Our Expo Is Open for Business as Usual - 2
The older brother who had said he was going off to rest turned back several times, smiling awkwardly.
"Now that I'm actually about to leave, it feels a little strange. Are you sure you'll be all right without me?"
"We'll be fine. We have more than enough hands, actually."
Running the booth had always been the members' job without the advisor, and with the people from the Three Kingdoms who had come at Brother's request, we were hardly short-staffed. I waved him off with that meaning, and he finally headed toward the cluster of other booths.
Even so he kept glancing back, so I stayed put until he was out of sight. Only then did he pick up his pace as if fleeing, and the sight was a little endearing. He would probably get angry if I said that to his face.
In the end he never answered me.
Thinking of my iron-walled older brother brought a bitter smile to my lips.
I had told him over and over that I wanted to help, that he should come to me whenever he had something on his mind. Each time he only gave some other reply; he had never once said he understood.
I wondered if it was because he thought I wouldn't be any use, because he couldn't quite trust me. Even if that stung a little, I didn't let it weigh on me too heavily. Brother was far more capable, far more remarkable than I was. I hadn't known it when I first met him, but later, when I learned he was a department-chief-level official, how shocked I had been.
So even when he said nothing, I waited. Pressing him might look like I was slighting him. But after seeing him yesterday, I could no longer simply wait.
"Brother..."
The worry spilled out and I called after him even though he was already gone from view. The Brother I had seen yesterday had looked as if he might shatter at any moment, as if a single touch would make him collapse.
It never showed on the surface. Brother always looked composed on the outside. Precisely because he never let it show, even if he was rotting away inside, no one ever noticed. If I hadn't known someone like him before, I wouldn't have caught it either.
The cookies I had given him yesterday were made with the sweetness maximized, setting novelty aside, for a Brother who was always working so hard. He would eat anything I gave him, but I still wanted to give him something good.
The trouble was that I hadn't checked the ingredients properly because they were the ones we always used at the booth. Only this morning, after the chaos of yesterday, did I realize the sugar and salt had been switched. Of all days, that unfunny joke of a mistake had to explode yesterday.
Even for a Brother who would eat anything, handing him a lump of salt after calling it sweet was another matter entirely. I had expected him to get angry, or at least laugh and say it was too salty.
"Oh, it was good."
His reaction was neither. When he came by the booth this morning and showed no particular reaction, I carefully brought it up, and he answered as if it were nothing. That couldn't be. There was absolutely no way...
"Hyung has always been able to eat anything. Even the mansion chef used to say cooking for him was the easiest."
Something Erich had told me once. But this went beyond simply having a good appetite. I wanted to ask more carefully even now, yet I didn't want to burden Erich, who was only just growing close to Brother, with another worry.
Brother.
Are you really all right?
I was afraid that even he might not hold out, that he might collapse, that he might vanish without anyone knowing.
I had rushed out because I felt I was about to make Luise cry, but once I was outside I had nothing to do.
What now?
You can only enjoy something if you know how. The only time I had lived at ease in this world was about a year right after the possession; everything after that had been a disaster. Being told out of nowhere to go rest and come back left me with no idea what I was supposed to do.
The thought of using the 1st Division Chief as a guide crossed my mind, but I discarded it at once. I didn't even know where he was in the Academy, and no matter how casually I treated him, I wasn't about to drag my subordinate around while I was off playing.
I had been on the receiving end of that misery myself. On the first vacation I got after putting on the Audit Department Chief title, I had wandered the Imperial Capital for some air and run straight into the minister. Neither of us had anything better to do, so we ended up walking around together. Even now it was a god-awful memory. I didn't particularly want to pass that cursed chain reaction on to the 1st Division Chief.
If I truly had nothing else, I figured I might as well look for the 4th Division Chief sooner rather than later, and while I was wandering I spotted a familiar head of red hair in the distance.
Margeta?
There she was, surveying the booths while covering her mouth with the red fan she always carried. Come to think of it, one of the Student Council's duties was checking that the expo was running properly.
I had nowhere definite to go anyway, and if I was going to draw stares while walking around, it was better to do it with Margeta. Outwardly it would look like a Student Council member and an auditor making the rounds on official business.
"Mar."
I approached from behind and spoke; Margeta's gaze, which had been turning toward the next booth, swung to me.
"Oh my, Young Master Karl. I never expected to see you here."
A smile bloomed across the cool face she had worn a moment before. She wouldn't have expected to meet me in a place like this. She knew full well I was supposed to be haunting the club booth like a house spirit.
Besides, Margeta had promised not to seek Luise out, so she hadn't come near our booth. I had assumed I wouldn't see her until the expo was over unless something unusual happened—and something unusual had.
"Are you very busy?"
"Not particularly. I did this last year as well, so I'm used to it."
"Even so, doing it alone must be tiring. Would you happen to need one more person?"
At that she tilted her head and answered in a voice laced with laughter.
"I don't just walk around with anyone. Though if it were Young Master Karl, that would be fine."
"That's a relief. If Mar is all right with it, I would like to accompany you."
"Pardon?"
Margeta's face flushed, and the fan that had only covered her mouth rose until it sat just beneath her eyes. Because the fan hid the lower half of her face, the restless flicker of her eyes was all the more clearly visible.
I thought this from time to time: for a descendant of the Iron Blood Duke, she was far too soft and delicate. Or was it simply that I had so little chance to meet the other blood relatives that I didn't really know?
Checking the progress of the expo—the same duty as last year. Compared to the booths scattered across the Academy, the Student Council was short-handed, so the work inevitably meant walking the grounds alone.
Boring.
I had joined the Student Council in the first place to become a civil servant and meet Karl, so I had never thrown myself into the activities with any real interest. This year Karl was at the Academy, which only made me less motivated. Still, as a member of the honorable House Valenti I could not neglect the duties I had been given, so I moved.
"Mar."
While I was forcibly suppressing the irritation, a familiar voice came from behind me.
"Oh my, Young Master Karl. I never expected to see you here."
Karl. It was Karl's voice.
I spun around at once and there he stood. Thank goodness I had the fan over my mouth. I had nearly let him see me grinning in a way that would have been mortifying.
In truth I hadn't expected to meet Karl during the expo period. As advisor to a club full of unusual members he couldn't leave the booth, and I had no intention of going anywhere Luise was. That was why I had written the expo off as dull—and then I ran into him here.
As expected, we are fated.
No matter how impossible it seems that we will meet, we always do. How romantic is that?
Satisfaction lifted my mood of its own accord. Now that I had met Karl I wanted to talk a little longer, but he surely had things to do, so clinging too tightly would be rude. I would content myself with this stroke of fate for today.
Yes, I had been ready to be satisfied with that.
"If Mar is all right with it, I would like to accompany you."
"Pardon?"
Karl's sudden words froze my mind solid.
With me... together?
With me? Karl? Together? Wasn't he busy with other things? Had Karl ever been the one to suggest something first?
Feeling heat rush to my face, I hastily yanked the fan higher. No. I absolutely could not let him see this expression.
A d-date... a date...! A date with Karl!
It was the first time. The first time Karl had asked me to go with him. The first date of any kind, for that matter. A year ago he had been so busy that tea and conversation had been the limit; going somewhere together had been nothing more than a dream.
Fate!
It really was fate. Karl was as good as already in my hands. That blunt Karl had been the one to propose a date first—he was already mine!
"Mar?"
Oh no.
Joy had melted my brain so thoroughly that I still hadn't answered his invitation. No, I shouldn't rush. I had decided to tease him a little. Accepting too easily here would be a problem.
"Yes, that would be lovely. Let's go together."
...But accepting just for today would be all right, wouldn't it? He must have worked up considerable courage to ask. If I pushed him away, he would be hurt.
Yes. That was why I was accepting. Really.
Fortunately Margeta agreed to let me accompany her. I had been worried there would be no pretext for me to help with simple status checks that weren't even budget work, so I was glad she accepted.
In truth, walking together didn't amount to much. Margeta went around inspecting booths while I strolled beside her and looked around. The only pity was the club presidents who greeted us trembling every time we stopped at a booth.
I didn't think that through.
A duke's daughter alone was already enough to break bones; adding an auditor to the inspection was practically a mental instakill. I was embarrassed I hadn't even considered something so obvious. No matter how out of sorts I was, tormenting the kids was going too far.
"Thanks to you, Young Master Karl, we finished early. I'm grateful."
"It was nothing."
At least we had managed to spend the time. That was something of a consolation, if I stretched for one.
"Mar. Would it be possible for us to walk the grounds together tomorrow as well?"
I had the feeling Luise would no longer tolerate the sight of me stuck at the booth. She would probably try to eject me again tomorrow, so I needed a destination decided in advance.
At my suggestion Margeta gave a light nod, though the reddening of her ears was impossible to hide.
"Thank you, Mar."
And I'm sorry.
I offered an apology she would never hear. Being tangled up with someone like me must be hard on her heart.
I was a man with no room left in my heart, so I only kept hurting people who didn't deserve it. Pushing them away, clenching my teeth and pretending not to know.
I really was sorry.