Chapter 23
<25화>
It felt as though I had woken from a long, satisfying slumber.
During that time, my consciousness had been slowly but steadily paddling through the currents, emerging from the sea of the unconscious.
Click.
The white fingers neatly folded on the bed twitched.
As sensation returned to my fingertips, the surrounding sounds began to filter in.
“…It’s about time…”
“…Royal… even if we have to use magic…”
What on earth were they talking about for so long?
I still wanted to sleep.
‘Just a little longer.’
I was about to drift back into sleep, pretending not to hear, when—
“I can’t send her away!”
“Eek!”
A voice so booming it made my ears ring snapped my eyes open.
“Wh—where am I…”
‘Where is this? Who am I?’
With my eyes wide at the familiar cliché, I looked around like a startled meerkat.
“…Aisha?”
“Oh! Young Lord! …Why are you crying?”
Lucas, whose eyes were red as if he’d cried out every last tear and snot, stood up blankly when he saw me.
“…Aisha.”
“Mister?”
The Duke beside him had shadows under his eyes, looking like someone who hadn’t slept a wink.
Thud—
“My goodness. The Lady was surely….”
And there was even a grandfather I didn’t recognize, who had just dropped the herbs he was holding.
“Wh—why is everyone acting like this?”
What in the world happened?
Unable to grasp the situation, I simply tilted my head in confusion.
“Aisha!”
Suddenly, the Young Lord burst into a fresh wail and threw his arms around me.
“No! She’s still a patient, Lucas!”
“I must check the Lady’s pulse first! This is a miracle!”
“Gah!”
Starting with Lucas, the Duke and the old man all lunged toward the bed. Frightened, I ended up letting out a scream.
What is going on, exactly?!
‘The bruises on her body remain, but she is healthy. This… this truly is a miracle!’
‘Aisha!’
Delta, who introduced himself as the physician, shook his head in amazement.
Lucas lunged at me once more, and this time, the Duke didn’t stop him.
Instead, he watched me and covered his face with his hand; for a moment, it seemed as if something shimmered wetly near his eyes.
A few days had passed since then.
During that time, I had to stay in the infirmary to recuperate.
It was only later that I learned what had happened before I fainted—and that I had practically come back from the dead.
To be honest, I felt so fine for someone who had hovered between life and death that I wondered if recuperation was even necessary.
‘It—it is necessary. No matter how fine you feel, you must rest completely for a week.’
Grandpa Delta broke into a cold sweat, stealing a glance toward a certain spot. Calips and Lucas were standing there, watching him with hawk-like eyes.
‘Then I’ll recuperate here for a week!’
‘Oh, my, L—Lady. Thank you—no, I mean, yes, of course you should!’
After I gave my solemn answer, I patted Grandpa Delta, who looked genuinely relieved, and sent him on his way.
At this rate, instead of a spy, didn’t I possess a hero?
How many lives have I saved in just a few days?
Regardless, they said my condition was so healthy it could only be described as a miracle.
The reason for my “death” was the blunt force trauma I took in Lucas’s stead. Because of that, they said a small bump remained on my head.
‘But nothing hurts at all.’
Coming back to life and all—how did this happen?
Could it be a “possessor buff”?
“Hmm….”
I twisted my body this way and that, but there were no abnormalities.
It was too perfect!
“Whatever. Good things are good things.”
The most plausible explanation was that it was because I was a possessor.
I mean, how common was that setting in romance-fantasy stories?
Was the reward for five years of toiling away in the Pose Duchy finally manifesting now?
‘I should look into it properly later.’
Right now, there was something else bothering me more.
The very beginning.
When I was knocked out by the Ahilly Circus staff and had that nightmare.
‘You went to the Duke’s estate and brought back something quite interesting.’
In that dream scene, there was no background, nor could I see the speaker’s face.
I only remembered myself surrounded by shadows in a dark place, and that chilling grin filled with teeth as they looked at me.
“…Whose memory was that, anyway?”
I had possessed Aisha’s body from the moment her consciousness began to form, but nothing like that had ever happened in the past.
A momentary scene, as vivid as a photograph.
Just thinking about it made goosebumps break out all over my body; it was unpleasant and terrifying.
While I was lost in thought—
Bang.
“Dandelion!”
The door burst open without a knock.
Lucas, his eyes wide like a rabbit’s, came rushing in breathlessly.
He must have been in quite a hurry, because the petals of the flowers clutched in his small hand were fluttering down to the floor.
“Young Lord?”
Lucas looked horrified at my address.
“Young Lord?! I heard from Dad—you’ve been adopted into our family?!”
Ah. So that’s why he came running.
‘I suppose I’d be pretty shocked too if I came home after five years only to find some random kid had become my sibling.’
Maybe I should have told him beforehand at the circus.
Feeling a bit guilty, I spoke tentatively.
“Yeah. That’s how it turned out. You were surprised, right? I’m sor—”
“Then from now on, I’m your older brother, right?!”
Lucas shouted, cutting me off.
Seeing his flushed face, I nodded quickly.
“Uh-huh!”
“Th—then, you’re banned from calling me ‘Young Lord’ from now on!”
“Huh?”
When I questioned his strange demand, he looked at me with eyes that were somehow sparkling.
He looked exactly like he was expecting something.
‘What is it? What is he expecting?’
I narrowed my eyes and rubbed my chin before letting out an “Ah!” and looking down at his hand.
He was holding a bunch of flowers with only a few petals left.
“Wow, did you pick those flowers for me? Thank you. They’re so pretty!”
“…Not that.”
Lucas countered immediately.
“Huh?”
“That is,”
Lucas muttered something, his earlobes turning red.
“…Call me that.”
“Call you what?”
“I’m telling you to call me ’Oppa’ from now on!”
Lucas’s face turned beet-red as he shouted loud enough to burst my eardrums.
Suddenly huffing and puffing, he stuffed the flowers into a vase.
Then, he added an explanation that wasn’t strictly necessary.
“I won’t forgive anyone who bullies you from now on! So if anything happens, you call me! That’s why I’m saying this!”
Ah, this kid. Was he being a tsundere?
“I see, Lucas Oppa. Thank you.”
Feeling strangely proud, I gave him the answer he wanted. The tips of his ears burned a bright red as he poured water into the vase.
“Ahem. Right. I’m the Oppa.”
“Oho.”
“You’re the younger sister. We’re siblings. Family. Ahem!”
Just as the corners of his mouth began to twitch upward as he processed this—
“Ahem!”
Lucas cleared his throat solemnly again and sat on the stool next to me.
Then, he opened a small sketchbook to show me.
“What’s this?”
“It’s my daily schedule. Now that I’m back at the Duchy, I already have so much to do. Even though I’m only eight, I am the Young Lord of Crost.”
“Oho!”
It seemed he had come to brag about what he’d been up to while we were apart.
It was cute, the kind of thing a child his age would do.
The sketchbook had a circular schedule drawn in blue crayon.
“Tell me your daily plan, Oppa!”
“Of course.”
He arched his dark eyebrows diagonally, seemingly pleased by my bright-eyed attention.
His energetic finger pointed to lunchtime.
“Lunch is at 12:30. They say they usually serve lots of bread and meat to replenish the energy spent in the morning and prepare for the afternoon. I’ll be coming to your room at this time for a while, so be ready,”
My eyes went round at the unexpected words.
“We’re eating together?”
“Of course. We’re siblings, after all.”
“Oho….”
“Now, and dinner time. Dinner is at 6:30. It varies, but usually, it’s a simple meal of meat and vegetables.”
Having explained that much, Lucas narrowed his eyes as if telling me a great secret.
“The important part starts now.”
“Gasp.”
I pursed my lips into a small triangle at his suddenly secretive tone.
‘What is it? Is there some intense training? Or a ritual to be recognized as a direct descendant?’
I waited tensely for his next words, and after glancing around, he whispered.
“Between lunch and dinner.”
“Yes!”
“…There is something called dessert time.”
“Des… sert time…?”
Excuse me?
“Dessert?”
Thinking I’d misheard, I asked again. Those brave, diagonal eyebrows drew closer together as if confirming it.
“Yes. You must—absolutely—not miss it. The strawberry cake is really delicious.”
“…Oh.”
Lucas, I think you might be a little silly.
It was just as I was thinking that.
“If the presentation is over, go outside for a bit.”
A large man entered through the slowly opening door. Even from a distance, he smelled of the cold wind, as if he had just come from outside.
It was Duke Calips.
“Mister!”
“Kid.”
As he gave a faint smile, Lucas, who had looked so joyful until a moment ago, now wore a sulky expression.
“The presentation isn’t over yet?”
“No. You promised to stay for only thirty minutes, but an hour has already passed. I’ve been very lenient.”
“Then please be more lenient.”
Calips stared at Lucas, who looked exactly like him, and then let out a chuckle.
“The chef made strawberry cake for you.”
“…Huh?”
“Are you not going to eat it?”
Boom—!
It felt as if thunder had struck somewhere.
At his father’s offer, Lucas looked like he was facing the greatest crisis since entering the Crost Duchy.
The younger sister, or the strawberry cake?
‘This is when a broad-minded younger sister is needed!’
Actually, Lucas. You’re a little loud—!
I waved my hand at Lucas and said.
“Go ahead, Oppa.”
“…Oppa?”
Suddenly, the Duke flinched and narrowed his eyes.
“He’s ’Oppa’… and what am I? Not ‘Dad,’ but ‘Mister’?”
“…Uh-oh?”
Oops. The sparks flew over here.
