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Translator: Vine
Chapter: 67
Chapter Title: An Unexpected Letter
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Both Karayan and Lucius were desperately trying to feign disinterest in the desserts, but their hands were honest.
Lumina predicted the table would soon be cleared, even without her touching the desserts.
“Why aren’t you eating?”
She was caught.
Lucius was quick to notice.
Karayan, as if he already knew, was also watching Lumina with a serious gaze.
Lumina lied smoothly, without batting an eye.
“Of course not. I’ve been eating this whole time.”
“You said you’d grow taller than me, but at that rate, you won’t even reach half my height.”
*I’m already more than half your height, Father!*
To complete her perfect crime, Lumina moved a slice of meringue cake onto her personal plate.
Poke. Gulp.
Munch, munch.
To show she was eating well, she opened her small lips as wide as she could and popped it all in at once.
In the process, some whipped cream got on the corner of her mouth.
The dab of white, fluffy whipped cream adorning one corner of her lips was quite cute.
On top of that, her cheeks were puffed out from the large bite of cake.
Her puffed-out cheeks wiggled as she chewed diligently.
Karayan, who had been watching her quietly, reached out to wipe the cream away.
But his wasn’t the only hand reaching for Lumina.
As if the father and son had the same idea, two hands approached Lumina from either side at the same time.
One smudge of whipped cream.
Two hands trying to remove it.
The two men’s gazes clashed fiercely, and a subtle war of nerves began.
“I’m closer.”
“My arm is longer.”
Caught in the middle, Lumina darted her eyes back and forth.
*What on earth are they doing?*
Considering their ages, it was an incredibly childish argument.
“I reached out first.”
“No. I was 0.1 seconds faster.”
It was nice that the two were talking so freely, but it was uncomfortable with her stuck between them like this.
With her mouth full of cake, she couldn’t intervene in the dispute.
After listening quietly to the meaningless conversation about who was faster and whose arm was longer, Lumina chewed thoroughly and swallowed the cake.
Then, she suddenly remembered the whipped cream on her face.
Wipe.
As she casually wiped the cream away with her thumb, the two men, who had been in the middle of their fight, let out small sighs.
Then, as if they had never fought, they looked away from each other, and the atmosphere suddenly turned chilly.
*…If this was how it was going to end, why did they even fight?*
Watching the Heart father and son duo reach for the desserts, somehow more listlessly than before, Lumina drank the rest of her tea to cleanse her palate.
Afterward, just as Lumina had predicted, most of the desserts vanished, signaling the end of the meal.
Lumina, who had been waiting for this moment, spoke up.
“We’ve never all gathered together like this before. Maybe that’s why…”
Lumina’s voice lowered slightly, as if she were overcome with emotion.
“It was only today that it truly sank in that I have a new family, and I was so happy.”
Lowering her gaze, Lumina stared only at her now-empty teacup.
Her voice was thick with emotion, and her gaze was perfectly executed, as if staring into the middle distance.
Lumina, a master of everyday acting, was also skilled at portraying poignant emotions.
“This is just a personal wish, but I’d love it if we could eat together like this from now on… But that’s probably too much to ask, isn’t it?”
“Not at all. It’s not a difficult request.”
“Well, one meal…”
Lucius and Karayan replied one after the other.
They seemed awkward and shy, but perhaps because Lumina had wished for it so earnestly, they answered readily without much thought.
*If we see each other every day, even for a little while, I won’t have to walk on eggshells between the two of them anymore.*
Hiding her true intentions, Lumina smiled brightly, as if she were genuinely delighted.
***
From that day on, just as Lucius had promised, tutors began to arrive in droves.
Thanks to them, Karayan’s schedule became packed.
Though he grumbled, there were no reports of him trashing his surroundings during lessons, so it seemed he was following along well.
Considering his fiery personality—the kind that would “bark” even in front of a prince—he was being quite patient.
And Lumina also got a personal tutor.
It seemed her daily life would also become busy, but compared to Karayan, her schedule was much more relaxed.
Moreover, the lessons weren’t difficult, feeling more like a hobby, so she was quite satisfied.
*There is one thing that bothers me a little. But, well, it’s fine for now.*
When dinnertime arrived, the busy Heart father and son would stop what they were doing and head to the dining hall for their meal.
That didn’t mean the father and son’s relationship had improved by leaps and bounds.
However, Lumina believed they were making gradual progress.
“The sun is hot.”
The maid continued as she opened the remaining closed window.
“I think it was a good idea to buy so many new summer dresses for the Young Lady. It’s the kind of weather that makes me want to see you in them right away.”
It was a remark full of personal desire.
Everyone in the mansion knew that the maids had recently been fired up about dressing up their cute Young Lady.
It was one of those days that grew warmer and warmer, a day when you didn’t want to lift a single finger in the afternoon.
“Young Lady, a letter has arrived.”
“…Don’t tell me it’s the Princess?”
Lumina steeled herself to light the fireplace despite the warm weather.
When she thought of who might have sent her a letter recently, only Princess Arabelle came to mind.
“No. It has a stamp issued only by Neige Academy.”
The academy.
Life returned to Lumina’s eyes.
“The sender is written as Endymion Lanshuss.”
“It seems the young master of the Lanshuss family has sent a letter to check on you, Young Lady!”
The other maids were as delighted as if it were their own business.
Lumina had previously boasted about how clever her younger brother, who was attending the academy, was.
They had also mailed letters for her several times to that clever younger brother.
He was the only family member Lumina, who avoided any mention of the Lanshuss family, spoke of with a smile.
“Hurry and open it!”
Lumina took the letter.
She was immediately surrounded by the maids.
Receiving all their expectant gazes, Lumina just fidgeted with the sealed envelope.
“You’ve sent so many letters, Young Lady, but isn’t this the first time you’ve received a reply? I know academy life is busy, but still. That’s too much.”
One of the maids grumbled.
She was clearly upset by the actions of the heartless brother who hadn’t sent a single reply until now.
Another maid beside her poked her in the side.
All the maids here looked unfavorably upon the existence of a younger brother who ignored their lovely Young Lady’s letters.
If Lumina’s voice hadn’t been filled with pride whenever she mentioned him, they would have called him a scoundrel.
But being upset was one thing; saying it out loud was another.
Sure enough, Lumina, who had been staring at the envelope, stood up from her chair.
“I’m going to the library.”
The library was a place the maids found difficult to enter unless Lumina specifically asked them to accompany her.
The maids, realizing she was trying to get away from them, stopped their fussing.
*I wasn’t trying to be alone because they said Endymion was being too much, but I guess they misunderstood.*
Lumina, who had come out with a pen and paper neatly packed in her small bag, intending to write a reply in the library, scratched her cheek.
She only wanted to check it alone because she didn’t know what Endymion, who hadn’t written in a long time, had put in his letter.
However, since being misunderstood wasn’t a bad thing in this situation, she walked slowly toward the library.
As she pushed open the heavy door, the scent of paper and the library’s unique tranquility enveloped her.
Thinking it was fortunate that she had free time with no lessons, Lumina was about to find a suitable spot to sit.
But the disorder in the usually tidy library caught her eye.
Books were messily piled up around a desk.
Curious about the books stacked up like a wall, she approached.
In the center of it all, she could see someone slumped over, looking as if they were dead.
A piercing, faintly visible through black hair.
“Karayan?”
Karayan twitched, either because he was already awake or because her voice had woken him.
“What are you doing?”
“Meditating.”
As far as Lumina knew, Karayan was supposed to be in the middle of a lesson at this time.
She realized that instead of trashing his surroundings during lessons, he had been skipping them.
“…It’s part of the lesson.”
“Right, right.”
Lumina replied perfunctorily to Karayan’s belated excuse.
“What are you here for?”
“A letter came, so I was going to write a reply.”
“A letter?”
Karayan showed interest.
“Who’s it from?”
“Endymion.”
“Endymion, your brother?”
“Yes, that’s right. You remember.”
Karayan, who had been sprawled out limply, shot upright.
Endymion.
There was no way he could forget that name.
It was the name of the guy who, due to a misunderstanding, had briefly become his mortal enemy.
And a person important enough for Lumina to say his name in her sleep.
*She’s never once said my name.*
Karayan had not withdrawn his assessment that the person named Endymion was likely narrow-minded, ugly, and stupid.
