Chapter 24

After Ricardo returned it was already time for dinner.

It was difficult to hide my excitement at the news that my brother was now in the Duke’s Castle.

If I run into them while walking around the castle, I might not be able to control my feelings when I see my brother and I’m afraid I’ll make a mistake, so I decided to stay in the room for now.

-‘I’ll call you when Sam wakes up. It won’t take long.’

-‘…Yes, that’s right.’

While alone, I concentrated on carefully checking Sam’s brooch-shaped artifact.

‘This artifact was connected to the other spies, and to the final villain. It was said in the novel that through this, we could reach the true identity of the final Villain. But where in the world are they connected?’

I studied the brooch for a long time, but I didn’t think I’d get the answer unless I ask Sam directly.

“I’ll put it in my pocket for now.”

I once spent a fortune on it and put the brooch artifact in my pocket where the protective magic worked.

In fact, more specialized people were needed to analyze this artifact.

A profession like an artifact appraiser.

‘It’s faster to meet and talk to Sam than to get an appraiser right now.’

Before that, I was going to meet Duke Anais to find out about the future of the Knights from the capital, but I stopped when I saw the servant standing in front of the door.

“I don’t think the Duke would be able to eat with Astel tonight.”

“Uh, why?”

“Today, it seems that he has a meeting with the knights from the capital and talks about the war.”

Thump… thump…

My heart skipped a beat.

It really felt like my brother and I were together in the same space.

“Yes, then… If the Duke’s health wasn’t good, please let me know immediately.”

I nodded, hiding my excitement.

The excitement I feel might be obvious on my face because I’m originally bad at acting, but fortunately it wasn’t just me.

The news of the visit of the human knights from the capital caused a great stir in the Duke of Anais.

As I was going down to eat alone, every time I walked down the hallway, the voices of the maids were so loud that their voices kept ringing in my ears.

-“Commoner Knight, Cassian Gray!”

-“I heard he’s very handsome!”

-“Everyone was angry and upset. Especially Millenia, an orangutan beast…!”

-“If the shapeshifters are going to do that, they’re just kissing him, but what’s that?”

‘Are you talking about kissing? To whom? Maybe, to my kind and innocent brother?’

I stopped with a shocked expression and listened to a few more words.

-“Just kiss him! And then you’ll figure it out on yourselves!”

-“Oh, wouldn’t that be so much fun?”

My mouth opened wide hearing the conversation of the maids and then quickly closed it.

I think I should warn my brother quickly.

How naive my brother was!

He’s someone who can’t refuse even if he doesn’t like it…

It didn’t seem like I could just wait until we met by chance in the Duke’s castle.

I turned around again and rushed up the stairs.

The maids who followed me tilted their heads and moved their feet together.

“Astel, why are you like that?”

“… right?”

However, when I found out that the shapeshifter maids were aiming for my brother, there’s no way that I’d be able to swallow the food.

Returning to the Delphinium Room, I stood in front of the window and looked at the distance.

“When would he be here…?”

I always needed a cello to contact my brother.

Because my brother always used to write me a letter first about when, where, and how we would meet.

‘Should I meet him secretly? what should I do?’

I stood by the window the maids had left slightly open and quietly waited for the cello.

Finally, a cute tuft of black dust flew from afar.

It was a cello.

I carefully opened the door. Fortunately, there were no maids left in the hallway.

Cello, who was on my shoulder, wouldn’t be visible to anyone as usual.

So I decided to walk with my back upright so that I wouldn’t look suspicious.

Of course, there were some difficulties.

As soon as I turned to the corner of the hallway, I ran into the maids.

“Where are you going, Astel?”

“Oh, I’m going for a little walk!”

“Are you going alone?”

“Yes, I’m going to take a walk in the garden, and check some herbs.”

At my words, the maids nodded without a doubt.

“Yes, please be careful!”

Of course it’s a lie.

I was on my way to see my brother after receiving a letter from him telling me to come to the garden.

The concept of this meeting was, ‘I ran into an old friend by chance while taking a walk in the garden alone’!

At a time when Sam was already attracting attention for being caught, it would be suspicious to anyone who sees me drinking tea openly with an outsider who came to the castle today for the first time.

All I needed was a brief, five-minute chance encounter.

I watched the cello fly, hiding here and there, and carefully followed his trajectory, step by step.

When the cello flapped its wings and hid, I also hid in the hallway.

It was because I was afraid that I would get into an argument if I suddenly encountered a beast who hated humans.

After seeing the shapeshifters chatting and passing by like that, I continued to walk again.

Carefully, after going through the hallway, going down the stairs, and passing through the beautifully laid out forest path…

A beautiful garden appeared that would give anyone a sense of admiration, whoever sees it.

The small glass garden we arrived at along with the cello was a place where I didn’t feel uncomfortable at all for a short chat with friends who I haven’t met in a while.

And a man standing confidently in a garden beautifully decorated like a glass greenhouse.

That was my brother, Cassian Gray, the coolest person in the world.

Cassian, dressed in a knightly uniform, waved his hand at me.

“You were here?”

I was going to say ‘Brother!’ out loud, but I looked around in a hurry and smiled a little.

“Hello, Cassian.”

And instead, I waved my hand as hard as I could.

On the inside of our wrist, the tender skin engraved with the ancient magic mark tingled.

If we were to give this pain a name, it would be ‘Joy and Sorrow‘.

As soon as I saw his bruised face and the joy of meeting my brother, the sadness made my body and mind shiver.

I strode towards my brother and faced him.

I couldn’t hug him, but I kept a gentle smile on my lips the whole time.

“Long time no see.”

He said to me with a dignified expression, as if he wasn’t very welcome.

“Yes!”

I also tried to hide my joy.

Immediately, my brother pulled out the words he was most curious about.

“Why are you here? No, how the hell did you save the Duke?”

“By chance, I saved him by accident!”

I could never say I was here for revenge.

I’ve already asked you to let me join the revenge in the past several times, but it’s been unsuccessful every time.

-‘Hey, brother. I had a dream… revenge…’

-‘Don’t you even think about revenge.’

It’s not enough to just cut it off and get rejected…

-‘I’ll help too, so I’ve got some information which-‘

-‘I shouldn’t have told you about revenge. You should always remember this. You have to pretend you don’t know me even if something happens to me, Astel.’

I had no choice but to secretly help him once, I had a hard time not sharing any of the circumstances in which the revenge drama would happen.

It’s not long before we share a little information as we do now.

If I tell him, ‘I’m actually here to get our revenge,’ he might use the Dark Guild to cast a spell that locks me somewhere on an isolated island.

…my innocent brother sometimes does bizarre things just for his siblings.

So I swallowed a sigh and turned around.

“How did such a coincidence happen! Wasn’t it amazing?”

“You… that’s all?”

“Yes! Besides, the Duke was very kind, contrary to the rumors. I saved his life, and he’s supporting me in everything I want!”

“…”

My brother looked at me with a suspicious look on his face.