cure chapter 5

The child’s face once, my hair color once. Back to the child.

After glancing back and forth several times, I tilted my head, and the child mirrored me.

“Little one, who are you?”

Plump cheeks framed a pair of babbling lips.

Pale platinum hair swayed gently in the breeze above a slightly tilted head.

“Mama?”

And bright, inquisitive green eyes stared back at me.

I blinked, taking in the child’s features, identical to those of Liana—the owner of this body I now inhabited—whom I’d seen in the mirror last night.

“Are you my sister?”

“Mama!”

Too young to be a sister.

I raised an eyebrow, observing the child who seemed to have only just begun to speak.

“A niece, then?”

“Nooo. Mama!”

My questions seemed to displease her.

The child shook her head, chubby cheeks wobbling, her hands clasped tight.

“Hmm… then…”

Either she was naturally outgoing or we were acquainted. Lost in thought as the child clambered onto my lap, I heard a low voice from above.

“There you are.”

A shadow fell over me.

“….”

Oh, dear. Preoccupied with the baby, I’d momentarily forgotten Enoch.

Swallowing nervously, I pretended not to hear, but Enoch’s shadow only deepened.

“Liana.”

His voice, heavy with authority, left no room for further pretense. Clutching the child, I turned.

Enoch’s face, like a finely rendered oil painting, filled my vision. He was much closer than I’d realized.

“Aha. When did you arrive?”

“Just now. You weren’t in your room?”

“No. I was… taking a walk.”

Was he buying my lie, or simply letting it slide?

His gray eyes, fixed on me, drifted to the round head nestled against my chest.

“Who is this?”

“I’m not sure. I just met her myself.”

“Hmm. Her hair is quite… ”

“Similar to mine, isn’t it?”

Enoch slowly nodded, seemingly agreeing that the child’s hair color was remarkably like my own.

Just then, the child, apparently feeling confined, poked her head out.

The moment her green eyes met Enoch’s gray ones, his gaze flickered before returning to me.

“Liana…”

“Yes?”

“Did you have a child?”

I blinked.

Confused, I stared back at him, then burst out laughing.

“Haha, what are you talking about? I’m not even married. How could I have a child?”

Liana’s appearance in the novel was brief, and she was unmarried.

Unless she had a hidden child somewhere, there was no way this little girl could be hers.

But just as I was about to dismiss his absurd suggestion, the child, clutching my hair in her tiny hand, suddenly called out to me in a clear voice.

“Mama!”

“….”

“….”

The child’s cheerful laughter filled the air as we stared at each other, dumbfounded. Then, she beamed again and reached out to Enoch, babbling once more.

“Papa!”

***

“…Come over here.”

Enoch ran a hand through his hair, watching me from a distance.

“Ha. I’m telling you, no.”

“Really not…?”

“No! I mean, I only met you yesterday. It doesn’t make sense.”

“But then why does this child call you—I mean, Your Majesty and me—why-”

“Mama! Papa!”

Just then, the child called out to us again. I held out my hands, widening my eyes.

“—Why does she call us that?”

“…How should I know?”

Enoch responded, exasperated, glancing between me and the child tugging at my hair.

“Well, you did say you’d never seen her before. Hmm…”

I tilted my head, then scooped up the child.

She giggled, clearly amused.

“Little one, am I your mama?”

“….”

What? Why are you looking at me like that?

Enoch sighed, regarding me with an air of utter bewilderment.

“…Do you expect an answer from a child who can barely speak?”

“You never know.”

I pouted, cuddling the child closer. Her chubby cheek nestled perfectly against the curve of my neck and shoulder.

Enoch raised an eyebrow, watching as the child nuzzled contentedly against me.

“She looks exactly like you, Liana.”

“Right? I thought so too.”

Platinum hair and green eyes were quite rare in this world.

Enoch narrowed his eyes at me as I scratched my head.

“But Liana, wasn’t she in your manor? Why are you acting like you don’t know anything?”

“Ah, about that…”

“About that?”

‘I don’t know. I don’t know anything, not just about this child.’

…Could I really say that out loud? While I hesitated, Enoch’s eyes suddenly widened in realization.