A Guest Who Came in the Middle of the Night (1)

Dalgeurak, only the sound of teacups being moved echoes quietly without any conversation.

Watching the two people who were so silent it was hard to believe they were mother and son, Sylvia fidgeted anxiously.

She had heard that Kyle had been quite oppressed by the family since he was young.

That he found his mother, Roxanne, as uncomfortable as his father, Dver.

No, perhaps the person he found more uncomfortable than his father was his mother.

Yet, he followed her when she said she had to meet Roxanne, making her wonder what had suddenly gotten into him.

She had secretly hoped that they might reconcile and become closer, but unfortunately, that didn’t seem to be the case.

“Speaking of which, Kyle, when did you become friends with Duke Drake?”

“When I went to the duchy.”

“You making friends is quite something. If you have any other close friends, introduce them to me sometime.”

“Yes.”

Even the occasional conversation was only Roxanne opening her mouth first, unable to bear the silence, and Kyle replying curtly.

Moreover, most of his answers were monosyllabic or extremely stiff.

Anyone watching might think it was a conversation between a lord and his subject, not a mother and son.

“Sylvia-yang, is there anything uncomfortable about living in a foreign land?”

“Yes? Ah, yes…. Mother-nim. Everyone takes such good care of me, so I’m doing well.”

In the midst of all this, when the question suddenly turned to her, Sylvia was momentarily flustered but quickly nodded calmly and replied with a smile.

In fact, Sylvia also found Roxanne to be somewhat uncomfortable.

She had an eye for people, so she could easily guess whether the other person genuinely cared for her or was just pretending to.

And she dared to guess that Roxanne didn’t seem to treat her with genuine human kindness.

She had told her to call her “Mother-nim,” but Roxanne herself kept a certain distance from Sylvia.

‘Is it because I inherited the position of head of the family?’

She didn’t want to think so, but she cautiously guessed that it might be because she, who had been nothing more than a burden to the family until recently, had suddenly risen to the position of head of the family.

Although the Eleanor family had taken a hit from this incident, it was still standing strong.

‘She must think that I’m a suitable candidate as a partner for her son.’

‘Still so snobbish.’

Meanwhile, Kyle was also aware of this, so he couldn’t change his gaze towards Roxanne to a friendly one.

In Dver’s case, he had expressed his honest feelings before, and he had begun to have human kindness towards Sylvia after meeting her and getting to know her personality.

In Roxanne’s case, she probably only liked the fact that Sylvia Eleanor was the head of the Eleanor family, not the woman herself.

‘Come to think of it, when I first brought Sylvia here, only Father was friendly to her.’

That’s right.

Looking back, from the day Sylvia first visited the Freeg Castle until she left, it was Dver, not Roxanne, who kept talking to her and treating her kindly.

On the contrary, Roxanne never spoke to Sylvia even at meals they had together, and instead, she bluntly said, ‘When are you planning to return to the castle?’ indirectly telling her to leave.

And yet, now that she has returned as the head of the family instead of a witch, she changes her attitude like flipping her hand.

Kyle couldn’t help but feel disgusted by that.

“Mother-nim, if you didn’t call me here for any urgent business, may I take Sylvia with me?”

“K, Kyle…!”

Therefore, not wanting to keep Sylvia in a place like this any longer, he asked Roxanne a question that might be considered somewhat rude.

Sylvia, who had been watching quietly from the side, was utterly bewildered by what he said.

He seemed to be polite on the surface, but in reality, wasn’t he saying, ‘It seems like a waste of time to be here, so I’ll be on my way’?

“…Alright, go ahead. I’m sorry for holding you up when you’re busy.”

But what was even more bewildering was Roxanne’s attitude.

She nodded with a somewhat bitter expression and allowed them to leave, and Kyle took Sylvia and left the room without looking back.

“K, Kyle…! Just a moment. It’s too impolite to Mother-nim to just leave like this.”

After walking down the hallway for a while, Sylvia opened her mouth to dissuade Kyle, who was holding her wrist roughly.

Of course, she wasn’t entirely comfortable in that place either, but even so, it wasn’t right to act like this.

If he had at least said that he had other urgent business and left after promising to meet again next time, they wouldn’t have had to upset each other.

“I’m sorry.”

Kyle readily apologized.

From the start, he had guessed that Sylvia, with her polite personality, wouldn’t take kindly to this kind of behavior.

Nevertheless, the reason he impulsively did this was solely because of his personal desire not to keep Sylvia in that space any longer.

Of course, Kyle himself didn’t want to face Roxanne’s face for too long either.

“I don’t want an apology. I just want to hear an explanation of why you did that.”

“……”

Looking up at Kyle, Sylvia carefully took his hand again, which he was trying to pull away, and opened her mouth with a calm gaze.

From the start, she wasn’t very angry.

She just wanted to ask why he had gone so far, that was all.

In response, Kyle remained silent for a long time before parting his lips heavily.

“…I was just uncomfortable.”

“What do you mean?”

“Mother-nim’s actions of trying to be friendly to you, who she had been looking at unfavorably until now, just because you became the head of the family.”

“……”

And that answer made Sylvia feel many emotions.

Firstly, it made her realize that Kyle still had a very negative view of his mother, Roxanne, which made her feel pity and bitterness.

Secondly, it made her realize that he still cared for her, even though he had been cold to her in his words and actions, which made her feel gratitude and affection.

Thirdly, it made her feel a sense of irony, wondering why he had been so cold to her until now if he cherished her so much.

Just yesterday, she had gone to see him after dinner, hoping to have a brief conversation, but he had brushed past her, saying he had other business.

Suddenly, this morning, he came to her room first, trying to spend time with her, and showed her this side of himself that thought of her first, which was utterly confusing.

“…Kyle is petty.”

“What do you mean?”

In a situation where it seemed like only the content of their conversation had changed from the conversation a little while ago, Sylvia unintentionally burst into laughter and added.

“The fact that you pushed me away so much, and now you’re trying to coax me like this.”

“I didn’t mean it that way…”

“Hmph, do you mean you said it without knowing? That’s even more malicious.”

She deliberately puffed out her cheeks, acting as if she were sulking to lighten the mood, but when she saw his bewildered expression, the muscles around her mouth relaxed, and even that act didn’t last long.

“…Thank you, Kyle. But please don’t do that in the future. You never know. Maybe you and I just haven’t tried to learn more about Mother-nim.”

“It sounds like you’re saying that there will be a day when we understand each other.”

“I can’t say for sure, but I don’t think there’s no possibility.”

With a smile, Sylvia turned around.

Of course, in her case, she had Creed as a negative example, so she couldn’t say for sure, but she wanted to believe that there would be hope for Kyle at least.

There was no particular basis for it.

She just thought that it would be a more beautiful ending, and she hoped it would be so.

Like the miracle that had come to her.

＊＊＊

In the eyes of the Dawn, there are beings called Observers.

They are tasked with constantly monitoring dangerous individuals and reporting to the higher-ups, according to orders from above, anytime, anywhere.

However, it would be a mistake to think that their role is simply espionage.

If the opportunity arises, they are also selected combat personnel who can be tasked with immediately eliminating the dangerous individuals under their own judgment.

In other words, they are in charge of assassination in addition to espionage.

– The Evil Eye has moved. I will take the opportunity to eliminate and retrieve it.

– Don’t act rashly yet. There is a barrier around it.

– Kyle Lyaird, it seems to be that man’s doing. At this rate, it will be difficult to even approach the surroundings carelessly.

– If there is a barrier, we just need to squeeze through it. A moment is enough.

And the more of them there are, the more you can tell how closely the higher-ups are observing the person.

Among them, the number of Observers assigned to the woman named Sylvia, or rather, to her and the man named Kyle Lyaird, was a total of eight.

This means that eight of the forces, each of whom is known to be able to kill a 4th Circle mage, are putting all their efforts into catching these two people.

– He’s coming out with someone. Is that Roxanne Lyaird?

– What’s going on at this late hour?

– It’s none of our business. If they come out to the planned location, eliminate them immediately. Everyone, prepare.

– Understood.

As soon as the order from the person who seemed to be the leader was given, the eight people simultaneously took out a small, silver pill-like object from their back pockets and swallowed it without hesitation.

This is a medicine commonly called Mahondan, which has the effect of temporarily suppressing the magic power contained in the body as much as possible.

Originally, it was a type of magic anesthetic used to administer to those whose magic power was running wild due to excessive use of magic or who were experiencing high fever, but their method of use was different.

Barriers are designed to distinguish between inanimate and living things, and detect intruders entering and exiting through the movement of magic power contained in their bodies.

In other words, by taking this, they can move without being detected by the barrier for a certain period of time.

As a trade-off, they will not be able to use magic, but these were elites who had also received thorough physical training for that.

– Divide into 4 people just in case. Unit 2, watch the situation with me.

– Yes.

– Go.

Swaeaeak-!

Soon after the leader’s order was given, the four Observers who had penetrated the barrier and infiltrated inside in an instant lightly ignored the soldiers on guard duty and rushed straight to the two women.