Star Child's Parenting Diary - Chapter 35

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Episode 35
Chapter 7. When Prayer Is Desperate (4)
If that darkness deepens.
When the Orb shatters completely.
Something terrible and heartbreaking was bound to happen.
“Take her quickly!”
“Yes, understood.”
“Mister Ethan…….”
Bell looked up at Ethan with tears welling in her eyes.
“I want to stay with Setia too.”
We made a prayer on the Seedling together.
“I want to, so……”
Bell timidly grasped the hem of Setia’s dress, her fingers working nervously to express her resistance.
Ethan’s brow furrowed, and a heavy sigh escaped him.
“Take the child.”
“But……”
“Go have some snacks and play. I’ll be back soon……”
Ethan’s voice grew quieter.
Fidget.
His gaze on Bell, who was plucking at the edge of Setia’s skirt, settled into a calm resolve.
“Bell. Come here.”
After a moment of silence, Ethan called to her.
When he spoke again, his voice was softer.
‘Come here?’
Reading his intent, Bell approached slowly, and he slipped his hands around her sides.
The familiar grip held her close, naturally and easily.
Bell leaned into him without hesitation, resting her cheek against his shoulder.
“I’m not angry with you.”
“Mm.”
“I’m sorry for raising my voice anyway.”
“No.”
No, it’s all right.
Bell patted his shoulder the way he had done for her.
“Stay with Aspe for a bit. I’ll come back once I see Setia wake up.”
“…….”
“You understand, right?”
“……Mm.”
She couldn’t bring herself to say no.
Handed over to the Orphanage the moment she was born, only two years had passed since she’d lived among so many other children. In communal life, even a child learned to read the room and follow its unspoken rules—Bell had grown accustomed to sensing the atmosphere around her.
This moment was not joyful or exciting.
So she couldn’t throw a tantrum.
Bell nodded quietly and climbed down from Ethan’s arms.
She approached Aspe of her own accord, gripped his hand firmly, and turned to leave with reluctant steps.
She didn’t bother to look back and say goodbye.
Ethan had promised he’d return soon anyway.
“……Shall we read the Fairy Tale Book?”
“Mm.”
Bell followed Aspe down the quiet hallway.
* * *
The already-tense air grew even thicker.
“Everyone out.”
Ethan expelled everyone from the room with a sigh that seemed to shake the earth itself.
Only Setia, the room’s occupant, and the dragon Argares remained.
“How is Setia’s condition?”
“Emergency Treatment has been applied for now.”
Using the residual Ether in the Dragon Heart Crystal, the wounds were temporarily sealed as a makeshift measure.
But this was merely like gluing together broken glass—a temporary fix at best.
One wrong touch and everything could shatter again.

“For now, Marius and I can maintain this state, but beyond that is impossible. Our only hope lies in the Seedling’s power taking effect.”
Though Argares spoke with deliberate calm, his own unease was plain enough.
As always, disasters strike in an instant—he hadn’t managed to shield against that moment when the Mana Stone erupted.
Only because Argares and Marius were there together did Setia still cling to breath at all.
Ethan, meanwhile, could only stretch his tie absently between his fingers.
“No one knows when the flower will bloom.”
Though he couldn’t pinpoint the exact cause, Berdia’s Ether had definitely stabilized.
With Berdia’s Ether stable, the Seedling had begun growing quite steadily.
But that was all.
Flowering remained distant, and Setia’s danger was immediate.
‘There has to be a way…….’
Ethan squeezed his eyes shut, then opened them, his gaze turning toward the window.
Perhaps the answer lay out there somewhere.
“For now, I intend to visit the Dragon Fortress.”
Argares rose from his seat after thoroughly examining Setia’s condition.
“While I’m gone, our young friend here will look after the Duchess. My memories are hazy on what might help, so I need to search for myself.”
“How long will you need?”
“I’ll be back within a fortnight.”
“And what am I supposed to do?”
“Watch over the child. She seemed quite startled, so……?”
Argares’s voice rose oddly at the end of his sentence.
Catching that peculiarity, Ethan’s eyes followed the dragon’s gaze.
“What is it?”
Ethan’s brow furrowed at once.
Beyond the window, a small, yellow-haired figure was dashing toward the Garden.
The way it tumbled along, round and compact, was like a ball rolling away…….
“What’s she doing out there?”
“……Perhaps she’s taking a breath of fresh air?”
Argares spoke casually enough, yet he too had pressed himself against the window, watching Berdia intently.
‘She’s heading…….’
Ethan could guess where Berdia was going.
Berdia was heading straight for the Seedling’s bed.
* * *
Berdia had her reasons for deciding to visit the Seedling’s bed.
Aspe had arrived with an armful of Fairy Tale Books, insisting he would demonstrate narrative storytelling with genuine flair.
So they’d sat side by side, and Aspe had opened one of the towering pile of books…….
“And the baby deer asked the Moon, ‘Moon, where is my mother? Where has she gone?’ And the Moon answered.”
“Moon……?”
“She went west, to a field of white and lovely flowers, gathering sweet flower nectar to her heart’s content.”
“Flower……?”
Hearing the story, a splendid idea had come to Berdia.
Berdia tugged at Aspe’s sleeve, fussing for his attention.
“Flower! Please, please, flower!”
If the Seedling bloomed, Setia would get better!
“What? You want to see the Seedling now? But it’s still daylight.”
“Go!”
“Since it’s not night, the Moon isn’t there. Surely we need the Moon to be there, don’t we?”
“Go! Now!”
What did that matter right now!
Worn down by Berdia’s insistence, Aspe surrendered.
“But what if he scolds me again?”
“Please!”
“Sigh. Very well. Let’s go! But you’ll have to hide me afterward, you understand?”
“Yes. Flower flower.”
I’ll hide you, I promise.
Berdia nodded firmly and set off down the hallway with determined strides.
The stairs were numerous and still risky, so she had to be carried by Aspe, though she did walk down them herself.
Even as the noon sun began its decline, the world outside remained bright.
Night was still a long way off, and the Moon had not yet risen.
Yet Berdia pressed steadily toward the Seedling’s bed all the same.
Thanks to her nightly prayers, the Seedling had grown quite considerably and now bore the unmistakable form of a proper plant.
Yet it had not flowered.
Not even a bud had formed.
“Shall we do this together?”
“Mm.”
Aspe, who had grown accustomed to channeling Ether into the Seedling, placed his hand on the soil alongside Berdia’s.
“Please don’t let Setia hurt.”
Make her not hurt anymore.
Please make her well.
Because…….
“I’m not angry at you.”
Ethan is sad.
He’s so worried.
Berdia understood.
Even though Ethan had raised his voice, it wasn’t anger directed at her—she knew that much.
Ethan was only grieved and anxious because Setia was ill.
[My little star, you are the most precious and beloved being in all the world. On the day you were born, countless stars wept tears of joy. Thank you for coming safely into our arms.]
Tears can fall when one is overcome with joy, she remembered.
Berdia had taught her that emotions were complicated things.
‘Uncle is sad.’
So Ethan wasn’t angry at all.
‘I hope he smiles again.’
Once Setia was well again, Ethan would be happy again too.
Berdia poured all her heart into a fervent prayer.
“……Please!”
Don’t let Setia hurt anymore.
“……Please!”
Let Ethan smile again.
“Please!”
So that we can all be happy together like before…….
In that moment, Aspe suddenly lifted Berdia up.
“If you keep going, something terrible will happen!”
He had noticed Ether being depleted from her body at a dangerously rapid rate and forcibly intervened.
The moment Berdia’s eyes opened, she checked the state of the Seedling’s bed.
“It’s grown tremendously.”
Aspe was right.
At the end of the lush plant that had sprouted from the Seedling hung a tiny bud.
“……Mm.”
Yet upon seeing that bud, Berdia could not rejoice.
‘It hasn’t bloomed.’
What she needed at once was a flower in full bloom.
“Moon.”
“It’s still too early for the moon to rise.”
The flower needed moonlight to bloom.
But nightfall was still far away, and Setia’s condition hung by a thread.
[Little one, listen well. In truth, the stars and moon always hang in that sky. What you need is the darkness that makes their radiance shine bright.]
[So do not fear the darkness so. Everything that exists in this world has its reason for being.]
The day Berdia first bloomed a flower was the day the Orphanage’s uncle had fallen gravely ill.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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