That night, I grabbed a pillow and headed to Lyriette's room.
When I said I'd sleep in the same room as Lyriette for just four days, surprisingly, not a single person looked at me strangely.
If anything, Edmund seemed pleased, encouraging me with, "Yes, having you by her side will give her strength."
"Did you brush your teeth properly?"
"Yeah."
Sitting demurely on the bed like a new bride, Lyriette twirled a slightly damp lock of hair as she answered.
Seeing her pajamas printed with little bears, I couldn't help but laugh.
I guess a kid is still a kid, after all.
"Then let's sleep now. When you're sick, you need to rest well and eat on time."
"A-already? It's only nine o'clock…"
Normally, she'd nod and lie down the moment I said something like that.
But tonight, for some reason, she puffed out her cheeks and pouted.
Was this some kind of childish sulking?
Well, I suppose nine o'clock is fairly early even by children's standards.
"Is there something else you want to do?"
"I want to hear a story about you, Uncle Baal."
"It won't be very interesting."
"I don't mind."
A story about me, huh.
I wasn't the type who liked talking about myself in front of others, so I hesitated a little.
Not because I had anything to hide—it was purely a boring-content issue.
Still, seeing Lyriette gaze up at me with those sparkling eyes, I didn't have the heart to disappoint her, so I decided to tell her a story as a kind of white noise slash lullaby.
"Alright then. I'll turn off the lights, lie down, and tell you a story. If you get bored partway through, feel free to fall asleep."
"I won't miss a single word."
"Goodness."
I wondered why she was so interested in my past.
But then, thinking back to when I was young, it made sense.
Even I used to be curious about stories from my uncles or older relatives when I was a kid.
For the sake of my determined little niece, I turned off the light myself, came back, and lay down beside her on the bed.
The bed itself was quite large, so even with the two of us lying down, there was still plenty of room.
If we were too close, Lyriette might feel uncomfortable.
And she might dislike the smell of a bachelor, so, partly to give her space, I put some distance between us.
"……?"
But Lyriette, who had been near the wall side, wriggled closer and closer to me.
Then, whenever our eyes met, she'd pause for a moment, and the instant I looked elsewhere, I'd feel her creeping closer again.
It was like some kind of "Red Light, Green Light" game.
"Um, Lyriette? If you keep coming closer like that, I won't have any room left to move back."
"Then you could just come closer to me."
"Wouldn't that be uncomfortable for you? I might smell."
"Didn't you just wash up?"
"There's a certain body odor that doesn't wash away, you know."
In that sense, Lyriette smelled like some kind of baby lotion.
But there was no way I could give off a sweet scent like that.
Unless you count the smell of medicinal herbs, ink, and old paper that had soaked into me from years of holing up in my workshop.
Grab.
But my worries didn't last long.
Lyriette stretched out one arm and clung to me fiercely, as if binding my body in place.
I guess a swordswoman is a swordswoman, after all.
Her arm strength was surprising for a ten-year-old girl.
I had a feeling I might actually lose to her in an arm-wrestling match.
That's assuming, of course, she wasn't using any strength-enhancing magic.
Having successfully restrained me from retreating any further, Lyriette buried her face in my chest and rubbed her head against me as if shaking it side to side.
"Hehe, Uncle Baal, you smell nice."
"Not like sweat?"
"No. It's a really good smell. Actually, I think 'fragrance' might be the right word."
"Fragrance, huh."
There was no way that could be true.
I wasn't exactly the type to walk around wearing perfume.
I was moved by my niece's generous heart, praising me with words that weren't even true, just to spare my feelings.
"Somehow it makes me feel safe and comfortable."
"I'm glad to hear that. But it's a bit hard to tell a story like this."
Talking in this position meant I ended up whispering right into her ear, making it hard to control my volume.
So when I expressed my difficulty, Lyriette's eyes lit up and she suggested a solution.
"You're right. Then, Uncle Baal, could you lie flat on your back facing the ceiling?"
"Hm? Like this?"
The moment I straightened out on my back, there was a *smack* sound as some kind of cicada latched onto my body.
Except this cicada was quite unusually large.
More precisely, Lyriette placed a hand on my stomach as I lay there and pressed her body against me like a sloth clinging to a tree branch.
The problem was, given the difference in our body sizes, there wasn't a good spot for her pillow, so after some discomfort, Lyriette eventually pulled her own pillow away entirely.
Wouldn't her neck hurt like that?
Well, I suppose there's no helping it.
"Use my arm as a pillow."
"Really? Thank you so much."
What was with that response, like she'd been waiting for exactly this?
Anyone watching would think she'd deliberately pushed her pillow away just to get an arm-pillow.
That's how swift and precise her movements had been.
Anyway, since I was trying to get some sleep and the setup for storytelling was ready, I figured I'd finally open my mouth.
"Which part of my story do you want to hear first?"
Was she curious about how I became a mage?
Or maybe why I left the family?
Perhaps she wanted to hear about how I met my teacher.
Or, to bring it more up to date, the story of when I reached the 7th Circle…
"…Uncle Baal, have you never had a lover until now?"
"……Um?"
…A completely unexpected question came flying in out of nowhere.
So she was curious about my love life, then.
Well, I suppose Lyriette is reaching the age where she'd want to know about such things.
"That's right, I haven't. To be precise, I never even thought about doing something like dating."
"Why not?"
"I was so absorbed in magic. Back at the main estate, there were plenty of times I didn't come out of my workshop for over two months."
"You really are amazing. I don't think I could ever manage something like that…"
There's nothing particularly amazing about it.
I just did it because I wanted to.
Actually, if someone back then had told me to go out and date instead, that would've felt like torture.
"I heard that at your age, Uncle Baal, it's about the time people start considering betrothal."
"That's true."
If the phrase "your age" felt like a roundabout way of saying I was old, was I just being paranoid?
"So there's no one you have your eye on yet? Not even someone from a matchmaking meeting, or someone whose name has come up in that context…?"
"Not yet. Even if there were, I would have refused."
Truthfully, I had received a few matchmaking proposals.
Even back when I was still a 6th Circle mage, I was considered a promising enough mage.
And with my family background being what it was, exaggerating only slightly, there had practically been a line of matchmaking offers.
But none of it really appealed to me.
"Is there a reason?"
"I suppose I'm a bit old-fashioned in my thinking. Matchmaking, or meeting someone for that specific purpose in some sudden arranged setting—it just doesn't sit right with me."
They often call it "seeking a natural encounter."
The type who pursues organic, unforced meetings.
That was exactly the kind of person I was.
Even in my past life, during high school and college, I'd received quite a few blind date offers.
But I never once actually went to any of them.
"In other words, you dislike artificial encounters."
"Exactly. I much prefer someone I've watched over a long period of time. Starting out as close friends, and then gradually, feelings develop into something more, and you become lovers."
Delivering my theory of romance to a niece a full twelve years my junior felt strangely embarrassing.
Meanwhile, Lyriette was practically burning with determination not to miss a single word of what I said.
Just as I began to wonder if this was really that interesting to her—
"Like that person from earlier?"
"That person?"
Suddenly, Lyriette's voice dropped an octave.
Was it just my imagination, or had the air around us gotten a little colder?
"The one who came to pick you up earlier, Uncle Baal. You two seemed very close. I wondered if perhaps you had your eye on that person…"
"…Ah."
The moment I heard Lyriette's words, my head suddenly went cold.
Not because she'd struck a sensitive nerve.
It was simply a wave of self-loathing and sudden reality-check crashing over me.
Right.
Why hadn't I thought of that.
"Lyriette, there's something you're misunderstanding. Ern, that friend of mine—is a man."
"…………Excuse me?"
The moment I revealed a truth I hadn't even wanted to confront myself, Lyriette's expression went utterly blank.
Anyone watching would have thought someone had smacked her upside the head.
It wasn't so much shock as an expression that seemed to be asking, "What kind of nonsense is that, Uncle Baal?"
***
Having heard a truth she'd never expected, Lyriette's mouth hung open in a daze.
*What in the world is Uncle Baal talking about?*
That person was a man?
So, just as sturdy and male as Uncle Baal himself?
*Why?*
Only the word "why" would come to mind.
Really, why? How could that be?
Although Lyriette hadn't met many people in her life so far,
that person, Ern, had undeniably possessed striking beauty.
Surely, if that person walked down the street, at least one or two men would try to flirt.
*Could Uncle Baal be trying to deceive me?*
Even as she thought there was no way Baal would do that to her, a small sprout of doubt raised its head, and her mouth moved without her meaning it to.
"Uncle Baal, even though I'm young, I'm not so gullible as to fall for a lie like that…"
"No, it's true. If you really don't believe me, ask her yourself tomorrow."
"…It's really true?"
Lyriette's voice, which had grown curt with her vehement denial, calmed down.
"It's only natural to be confused. In fact, it would be strange if you weren't. A hundred out of a hundred people would look at that person and think 'woman,' not 'man.'"
"T-that's true, isn't it…?"
Seeing her uncle understand her feelings so completely, some of the tension finally eased.
After all, if it really was a man dressed as a woman, then the bone structure, the small yet delicately shaped face—everything about that person had seemed distinctly female.
Still, thinking back on it, there had been some odd details.
Lyriette belatedly noticed this and let out a small sigh.
*Now that I think about it, that voice had been rather low.*
Not as deep as Uncle Baal's rich baritone, but certainly a bit low to be a woman's voice.
And, though it might be a rude thing to say, the lack of curves on that body had indeed been unmistakably male.
No, "lack of curves" wasn't quite the right way to put it, either.
There simply hadn't been any curves at all, to begin with.
As she gradually came to accept it, a question suddenly occurred to her.
"But then, Uncle Baal. Why was a man dressed like that?"
"Hmm… there's a reason. If you promise not to tell anyone, I'll explain."
"I promise."
Lyriette hooked her pinky finger without a moment's hesitation.
If she didn't hear the full story now, she probably wouldn't be able to sleep tonight at all.
"Actually, that friend has a fiancée. From what I've heard, they've been childhood friends since practically the moment they were born. Their bond has lasted nearly twenty years."
"Wow…"
Twenty whole years?
Lyriette was genuinely impressed.
*No, wait. If I just wait ten more years, my bond with Uncle Baal will reach that same length, too.*
At the same time, a strange sense of competitiveness bubbled up inside her.
Never mind the two-year gap when Baal had been away from the main estate—
such a trivial variable didn't even factor into Lyriette's calculations.
"Anyway, this fiancée has a certain complex."
"What kind of complex?"
"That she herself isn't feminine enough. In fact, she's quite renowned within her knight order—an imposing, dignified lady knight."
"That's amazing."
To have earned fame within a knight order at such a young age meant she must be an exceptionally capable knight.
"Ern, on the other hand, was frail and sickly from childhood. I hear she was always shut up in her room. Because of that, she has a small build and a delicate frame, and apparently gets told often that she looks like a woman."
"I see."
"Then one day, out of the blue, the fiancée confided her worries. She said she was a woman, but was tired of always being told she seemed masculine. Apparently she gets a rash even from wearing skirts or dresses, or something like that."
"Pfft."
A rash from wearing a dress?
There's no way that's literally true, but the mere image of it made her burst out laughing.
"So Ern came up with a plan. If the person she loved was being mocked behind her back for seeming manly, then perhaps if she—being a man—dressed up like a woman, she could share in that ridicule too."
"S-she went that far?"
Lyriette understood the impulse to care for someone you love, but did she really need to go so far as to dress like a woman?
"I suppose she wanted to share in the pain. As they say, joy shared is doubled, and sorrow shared is halved."
"Ah…"
"And I think there was also an element of wanting to show it, rather than just say it—like telling her, 'I'm the same kind of person as you, so don't worry so much.'"
"How wonderful of her."
But hearing Baal explain it this way, it made complete sense.
The most wonderful part, Lyriette thought, was that instead of trying to force the person she loved to change,
she chose to change herself instead, showing through her own actions: *I'm the same kind as you.*
"So then, when Uncle Baal was asked earlier whether you had anyone catching your eye…"
"That was probably meant as an offer to introduce me to someone. It's a habit of hers—she brings it up often."
And with that, every last question was resolved.
"Well? Can you believe your uncle's words now?"
"Yes…!"
Perhaps it showed on her face, because when Baal asked with a smile, Lyriette nodded vigorously.
*Thank goodness…. Huh?*
As she unconsciously placed a hand over her chest in relief, she suddenly caught herself in the middle of that thought and blinked.
*Why did I just think "thank goodness" a moment ago?*
Moreover, checking her own state, she realized that the sticky, unpleasant feeling that had been welling up in her chest was gone.
Why on earth was that?
She still didn't know the reason.
Snuggle.
For now, she simply wanted to fall asleep, held in his arms.
As if the tension holding her together had suddenly snapped, sleep came crashing over her.
"…Sleep well, my dear niece."
Through her fading consciousness, Lyriette faintly heard those words and thought to herself.
*One time.*
He thought I couldn't hear him, so he called me that again.
She resolved to definitely collect on this debt tomorrow, and drifted off to sleep.
Somehow, she'd developed an inexplicable conviction that starting tomorrow, she'd be able to get along well with Ern.