"Is there a cure?"

  "Huh. Of course."

  I replied, recalling Estira, who is now on his way to Lombardy.

  I can’t stop my father’s outbreak, but I can stop the death.

  I tried to calm my mixed mind like in muddy water.

  It was difficult for me to see my father get sick again, even though I already knew it and was predicted.

  But this time is different.

  It’s different from the past when I was helpless, unable to do anything, and only watched my father suffer.

  I am constantly talking and reading by myself, but I don’t think stress is the only one.

  "Your complexion is not good, Tia."

  Perez stepped up and said.

  "…… Are you okay?"

  I stepped back.

  Perez looked down at the room where I backed off and frowned.

  "Hmm."

  It seemed like he was worried about me for a while, then he rummaged in his pocket and took out something.

  "Chocolate Cookies?"1

  It was a thick cookie with a large chunk of chocolate embedded in it.

  "In difficult time…… Something that can help. All I know is this. "

  "Ah…… Okay, thank you."

  I accepted it once.

  It’s also quite heavy.

  When I just hold the Cookies, Perez looked at me.

  Do you want me to eat it?

  I slowly put the cookie in my mouth.

  I can see the anticipation on Perez’s face.

  When I put a little bit in my mouth and bite it, the sweet taste spread in my mouth with a crunchy sound.

  "Delicious."

  It wasn’t what I said for Perez, it was really delicious.

  "…… Really?"

  "Humm…… Delicious."

  "Thank God."

  Perez smiled so deeply that dimples formed on his cheeks.

  I don’t know if this is true.

  Did you make this Perez?

  "……Humm."

  Are you good at cooking too!

  Not enough in appearance, study, and swordsmanship, even cooking!4

  Heaven, which gives one person different kinds of talents, it’s unfair.

  "Next time, I will make more." Said Perez, who blushed a little.

  "Next time? Well, yes." I answered without thinking.

  First of all, it was a delicious cookie.

  Perez’s smile grew even deeper at my words.

  After that, I forgot the cookie in my hand for a moment and looked at Perez’s face with an empty look.

  It was a handsome face though still expressionless, but with a shy smile, his beauty grew even stronger.

  Also, I wondered if his good looks would improve as he got older and really entered the phase of a young boy.

  I completely forgot, that at one point he appeared and took control of the empire in such a short time.

  "Tia?"

  When he saw me half silent, Perez tilted his head and called my name.

  "Humm!"

  The fine black hair that flickers with those small movements is another art!

  I patted his head with a proud heart that expects Perez’s brilliant future.

  "I just wandering it, Perez. Your beauty is a national treasure."

  "I?"

  "Of course, you shouldn’t hurt your face when you’re training. Your pretty face is everyone’s public good, no, not this. You have to cherish it anyway!"3

  "Is that so……"

  Perez touched his face once and said as if he wasn’t sure.

  Oh, he’s a young boy who doesn’t even know he’s handsome.

  "Tia, you’re prettier than me."

  "……Are you kidding me right now?"

  "No. I mean it."

  Unavoidably, Perez’s hand reached my cheek.2

  In an instant, the distance between us narrowed.

  Eyes redder than roses came out right in front of me and looked at me.

  What, what is this.

  I just stiffened.

  And he said in a quiet voice as if telling a secret story.

  "Pretty."

  "That, that……"

  I’m so embarrassed that I can’t even say anything.

  When I speechless and acted like a fool.

  Crumbling.

  A small, round garden tree shook a little.

  I thought it was one of the little animals living in the garden.

  "Who is it."

  Srinkkk.

  Perez drew a long sword and cut the garden tree at once.

  Tuk.

  The cut garden tree rolled to the side, and what could be seen behind it were three people sitting.

  "Well, what is this?"

  It was Belsach who saw the tree cut down screaming.

  "Uh……"

  And there was Astalliu and his seven-year-old brother Crene that were scared and unable to scream.1

  "Now, what if you cut us by mistake?"

  "So why were you listening to other people’s conversations like a rat?"

  I asked coldly.

  "Rat, rat you say?"

  Belsach shouted, then jumped from where he was crouching.

  Like Perez when he was 13 years old, Belsach height has grown a lot, but he has also grown up to be a boy whose grumpy face shows.

  "You, you, half-blood……!"

  "Shut up, Belsach."

  I immediately stopped him from trying to say another tedious swear.

  "Because I’m not in the mood to hear you swearing with ’half-blood’ right now? If you want to say things like that, go away."

  Firstly because of the problem with my father’s condition, I don’t know how I would explode with anger if something like Belsach existed.

  This is pure advice for the sake of Belsach.

  But I don’t know if he accepted it.

  Belsach gritted his teeth and widened his nostrils.

  "You don’t even have a fist!"

  "What!!!."

  I clicked my tongue.

  Then I asked Astalliu.

  "What the hell, why are you following a kid like that?"

  Astalliu opens his eyes round and sees Belsach’s eyes.

  "Even bringing your little brother!."

  Astalliu’s younger brother, Crene, is only seven years old and is smaller than his peers.

  later in life, he studied hard, and among cousins, he had the fewest misdeeds because he was the one who was not corrupted apart from myself.

  He inherited the blood of his mother’s family, the Ginefolk family, and looks younger thanks to his red hair and freckles full of faces.

  "Belsach is a rotten line, so stop and look for another line." [1]

  I sincerely advised.

  I don’t expect Astalliu to take my advice.

  But later he hit the ground, if he remembers this moment, ’I should have heard that at the time!’ He will regret it.

  "I can’t. Let us go, Perez."

  I hated seeing the faces of idiots, so I said to Perez and tried to get out of the garden.

  "Hey, half-blood! The Second Prince is here to see you, so he’s in high spirits!"

  I stopped my foot and looked back at Belsach.

  Maybe it’s Astana’s soul twin.

  It’s funny to brag about learning the basics of swordsmanship

  Normally, I could have ignored it roughly, but today I felt the tension quickly.

  I straightened my index finger, middle finger, ring finger, and three fingers.

  "First, I told you not to call me half-blood. Second, in front of Second Prince, how stupid are you going to be? And third, I have to deal with a guy like you, but I don’t want to. It’s troublesome like catching a fly."

  In the end, only the middle finger was raised.6

  "What, what?"

  Belsach struggled to understand what I was saying for a long time before failing and turning his face red.

  And this time, I changed the target.

  "Huh, you two half-blood really get along well with each other, right."

  "What did you say now?"

  Something cut off in my head.

  "Half……?"

  Not only are you sarcastic about me being half-blood, but you also brought Perez?

  I immediately took what I could see, as my instinct was telling me.

  "Who are you to badmouth him?"

  He is the best……

  "You, are you crazy?!"

  I don’t know why this rock is in such a well-preserved lawn, but it gripping my hand is like an art.

  When he saw the stone in my hand, there was a feeling of fear in Belsach’s face.

  Srinkkk.

  Eventually, Belsach stepped back and drew his sword.

  But I didn’t even blink.

  "How good are you, you call the other half or anything! If you lose by half, then are you crumbs!"

  "What?"

  "Oh my god…… Belsach!!!"

  "Hey, Astalliu! You pull it too!"

  Since it seemed that only himself was the one to be harmed by, Belsach shouted at Astalliu, who was next to him.

  Astalliu reluctantly pulled out his sword, and Crene, who saw it, put his hand on the wooden sword he was wearing.

  "Stop."

  I said, pointing my finger at Crene.

  "You stay still. If you don’t want to be hurt."

  "……"

  Crene finally burst into tears as if it was quite frightening to see me staring with a big stone in one hand.

  There was tension between me, Belsach, and Astalliu.

  They were just watching it and being wary of the stone in my hand flying away, and they are the target.

  "How simple."

  I laughed at the idiots when I rolled up one corner of my mouth.

  And said.

  "Cut it all off, Perez."

  At that moment, it seemed like the wind was blowing behind me, and Perez rushed.

  A blue aura flashed briefly.

  Took, Toouk.

  Just as Astana suffered, two swords were cut off in no time and fell next to the garden tree.

  With a sweet little metallic sound.

  As if nothing had happened, Perez looked at them with his usual careless eyes.

  "Oh, the rumors were true……"

  "Come on……"

  "They’re my cousins."……"

  Belsach and Astalliu were literally out of their minds.

  "That guys are my cousins……"

  The name Lombardy is a waste.

  I looked at the pathetic figure for a moment and then grabbed Perez’s hand.

  "Come on, Perez. If we stay together any longer, we’ll stupid too."

  "…… Huh"

  Now Perez, who is much bigger than me, was gently dragged like a big puppy.

  Perez looking at his hand didn’t know that his face turned red.

  We don’t even know how faintly the remaining three people looked at us as we pulled away.

  "Cool……"

  I could only hear Crene’s dreamy little voice in my ears.8

  * * *

  A strange carriage entered the Lombardy mansion.

  As if running a long way, both the horse and the coachman were very tired.

  The carriage headed straight to the annex, not the main gate of Lombardy.

  It looks like there is a designated destination.

  Quietly, the door of the carriage standing in front of the mansion’s annex opened.

  She was an impressive woman with a gentle impression and calm eyes.

  "Who……"

  Likewise, the woman, who was sighing as if exhausted, pulled the bag she had cherished during the journey alone from the carriage.

  At that time, the door of the annex opened.

  Inside, a girl and a pair of strange men and women followed suit.

  Klack, klack.

  The girl approached her with the sound of the heels come from her luxurious leather shoes and smiled brightly at the woman.

  "I have waited for you, Estira."8

  ______________________________________________

  [1] ’Line’ - You know the ’line’ in Korean is meant as a group, or people you follow.