Chapter 109: Let Papa Feed You.
There was silence. Everyone stared at little Maren and then at Azure, wondering why she had looked away from her father.
"Huh? She doesn’t want to go to you?" Eris asked. "Is she unhappy with you?"
"I wonder what he did," Luka stared.
But Sunnie leaned closer to little Maren, who was pressing herself against Sunnie’s arms. "Hey, Papa is waiting for you. Go and meet Papa." She pointed toward Azure.
But little Maren still didn’t look in Azure’s direction. Instead, she was more interested in what Sunnie had in her hands, even though she had already tasted it and confirmed it was bitter.
One of the women smiled and said, "I guess the little one is yet to get to know her father."
They all nodded in agreement as Eris sighed. "I think he probably did something to the little one. Now she doesn’t want to be friends with her father."
Azure cast him a cold glare as Eris shrugged. "Just saying. You have to make her trust and love you. It happens with some," he explained.
Sunnie smiled as she stared at Maren. "Do you want some sea soup? Sweet soup?" she asked.
Little Maren stared at her without saying anything. Sunnie couldn’t tell if the little one understood what she meant. She stared at Azure and gestured for him to come.
Azure came closer to them with the bowl of sea soup and knelt before them. Little Maren looked around, leaning closer to Sunnie.
Sunnie smiled. "Here, Papa is going to serve you some soup. Okay?"
Maren said nothing and kept looking away.
Sunnie took a spoonful of the soup and brought it close to Maren’s nose. She sniffed and turned toward the bowl. Her interest was piqued.
Sunnie gestured to Azure. "Let Papa feed you, okay?"
But the little one stared at the bowl and at Azure, then looked away again as if she wasn’t hungry.
Azure let out a soft smile as he handed the bowl to Sunnie. "I think you should feed her for now. She’s probably hungry."
Sunnie stared at him. "I guess you have a lot of work to do, then."
He went back to his seat as everyone watched Sunnie feed the little one. They stared in admiration as Little Black suddenly asked, "But why do you think the baby hates her father?"
The ladies smiled at his question.
"She doesn’t hate her father. She’s just getting used to his energy. Some kids are like that. They’re most connected to their mother with that innate trust. But with their fathers? They have to build it."
Eris slowly nodded. "Figured. Azure is bad at stuff like this. So poor him."
Azure glared at him. "Isn’t it just about making her see me as her dad and trust me? Shouldn’t be that hard. I’ve studied enough knowledge about this."
Eris folded his arms. "Most times, your ’knowledge’ won’t help here. You don’t need logic to make them trust you. You just need to make them feel safe enough."
Elza nodded with a smile. "That’s true."
Karl sighed. "How troublesome," he said, eating as Zayn smiled.
Azure sighed. "She’s my little one, so I’ll work hard for it," he insisted.
Sunnie smiled as she stared up at Azure. "Cheers to the good work, then."
---
They had left the inner cave for Sunnie and little Maren alone. The two of them slept in there while her husbands slept in the outer cave. Sunnie’s room was warmly made, with more animal skins kept on her bed and around the walls, and the fire was set up more for comfort.
Azure had done all that for her comfort.
One morning, Sunnie woke up after sleeping with little Maren and discovered that she wasn’t beside her.
"What now...?" She yawned as she slowly sat up from where she lay. She hadn’t been sleeping well lately, especially since little Maren was most comfortable around her and didn’t stay close to most people.
The little girl was always around her. While they slept together, Sunnie had spent hours trying to put her to sleep. She would hum songs for her until Maren finally fell asleep, and sometimes she would wake up midway and start kicking around the bed.
Sunnie would wake up and put her back to sleep.
Now she woke up in the morning and didn’t see her around again. Sunnie slowly got up and made her way out of the cave to see where she could have possibly gone.
She was shocked when she came out and saw little Maren covered in mud.
Maren was standing close to a tree while everyone stood before her, calling for her to come to them. But she moved backwards, unwilling to approach any of them. She was threatening to climb the tree if they came closer.
Sunnie approached the scene. "What’s happening here...?" She came to the front as she stared at Maren. "And why is she covered in that?"
"I think she ran into some mud or something," Luka explained.
"She’s always running off somewhere," Little Black looked exhausted. He had been chasing her down all morning but to no avail.
As soon as little Maren saw Sunnie, her expression lit up with a smile.
Sunnie was standing beside Azure, who had been trying to call out to Maren, but she hadn’t come.
Now Maren rushed toward Sunnie and crashed into her arms. Sunnie carried her, her body now also covered in mud.
"What’s with the mud this morning?" Sunnie asked, wiping the mud from Maren’s hair. Maren simply shook her head, sending mud flying onto everyone.
Sunnie sighed, mud all over her face. "Well, I guess you need a bath."
[Ding!]
[Baby Raising x Husband Taming System Alert!]
Sunnie raised her eyebrows. "Huh? A collab? What’s that supposed to do?" She thought to herself because she couldn’t remember the system presenting something like this to her before.
[Sub Task Available: Make Mer husband successfully give little Maren a bath.]
[Reward: New clothing material.]