Chapter 87

Siege was lying in the room. Even though he said it was okay, it would take a long time for him to come to the capital, so he was forced to lie down. Laying down, he waited for the children to go get something to eat.

Then, a knock was heard.

“Yes.”

It was Marie who opened the door and entered. She walked over with steaming food.

“You must be very tired.”

“No.”

Siege couldn’t properly look into her eyes. The child who got his body up bowed his head and apologized.

“I’m sorry… because of my brother.”

Marie, startled by this, stopped him.

“No. It’s not your fault.”

“Still… I have to apologize to Brielle, too.”

“You don’t have to!”

Brielle, who ran through the open door, put his hands on his waist and said, “It’s not brother Siege’s fault. I’m fine.”

“Still…”

While gazing at him, who still couldn’t meet his eyes properly, Brielle ran and hugged him.

“…Huh?”

“I know brother Siege is more hurt than us.”

Tears welled up again at Siege’s eyes at those words as the warm embrace comforted him. Meanwhile, Marie looked at him and smiled softly as she walked over to him and stroked his hair.

“We’re fine. I’m all better, so I want you to take care of your pain now. It’s hard to get the mind better than the body.”

Siege cried at the words and nodded his head. At the same time, Barry and Ellie were watching the scene from outside.

* * *

Derek was sitting on the tree.

Gideon didn’t seem to be moving out of the house today. When he offered to help earlier, Gideon had grabbed hold of his aching back, and now, he seemed to be lying in bed sick.

‘Today, I’d rather do a survey in the village.’

Both of them were sick, so it would have been impossible for them to escape while he was away for a while. Thinking that, Derek jumped from the tree. As he was about to turn his feet towards the market, there was the sound of a door opening, and Brielle’s aunt ran out.

“Help me.”

When she found him, she cried urgently. Turning around, he could see that she was drenched in sweat and screaming.

“What happened?”

“My husband is unconscious. Please, take him to the doctor.”

Derek ran into the house at her word. Gideon caught Derek’s eye on the crooked bed, wandering through the dead.

“Please, put him on my back.”

Derek leaned on his back and picked up Gideon.

“I’m going to the doctor. Stay here. It’d be faster if I went alone.”

Derek stopped Finn from following him. Thinking that he was right, she collapsed on the bed and sat down. She then gazed eagerly at him.

“Please, my husband…”

“I’m not a doctor, but I’ll do my best to get there. So, keep the door locked.”

With those words, Derek ran out.

* * *

A night when all the children were asleep, Kentrail and Marie met in the attic.

“Aren’t you tired?”

She was worried about him coming to see her instead of going to bed right away.

“It’s okay, and I have to be by your side. It’s to get rid of my tiredness.”

Saying so, he took her hand.

When the two of them lay down and looked at the window, the sky was very clear, unlike their own situation. The stars were visible without a single cloud.

“Is Siege okay?”

“Yes. He cried a little and fell asleep. I think he’ll probably sleep through tomorrow morning.”

“Right. It must have been difficult.”

Kentrail remembered when he was informed that his older brother had died. It was a day when the world seemed to be falling apart and nothing had meaning in life. Although his circumstances were different, the disappearance of one’s blood and flesh from the world would have brought him more terrible pain than he had imagined.

Perhaps knowing that, Marie folded her arms and leaned her head against him. The warmth alone gave him a lot of comfort.

Kentrail brought out the story about Brielle to change the mood.

“By the way, Brielle said he would give me permission.”

Marie raised her head and looked at him. Then, she asked what he was talking about.

“He’ll understand that I like you.”

“That’s good.”

“Yes… But, it seems like he was misunderstanding me.”

“…Yes?”

“He said you like another man, and he told me that I should try better.”

At that, Marie burst into laughter.

“You’re the best in Brielle’s eyes, though I don’t think I’m the best.”

He recounted the conversation the two of them had in detail.

“It’s an honor that the Young Master thinks so. I hope that his heart will not change forever, although it will change once he steps out of the mansion.”

“Well, I vote for no. You’ll always be number one for Brielle.”

Those words reminded her of Brielle, who had said he would not forgive his uncle for making her sad.

“Young Master… He was the reason for my life.”

So, Marie talked about the goal of her own life when she suddenly found that she had come here.

“The reason for life…?”

“Yes. Otherwise, I had no reason to live here. While I was frustrated and struggling when I came to an unfamiliar place, he kept getting caught in my eyes.”

Kentrail listened to her quietly.

“What would happen to him if I left this place…? I was just thinking about it. And, as he grew up year after year, he settled in my heart in a different way.”

He hugged her in gratitude.

“At the same time, I started to see Ellie and Barry. I could see they were hungry for love. Despite my petty kindness, they blushed and liked it — Ellie, in particular. She was a child who didn’t even know how to be greedy… such a child now has a dream. Now, she is starting to say what she wants to do. It’s all thanks to the Count.”

She hugged him tighter after finishing her words.

“Then, the Count caught my eye. Truly, you weren’t good at childcare at all.”

He smiled as if admitting it.

“Still, how warm your eyes are… It must have been from that time. I felt how good the Count was.”

It was rare for Marie to tell so much about what she liked about him, so Kentrail’s heart began to beat faster.

“…It was the day the Count gave me the scented candles. That’s when I realized, the place I’m living now is really my life and I can’t abandon them. I don’t think I can go.”

Marie paused for a moment before she spoke.

“Now, the Count is the reason for my life.”

That was why she brought this up. She wanted to tell him that he, too, had confidence after his older brother died and only looked at Brielle.

“Me, too… you became the reason for my life.”

Kentrail peered into her face. He now wanted to form another family with her.

The next moment, her clear eyes closed and he walked over to her. It was a sweet kiss under the stars.

* * *

“At first, he was not very well, was he?”

Derek nodded. According to the doctor, it was a simple physical condition, though he said that the condition was more serious because he was not in good physical condition.

“How was it?”

“To be honest, it’s a miracle that he was alive like this now.”

His face lit up in shock. A person who was so ill went hunting.

“Where is he sick?”

“Ummm… I don’t know. I’ve been seeing him for the past decade, but I haven’t been able to figure out why.”

“Did you see Gideon’s wife as well?”

“No, when they came to the clinic together, I invited her for an examination, but she refused.”

The doctor clicked his tongue.

“That’s all I can do for you. I hope the fever goes down tonight.”

Having said that, he headed to the bed where the other patient was.

‘Well, it must have been unavoidable to go out hunting because the circumstances were bad. By the way… Why didn’t Brielle’s aunt not receive treatment? It would have been much better if she could take care of her husband.’

Derek sat next to Gideon and glanced at him with a serious expression. Even though his wife must have been worried in the house, he couldn’t leave him and he had no way of communicating his condition.

He sighed if he had to ask a stranger to do it.

‘When Gideon’s fever goes down as the sun rises tomorrow, I’ll have to go.’

At the same time as he thought, Derek changed the hot towel again.

* * *

Siege went out to the County to identify and retrieve Jaz’s body. Next to him were Taylor and Barry.

“I can go alone.”

“There’s no guarantee that Jaz won’t even target you even when he has been killed. Originally, I wanted to protect you even from your territory and come up with you, but I refrained from it because it would seem like too much to do.”

“That’s right.”

Barry added to Taylor’s words as if sympathizing with him. Eventually, Siege said he would go with the two of them after their pestering.

He became the head of the household, organized the estate and led the family… Nevertheless, he did not have the courage to see his brother’s body alone. It was because the knights of the family had to stand outside and could not enter.

No matter how bad his brother was, he didn’t want to see him lying dead as a criminal. So, he was very grateful.

The guard post was not far from the Count’s house, and they arrived soon after.

When they heard Siege’s name, they looked at the child with distasteful eyes, although when they heard Taylor’s name, they immediately bowed their heads.

“The body is kept here.”

One of the guards guided them to the location of Jaz’s body. They added that perhaps it would be difficult to recognize his face now. Siege replied that he still had to see his brother’s face one last time, and took down the cloth that was covering it.

Seeing it, anger subsided and sadness took its place.

He was the older brother who never smiled at himself… The older brother who always hated him. Such an older brother was lying with a figure that he could not even recognize properly.

Still, he wanted to ask…

…Where did they go wrong? But, no one was there to give an answer.