Nevertheless, it was strange.
While the extent of Kidon’s background power might still be unknown due to her young age, it was unreasonable to think that she didn’t know that he was handsome.
Kidon received his first confession from a peer when he was five years old. And the words he heard then were like, “I like you because your face sparkles.”
It was a compliment on his good looks. Even a five-year-old could distinguish the essence of beauty.
Laila Hildegarde is ten years old. She’s twice the age of five!
If her eyes function properly, she should naturally recognize a handsome face, but…
‘Shouldn’t she have accepted my proposal because she was mesmerized by my face?’
No matter how much he thought about it, it was strange. A serious expression involuntarily appeared on Kidon’s face as he pondered deeply.
At that moment, the knight, who had been silent for a while, cautiously spoke to Kidon.
“Young Master, please don’t be too disheartened.”
“Hmm?”
“A better person will come along. No, they will definitely come. I promise…”
“What is that?”
“Pardon?”
“If a better person comes along… then what?”
Kidon lifted his lowered gaze. The red jewels hidden behind his eyelashes sparkled brightly.
“I’ll marry her. Laila Hildegarde.”
“Yes, yes?”
“Not now, but in five years.”
“But…….”
The knight stumbled in confusion, his expression flustered.
‘I thought you were rejected?’
Did he misinterpret something? But the answer a moment ago did feel like that…
Leaving the distressed knight behind, Kidon turned his gaze back out the window.
Tick.
A sudden laugh escaped him.
‘Laila Hildegarde…….’
He recalled their first encounter in the library.
The library was quiet, and it was even more boring than he had expected.
He half regretted it as he wandered through the silent space.
From a distance…
A garden appeared.
‘…the garden where butterflies dance?’
The girl with a pretty appearance truly looked like that with what she wore on her head.
Kidon simply said what he saw with his own eyes. That’s all.
‘Her hair ornament looks just like that.’
There was a problem. The girl, upon hearing Kidon’s words, showed blatant wariness.
Was that all? Stepping back, she stared at Kidon as if he were crazy.
Kidon was embarrassed and frustrated.
What did I do?
She’s the one who showed up with a garden on her head!
However, before he could argue, the girl suddenly disappeared.
……he did not even hear her name.
At first, Kidon didn’t understand the nature of his regret.
He was simply misunderstood as a crazy person without a chance to explain himself…
He thought he wanted to prove he wasn’t a weird person, so he wanted to meet the girl again.
‘What? Kidon, are you asking me to head south first?’
‘I’m sorry, Mother. If you leave me and Sir Mil here, we’ll catch up soon.’
However, after persuading the reluctant companion to go ahead to the next destination, Kidon went straight to Hildegarde Manor. When he described the girl’s appearance and heard the name “Laila Hildegarde,” Kidon felt greatly relieved to know she was not a daughter of a lowly noble or a wealthy merchant.
He realized that he had already considered the girl, whose name he didn’t even know, as someone special.
He didn’t know why. Perhaps it was love at first sight.
Kidon was quick to accept things, and once he did, he rarely questioned them later.
Telling the Marquis’s butler that he would wait for Laila, Kidon made plans to confess to her, hear her answer, and then proceed with the engagement.
Sadly, those plans are now very much out of whack…….
‘Well, whatever.’
Kidon thought lazily.
‘I still have five years to finish my studies. By then, Laila Hildegarde, who had rejected me, would have changed her mind, and even if she didn’t, it wouldn’t matter.’
After all, the decision to marry would be his.
More specifically, it would be between him and the Marquis of Hildegarde. The Marquis of Hildegarde couldn’t possibly reject him. Kidon was adept at objectively assessing his own worth.
‘I look forward to five years from now.’
Kidon suddenly imagined himself and Laila entering the wedding venue together, adorned with lilacs.
It wasn’t bad.
The boy, lost in his pleasant imagination, wore a beautiful smile.
✩₊˚.⋆☾⋆⁺₊✧✩₊˚.⋆☾⋆⁺₊✧✩₊˚.⋆☾⋆⁺₊✧
She had a dream.
Laila woke up to the strangest feeling as soon as she opened her eyes in the morning.
‘What in the world…’
Last night, Kidon Reisic appeared in Laila’s dream.
Just that alone was already quite a problem, but Laila’s dream went a few steps further.
Firstly, Kidon was nineteen years old.
However, since Laila had never seen Kidon at the age of nineteen in real life, the nineteen-year-old Kidon in her dream was just a slightly taller version of the one she had seen in the reception room.
Kidon, who had grown up too much…
It was a bewildering sight, but that was just the beginning.
The real problem with this dream emerged in the next scene.
Just as it happened in reality, Count Reisic gifted ten swordsmen slaves to Kidon Reisic, who had just turned nineteen.
However…
Among those swordsmen slaves was Sion.
But he hadn’t grown up at all!
He looked the same as when he was ten years old, holding a sword in his hand.
And Kidon, who had grown up, brutally slaughtered Sion, who hadn’t grown up like me, along with the other slaves. Laila woke up at that point.
“……ha.”
It truly was a dream that she didn’t know where to start criticizing.
Slowly, Laila sat up and stared at her bed. Why did she have such a dream? Was the bedding uncomfortable? Was it the pillows? Or the blanket? Should she just buy a new bed?
After staring at it for a while, Laila’s expression softened, and she got out of bed.
It couldn’t have been the bedding that caused such a strange dream.
There was nothing wrong with the bed, and she could just wash away the dream with water.
Laila headed straight to the bathroom.
‘Unexpected dangers or significant changes… may come.’
Laila’s voice trembled slightly as she spoke.
The nightmare Laila had was stubborn and refused to dissolve even in water.
Laila spent the rest of the morning plagued by the ghost of the damned dream, and after lunch she went to the library.
After rummaging through several books related to dreams, she stumbled upon a shocking revelation.
Could it be… that the nightmare wasn’t just a nightmare?
“…No interpretation, just coping, coping methods…”
Laila flipped through the book. Soon, the section on “Dealing with Nightmares” appeared.
Laila squinted and read through the methods for dealing with nightmares.
“Teach the person who suffers harm or dies in the dream something new. It drives away some of the bad energy from the dream, helping them avoid the worst outcomes…”
Laila furrowed her brow. Is that it?
It only drives away some of the bad energy in dreams—not all of it? It only helps you avoid the worst?
She wasn’t impressed, but she didn’t find anything particularly better in the other books.
“Hmm…”
In the end, with a sigh, Laila closed the book and sank into contemplation.
“What should I teach him?”
Something new.
There were plenty of new things she could teach Sion.
For example, cooking—oh, but does he already know how to cook? Then maybe embroidery; he might not know that?
Or flower arranging, knitting, social dancing, playing a musical instrument, sculpting…
‘…..sword.’
Laila’s eyes widened.
A small shiver ran through her as she thought of swords.
A strong urge to teach Sion the sword surged within her.
Was it because of the dream scene? Seeing him become a swordsman slave?
No, it didn’t seem like that was the reason—or was it?
Regardless, yielding to the impulse, Laila left the library.
✩₊˚.⋆☾⋆⁺₊✧✩₊˚.⋆☾⋆⁺₊✧✩₊˚.⋆☾⋆⁺₊✧
She stopped by Sion’s bedroom first and asked if he had ever learned to wield a sword. The answer was no.
For some reason, Sion paused before answering, but Laila decided not to dwell on that.
I mean…teaching your murderer to wield a sword……………….