“Is it really, really you, Brother?”
“It is. It’s really me.”
“But Brother is supposed to be in Rosenta…”
“That doesn’t mean I can’t come visit my sister.”
For the sake of his one and only sister, what couldn’t he do?
Her heart was filled with joy as she heard those words. Juliet burst into tears. She couldn’t believe it. The person she longed to see so much—the one she hadn’t seen even once—was now in front of her.
Juliet, who was afraid of losing the person she longed for, extended her arm, and Drien offered his neck to her.
The warmth that touched her skin was hot. Juliet hugged him and sobbed.
Oh, Brother. My brother is really here.
“I, I thought I would die without seeing your face, Brother.”
“Don’t say that.”
Why would you die?
Yet even as Driene spoke those words, his voice trembled. Juliet could feel tears streaming down her brothers’ cheeks.
The person she loved was crying for her sake.
As she thought that, something swelled up in her chest. Juliet grasped her brother’s neck and whispered.
Brother, hold me.
Driene obliged, carefully wrapping his arms around her frail body and pulling her close.
Resting in the embrace she had longed for countless times, Juliet sobbed. It was tears of joy rather than sadness, yet even that made it difficult to breathe.
As she gasped for breath, Driene looked down at her with concern.
“Don’t cry too much. You’ll hurt yourself for no reason.”
“B-but I can’t stop the tears.”
“Oh, no.”
Whose sister is she that she cries so easily?
He gently patted her back, chuckling lightly. Juliet closed her eyes and focused on the familiar rhythm. It was a sense of calm she hadn’t felt in years.
After stroking her back for a while, Driene murmured.
“You’ve become thinner.”
“That’s because I’ve been sick.”
“…Was it very difficult for you?”
The words were tinged with apology and guilt. Juliet leaned her cheek against the warm embrace and took a deep breath.
“No, I’m okay.”
The answer was more of a lie than truth.
Despite knowing the truth, Driene didn’t press further. He knew she didn’t want to speak honestly.
Instead, he held his long-lost sister tighter than ever before.
“I’m sorry.”
I should have been stronger. I should have somehow defied father’s order. I should have kept that man, that man by your side…
“… I shouldn’t have sent you to this land.”
The last sentence was more of a sigh.
The self-reproach made Juliet want to stop crying. Seeing the sadness of her loved one was always painful. Not being able to say it was fine hurt even more.
She was truly not okay; she wasn’t fine.
“But, but you came to see me like this. So…”
Her fragmented words were her best effort.
Fortunately, Driene didn’t delve into the past further. He sighed as he gently embraced the back of her head. His breath was a mixture of relief, sadness, and joy.
They held each other for a moment, but it was Juliet who broke the silence.
“How did you get here?”
From Rosenta to where she was would have taken quite a while. And it was only possible when all the conditions aligned perfectly and there was no urgent message or war.
Furthermore, even if Driene were a prince, he would have had to follow procedures, so there would still have been over a month left for the journey.
So, at least he must have departed from Rosenta before that.
No matter how much she thought about it, it didn’t match the timing of the letters they had exchanged.
“It takes at least a month to travel, but I received your last letter just ten days ago.”
Considering that it took a week for a letter to arrive, it was truly strange.
Looking at her with eyes full of questions, Driene said,
“A new road has been built.”
“What do you mean?”
“A road that connects Rosenta to here directly has been built. It’s still under construction, but it’s usable, so I came through that road.”
“But the border between our countries is mostly mountains…”
The border between her homeland and Herventel was dominated by the Eifros Mountain Range.
Of course, not all the mountain terrain was difficult to traverse, but it wasn’t suitable for royalty to travel back and forth.
So, when she came here, didn’t she use a route through another land?
Was it possible that they had built a road through another country?
Such thoughts briefly crossed her mind, but no ruler would accept such a thing.
A road that passes through a country directly affects national security. Even though she was sheltered in the palace, she knew this fact, and it was unlikely such a thing would happen.
Driene looked at his sister with warm eyes as she thought deeply.
“That’s no longer the case. Do you remember Millesen, the country that used to exist between the Grand Duchy and Rosenta?”
“Yes.”
Juliet had briefly set foot in Millesen. It was the land she passed through when she came to the man’s territory.
Even though it was her first time stepping foot in a foreign land, Juliet hadn’t even glanced out the window. She was in pain, and her pride was also wounded.
In hindsight, she regretted it a little.
“That country sold its land. Only some areas, but it was still an unusual occurrence.”
As Driene continued speaking in a calm voice, he furrowed his brow. How strange.
“You didn’t know all this?”
What was he talking about? Juliet blinked for a moment.
It was a story she had never heard before. She lived without paying attention to what was happening internally, let alone externally.
Even when she was in Rosenta, she completely ignored political matters. Whatever Juliet knew was based on what Driene told her or her friends.
Looking at her with a puzzled expression, Driene asked again,
“Really, you knew nothing about it?”
“Yes.”
“That’s strange, because as far as I know, the land is called…”
Oh, no. Let’s not talk about this.
He shook his head slightly and stroked her hair.
Juliet, who was quietly receiving his touch, looked up at him with eyes that were the same shade of green as his.
“Is there something I should know?”
“No, you don’t need to worry about it.”
Not when I’m here.
It was Driene’s habit to say that. Even in Rosenta, whenever a slightly complicated issue arose, he would say, “You don’t have to worry about anything; you have this brother; why should you care about such things?”
Some people said that his behavior was a violation of Juliet’s freedom. But she didn’t mind. It had become a habit since she was young, and she didn’t want to oppose her only brother’s wishes.
Driene didn’t seem to think he’d do anything harmful to her.
But her father did not approve of her brother’s behavior. While it was good for relatives to be close, Driene was a prince. He had responsibilities as a prince.
It had gotten to the point where he received warnings like this:
“If you openly show too much affection, it may backfire on you.”
When Juliet was young, their father told Driene, who was holding her in his arms and wouldn’t let her go.
It was a pretty harsh thing to say, but Driene didn’t seem to mind; at least, that’s how it seemed to Juliet.
“Father worries too much.”
He said as he carried his sister on his shoulders and walked through the garden.
At that time, Juliet was so absorbed in the fact that she had come close to a flower tree that she had never touched before that she couldn’t answer properly.
Regardless, Driene continued to speak. But I won’t do that. Of course, I have my own worries, but at least I won’t say such things in front of you.
As she grasped a branch with a white flower, she asked.
“Do you have worries too, Brother?”
“Of course, I’m human.”
“What worries do you have?”
“Well, I’m worried that my pretty sister might get her hands dirty.”
Whenever possible, avoid touching things yourself. If there’s a delicate flower, just ask for it to be picked.
As the words were spoken, a knight following behind picked the flower.
The white and red flower was indeed the one she had wanted, but as soon as she held it in her hand, her interest waned.
Juliet rolled the delicate flower in her palm for a moment before placing it behind Driene’s ear.
“I think this would look better on my sister than… me.”
Driene muttered, but he didn’t remove the flower until that evening. He even kept it on during dinner. The king, noticing his son, asked what it was about. After hearing the answer, he let out a sigh. Driene continued to carry the gift his young sister had given him until then.
Juliet, who had been reminiscing about the past, whispered,
“Brother”
“Yes.”
“I’m really glad I can see you again.”
I’m so glad we can see each other and be like this again.
That night, Juliet whispered those words for a long time. Even as he held her close and comforted her, Driene didn’t stop her.
