Knock, knock.
It was the third day since Kevin had collapsed, and the second day since Dylan fell, when an uninvited guest visited the Langer family.
“Who is it?”
Carol was deep in sleep, and Louis, who was supposed to take care of the patient during the day, had left his post for a moment to buy food.
When Kevin, who was somewhat better, opened the door, there was a delivery man standing outside.
“I’ve come to deliver flowers.”
“Yes?”
“Is this the house of Miss Carol?”
“Well, yes, but…”
Kevin opened the door wide.
“Please take it first.”
Before he could say that the delivery man had come to the wrong place, the delivery man hurriedly handed over the flowers.
“Who sent these?”
“Well, the name written is Edward.”
Kevin tilted his head.
“I don’t know such a person…”
“There’s also a note.”
Upon hearing the delivery man’s words, Kevin took the note and unfolded it.
{I hope you’re not neglecting your health.}
Flowers from the north were expensive. Who would give such a pricey gift to his sister?
The most likely person was already nursing a patient at home.
‘Did it come to the wrong place?’
Kevin chose the most harmless answer and handed the flowers back to the delivery man.
“The name is correct, but it seems to have come to the wrong place…”
“Do you want me to take back such an expensive item?”
The delivery man shook his head at the thought. But he couldn’t accept a wrongly delivered item.
“Then, even if it’s correct, I’ll gratefully accept the sentiment and please take the gift back.”
“No. It’s better to just accept the gift.”
As Kevin tried to conclude, a cold voice sternly interrupted from behind.
At the sudden sound, the delivery man was startled and stepped back.
The delivery man, who bumped into Louis, was surprised and sidestepped out between the two.
“Brother?”
At Louis’ cold demeanor, Kevin’s eyes widened.
“If you’re done with your business, please leave.”
As Louis reached out his hand, the delivery man nodded as if he had been waiting and ran off.
“These flowers…”
“I’ll take them.”
“Huh?”
“I know who sent these flowers.”
“Who is it?”
“…I’ll return it.”
“Okay.”
Louis, with his mouth shut, looked stubborn.
‘He won’t tell me even if I ask again.’
Kevin nodded with a nervous face.
Thus, the flowers that had arrived for Carol became a non-event.
*
Carol, who had been flapping her wings to help nurse her sibling in the form of a bird, couldn’t overcome her fatigue before transforming back into a human and was nodding off.
Carol was asleep on a small table between Kevin and Dylan’s beds.
Every time her head drooped and touched the floor as she nodded off, her beak clicked, making a sound.
Seeing this, Louis was surprised and carefully picked up Carol with both hands.
“You could get hurt if you wake up here…”
“We were going to take her before that.”
Perhaps she liked the warmth of his hand, Carol burrowed into Louis’ hand.
After carefully laying Carol down on the bed in her room, Louis, raising an eyebrow, asked the two as if interrogating them.
“I know you two are almost recovered.”
“Sister told us to stay in bed.”
“She’s doing that because she doesn’t think you’re completely healed.”
At Louis’ point, the two looked at each other and shrugged their shoulders.
“This is when we should be stubborn.”
“Well, it’s not bad for us.”
The big, messy guys smiled with their eyes like foxes. They had lost all their cute charm as they grew up. Louis stood in the middle and ruffled the two’s hair.
“Does Carol know you guys are so cunning?”
“Considering she only believes you’re kind, she probably doesn’t know.”
“Aren’t you too cold-hearted to your benefactor?”
“Cold-hearted? We’re willing to accept if it’s you.”
Kevin crossed his legs and raised both hands to his head.
“What are you talking about?”
“Brother, you like our sister, don’t you?”
“When are you planning to confess?”
His mind went blank at the two’s consecutive questions.
Louis pulled a chair from the corner and sat down between the two.
“…When did you know?”
He covered his face with his hand, but he couldn’t completely hide his flushed face.
“We haven’t been sure for long because you hid it so well.”
“It was too much to just call it friendship.”
“…Even if it wasn’t Carol, I would have helped you guys.”
It’s true that he had more personal feelings because he liked Carol, but that didn’t mean they would have been strangers if Carol wasn’t there. Louis would still have been friends with the two.
“I know. That’s why we’re giving you permission.”
The two said as if they had made a big decision.
Louis and Carol have known each other for too long.
Louis would already be within Carol’s boundaries. But that was only in the sense of friendship.
In a good sense, it meant that Louis had earned Carol’s trust, but at some point, that alone was not enough for him.
Carol was quite dull when it came to romance. To make her see him as the opposite sex, he couldn’t just follow the usual steps.
The priority was to make her see him as the opposite sex.
Carol was always worried about her two younger brothers. But the same was true for the brothers. They were uneasy thinking about their sister, who might feel lonely while taking care of the family.
“It’s only when sister can see you as the opposite sex.”
“Of course.”
Louis waved his hand as if to ask why he was saying something so obvious.
The obvious thing was not so obvious in the conservative northern society.
While love marriages are happening in the capital, marriage in the north was still a business.
The north is a place where life and death are determined by money. Even commoners often sold off everything in their house for a marriage.
“Sister is worried about prioritizing family even if she’s not.”
“I know that too.”
“Then it’s settled.”
Louis reassured the two as he looked at them alternately. They understood well enough that he wasn’t selling them.
It was clear how much the people who cherished Carol had struggled to say this.
Louis liked Carol, but he also liked all the people of the Langer family.
“Carol will never leave the north until you both graduate.”
“There’s not much time left until graduation.”
“So, I have something I want to ask you.”
“Us?”
“Of course.”
Louis felt that it was time to concretize his vague plan.
****
Louis walked down the corridor, clicking his tongue softly. It was hard to find a warm place in the north, but the air in the Duke’s Mansion was particularly cold.
Every time he stepped on the marble, he felt as if the cold energy was piercing his feet and freezing his veins.
‘I never get used to this place.’
The castle, which was the opposite of the capital, where even the buildings followed the trend with frequent renovations, was a place where time seemed to have stopped in the middle of winter. It was not to Louis’ taste.
Soon reaching his destination, Louis straightened his clothes and knocked.
Knock, knock.
The door opened as if someone had been waiting inside. Margaret was already sitting on the reception sofa, drinking tea.
Her chilly gaze briefly scanned Louis.
“Oh my. The young master has visited me after a long time.”
Louis, taking off his gloves, smiled leisurely. He couldn’t answer incorrectly here.
According to the servants, the duke had not seen her once since that banquet. She must have been very upset.
“I should have visited sooner, even though I was busy. I hope the Young Lady will forgive my negligence.”
“I thought you might have forgotten me because of your private life?”
There was a sense of hostility towards Carol. Instead of showing anxiety, Louis let out a relaxed laugh.
“I couldn’t possibly forget someone as prominent as you.”
“It seems that the illness of that servant’s sibling is enough to be forgotten.”
He didn’t expect her to know that much.
“Oh dear, I really upset you.”
“…You seem to know.”
“Just showing my face is the answer. That’s the least I should do.”
It would be more suspicious if he said he didn’t go at all.
He mentioned Carol to gain sympathy when she was being impulsive.
“Is that so?”
“A fever in the north is no different from a life-threatening illness.”
“I didn’t realize the perception would be that different…”
In the capital, a fever was just a temporary illness. At Louis’ words, Margaret’s tone softened considerably.
Upon receiving a letter stating that Carol had become a servant of the duke, Louis had no choice but to return to the north.
Anyone who knows Carol well would know how predictable she is.
Her daily life and thoughts were that simple and clear.
She doesn’t do dangerous things, and she prioritizes family in everything.
But suddenly getting a job at the Duke’s Mansion was far beyond expectation.
It was a bad sign.
‘Why did it have to be at the Duke’s Mansion?’
Carol hasn’t liked the powerful since her parents’ death was treated as a trivial matter.
What kind of emotional change does she have? His imagination circuit accelerated.
‘Did she get a boyfriend?’
The moment the worst-case scenario entered his mind, he strongly felt he had to go to the north.
