Chapter 53

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Chapter 53

Knock, knock, knock—

A knock echoed through the office.

“Come in.”

Kentrail, who thought it was the butler, answered while looking at the document he was looking at. Marie came in after opening the door and looked at him with concentration. She was supposed to stand there until he called, so as not to disturb him.

‘I can see why a man who is concentrating on his work is cool.’

A slightly wrinkled eyebrow, and a finger-tapping for something to think about.

Everything matched Marie’s aesthetic.

She struggled to press her pounding heart and waited for him to call. Meanwhile, Kentrail raised his head only when the butler, who would normally have approached him, stood still.

“Marie.”

His eyes widened at the unexpected visit.

“Did I disturb you?”

“No way. Come closer and sit down.”

He then hurriedly organized the papers he was looking at, got up and walked to the sofa. She followed him and approached the sofa with soft steps and sat down.

“It’s not that much, I’ve found something.”

“What is that?”

She placed what she was holding in her hand on the sofa table.

“This is it.”

He saw an old wooden box that looked wet.

“A wooden box?”

“As expected, even the Count doesn’t know what this is. I found it while going to the tree with the box we had buried earlier.”

“There? You mean you went outside while it’s raining like this?”

Marie hesitated at his loud voice.

“No, because it doesn’t keep the promise it made if it moved or popped out.”

“Haa. If it’s that precious, I’d rather do it. If it’s raining like this, what if you catch a cold?”

Marie didn’t feel sorry for his nagging, as his words were full of worries. She was rather happy that someone cared about her like this.

“From now on, I won’t go out like that when it rains.”

He sighed in response to her docile reply, and looked at the box she had brought. It looked like an ordinary wooden box. Kentrail didn’t know why it was buried there. He put his finger in the groove that had been dug to open the cover and lifted it up.

Marie’s eyes lit up with curiosity.

“What’s in it?”

“It’s like a letter.”

Saying so, he pulled out a piece of paper from the box.

“Yes?”

Marie looked intently at the letter in his hand, wondering if someone had left her letter there. It was amazing how well it had been preserved so far.

Kentrail began to open the letter at her prompting. His eyes fluttered at the unexpected words. A strange aura spread around him.

Looking at his expression, Marie was restless.

‘What the hell is it about?’

She snooped and wondered what the letter was.

“It was left by my mother.”

“Mother? Maybe the Count…”

“Ha…”

He raised his hand and wiped his face.

“The recipient is sister-in-law.”

“What is that… Why didn’t she give it directly?”

“Yes. Now, I remember.’

His mother, who had a girly side, read a romance novel. He once remembered hiding his neck, and saw a scene in which she exchanged letters with his daughter-in-law.

The two blunt sons could not join in this kind of activities, and the atmosphere didn’t match with her husband, whom she had been with for decades, so she exchanged letters with her daughter-in-law.

Kentrail looked at his excited mother and thought she was going to do it once or twice, though the letters seemed to have continued for quite some time.

As time passed, the wooden frame that had been sandwiched between the trees fell to the floor and seemed to be buried in the soil. And as the trees grew, it seemed to go deep like the roots.

“When I was young, I heard that the two of them exchanged letters. It’s been so long that I never thought there would be such traces.”

“Ah… She was a kind person.’

“Yes…”

“Then, it seems that the letter was not received by Brielle’s mother.”

“That’s right…but, this letter seems to have a great secret.”

“Yes? A secret?”

“I think it’s a secret about Brielle’s maternal family. It says that the mother wants sister-in-law to confirm the facts.”

Marie was surprised by that.

‘It’s a secret about Brielle’s mother.’

She could still clearly see the warm-hearted image of the grandfather whom she saw on Brielle’s birthday a long time ago. Marie thought that the secret wasn’t a bad thing.

“It would have been quicker to ask directly.”

“Yes, it would have been better to ask it in the letter directly to keep it secret, but sadly, my sister-in-law had to go out in a hurry, so she must’ve written it down here. I guess she must’ve wanted to give sister-in-law some time to answer the question.”

“May I ask what secret it was?”

“Of course. Though can I tell you after confirming that this is true?”

“Yes, you can.”

She was worried about what made him so agitated.

“Hmm…”

After the pouring rain ended, the rising sky welcomed the children. Now, Ellie and Brielle were lying in the garden watching the clouds.

In the morning, he had finished all the classes he received from Kentrail and was having a lot of free time.

“Hey! Dolphin!”

“Hey, is that a whale?”

The two were looking at the clouds to pass the time and matching the shapes.

“It’s a dolphin! Have you actually seen it, Ellie?”

“No. Have you ever seen it, young master?”

Brielle shook his head. Due to the location of the capital on the inner side of the continent, it was natural that he had not seen it before, as it had to take more than a month to go to the sea. In addition, the ships were not developed enough to see dolphins just because children wanted to see them.

It was all they had seen in the book. It was to the extent that when they saw a picture drawn by an artist, they thought it was a dolphin.

Marie, who had ever seen a real dolphin, laughed at the painter because she thought that the painter had never actually seen a dolphin.

“When can we see the sea?”

Brielle’s age was now the age to enter the academy.

There were so many things he wanted to see and many things he wanted to do. However, now in the mansion, all he could do was take a little class and play.

“When everything is over.”

In response to Ellie’s answer, Brielle raised his head and looked at her.

“Ellie, do you know why we can’t go out?”

“Well, but at least I know what we don’t know is better for the Count and sister.”

In Ellie’s words, Brielle nodded his head. He thought that there must be a reason why his uncle didn’t tell him in detail.

“What are you doing here?”

“Marie!”

Marie’s face suddenly protruded from the sight of the two lying children.

She was struggling to find the two unseen children. They were lying among the trees, so no matter how much she looked around, she couldn’t see it. She came just in case, though it turned out they were here.

“We were watching the clouds.”

As Ellie answered, she pointed to the cloud that had not yet drifted away.

“The young master said that was a dolphin.”

“What?”

Marie turned her head and looked up at the sky. A white cloud floated around. On the other hand, Brielle was nervous about what Marie would say because she was afraid she would say it’s not.

“That’s right, dolphin.”

“It doesn’t look like that.”

Clouds were different from the books the children saw. Nevertheless, it resembled a dolphin that Marie had actually seen.

“It actually looks like that.”

“Like that…?”

It was Ellie, who tilted her head at how different it looked from the book, though it didn’t really matter what the dolphin looked like, so she quickly agreed.

“Did you keep looking at the sky?”

“No, I was saying I wanted to go to the sea.”

“Sea…”

Come to think of it, she had never seen the sea from here.

“Shall we go together next time?”

“Really?”

The same answer came from both children. Two pairs of eyes were shining.

“Of course.”

She gently grabbed the cheeks of the two cute children and released them.

After Marie went to the party, she was convinced. The culprit would be caught soon.

Considering Siege’s age, it was right before the original story began, so it wasn’t long before the Count was able to catch the culprit who killed Brielle in the original story.

“Hold on a little bit. Then, we can all go on a picnic together.”

“Hmm.”

“Okay.”

The cool wind surrounding the three stayed in the space and disappeared.

“….”

Derek’s expression darkened as he received orders from Kentrail.

“I don’t want to believe it either. So, Derek, I want you to confirm.”

He nodded his head. If this was true. That assumption alone was terrifying.

“I’ll find out soon. But if I leave, the safety of the young master and others will be…”

“It’ll be fine with Taylor and the other knights. I feel more at ease with you, though I can’t leave this task to someone else.”

Derek’s shoulders became heavy when Kentrail said that he trusted him.

“I’ll do my best.”

“Thank you.”

So, Derek left again.

Kentrail was watching his back as he left the mansion.

Recently, Derek and Taylor switched jobs. The role of contacting the estates and collecting rumors was Derek, who had been a mercenary, would be more suitable than Taylor, who was appointed as a knight and started living an aristocratic life.

He hoped that the news Derek would bring would be different from the contents of the letter.

‘It seems that mother didn’t want her daughter-in-law’s fate to be known to the rest of the family. Maybe, she wanted to protect sister-in-law. Considering mother’s personality, it would be like so.’

Then, where Derek disappeared, Brielle appeared.

He was saying something to the nanny and smiling happily.

‘What kind of feelings did sister-in-law have with Brielle? When she sent a letter to her parents, what kind of heart did she send it with?’

Why did Brielle’s maternal grandfather leave it until this happened…?

His doubts only grew.

“Wow, Uncle.”

Brielle found Kentrail’s room.

“Is this Marie?”

He stroked his nephew’s hair. His mind was complicated, and he was just drawing.

“Yes.”

Kentrail asked her permission not long ago to draw Marie, and the finished work would be a gift to her.

When he finished his sketch and was about to color it, his nephew came to see him.

“It’s just like Marie.”

“Do you think it’s beautifully drawn?”

“Yeah. Originally, Marie is pretty.”

From the subjective eyes of the two men, Marie was portrayed as the most beautiful woman in the Kingdom.

“When you paint, it reveals what you think of the subject.”

Brielle said he couldn’t look away from Marie’s painting.

“Who did you learn from?”

“I saw it in a book.”

He then continued to admire the painting, “Uncle really likes Marie.”

It was a word of pure admiration, though at that moment, Kentrail’s heart rate rose.

“Do you think so…?”

“Yes. Look, you drew Marie so lovely.”

Her side profile with a light smile suits her well. It was also Kentrail’s favorite moment.

Hearing the words from Brielle, he thought this was how he looked at her.

“Does uncle enjoy drawing?”

“Right.”

“When you play the piano?”

“Of course.”

He started painting while listening to his nephew’s question. The colors flashed in and out of his mind. A pleasant smile appeared on his face.

Brielle opened his mouth again, staring at him.

“Then, what about when you’re with Marie?”

“…What?”

At that, he immediately turned his head to look at his nephew. It was obvious that his nephew noticed that he liked her.

“How about when you’re with Marie?”

All sorts of thoughts went through his mind. Until a few years ago, Brielle was the child who cried about marrying Marie.

‘Is that still the case? What if he cries again?’

However, he couldn’t tell a lie. His troubles deepened because he didn’t want to lie about his feelings for her.

“Oh, dear. Is this something to worry about so hard?”

Saying so, Brielle, frustrated by his uncle, folded his arms. He questioned back after reading his nephew’s eyes more.

“Then, you? Do you like being with Marie?”

An answer came out of Brielle’s mouth without any hesitation.

“Of course. Marie is the most precious family to me.”

The child’s eyes were full of affection when he said that. He smiled as his white cheeks swelled up.

“Just like uncle, I’m so so happy.”

“Yes, uncle, too…”

Kentrail looked at Brielle’s face and answered so.

“I see.”

Fortunately, the nephew didn’t seem to care much about the answer. He was reassured that Brielle was asking without any meaning.

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