Chapter: 13
After having all the purchases sent to Jeffrey’s house, Edrion wrapped an arm around Lilith’s slender waistâhurriedly, yet with utmost careâand led her out of the shop.
Then he pulled her into a deserted alley nearby, trapping her between the wall and his body.
At that moment, memories of the previous night flashed through Lilith’s mind.
‘I don’t want to fall asleep tonight, Edrion.’
‘Did you truly mean what you just said?’
‘Of course I did…’
She should have remembered how Edrion reacted the last time she adopted her “contrarian” strategy.
His frighteningly sharp gaze, his roughened breathing, the thick veins bulging along his jaw and muscular forearms…
Just remembering it made her body tremble.
Are all soldiers like this? So strict about discipline, with authority practically overflowing?
Of course, Edrion was the Empire’s hero, so comparing him to an ordinary soldier would probably be insulting.
Still…
Just because she’d casually called him by his childhood nickname, the atmosphere had changed this much?
Was even something this small crossing the line?
Sensing danger, Lilith widened her doll-like eyes until they sparkled beautifully.
She tried to pour every ounce of Please spare me into her expression.
“Haa…”
“…?”
For some reason, Edrion’s breathing became even rougher.
The way each suppressed breath broke apart made her feel like she was going to die from fear.
“Please say it again.”
“Y-Yes?”
“I’m going to lose my mind.”
A low groan escaped him as he slowly tilted his head.
His elegant, high nose bridge…
The sharp line of his jaw…
The taut vein standing out along his neck…
Every detail stood out vividly before her eyes.
“I never let an opportunity that comes to me slip away, Lili.”
“An opportunity? What opportunity…?”
No, wait.
What did he just call me?
“Lili?”
That was the nickname no one except her older brother had ever used when she was little.
Is this revenge because I called him ‘Ed’?
What kind of petty, childish revenge is that?
The continent’s strongest knight.
The Empire’s hero.
Lilith suddenly found herself seeing Edrion in an entirely new light.
He… kind of seems pathetic now…
Feeling strangely emboldened, she parted her lips to answer him.
At that exact moment, as if enchanted, Edrion lowered his head toward herâ
“Huh? What are you two doing?”
“…”
A man riding atop a giant brown bear looked down at them with a deeply furrowed brow, as though he’d witnessed something horrifying.
It was Bear la Noella.
Lilith’s one and only older brother.
The lazy afternoon sunlight streamed through the cafĂŠ windows.
Lilith silently toyed with the teacup before her.
Edrion sat quietly beside her, though there was an unmistakably satisfied look on his face.
Across from them, Bear stared at Edrion as though he were looking at a worm split open at the waist.
To run into my brother in a place like this…
An unpleasant memory surfaced.
It was her eighth birthday.
Only a few days before her engagement to Edrion.
Without warning or any obvious trigger, she’d suddenly remembered that she’d been reincarnated into a novel.
She’d been certain she’d died…
Yet before her were tiny, pale hands.
A soft, luxurious dress adorned with expensive jewelry.
A lavish bedroom.
Even amid the chaos of two lifetimes’ worth of memories colliding, she couldn’t help laughing bitterly.
Whether here or there… reality is still reality.
After leaving home on her own, she’d struggled to survive beneath suffocating rent, endlessly rising utility bills and living expenses, while gradually growing to despise humanity after being used and deceived by people.
This new life wasn’t all that different from the last one.
‘If only Miss hadn’t been born, Madam would still be alive…’
‘Shh. Quiet.’
For example…
Her eighth birthday happened to fall on the eighth anniversary of Duchess Noella’s deathâthe woman everyone respected and dearly missed.
‘What’s going on?’
‘Father, the maids in the hallway were…’
‘The maids? You came all this way just to tell me something so trivial? I don’t have time to listen to your complaints. Leave.’
Ah…
So I’m unwanted in this life too.
If she hadn’t overheard the maids whispering behind the hallway…
Would anything have changed?
If Duke Noella hadn’t looked at her with such cold eyes…
If he’d willingly returned to the mansion without his wife and cared for his children…
Would anything have been different?
No.
There was no point imagining such things now.
I don’t need them either.
A family like this… I don’t need one.
If no one wanted her…
There was no reason for her to stay.
It didn’t really hurt.
She’d never expected anything from people to begin with.
Only fools kept expecting things from others, only to be disappointed again and again.
“Lilith?”
“Ah.”
Blinking slowly, she returned to reality.
Bear, frowning, was tapping the table to snap her out of her thoughts.
“Sorry. Your presence is just overwhelming.”
“Jason really is adorable, isn’t he?”
“Uh… let’s go with that.”
Lilith glanced toward the enormous brown bear tied up outside the cafĂŠ.
Its name somehow sounded like the kind that would cause disasters every Friday the 13th.
Fortunately, today was neither Friday nor the 13th, so she decided not to worry.
As for the terrified pedestrians screaming and running away…
That had absolutely nothing to do with her.
“It’s been a while. You’re still as tiny as ever. Have you been starving?”
“I’ve told you countless times. I’m not smallâyou’re just huge.”
She once overheard the retainers lamenting that the young master’s name had been a mistake.
They’d named him “Bear” hoping he’d become a strong and valiant heir.
Instead…
He’d literally become a bear.
Incidentally, the other finalist for his name had been “Grills.”
“Hahaha! Nature is calling me!!”
“There are bears living over there, Young Master! Please come back…!”
Bear had loved nature since childhood.
He frequently ran away into the wilderness and had to be dragged home.
The day he proudly brought back a wild bear, saying they’d fought and then become friends…
Even that Duke Noella had nearly fainted.
“I didn’t know you’d returned to the capital. If you’d contacted me, I would’ve come to pick you up.”
“I only got here recently.”
“How long are you staying? Father didn’t tell me anything. Do you have somewhere to live?”
The atmosphere felt awkward.
There had never really been any problem between her and Bear.
She had simply cut off contact with him naturally after leaving home at twelve.
“I’m staying with Duke Akshad and at the Imperial Palaceâ”
“Ahem, Ed.”
“With Duke Akshad andâ”
“AHEM. Ed.”
“…I’m staying with… Ed… and at the Imperial Palace.”
It was impossible to ignore the terrifying, intimidating chest beside her.
Every time Edrion coughed, the muscles shifted beneath his clothes like a predator flexing before a hunt.
Lilith quietly turned her gaze toward the windowâ
Then flinched.
“Whine… Grrr… Whine!”
“…”
“Grrr! Roar! Whine!”
Jason was clinging to the window with pitiful, pleading eyes.
He seemed to be whining sadly in his own way.
Unfortunately, because he was standing on his hind legs with one enormous forepaw raised…
Every passerby fled in utter terror.
Watching this, Bear tilted his head.
“Huh? Where’s everyone rushing off to? Did a fight break out nearby?”
“Who knows…”
Bang!
The instant Bear’s eyes lit up, he completely forgot he’d just reunited with his only sister after six years and leapt to his feet.
“A fight? We can’t miss that! We’ll finish talking later. Let’s go, Jason!”
“Grrr!”
There wasn’t even time to stop him.
Ignoring the perfectly good door, Bear jumped straight out the window and landed on Jason’s back.
Just as they were about to charge off…
Bear suddenly pulled Jason into reverse and returned to the cafĂŠ.
“By the way, didn’t you two break off your engagement? Why are you living together?”
“It’s… a long story.”
“The short version.”
“Apparently the engagement wasn’t officially canceled because of paperwork.”
“Really? Father never mentioned that. I’ll ask him later. See you around. Jason!”
“Grrr!”
At Bear’s signal, the brown bear charged powerfully in the direction he pointed.
Lilith watched them disappear amid the screams of fleeing pedestrians before turning back.
“Aksh… no, Ed?”
“Yes?”
Something about Edrion’s expression was strange.
Unlike before, he genuinely looked as though something simply didn’t make sense.
“I’m sorry. I just find something rather odd.”
“My brother?”
“Hm… It doesn’t feel appropriate for me to comment on my future brother-in-law…”
Furrowing his brows awkwardly, Edrion continued,
“I’ve thought it was strange for some time now.”
“That you knew absolutely nothing about our situation.”
“Well… I didn’t even know you’d attended the Academy, Ed…”
“Did Duke Noella truly tell you nothing at all?”
“…What?”
“Your father already knew.”
“That our broken engagement had been declared invalid.”
This time, it was Lilith who frowned.
She couldn’t quite understand what he meant.
Lowering his eyes, Edrion murmured quietly,
“He has known… for a very long time.”
