Bang! Startled by the sound, Britia turned to look at Harty.
With fury in his eyes, Harty widened them and swiped the table with his tail. Although his gaze was highly threatening, Britia glanced at him briefly and smiled.
“Do you enjoy theatre?” she asked.
Sig, who had no idea what Harty was doing, was delighted by Britia’s response. It didn’t show on his face, but his tail perked up. Britia felt her surprised heart gently loosen at the sight.
How is Sig’s tail so honest and adorable when it comes to emotions?
She thought it was completely different from the Marquis or anyone else who would angrily slam tables and floors. However, if she kept staring at him, she felt like she would eventually beg him to let her touch it. So, with great effort, she averted her gaze.
“I haven’t seen it recently, but when I was young, my father used to invite extreme people to the castle,” she said.
Britia tried to calm her racing heart as she looked at his unchanged face instead of his tail. But then, her frozen expression softened, and their eyes met, causing a subtle change in her expression.
She couldn’t calm down at all.
“In that case, I’m glad,” she said, smiling silently at him, but in her mind, she was begging him to stop. It was as if someone was hitting her head. It was so noisy. It felt so vivid.
She soon realized that the source of the noise was the sound of Harty’s tail hitting the ground in anger. There was a reason why it sounded so vivid.
Britia chuckled inwardly as she glanced at him. No matter how much Harty tried, he couldn’t stop her.
“Crave.”
Britia returned from her outing and headed straight for Earl Lockhart’s study. As she knocked and called for him, she soon heard a voice from inside.
“What’s with that hand?”
Seeing him silently extending his hand from behind the desk, Britia asked.
“Forgot? It’s a lemon pie with plenty of ginger!”
“Ah…”
“Ah?”
“Sorry.”
As Britia raised both hands, Earl Lockhart opened his mouth wide and slammed the desk with his palm.
“How could you forget something so important after having so much fun together!”
“I couldn’t help it. I had something to do.”
“What could be so important!”
Earl Lockhart crossed his arms and glared at her. Britia hesitated on where to start.
“Did you get into an accident? Why can’t you speak?”
“…”
“Did you really get into an accident?”
“I didn’t do it on purpose.”
Britia sighed and pulled a chair closer, sitting beside him.
“I got my hair pulled today.”
Britia pointed to the spot where Marcus had grabbed her, causing a few strands of hair to fall.
“…Did Hailey do that?”
Earl Lockhart shook his head in disbelief, his face filled with shock. Various thoughts raced through his mind. If the two of them had really fought, if they had fought so fiercely that he had to intervene, what position should he take?
“Why would Hailey grab my hair? It was Beaumex.”
With a sigh of relief at the reassurance that his wife wasn’t responsible, Earl Lockhart breathed out.
“It was the Beaumex’s brat who did it. Yes, that man… that man did such a thing!”
He stood up abruptly.
“What kind of person would touch our child’s hair? No, I know exactly who it is. It’s Marcus Beaumex!”
Britia grabbed his arm, urging him to sit back down. But what she needed to discuss with him wasn’t about that.
“What is that man even doing! Has he had a grudge against you all this time? Why is Lady Robley, the Duchess of Robley, trying to involve you with such a person?”
“Well, it seems like he really hates Lockhart. He called us beggars and all.”
“What!”
Britia calmed him down as he grew more agitated.
“Anyway, the story about Lady Robley is important, but let me start with this.”
Britia moistened her lips and took a deep breath.
“While passing by, Duke Turas-nim witnessed Marcus Beaumex and me fighting, so he challenged him to a duel.”
“Tia, I can’t keep up with the story.”
Although Earl Lockhart asked why Duke Turas was passing by and why he suddenly duelled, Britia brushed it off and continued.
“As expected, Duke-nim won the duel, and, well, Lady Robley was there with him.”
In response to Kyra’s words, Lady Robley replied, “Let’s talk about it later,” and took Marcus with her. At that moment, Earl Lockhart’s mind was preoccupied with Sig, so he temporarily set aside his concerns about her. However, he couldn’t ignore it any longer.
“You seemed quite upset. It seems like you’ve upset her mood,” he said.
Upset her mood. The meaning of those words caused Earl Lockhart, to slightly part his lips. Leaning back against the chair’s backrest, he opened his mouth and rolled his eyes in the air.
“…Robley.”
Crave muttered that name in his mind.
Undoubtedly, it was one of the three most powerful households in the southern region and boasted the largest territory. The influence in southern high society goes without saying.
Lady Robley was the mistress of such a household. To upset someone like her could potentially put Crave in a precarious situation within Southern high society.
“Did I have to endure it there? But both you and Lenny suffered so much, and I couldn’t just stand by while that man spoke like that. I wanted an apology…”
Britia lowered her head, looking gloomy. Crave lifted his back from the backrest and looked at her face from the side.
“If you still have such an angry expression, you must have endured it well. Besides, even if you had endured it, would that man have realized his mistake and stopped? He probably would have thought of it as a joke, underestimating us, Lockhart’s.”
He patted her shrunken back, praising her for doing well.
“He duelled with Sig? Did the duel go smoothly? Wasn’t it too overwhelming?”
Crave questioned, doubting whether that man could really fight Sig.
“It was a one-sided victory for Duke-nim.”
“I thought so.”
Crave laughed with a smug expression, even though he hadn’t fought the duel himself.
“Now you’re laughing? We look like outcasts among the southern nobles.”
“Lady Robley did try to include us in various gatherings, but we were never popular among the southern nobility.”
There wouldn’t be much of a difference. Britia felt a lump in her throat as she looked at the twins, who were laughing without blaming Lady Robley. When isolated from high society, the most difficult thing was to somehow maintain relationships with other families and take responsibility for Lockhart.
“Oh, is crybaby Britia Lockhart crying again?”
Crave teased her, biting his lip and mocking her as tears welled up.
“But Crave…”
“I have a feeling that I’ve come to pick you up. You know Lady Robley’s personality. She wouldn’t have just let us be, not marrying her nephew as she wished.”
If she had chosen to marry another man, she would undoubtedly have tried to interfere. Despite the interference, it was obvious that she would have held a grudge if Britia had gone ahead and married. Crave was confident that even if that happened, Lady Robley would still remain.
“Of course, I have no intention of marrying you off to such a man. I would rather die! So, whether it’s late or early, our fate with her was bound to be twisted.”
On the contrary, Crave nodded his head, saying that it was fortunate that they had maintained interaction until now. He didn’t mention how grateful he was to Lady Robley for helping them gain a foothold in high society during their most difficult times, but he didn’t feel as grateful to her as Britia did.
Of course, she did give them invitations. However, when they attended, more often than not, they were given a seat at the very end, contrary to the kind wording of the invitation.
Crave sat in that seat and felt as if Lady Robley was telling him to behave according to his status, occupying four seats. He didn’t tell Britia about this fact.
“We have expressed our gratitude and invited her several times, but she has never responded to our invitations.”
As Crave spoke these words, he felt a tinge of melancholy. Lady Robley was intoxicated by her own kindness and had no desire to interact with Lockhart.
A truly sincere person would show it even if their speech was a bit rough. Even if their tone was gentle, it would be evident if they were disregarding others in their heart.
“Tia, did you worry too much about Lady Robley?”
Crave placed his hand on her forehead, which was flushed with a hint of red.
“Do you remember? When you were young and kept getting fevers, someone said, ‘Are you born from the fireplace, not from your mother’s womb?'”
Crave recalled his childhood as he spoke. As an adult, he had forgotten about it since he rarely had fevers.
“If I were born from the fireplace, you would have been the same. We’re twins.”
“That’s right. Besides, Lenny might be the same. When he was born, the adults prevented us from entering the room.”
In truth, it might have been to avoid being caught taking them out of the fireplace. When Crave raised an absurd suspicion, Britia wiped away the tears that had formed in the corners of her eyes.
“Nonsense.”
“But Tia, the Lockhart siblings, were born from the fireplace. Isn’t it cool? Second-born Britia still seems a bit warm even after 24 years since coming out of the fireplace.”
The face of Crave, who had been lightly smiling, stiffened for a moment. At that time, the adults kept saying that she had to overcome her childhood illness and grow up healthy while constantly suffering from illnesses. Yet behind her back, they whispered that she might not live long.
He was the one who told her not to say such absurd things and laughed it off. However, deep down, he was a coward, so he often stayed by her side, afraid that she might suddenly die. He nursed her frequently.
“It seems like I’m still angry about being unfairly insulted by Beaumex.”
“I should have gone with you! Then I would have retaliated against him with this fiery fist before he even touched your hair.”
When Crave raised his seemingly ordinary right fist cunningly, Britia smiled slightly.
“Even if you were there, we would have ended up bickering like always.”
“You haven’t seen how good I am at fighting.”
“Well, you’ve never won against Lenny since you were young.”
“Hey, how can a person defeat a wild boar!”
When Crave got angry, Britia burst into laughter. As he said, although his head felt hot and dizzying from anger, it wasn’t such a bad feeling.
“Just relying on brute strength is ignorant talk.”
“But it’s cute anyway.”
“Yeah… used to be cute. Now it has grown grotesque.”
“You call me ‘baby’ wild boar because it’s grotesque?”
After exhaling mixed breaths of heat and frustration, Britia got off the chair and grabbed his tail to slap him on the left cheek before lying down.
“Do you feel certain about what you’re doing to my tail?”
Seeing Britia’s softened face as she looked up at him, Crave chuckled mockingly.
“So you really like tails that much?”
“…You do too.”
“You keep touching my tail all the time just for pleasure.”
Upon hearing this remark from Britia while slapping his own tail cheekily half-closed eyes smilingly looking at him,
“Caught ya?”
Thinking she wouldn’t find out, he chuckled smugly, but eventually surrendered his tail that had been hidden from her for a while.
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I really enjoy their family dynamics.