Chapter 45

✿

“Are you scared of him?”

“Well, I guess I am.”

When I asked back, Emma folded blink as she smiled and affirmed.

It’s not a face that looks like that at all, but Emma was good at managing her expression.

But isn’t it a big deal that she’s agitated when she sees Aaron?

‘Have you ever seen Aaron catching monsters in the North? Is that why you got scared?’

It’s a probable hypothesis.

Sometimes seeing Aaron’s appearance with his dark red aura fluttering out of him made him feel bloody.

Emma was not interested in him, so I thought it could be.

It was a time when I was making various conclusions.

“Then I have a little time left, so I’ll tell you a story from the past.”

Emma drew my attention with a calm smile. Naturally, I nodded, answering yes.

If she told me first, there was no reason for me to refuse.

“Hmm… It was 10 years ago when I first met the Prince.”

Ten years ago. That was when Erita, not me, was in the orphanage.

And when Aaron was 13 years old.

“Did I tell you that my family originally lived in the capital?”

“Yes. I heard that you married Count Chiron and went to the North.”

She had originally planned to come to the capital after Count Chiron had everything cleaned up, but Emma coldly said she was going to the North.

When I heard that, I remembered Emma saying that Count Chiron shed tears.

‘The two of them are really on good terms.’

In response to my answer, Emma soaked her lips with tea once and opened her mouth again.

“That’s right. I married my husband 13 years ago and went to the North. At first, I remember the long winter being quite awkward.”

I smiled a little and agreed with her. Because I also took the crane in the first year, which is almost half of the year.

“Anyway, that was the day I met the Prince three years after I went to the North.”

“The first day you saw brother.”

“Yes. The Grand Duke has summoned his vassals to introduce the successor. Until then, the Grand Duke had never come to the North.”

Well, it’s a time he had grown up and was about to be introduced as a successor.

I thought of him as a little younger Aaron I first saw.

“13 years old would have been the right age.”

Thinking of that, I nodded, focusing on Emma’s words.

Aaron from the past that I don’t know. I couldn’t help but wonder.

‘Because I couldn’t ask my brother directly.’

Aaron didn’t seem to like the memories of before he met me.

He sometimes tells me about Serbia, but there was no story of Aaron himself in it.

If he didn’t like it, he would have told me first.

“I want you to keep this a secret, what I’m talking about right now. Will you do that?”

Emma winked at me. It was natural.

“Okay. I won’t even tell a passing dog.”

“Wow, you’re so lovely.”

Emma smiled gracefully as I nodded.

After that, Emma hesitated to speak for a moment. It’s like telling a difficult story.

“Um, I don’t know what to say to you, but I think you probably know this too.”

“What?”

“To the Grand Duke, I know that everyone except the young lady and His Majesty is no different than the weeds that grow randomly along the roadside.”

My body trembled violently at Emma’s direct words.

It’s because it was an unexpected word.

Looking at Emma, she was smiling gently, covering her mouth with a fan.

It was as if she was waiting for my answer.

“Umm…”

I made a small groan.

Weeds growing randomly along the roadside. It was a quite bitter metaphor to come out of a noble’s mouth.

But I couldn’t say that I wasn’t even with Emma’s metaphor.

Because that’s accurate.

Eventually, I exhaled openly and nodded.

“…I know.”

So far, Aaron has said he’s only modest and indifferent, but in fact, he vaguely expected it.

The fact that other people are of no value to Aaron.

I was convinced by Emma’s words, but it was quite a long time ago that I could guess the fact.

✿

It was one day less than half a year after I met my family.

I liked Aaron, who was very sweet to me, and he also adored me.

Compared to our relatively busy father, Aaron also spent more time with me.

Around the time it became a habit to take a walk with Aaron after lunch.

As usual, I went to visit Aaron.

At that time, I only thought Aaron was friendly. Because he always showed me a smiling face and I only heard a soft voice.

“Sorry, sorry…”

“…”

“I’m really sorry, Master.”

The voice heard before going around the corner to Aaron’s room belonged to a maid working in a mansion.

The master she apologized to was, of course, my older brother, Aaron.

As I quickly hid behind the wall for some reason, I poked my head over the corner.

Maybe it was because I was curious about what was going on.

All I could see from a sneak peek was that Aaron’s arm was a little wet, and the maid’s hand had a teapot and a tray with teacups on it.

Perhaps she bumped into Aaron and spilled tea on him.

“…”

But the apologies of the maid standing in front of him.

“His face…”

It was because Aaron’s gaze, looking down at the maid with her head bowed, was terrifyingly casual.

He didn’t even seem interested in that arm that had been poured with hot water.

Like someone who doesn’t know pain.

“Okay. Stop it.”

“Yes, yes?”

“I told you to stop.”

“Ha, but the young master’s arms…”

Aaron, who was looking at her with expressionless gaze, opened his mouth again when he saw the maid lingering in the air despite his words.

“Then I can cut off your arm instead.”

The maid, who had hesitated at his cold words as much as his cold eyes, froze.

When I saw Aaron’s expression, he was really about to blow a pair of arms.

In front of him, the maid, facing Aaron, seemed to faint at any moment.

At that time, Aaron turned his head towards my call.

“Oh, brother!”

When I met his gaze, I naturally moved as if I had hidden.

Instinctively, he realized that he shouldn’t be showing off this side of him.

Fortunately, my gestures were not awkward.

“Erita.”

Aaron smiled softly at me who approached me as if running.

It was a friendly smile enough to think that the expression earlier was an illusion.

“Brother, your arm is wet. Aren’t you injured?”

I stomped my feet pretending to be a child who knew nothing and made a crying face.

“It’s okay. It wasn’t very hot.”

“Nevertheless. Let’s go to the treatment now. Hmm?”

Aaron, who laughed as if he couldn’t help it because of my worries.

Then I took the steps as led him. I glanced back and beckoned the maid to go.

The maid, who was frozen by my appearance, bowed her head with a face that seemed to hold back her tears and left quickly.

“You came earlier than usual today.”

“I want to see my brother soon!”

“Haha, really? Thanks for saying that.”

It was after the frightening stillness of earlier disappeared from Aaron, who lifted his uninjured arm and gently stroked my head.

Even while he was taking a walk with me after healing his injured arm, Aaron was still a sweet and friendly brother.

But that day, for the first time, I thought that Aaron might just be unfriendly like how he was in front of me.

Nevertheless, he was still my only brother.

✿

Thinking about the past for a moment, I let out a sigh.

Very rarely since the first time I’ve seen Aaron looked like that when I’m not there.

It was only then that I understood why Emma described Aaron as scary.

If Emma had seen it like that, she could.

Besides, my brother was only thirteen when she saw Aaron.

Emma, who shrugged at me, smiled quietly and continued to talk.

“Well, it must have been that I was particularly sensitive to this and accepted it more broadly.”

“Didn’t he scare Emma?”

“Oh, of course. Perhaps because he’s not interested in others, he’s basically generous. I just felt a little scared by myself.”

“I see…”

Emma just recognized that aspect of Aaron because of her sensitivity.

In a way, it was a relief.

“If I had met Grand Duke two years later, I wouldn’t have known either.”

“Two years?”

“Yes. To be exact, he’s the Grand Prince after your return.”

I blinked quietly at Emma’s words.

It was a very strange and vague statement.

“When I saw the Grand Duke again eight years ago, I couldn’t find any signs of that at all.”

“…”

“I was very weak before that, but I literally couldn’t see it at all eight years ago. In two years… I think it has something to do with you.”

I was reminded of Aaron up until now.

‘I heard, and it seems like that.’

Since some time ago, Aaron has never looked like that.

He was just indifferent and cold, and had never made such a gaze as if he was looking at something of no value.

So I thought maybe I wasn’t paying much attention to it.

“There’s really nothing easy.”

“Well, don’t worry too much about what I’m saying. I remember seeing what I saw in the past, so I’m agitated without realizing it.”

“Ah…”

“I didn’t mean to worry you, lady. The Grand Prince looks fine right now.”

Of course, it’s limited when he’s with me.

Perhaps to relieve my depressed mood, I eventually burst into laughter at Emma’s playful addition.

Yeah. Even if what I was guessing was true, the fact that Aaron was my only brother has not changed.

Because even that aspect was only a part of Aaron.

“And I can guess why Aaron changed like that.”

Perhaps the cause was an accident that occurred 16 years ago.

It must have been shocking to a young child to lose both mother and sister at the same time.

Thinking like that, I felt sorry for him.

“Now then, shall we prepare for today’s last class?”

At Emma’s words, I looked at the clock. The hands of the clock were already approaching three o’clock.