Chapter 61

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Chapter 61

“Count.”

Barry called in a hoarse voice. Because they knew they were wrong.

“I’m sorry.”

Siege, who couldn’t see his friend’s apology, came out.

“I asked him to leave. I thought I should see him in person.”

“Yes, it could be. But I’m your protector now. Haven’t you forgotten that?”

Siege couldn’t forget the reason he was able to get out of prison.

“Yes.”

“From now on, you will definitely need permission to leave.”

A designated guardian seemed to be different from the meaning of the protector the Count was talking about, but Siege didn’t say anything. However, the first protector-like protector he ever had was unfamiliar.

“Is it him?”

Kentrail bowed his head and looked away from the two children apologizing. A skinny man lying on the floor caught his eye. He still couldn’t get his head around how much alcohol he had been drinking.

Kentrail walked over to Jaz’s side. At the unfamiliar shoes coming through the dizzying vision, Jaz turned his head to check the other person.

“Where have I seen it?”

He seemed unsure of who he was because of his drunken, frozen head.

“It’s good to kill people and sell them.”

“Hey, it’s not me who killed the person, it’s that guy, that guy!”

Jaz pointed to Barry and shouted.

“Isn’t it shameful? It’s not enough to have committed a crime, to blame the brother.”

“Do you have any evidence? Evidence?”

Hearing the screaming, Siege’s heart was confused.

“Evidence? The maid you bribed is the evidence.”

“What are you talking about? Bribe. The maid was just talking about what she saw.”

“Oh… she’s not exactly a bribe. She’s your lover.”

As Jaz was bewildered, he looked at Kentrail drunkenly.

“Why? Did you think it would never be revealed? What a pity. The life of the maid and the son have been made difficult because of a bastard like you.”

“What do you mean?”

Siege, who was listening behind, asked Kentrail.

“I heard you have a nephew.”

“It’s the first time I’ve heard of it.”

“Yes. He must have been trying to hide his three-year-old boy. Perhaps there was a conflict when the head of the Kaylor found out about it.”

At those words, Jaz’s eyes trembled.

“Really, brother?”

“What are you talking about?”

Although Jaz replied late, his reaction had already confirmed it was the truth.

“Let’s go. To get rid of your accusation, this person must still be alive.”

Kentrail turned to the two children. Siege must have been shocked, his face turned white.

And as he watched the three of them move away, Jaz murmured.

“It’s a bad relationship, starting from the wrong place, wrong time. Are you getting revenge like this… No, it’s not over yet. Not yet.”

Barry was firmly scolded by Marie. Siege, who was next to him, had to listen to her nagging in the same way.

“I must listen to Marie.”

Watching that, Brielle made a firm decision.

“Me too.”

Ellie nodded her head and added.

The two children were hiding in the hallway, spying on Barry and Siege being scolded.

“If you listen carefully to the words of the nanny, you will not be scolded.”

The two children looked back at Kentrail’s voice.

“Uncle.”

Brielle whispered. ‘If you’re secretly watching, she’ll find out’. Kentrail lifted the grown children without any sign of heavy weight.

It was like when he took them to the market together.

“Let’s go.”

He stepped aside for fear that Barry and Siege would be ashamed to show this to their two younger siblings.

“Hey, it’s nice to be hugged like this after a long time.”

“I’ll do it more often.”

“No, I’m a lot older now, so my uncle will be heavy.”

Seeing the three so friendly, the passing maids laughed.

“You can drop me off now.”

Ellie was quick to dissuade him, fearing that the Count might find it too heavy. But contrary to what she said, she put her hand on his shoulder and looked excited.

“Last time the play was fun.”

Brielle said sadly. The word play brought to mind the moment when Kentrail met Marie’s eyes.

‘People say they go on a date while watching a play or something. I don’t have a chance for that.’

He thought for a moment about calling the theater troupe into the mansion, but he was reluctant to invite strangers into his home.

Instead, he came up with an interesting idea.

“What’s this?”

Looking at the colorful papers on the floor, Marie asked Kentrail in a bewildered voice.

“Do you remember when we used to make picture cards for Brielle?”

“Of course.”

In the end, it was used as origami, but it was a precious memory.

“Let’s play this time.”

“Like a puppet show?”

“Uh. Do you have any of the children’s favorite books?”

“Yes, wait a minute.”

After a long time, Marie’s face turned red. She was excited to think of doing a play for the children.

She hurried into Brielle’s room and brought the young master’s favorite book.

“A little more…. Are there any romantic fairy tale books?”

He looked at the hero book that Marie had brought and asked with self-interest.

“Isn’t it mostly books like this that the Young Master likes?”

He sighed when she asked questioningly.

“Okay, what is the hero going to catch this time?”

“Of course it’s a dragon.”

They looked at each other and smiled. Truly, his love for dragons had no end.

“By the way, Count. Are there really dragons?”

“Yes. Though they’re very rare.”

Marie smiled curiously.

“Isn’t there something like that in the world you were in?”

“Yes, it exists only as a legend.”

“Legend?”

“Yes.”

“Tell me about where you were. What else?”

“Um… There are imaginary animals. Like the vermillion bird, or white tiger*.”

“Vermillion bird? White tiger? These are the first things I’ve heard.”

“Then fairies?”

“They’re here too.”

He and Marie chatted and started drawing.

“Haaa… Marie, please, you just cut the picture with scissors.”

Marie’s drawings seldom lined up, so in the end, Marie’s drawings were not used.

A colorful magic stone was hung outside.

They were used instead of light bulbs here.

“Wow, it’s pretty.”

Brielle looked around the garden in admiration.

“I see, this must be what the maid sisters were decorating.”

The two children ran around excitedly.

Then they found a chair in the garden.

“Are you asking me to sit here?”

The children were seated, who had been told by the maid to sit on a chair in the garden.

In front of the chair was a small simple stage box.

“What is that?”

Brielle, who had never seen a puppet show, asked Ellie.

“They use it when they’re doing a puppet show. Is someone doing a puppet show today?”

Ellie asked excitedly. The two children looked around excitedly. They wished the play would start sooner.

However, it wasn’t a puppet show troupe that appeared, but Kentrail and Marie.

“Huh?”

And they went backstage.

“What?”

“Now, today we’re going to talk about the hero.”

Marie started the play for the bewildered children.

“I can’t hear the applause. Then we can’t start the play.”

Brielle and Ellie clapped and cheered at Marie’s voice. It was only now that they knew who prepared the play.

“Then shall we begin?”

“Yes.”

She, who hosted a talent show at the daycare center, skillfully opened the opening.

Kentrail couldn’t hide his joy at seeing Marie.

He staged a paper doll that was tied to threads with a smiling face.

“It’s a dragon, a dragon!”

And the narrative of Brielle’s favorite children’s book resounded in his low voice.

“Humans in search of happiness…”

In the meantime, Marie looked at the children with a happy face. They were so excited that their faces were red. She then noticed people standing among the trees.

It was Barry and Siege.

It was as if they were drawn the noise of the children. She raised her hand and greeted the children.

“The Count seems to like events quite a bit.”

Seeing this, Siege said to Barry.

“…it’s like that.”

Barry, who has been familiar with this kind of event since childhood, approached Ellie and Brielle and answered.

“Let’s watch it together.”

Siege also approached with Barry’s words. Siege had never even participated in a festival and was curious about this kind of play, and he liked it so much that he burst into laughter.

“Great job!”

“The Count too!”

After the play was over, the children entered the mansion. It was so good that Brielle walked up to Kentrail and gave him a kiss on the cheek before disappearing.

Marie sorted out the paper they had made. And she approached to bring the chair she had left in the garden into the mansion.

“Wait a minute, sit there!”

“Yes?”

Kentrail looked at Marie like that and covered his mouth in embarrassment.

“Sit down.”

“Why….”

Marie did what he told him to do. Then, unbelievably, he moved backstage again.

Then, he made a paper doll she had never seen before appear on the stage.

He had prepared it every night without Marie’s knowledge.

“Count…”

Starting with Marie’s exclamation, the curtain rose again.

“Oh, I can’t take my eyes off your beautiful face.”

Marie burst out laughing at his hard lines. It was very different from when he played the hero before. Perhaps it was because of the romantic words he spit out for the first time.

‘This is not what I was thinking.’

Looking at her like that, Kentrail was embarrassed that the scene he had envisioned wasn’t made.

By now she should have been looking at the stage with romantic eyes.

What he chose for that purpose was a play made by abbreviating romance novels that were popular these days.

In the end, he had to admit that this drama was a failure. From then on, Kentrail began to transform the lines he had read and made his own.

“You wouldn’t know. The fact that I am changing because of you every day. My emotions gradually became more diverse and I learned to express my feelings…”

Then the voice that came out began to become natural. As the play progressed, his eyes were fixed on Marie. When the orange light of the magic stone reflected on his face, his deep eyes stood out.

He recited another line.

“I like you. No, this is not a feeling that can be described with those words.”

The darkening eyes and the emotional words made Marie nervous, and she wanted to run away from her seat.

The play gradually reached its climax.

‘Why…. It sounds like you’re talking to me. Is all this really an illusion?’

“Adding up all my feelings, I’ve come to only one conclusion. I love you.”

And finally, Kentrails’ speech filled the garden. The sound of insects she had heard a moment ago disappeared, and Marie felt like her heart was about to explode.

‘Me too!’

She looked like she was going to cry. For the first time, she realized why people cry when they get a proposal.

His deep voice was directed toward her. Even if it wasn’t a direct confession, she could fully understand his heart.

Although they did not completely touch, it was the first moment when their hearts touched even a little.

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*The four symbols of the Chinese constellations: Black Tortoise of the North, Azure Dragon of the East, Vermilion Bird of the South and White Tiger of the West.

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