Chapter 70
Chapter 70
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 70
Chapter Title: Team Formation and Rejection
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The moment the professor left the classroom, the kids assigned to the blue team swarmed around Marc like a horde of ants.
The Stefan and Saskia siblings from the d'Vier Count family were assigned to that team too?
Stefan's turning exactly ten this year, so just barely... he'll be the oldest on that team.
"Hey, everyone on our team, gather 'round."
At Dietrich's words, the rest of the kids started sluggishly making their way over to us.
Lucas and Lavinia from the Palenberg Marquis family, and Joachim from the Berben Count family, whom we'd been close with for a while now...
Hm?
I waved at Emily, Joachim's older sister, who was sitting off in the corner instead of coming our way. She just shrugged.
"I'm eleven. Can't participate starting this year."
"Want me to invite you as a shadow knight?"
"Thanks for the offer, but I'll pass. I hate getting all muddy in matches like that."
So then, our team has five for home team training, and theirs has four.
With numbers like that, the power balance shouldn't be too off.
But where's Erich?
I scanned the classroom again.
I definitely saw him come in for class earlier...
'Found him.'
While everyone was buzzing about the friendly match, the back door opened and closed, and Erich's black hair vanished.
I'd heard Erich was seven years older than me?
Turning eleven this year, same as Emily, so too old to participate in the friendly match.
"Dietri."
"What, baby?"
"Can't we make Eri a shadow knight?"
"Baby Ella, you're a genius. How'd you come up with such a brilliant idea...!"
"Don't pout! Eri just went out the back door, so let's hurry and catch him!"
He was always making that pouty fish face whenever he got the chance!
Having checked the headcount, I asked the other collateral kids to wait a bit while we handled things, then Dietrich and I quickly slipped out of the classroom.
Erich had already reached the end of the hallway.
"Go, Dietri!"
At my signal, Dietrich let go of my hand and leaped forward in an instant.
With a thud, he stomped the floor hard, then shot ahead like a bullet, blocking Erich's path in one breath.
'...?'
How'd he do that?
He just ran up the wall, whoosh, zoom, thud, twisted his body mid-air so gracefully, and dropped down like a meteor right in front of Erich?
What the heck was Dad training Dietrich in?
I had no idea what was going on, but at least Dietrich had stopped Erich dead in his tracks.
I ran as fast as I could and barely caught up to them.
"Hi, Eri."
Jet-black hair and blue eyes.
Erich's refined face, shedding its childish softness bit by bit, bore a faint air of fatigue.
At a glance, his hair made him look like Dad, but looking closer, he resembled the face in my mirror far more than Dad's.
'He takes after Mom a lot, too, Erich.'
Straightening his posture gracefully, Erich looked back and forth between me and Dietrich.
"Hello, Dietrich. And Mariella."
"So happy to see you, Eri! Wanted to see you so bad!"
"Really? I'm glad you feel that way."
Erich paused there and smiled.
"What a nuisance."
"Mm-hmm, we're honored... what?"
"You don't seem to understand people well, so let me put it simply. I don't welcome your attention or goodwill at all, so don't be annoying and get out of my way."
There was a huge disconnect between his softly smiling face and his cold words.
As I froze, Dietrich stepped forward protectively in front of me.
A growl leaked from his throat.
"Erich Kalenberg, who the hell do you think you're barking at...?"
This was about to turn into a fight!
I grabbed Dietrich's arm and held him back.
The smile on Erich's face, worn like a mask as he watched us, faded away.
His raw, exposed expression was filled with nothing but fatigue and contempt.
For some reason, it even seemed mixed with a hint of hatred. Why?
If I had a question, I had to ask right away.
"Eri, you hate me?"
"Your head seems better than Dietrich's."
After barely stopping Dietrich from lunging at Erich, I asked again.
"Why do you hate me? I haven't done anything yet."
"If I explained, do you think a four-year-old like you could understand? I don't want to waste my effort."
...Director back in Korea, please grant me the patience not to punch this guy's lights out.
With no religion of my own, I prayed to the director instead.
I'd harbored vague fondness for him solely because he was family, despite barely knowing his face.
But for my brother to be such an obnoxious jerk who could shatter that with one sentence.
If he was the type to spit garbage like that at his four-year-old sister, I didn't need him either.
"I trust I've made myself clear by now. Don't bother trying to get close to me. If you want to play happy siblings, do it with Dietrich."
Leaving those icy words behind, Erich turned and walked away.
Left alone in the hallway, I had to hug Dietrich—who was thrashing to chase after him—for a good while to calm him down.
Dietrich kept grumbling long after Erich was out of sight before finally settling.
"Baby Ella, you okay? Don't let that jerk—er, Erich—get to you."
"Mm-hmm. I'm fine."
"I'm heading back to the classroom to ask the other kids about the friendly match. What about you?"
"Mariella go sleep in room."
"Then with the nursemaid..."
"No! Can go alone!"
Marc was still in the classroom.
Better to leave the nursemaid in case of any trouble.
I slipped out of the main building before Dietrich could reply, plunging into the sunlight of the garden.
Once separated from Dietrich and the surroundings grew quiet, my thoughts naturally drifted to Erich.
'Erich must hate me and Dietrich.'
It was a painful realization.
Of course, Dietrich hadn't liked me much at first either.
But that was just childish jealousy, and even while disliking me, he never denied I was his sister.
I could see his desire to play with me and his wish to be loved more than me all tangled up.
Dietrich was transparently honest by nature.
'But Erich...'
Eleven this year. Past the age of pure transparency and simplicity, and since we hadn't grown up together, Erich's true feelings were hard to read.
"Ella!"
As I pondered how to deal with Erich, Joachim suddenly popped up in front of me from behind.
Was the talk already over?
I glanced around, but no one else had come out.
"Why you out?"
"I was sick with a cold last year and couldn't participate. So I don't know much..."
Joachim gave an awkward smile, looking a bit embarrassed, and sneaked a peek at my expression.
"But Ella, your face looks so gloomy. Something wrong?"
Joachim had started home training last year.
So he must know something about Erich, who trained alongside him.
"Joachim, wanna ask one thing about Eri."
"What? I'll tell you everything I know!"
"Marc called Eri defective before. Why?"
Unlike me or Dietrich.
Erich had been raised by Grandfather at the main house since he was little.
And since starting home education, he'd never once lost the top spot—a genius through and through.
For someone like that to be called defective.
An eleven-year-old kid hearing that nonstop? Without even Dad around?
"Well, it's like..."
Joachim hesitated, glancing at me.
The topic wasn't exactly cheerful, so it made sense.
I waited patiently for him to speak.
"It's a secret, but Erich's body is really weak."
Joachim leaned in close and whispered.
Suddenly, Erich's pale, icy face came to mind.
His ashen complexion, crumbling at the edges like old plaster walls. The traces of fatigue that clung no matter how hard he tried.
'...I never heard anything like that.'
Dad and the staff never breathed a word.
"No matter how hard he studies, Marc said he'll die before becoming an adult... multiple times."
"That's why defective?"
"Probably. A-according to Marc, that's why Sir Leopoldt abandoned Erich..."
It felt like someone had reached into my chest and hurled my heart to the floor.