TBFV 18

Belzeon hurriedly wiped away the tears with the back of his hand.

However, the tears that burst once did not stop easily.

Rather, it just poured down like it had been waiting for it.

Belzeon and Chesha were surprised by the endless tears.

“Hick….”

Belzeon was so startled that he hiccupped.

It was a figure of a 13-year-old boy with tears dripping down his face while whining.

Not the eldest son of the Basilian family….

Chesha patted Belzeon, who was crying hard.

Belzeon held the lily of the valley tightly in his hand and cried for a long time.

And it was only after the tears were welling up in his eyes that he stopped crying.

“….”

Belzeon took a handkerchief from his pocket and wiped his messy face.

The small cloth quickly became damp with water.

Was he belatedly embarrassed after crying hard?

The tips of Belzeon’s ears turned reddish.

Belzeon, who had casually touched the lily of the valley with his fingers, muttered abruptly.

“Father and younger brothers are arbitrary. Everyone is like a colt.”

That’s what Chesha agreed with.

Except for Belzeon, all of them were impulsive and violent like untamed beasts.

“The younger brothers need to learn that the capital and the east are different. It was okay to act like a dog in the Basilian Territory, but if they do that here, they have to pay the price.”

Belzeon kept his lips firmly shut for a moment.

“I want to protect the Basilian family. So that the Count doesn’t break it, so that his younger siblings don’t scratch it…. I want to protect it.”

The hand that touched the lily of the valley gradually slowed down.

“Because it didn’t go my way….”

Belzeon frowned.

Holding back the tears that were about to come out again, he looked at Chesha.

It seemed that he couldn’t believe that he had confided what he had been hiding from anyone for a long time in front of a kid.

‘He is also a kid himself though.’

Chesha muttered inwardly, but generously understood Belzeon.

At that age, everyone thinks they are adults.

Chesha seems to have thought that way when she was about thirteen.

“I will send you out of the Basilian family before the Pre-Saint’s Prayer Meeting.”

Belzeon looked straight into Chesha’s eyes and spoke slowly as if reflecting.

“So don’t be too attached.”

Chesha thought with a small nod of her head.

She thinks the one who is attached to her is Belzeon.

“Stop doing nonsense and go now.”

“Yes….”

She had been sitting on the stone floor for so long that her butt hurt.

Chesha pretended not to be energetic and got up quickly.

And she left the study.

Just before she finally gets out of the study and closes the door.

A very small, faint voice came.

“Thank you for the flowers.”

Slam.

The door is closed.

Chesha blinked for a moment in front of the closed door before she could hear it properly.

She felt a bit strange.

If she had to compare it, it felt like her heart was tickling.

Chesha, who felt something warming up, took a deep breath.

And she gave strength to her eyes.

“Count Rutin.”

This guy was the source of all the trouble.

‘Annoying, is it…?’

Seeing Belzeon cry made her even more angry.

Chesha recalled the crying boy again and raised her eyebrows.

‘This is really annoying, huh?’

Is it because she lives so quietly these days?

The desire to do all out came to a boil.

Chesha clenched her small fist tightly.

The soft pink eyes stood sharp.

“I won’t yet it swide!”

It was the first time in a while that she thought she would do it properly.

***

The Count of Rudin was a prestigious family that had accumulated wealth and power from generation to generation under a time-honored tradition.

The current Count Rudin was working as the emperor’s attendant and receiving his trust.

In recognition of his dedication to serving the imperial family, he was expected to be bestowed with a new title and territory sooner or later.

Among the various aristocratic families, it could be said that it was the most noteworthy family.

So, not to mention most of the nobles, even the Duke and Marquis of the Empire couldn’t do anything to Count Rudin.

Count Rudin became more and more arrogant day by day based on his grounded confidence.

There was an ambush that suddenly appeared to him.

It was the Count of Basilian.

The Count of Basilian was originally famous in the Empire.

On the not-so-good side.

People’s judgment, they didn’t understand why Count Basilian’s family was called the 3rd largest family in the empire.

Unlike other families, the Count of Basilian had nothing special.

He did not even get involved in the capital’s social circles or politics.

He was just shutting himself in the dark forest of the gloomy East.

Rumors about the County ended with something, like strange things were happening in the Black Forest.

Then, just once, suddenly, there was an incident in which the Count of Basilian overturned the empire.

Suddenly, he came up to the capital with an unknown woman, and asked the emperor to give her a title because he had to get married.

Count Basilian’s declaration that he would marry a woman of unknown status stirred up the capital’s social circles for a while.

In particular, there was a lot of talk about the woman’s origin.

The assumption that she was a slave was basic.

There was even a saying that she was a high-class prostitute from a foreign country.

Rumors culminated when Count Basilian brought a woman into the palace.

The day of Count Basilian’s entrance into the Palace.

Aristocrats mad with curiosity gathered like clouds.

Count Rudin, the Emperor’s attendant, also pretended not to be, but waited for the count’s entry into the palace.

The moment he finally saw the woman, the Count involuntarily marveled.

“Ho, this is, well. Wonderful….”

The woman was the most beautiful woman he had ever seen in his life.

The elegant atmosphere is like that of a goddess of beauty who cannot dare to be touched, and just looking at her made him dizzy.

Everyone who saw her praised her as not being of human beauty.

Count Basilian, who appeared with the woman, was also a surprisingly handsome man.

It was to the extent that many of the young and old noble ladies who saw him fell from love sickness.

He expected it to be the appearance of a new person who would shake up the capital’s society, but….

For some reason, as soon as Count Basilian received the title for the woman, he immediately went back to the East.

The capital’s socialites, who had been whispering about Count Basilian and his wife for a while, gradually forgot about them.

And many years later.

News broke that the countess had died.

Like her origin, the cause of her death was unknown.

The love between lovers, romantic like a fairy tale, ended in tragedy.

Upon hearing the obituary, Count Rudin clicked his tongue for a moment and expressed regret, but quickly erased it from his mind.

He was too busy to pay attention to that kind of thing.

It was while serving the emperor that the forgotten Count Basilian suddenly came into everyday life.

“Bring Count Basilian to the capital right now!”

After meeting the holy knight dispatched from Hilderd, the emperor turned white and gave an order.

Just to bring the Basilian, sending himself?

Count Rudin was proud of himself, but faithfully followed the emperor.

It’s been a while since he has seen him again, but Count Basilian hasn’t changed much.

He had also lost his wife, so he expected him to grow old quickly, but his face was taut without a single wrinkle.

There was no time to harbor doubts about his youthful appearance.

It was because he was busy being angry at Count Basilian’s arrogance.

For the subject of an Eastern countryside man, he seems wasn’t afraid of anything.

He was so arrogant both to him and to the holy knight that his eyes rolled over whenever the count opened his mouth.

It wouldn’t be much better to put him in prison right now, but the emperor cared for Count Basilian.

Even after the Count had left the palace, even the emperor called him to make sure to take care of him.

“They say they are staying in the capital for the time being, so you take care of Count Basilian.”

Count Rudin could not stand the seething jealousy.

He couldn’t sleep at night because he wanted to suppress his arrogance.

Fortunately, God was on Count Rudin’s side.

The opportunity came right away.

“Haha! It was very refreshing today.”

Count Rudin burst out laughing.

Every time he thought of the eldest son of the Basilian family who was stuck in front of him, he laughed.

Thinking of getting an apology from Count Basilian for this incident, he felt full even though he hadn’t eaten.

Unlike Count Rudin, who was delighted, the wife kept feeling anxious.

“But will it be okay?”

“About what?”

She doused herself with cold water for nothing.

“I keep thinking about those red eyes…. I feel worried.”

“You worry for nothing. They are all just kids. I will deal with Count Basilian.”

“Then I’m glad….”

Count Rudin soothed his wife, who was worrying unnecessarily.

That night the count toasted himself with wine in his study.

Count Rudin, very drunk, fell asleep on the sofa in the study without even going to bed.

It was a time when he was sleeping deeply.

At some point, the count suddenly opened his eyes.

It was because of an unknown threat.

“…!”

He shuddered and came to his senses.

And realized that he is standing in a strange space.

It is a huge chessboard with alternating black and white squares.