The Queen and the Lion - Chapter 80
Once, because her long hair got tangled in the branches of a tree she was climbing, she cut it all off in annoyance. In the end, her nanny had to compromise and trim Cherry’s hair into a neat bob, but it would always end up messy after she ran around. The princess, who played with the hearts of the head servant Dandelion and the nannies, was recently obsessed with hide-and-seek.
Focused on finding a hiding place, Princess Cherry didn’t see the imperfection in the ground and tripped. Just as she was about to fall, someone caught her mid-air. A smile spread across Cherry’s lips.
“Father!”
“I wonder who our princess takes after to be so energetic.”
Aslan, with the dignity and gravitas of the King of Florea, pretended to scold the princess sternly.
But unable to say anything harsh to his daughter, he lifted her up and gave her a piggyback ride. Cherry laughed at the sudden change in height.
“I take after you, Father!”
“No, I think our princess definitely takes after your mother. I heard she begged the previous king to let her ride a horse when she was your age.”
Aslan replied, recalling a story he’d heard from Lysian. He felt like a bad father, gossiping about his wife’s past to their young daughter, but he was enjoying this moment.
At Aslan’s mischievous remark, Cherry widened her eyes in disbelief.
“But Mother is very quiet now!”
“Hmm… I suppose she does seem that way. But your mother is much more energetic than me.”
Aslan hesitated for a moment.
Thinking about the sleeping arrangements he had made to suit Lysian’s preferences a few days ago, he couldn’t easily agree with his daughter’s statement that Lysian was quiet. But he couldn’t explain the adult complexities to a child.
Aslan finished with an awkward laugh.
Then someone approached them.
“What are you talking about so happily?”
“Mother!”
Cherry waved to Lysian.
Aslan set Cherry down and gave Lysian a slight bow. As soon as she was on the ground, Cherry ran to Lysian and said, “Father said I’m energetic just like Mother!”
“Is that so?”
“I think Father is braver and more energetic, but he says Mother is more energetic.”
Cherry tilted her head in confusion.
Everyone said Aslan was a hero of the battlefield, a brave warrior who was second to none. As far as Cherry was concerned, Aslan was the biggest and strongest person she knew, and there was nothing he was afraid of.
Aslan wasn’t afraid of ghosts, which Cherry was terrified of, or of long, many-legged insects. So, the idea that Lysian, who was quieter and gentler than Aslan, was braver was completely beyond Cherry’s understanding.
Lysian laughed and said, “Haha. When you think about how your father cried when you were born, it doesn’t seem so wrong.”
“Wait, that story—.”
Aslan tried to stop Lysian, but it was too late. Cherry’s eyes widened.
As a father, he wasn’t meant to be seen as weak, but there was such a thing as dignity… Aslan thought he was definitely reaping what he had sown when he told Cherry about Lysian’s past.
Cherry asked incredulously, “Father cried?”
“Yes, he cried louder than a newborn baby.”
Aslan’s face turned bright red.
Thinking back to that time, he wished he could disappear into a mouse hole. But even if he could go back in time, he wasn’t sure he wouldn’t cry. Aslan’s lips were tightly shut.
Cherry looked at Aslan with a face full of curiosity. She seemed determined to get to the bottom of this. Aslan looked at Lysian, pleading with his eyes for a rescue, but Lysian simply smiled meaningfully and giggled.
Then, a saving voice called out from behind the bushes.
“Princess, have you been found?”
“Oh, that’s right, I was playing hide-and-seek. Just a moment, nanny! Wait a minute!”
Remembering the game she had forgotten, Cherry ran off somewhere again.
Aslan hoped that just as Cherry had forgotten about hide-and-seek, she would also forget about the fact that he had cried. Seeing Aslan’s desperate expression, Lysian chuckled softly.
It was a warm spring day bathed in sunlight.
The Queen and the Lion. The End.
