Episode 14
“Okay, now explain it to me.”
“Okay, so what happened is…”
There was no reason to hide anything from my brothers, so I began to explain to them, one by one, what I had said to my parents earlier.
Throughout my explanation, every time my second or third brother tried to interrupt me, my first brother interrupted them.
After a while, when I was done explaining everything to them, I looked at each of them in turn.
If they had anything to say, they could say it to me.
Immediately, after a few moments of silence, the second brother spoke up with a grim expression on his face.
“So you need a pill containing divine power, and you want me to concoct it?”
“Yes. That’s right. If you make it for me, things will be much easier.”
“Ha! Ayla, I’m a priest of the gods, how can a priest use divine power for the benefit of the Blighton!”
“Noah, calm down.”
When the second brother raised his voice, the first brother tried to calm him down.
“What’s wrong with the Blighton?”
“What do you mean, you don’t know? The Blighton are…”
“Noah!”
My oldest brother hastily interrupted, wondering if he’d forgotten my warning to him in the parlor earlier and was about to say something else he couldn’t contain in his excitement.
But despite his efforts, we glared at each other, unwilling to budge.
“You two need to calm down.”
“Okay, brother and Ayla, please, but more than that, can the Duke of Blighton really heal you, is that even possible?”
“It is possible.”
I replied, nodding my head.
“How can… magic never…”
My second brother shook his head in disbelief, muttering something that denied magic.
“Neither did I. That’s why I didn’t think it could cure my illness until now, even after hearing about it on the street a while ago.”
“But there’s another way…! If you treat it with stronger divine power, it will work…!”
“Big brother Noah.”
I quickly interrupted my second brother as he continued to talk about divine power.
Here is the English translation:
“You know too, Brother. It’s not like my illness can be cured by divine power. But the moment the illness, which had never budged despite all kinds of methods, approached him, it felt like it was cured. No, it was cured. Now, I can’t live without Duke Lloydin Blighton. If I can’t marry him, I’ll probably slowly die.”
When the words “I’ll die” burst out of my mouth, the faces of everyone, including the second brother who had been excitedly jumping around, twisted mercilessly.
“Don’t say that. Why would you die? You won’t die.”
Luke Brother said with suppressed emotion, almost shouting.
“Yeah, Ayla. You won’t die. We won’t let that happen.”
Brother Jade embraced my shoulders and comforted me.
“I want to live too. I understand why Mom, Dad, and the brothers are like this, of course. But I really want to live, so I went to see Duke Lloydin Blighton. I want to live a long, long life with my parents and brothers.”
As I spoke, I found myself tearing up, and tears welled up in my eyes.
“Ayla.”
“Sigh, little sister.”
Seeing me like that, my brothers sighed deeply.
Judging by their expressions and the voices of the first and third brothers calling me, it seemed convincing them was now over.
“Okay. Our parents have allowed it, and saying more is meaningless.”
“Thank you, Brother Jade.”
As expected, the first brother understood me first.
“I’ll follow our parents’ wishes too. But Ayla, from now on, never say things like dying! Got it?”
“I will never say that again. I’m sorry, Brother.”
The third brother reached out, tousled my hair, and smiled slightly, and I, too, smiled back at him.
Now, among the remaining family members, there was only the second brother.
But he had been quiet, deeply contemplating something since earlier.
“Noah?”
When Brother Jade called the second brother, he lifted his head and looked at me instead of the first brother.
I stared at him with an earnest gaze, not avoiding his eyes, hoping desperately that he would change his mind.
After a short but not insignificant silence, Brother Noah spoke.
“If you two are done talking, could you please give us some space? I want to talk with Ayla alone.”
In response to the unexpectedly serious voice of the second brother, the first and third brothers quietly got up and left the room.
* * *
Thunk.
With the sound of the door closing, a brief silence settled in the room as the two of us left my room.
Instead of speaking first, I quietly waited for the second brother to open his mouth, and soon, he looked at me and began speaking with a serious expression.
“Ayla.”
“Yeah, Brother.”
“Are you really sure that Duke Lloydin Blighton can cure you?”
“I’m sure. Why would I lie to Mom, Dad, and the brothers if it wasn’t true?”
“Yeah. You never lie to us.”
“Well, and it’s a matter of my life. Can’t you believe me, Brother? Please.”
But even with my desperate plea, the second brother remained silent without saying anything further.
Knowing him to be a thoughtful person, I didn’t press him and patiently waited for him to think a bit more.
To be honest, I never once thought that my family wouldn’t understand or believe me.
I knew how much they loved me, and I, in turn, loved them deeply, fully aware of the choices I had to make.
So, I patiently waited for the second brother’s decision, hoping that he would understand me after carefully considering it himself.
And after some time had passed, my brother finally spoke again.
“Ayla, I get it. I’ll do as you say.”
“Brother!”
“I’ll make the medicine with divine power as you requested. Is Ian Blighton’s magical power unstable right now?”
“Yeah. The Duke said he needs to take medicine infused with divine power to stabilize his magic and prevent it from going out of control.”
“Oh, I understand now.”
My brother immediately grasped what kind of medicine I was talking about and nodded in response.
“Brother, thank you so much. Really, thank you.”
I was so moved that I repeatedly expressed my gratitude to my brother.
“I’m your brother. If it means my sister can live, I can do anything.”
“Brother.”
Touched by my brother’s words, I was about to burst into tears.
“However.”
But then came the unexpected words from my brother’s mouth.
As a result, the tears that had welled up in my eyes instantly receded, and I found myself biting my lips, unsure of how to react.
“I will stop being a priest after this.”
“Brother!”
Shocked by the announcement that he would quit being a priest, I called out loudly to my brother.
The two who had gone outside upon hearing the noise quickly came back inside.
“Why are you two like this?”
“What’s going on?”
“This can’t be. Becoming a priest has been your long-cherished dream!”
As the son of a duke, Brother Noah, born into a noble family, had been more interested in gods and divine power than family matters from an early age.
So, instead of attending the academy where noble heirs go, he entered the temple from a young age to serve the gods.
Because the temple is such a closed and secretive organization, my brother rarely came home, perhaps a few times a year.
However, despite not being able to be with his beloved family, he silently trained and endured loneliness because it was his dream.
But now, he was saying he would throw away everything he had built up so far.
That was absolutely not allowed.
I felt the two entering the room and approaching us, but I only had eyes for my second brother.
“If you betray the temple, I can never return there.”
“That’s…!”
As my brother, who had just betrayed the temple by making medicine for the Blighton family, spoke, I couldn’t find any words to say.
“What on earth is going on, Ayla, Noah?”
When the first brother urgently asked us what was happening, I immediately grabbed the first brother and repeated the words I had heard.
“Brother Jade , Brother Noah is going to quit being a priest!”
“What did you say?”
“Why, Brother!”
With faces equally shocked as mine, the brothers scolded the second brother.
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