CH 11

Once Lucia and Julian were out of the hall, Scarlett broke the ice.

“Okay, okay. Everyone, stop standing still and get moving.”

As if time had stopped, the frozen crowd began to move.

“What the hell……?”

Lucas watched his sister walk away with mixed feelings.

First, there was the initial shock when she confessed that she liked him, and then the second shock was when he rejected her. Then, suddenly, it all came crashing down, and he felt like all the shock he’d been feeling had been blown out of the water.

“My sister likes my brother……?”

Henry mumbled, obviously shocked as well.

‘Come to think of it, this kid likes Lucia, doesn’t he?’

“Henry likes his sister and brother…….”

The five-year-old didn’t understand the sudden burst of information.

Lucas patted Henry on the shoulder.

“You give up. You don’t have a chance.”

“What do you mean?”

“I’m saying that you’re never going to catch up to Herwin. Maybe when you grow up, but for now, you’re going to be…….”

“……I’m not sure what you’re talking about.”

Henry wrinkled the bridge of his nose. For a moment, Lucas wondered how to explain, but then he realized that ignorance was bliss.

“Just give up early.”

“Hey, don’t press my head! You’re making me shorter!”

Lucas’ playfulness kicked in as Henry struggled to escape his grasp.

“Ouch! Get off me!”

“I brought you this far, and this.”

Lucas looked at Henry fondly, but with a sneaky sideways glance at where Herwin and Lucia had disappeared.

“I’m sure they’ll take care of ……themselves.”

He didn’t want to ponder their business any longer.

* * *

“Miss, your hair isn’t dry enough yet!”

“You’re going to catch a cold!”

Lucia, fresh out of the shower, came running out of the bathroom, not even drying herself properly.

Her clothes were damp from her wet hair, but she didn’t seem to mind.

“Oh, don’t take that!”

“What?”

Just then, a maid who had been collecting Lucia’s clothes stopped in her tracks, furious.

Lucia hurried over to her and snatched the garment from her hand.

“I found it!”

She dug into a hidden pocket of her dress and pulled out something green.

“Miss, what is it?”

“My treasure number one!”

“You mean that leaf is your treasure?”

Without answering their bewildered questions, Lucia made her way to a desk on one side of the room.

On the desk was a music box from the Islands.

Lucia opened the music box and turned it upside down.

Ribbons, beads, hairpins, and other items that had been most precious to her just an hour ago were quickly scattered across the floor and desk.

When the box was clean and empty, Lucia carefully placed the clover in her hand into it.

“Hehe, my treasure.”

“Ahem, miss. You’re catching a cold.”

Lucia’s brief digression came to an end when the maids approached with towels.

* * *

“Herwin, you can’t just say no to people.”

Scarlett walked over to Herwin, who was curled up in bed with the covers over his head.

‘You’re so blunt.’

She couldn’t help but laugh at the innocence and cuteness of their confession, coming from two kids who weren’t even ten years old.

Scarlett plopped down on the bed and gazed affectionately at the bundle of quilts.

“Mommy says yes to Lucia. She’s got a good heart, and she’s cute, too. Don’t be too proud to say no. Herwin, you like Lucia too.”

Children are quick to spill their guts with a little prodding.

Scarlett thought Herwin would come out from under the covers soon.

But time passed and Herwin didn’t respond.

“Herwin, are you listening to me?”

She asked him again, but he remained silent.

It was odd, because he always responded to his parents, no matter how offended he was.

“……Herwin?”

She put her hand on the bundle and felt a shivering body beneath the covers.

Scarlett quickly pulled the covers away.

“Don’t look, don’t look…….”

“Oh, my God! Herwin!”

Herwin mumbled something incoherent, his red eyes unfocused.

Even at first glance, Scarlett was horrified by his abnormal appearance.

She hurried to pull him into her arms.

“Herwin, calm down. Mommy’s here. Okay, Herwin……!”

“……I don’t like Lucia, so don’t look at her…….”

“Yeah, yeah, I don’t like Lucia, so please…….”

Herwin’s breathing became more ragged.

Closing his eyes tightly, he could see the children’s giggling faces in the distance more clearly.

Giggles!

He could hear their laughter in his ears.

The muffled voices began to grow deeper and deeper, and the number of voices began to increase.

“Hmph, hmph…….”

He thought he had gotten better because he wasn’t as agitated when he saw the vassal children, but that wasn’t the case.

The trauma hadn’t gone away, it just hadn’t shown itself.

“Doctor, get a doctor……!”

Herwin opened his eyes for a moment. He could hear Scarlett shouting in a desperate voice.

‘I like you best, Herwin!’

He closed his eyes again, and this time he saw Lucia’s confession.

Thump! Thud! Thud……!

His heart was pounding and his breathing was racing, but slowly it began to stabilize.

The thought of Lucia’s smiling face lifted his spirits ever so slightly from the brink of insanity, but Herwin’s fears returned.

‘I don’t like Lucia…….’

This was Lucia’s confession, and if he rejected her, everything would fall into place.

To protect himself from the storm of emotions, Herwin reminded himself that he didn’t like her.

‘I don’t like Lucia, I don’t like Lucia…….’

Through his blurred vision, he saw the servant and the doctor running toward him.

‘Herwin……!’

He remembered Lucia’s face as she sobbed into his arms when he rescued her from a wild dog in the backcountry.

But before he could realize it, Herwin’s consciousness was slipping away.

* * *

“It sounds like he’d been through a lot of trauma.”

The doctor finished his diagnosis and opened his mouth.

“You’re sure this wasn’t caused by a dog bite?”

“Yes, except for a very small bruise, he is very healthy.”

“Then what on earth did he get hit by…….”

“Well… you won’t know the details until he wakes up, but I guess that it was the stares.”

“Gazes?”

“Yes. I wasn’t in the hall at the time, so I don’t know the details, but I heard that Lady Agnes confessed to him.”

“Yes, she did confess, but why?”

“Because she confessed to him in full view of everyone else, it naturally drew a lot of attention to him. He’s more sensitive to external stimuli than most of his peers, so it must have been hard for him to bear the stares.”

“Now, are you saying that my Herwin avoids crowded places?”

“That’s a little different. It’s not that he doesn’t like crowds, it’s that he doesn’t like having so many eyes on him at the same time.”

She had no idea her son had such a problem.

He had never exhibited these symptoms before, so she had always assumed he was fine….…

“Oh, did you ever……!”

Scarlett’s head snapped up as she remembered something.

“Do you have a hunch about something?”

“Herwin once had a problem with a vassal’s self-control. Ever since then, he’s been more sensitive than usual whenever someone says the words ‘pretty’ or ‘feminine’ to him.”

“Maybe it has something to do with what happened then.”

Thinking about who was in the hall, she realized that the children who had been having trouble with Herwin were also standing there.

“For the time being, please restrict access to the chambers until tomorrow so that the Master can rest well. Preferably, no one should enter except the Duke, his lady, and the maid in charge.”

“Yes..”

The doctor left, and Scarlett gently stroked her son’s sleeping face.

She would not leave his side until Herwin was awake again.

* * *

“I’m sorry, lady. I’m under orders not to let anyone in, so I’m afraid you’ll have to wait for another meeting with the master.”

“I can’t come in? I’m his brother…….”

“I’m sorry, Master Henry, but if there’s anything you’d like to tell me, please do, and I’ll be sure to pass it on to Master Herwin.”

After yesterday’s commotion, Lucia, Lucas, and Henry went to see Herwin.

But he was nowhere to be found.

Yesterday must have been exhausting for him, but it was still strange to not see him until today, a day later.

When he was rejected, Henry cried.

“Is he sick?”

“I’ve been told that ……he had lost a lot of energy and needed to rest until today.”

Lucas glanced at the firmly closed door and sighed heavily.

“Well, if we put it that way, I guess we can’t help it, guys, we’ll come back tomorrow.”

“Ugh, Bro, I miss you…….”

Henry tried to cry, but Lucas pulled him into a hug. For once, Henry didn’t fight him off, and he went along with the hug.

Lucas patted Henry on the small of his back and walked ahead, but then he felt an emptiness beside him and turned around.

“Lucia, you’re not coming back?”

“I’m staying here.”

“What?”

Lucia remained as motionless as a gargoyle in the face of Herwin’s visit.

Her behavior baffled Lucas and even the maid who was blocking the door.

“Miss, there’s no use in this. He’ll be fine tomorrow, so just be here tomorrow…….”

“Yes, I know, but I’ll stay.”

Despite the coaxing, she was adamant. Lucia sank against the wall across from the door, clutching the music box tightly.

The maid fidgeted, and Lucas approached.

“You must be bored here by yourself.”

“It’s okay, I’m not bored.”

“Hmm, is that so?”

Lucas seemed to think for a moment, then plopped down next to Lucia.

“Well, if you’re here, I’m here, I guess. Henry, are you okay?”

Henry nodded, turning his attention to Lucia.

“Uh, yeah. I’ll go to my sister.”

Eventually, the three children sat side by side and stood in front of Herwin’s room.

“Don’t bother with us, just get back to work. Aren’t you supposed to be taking care of Herwin?”

The maid hesitated, then opened the door.

“Well, I’ll be going now, but if you need anything, please don’t hesitate to ask.”

The hallway fell silent as the maid entered Herwin’s room.

The heavy silence was so awkward that Lucas glanced sideways.

Henry was fiddling with the music box Lucia had brought and lifted the lid. The music box tinkled softly, revealing a single four-leaf clover.