Chapter 173.2

Chapter 173.2

“Why are you… with a blanket at this hour?”

Darya, with her hair down, blinked for a moment before sighing, “Ah…”

“Are you going to wash the blanket?”

“Excuse me?”

“If Grandma speaks up about this, our grandson might feel embarrassed, right? Of course, you want to handle it all by yourself. You’ve really grown up, Yuri. But you mustn’t compromise your health.”

“Wait, Grandma, you are misunderstanding…”

“You’ve really grown up, from that little one to this… our Yuri.”

Grandma muttered to herself as she wobbled away.

Grandma! Feeling quite wronged, Yuri called out to Darya, but she merely waved her hand in farewell. Then, turning decisively, she left him with a remark like, “You need to clean it up.”

While Yuri stood there, dumbfounded and blushing, the

blanket began to wriggle.

“You’ll have to take responsibility for this later.”

Yuri hugged the thing in his arms tightly, gnashing his teeth in frustration.

“What am I going to hear tomorrow morning?”

Then he wrinkled his nose.

“But, kid, did you wash? Why do you smell like poop?”

“….”

At that, the wriggling beast went completely still, as if it were dead.

“Just stay still, will you!”

He ended up shouting.

Having lived a life of privilege, while there were classmates with twisted personalities, he had never encountered a child who reeked like this.

As soon as he let the little beast loose in the room, it dashed around the desk, bookshelves, and bed, leaving dirty footprints everywhere.

Every time he saw the child’s rapid movements, Yuri wondered if he was truly seeing things or if he needed to confirm it with someone else. The speed and agility were extraordinary.

Once again, there was a loud crash. A vein throbbed on Yuri’s forehead.

‘You little beast, you damn brat, you filthy thing!’ What could he say to scare this undisciplined creature? But he relaxed his shoulders instead.

“Hey, come here. Let’s clean those little feet.”

“….”

“First, you need to wash up before we can introduce ourselves or interrogate you.”

This instinct, wanting to clean up chaos and filth right away, was something he must’ve inherited from his grandfather, Maxim Solzhenitsyn.

The child finally seemed to understand his words and has ceased to bounce and looked intently at Yuri. But with only the eyes, nose, and lips visible through the mask, it was impossible to read the full expression.

“Let’s take off that creepy mask too.”

As he soaked a towel in the bathroom attached to the room, the child had quietly followed him.

Yuri finally sat the now calm child on the sink and began to wipe the dirty feet.

He half-expected the child to start thrashing around like before, but instead, the little one stared at Yuri with his tiny, pitch-black eyes. The soft, rhythmic sound of his breathing was small and adorable.

“See all these black stuff? It’s dirt.”

Yuri showed the quickly darkening towel. In response, the mischievous little beast placed his other foot on Yuri’s hand.

“What’s this?”

The child blinked.

“Do you want me to clean this foot too?”

“….”

The child nodded eagerly. Yuri couldn’t help but burst into laughter at the absurdity. How many days had it been since they met, and he was already ordering him around like this?

It felt like a long time since he had laughed out loud in Winter Castle, especially since his parents had passed away.

Yuri wanted to bounce the tiny foot in his palm, but since it was cold, he filled the sink with water and placed the child’s feet in it.

The child seemed to really enjoy it, letting out a purring, sigh-like sound.

Looking closely, it was genuinely amusing. The child leaned comfortably against Yuri’s chest, as if he were a master, and relaxed completely, which was quite absurd.

“But now you need to clean your bottom too.”

In an instant, the child stiffened.

“Are you a girl or a boy?”

At those words, the quick little beast jumped up again and slammed into Yuri’s chest.

‘Oof! Da*n, that hurts!’ As Yuri clutched his collarbone and collapsed to the floor, the child scampered away toward the edge of the bookshelf.