Little Anthony had always been raised well—well-nourished, healthy, and adorably chubby. His arms and legs were soft and plump, dimpling at the slightest poke, just the right amount of baby fat. But his pointed little chin and delicate features often tricked people into thinking he was a skinny child who didn't put on weight easily.
So when Anthony lost weight, his face was always the first to show it.
After just a few days away, Wei Wei returned to find the baby fat on her son's face nearly gone (well, maybe not that dramatic), and his once faintly visible double chin—only noticeable when he tilted his head down—had completely disappeared. Her cheerful smiley baby had become a little tear-streaked bundle of misery, and Wei Wei's heart ached at the sight.
She took Anthony into her arms from Dolores—who was trying to soothe the child, as he had been desperately trying to fling himself into Wei Wei's embrace the moment he saw her. As she held him close, Wei Wei thought he felt noticeably lighter than before, and that only made her more distressed. She began gently comforting him at once.
It took a good while before the little crybaby finally stopped his ear-piercing wailing. He lay in her arms, sniffling pitifully, his teary eyes staring at her without looking away. Now and then, he would softly call out "ma," and if Wei Wei didn't respond immediately, his mouth would quiver like he was ready to burst into tears again.
In the end, though, he didn't cry again.
Seeing him finally settle down, Dolores and the others finally breathed a sigh of relief.
"You're finally back. If you had stayed away any longer, I was worried Anthony's voice would be gone from all the crying," Dolores said as she relaxed and began pouring out her complaints.
On the first day, Wei Wei left, Anthony hadn't even realized his mother was gone. Though clingy, he didn't need to be glued to her twenty-four hours a day. On days when Wei Wei was busy, she sometimes disappeared for half a day, and he managed fine. Plus, with Caroline—his favorite playmate—around to distract him, little Anthony didn't even think about looking for his mother at first.
But things took a sharp turn at bedtime.
When it came time to sleep and he realized the mother who usually came to lull him wasn't there—nor was his father—Anthony began to cry. Even though he was exhausted, he stubbornly refused to sleep, no matter how much the others tried to comfort him. Finally, Dolores came up with a solution: they had a maid of similar build to Wei Wei wear her clothes and pretend to be her. In the dark, the baby couldn't see clearly but could still smell the familiar scent on the clothes. Combined with his growing drowsiness, the trick worked—Anthony fell asleep quickly.
They managed to use this trick to get him to sleep every night. But during the day, it didn't work. Anthony's vision had developed well, and he could now recognize faces. Even if someone dressed like Wei Wei, he could tell it wasn't her. After several days of not seeing his mother, he became increasingly restless and difficult to console.
He grew anxious, prone to fits of crying, and refused to eat properly. He wouldn't drink milk from anyone but his nursemaid, and quickly lost a noticeable amount of weight. Every day, he tried to crawl off in search of his mother, leaving Dolores and the others exhausted and at their wits' end.
"If you hadn't come back soon, even the nighttime trick would've stopped working. These past couple nights, nothing could calm him—he only fell asleep after crying himself out," Dolores said.
Wei Wei's face filled with guilt. "You all worked so hard. I should've brought him with me."
She had said before that a child so young shouldn't be left behind. And now, after just a few days, he had already lost so much weight.
Felix came over and gently stroked their son's head. "This was my fault."
After all, he had been the one who insisted they not bring Anthony.
Anthony turned toward the voice and, seeing the father he hadn't seen in days, stared at him with tear-filled eyes before softly murmuring, "Daddy?"
Felix immediately noticed a flicker of confusion in his son's gaze—after nearly ten days apart, Anthony was beginning to forget him.
It wasn't surprising. Even when they were all at home, Anthony rarely saw Felix. He was always busy and on a different schedule. Most days, by the time Felix left for work or returned for the night, Anthony was already asleep. In truth, it had probably been longer than ten days since they'd properly interacted.
Felix's emotions grew more complicated.
"Yes, it's Daddy," he said softly, bending down to kiss the boy's cheek and stroke his head.
The kiss prickled. Anthony remembered that feeling—everyone else who kissed him felt soft and warm, but Daddy's kisses always had a bit of a sting. Even when clean-shaven, Felix's facial stubble was still there, and Anthony's sensitive baby skin felt it sharply.
He giggled, like the sensation confirmed the man's identity, then called out "Daddy" again, reaching out to grab Felix's finger and gripping it tightly.
Felix let him hold on, using his free hand to take the towel the butler handed him and carefully wiped the boy's tear-streaked face.
Anthony no longer fussed, tilting his head up obediently as his father cleaned his face.
Wei Wei, still holding him, sat down with Felix and told a maid, "Go get Anthony's moisturizer from his room."
Anthony's skin was very delicate. Wei Wei had made his cream herself—natural, edible ingredients only, the same formula Caroline used. It was gentle and completely safe.
If someone hadn't been regularly applying it after each crying fit, Anthony's face might've already gotten raw from today's ordeal.
Now that his mother was back, Anthony returned to being the sweet, smiling baby he had always been. He listened well, ate his meals properly, and, likely from the days of poor appetite, even ate more than usual.
But the sudden separation had left its mark—he had become even clingier than before.
That night, Wei Wei originally planned to put him in his crib. But the moment she tried to set him down, he clung to her tightly and began crying. He wouldn't let go, even suckling like he had as a newborn just to stay in her arms.
Already lying in bed, Felix shifted over. "Bring him here. Let him sleep with us tonight."
Wei Wei glanced at him. "Oh? Feeling soft now? You never let him sleep with us before."
Felix refused to admit it. "I was just worried we'd accidentally roll over and hurt him. He's so small—wouldn't that be dangerous?"
In the beginning, that had been true. Later, when Wei Wei had recovered from childbirth, it was more about not wanting their son to interrupt their nighttime activities.
He had even ordered curtains installed between their bed and Anthony's cradle to ensure the child wouldn't see anything inappropriate. Once the curtains were drawn, the two sides were completely cut off from each other.
Seeing that Felix, while stubborn, was finally reflecting on his mistake, Wei Wei let the issue drop and brought the baby to bed.
It wasn't Anthony's first time on their big bed—Wei Wei often napped with him in the afternoons—but it was his first time sleeping there at night.
It was also Felix's first time sharing a bed with his son.
Wei Wei placed Anthony in the middle—father on one side, mother on the other. The moment he was sandwiched between them, Anthony calmed down. He sat up, his little head turning back and forth to look at each parent, and then suddenly started giggling, clearly delighted.
It was already 8 PM—Anthony's usual bedtime—but his disrupted schedule from the past ten days had thrown off his internal clock. Now he was full of energy, no signs of sleep in sight. After sitting still for a bit, he couldn't hold back anymore and crawled straight onto Felix.
Felix had been reclining on a pillow, reading a book. Feeling the sudden weight on his stomach, he lowered the book—only to be met by his son's grinning face.
The boy was not only crawling on him but climbing higher—from his stomach to his chest. Once the book was moved, he reached out to grab Felix's face.
There was no more reading now. Felix put the book aside and began playing with Anthony in that same position.
With his father's attention focused on him, Anthony didn't notice Wei Wei quietly slipping off the bed to change into her nightgown and brush her hair. She rejoined them a few minutes later, unnoticed by her son, who was still happily absorbed.
When Wei Wei came back to the bed and joined in their play, Anthony was over the moon.
But bedtime was bedtime, and Wei Wei didn't want him too wound up or he'd have trouble falling asleep. After a bit of playing, she gently picked him up from Felix's chest and laid him down, lying beside him and coaxing him to sleep.
Felix extinguished most of the candles, leaving only one. The soft glow lit a corner of the room. Under the gentle melody of Wei Wei's lullaby, the once-energetic little one slowly drifted off, curling up next to his mother and closing his eyes.
Seeing him asleep, Wei Wei stopped singing and let out a soft sigh of relief.
In a low voice, she said to Felix on the other side, "Let's bring him with us from now on. It might be tiring on the road, but I really can't feel at ease leaving him behind."
Not just at this age—one, two, even up to seven or eight years old—she wouldn't feel safe leaving him. Not because others couldn't care for him properly, but because this era's medical standards were far behind what she knew. If something happened while she wasn't around—if he got a fever or caught a cold—who could she trust to treat him? She truly didn't trust the local doctors' skills.
"Mm. We'll bring him whenever you have to travel with me," Felix agreed. His plan to cultivate Anthony's independence wasn't working. The boy was too young to understand anything—not even talking yet. Trying to teach him independence now was unrealistic. They would have to wait.
Besides, if just a few days' absence left the child unsure of who he was, how much longer before he completely forgot his father?
Just the thought gave Felix a headache.
So the couple agreed that anytime Wei Wei had to accompany him on a trip, they would bring the child along. But in their minds, such occasions should be rare. At least for now, aside from accompanying Dolores to her wedding next year, there weren't any long-distance trips on Wei Wei's schedule.
But as it turned out, they had been back at the castle for less than two weeks when Wei Wei had to pack again—this time with husband and son in tow—and depart for the capital.
The reason?
The king was gravely ill.