Chapter 17

chapter 17

Everyone has a sleepless night. For Raynald, today was such a day. He lay in bed and blinked his eyes even though there was no particular reason to sleep.

‘I can’t sleep.’

Thinking about playing with Yurina in the lake, I should’ve been exhausted. He tossed and turned and pulled the blanket up to his chin.

It has been a month and a half since I came here, and I was not lonely because I didn’t have any children from the orphanage who slept in the same room even if I wasn’t close to them. If you were lonely, you should have done that. What do you mean new?

I just couldn’t sleep for no reason. That run is driving me crazy.

“Ahhhh.”

After a brief wriggle in the blanket, he soon walked out of the room with his pillow in his arms. At first, he crouched in fear in the wide corridor, where no one was there, but he took courage and stepped forward.

It was such a luxurious mansion to leave the candle on even at night when everyone was sleeping.

Tap, Tap, Tap. At the sound of his feet, he kept looking back in surprise and rushed to his destination with his feet up. My heart was pounding, perhaps because of the beat or fear.

After arriving safely to the destination, Raynald took a deep breath and knocked on the door. But there was no answer.

‘As expected, she’ll sleep, right?’

After thinking about knocking again, I gave up and turned around, and the door opened.

“Who the hell…. at this hour…”

Yurina, who seemed to have just woke up, went yawning without being able to finish talking. She was trying to open her eyes that couldn’t even open properly when she found Rainard and was busy.

Raynald smiled awkwardly and waved at her.

“He…llo…”

“What are you doing staying up so late, Ray?”

“I….. can’t sleep.”

“Well, you’re scared of the rain, aren’t you?”

“No!”

No, no, no, no, no.

His voice echoed like an echo in a quiet hallway. Yurina hurriedly closed his mouth and pulled his arm.

“Be quiet, everybody’s going to wake up.”

Raynald nodded gently and entered the room as she led him. Yurina, who let him go, ignited the match with a clumsy touch and lit the candle. Raynald hugged the pillow tightly and squeezed it, until Yurina tapped on the bed and then went and sat down.

Unlike her lazy personality, Yurina, who unexpectedly sleeps a lot, yawned again. Seeing it, Raynald regretted it belatedly.

“I’m sorry I woke you up while you were sleeping. I’ll just go.”

Yurina grabbed him by the arm as he was about to get up and sat him back.

“It’s all right. I’m already awake anyway.”

Hoam. Following her yawning again, Raynald covered his mouth with a pillow and yawned. I wasn’t sleepy, but yawning seems to be contagious.

“You’re not sleepy?”

Without realizing it, Yurina, holding her pillow, asked, leaning her head against his shoulder. Raynald’s shoulders are stiff. He answered with a slight push on Yurina’s head with his fingertips.

“I don’t think I’m sleepy.”

“Are you not sleepy, or are you sleepy and you’re too scared to sleep?”

“That’s not true.”

Yurina laughed aloud as she watched him mumbling with his face buried in his pillow.

“Then shall we play until we are sleepy?”

“What game?”

Raynald asked back in a voice a little slower than before. He yawned loudly when he saw the girl opening the drawer and taking something out.

“You’re sleepy, aren’t you?”

“No…”

Unlike horses, I yawned again, so my voice became strange. Without pointing it out, Yurina climbed over the bed and sat down to play cards. Raynald put down his pillow and crawled beside her with his knees.

It was so gorgeous and pretty that even though he didn’t know the cards drawn by a well-known painter in the capital city. Raynald thrust his face into the card and blinked his eyes.

“This is very interesting.”

“Is this your first time seeing a card?”

“That’s not true.”

The only card he has seen so far was a card with a sloppy picture that he didn’t even know who drew it. A card that is nothing more or less than a tool for playing a game.

On the other hand, Yurina’s white card was beautiful enough to be considered a work.

“This is very pretty.”

“Right? I got it as a birthday present.”

In an insignificant response, Yurina shuffled the cards. Raynald listened to the game, trying hard not to forget the explanation she gave.

What Yurina told me was a very easy game where players deal a certain amount of cards and then put out cards of the same number or pattern as the ones presented.

Even Raynald, who was not familiar with the rules, could quickly become familiar with the rules and play the game. Even so, Yurina helped me a lot because I was not used to the first round. Of course, it was Yurina who won the first round.

“This is fun! Let’s do it again!”

Raynald, who was excited at first even if he lost, shook with a reddish face as he lost four rounds in a row.

“Me too! I can do it!”

I clearly understood, but why do I keep losing? After a long time, Raynald looked at my card sharply on the subject that he had put asleep on his eyelids. I thought I could make a hole in the card just by looking at it well.

Yurina yawned with a fan-like card covering her mouth. Before I knew it, the rain that hit the window was getting thicker and the night was getting more ambitious, but Raynald, who was motivated to win, seemed to have no chance of surviving until he won.

‘Let’s lose this round.’

She decided to use the last resort to sleep.

She pretends she doesn’t have the same pattern of cards. She brings new penalty cards. Since Raynald shouldn’t notice them, he’s playing cards from time to time.

As he continued to play a strategic game, Raynald put down his last card.

“I won!”

He raised his arms high up in the sky and shouted, then lay bare on the bed as he stood.

“I’m sleepy.”

“Go to bed early.”

“It’s hard….. to get up.”

Raynald, mumbling with his pillow, crawled into the blanket. Yurina pushed his back with his toes, and she tightened his body to keep from falling off.

“Don’t be … It hurts when you fall.”

It seemed that he had no intention of going back. Yurina was forced to settle down with him in a little distance. Fortunately, the bed was spacious enough for two small children to roll and play, which allowed them to distance themselves quite a bit.

“Good night, Ray.”

There was no answer to whether he had already fallen asleep. Yurina closed her eyes with a lullaby for her breath.

The next day, Betsy, who came to wake up Yurina, was able to find two children sleeping together on a bed with cards on it.

*****

The rainy season has begun since the day Raynald came in the middle of the night. All day long it rained so much that I couldn’t see ahead, and when I could forget, the light flashed and a thundering sound was heard.

Raynald, who had become somewhat familiar with the life of the mansion, seemed to be in low spirits since the rainy season began. When I saw Yurina, I kept babbling about what she had to say.

Yurina didn’t say anything.

When I asked why it was so strange, I could only hear that she was tired.

‘It’s frustrating to just stay inside the mansion.’

I used to go to the garden and play in the garden when the weather was nice, but since the rainy season, the two of us have been staying in the room all day. I thought it would be frustrating to stay in the room because I was old enough to run around.

But the strangest thing is that he rarely tries to sleep at night.

Dressed in her pajamas, Yurina looked at Raynald yawning with his arms crossed. I’ve already yawned for the fifth time.

“Go to sleep if you’re sleepy.”

“I’m not…. hoam sleepy.”

This is the sixth time. When he saw the somber words and he slow blinking eyes, he was sure he was sleepy, but he had been holding out in the drawing room attached to Yurina’s room since earlier, saying he was fine.

After I finished my homework, I spent some time drinking milk or talking in Yurina’s room before going to bed, so it wasn’t unusual.

However, Raynald, who was going to his room at ten o’clock, was so sleepy that he never thought of going to his room until midnight. Not only today, but also since the rainy season was began.

When I asked him what the problem was, he replied, “It’s okay.” But something must have happened to Yurina.

‘Is the rain so scary?’

Yurina recalled him coming to her room not long ago. Meanwhile Raynald was nodding his head and dozing off.

“Mr. Raynald, you should sleep in bed.”

The poor Betsy gently soothed Raynald.

“I’m not sleepy…”

“But you need to go to bed early to grow taller even if you’re not sleepy.”

Betsy, who had a younger brother with a different age, skillfully escorted him out of the room.

‘You’re gonna be okay, right?’

Standing in place for a long time looking at the closed door, Yurina entered the bedroom only after watching Betsy put Raynald to sleep and come back.

I couldn’t sleep well, either because of Raynald’s expression, who tried not to go to the room until the end, or because of the loud rain. Yurina tossed and turned on the bed several times and finally fell asleep.

I wonder if it’s been that long or so hours.

Yurina stood up in surprise at the deafening thunderclap in her sleep. She looked around, rubbing her eyes that couldn’t even open properly.

Still, around was dark and outside the window, the rain was falling with a loud noise.

‘It’s raining more.’

As I was looking at the window where the rain was splashing, a shivering light shone in the room for a very short time and then sagged. The thunder of the cloth, which was so loud that Yurina reflexively blocked her ears, shook the mansion again.

‘I can’t sleep because it’s noisy.’

I was thinking so calmly, but the door opened in a hurry.

“Are you all right, Miss?”

The nanny, who ran without a cardigan on her pajamas, approached Yurina, who was lying still in bed. She seemed to have not realized that she could be more surprised by the sound of the door opening than the sound of thunder.

She sighed, sweeping down her chest only after confirming that Yurina’s expression was calmer than she thought.

“You were surprised by the thunder, right?”

“No, not really. It’s just a little noisy, so I can’t sleep.”

“Really? That’s weird. You’ve always been looking for a madam because the thunder was scary during the rainy season.”

After seeing the mysterious face of the nanny, Yurina belatedly wanted to cry.

‘Originally, I was really scared of thunder.’

She was only a 10 year old child and it is hard to turn on the light right away because she was afraid of the dark here, so she would scream and find an adult.

‘If that’s the case, then I’ll have to act childish.’

It was easy because I had already done it to Dave and Carthia.

Yurina looked rather sullen and covered herself with a blanket over her head.

“But I’m ten years old now. Ten is not a child. I can’t cry looking for my mother just because I’m scared of thunder. My brothers were already living alone at the Academy at the age of ten.”

Beyond the blanket I could hear the nanny laughing.

“When did our lady grow up like this? But since you’re awake, would you like me to bring you a cup of warm milk, too?”

The way she stroked my head over the blanket felt strange. Without realizing it, Yurina murmured again in a more subdued voice.

“No. It’s allright.”

“Then shall I sing you a lullaby until you go back to sleep?”

“I’m not a child.”

The nanny again laughed sincerely. What is this? Oh, it felt strange. Whenever she treats her as a child, I wonder how Raynald’s feelings like, “I’m older than you’.

“I’ll be by your side until you fall asleep, so don’t worry and go to sleep, miss.”

It’s more burdensome to be next to her. Yurina closed her eyes, feeling the hand patting her back over the blanket. But the sleep that once ran away never came, and the nanny really seemed to intend to stay with her until she fell asleep.

In the end, Yurina intentionally exhaled her breath like sleeping. Even though it was a rather awkward act, the nanny wondered if she had been deceived. The warmth felt over the blanket disappeared.

After hearing the sound of the door opening and closing, Yurina came out of the blanket.

‘It’s not easy to pretend to be ten years old.’

As she was stretching and listening to the sound of the pouring rain, Yurina suddenly recalled the face of Raynald.

‘Are you sleeping well?’

When he woke up from a deep sleep, I thought Raynald was also surprised by the sound. Maybe he can’t fall asleep again, shivering alone in the dark, waiting for the thunder to stop.

‘Should I take a look?’

Just as my nanny came a little while ago, on a thunder day, adults usually make sure if their children can sleep like this.

But there is no one to care about Raynald. During the day, the maids who were asked by me to take good care of his appearance, but they will not come running voluntarily until night.

Then I brought him to this place and reached the thought of whether he, who is acting as my protector, should take over the position.

‘Is it okay to be nosy?’

I glanced at the door for a moment, but it didn’t open again. If Raynald was sleeping as expected, he would have come earlier with a pillow like that day.

“Hoam…”

Hugging her pillow and pondering for a while, the little girl soon got out of bed, lit a candle on a portable candlestick and left the room.

There was no one in the dark corridor, where the dim candlelit lights shone, but everyone woke up in the middle of the night and somehow the whole mansion seemed to be in a commotion.

Leaving the uproar behind, Yurina walked unhesitatingly to Raynald’s room.