IFAHWIPUTML Chapter 8

"Grandpa?"

Raphel's eyes widened as he tilted his head in confusion.

"Yes, yes. Call me grandfather."

Baron Prozier watched with satisfaction as he spoke.

The four of them were having mealtime together.

After two days of adjusting to his new environment, Raphel had lowered the guard he'd held up against the Baron and Baroness.

The Baroness, who gave off a similar atmosphere to Verasielle, had played a major role in that.

The Baron and Baroness had been completely disarmed by the small, pitiful child ages ago.

"Now that I look at him, doesn't this child resemble our Verasielle when she was little?"

Verasielle's eyes widened in surprise at her mother's random comment.

'Resemble me where? Everything from hair color to eye color is completely different...'

Raphel was definitely cute and lovable, but he had completely different features from her.

Had some kind of filter settled over her parents' eyes? Saying he looked like her. The way they treated Raphel was just like...

'Like they're treating a grandchild?'

She felt utterly flustered by her parents' reaction, which far exceeded her expectations.

"Now that you mention it, I suppose he does. Our Verasielle was that small once too. When did she grow up so much... sob."

Old memories apparently resurfacing, Baron Prozier wiped at his glistening eyes.

The Baron felt strangely emotional seeing his daughter interact so warmly with a child for the first time in his life.

He'd just learned that his daughter even liked children. She'd always only cared about flashy, expensive things...

Somehow, lately the Baron couldn't shake the moving feeling that his daughter was finally growing up.

"..."

Verasielle's jaw dropped in bewilderment at the Baron suddenly crying for no apparent reason.

"Oh, really. The child is watching."

Rosalie pulled out a handkerchief from her pocket and dabbed at the Baron's tears.

"This father is just grateful that our daughter grew up healthy."

The Baron hastily wiped his tears and gazed at Verasielle with a moved expression.

Verasielle had no idea how to react to her father's overwhelming love so early in the morning.

The Baron had even taken out loans despite their tight finances to fund his daughter's extravagant spending.

It had been the wrong approach to parenting, sure, but ultimately it came from his love for his beloved daughter.

She felt awkward about the Baron's overflowing, excessive love.

Unconditional affection that expected nothing in return—she hadn't experienced it since childhood.

It reminded her of her deceased parents, making her chest ache.

"Grandpa sad?"

While she fumbled for words, Raphel looked at the Baron with bright, shining eyes.

His expression showed concern, worried that the Baron's tears came from sadness.

"These are tears of joy."

"What's dat?"

"Tears you cry when you're too happy."

The Baron smiled kindly and stroked Raphel's hair.

"Cry wen happy and cry wen sad?"

Five years old. The age of endless curiosity. The age when everything was fascinating and mysterious.

"When you're too happy or too sad, yes."

The Baron answered all of Raphel's endless questions generously, showing no sign of annoyance.

The sight of Raphel constantly moving his small lips to ask questions reminded him of young Verasielle.

The Baron's face wore a satisfied smile, overlaid with the filter of old memories.

"Let's eat now."

At Rosalie's words, the warm meal began.

Once Raphel confirmed everyone was eating, he quickly grabbed his spoon.

His small, baby-like hands busily pushed the carrots on his plate to the edge.

"Raphel."

But there was no way he wouldn't get caught.

When Verasielle noticed everything and used a stern voice, Raphel hurriedly pushed the carrots back into the soup.

"Hehehe."

Then he didn't forget to smile brightly as if nothing had happened.

"My goodness. Even refusing to eat carrots is exactly the same."

"Me? That can't be right."

Verasielle strongly denied it to Rosalie.

"Verasielle, you also refused to eat carrots and bell peppers when you were young."

"..."

Left speechless, Verasielle pressed her lips together.

Honestly, she still didn't particularly like bell peppers and avoided them even now.

When even she as an adult was a picky eater, she couldn't unilaterally force young Raphel not to be picky.

"Still, he needs to eat well to recover quickly..."

While a discouraged Verasielle stirred her soup aimlessly, Baron Prozier seized the opportunity to scoop all the carrots from Raphel's plate and swallow them in one bite.

Raphel looked at the Baron with sparkling eyes, as if he'd met a hero.

"Shh!"

After swallowing all the carrots, the Baron held his extended index finger to his lips facing Raphel.

"Shh!"

Raphel giggled and copied the Baron's gesture exactly.

In an instant, the two had become co-conspirators with a secret from Verasielle.

After that day, Raphel completely integrated into the Baron household.

"Grandpa!"

Raphel ran toward the Baron, waving the paper in his hand.

"Whoa there. Be careful or you'll fall."

The Baron picked up Raphel running toward him and smiled kindly.

"Grandpa, look at this!"

Raphel proudly unfolded the paper in his hand before the Baron.

It was paper covered in random scribbles with black pen. Curved lines filling nearly every space.

"This is Grandpa and Grandma, this is Veraseel, and this is Raphel!"

Raphel confidently pointed to each line on the paper.

So the paper wasn't just scribbles—it was a drawing. A picture of the Baron and Baroness, Verasielle and Raphel.

"We're eating cookies togeder!"

Though it looked like he'd just wildly swung the pen around, there was actually structure and context within it.

Even looking at the incomprehensible drawing, the Baron let out a hearty laugh and stroked Raphel's head.

Even if he couldn't recognize the drawing, even if he couldn't understand the words—it didn't matter.

He just needed to empathize with the child's words and actions. What the child wanted was praise and smiles directed at him.

"You're happily sharing cookies together. You drew this really well."

"Hehehe. Cookies yummy!"

Pleased by the Baron's words, Raphel shook his head left and right excitedly. It was behavior that only came out when he felt really happy.

"Shall we go eat some cookies then?"

"Yeah!"

When the Baron, accurately reading Raphel's intentions, asked, Raphel's eyes lit up brightly as he raised both hands.

The Baron picked up Raphel and headed straight for the dining room.

The two of them were perfectly in sync.

"Raphel."

Meanwhile, Verasielle came down to the first floor looking for Raphel.

Raphel had run off excitedly to show his grandfather the drawing he'd made and hadn't come back, so she was searching for him.

"Raphel?"

Thinking he might be there, Verasielle entered the dining room and stopped dead in her tracks.

"Father."

She narrowed her eyes when she spotted the two of them.

The Baron and Raphel, caught by Verasielle's sudden entrance, stared with wide eyes.

Both of them had their mouths puffed out full, chewing something vigorously.

"I told you not to give him cookies before meals."

When Verasielle scolded him, the Baron hurriedly swallowed his cookie and opened his mouth.

"No, this isn't a cookie, it's..."

"You have crumbs on your mouth."

Faced with undeniable evidence, the Baron quietly closed his mouth and brushed it clean.

It had been the first day the four of them had tea time in the garden. Raphel had found the cookies so delicious that day that ever since, he'd been asking for cookies instead of meals.

Since he wouldn't eat meals and only wanted cookies, she'd promised to give him cookies only after he ate—but Father had gone and given Raphel cookies anyway.

"He just seemed to want cookies so badly..."

The Baron's shoulders drooped dejectedly at his daughter's nagging. The Baron who was stern with others was always just a yielding father before his daughter.

"Still, you can't."

Verasielle approached the two with a slightly softened expression.

Somehow, Father seemed to enjoy playing with Raphel more and more with each passing day. He could even perfectly understand and empathize with Raphel's words that no one else could comprehend.

The experience and wisdom of a parent who'd raised a child truly couldn't be dismissed.

"Raphel, you still have to eat lunch even if you ate cookies."

"Yeah! Hehehehe."

Already nestled in Verasielle's arms, Raphel giggled with crumbs all over his mouth.

He'd already eaten plenty of cookies to his satisfaction.

The fact that he'd deliberately shown the Baron a drawing of eating cookies because he wanted cookies—that was absolutely, definitely a secret.