CH 3

“And now, Herwin. This is Lucas Agnes and Lucia Agnes of the Agnes family. Lucia is the same age as you, so get along with her while you’re here.”

Herwin looked at her mother in silence, then at the Agnes siblings in front of him.

“Hello, I’m Lucas Agnes, and I hope you’ll be good to me.”

“I’m Herwin Phoenaeus. Take care.”

After exchanging pleasantries with Lucas, Herwin turned to Lucia.

Herwin’s eyes widened in surprise at the sight of Lucia. But he quickly regained his composure and walked over to her.

“How are you?”

“……….”

“Lucia, what are you doing? Shake hands.”

After the other person remained silent, Lucia hesitantly took Herwin’s hand in hers.

“Oh, hi…….”

Unlike just a moment ago, when they had made eye contact, Lucia couldn’t see Herwin as he came closer.

She stole a glance at him out of the corner of her eye, and the corners of his mouth turned upward when he noticed her gaze.

For a moment, he was so beautiful that Lucia thought an angel had descended.

“You’re beautiful…….”

The corners of Herwin’s mouth twitched upward, then downward, and Lucia flinched as her face hardened.

“Don’t call me beautiful.”

“Huh……?”

“I’m not beautiful, I’m handsome.”

Lucia was puzzled by Herwin’s sudden anger.

She was just saying he was beautiful because he was angelic and pretty, what was he so angry about?

Lucia stared at Herwin for a moment, then spoke up.

“But… I only said you are beautiful because you look like an angel…….”

“C’mon, don’t call me beautiful!”

Herwin harshly waved away Lucia’s hand.

“Hey, why are you suddenly so angry!”

Lucas, who had been watching the bizarre situation from the side, wrapped his arms around Lucia.

Lucas, who was a head taller than her, put his arms around Lucia, causing Herwin to shrink back.

Lucia was dumbfounded by the sudden turn of events, and tears began to form in her eyes.

“Ugh, ugh… Chu, the angel hates me…….”

Lucia, the honored daughter of Agnes, grew up with nothing but unconditional love, but for the first time in her life, she faced rejection.

When her crush angrily threw her hand away, she couldn’t fight off a wave of sadness.

Ugh.

Eventually, Lucia burst into tears, and the adults who had been chatting happily approached her in alarm.

“Lucia, what’s wrong with you all of a sudden?”

“Good girl. Let’s stop it.”

Julian and John began to soothe Lucia.

Lucia’s crying became more intense as they soothed her.

Lucia’s cries grew louder.

Unable to figure out what was going on, the adults asked Lucas and Herwin what had happened.

“He made her cry!”

Lucas exclaimed, pointing at Herwin. Herwin cowered under the barrage of stares.

“Count?”

John and Julian looked at him in disbelief, and Hail and Scarlett winced, knowing full well that this was not a child to cry over.

“Son, did you make Agnes cry?”

“I, I…….”

Scarlett asked gently, and yet Herwin feared her words.

With all the stares around him, he felt like he was being reprimanded.

He couldn’t find the words to explain, and he broke down in tears.

“She started it, she started it……!”

Ugh.

After that, Herwin said something, but it was hard to make out through the sobs.

Hail simply picked him up and held him to soothe his sobbing son.

Lucia and Herwin’s cries created a cacophony.

Hail and John’s eyes met as they held their children equally.

They both smiled sheepishly and patted their children’s backs.

It was quite a while before they stopped crying.

* * *

“Aha, so that’s what happened.”

“I’m like, what’s wrong? It wasn’t a big deal.”

“But I’m not beautiful.”

When the dust settled, the two families who had entered the mansion were told the whole story.

In the end, it came down to Lucia calling Herwin beautiful.

“Lucia, Herwin doesn’t like to be called beautiful. Maybe that’s why he’s upset, not because he doesn’t like you.”

Scarlett explained to Lucia in Julian’s arms.

Lucia’s head was bowed in her mother’s arms, and her face peeked out.

“Angel doesn’t hate me……?”

Startled by the word angel, Scarlett cleared her throat, realizing that she was referring to Herwin.

“Angel? Huh, yeah. You don’t hate her, do you, Herwin?”

“Huh, I don’t know, I don’t want to get close to her.”

Herwin had already finished his assessment of Lucia.

A child who made him feel bad.

He had vowed never to be friends with her.

After another rejection, Lucia started to cry.

“Ugh… I know you don’t like me…….”

Scarlett glared at Herwin, and Herwin avoided her gaze.

“Lucia, you should not tell him he’s beautiful, rather, tell him he’s handsome.”

Before Lucia could burst into tears again, Lucas spoke to her.

“Huh?”

“I like the word handsome better than beautiful, but he’s a man, so you shouldn’t call him beautiful, you should call him handsome.”

“Is that what……?”

“Yeah. Well, that doesn’t mean he doesn’t cry when he’s called beautiful.”

Just as Herwin had done justice to Lucia, Lucas had finished his assessment of Herwin.

The little bastard who made his sister cry.

As far as the younger fool was concerned, Herwin was a man to watch out for.

Herwin cringed when he heard the words directed at him.

“Who said anything about crying!”

“You were crying yourself off just a moment ago. Do you cry over things like that when you grow up and become a man?”

“Poof, poof?”

“Yeah. You’re so snotty.”

Herwin shivered as the medicine wore off. Lucas gave him a childishly condescending look as if to encourage him further.

“Lucas, you can’t do that when you’re a big brother!”

John warned, and Lucas pouted his lips and stopped lifting Herwin.

“I’m sorry, it’s just that my children are the reason why Count…….”

“It’s nothing for the Count to apologize for, children grow up quarreling.”

“Okay, don’t let it bother you too much. Herwin is just as much at fault.”

“Mom, I’m……!”

“Bitter, we’re having a grown-up conversation.”

He felt bad for Scarlett for ignoring his feelings.

Glancing at his parents, Herwin looked away and made eye contact with Lucas and Lucia.

Lucia stared at him, unable to hide her curiosity about him, while Lucas frowned in displeasure.

“I’m sure you’ll get along with each other for the rest of the day.”

But as the adults spoke, Herwin thought to himself.

‘No, no, no, we’ll never get along!’

Herwin and Lucia’s long, long relationship didn’t get off to a good start.

* * *

“Well, over there…….”

“……….”

“Herin…….”

Tadak-tadak-

Lucia called out to him several times with unclear pronunciation, but Herwin didn’t respond.

Alone in a giant playroom, this was not the situation Herwin and Lucia had hoped for.

Herwin wanted to get out of there as soon as possible.

But no matter how much Herwin and Lucia quarreled, the Phoenaeus family had already decided to stay with Countess Agnes.

The adults hoped that the children would reconcile as soon as possible since they couldn’t find new lodgings now, and they wouldn’t be able to stay at odds while they were here.

Eventually, the three children were sent to the playroom, much to the displeasure of the adults, and shortly thereafter Lucas left for his tutor’s class.

Herwin and Lucia were the only ones left in the playroom.

If it weren’t for the fact that it was so cold that they had to stay in front of the fireplace, Herwin wouldn’t go near Lucia.

Lucia’s chubby cheeks puffed up at Herwin’s insistence on not answering her no matter how many times she called out to him.

She sank into her seat, hugging the pair of dolls in her hands tightly.

The playroom was quiet, save for the crackle of wood in the fireplace and the noise from the hallway.

Herwin, still fuming about Lucia, hugged his knee tightly.

‘If I had known it would be like this, I shouldn’t have come.’

He’d been looking forward to coming to the capital for the first time in his life.

He was told he would make friends his age, and he imagined what kind of friends he would find.

But the moment he met them, they called him beautiful.

Adults say it’s a compliment, but it didn’t mean much to Herwin.

‘I’m a man, why do they always say I’m beautiful, or whatever.’

It was as if the words “beautiful” were followed by “you look like a girl”.

‘Wow, you’re a boy? That’s pretty high praise for a boy. If you were a girl, you’d grow up to be so beautiful.’

‘Oh, you’re a boy? Don’t lie, you look like a girl, why are you lying about being a boy?’

‘You look better in a dress than in pants. Try on a dress.’

The words he had heard so many times echoed in his ears and continued to haunt him.

If Lucia hadn’t told him he was pretty, they might have become close friends.

Herwin pouted his lips unnecessarily.

When they stepped out of the carriage and saw the Agneses for the first time, Herwin was inwardly surprised to see Lucia.

‘She looks like a fairy.’

Her short brown bob cascaded down to her chubby cheeks, the blue walls of her eyes seemed clearer than the sky, and her pink dress reminded him of a rose.

As soon as Herwin saw Lucia, he thought of fairies.

She was quite cute, with large bows on the back of her dress that looked like fairy wings.

It was a pretty good first impression, but it was all ruined by the one word she let out.

Huff.

Just as he was grumbling to himself, he heard her snort.

Herwin stopped and glanced behind her.

Lucia, who had been hovering around him, trying to reach him somehow, was now sitting with her back to him. Her small shoulders were slumped, somehow.

Huffing and puffing.

The sound of inhaling through her nose, over and over again.

Herwin decided it was none of his business and returned to his seat. But after a few minutes, the sound continued, and he jumped out of his seat.

“Are you crying again, you crybaby……!”

He walked over to her, wondering if he’d made her cry.

“Hummph, hummph, hummph……”

Lucia wasn’t crying, she just kept blowing her nose to see if it would come out. Herwin started to speak, then froze.

“Hehe, are you done being angry?”

Lucia giggles, unaware of Herwin’s speed.

Herwin, instantly pissed off by Lucia’s cute face, snapped his head around.

“Pooh, who’s untied!”

“But, you came to me.”

“That’s because I thought you were crying… No, never mind.”

Herwin no longer felt it was worth dealing with her.

Just as he was about to turn away, a bewildered Lucia grabbed him by the hem of his shirt.

“……Why?”

“I’m sorry.”

Herwin’s pouty lips curved a little.

He hadn’t expected her to apologize so readily, and even if she did, it would be with her back turned to the others…….

Herwin closed his eyes slightly and looked down.

He swallowed hard as he realized he could see his reflection in the blue eyes like a mirror.