Chapter 44
Chapter 44
What he had meant was, "Why don't you and Brisa ride together?" But Alpheus had not understood the indirect western way of speaking.
He cut in with a beaming smile.
"Ah, is that so? What is it?"
At that, Leopold briefly showed a troubled expression. That was because there were many knights and maids around.
Having never encountered such innocent, straightforward speech, Leopold found himself mumbling before he knew it.
"Actually, now that I think about it, it is a very personal matter."
What he meant was, "I do not wish to speak of it in front of you."
At that, Alpheus took my hand and said cheerfully.
"Aha, is that so! That can happen. When I was young, my heart was always going back and forth too. It is the privilege of an adolescent boy. Now then, Brisa! Let's ride in that carriage!"
Then he whispered into my ear.
"Now that I think about it, he must have decided not to say it because it's personal. He seems to need time to think alone, so let's give him some space. At that age, well, it's perfectly possible to go back and forth like this."
Even in the original novel, Leopold and Alpheus had been spectacularly unable to communicate, even after Alpheus had fallen into darkness.
'This can't be happening.'
Now that Alpheus had not fallen into darkness, they were only going to understand each other even less.
'In this kind of situation, only Leopold will end up frustrated.'
After all, the person who cannot understand is never the one who gets frustrated.
In any case, that was how I ended up riding in the carriage with Alpheus.
To think we had unexpectedly been invited to dinner at the Dibostan Duke's Residence...
'But I absolutely have to go. It's not just a penny or two.'
If later the east were to play innocent and say, "We're grateful, but it's not something worth giving that much," it would feel too unfair.
I felt as though just seeing a tomato would make my blood boil for the rest of my life.
'Sigh. The east is bound to clash with Alpheus, but...... money talks.'
Imagining Rangsi's delighted face, I absolutely could not refuse this banquet. For now, it seemed I would have to start by teaching Alpheus eastern etiquette.
* * *
Alpheus smiled fondly as he watched Brisa sit elegantly in the carriage.
He wanted to boast about her to the whole world. That he had gained such a cute little sister, and that she was smart on top of it. That Brisa had resolved at once a matter so large that it would have required a tremendous mobilization of knights.
But he held it in.
'I mustn't praise her too much. I already did earlier, so let's not do it again. She might start thinking that people only like her if she does things worthy of praise.'
It had been one month since he had begun living with his little sister.
Brisa was still curt and cold. She would also often make harsh remarks without any consideration for his sensibilities. Nevertheless, she was a good child.
Back when he had lived as a mercenary, there had been a stray cat that never let down its guard around him. But that stray cat had caught a mouse and tossed it to him when he was sick.
Whenever he saw Brisa, he thought of that haughty cat.
And besides.......
'She is so mature.'
Brisa usually scurried about all day, constantly moving.
But there was not a single wrinkle in her dress, and not a speck of dust clung to her shoes. He did not know much about such things, but she must have received tremendous training in deportment from a young age.
But.......
Shouldn't children her age be playing in the dirt every day?
He did not like the "education" that Brisa's birth mother had supposedly given her.
Of course, he could not speak ill of the deceased, so he kept those thoughts buried inside. But the words that occasionally slipped out in his conversations with Brisa kept shocking him.
"Don't skip dinner. You haven't gained that much weight."
"......Brisa? If you gain weight, you have to skip dinner?"
"Isn't that obvious? I sometimes skipped meals before banquets too."
"Who says such crazy things to a child!"
"Mom."
Whenever that happened, Wendy turned pale.
"Please be careful, Marquess! At this rate you won't get to eat any potatoes!"
In the end, Alpheus soon stopped saying things like "crazy" or "out of her mind" in the residence.
Of course, Brisa acted composed even when she heard such things. But her mouth would tighten ever so slightly, as if she were afraid of something.
"Now, at an eastern banquet, a lady must always have an escort."
In the meantime, Brisa had begun her explanation.
"So you always have to stay beside me as my partner. If you leave my side even for a moment, etiquette might force Gilav to come stand beside me."
"Partner? You and me?"
"You're my blood relative, aren't you? It's the most natural."
She said it indifferently.
"I don't have a fiancé anymore, after all."
Brisa gasped and clapped a hand over her mouth.
Alpheus frowned.
What did that mean?
"Anymore......?"
When he asked slowly, Brisa sighed as if she had made a mistake.
After a brief silence, she said quietly.
"My engagement was broken off. It's nothing."
Broken engagement?
Alpheus had never received any report related to that.
In fact, Brisa had ordered Rangsi and the maids to keep quiet about the broken engagement. It was because she did not want a fuss to be made over such a matter.
"Br-broken engagement? What kind of bastard dared... No, wait, you were engaged in the first place? You're only twelve years old!"
Sure enough, he made a fuss.
"Tell me the details right now! What kind of heaven-defying outrage is this? Huh?"
Brisa explained calmly in a somewhat weary tone.
"I got engaged when I was seven. It's unusual, but it's not so unusual that you can put an 'only' in front of my age."
"Good heavens......."
"And the engagement ending was only natural. My circumstances changed. Objectively speaking, it had been somewhat lopsided from the start. So it isn't something for heaven to rage over, let alone you."
Alpheus stared at Brisa with a face of disbelief.
Could those...... could those words really come from the mouth of a twelve-year-old?
Were all nobles out of their minds?
Raising a cane to fix a six-year-old child's habit of saying "Uh......," telling her not to eat before banquets because she would gain weight, and casually attaching conditions to marriage.
"Well, my fiancé was, anyway......."
Brisa muttered bitterly.
"He was never particularly keen on being engaged to me in the first place."
"What? Then who on earth was the engagement for?"
"At least my mother was very pleased with it."
"You, you...... you...... did you...... did you like that engagement? Huh?"
Alpheus asked the doll-like girl before him.
Those were the only words that would come out.
Of course, he expected Brisa to turn stern and snap at him not to make such an uncouth fuss over something like this, but...
"You grew up without anyone to lean on too, so you know, don't you, Alpheus."
Unexpectedly, she answered calmly.
"My feelings have no power."
Alpheus flinched.
He knew exactly what Brisa meant.
The heart of a child with no one to lean on was powerless. Because it could not influence anyone anyway.
Brisa raised an eyebrow.
"So don't worry. Once you look the part of a decent marquess, I won't bother you anymore. I know my place."
In the end, wasn't she still thinking that her own feelings had no power?
Alpheus clenched his fist without realizing it.
He remembered the butler he had thrown out on the first day praising Brisa as mature.
"Our Lady Brisa is noble and mature, fundamentally different from the likes of you!"
Only now did it truly sink in that those words were right.
He knew that the child still did not lean on him.
Still, he intended to wait until Brisa opened her heart. There was no need to rush; they had many more days ahead together.
But... this really wasn't right.
"Tell me a little more about that engagement, Brisa. Hm? I really do need to know about this......."
When Alpheus pestered her, Brisa let out a deep sigh with a weary face.
"It's an engagement that's already over."
She muttered with her eyes lowered.
"From the very beginning, he was someone beyond my station. My fiancé....... He knew that too."
He saw bitterness in her expression.
Alpheus's heart sank.
The broken engagement had not been nothing to Brisa. She had simply accepted it.
Because there had been no other way.
At that, his heart ached even more, and he came to hate that fiancé even more.