Chapter 31

Baaang—!

The door slammed so hard it felt like the ground itself trembled slightly.

“......”

A stunned silence passed through the room for a moment.

The bewilderment, anger, and worry Lucas had left behind had suddenly become our burden instead.

And at the center of it all, Calypse let out a sigh with a complicated expression.

“...What... is wrong? What’s the problem?”

“I don’t know.”

Knox asked, but even mister couldn’t answer.

I was still frozen exactly as I had been from the moment Lucas stood up, my eyes wide like a startled rabbit and my mouth hanging open.

Gulp—

Only after Lucas disappeared did I finally manage to swallow the meat in my mouth.

Why is he acting like that? He looked like he wanted to take the heir selection trial as soon as possible at first.

As I carefully replayed the flow of the conversation in my head, realization suddenly struck me.

There had definitely been a moment when Lucas’s expression started turning bad.

Right when the Lilith marquis’s family was mentioned.

Does he hate the Lilith marquis’s family? Why?

After what happened last time, Knox and I hated the Lilith marquis’s family. That was understandable.

But for Lucas—who hadn’t even been there at the time—to hate them that much...

There’s definitely something there.

I poked the remaining meat with my fork, turning it into a skewer, then stuffed the whole thing into my mouth at once.

“Thanks for the meal. I’m gonna go see older brother!”

I immediately left the dining room, stopped by the chef to grab sandwiches, then hurried toward Lucas’s bedroom door.

Knock, knock.

I knocked carefully.

“Go away! Nobody’s here!”

An irritated voice rang out from inside.

I pressed my ear against the door and whispered quietly.

“Older brother, it’s me—.”

“......”

Still no answer.

After waiting a moment, I slowly turned around and leaned against the door.

“I came alone.”

“...Really?”

“That was a lie.”

“......”

Wow. The atmosphere got terrifying the second I said it was a lie. Guess I can’t even joke around right now.

“Do you think I’d come empty-handed? I even brought delicious sandwiches.”

I desperately held up the sandwiches and whispered hurriedly. I refused to get kicked out a third time—

“...Come in or don’t.”

After a long silence, the bedroom door finally opened.

Hah, finally.

When I stepped into the room, all I saw was darkness.

It was still early. Was he already trying to sleep? Or had he simply grown used to dark places?

In daylight, it would probably look like a splendid noble’s bedroom. But with only a single candle flickering weakly inside, the room felt almost eerie.

The moment I entered, Lucas wrapped himself tightly in his blanket.

“You left before finishing dinner. Let’s eat this.”

I plopped down onto the floor beside the bed, and he asked cautiously,

“What about you?”

“I stopped eating halfway too. I brought mine so we could eat together.”

At that, a pale face slowly peeked out from the blanket cocoon.

“Why didn’t you finish eating? At your age, you should be eating a lot.”

“The same goes for you.”

“...Me? Well, I got used to starving over the past five years.”

For someone supposedly used to starving, the square footage of our young lord’s nostrils keeps getting bigger and bigger.

Rustle, rustle.

Grinning, I waved my chubby little hand like a fan to waft the smell of the sandwiches toward him—

“...Ha. Seriously. You think I’m gonna come out. For something this stupid?”

Muttering like he had no choice, Lucas slowly crawled out and sat beside me.

Even though there was a perfectly fine tea table nearby, the two of us had instinctively gathered on the floor instead. It looked like neither Lucas nor I had fully adapted to noble life yet.

Munch, munch—

I took a huge bite of my sandwich.

After hesitating briefly, Lucas also took a bite.

“......”

The wary look in his eyes slowly widened.

Apparently it tasted better than he expected. Lucas stared blankly for a moment before suddenly wolfing down the sandwich.

Thank goodness it suits his taste.

Alright then. Now that our Lucas is full, shall we move on to the main topic?

“Young lord.”

“What.”

“Do you hate the Lilith marquis’s family?”

“Cough, cough!”

Nope.

Guess it still wasn’t the right timing.

I awkwardly scratched my cheek while Lucas’s face turned bright red as he snapped at me.

“Do you just say things like that without any buildup?!”

“But that’s what I was most curious about. Can’t you tell just me?”

Lucas abruptly turned his body away.

“...You’ll just tell Father everything anyway.”

“Mmm. If young lord tells me not to say anything, I won’t.”

I held out my pinky finger.

“......”

At that, Lucas slowly crept back toward the bed while eyeing my finger suspiciously.

Why is he so scared?

The Lucas I knew wasn’t the kind of boy who’d be scared over something like this.

“But older brother.”

“What.”

“If you hate the Lilith marquis’s family that much, couldn’t you have just said so back in the dining room?”

“......”

“I hate the Lilith marquis’s family too. I could’ve insulted them together with you.”

When I asked again—

“......”

Lucas let out a long sigh before finally turning back to look at me.

“...Now that I think about it, I think I’m more afraid than unwilling to talk about it.”

“Why?”

“Because Father abandoned me.”

“Huuh?!”

Wait a second. What kind of lightning strike was that?

My mouth dropped open mid-bite at the sudden statement.

“It’s true. Marquis Lilith told me himself after he kidnapped me when I was three.”

And Marquis Lilith came into this too?!

“Marquis Lilith said that if Father gave him five thousand gold, he’d send me back. But Father said I wasn’t worth that much and told him to dispose of me however he wanted.”

“...Older brother. You actually believe that bullshit?”

“Whether I believe it or not, Father still came back for me in the end. That’s enough.”

He didn’t even deny it. He really believes it completely.

Well, Lucas had only been three years old back then.

Getting kidnapped alone would’ve been traumatic enough. There was no way he could’ve thought about it rationally.

But instead of wondering just how horrible Lucas’s past must have been, another question slipped out first.

“...So what did the marquis do?”

“He sold me overseas.”

The candlelight flickered. The shadows cast across Lucas’s face wavered uneasily.

“I got sold over and over like that... and eventually ended up at the circus.”

Lucas tried to speak casually, but in the end, he buried his face against his knees.

“...Now even seeing marquises or nobles makes me sick.”

My appetite vanished instantly.

Enough that I put down the sandwich I had been eating.

“Older brother Lucas.”

I hadn’t realized the scars ran this deep.

Especially because he’d seemed completely fine whenever he was around duke mister.

But he suffered far too many wounds over those five years.

I couldn’t bring myself to say anything in front of him.

Whether I intended comfort or encouragement, I was afraid every word would turn into an arrow aimed at a weakened boy.

“Older brother Lucas.”

“Yeah?”

“Do you wanna sleep with me tonight?”

“W-What are you talking about?! Are you crazy?!”

Sometimes people need comfort without words.

But why is this guy’s face turning red?

I shrugged.

“I just thought maybe you’d feel alone here. If you don’t want to, that’s fin—”

“No, I happen to have two pillows!”

“Mm?”

Lucas abruptly cut me off and jumped to his feet.

“And the bed happens to be king-size, so it’s pretty wide! But seriously, don’t go around saying stuff like that to people!”

Despite his words, he had already climbed onto the bed and was patting an empty spot with his palm.

Tap, tap.

“Dandelion. I’m warning you again, I’ve never slept with another person before, so it might be uncomfortabledrrrr.”

“?”

He fell asleep in less than five seconds.

“...Lucas?”

Just in case, I poked the bridge of his nose a few times, but his handsome face didn’t move at all.

Well. Falling asleep instantly was better than insomnia.

“Lucas, sleep well.”

I murmured quietly before lying down beside him so he wouldn’t feel lonely.

A long time ago.

Back in my previous life that should’ve faded into distant memory by now.

Lying alone in a tiny studio apartment barely big enough for a bed, I had suddenly felt lonely.

No mother.

No father.

Relatives who didn’t want to see me.

Not even a single friend close enough to call up spontaneously and ask to meet.

And the more I sat there thinking about it, the more alone I felt.

That was why I’d asked Lucas to sleep together with me.

“You sleep really well. No nightmares either. Shouldn’t a handsome novel character like you at least have nightmares or something?”

Nope. Just snoring~

Fweeeeeh— pop!

Lucas instantly fell into an absurdly deep, cartoonishly peaceful sleep.

“...Gross.”

Wiggle, wiggle—

I scooted as far away as possible using only my butt, then quietly closed my eyes.