✧ Chapter 10 ✧
“Lunabel Blaine.”
“Dinner isn’t over yet. Where do you think you’re going?”
Without saying a word, Luna grabbed Luka’s hand and walked out of the dining room.
Elliot quietly followed them.
As he walked down the hallway, he kept reminding himself over and over of his parents’ advice—not to raise his voice at the children.
“I hate you! Get out! I don’t even want to see your face! You let the cake we made go bad!”
“Sob… my cake…”
He thought they were about to run away again.
Instead, Luna dragged Luka into her bedroom.
Elliot stood by the doorway with his arms crossed, watching the children build their own little fortress out of pillows and cushions.
“You two behaved very rudely today.”
“So as punishment, there’s no dinner.”
To children who didn’t want to eat anyway…
That sounded more like a reward.
It wasn’t until Luna stuck out her tongue at him that Elliot realized his mistake.
He quickly added,
“And no chocolate for a whole month.”
“We don’t need chocolate!”
“Don’t… need… chocolate…?”
That didn’t work either.
Elliot rubbed his forehead in frustration.
Meanwhile, Luka looked up at Luna with a confused expression.
“Bring our nanny back!”
“You’re the ones who chased her away.”
Elliot had gone all the way to the other side of the Empire to find that nanny.
She had successfully raised even the most troublesome children before retiring.
It had taken him countless attempts to persuade her to come.
“Your Grace… becoming their nanny has truly made me reflect on my entire career.”
The nanny had politely found ten different ways to say she had never met children like these before.
Then she fled the Grand Duke’s mansion after only one week.
“We don’t mean that nanny!”
“Bring Hazel back!”
Luna shouted the same thing she said every single day.
As always, Elliot asked the same question.
“What exactly did the witch do?”
These were children who hated nannies as if they were sworn enemies.
Luna had even learned the difficult word spy somewhere.
She called every nanny…
“The Grand Duke’s spy.”
“She’d pat me… like this.”
Luka suddenly stood on the bed.
He turned around, stuck out his little bottom toward Elliot, and lightly patted it with his own hand.
Did she… spank him?
The maids had said they found no bruises or injuries on either child.
Elliot tried asking for more details.
But the children only talked about whatever they wanted.
“When I peed…”
“She said the fairies did it.”
“Hazel doesn’t nag like you do.”
The evil witch…
Compared to his own older brother?
Elliot frowned deeply.
“And Hazel didn’t lure you into a sweet candy house and kidnap you.”
“That isn’t something I would’ve done either.”
“No!”
“Don’t you dare slander Hazel!”
“Y-Yeah!”
“Don’t… slander her!”
By this point…
Elliot was beginning to seriously wonder if the witch had really brainwashed them.
“Then explain this.”
“You’re smart enough to know a witch lives in the Black Forest.”
“So why would you go there on your own?”
“Because there’s a sweet candy house.”
“What?”
“We were hungry.”
“So you knowingly walked into the home of a witch who eats people.”
“Even though you knew it was a trap?”
Smart… but foolish.
Elliot clicked his tongue in disbelief.
“Look.”
Luna stood up.
She spread both arms wide and slowly turned around.
“Do I look like I’ve been bitten anywhere?”
“Did Hazel eat us?”
“She said…”
“If we gave her flowers…”
“She wouldn’t eat us.”
“I gave her lots and lots of flowers.”
Just as Elliot let out a deep sigh…
Luka climbed off the bed.
He hurried over to him.
Ever since returning home, Luka had done nothing but complain every day.
This was the first time he had come over on his own.
Elliot was about to pick him up.
Instead…
Luka grabbed the edge of his pants and looked up at him.
“I wanna go see Hazel.”
“Big Brother… you come too.”
“No, Luka.”
“You always say no!”
“What do you ever let us do?”
Luna pouted and argued back.
Elliot clenched his teeth.
Do they think I get to do whatever I want?
After their parents passed away…
He had given up every dream he ever had.
Since then…
He had spent his life doing only the things he didn’t want to do.
All for these two children.
But…
Those were things children shouldn’t have to understand.
Elliot swallowed the lump in his throat and took a deep breath.
I’m an adult.
I’m their guardian.
Their only guardian.
He repeated those words to himself.
Then—
“Go away again!”
Just like before…
Luna was telling him to leave on another military campaign.
It wasn’t as if he had wanted to go.
Even while he was away…
All he could think about was them.
Luna’s sharp words pierced his heart like a knife.
He tried reminding himself that she was only a child.
That he was the adult.
But…
That didn’t make it hurt any less.
Anger faded quickly.
Wounds did not.
I’m their older brother.
Their guardian.
The head of the Grand Duke’s family.
I’m the only one who can protect them.
Once again reminding himself of his duty…
Elliot relaxed the frown on his face.
Then he forced himself to smile.
“If I leave again…”
“You’ll just try to run away again, won’t you?”
“If that happens…”
“I’ll station soldiers in front of the witch’s cottage.”
Luna glared at him angrily.
Then she reached out her hand.
“Luka.”
“Come here.”
Luka looked back and forth between his brother and his sister.
In the end…
He ran to Luna.
The two children once again built a wall of pillows and cushions between themselves and Elliot.
His purple eyes were filled with exhaustion as he watched them.
This is hard.
Ruling the Grand Duke’s territory…
Avoiding assassination attempts…
Even surviving battlefields where one mistake meant death…
None of it was as difficult…
As raising his younger siblings.
Living alone…
Makes you talk to yourself a lot.
“Lunabel.”
“Lukas.”
“They have beautiful names.”
I quietly murmured to myself as I embroidered the children’s names onto the corner of a handkerchief.
“But why did they only tell me their nicknames?”
Somehow…
It made me a little sad.
The handkerchief was going to be a gift.
I planned to send it with the crow today.
But…
I quietly looked out the window.
Heavy raindrops kept tapping against the glass.
It wouldn’t be a good day to send a crow.
I placed the finished handkerchief on the table and lay down on the sofa.
Daisy, who had been sitting on my lap, climbed into my arms.
[When are the little ones coming back?]
“I wonder…”
Daisy still believed the children would return someday.
Every day…
She sat beside the fence outside the cottage, staring at the place where they had disappeared.
It reminded me of myself as a child…
Sitting outside the front gate…
Waiting for my mother to come home.
Actually…
A few days ago, I sent Daisy to the Grand Duke’s mansion.
She came back saying the children had plenty of food, a huge house, and seemed to be doing well.
That finally eased my worries.
But…
I didn’t think Daisy would ever get to see them again.
The man who had taken the carrot cake recognized her and chased her away.
She tried going back the next day.
But they noticed her before she even reached the wall.
I stared blankly through the gloomy window.
Just like my mood.
The candy house still had holes all over it.
I hadn’t bothered fixing them for quite some time.
“Ah…”
“I’m lonely.”
Whenever I used to say I was lonely…
Lady would always tell me to go find someone to date.
Today…
She stayed quiet.
She simply curled up beside me, pressing against my side.
Even Lady looked unusually down.
[Ah… get rid of these things. What did they bring home this time? Tell them to stop picking up strange stuff.]
At first…
She had pretended the children were annoying.
But…
It seemed she had grown attached to them too.
“Getting attached is really scary.”
[Adopt a child.]
After staying silent for hours…
Lady finally spoke.
“Who would let a witch adopt a child?”
[Lie. Say you’re not a witch.]
“I don’t know…”
“I should ask the child first.”
Besides…
What if people pointed at them and called them a witch’s child?
The three lonely souls on the sofa sighed together.
“I wonder if they’re doing well.”
“They haven’t forgotten me already… have they?”
Whenever I felt lonely…
I usually kept myself busy.
But this time…
The more I worked…
The sadder I became.
A few days ago…
Since there were no children left to feed…
I ground up all the meat before it spoiled and made sausages and smoked ham.
The whole time…
I kept thinking about them.
I secretly wiped away tears.
I lied and said the smoke had made my eyes sting.
But Lady and Daisy both knew the truth.
Come to think of it…
I hadn’t baked my favorite carrot cake even once since the children left.
“Now… I’m the one who can’t eat carrots anymore…”
Father… Mother…
Why did you leave me with such a difficult trial?
Elliot stood in his office, staring at the enormous family portrait hanging on the wall.
He let out a long sigh.
Inside the painting…
His parents smiled happily, surrounded by their three children.
When the portrait had been painted…
Luka had only just learned how to walk.
Luna had followed Elliot around all day, constantly calling him “Big Brother.”
Those had been happy days.
Back then…
He never imagined they would never return.
His eyes fell upon the younger version of himself in the painting.
He looked brighter.
Happier.
Elliot quietly turned his head away.
Who could he blame?
No one but himself.
He had failed as their guardian.
Back when their parents were alive…
The so-called “little devils of the Grand Duke’s family” had been nothing more than adorable little angels.
With a heavy heart…
Elliot finally sat down at his desk.
Knock. Knock.
“Come in.”
Just as he expected…
His aide, Daniel, entered the office.
But…
What Daniel brought with him…
Was something Elliot had never expected.
