bliss.

“So what happened? Go on, Bli.”

At the quiet voice directed at him, Bliss fidgeted with his hands and averted his gaze.

“Well, you see, so, those brats…”

“Bli, you should say ‘kids’, not ‘brats’.”

“Koi.”

This time, Papa smiled at Daddy, who had interjected to correct his son’s word choice.

“Let’s let Bliss say what he wants to say first, okay?”

It was a voice completely different from the one he used when cautioning the children. At the gentle admonition delivered with a kind, smiling face, Koi blushed, said ‘Okay,’ and closed his mouth. Only after the surroundings had completely quieted down did Ashley finally nod at Bliss again. As if to say, go on. Taking a deep breath, Bliss finally spilled the words he had been holding in.

“Those brats, those kids, they said I wasn’t a Miller!”

Instantly, the surroundings fell silent. This silence was different from before. Nathaniel raised an eyebrow, the other children looked at each other, and Daddy and Papa stared at Bliss with furrowed brows. After numerous question marks flashed through their minds, one of them finally spoke.

“What do you mean Bliss isn’t a Miller?”

When the fifth-born, Larien, asked first, the fourth-born, Chase, retorted.

“That’s nonsense, what else? Stupid brats must have said stupid things.”

“Chase, you shouldn’t use bad words.”

Koi admonished the child, but ignoring that, the twins, the third and second born, clamored competitively.

“It’s nonsense, but the fact they said it is the problem.”

“Right, how dare they utter such words out loud. Something must be wrong with their heads. We need to teach them a lesson. What method would be good?”

“Kids…”

As Koi opened his mouth again, at a loss for how to refine the children’s rough language, the eldest suddenly raised a question.

“But what does that have to do with your eye turning purple?”

When Nathaniel pointed it out with a frown, the other children finally seemed to realize and stared at Bliss. Papa, who had glanced at his eldest son, also asked with a suspicious tone.

“I was wondering about that too. What happened with that eye?”

At the quiet voice, everyone looked only at Bliss’s mouth. Under the unexpected attention, he hesitated, then after taking a deep breath, finally revealed the truth of the incident.

“Those brats, those kids, said my eyes aren’t purple, so I’m not a Miller.”

“So?”

Remembering it again made his anger surge. Watching the youngest breathing heavily, huffing and puffing, Papa asked for the next part. Bliss puffed out his chest proudly and shouted.

“I hit my own eyes to make them purple!”

Immediately after, a collective sigh of ‘Ah’ erupted. While the watching children, as well as Papa and Daddy, were left speechless, staring at Bliss, only Bliss looked triumphant, raising his head.

“If I’m not a Miller because my eyes aren’t purple, then I just have to make them purple, right! So I kept hitting my eyes, and then those guys ran away. Cowards, stupid jerks! Serves them right! I should have taught them more of a lesson. I was about to chase after them when someone blocked my way. If I had just caught them, I would have done this, this!”

Everyone could only watch silently as Bliss, all excited, threw punches into the air, shouting ‘Hah, hah!’ with each exertion. With thoughts not much different from Koi’s, who was feeling utterly bleak about where to even begin, Ashley finally broke the silence among his speechless children.

“It’s a very good thing that you fought with pride for the fact that you are a Miller.”

He first praised the spirited child, then continued calmly.

“But self-harm in the process is not a good method. In such cases…”

“What’s self-harm?”

When Bliss tilted his head and asked, Papa suddenly closed his eyes. He remained like that for two or three seconds, as if thinking something, then opened his eyes and began speaking in the same calm voice as before.

“It means hurting yourself. You must never hurt yourself under any circumstances, understand?”

“Mm…”

Feeling somehow like he had done something wrong, Bliss’s mouth turned down. Seeing him like that, Papa immediately added.

“Next time something like that happens, come find Papa or Daddy right away. We’ll handle it for you.”

At the soothing words, Bliss immediately stuck out his lip and grumbled.

“I couldn’t see you.”

“Bliss is as small as a booger.”

Ashley directed a cold, silent gaze at the fifth-born, Larien, who seized the opportunity to interject. After confirming his daughter immediately closed her mouth, Papa turned his words back to Bliss.

“In such cases, find your other siblings or tell any adult nearby. You are Bliss ‘Miller’, and if some kids who don’t even know this subject are bothering you…”

After calmly explaining, he smiled with a slight twist of his mouth.

“…then anyone will help you and bring them to us.”

Koi, who had been listening up to that point, stealthily reached out and stroked the youngest’s head. As if to say he could relax now, at the warm touch, Bliss’s cheeks softened and a faint blush rose. Seizing the moment, Koi quickly asked the child.

“Bliss, want some ice cream?”

“Strawberry.”