Watching Osric Balmore nervously fiddling with his sword, she spoke.
“Your face seemed familiar, I kept thinking. Are you my playmate Olivia Balmore’s brother?”
“How could that… Olivia cried because she said you definitely wouldn’t remember her name or family name.”
She cried and whined at her house before running back to hers and started boasting about her. She chuckled in disbelief. Olivia Balmore, one of the whiners who insisted on coming to the hunting contest with Enoch and her.
Although she had her doubts when she mentioned her family name, seeing Osric Balmore’s face up close confirmed it.
Osric Balmore was her brother.
“Wow. A few of my clothes were damaged because she grabbed the hem of my clothes and stretched them out. I remembered to claim them all.”
Still, she wanted to beat her chest due to the growing resentment, but she didn’t have time, so she suppressed it in the end.
“Anyway, Olivia was saying that her dream is for her brother to join the Emblem Knights and wield a sword alongside our mother.”
“So, Olivia said that…”
Despite it being a secret, Osric Balmore muttered in a troubled voice, burying his face in his hands.
“The sword of the emblem that my mother needs is not a sword that is intimidated by those in power.”
“So, what’s that?”
“My mom likes people who can do their job well.”
“….…!”
It was a secret between them that when countless Emblem knights, brandishing their swords while shouting at her mother, went out on a mission, they would make a mess of the scene like unbridled colts.
Today, she slightly opened up that secret as an opportunity for camaraderie.
“I will do my best.”
Listening intently to her story beside Osric Balmore, Emmett Cortiz also grasped the sword, his eyes gleaming.
Watching them, she was certain.
Their Deathly Team 4 is finally ready to wipe out this hunting competition.
Enoch must have thought the same thing as her, so he sat down on the ground where he had gathered game.
“We didn’t have the same starting line, so I’m going to stay here until you two can get the same start as me and Cherrya.”
It was a good idea. She agreed with Enoch’s notion and sat down a little away from him.
Of course, she didn’t want to cooperate with Enoch too nicely, so she teased him with a few words.
“Are you just pretending to be tired so you can rest?”
“Be quiet, Cherry.”
As the two of us bantered, Osric Balmore and Emmett Cortiz dashed into the woods without a word about who would go first.
“Aaaaah!”
“I’ll catch them all!”
The voices filled with enthusiasm. Swords wielded valiantly.
Watching them with satisfaction, she finally let out the breath she had been holding, and it seemed Enoch had the same idea as he lay flat on the ground.
“Wow, this is really tough.”
“That’s right.”
The hunting contest turned out to be much more demanding than expected.
Chasing fleeing prey was one thing, but if the prey had too many wounds, it would subtract points as causing unnecessary pain during the hunt.
It wasn’t easy at all. It required exceptional concentration to accurately cut off the breath without causing pain and excellent control to capture that moment to swing the sword.
She truly learned from this opportunity that the contest being called the knighthood entrance exam wasn’t an exaggeration.
“Honestly, wouldn’t asking you and me to enter this competition be child abuse?”
“… Seriously, please be quiet, Cherry. His Majesty himself ordered this. If anyone hears, it could be considered disrespect to the royal family.”
“Isn’t that a funny statement? From the beginning, His Majesty shouldn’t have done something that could disrespect the royal family.”
“Isn’t that something Aunt Melsia often says?”
“How did you know?”
Parents were said to be the mirrors of their children. Where else could her words and personality come from? Her way of speaking and her character were almost identical to her mom’s.
Of course, she had memories of being an inspector in her past life, but how could she help it when her mom’s way of speaking was astonishingly similar to her past life?
“You’re so lucky, Cherry.”
“What?”
“Spending time with aunt Melsia, even the things you say are becoming more and more similar.”
“………”
Hm. She closed her mouth. It occurred to her belatedly that Enoch hadn’t spent time with aunt Diana.
She rolled her eyes and scrutinized Enoch’s face.
“Don’t worry about me. I don’t get along with Cherry.”
Fortunately, Enoch seemed unaffected.
“I’m fine. Besides, if I win today’s hunting contest, I’ll also live with my mother.”
“Hey, hey, yeah! If Aunt Diana agreed to come despite her pride, even if you don’t win, she’ll come to the mansion, won’t she?”
She lightly punched Enoch, visibly relieved. She couldn’t subject this child to false hopes, but probably, regardless of the contest’s outcome, aunt Diana would return to the mansion.
Then, as Enoch hoped, his dad, his mom, and even his grandpa could gather to live together.
“But I still have to win. My mother decided to return to the mansion because I showed talent in swordsmanship. I have to prove it.”
“Ugh, my head hurts. Don’t overthink it. Maybe aunt just wants to see you and uses it as an excuse to come back.”
Enoch shook his head firmly at her words.
“If that were the case, she should have come back sooner.”
Enoch’s face as he said that somehow looked sad, leaving her momentarily speechless. She’d never seen Enoch with such an expression.
Although she usually thought of him as an old soul, that expression seemed to harbor something deeply rooted within him, as if it had been festering for ages.
Was the cause of such profound sadness in a seven-year-old simply because he had been living apart from his mother?
He became incomprehensible, and Enoch became unfamiliar to her.
“Anyway, when those two come back, I really won’t notice them, Enoch.”
To quickly shake off this strange feeling, she redirected the conversation. Enoch responded calmly, showing no intention of continuing this dark topic.
“You’re talking as if you’ve been paying attention. Considering that, Cherry’s hunting skills are too weak.”
“But I have more in numbers.”
“But my catch is bigger.”
“You have more wounds, though.”
“Even with deductions, I’ll win.”
It finally felt like they were returning to their usual routine as they bantered.
A smile had unconsciously formed on her lips, and Enoch’s expression had softened.
Unintentionally, an awkwardly amiable atmosphere enveloped us. They didn’t desire it, but an outsider would probably think so.
And that prediction was accurate.
“N-No, you two please don’t get married!”
Suddenly, from a little farther away in the grassy field, a tearful cry echoed, followed by the charge of three small figures.
“Cherr, Cherrya is a liar! You says you’re going to marry your dad, not Enoch!!”
“That’s right, she’s a liar!”
“She said she doesn’t want to be alone with Enoch!”
Crazy. She stumbled backward as the three little ladies, or rather, troublemakers, rushed toward her. No, they were not ladies; they were a force to be reckoned with.
“…. How.”
Enoch also looked surprised, eyes wide open as he quickly stood up.
“Huwaaahh.”
Amidst the crying and grabbing onto her, she exchanged astonished looks with Enoch.
“What’s going on with you guys? How did you get here?”
As she shouted, Olivia, one of the troublemakers, sniffled and replied.
“My brotheeer…”
“Your brother? Osric Balmore?”
“Y-yeah. We heard you were in the same group, so we secretly followed you in…”
“Are you out of your mind? Did your brother let you in? How long have you been following us?”
As she sternly questioned them, including Olivia, they seemed uneasy and backed away from her, sensing the seriousness of the situation.
Then they scurried behind Enoch, hiding.
Despite the voluminous skirts of their dresses, they weren’t completely concealed.
“You won’t answer?!”
As her head started throbbing, she snapped, and the troublemakers, whimpering, tried to bury their heads deeper into Enoch’s back.
Watching them, she felt a twinge in her neck, even though she didn’t have high blood pressure.
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