~Chapter 38~
“What? Why didn’t you contact me? I didn’t even know you were in this country.”
“Oh? Didn’t I contact you? I’ve been so busy lately that I must’ve thought I did.”
“So, the friend you were supposed to meet was my brother?”
I asked Ered.
I knew that my brother and Ered were acquainted, but this was the first time I’d actually seen them meet in person, so it felt a bit strange.
Ered answered me.
“I heard he was in this country, so I came to see him too… Anyway, didn’t you come to see Kiark about something?”
I had completely forgotten about Sertien for a moment, shocked by the unexpected reunion with my brother.
But at Ered’s words, I quickly remembered and turned to talk to my brother about Sertien.
Before I could say anything, my brother started talking first.
“Right, I overheard you talking about a child. Actually, that child is the one I just ran into.”
Latryne and I widened our eyes.
We didn’t expect to find Sertien like this.
My brother added,
“He had collapsed on the street, so I brought him with me. He seemed to have caught that illness going around lately, so I treated him with some medicine I had.”
“Thank you…”
Latryne replied with a relieved voice.
My brother shook his head.
“So he’s the Duke’s son, huh? I’m glad I saved him.”
It seemed my brother had recognized Latryne right away.
Latryne seemed to come to his senses and quickly bowed politely.
“I apologize for the late greeting. I’ve heard a lot about Kiark of the Alpress family.”
“No need to apologize. I would’ve panicked too if a child had gone missing. I’ve heard a lot about you as well, Duke…”
My second brother was actually someone who believed in staying single.
Latryne hesitated slightly before asking,
“If it’s not too much trouble, may I see my son?”
“Of course. He just took the medicine and is resting now. I was wondering how to find his parents, so I’m glad we figured it out.”
With that, my brother led us upstairs to the room.
Count Cloud, who had ended up following us along, muttered to himself,
“He’s way more gentlemanly than I imagined…”
It was clear he was talking about my brother. Since he said it loud enough to hear, he must have gone back to his usual childish self.
My brother paused in front of a room, then unlocked the door and pushed it open. Inside, a familiar face greeted us.
“Uh… Mom… Dad…”
Sertien, who had somehow found a toy car to play with, blinked in disbelief when he saw our faces.
Latryne ran straight to him and hugged him tight.
Tears welled up in Sertien’s eyes as he nestled into Latryne’s arms. He wiped at them with his small hands and spoke.
“Dad… are you going to leave Sertien? I’m sorry. I won’t be mad at you anymore. I won’t be mad at Mom either. So please don’t go. Okay?”
Latryne gently patted Sertien’s head and replied,
“Daddy’s not going anywhere. I’ll stay with you.”
Then Sertien looked at me and spoke again.
“Mom too… Sertien’s sorry. I won’t get mad anymore. So please don’t go. Okay?”
Hearing that, I felt tears sting my eyes and answered,
“Okay. I won’t go anywhere.”
But at that moment, I had forgotten something very important.
Suddenly, I became aware of my brother standing quietly behind me, and I slowly turned my head.
He was smiling slightly as he looked at me.
“Mom?”
‘Am I out of my mind?’
Saying something like “Mom” right in front of my brother was a big mistake.
With all the crazy rumors going around, now even my brother might misunderstand me.
The last thing I wanted was for my brother to not think I had a son.
If that happened, things would spiral completely out of control.
My brothers were the kind to flip the world upside down if something happened to me.
Though, my second brother was the more level-headed one.
To clear up Sertien’s words, I glanced at my brother nervously and opened my mouth.
“No, oppa… um, that’s not what it looks like…”
My brother, who was smiling at me with a face I couldn’t read, spoke before I could even finish my sentence.
“When did you go and have such a cute nephew? I’ve heard kids grow up fast these days, but I didn’t expect you to have a nephew before our older brother! No wonder he felt familiar — he’s family, after all!”
“What are you talking about, oppa, that’s not it…!”
But before I could say anything more, my brother walked over to Sertien, knelt down, and looked him in the eyes as he spoke.
“Now that I look closer, doesn’t he look a bit like me? So your name’s Sertien, huh? I’m your uncle!”
“Uncle?”
Sertien tilted his head and repeated the word, and my brother, clearly finding him adorable, patted his head.
I stood behind them, dumbfounded and with my mouth hanging open.
I had expected a huge mess, but instead, my brother was happily treating Sertien as his nephew.
He must’ve already figured out that Sertien wasn’t really my son and was just teasing me.
He’d always been a master at messing with me, especially this second brother of mine.
As I nodded to myself, thinking that, Ered — who had followed us in last — suddenly asked,
“So what are you all going to do now? You’ve found Sertien and treated his illness… Are you planning to return to the royal palace?”
Latryne stood up and replied to Ered,
“That was the plan, but…”
“Really? But it’s so late right now. Isn’t it a bit much to take Sertien back at this hour? Why not just stay the night here at this inn and leave tomorrow?”
It did sound like a good idea.
If it were just me, I could’ve gone back to the palace, but Sertien didn’t seem fully recovered yet.
Thinking about that, I said to Latryne,
“He’s right. Sertien still looks too weak to travel… But do they have any rooms left?”
“There are barely any guests today, so we’ve got plenty. Get some rest.”
That was Ered’s reply.
And so, we quickly got rooms and decided to spend the night at the inn.
As I was coming back from the front desk with my room key, my brother suddenly stopped me.
“Liti.”
“Whoa! Oppa?”
“Why so surprised? Was seeing your oppa with his cute nephew that shocking?”
I had a feeling my brother was still messing with me, so I said,
“Are you seriously still joking? You know it’s all just a misunderstanding, but you’re doing this on purpose, right?”
But instead of replying right away, my brother went silent and stared at me with a serious face.
What’s with him?
“…What? Did I do something wrong?”
“…No, it’s just… you’re really something else. He looks just like you and you still call it a misunderstanding? Anyone would think he’s your real son!”
I could still hear the playful tone in his voice.
I ended up lightly tapping his back with my fist, and my brother raised his hands in surrender and said,
“Alright, alright. I just said it because I really want a nephew. Don’t get so mad.”
“If you want a nephew, why don’t you just get married and have a kid of your own?”
“Hmm, but I want a nephew, not a child.”
“I’m not even going to bother replying to that.”
“Well, anyway, this brother of yours has something to talk about with His Highness, so I’ll be off now. Sleep well, okay?”
“Huh? Oh… yeah, you too. Sleep well later.”
I said goodbye, and my brother smiled lightly before walking away.
Now that I thought about it, I still hadn’t talked to Ered like I meant to.
But since my brother said he had something to discuss with Ered, it reminded me that I had wanted to talk to him too.
It wasn’t something I had to do right this moment, so I figured I could talk to him a bit later and headed to the room I had booked.
Meanwhile,
“Your Highness, I came because you called.”
Ered, who had been drinking alone in his room, heard the knock and set down his glass. He smiled and answered,
“The door’s open.”
Then Kiark entered.
Seeing him, Ered said,
“You got here quickly.”
“Of course. You called me yourself, Your Highness. But wow, you can really drink, huh? How many bottles did you go through? And you’re still totally sober?”
There were quite a few empty bottles on the table where Ered was sitting.
Ered calmly replied,
“I can drink? Please, there are plenty of people who can drink way more than me.”
“What kind of world are you living in…”
“Well, the world’s full of all kinds of people.”
Chuckling, Ered took another sip and then suddenly asked,
“How’s your nephew?”
“…”
Kiark didn’t respond at first, but after a moment, he spoke like someone having an allergic reaction.
“Please don’t call him my nephew. I need more time to accept that.”
“You say that, but you were acting like the happiest one there. You looked like you loved having a nephew.”
Kiark let out a deep sigh.
Then, as if just the memory was overwhelming, he said,
“She suddenly asked me to come talk… and out of nowhere…”
He paused for a breath, then continued.
“She told me she had a kid. Who could possibly take that in so easily?”
