It has been about a week since Yuriel has been staying at the Count’s house.
During this time, Yuriel felt an odd gaze on him.
At first, he thought he was imagining it. Sleeping in a strange place and constantly being on edge had weakened his mind and body, so he thought it was just that.
But it wasn’t.
Swish!
Yuriel quickly turned his head to where he felt the gaze.
As expected, there was no one there. Only an empty spot remained.
‘Scary…’
Yuriel hugged his arms, feeling a chill.
The Count’s house was truly eerie. As expected for a place located at the northernmost front line, it was cold and dark no matter where he went. It felt like ghosts could appear at any moment.
Or perhaps, they already had. The gaze that seemed to follow him everywhere… if it wasn’t a ghost, then what could it be?
It was quite ironic for a priest who worships the gods to be afraid of ghosts, but Yuriel was genuinely scared of them. It was said that evil ghosts couldn’t be exorcised, so how could he possibly stop them?
He decided to ask the people of the Count’s house for help.
Gulping, Yuriel quickened his steps. It was then…
“Hey, priest man.”
“Argh!”
A figure suddenly appeared before his eyes, causing Yuriel to lose his composure and fall to the ground. It was no wonder—standing in front of him was a child dressed entirely in white from head to toe, with a pale face! Ah, how could a child look so ghostly!
Yuriel tried to calm his startled heart, taking a deep breath.
“Ah, h-hello…?”
But even as he spoke, he couldn’t think of standing up. His legs had gone weak.
The child who appeared in front of Yuriel—Didi—stared at Yuriel through the strands of hair that covered her eyes.
“Why are you so startled? I didn’t do anything.”
Didi had no idea how ghost-like she looked at that moment and chided Yuriel. Then she extended her hand.
“Come on, get up.”
“Th-thank you…”
“I’m Didi. The third child.”
Although it was not explicitly stated, Yuriel could tell that Didi was the third daughter of the Count’s family. It wasn’t because of her clothes or any outward appearance. He simply assumed that a child who possessed the courage to wander around such a grim castle alone must be a child of the Count’s family.
Yuriel took Didi’s hand and awkwardly stood up.
“Y-yes, young lady. B-but why did you, um, approach me…”
“I’ve been watching you for the past few days.”
Ah.
So it wasn’t a ghost; it was this child.
Feeling a mix of relief and misfortune, Yuriel waited for Didi’s next words.
“But it’s strange. I was wondering, why would they let such a blank-looking person into the castle?”
“…What?”
“You know it too, right, priest? How blank and lost you look. So why did you come to the castle? Do you have a reason?”
“Th-that…”
Yuriel was at a loss for words. Even though he often felt like a lost soul, it was rare for anyone to say it to his face so bluntly… especially not a child who looked no older than ten!
Gathering himself, Yuriel struggled to respond.
“W-we have our reasons for temporarily s-staying here.”
“What reasons?”
“The… a-adults’ reasons?”
“The reasons of foolish adults?”
“……..”
Should I say I’m the only foolish one and the others aren’t? *Or should I leave out Arthur of the conversation? Yuriel’s mind grew increasingly confused.
“Didi!”
At that moment, a voice that had not yet gone through puberty echoed. Yuriel turned his head in joy, as if the owner of the voice was his savior, and saw that Didi was already standing right next to the boy.
“Master Yurian! Why are you here when I didn’t even call for you! Why? Did you come because you missed me? Hmm?”
The dark, sharp look in Didi’s eyes was nowhere to be seen as she smiled brightly and intertwined her arms with Yurian’s, like a cheerful girl.
Could… could a child that young have a split personality? Yuriel was utterly confused.
“Hello. I am Yurian Daimon, the eldest son of Count Daimon.”
“Oh… h-hello!”
Yurian approached Yuriel and greeted him with a polite bow.
“Didi. You shouldn’t speak like that. This person is a guest of the Count’s house.”
Goodness. Finally, a normal person from the Count’s household! Yuriel felt touched…
“But I wasn’t wrong!”
“Humans don’t like hearing the truth. Sometimes it’s better to say something false.”
…but not for long.
What was he expecting? This is the Daimon Count’s house, after all. Yuriel discarded the last bits of hope he had and chuckled wryly.
“You must have been quite startled. I apologize. We usually use the annex, but suddenly there were more people without any discussion, so I was curious and kept watch.”
“Th-that’s… I-I’m sorry…”
“No, you don’t have to apologize, priest. It’s all because of that damn Arthur and his damned… damn ways. So, please don’t worry about it.”
“…………”
Oh, God.
Why did you grant such a lovely child such a foul mouth?
For the first time in a long while, Yuriel silently prayed to the heavens.
“Anyway, the reason we sought you out was because we were genuinely curious.”
Yurian spoke while looking Yuriel straight in the eye.
“Why did you come here? And how long will you stay? What is your relationship with Shekina? Hmm?”
Although it seemed like the last question was the main one… Yuriel calmly answered anyway.
“A-as I said, it’s due to r-reasons that everyone has acknowledged, and so we c-came here. The duration… ah, I’m not sure yet. We’ll s-stay as long as Lady Shekina permits.”
“Ah, I see. Circumstances.”
Yurian squinted his eyes, seeming to understand but still looking somewhat skeptical. He then tilted his chin, signaling for Yuriel to continue.
“The relationship with Lady Shekina is…”
How should he explain it?
A benefactor who saved him from death multiple times?
The only person among the crazy people of the Count’s house who still seemed sane, but even then, it wasn’t like she particularly liked him. It felt more like she kept him around out of necessity without hiding that fact.
…That didn’t seem like a good way to put it.
“I-I think it would be easier if Dehan explained it instead.”
So, Yuriel shifted the responsibility onto Dehan, who wasn’t present.
Talking with children was something Dehan could handle better. After all, Dehan was a child too!
“D-Dehan likes Lady Shekina! And L-Lady Shekina cares for Dehan a lot!”
With this in mind, Yuriel rambled on, but Yurian’s expression turned odd.
“…What did you just say?”
He responded with a completely displeased face.
“Oh no. This is bad.”
Hearing Didi’s murmur, Yuriel had a strong feeling that he had said something wrong.
***
“Ugh…”
Dehan lay sprawled on his bed, feeling the muscle aches all over his body.
It had been about a week since he had been sparring with an unknown adult using wooden swords.
He was really stuck between, ‘Will I die like this? No, not dead yet!’ The problem was that this ‘not dead yet’ state had been dragging on for a week.
Barely hanging on.
Dehan forced himself to sit up.
– If you beat him, I’ll keep you by my side.
– Until then, don’t show up.
– Move as desperately as you desire.
He remembered Shekina’s words.
It was stubbornness, even arrogance.
A determination to defeat the demon in front of him and secure a place beside Shekina.
“Phew.”
Dehan brushed his sweat-drenched hair back and clenched his fists tightly.
The sparring for today was over, but that didn’t mean training was done.
Now he had to head back to the training yard and swing his sword again.
Just as Dehan was about to leave the room,
Bang!
The door burst open with a loud noise.
Standing in the doorway was a boy with platinum blond hair, similar to Dehan’s but with a paler hue.
Who was that? Dehan gripped his wooden sword tighter, keeping his eyes on him.
The platinum blond boy—Yurian—smiled as he looked at Dehan.
“So you’re the fox brat from the annex?”
🍓🍓🍓
Since it’s says that Didi are the 3rd daughter seems theres another daughter before her except Nisha, or perhaps Frey are actually a girl, if that so when I discovered Frey is a girl I will re-edit chapters when Frey are appears.
* Yuriel is questioning whether or not to mention Arthur in a conversation, indicating some inner conflict or confusion about how to handle the situation.
