"Tie!"

Tie flung the front door open and, gasping for breath, ran toward Papa.

Papa, who had been ripping out the remaining fence sections, slowly lifted his head.

Tie’s gaze slid to him, then to the dozens of torn-out pieces scattered behind him.

She turned to Tesetan, confused.

"Uh, um. Wh-what are you doing?"

Tesetan pressed his lips together and answered with a stony face:

"Can’t you see. I’m pulling out the fence." 𝒇𝙧𝙚𝓮𝙬𝙚𝓫𝒏𝓸𝓿𝓮𝒍.𝓬𝙤𝓶

"The fence? Why......?"

One of Tesetan’s brows twitched faintly.

He let out a short breath and shifted his gaze to Tie’s right ankle.

It looked like someone had already noticed and treated the wound—a large gauze bandage was stuck there.

Tesetan forcibly suppressed the anger rising inside him.

'......Fine. At least it’s been treated.'

Lifting his eyes again, he answered bluntly:

"It pisses me off."

Astie’s eyes immediately widened.

But the child soon nodded timidly.

"Uh-huh."

Then, glancing at Tesetan for some reason, she cautiously approached.

"Ngh...... hup! O-oh, it’s really heavy!"

She tried to lift one of the fence sections, then hurriedly stepped back.

Tesetan pressed a hand to his forehead and looked down at Tie.

"Go. Unless you want to get hurt again."

Tie nodded awkwardly.

"Okay! Tie wanted to help, but I guess I can’t......."

Tesetan watched as Astie stepped away and sat down on the grass.

Then, with a sigh, he started ripping out the remaining sections again.

And then—

"Hey, you. What the hell are you doing?!"

Bale appeared behind Tie.

Chewing on a half-eaten apple, he stared at Tesetan in disbelief.

"Why are you tearing out a perfectly fine fence? That’s ours, you know!"

Tie tugged at his sleeve.

"Don’t, Bale oppa. He’s just pulling it out because it bothers his eyes."

"What?! That sounds even worse! Who the hell rips out someone else’s fence just because it bothers their eyes?! Are we just going to leave a lunatic like that alone? Huh?!"

Tesetan swung his arm and hurled one of the sections aside.

It crashed against a decorative stone with a loud clang and fell to the ground.

Tesetan’s eyes flashed dangerously.

"......can’t you see your squad leader’s ankle?"

Bale froze.

Only then did he lower his gaze to Tie.

When he saw her leg, his eyes flew wide open.

"What the—hey, brat, when did you get hurt?!"

Astie scratched the back of her head awkwardly, glancing between Bale and Tesetan.

"Well, um... I got stuck in the fence this morning......."

"What?! You should’ve said something!"

"It’s okay! Uncle Basto already treated it!"

Bale opened and closed his mouth several times, then lifted his head.

He stared at Tesetan for a moment, then picked Tie up into his arms.

"Don’t leave a single one. Pull them all out. Got it?"

Tesetan clenched his teeth as he watched Bale walk away.

From over Bale’s shoulder, Astie glanced back at him several times.

Then her naive voice drifted from a distance:

"But why is Bale oppa so rude?"

"What?"

"Bale oppa is an officer, and Uncle Tesetan is a squad leader. If an ➤ NоvеⅠight ➤ (Read more on our source) officer argues with a squad leader, that’s rude, Aunt Ribia said so."

"Since when does that gut have the habit of stuffing your head with nonsense? Listen, brat. In any group, there’s a hidden ruler. The real one in charge."

"Hah! A hidden boss?!"

"Yeah. In Agavert, the hidden boss is me. So I can say whatever I want to the squad leader. Because I’m the invisible authority."

"......doesn’t look like it."

"What? If I say I’m the boss, then I am."

The front door slammed shut.

Tesetan stared at the closed door for a while, then turned away.

After some time, he muttered:

"......just gauze, huh?"

If she got stuck in a fence and injured her ankle, they should have wrapped it properly with a bandage!

At the very least the whole leg—no, hell, at least up to the navel!

"I can’t even do it myself......!"

Holding back the boiling anger, Tesetan started ripping out the fence again.

It was just a fence—yet his body felt heavy, as if he had been besieging a fortress for days without sleep.

—

A little later, in Tie’s room.

"And so, Papa, I think because Tie got hurt, he’s pulling out the fence!"

"Kyu!"

Hearing the news, Pupu perked up his ears.

Tie placed him on her palm and lowered her voice.

"And you know what else? Papa keeps looking at Tie......!"

"Kyu?"

"But he doesn’t say bad things!"

Tie smiled brightly, and Pupu awkwardly imitated a smile in return.

'Poor, pitiful Mama.......'

Rejoicing that her own father had stopped cursing her.

While Pupu wiped imaginary tears in his mind—

"Then why hasn’t Lucarion been around lately?"

Pupu lifted his head.

He pointed his nose toward the window.

"Kyu, kyurun......!"

Tie’s eyes widened.

"Really? Lucarion can even go to the Imperial Library?"

Pupu nodded and fell into thought.

'Curious lizard.'

Lately, Lucarion had been obsessed with digging through every book in the Tallocium Empire.

He had even infiltrated the Imperial Library recently, and these past few days he would leave at dawn and return late at night.

And he always stopped by to see Tie, waking Pupu up.

[Monster. How was Astie today.]

[......damn lizard. Do you have to wake me at this hour? If you’re so curious, you should watch her yourself!]

[Unlike you, I have plenty to do.]

[Y-you......!]

Pupu grumbled, but he more or less understood the reason.

[Did you find anything about the lost memories?]

[......I don’t know. It feels like there are results, but also not.]

Lucarion was gathering fragments of his lost memories.

And at the same time, trying to understand the side effects of crossing dimensions together with Astie.

[I heard people talking. It seems Astie has stopped growing.]

[......what, Mother’s growth has stopped?]

[Yes. More precisely, it slowed down gradually, and then almost stopped.]

According to Lucarion, after crossing into this world, Tie’s growth first slowed sharply, and now had nearly stopped altogether.

He assumed it was a side effect of traveling through time across dimensions.

Pupu looked at him with disdain.

[Fool. You don’t even understand the nature of your own magic? When you twisted the timeline, you should have foreseen the consequences.]

[......I couldn’t predict it even then. I simply couldn’t not grant Astie’s wish. Even my own memories are blurred—let alone my understanding of the magic.]

[Why do you even want your memories back?]

Pupu didn’t understand Lucarion.

He himself had also lost parts of his memory.

But he had no desire to recover them.

Being happy beside Astie was enough for him.

But Lucarion answered unexpectedly.

[If I recover my memories, I can protect Astie better.]

Pupu curled his nose in annoyance.

'Ridiculous. A tiny lizard acting so arrogant.'

But noticing Tie watching him closely, he immediately spread into an innocent smile.

"......kyu!"

At that harmless expression, Tie kissed his forehead.

"Our Pupu, you’re so pretty!"

"Kyu!"

Pupu was already melting with happiness, his eyes turning into hearts—

when suddenly black smoke gathered outside the window, and a human silhouette formed inside the room.

Pupu frowned.

'They say speak of the lizard and it appears.'

And sure enough, the appearing Lucarion said:

"I came, Tie."

Tie tossed Pupu onto the bed and ran to him at full speed.

"Kkamani!"

She hugged Lucarion tightly and bounced several times.

"Where were you? Tie looked for you so, so much! I have a question!"

Lucarion chuckled quietly and brushed her messy hair back.

"What question?"

Tie glanced at the door and lowered her voice.

"Listen, can Papa remember Tie on his own......."

"......."

"Is it really completely impossible......?"