LSBVF ~ 11

Chapter ~ 11

Clover, who had been quietly murmuring to herself, suddenly hopped down from the chair and scampered over to stand behind Belze. She tightly grabbed the hem of Belze’s skirt and cautiously peeked her face out from behind her.

The sight startled Damian and Arwin, and they quickly took five steps backward.

It wasn’t that they had come without knowing that Clover’s body was far too weak to withstand the power of the storm.

They knew that.

But they had thought that the amount of power they possessed would be fine.

After all, they were not Claudians with the ‘complete power’ of the storm. They were incomplete Claudians who each possessed only half of that power.

The Ability that unconsciously leaked from their bodies would probably be similar to that of Khalid’s summoned beast.

Therefore, they had thought that Clover, who could comfortably tolerate the Lion of the North Wind, would have no trouble enduring their presence as well.

Even so, they didn’t know what might happen if they got too close.

Damian quickly stepped back and raised a hand with a smile.

“Hello. Are you happy to see your big brother?”

“Big brother?”

“Yeah. I’m your big brother. My name is Damian Claudian. I’m your eldest brother, Clover.”

Arwin, who was standing beside Damian, immediately followed up.

“My name is Arwin. I’m your second brother.”

“Damian, Arwin?”

Clover quietly repeated the names of her brothers one by one.

Then, just as she took another step forward—

“!”

“!”

Damian and Arwin were startled and simultaneously took another step backward.

By now, they were practically pressed against the far end of the hallway window.

If Clover came any closer, it looked as though they might even jump through the window.

Equally flustered, Clover took two steps backward.

“Phew.”

Damian and Arwin let out sighs of relief and took two steps forward again.

Confused by the strange standoff, Clover looked up at Damian and Arwin.

“If you’re my brothers… are you Clover’s family?”

At her question, Damian and Arwin smiled gently and answered.

“Yes. I’m your family.”

“You’re seeing us for the first time, but we’ve seen you before. When you were very little.”

So they had seen me when I was little.

Then they really must be her family.

‘Family. I really like family…!’

For all four years of her life, Clover had been looking forward to the day she would meet her family.

But then—

“Then… why don’t you come closer?”

“Hm?”

“Is it because you’re worried Clover might get sick? Like Dad?”

Clover added,

“Because you’re worried about me?”

Her clear, innocent voice echoed through the room.

Damian thought for a moment before nodding.

“Yes. Because we’re worried about you, Clover.”

Damian smiled brightly.

“That’s why we’re saying hello from here, Clover. If our little sister were to get sick, I think our hearts would hurt too.”

His voice was as gentle and warm as the morning sunlight.

For some reason, Clover felt a ticklish warmth in her heart.

She nodded and answered,

“Yes.”

Then she opened and closed her little hands.

‘They said they’re worried about me…!’

No one at the Demper family had ever said anything like that to her.

Of course, whenever Clover was sick, one of the Demper family’s maids would stay by her side and take care of her out of courtesy.

But no one had ever told her that they were ‘worried’ about her or that they ‘didn’t want her to get sick.’

Until now, the only person who had ever said such things to her was Lucky.

And yet here, she was being worried about even though she hadn’t done anything.

‘My brothers are kind.’

They really seemed like good people.

Then, just like she had imagined all this time, would they cherish her and love her?

Clover quietly hid behind Belze again and stared intently at Damian and Arwin, as though trying to figure them out.

“But Clover, is that your summoned beast?”

At that moment, Arwin pointed toward the golden four-leaf clover, ‘Lucky,’ floating above Clover’s head.

Following Arwin’s gesture, Clover looked upward.

When she spotted Lucky, she nodded.

“Uh-huh, yes. Clover’s summoned beast.”

Clover reached out her hand.

Lucky emitted a golden glow before gently settling onto her tiny palm.

“You can say hello. His name is Lucky.”

“I see… You’re really cute.”

“Yeah. This summoned beast is completely like Clover, too. I guess that makes sense since summoned beasts originate from one’s Ability.”

Arwin and Damian exchanged a few words as they looked at each other.

“Originate…?”

[It means that it was born from there.]

Clover tilted her head, unable to understand the difficult word.

Lucky swayed gently on Clover’s palm as he explained.

Fortunately, because Lucky was Clover’s summoned beast, his voice could not be heard by Arwin.

Clover smiled brightly at the voice that only she could hear and nodded.

“Right… it was born fwom Clover.”

“Born?”

Damian repeated the unfamiliar word.

Arwin, realizing what Clover meant, lightly nudged Damian in the elbow.

“I think she means ‘originated.’”

“Wow, she’s absolutely adorable.”

“Exactly.”

The brothers couldn’t take their eyes off Clover, whom they were seeing for the first time in their lives.

And Clover was no different.

A little sister they were meeting for the first time in four years.

Older brothers she was seeing for the first time in her life.

How could any of them not find that fascinating?

Damian, Arwin, and Clover somehow managed to maintain their ‘safe distance’ while staring at one another.

And if they had simply been left alone, the three siblings probably would have spent the entire night staring at each other with the troubled Belze standing between them.

But that didn’t happen.

“Young Masters!”

The Duke of Claudian had heard about their brief meeting and quickly summoned his two sons.

“The Duke is calling for you. He says you should come immediately.”

The Lion of the North Wind was a being born from Khalid’s Ability.

His summoned beast.

Therefore, everything the summoned beast saw and heard could also be seen and heard by Khalid.

And yet, when the Lion of the North Wind met Clover earlier, Khalid hadn’t received any of its sensations at all.

It was as though all of its senses had been completely cut off from him on Clover’s side.

‘Why?’

If summoned beasts could speak, he would have asked for the specific reason.

But he couldn’t.

Summoned beasts could not speak.

The only way a summoned beast and an Ability User could communicate was through the connection of their hearts, sensing what the other felt.

So naturally, there was no way for Khalid to hear an explanation.

The one thing he could be grateful for was that the Lion of the North Wind had been extremely friendly toward Clover.

‘I’ve never seen the Lion of the North Wind behave so gently!’

‘It was exactly like a little kitten…’

The people who had watched the meeting between the summoned beast and Clover from a distance all said the same thing.

So there was nothing in particular to worry about.

‘Still, I’m curious.’

Khalid had been sitting absentmindedly at his desk, unable to concentrate on his work because he was thinking about Clover, when—

“The Young Masters went to meet Miss Clover.”

A maid came to inform him that Damian and Arwin had gone to see Clover.

Khalid looked up in surprise.

“Clover?”

Clover still hadn’t fully recovered.

And they had gone to see her?

“They said that if Miss Clover was able to meet the Lion of the North Wind, then the Young Masters should be fine as well…”

The maid watched Khalid’s expression carefully.

Khalid thought for a brief moment before speaking.

“Even so, they shouldn’t have done it yet. Bring the children here.”

“Yes, Lord Khalid.”

The maid immediately answered and left the study.

And not long afterward—

“Father, you called for us?”

“Ah! Dad, I was saying hello to Clover!”

Damian and Arwin entered the study one after another.

Before Khalid could even tell them to sit down, the brothers dropped themselves onto the sofa in the study.

“But she was really cute…”

Before Khalid could say anything, Arwin spoke with an unusually serious expression.

He had his hands clasped beneath his chin.

Damian readily agreed.

“Yeah, she was cute, wasn’t she?”

“Are all babies that cute?”

“Of course not. She’s cute because she’s my little sister.”

“Hmm?”

Khalid silently listened to the two brothers’ conversation.

Then he tapped the back of his knuckles against the solid wooden desk.

If he kept listening to them, he was liable to forget why he had called them there in the first place.

“That’s enough. Enough.”

The moment Khalid spoke, both brothers turned their eyes toward him.

“I told you Clover is sick and that you shouldn’t meet her yet. Did my words go in one ear and out the other, my sons?”

At Khalid’s chilly voice, Arwin jumped to his feet as though to protest.

“But, Dad!”

“Raise your hand and wait for permission to speak.”

Damian immediately raised his hand.

“Father.”

“Speak.”

“Ahem.”

Having been given permission, Damian cleared his throat.

He continued speaking while keeping his hand raised, palm facing outward.

“But she was playing happily with the Lion of the North Wind, wasn’t she? If she can play with the Lion of the North Wind, then there shouldn’t be any problem with her meeting us.”

“Exactly, exactly.”

Arwin chimed in.

Damian paused for a moment before slowly continuing.

“Our Abilities…”

He looked at his father.

“They aren’t complete.”

Khalid had been quietly listening to Damian.

At those words, his eyebrows rose.