Chapter 35 A child who looks like his brother
That’s when Onyx spoke up.
“Come on, let’s hurry up, Grandma and Grandpa will be waiting for us!”
“Oh, right! Yes!”
Veronica and Jediel turned and started to walk away at Onyx’s urging, but then Jediel turned around and waved at Killion.
“Good bye, mister!”
“…Ah, bye.”
Killion waved back. His heart skipped a beat at the sight of her smiling face.
His heart skipped a beat as he saw the smiling face of his brother Aaron.
‘He looks like my brother Aaron… Is that possible, or is he a distant relative of ours?’
Blond hair and blue eyes were a common combination in the Duchy of Drea, so it wasn’t impossible for a child of the Fang clan.
But that look in his eyes, the way he smiled, and the shape of his mouth and the bridge of his nose. Aside from the hair and eye colour, the child’s face resembled Aaron’s.
He stood still, still dumbfounded, when one of his men, who had been searching for the late arrival, spotted him and came right up to him.
“Your Excellency, there you are! We thought you were lost and have been looking for you for some time. Come on, we’re all waiting for you.”
“Well, yes…”
Even as he was being dragged by his subordinate, Killion kept looking back. The child and his companions had already disappeared, but his eyes kept going there.
The tavern was bustling.
Half of the group was drunk and giggling, and the other half looked quite sober.
“You’re late, Your Excellency.”
“It’s been a long time, and you didn’t want to see us, did you, sir?”
Killion shook off the tangled masses and sat up, though his men swooned into the arms of their missed boss.
“A drink, Your Excellency!”
Killion took the ale from his subordinate and gulped it down. The simple brew slid pleasantly down his throat after so long.
But he couldn’t help but feel a pit in his stomach.
Killion asked.
“I saw a kid in the market earlier, and he looked just like my brother when he was a kid. Is that possible?”
“Eh, isn’t that what all children look like?”
Killion asked, and someone waved a hand dismissively. Then someone else chuckled and shouted out loud.
“That can’t be right, you don’t look the same as you did when you were a kid, Mr Duke!”
Hohoho, laughter erupted from all around. But Killion couldn’t help but laugh.
‘They look too much alike…’
* * *
‘Nobles and commoners have very different radiuses, so I thought we’d never run into each other in our lives… I wonder if commuting to the capital was too dangerous after all?’
Veronia’s thoughts jumbled in her head. Her heart was still racing.
‘Besides, the way Killion was looking at Jediel was strange.’
Why? Veronia shook her head at the horrifying number of possibilities.
She’d only glimpsed him briefly, but the image of Killion’s sideways glance at Jediel lingered in her mind, haunting her.
Five years had passed, and Killion was still as handsome as ever.
His jet-black hair, his upturned nose, his fierce yet kind eyes, and his bright red lips were all still there.
Her heart pounded in her chest as she slowly pictured his face.
“Mum? What’s next? I need you to keep reading.”
“Oh, sorry.”
Veronia snapped out of her reverie at Jediel’s urging.
How could she have been so distracted that she’d forgotten she was reading? She blushed at herself.
“What were you thinking?”
“No, I wasn’t thinking about anything.”
“You’re lying!”
The gazes of the mother and son clashed in the air. The mother’s gaze was busy fleeing, the son’s busy chasing.
“…Busted. Sorry.”
“…”
“I’ll focus now. So stop being angry, okay?”
“Jediel is not angry.”
“Okay. Then I’ll finish reading the story.”
“Were you thinking about Mr Onyx?”
The question was so out of that, Veronia was stunned for a moment.
“Why Onyx all of a sudden?”
“Just… because you two are friends.”
“No, I wasn’t thinking about Mr Onyx.”
Veronia turned to read a book. Jediel’s question burst out again.
This time it was a more innocent question.
“Then… you were thinking about Dad?”
“What do you mean, Dad…?”
Veronia’s face flushed red, surprised that he’d suddenly brought up her father.
“You were really thinking of my dad, weren’t you?”
“Jediel… I said it wasn’t.”
“A…. I guessed right, didn’t I? I can tell by the look on your face.”
Jediel pointed a finger at Veronia’s face and chuckled. She guesses it’s all in her face.
Veronia gritted her teeth and glared at Jediel.
“Yes, why, dear, are you having fun teasing Mummy?”
Veronia lunged at the bed, scooped the child into her arms, and launched a tickling attack. Jediel giggled and squirmed.
“Oh, mummy, stop, stop, stop, it’s wrong, Jediel’s wrong, stop!”
“You did do wrong, didn’t you?”
“Yes. Jediel was wrong.”
Jediel clasped his little hands together and looked up at Veronia, pleading. He knew that if he looked pitiful, his mother would give in.
“Come here and give me a hug mum.”
“Yes.”
Jediel fell into Veronia’s arms. It was the best motherly embrace in the world.
“I want to hear it.”
“About what?”
“About my dad.”
“…”
Veronia was speechless.
Jediel had never asked her about his father before. She’d only told him once that he was a brave man and that he’d died young.
“But why is he acting so strange today?
She wondered what had changed in his mind.
Veronia managed to calm her embarrassment and spoke.
“Jediel’s dad was a really nice, sweet man, and he worried about me a lot.”
The child’s blue eyes lit up as he heard the details of his father for the first time.
“Again.”
“Again? Mmm… And… Dad was an amazing man. He could fight really well, and he rode really well on horseback. Tall and strong.”
“Again.”
“Again?”
Jediel stared at Veronia with the look of a child who hadn’t eaten in a week, his mouth watering at his sandwich.
She tensed, feeling the pressure to live up to his expectations.
But there wasn’t much more to say, so she just rolled her eyes. Jediel smiled broadly and asked again.
“Do you think he’s handsome?”
“Huh? Uh… Of course. Handsome. Very handsome! My Jediel is handsome because he looks like his dad!”
Cup, forehead, cheeks, nose! Cup, cup, cup, Veronia cupped the child’s cheeks and kissed every inch of his face. The child giggled at the tickle.
After a long laugh, he asked.
“Like the uncle today?”
“The uncle? Who’s uncle? Do you mean Onyx’s uncle?”
“No. The one who gave me candy at the market!”
“Oh?”
Veronia doubted her ears for a moment.
She hadn’t expected that to come out of Jediel’s mouth at this moment. Unable to know what she was thinking, the child continued quickly.
“He was so handsome, the most handsome man I’ve ever seen, and he was just as handsome as my father, wasn’t he?”
“Ah…”
Veronia was at a loss for words.
Could it be that they really are the same blood? No way…! She shook her head nervously. She didn’t want to admit it.
‘Oh, no, he’s so handsome, she must have found him fascinating, so it’s just simple curiosity, I suppose…’
Veronia let out a shallow sigh and told Jediel the story he wanted to hear as he waited for an answer.
“That’s right, Jediel, your dad is very handsome too, almost as handsome as the man I met in the market.”
“My mum had high eyes!”
“What? Where did you learn to say that?”
“Didn’t all the kids say that in kindergarten?”
“Awww… you cute little guy!”
Veronia hugged Jediel tightly. She was both proud and sad to see him growing up every day.
‘But please don’t grow too big too fast, my darling…’
* * *
Back at the ducal residence, Killion headed straight for the fifth floor. He had a few beers, but he wasn’t drunk.
He couldn’t get drunk.
He couldn’t get drunk because he kept seeing the face of the child he met at the market. He had to check if his memory was right that he and his brother looked alike.
He thought, ‘What’s the point of checking? What’s the difference?’
He must have lost his mind. Killion shook his head in disbelief.
But he couldn’t stop himself from heading for the fifth floor. An inexplicable pull kept guiding his mind and his steps.
A large room at the far east end housed a collection of old portraits. Entering the room, Killion stood before the fireplace.
He lifted the lantern and looked up at the large portrait above the mantelpiece. It was a portrait my parents had painted of my brother when he was about five years old, before he was born.
“You look just like…!”
His brother was sitting right next to his mother, smiling broadly.
The light golden hair, the round blue eyes, the shape of the eyes and the bridge of the nose were so similar to the child he saw in the daytime.
“Brother… Who is he? Is he a distant relative of my family?”
Killion gazed at the younger brother in the portrait as he gazed at the stars in the night sky.
“Or is he just an uncanny resemblance, and why do I… keep stepping in this?”
