Ch#57
Leviathan crossed his arms, seriously furrowing his brow.
The voice of the one he longed for every night rose in his mind like a promise.
“Levi! Do I look any different?”
That was one of the phrases he, who feared nothing in the world, dreaded most. He hadn’t even noticed when his girlfriend’s long hair was suddenly cut short….
“I thought it was tied up like usual.”
That was his excuse.
Later, Rosetta had done it on purpose to tease him because she found his oblivious reaction funny, but of course Leviathan had no idea.
‘Why am I thinking of that now.’
He pondered how to handle the sudden sense of crisis welling up inside him.
For some reason, the half-smoked cigarette he’d stubbed out came to mind.
“Then I’ll take my leave.”
The count wrapped things up and hurriedly withdrew.
Leviathan thought deeply for a moment before turning to Adolph, who was standing quietly to the side.
“No word from Borvel yet?”
“No, sir.”
Seeing his dissatisfied grimace, Adolph added,
“Don’t worry. I instructed that any letters from Iosiah be sent straight here.”
Leviathan nodded and fiddled with his half-empty teacup.
“Strangely…… I’m scared.”
Adolph doubted his ears. It was the first time he’d heard Leviathan say he was afraid of something.
But without showing it, he asked calmly with a composed face.
“Afraid of what, Your Grace?”
“Just looking at that kid makes me strangely anxious.”
Her clumsy efforts to call him Dad were endearing and admirable.
But did he really deserve to hear those words?
Rubian, who had suddenly appeared by his side one day.
She was a stroke of luck he’d never have again, but because of that, he feared she might vanish like the wind after staying only briefly.
‘If I were your real dad, would it be different……?’
Leviathan had never felt his own shortcomings as acutely as he did lately. Perhaps parenting was a matter of enduring repeated anguish and self-reflection.
* * *
“Okay, tie it like this…… Ta-da!”
Sortie was quite skilled.
“Ooh.”
I gave a short exclamation of admiration at the knot she’d tied for me.
After our first meeting in the reception room, we’d gotten on pretty well.
The young lady visited the count and the duke’s villa almost every day.
The Jebeurt duke’s villa in Ipson was always bustling with people.
Dad had to carve out time in his packed schedule to meet the nobles, who had flocked here instead of making the risky trip all the way to Zelox.
Today was one of the busier days with lots of guests.
“Lady Olson!”
Sortie jumped up from the bench and waved toward the garden entrance. Turning my head, I saw a girl in a voluminous dress walking briskly over.
“What, it’s Olson?”
Void, who’d been swinging his wooden sword at a garden tree nearby, remarked casually.
“You know her?”
“Yeah. She’s annoying, always nagging. Girls.”
“Hey, that’s mean. You should get along with friends.”
Void huffed and tapped his wooden sword.
Sortie scampered over.
“How have you been? It’s been a while!”
“Yes. Hello, Titi. And Young Master Jebeurt too……”
Olivia Olson, the count’s daughter, shyly opened her mouth. A faint blush colored her face as she glanced at Void.
“Hello. Long time no see. ……I couldn’t wait for the academy semester to start, so I came.”
“I, I never asked you to wait!”
Void grumbled and kicked at the ground as usual.
‘What’s this? No way, this cliché……!’
I watched the boy and girl’s shy exchange with a pounding heart.
Olivia approached with her hands behind her back, smiling.
“Do you remember what I told you before break?”
Gasp! What did she say before break?
The young lady smiled gently and took another step closer. What emerged from behind her back wasn’t a bouquet of confession flowers.
—It was a stiff demerit notebook.
“You broke the fence with that wooden sword? Demerit 5 points! Five points!”
“Ah, you came to give demerits! Being student council president doesn’t make you all that!”
“For Jebeurt’s young master to run from demerits…… How cowardly!”
“Uwaaah! We don’t match! We don’t match at all!”
Void flailed his arms in all directions and fled far away.
“Whew. Refreshing.”
Olivia dusted off her hands and turned around.
The proud-faced young lady approached Sortie standing nearby.
“So, Titi, what are you doing here?”
“Ah! Playing with Rubian.”
“Rubian……?”
Our eyes met exactly. I exclaimed in pure admiration.
‘Wow, two super pretty girls…….’
Olivia Olson with her long, wavy brown hair, and Titi with her sky-blue hair in twin braids. Dressed in splendid noble attire befitting daughters of fine families, they even smelled faintly fragrant.
‘They must’ve gone to the hot springs, huh?’
Jealous.
While I was lost in random thoughts, Olivia approached and offered her hand.
“I heard from Father. I’m Olivia Olson of the Olson Count family.”
As expected of the student council president. She was an impressively poised girl.
I lightly took her hand.
“Yees, hello. I’m Rubian.”
“Hmm. Not very Jebeurt-like.”
Huh? What’s that mean?
While my radar spun trying to detect if it was an insult or praise, Sortie jumped in.
“Right? So round and small and squishy!”
“Yes. Jebeurt’s new hope. A revolutionary change.”
For some reason, I felt like a symbol of a new era.
“For someone like this to become Lord Void’s little brother…… My deepest condolences.”
“Haha.”
Olivia tilted her head sympathetically, as if truly sorry.
Void, what the heck do you do at the academy…….
“Huh? Liv, shouldn’t condolences be heartfelt?”
“Oh my, Titi. You should enter our academy as soon as possible.”
“Huh?”
“This big sister will educate you properly. Of course, you have to be an exemplary student who follows all our academy’s rules.”
“Big sister really loves the academy.”
“It’s a fine place full of rules and demerits.”
Olivia stroked Sortie’s head with a smile.
“But that’s a pretty bonnet. New?”
“Yees. Mom bought it for me.”
“I got a new ribbon for the new term too. Size, color—all regulation.”
“Ooh. Harzen Boutique?”
“Mollips. Bold Young Master goes there too.”
“Wow, that fashion-forward Young Master? I actually went there recently too……”
I listened to the two young ladies’ back-and-forth while feeling like the world was spinning.
‘Something…….’
No room to butt in!
Come to think of it, it’d been forever since I talked with girls my age……!
“Hmm, this might take a while—want to go grab some cake? I hear Jake’s Tea Salon just opened in Ipson.”
“Waaah! Sounds good!”
I squirmed away awkwardly.
“Huh? Lord Rubian, where are you going? Lord Void’s a no, but you’d be fine to join.”
“Hehe. I’m gonna play with big bro Void……. I wanna train with wooden sword too……”
As I turned away awkwardly, Sortie grabbed my hem.
“Ah, I haven’t shown you all the knots yet!”
“Next time!”
I left the garden behind the two staring blankly at me.
Somehow, it didn’t feel like my place…….
I thought living at the duke’s castle had made me a bit more normal.
No! The path to normalcy was farther and rougher than I’d imagined!
I returned to my room from the garden and quietly practiced tying knots.
‘If I embed a tiny barrier stone here, it could work as a sword decoration, right?’
A proud smile crept up automatically.
I planned to process the barrier stone on my room’s window sill into a small portable ornament.
It wouldn’t be as powerful as a magical artifact, but as an activated magic stone, it’d help at least once in an emergency.
‘Dad’s heading out for the spring subjugation after the New Green Festival.’
Honestly, I wanted to go along, but of course he wouldn’t allow it. So this was the best I could do.
“Still a bit sloppy, so practice, practice!”
The guests who had flooded the villa had ebbed away like the tide. Was Dad still buried in paperwork?
“Aigoo. Poor salaried worker who has to work even on vacation.”
So pitiful.
I let out a short sigh when knock knock, a knocking sound came.
