I Stole the Child of My War-Mad Husband

I opened the filing cabinet in the bottom compartment in the corner of the office. There are documents related to the orphanage there.

‘As expected from Rupert and Ordin. Even though they look heartless, they care about this part.’

There are many irresponsible lords who don’t care about orphans at all.

I started reading documents about Mion.

‘His parents died when he was eight, and he was entrusted to an orphanage in Onyx Village.’

After that, he couldn’t adapt, so he went to the orphanage where he is now after a year.

‘Ah.’

I think I have a clue.

I compared the location of the orphanage where Mion was and the village on the map where the ghost was sighted.

‘The timing coincided.’

From the day the boy entered the village’s orphanage, reports of ghost sightings sprang up in the village.

It cannot be ignored as a coincidence.

‘But it’s hard to reveal right away.’

There is no evidence. I quietly put the documents back in place and walked out.

There is still one unanswered question.

‘The ghost that poked my cheek.’

Rupert and Michael wondered if I was frightened and mistaken because I hadn’t actually seen it.

‘You can’t see the ghost unless you’re near the ‘core’.’

But on the other hand, wasn’t the core close to me that night?

‘Was there Mion?’

No, it can’t be.

Rupert must have caught him. It’s hard for a ten-year-old boy to have the skills to outwit him.

“Mion said earlier that he lost something important.”

What if that’s the core?

And if someone else picked it up and has it…

‘Then the person who picked it up must be close to me. Then it makes sense that there was a ghost next to me!’

At dawn, the servants and maids did not walk around the hallway.

Besides, if a suspicious person was walking around, Rupert couldn’t be unaware.

In the end, it was picked up by someone who was close to me and whom my husband was not wary of.

‘There’s only one person.’

I stopped in front of my daughter’s room and turned the doorknob.

Leah widened her eyes as I opened the door.

“M-mom?”

“Leah, I have a question for you…”

At that time, a pale human figure blocked the way.

“…….”

I was so surprised that my body stiffened.

A soft voice echoed in my ears.

[Oh, Noel. Do you finally notice?]

Who the hell are you pretending to be close to me?

…no, more than that, I want to pass out first.

***

I saw a dark red marble in my hand.

A few days ago, Leah said she picked up something that had fallen in the garden.

Perhaps this is the core of black magic.

At first glance, it is an ordinary-looking marble.

‘There’s a bigger problem than this.’

I saw a boy floating in the air.

About ten years old, he is a pretty-looking boy with blond hair and green eyes.

Leah said that he suddenly appeared in front of her eyes when she picked up this marble in the garden.

“So we became friends!”

I looked at the boy and my daughter alternately.

Frankly, there is no guarantee that this ghost will not harm my daughter.

After sending my daughter away with some plausible pretext, I looked back at the boy.

“Who the hell are you?”

[Call me Nas. That’s my nickname.]

To tell me your nickname first, you must be a very sociable ghost, huh?

“Okay, Nas. Why were you with my daughter?”

[Because that’s the power of this magic. Oh, but this one is in a much worse altered state. Anyway, you can summon a dead soul related to you if you have the core.]

I looked at him suspiciously and asked, “I am holding it now. Then shouldn’t you disappear?”

Nas smiled. [No, Noel. You and I are very, very complicated. That’s why your daughter, Leah, was able to summon me.]

“So you’re related to me, not Leah? But I don’t know you.”

For some reason, he had a confident expression on his face.

[I am your friend! And a great man who deserves respect from everyone in the world!]

What is this, a cheeky little boy full of confidence? Although he is a ghost, he is not scary at all.

I thought of a typical fantasy cliché for no reason.

“You’re not the god of this world, are you?”

He snorted. [It can’t be. God? Aren’t you being too confident?]

…I was treated like a fool by a ghost.

“Don’t laugh. This is really my first time seeing you.”

[You’ll find out soon. Still, it’s a bit disappointing to hear that you don’t know me.]

“When you say that, I feel like a bad person who can’t remember my close classmates…”

[That’s the kind of situation. No, it’s worse than that.]

“Then you can tell me properly.”

This is similar to the situation where an alumnus I met on the street greeted me warmly, but I accidentally asked, ‘Who are you?’ and we got into a fight.

[I can’t do that.]

Hmm, that’s kind of annoying.

“Wait, are you the one who poked my cheek in my sleep?”

Nas giggled. [Right! I think your sleeping face is cute. It’s even funnier when you run away in panic.]

“I will break this marble right now and send you back.”

But no matter what I did, the core didn’t break.

From the outside, it looks like an ordinary marble, but it is very hard.

The boy who saw me made a pitiful expression. [It’s made with forbidden magic, so it can’t be broken by normal means.]

Does it also have to satisfy certain conditions?

I immediately changed my attitude. “…alright, let’s settle this peacefully through dialogue. What is your purpose for coming here?”

He looked at me with a look of disbelief at my demeanor which changed like a flip of a palm.

[There seems to be a misunderstanding. I didn’t do anything, and I don’t have a specific purpose. The moment Leah picked up the core, I was summoned.]

“Why did you stay by my daughter’s side for no reason?”

The boy smiled at my question.

Oddly enough, the expression ‘mature’ was more suitable than the ‘innocent’ one for him.

[How cute. You called me every night and asked me to tell you a story. I couldn’t leave you because I’m weak to children.]

The way he speaks is like a grandfather loving his granddaughter.

[Oh, you said you wanted to sleep in the same bed with your parents.]

“…….”

[It’s good to work hard, but it’s also important to spend time with your family. In particular, children grow rapidly in the blink of an eye. Cherish every minute and every second!]

He is right in every word he said, not like a child.

“You speak like someone who has raised a child.”

[At least I’m much more confident in parenting than you are.]

He really is a boy whose true identity I can’t guess.

From what he’s talking about, he doesn’t even look like a ten-year-old child.

Besides, he said he has a deep relationship with me, but this is the first time I’m seeing him.

‘If he’s already a dead soul it means he died in the past.’

There’s no way I can’t remember someone close to me died.

“Okay, there are a few suspicious things, but let’s get past them… To sum it up, you’re here purely by accident, and you have no idea who used the forbidden magic on you?”

[I know the situation roughly. Because a kid was looking for this. He seemed to want to see his dead parents.]

“Is he a boy with brown eyes and freckles on his nose?”

[Yes, you already know]

As expected, it was Mion.

[Other than that, I only took care of Leah because she was bored. You should be thankful, not suspecting me. Do you know how hard parenting is!?]

I have nothing to refute.

“Thank you for that. I mean it.”

[…alright, you should show that attitude. Let me tell you a few things I know about this forbidden magic in particular.]

It was tempting to hear.

“Can you tell me?”

[What is certain is that the quality is much worse than what I’ve experienced. It shouldn’t be used for this kind of purpose… I think someone modified it.]

“What does that mean?”

[It’s okay for now, but be careful not to let the forbidden magic go any further. You have to get rid of it in a precise and correct way. And if the core breaks in the middle―]

Suddenly, Nas disappeared.

“Nas?”

The marble, the core of the forbidden magic, is intact in my hand.

I heard the reason a little later when I went back to Leah’s room.

“Nas usually disappears quickly. That’s why I’m sad.”

So he often disappears while talking to Leah?

It seems there is a time limit for him to appear.

‘Is it because the forbidden magic is still incomplete?’

Anyway, since we got the core, won’t this case be over?

I made eye contact with Leah and asked,