<Episode 7>
"Count, thank you for taking good care of my wife and children. I owe you a great debt, so I, Hyle Peneus, will rush to wherever Count Agnes calls."
Not long after Hyle arrived, the Peneus Family prepared to move north as quickly as possible.
Despite having accumulated a lot of luggage during their year and a half in the Kingdom, they packed everything in just a week.
It felt a bit rushed, but it was the road to the north they had been longing for. They couldn't just say they were going too fast.
"Herwin, so we're going to the north now?"
"......Yeah."
"Take care. Send letters regularly."
"......Yeah."
Even as Lucia and Lucas continued to talk to Herwin, he responded lukewarmly.
"Sister, Sister! Are you going together too?"
Then, Henry, who had been playing alone a little further away, walked over and hugged Lucia.
Just like when he couldn't even speak properly, Henry still liked her, kissing her.
"No, I'm not going."
Hearing the indifferent words from the side, Herwin's face hardened.
"Why? Let's go together with Hennie."
"Hmm, that's going to be difficult."
When he didn't hear the answer he wanted, Henry pouted and expressed his dissatisfaction.
"Hennie wants to go together with Sister!"
"Oh, this little rascal is starting again."
Lucas chuckled and pulled Henry away from Lucia.
When Henry clung to Lucia, it was Lucas and Herwin's job to separate them. But today, Herwin was just standing by, neglecting his younger brother.
"Kids! Let's go now!"
"Ah, it seems like everything is ready."
Herwin's face darkened even more.
"Okay, little one. You have to take care in the north too, okay?"
"Waaaaah! No, no! I want to go with Sister!"
Lucas picked up Henry and left first. Lucia, who had been blankly watching the two of them disappear, turned her gaze to the side.
"Aren't you going?"
Herwin didn't answer Lucia's words and jumped up from his seat. And slowly, with very slow steps that he could manage, he moved forward.
"Herwin, what are you doing, not coming quickly!"
Scarlet's urging made his steps even slower. Herwin, who had been looking only at the ground, eventually stopped walking. Lucia also stopped, following him.
"Herwin, are you sick?"
"......Lucia."
"Yeah?"
He raised his head and met her blue eyes. He wanted to say something that was stuck in his chest, but he couldn't express it because he didn't even know what this feeling was himself.
Herwin ended up just moving his lips.
"Herwin!"
"Let's go quickly. The madam will be angry."
Lucia, not knowing Herwin's feelings, grabbed his hand and ran outside.
Was it because of the sudden bright light? Herwin couldn't see Lucia in front of him properly.
"The departure time is late. We need to hurry."
Scarlet urged, putting Herwin in the carriage. Inside the carriage, Henry, exhausted from crying, was sobbing.
"Thank you for everything, Julian. Thanks to you, I'm leaving with good memories."
"It's nothing. Take care there too. Come visit again!"
It was really time to say goodbye. Scarlet and Johann finished saying goodbye to the Agnes couple and got into the carriage.
Giddy-up!
The coachman whipped the horses and drove the carriage. As the carriage slowly moved, Herwin, who had been looking down at his hand resting on his lap, suddenly raised his head.
"Oh my, Herwin!"
Herwin, knowing that he was being rude, climbed onto Scarlet's lap and leaned out the window.
"Lucia! Lucas! Don't forget me! Okay?"
"Okay! Take care! Herwin!"
"We'll send you letters!"
Fortunately, Herwin's voice reached the Agnes siblings. Herwin felt relieved by that, but he also felt sad as he looked at Lucia, who was getting further and further away and was now barely visible.
She hadn't cried once even after hearing that Herwin was leaving. He didn't want her to cry, but at least...
'I thought she would be sad like me...'
He felt resentful that he seemed to be the only one who was sad about leaving for the north.
Early summer at the age of 6.
He felt like he would never forget that day when the unusually cool breeze blew.
* * *
After Herwin left for the north, time seemed to flow slowly and quickly.
For a few days after he left, Lucia was often absent-minded.
Her side, which had always been filled with someone, felt empty, and she couldn't find interest in anything.
But that was only for a short time. A child's memory was short.
Still, she and Lucas didn't forget their memories with Herwin.
When they missed the days they played with him and recalled their memories, letters would fly in from the north, and the Agnes siblings would be happy about it and send replies.
As they exchanged letters like that for a month, two months, three months, and the season changed, their frequency of contact gradually decreased.
Their vivid memories also gradually faded, and they were too busy enjoying the present to only think about the past.
One day, when they were living their lives satisfactorily, the letters that had been exchanged even a little stopped completely.
It was a year after Herwin had left.
And then time passed again, and Lucia became a respectable 8-year-old.
"Going to the north?"
Lucas asked, startled, while enjoying tea time with his parents.
"Yes. Do you remember the Peneus Family who stayed at our house before?"
"Oh... Ah! You mean Herwin and Henry?"
"Yes, we received a message asking if we would like to spend this summer in the north."
"Unlike here, the north is said to be cool like spring and autumn even in the middle of summer. And there are places where the snow doesn't melt."
"If we go to the north, we'll see Herwin and Henry after a long time."
"Herwin... it's been a long time. Right, Lucia."
"Huh? Uh-huh..."
Lucia, who had been quietly sipping her orange juice, trailed off.
They thought she would naturally be happy because they had been like inseparable best friends when they were young, but her reaction was somehow strange.
Lucas frowned and widened his eyes as if he had realized something.
"......You, by any chance, don't you remember Herwin?"
"Well, I remember who he is..."
"Is it because you were too young? You spent more than a year together, though."
"No, I remember. But I don't remember everything exactly."
"Is that so? Still, it's good that you remember. Well, I don't remember what I was like before I was 7 either."
Lucas patted his sister's shoulder, understanding her.
Lucia took the cookie that Lucas handed her and pondered about her memories of Herwin.
'I definitely thought he was like an angel.'
She doesn't remember the details. Only scenes come to mind in fragments.
Black hair, red eyes, a handsome appearance that made her think of him as an angel, and he seemed a bit prickly...
She remembered him getting angry when the kids said something.
'He also hated being called girly and pretty, right? Probably.'
Looking at it this way, he doesn't seem to have a very good personality. But even so, when she thought of him, she could only think of good memories.
According to her parents and Lucas, Herwin took good care of her, so they must have been very close.
Lucia tried to recall Herwin's face, which had now become blurry.
"He, I'm curious."
Lucia kicked her feet with excitement. She was looking forward to what kind of days would unfold if she went to the north.
* * *
"Brother, what are you doing?"
"I'm doing my homework. Henry, why? Do you need something from me?"
"Uh-huh, I just came because I wanted to see you."
Henry smiled, curving his round eyes beautifully. Herwin chuckled and stopped the quill pen he was moving.
Squeak-
Herwin got off the chair and rubbed his stiff shoulders.
Herwin, who had become 8 years old, had grown up so handsomely that no one would mistake him for a girl anymore.
It had already been over two years since he had started learning swordsmanship in earnest, and despite his young age, he was sturdily built compared to his peers, and thanks to his parents' genes, who were taller than average, he was also taller than his peers.
Henry liked Herwin, who was tall, handsome, and good at sports and studying, very much.
For 5-year-old Henry, Herwin was a great source of pride.
"Ah! That's right! Mom said today that guests are coming from the Kingdom!"
"Really? Then they'll be here soon?"
"Yeah! They said there's a sister and a brother too, I wonder who they are? Brother, do you remember them?"
"......Of course I remember."
"What are they like? Are they both nice?"
"I think so. I don't remember the details either, so I'll have to meet them in person to know."
"Is that so?"
Herwin listened to Henry's constant chatter without getting angry once.
Just as they were holding hands and strolling down the hallway, the stairs leading down to the first floor became noisy.
"It's kind of noisy."
"Yeah, I wonder what's going on?"
The two brothers looked at each other and headed towards the sound.
"You've all grown up so much. Time flies so fast."
"It's been a long time, Madam Peneus."
"Lucas has grown up so much. How old did you say you were this year?"
It seems that the guests who were coming from the Kingdom had already arrived. While Henry was jumping around, excited that the guests had arrived, Herwin was blankly looking at the people in the hall.
The faces of the people, which had been blurry and hard to remember, gradually became clearer.
The Agnes couple, who had been kind to him, Lucas, whom he had followed around well, and...
"Oh? Just in time, they're here. Kids, come down and say hello."
Scarlet, who had discovered Herwin and Henry on the second floor, raised her head.
As she stepped aside, a girl who had been hidden behind her revealed herself.
He met her eyes, which were as clear and bright as a cloudless sky.
"Herwin?"
The voice in his memory and the voice she was uttering overlapped.
"......Lucia?"
"Wow! It's really Herwin?"
The girl he had mistaken for a fairy when he first met her, Lucia, was smiling brightly without any pretense.
Herwin unconsciously felt the memories that had sunk to the bottom of his mind gradually resurfacing.
"Wow... pretty."
Herwin, who had been absentmindedly staring, suddenly came to his senses.
Looking down, he saw Henry looking down at the hall with sparkling eyes.
Before he could feel any ominous premonition, Henry let go of Herwin's hand and hurried down the stairs.
"Aah!"
"Pretty Sister!"
And suddenly, he ran towards Lucia. Herwin was a step too late and watched Henry hug Lucia.
"Henry...!"
"Hahahaha, it seems Henry still likes Lucia?"
Herwin called Henry's name, but it was drowned out by Scarlet's voice.
"He's still the same. Lucia, do you remember? He liked you so much."
Lucas nudged Lucia from the side.
