Chapter 137

“I’m tired of this day. And this endless rain…”

“Are you okay? You’re not sick, are you?”

“My body is fine, I’m just a little tired. I think it’s because I can’t see the sunlight. The rainy season should end soon.”

“Yeah.”

She glanced at his face as she answered. She thought he was fine until just now, but she changed her mind when she saw him up close.

‘I guess he still hates rain.’

Although he had been smiling since the moment he saw Yurina, Reynard’s face looked like he had a lot of thoughts running through his head. At first glance, it looks like he’s just smiling, but Yurina, who knew him better than anyone else, would have seen even the slightest difference.

“Ray.”

Do you still hate rain? Why do you hate rain so much?

Those questions didn’t come out of Yurina’s mouth like someone was choking her. It’s not a big question, but it’s because she suddenly thought that this question might hurt him.

Reynard had been afraid of the rain since he first came to Carthia’s mansion seven years ago, and he was shivering in the blanket alone. According to common sense, there was no reason for a 12-year-old, on the border between a child and a boy, to hate rain so much.

But maybe the fact that he hates rain, which is not a big deal, has something to do with the gloomy past she doesn’t know about.

Reynard blinked incredulously as he looked at Yurina, who was still silent after calling his name.

“Why did you call me and not say anything?”

“Um, I’m just… I’m just tired.”

“Is that so? Then let’s sleep.”

Raynard lay on the bed with Yurina in his arms. He covered her with a blanket up to her chin. Perhaps this wasn’t enough for him, and he drew a magic formula on the head of the bed, and then applied warming magic around.

As Yurina clicked her tongue, Reynard muttered as if making excuses.

“In the rainy season, the air is cold. And what are you going to do if you catch a cold?”

“I will…”

Yurina tried to say that she wouldn’t catch a cold, but she remembered some of the worst moments and kept her mouth shut.

‘I might get sick.’

It wasn’t that Reynard was overreacting. Recalling that she had been through the rainy season, there was a good chance she would catch a cold.

Besides, if she really caught a cold, Reynard would fuss and wouldn’t want to leave her side.

She would have preferred him to be a little considerate right now. Yurina no longer blamed him and covered her face with her hands.

His embrace was warmer and cozier than the magically heated air in the room.

Even though she didn’t really want to sleep before, Yurina fell asleep. She slowly closed her eyelids, forgetting the purpose of her visit.

“But I didn’t come here to sleep…”

It wasn’t empty talk, it was real.

The reason Yurina came to this room was to make sure that Reynard wasn’t trembling in fear like he was when he was little, but she had no intention of sleeping in this room at all.

However, it didn’t mean that she would go back now, but Reynard hugged her even tighter, as if he had accepted it.

“I’ll take you to your room before sunrise. So don’t worry and sleep.”

His voice, whispering softly in her ear, was sweet as a lullaby. Yurina reached out, wrapped her arms around his waist, and closed her eyes.

Even the sound of a slightly fast pounding heart, slightly rough breathing, and even the sound of rain hitting the window. It all seemed to play a lullaby.

And just when Yurina was about to fall asleepbecause of the peace she felt after a long time.

“Yurina.”

A slightly cracked voice called out to her. The voice was somewhat different from the one she had just whispered in her ear, so Yurina struggled to open her eyes and examined his face.

“Do you remember what I said before?”

“Huh.”

She heard a lot from him. What was he talking about? She didn’t ask back. Because she seemed to know what he meant to say even without asking.

“You said you hate rain?”

“Huh.”

After giving a small answer, he pulled the blanket over his head. As if he didn’t want to hear the sound of the rain pounding on the window incessantly. Yurina, who came under the blanket with him, waited in silence for his words.

After waiting for a long time, he didn’t say anything.

‘Does he need to prepare his mind?’

She tightly wrapped both of her legs around his, signifying that she would always be by his side. Then Raynard exhaled, held his breath, and laughed helplessly.

“I didn’t tell you why I hate rain back then.”

“If you’re still having a hard time, you don’t have to talk.”

“No, I think I can do it now.”

He released his leg from Yurina’s grip and wrapped his legs around her. Even if Yurina tries to run away after hearing what he wants to say, he won’t let her go from now on.

“It’s not much of a story. In fact, you can call it boring after hearing it.”

“I won’t say that.”

“You can call it boring. It’s a little funny to be honest. Being this old and afraid of the rain.”

Yurina looked at him weakly laughing and whispering softly. As if he were talking about a secret in a room with only the two of you and no one overhearing you.

“Actually, I’m afraid of bugs.”

“Bugs?”

“Yeah. There are insects with many legs like centipedes. It’s not poisonous or aggresive, but just looking at it gives me goosebumps. Before, when I went out for a walk and found a bug, I almost screamed like a child.”

Reynard smiled lightly at her as his shoulders trembled as if the thought gave him goosebumps.

“That’s the first time I’d thought of it.”

“You mean you hate bugs? Of course, that’s why you didn’t say. It’s nothing to brag about, so what can I say? If I said I hate bugs, it’s obvious that my older brothers will make fun of me for saying I’m still a kid.”

“If I see any bugs here, I will catch them all. No, how about getting rid of all the insects at once?”

His voice was playful rather than serious, but for some reason he seemed to be conjuring a magic trick to get rid of bugs with just a nod. Yurina quickly shook her head.

“If you carelessly remove such things, chaos may come to the ecosystem.”

“Chaos?”

“Yes.”

He didn’t even seem to understand what she was talking about. Yurina decided to cut it short before this story crossed the point of no return.

“Anyway, that’s the case with me. Everyone has things they don’t like, so there’s no need to think it’s strange.”

It was just talking about bugs, but the atmosphere in the room had definitely softened. Raynard relaxed his stern expression and began to play with Yurina’s hair.

“My parents died during the transition from spring to summer. I was not prepared to accept the death of my parents at all because they passed away so suddenly.”

Oh, I didn’t expect this. Yurina made no reply, as if she had been suddenly stunned.

“Still, thanks to Aunt Marie, I was able to come to my senses. I ate the bread that Aunt Marie brought, and during the day I worked on vegetables in my father’s garden. Despite the fact that my father said that there were not enough hands, he had never forced me to plow the field before. He said he wouldn’t go for it even if he wanted to. He even got angry, saying that he was not so weak as to wait for the help of a child.”

“Hm.”

“I was clumsy, but I did my best. I dug potatoes and sold them in the market, and even learned how to cook for myself. I think my father would have liked it. Then the rainy season began.”

Even without listening to his backstory, Yurina seemed to know what he was going to say.

A ten-year-old child who became alone overnight. He would have endured the scary and difficult things and lived each day. But even so, he was a 10-year-old kid who is afraid of the dark and of being alone.

“There was thunder and lightning and it was pouring rain, but there was no one to go to even though I was scared. No matter how much I cried, no one came to me. That’s when I realized Oh, I’m really alone.”

“…”

“Even now, when it rains, I remember that dark house where no one was there. It’s not that I’m afraid of rain, but I hate it because I just remembered that time.”

Yurina hugged his back a little tighter and buried her face in his chest. His weak laugh echoed above her head.

“But you don’t know how good it was that you came to see me that day. Actually, you came because you were worried about me, right? Did you come today because you were worried about me?”

It would have been better if he had expressed his emotions more, but his calm voice made Yurina thirsty even more. Yurina silently nodded her head instead of answering. Reynard’s lips touched the top of her head.

“Yurina, can you go to my hometown with me?”

“Hometown?”

“I wanted to go at least once before. I wanted to go see my father, and if aunt Marie still lived in the village, I wanted to go see her. But I didn’t have the courage to go. Seeing the empty house made me realize again that I was truly alone. In fact, the house may not even remain intact…”

“…”

“But I think I can go if you go with me.”

Although she couldn’t see his face, Yurina knew from his wet voice that he was struggling to swallow his tears. Instead of wiping his wet eyes, she hugged him tightly.

What he needs most now is not comfort, but human warmth. The warmth that tells you that you are not alone and that there is someone by your side.

“Okay, let’s go.”

Yurina said in a bright voice.

“Let’s go together.”

* * *

“He hasn’t expressed it in the meantime, but I guess he wanted to go to his hometown. However, he didn’t have time to go back and forth from the Crohn Kingdom, and even after he came back, he was busy with various things. Now that he has some free time, he wants to go, but I’m afraid to let him go alone…”

Yurina couldn’t bear to finish her words and looked at Marchioness Carthia, who was sitting across from her. Unlike when Yurina was younger, she now didn’t hold her guilt over her or cower in front of her, but she was strangely nervous in her presence.

It had to be so.

‘Can I get permission?’

She proudly told Reynard that she would help him visit his hometown, but it wasn’t an easy answer.

She was the daughter of an aristocratic family, and the youngest daughter who was much loved by her family. She was accompanied by Betsy and her other maids as she wandered around her mansion, and to go out into a town she had to take her maid as well as her escort.

But to go on a trip to visit a town you don’t know exactly where it is. Even with Reynard. There was a high possibility that the family wouldn’t give permission.