Beware of the Brothers - Chapter 25

The next morning when I woke up, I thought,

‘Did what happen last night was a dream?’

The inside of the mansion was very quiet, and only the servants wandered away with the sound of footsteps felt dimly outside the door.

Looking at the clock, it’s almost 11 am.

It was becoming.

I was so relieved that Eugene and Cabel had left the mansion a long time ago, so I didn’t have to meet them.

I couldn’t sleep all night, so my head hurt a little because I only managed to close my eyes in dawn.

“Ah.”

After drinking water in a cup placed on the side table, I suddenly felt painful and groaned.

When I raised my hand and traced the sore spot, the wound that was clearly positioned on my lips was touched by me.

Yes, yesterday’s work was not a dream. It couldn’t be a dream.

I already knew it, but when I realized it anew, it seemed to be more confusing as if it suddenly burst into my head.

Still, I pulled the string on the bedside to get ready to go out of the room.

Soon after a while, the maid came in.

“I will prepare water for washing.”

“Yes, thank you.”

Soaking in the bathtub and changing clothes after coming out, the maid who waited in the room suddenly stopped.

Because things were fleeting, I thought about that insignificantly.

After a while, she asks carefully towards me.

“Well my lady, shall I prepare it again with a dress that has a less neckline? Or a thin scarf or necklace may be fine.”

“No, I like these clothes now. And I’ll stay inside the mansion anyway, I don’t need any other jewelry.”

“Yes, then I will try to collect your hair on one side and cover it. Maybe also apply a little powder on the skin….”

When I heard that, something was wrong, so I stopped my hand from sweeping my hair.

And after checking the mirror, my speech was clogged and I was inhaled by the hook.

That is because a very sharp red mark engraved on my nape has caught my eye.

“…..It would be better to just pick the dress again.”

I lifted my hand and squeezed my voice while washing my face.

Still, it was fortunate that the maid listened to my orders without saying anything.

******

“Hubert.”

“Lady Hari, have you got up?”

As I went down to the ground floor, Hubert and other servants welcomed me.

They seemed to think I overslept because the banquet last night make me tired.

It seemed that Eugene or Cabel had given a pre-notice when I notice that they didn’t wake me up this time.

I was a little hesitant, but once I knew that I was the only one in this mansion, I asked about Eugene and Cabel.

“Did you hear from your my brother?”

“Sir Cabel went to work as a knight, and the Duke went to La Souss early in the morning.”

What? Hearing his words, I was embarrassed.

Looking at me being surprised like that, Hubert was even more embarrassed.

“Did the Lady not know? The Duke is planning to empty the mansion for four days from today.”

It turned out that Eugene was going to go out to visit La Souss and return four days later.

I came back to my room with embarrassment because it was something I had never heard of.

It was a good thing for me actually.

I didn’t have to look at him today, so I had time to think about it, but I was frustrated with the questions that were not resolved.

You know, what did that mean yesterday?

I wanted to ask Eugene why he did such a thing. I honestly didn’t remember the details of the conversation we had last night.

The limit was when I was barely holding onto my mind because I was too vulnerable.

But if I think about it, Eugene was drunk yesterday…

..… Is it a mistake? Is that so?

He did it impulsively for a moment.

After thinking about it, I smashed the pillow lying on the bed with my fist.

“Oh, what is it?”

That last night……

He had done that to me and he’s gone silently today.

If I saw Eugene’s face right now, I couldn’t say a word, maybe it would have been clear that I would run away, as I blamed him for nothing.

I held the pillow that I had hit a little while ago with my hand, as I’m lying down on the bed.

I was a little frustrated because I was wearing clothes that came up to my neck to cover the marks left by Eugene. Even now, my lips are sore.

As I tried to lie still like this, my memories kept going back to last night.

It seemed that all the places that Eugene had touch were getting hot.

“What do we do…”

I lay still, breathe shallowly, raise my hands and rub my eyes, I have never imagined this situation so far, so I haven’t been able to figure out what to do from now on.

No matter how I thought about it, I couldn’t find the answer, so I buried myself in bed with my face wrapped.

“What the hell is going on? A woman who was his fiancée broke the engagement and now announced an engagement with the crown prince.”

Erich, who returned home on the weekend two days later, seemed incapable of understanding.

He was suspicious of the sudden series of events.

“Did you hear anything from brother?”

“He just said there was nothing to worry about.”

I answered his question, trying not to show an awkward attitude. Fortunately, Erich didn’t seem to have noticed anything from me.

“When I got home, I tried to talk to him, but now I can’t even meet him.”

He grumbled as he went to his room. Penny barked behind Erich’s back.

“Erich, I’ll be in my room, so you play with Penny.”

“Okay.”

I also stepped behind them. Then I ran into a maid walking from the other side of the hall.

When I saw something in her hand, I stopped.

“It’s brother Eugene’s?”

“Yes, my Lady.”

“Give it to me. I’ll bring it to my brother’s room and place it.”

“How could I do that to the lady…”

“It’s okay. You look busy today, so go do something else.”

I smiled and reassured the hesitating maid as she handed over what she had, and finally it held in my hand.

It was the clothes that Eugene was wearing the last time I met him two days ago.

It seems that the maid was about to finish the laundry and take it to his room.

I picked up the clothes on the hanger and took the steps I stopped again.

When I opened Eugene’s room and went inside, the quiet air hit me.

Instead of moving a few steps in front of the door, I stopped as if I was lost in the middle of the room.

Not surprisingly, Eugene’s presence came out in Eugene’s room.

In the middle of the room, my heart began to flutter because I’m holding the clothes he wear two nights ago, as if I’m being held in his arms.

The days without Eugene was too long.

I felt that I cannot wait this much more time in the future. On the other hand, I felt a little afraid to meet Eugene.

What if he said it was a mistake and he was sorry?

It was all right. But maybe he regrets the ‘accident’ two days ago, so he can’t see my face anymore.

If he do that, then he avoid me or turn away….

“I’d rather not remember anything than being treated like that.”

I muttered alone, saying to no one who could listen.

No matter how I think about it, it seemed that Eugene was drunk that day and made a mistake. Then I’d rather have it forgotten.

Sometimes, when a person wake up the next morning because he drink too much, he lose the memory of the previous day.

Then I’ll act like nothing happened….

I held my breath deeply, holding his clothes in my arms tightly. As if doing that would make Eugene’s smell trail in me.

Tuk!

Just then, a sound was heard behind my back.

“You….”

I was surprised and turned around, and Erich standing in front of the door caught my eye.

A ball, supposed to have fallen out of his hand, bounced over the carpet several times before rolling in front of me.

Penny, next to Erich, chased and bite it on.

Erich was staring at me with unbelievable eyes in Eugene’s room holding his clothes.

“Since when…?”

Finally, the moment he asked with his breathless voice, I realized that I could not lie.

The sight of his face becoming harder and harder made my heart chill.

“Do not be ridiculous.”

Erich said to me and then turned around.

I saw his face is in front of my eyes.

I couldn’t spit a word out from my mouth until he completely disappeared, and I just stay firm and stood in place without moving.

**********

“Uh, Erich? He doesn’t eat?”

That evening, Erich did not come down to the dining hall. I replied with a smile while trying to answer Cabel.

“Yes, I have no idea.”

What kind of food does Cabel talking about? He grumbled, but my ears didn’t listen.

Late that evening, I was in my room alone and suddenly I heard a scratching visit.

I thought it was penny, so I approached the door, but suddenly the door ring turned. Penny rushed through the open door.

She opened the door herself and I saw penny who came in, and opened my mouth slightly mushy.

“At that same time, I was right when I guessed you opened the door in Erich’s room last time, right?”

“Woof woof!”

However, as usual, Penny wandered around me and bite my dress hem that came down to my ankle.

I wondered what she meant, and eventually moved as Penny led me.

When I left my room, her power that grab my hem disappeared.

Oh, are you just going? But Penny who was running in front of me, looked back and barked the next moment as if telling to me come along.

I walked behind in doubt.

The place we headed to was the dining hall with the lights off. It is a dark room except for the soft light leaking from the window.

“Woof!”

“Shh. Penny, be quiet.”

And I found Erich there.

He faced penny whom rushing at him, and soon found me standing behind him and stopped.

Surprisingly, the one in front of Erich was a wine bottle.

When I unintentionally witnessed his departure, I also jumped, and Erich, who being caught by me as he drinking alone, jumped too.

Soon, however, he turned his head from my face, as if he had decided not to see me.

“Erich, you…”

“What, are you gonna to tell your brother?”

When I opened my mouth, the voice that sound chilly came back.

He still answer.

I was relieved that I have thought that he would do nothing and ignore me.

“Please give me too.”

Erich’s eyes slipped back to me as I stood quietly in my place. Of course, I knew that he would not allow it, so I prepare to hurriedly answered.

But after listening to his words, I stopped at once.

“You don’t even notice? I don’t feel like drinking with you.”

As I thought, when I sat next to him, a cold rejection rang before me. I pretended not to hear it and picked up the bottle of wine in front of me.

I moved my hand without hesitation and opened my mouth as Erich was stunned to see me drinking from the bottle.

Drinking after a long time is awful.

I put down the bottle again and inhale a breath, then exhaled and asked Erich.

“Now, do you hate me?”

My voice flowed as if the voice was a little submerged because of the strong alcohol that I just drank.

As soon as he heard what I said, Erich looked like he want to speak. A hard gaze stuck in my face for a while.

But he didn’t answer and took the bottle out of my hand and pour it into his throat just like I did before.

“You, I’m annoyed.”

After a while, Erich open his mouth coldly.

“Don’t notice I ever said like that. When do I ever said I hate you?”

His voice was still cold, but as I listened to him, I felt that anxiety in my heart was gradually fading.

“I also need time to organize my thoughts. Now if you ask me to treat you like that, it’s just too much.”

I was relieved to hear that he doesn’t hate me. Even if it wasn’t his whole heart, I was grateful that he was taking care of me.

No one else has this heart that I have.

It seemed that the blood in my whole body was cooling down just by imagining the criticism of my three brothers.

“And what have you ever done to be considered as a sin?”

However, Erich told me as if he had penetrated my thoughts.

“Just… that’s all you do. What’s the big mistake?”

I couldn’t see what kind of expression he was making because his hands were covering his face, but the voice in my ear was firm, like what I heard before.

Of course.

Later, Erich’s raised his head and face me again then looked at my eyes.

Erich’s face didn’t show any signs of disgust as I still felt comforted by him.

“So put that expression away. You’re better off laughing like a fool.”

Penny next to me shook her body and dig into Erich’s arms.

“That doesn’t mean I’m cheering on you. Don’t be mistaken.”

His face glowed white in the moonlight.

I’m silent for a while.

After accepting this, I quickly raised my hand and rubbed it around my eyes. Then I whispered in a small voice.

“… Thanks.”

So, for a while we shared silence in the dark. Until someone in the dining hall suddenly lights the light up and finds us.

“Hey! Hey, what are you doing now?”

With bright vision, the appearance of Cabel reflected.

He ran out late at night, looked to the dining hall, and he seemed surprised to see us.

Erich and I soon noticed that his gaze was about to start a trouble. As his gaze nailed to a bottle of wine between us.

“You guys! Both of you got caught…”

“We’re very good.”

“Yeah, come and sit down.”

The moment Cabel shouting at us, Erich and I called him.

“Eh?”

Cabel hurled his fingers when he greet us.

He thought we were going to make an excuse for drinking and seen by him, but rather we called him to come closer.

He seemed was not understood what’s going on.

Anyway, it was the second brother that listened well anyway, so he walked foolishly toward us with a look that he could not understand our language.

Erich and I sat next to Cabel, who had a silly face, and let him have a bottle of wine in his hand.

“It’s legal to drink like a boast in presence of a protector? Now, my brother is an accomplice.”

“Aren’t you also the great brother Cabel? How do you show up whenever we need you? Now, come here and have a drink.”

Anyway, because we are 18 now, Erich and I did not have a problem.

What’s more, drinking alcoholic beverages in places like parties was already common in our age.

In the case of us, Eugene and Cabel are so strict, well as if I don’t know Eugene, but I can bake and cook as many Cabel as I can.

“I can’t do this.”

“What can be wrong? It’s okay if we have a reliable guardian.”

“That’s right, where is another guardian who is as trustworthy and amazing as brother Cabel?”

When Erich and I came together in unison, we struck the ball, and Cabel’s facial expressions were relaxed.

When we realized, one day we might getting a drink in an underground cellar, and we were working on three masterpieces together.

“You know, the man and the woman had a drink and did something, and the next day, without a word, one of them left somewhere, and there was no contact for the seventh day. What does that mean?”

When I sneaked and asked for a drink, I cried down the bottle that Cabel was holding.

“Uh, I know that! I heard a similar story from the Templars!”

“You haven’t seen one or two of those non-funny books, so don’t you know one?”

We also laughed and said that as the atmosphere was more relaxed than before.

“You see, it’s splattered.”

“That’s right! That’s what it is. ‘Why can’t we not bother by mistake in yesterday and just forget it?’ “

Cabel nodded his head up.

I’ve been thinking that, too.

“Add fried chicken here! Just half the seasoning!”

“Masters, young lady…. You really shouldn’t do this…”

The chef cried when he saw us sitting in the gap without Eugene. It seems that the aftermath of Eugene’s return was fearful.

“It’s okay, it’s okay. If we just hide it, it’s a complete crime! So our chief, fries more chicken. As I just said, half and half! And there’s no pickles made like last time okay? That’s a lot!”

However, Cabel shook the chef’s back and sent him back to the kitchen.

“Well, drink, drink! I’ll take responsibility! I’m the world’s best guardian! Um haha hot!”

The second brother said that the drink was slightly more delicious than the other times, but Erich shifted the liquor from Cabel.

Apparently nothing was wrong, but I thanked Erich for struggling with me.

So I also did what I had with him.

We laughed and drank them in front of Cabel. Still, tears came out, and I had to cover my face by holding Penny next to me.