Ch.109Befitting a Praester (2)

Unlike the leisurely night, the morning for the Praester soldiers was rough and fast.

Seeing that I had improved, Lawrence ordered his soldiers to increase their pace, and they all obeyed without question.

Though the carriage rattled and shook, it wasn’t my body that grew uncomfortable—it was my mind.

I still didn’t know exactly what had happened to the twins.

Whether they were worried about my condition, or if it was something too difficult to speak about… or perhaps just a scheme. Lawrence never told me what had happened to the twins.

Since I was heading back to the territory anyway, I didn’t press the issue. I would see for myself when I arrived.

Perhaps there was an inner fear. Maybe I wasn’t ready to accept some shocking truth.

Sometimes when my worry for them deepened, I found it hard to breathe and my chest tightened.

I hoped the situation had only deteriorated within the range I could predict.

I hoped that simply letting them know I was alive would solve everything.

And once more, I hoped I could muster the strength to leave my siblings’ side again.

As the carriage sped along, I made various prayers while gazing steadily at my homeland, visible as a tiny dot in the distance.

****

-Buuuuuuuu… Buuuuuuuu…

Lawrence’s attendant blew the Praester trumpet while his cape fluttered atop his horse.

People and merchants entering the territory all made way, and the gatekeepers opened the castle gates wide.

We rushed into the castle without hesitation.

Many people raised their voices upon seeing Lord Lawrence’s return, and the path continued to clear before us.

My heart was now beating rapidly.

As if I were a horse myself, my fingertips tingled and my lips grew dry.

I couldn’t understand why my fear grew stronger the closer we got, even more than when I first heard the news. Perhaps it was because the reality was sinking in.

“….Huff.”

I took a deep breath and squared my shoulders. First, I should let them know that I’m healthy.

As we roughly entered the small plaza in front of the main gate, numerous Praester servants rushed toward us.

From the carriage, I could hear Helen calling Lawrence’s name.

“Lord Lawrence! Do… do you have any news? Did you find the perpetrator—”

As the carriage stopped, I hurriedly got out, careful not to strain my body.

At my appearance, a great commotion began.

“Lord Caden!!”

“Ah..! Ah…! It’s really Lord Caden..!”

“You’re alive!”

Their reaction was similar to when I encountered the Praester soldiers. They shouted, covered their mouths, and expressed shock.

Perhaps because I had started to recover, or because I was now out of danger, putting weight on my legs felt burdensome.

Limping slightly, I approached Helen.

Judy slipped under my arm and supported me.

“….Thank you.”

“….It’s nothing.”

Helen stood before me with her mouth open. Her eyes wandered, and her breathing was irregular.

I approached her and spoke.

“….Helen.”

“Ca… Caden, sir..”

A tear rolled down from her eye.

“…Lord Caden..”

“……”

“…..Why did you come back only now…”

There was much meaning in those words. The situation… seemed heavier than I thought. Beyond what I could predict.

I could understand her tears. With the twins and grandmother having problems, Helen must have struggled to hold things together. Though the head butler Tein was also there… in reality, all the servants would have looked to Helen for orders, which must have been a burden.

“…..Helen. You did well.”

“Lord Caden. I’m so glad you’re alive.”

“……I’ll go see grandmother first.”

I declared.

Helen nodded.

As I entered the mansion, I caught the familiar air. The scent of home. Everything was familiar, but… if there was one difference.

Asena and Kirsy hadn’t appeared.

They should have come out after hearing the commotion outside, but they were nowhere to be seen.

I grew increasingly anxious. It seemed I should quickly pay my respects to grandmother and then go see my siblings.

“Caden!!”

At that moment, grandmother’s voice echoed.

She appeared on the second floor balcony, at the top of the stairs, surrounded by numerous servants.

“Ah!! Caden!!”

She hurriedly came down the stairs.

“Ri-Riana, ma’am!”

The servants tried to assist her, but grandmother was faster.

She was suddenly standing before me, holding my cheeks.

After staring at me with teary eyes for a while, she began scolding me, hitting my arm.

“Caden, you ungrateful child…! H-how could you!”

This was the most emotional I had ever seen grandmother.

Tein and Helen tried to stop her from beside me, but she wouldn’t stop.

“Do you know how afraid I was! I thought I had lost another child!”

“Riana, ma’am…! It wasn’t Lord Caden’s fault…!”

“Yes, Riana, ma’am…! Please calm down..! Lord Caden isn’t in normal physical condition!”

Helen and Tein said.

“Ah…! Caden…! This old woman begs you…! Please stop doing such things…! Don’t sacrifice yourself dangerously anymore…! Didn’t I tell you not to leave the family…! Why didn’t you listen to me then, breaking this old woman’s heart…! I really… thought you were dead…!”

Grandmother collapsed after hitting me, exhausted by her own actions. She seemed to have been in shock for days, looking thinner and weaker.

Tein and Helen supported her from both sides.

I knelt on one knee and looked up at her. Judy moved away from me at that point.

Holding her right hand with both of mine, I spoke.

“……Grandmother.. you were worried. I’m sorry. But I’m fine now..”

“Oh my… oh my…”

“I’m fine… so please put your mind at ease and take care of your health. You’ve lost weight…”

She embraced me as I knelt.

“…Thank goodness… truly thank goodness…”

After releasing her emotions, grandmother quickly regained her composure.

After stroking me for a long time, she wiped her tears, stood straight, and shifted her gaze to Judy who was behind me.

“….Judy Ice…. is that right?”

“….Yes. I am Judy Ice… Caden’s former fiancée.”

“Why are you here?”

There was no malice in grandmother’s question. She seemed to have dispelled all negative energy upon meeting me.

It was simply her genuine question.

Judy glanced at me briefly, then spoke firmly.

“…..I am here because I saved Caden.”

“What?”

Judy isn’t normally the type to speak of her own accomplishments. As straightforward as she is sharp with others, she typically doesn’t talk about herself.

Before, when I received an award from the Academy for rescuing commoner children, Judy insisted until the end that she had done nothing.

So for her to bring this up without fearing grandmother… it meant she had an intention.

It wasn’t hard for me to guess what it was.

Judy was trying to leave a good impression on grandmother.

“…I found Caden. I helped him escape when he was being pursued. Naturally, I followed him here.”

Grandmother immediately responded to those words.

Without answering, she walked toward Judy.

Judy visibly tensed but didn’t avert her eyes.

Grandmother embraced her tightly.

“…..Thank you… thank you…”

Judy nodded slightly in that position, then looked at me again.

It wasn’t difficult to notice the desire for me in her eyes.

*****

Though the conversation wasn’t over, I soon wrapped things up and moved on.

I had been concerned about something all along but tried not to show it.

Asena and Kirsy… were nowhere to be seen.

I hoped they were simply angry with me.

I hoped Asena was keeping her word when she said she never wanted to see my face again.

I hoped I would hear through a servant that she was refusing to see me, that she didn’t want to look at my face.

If that were the case, I would know they were healthy, I could let them know I was alive, and it wouldn’t be too difficult for me to leave them again.

“…..This way.”

In the corridor leading to Asena and Kirsy’s room, Helen guided me in a different direction.

“……This way?”

“Follow me, Lord Caden.”

The place we arrived at after following Helen with questions in mind was… my room.

Other servants standing in front of it were surprised in their own ways when they saw my face.

But I was only curious why Helen had led me to my room.

Would the twins come if I waited in the room?

“….Lord Caden, please don’t be shocked.”

“What?”

At Helen’s signal, my room door opened.

The first change I noticed was in the room itself.

But before I could pay attention to that, the second change I noticed was… two women lying on my bed.

I forgot to breathe.

It felt like I had gone back ten years.

When I first met the twins.

They were dying, refusing food in their grief over losing their parents.

I moved forward in a daze.

The more I did, the more choked up I became, and reality seemed to slip away.

The shocking scene before my eyes only became more vivid.

Looking at them like this, they were just two beautiful women asleep.

But I knew that wasn’t the truth.

Standing by the bedside now, I looked down at them.

For the first time in a long time, I called their names.

“…..Asena.”

Despite my call, Asena, who used to wake with a small smile when I called her name, didn’t move at all.

“……Kirsy.”

Kirsy also didn’t respond.

Helen approached and spoke from behind me.

“…..Lady Asena has been collapsed for three days. Lady Kirsy… has been going in and out of consciousness… Since hearing the news of your death, neither of them has eaten anything at all…”

Helen’s explanation seemed muffled, not properly reaching me.

All that was clear to me was the faint sound of my siblings’ breathing.

I never thought I would see this sight again as adults, the same one I had witnessed when they were children.

How much must they have missed me? How shocking must the news of my death have been?

For the strong Asena and the lively Kirsy to collapse like this.

Why, even in this collapsed state, were they lying on my bed? Did they want to feel my warmth through this bed?

It was as if their lives were tied to mine. If I died, did they intend to follow?

I couldn’t understand how they could love me this much.

Seeing them like this, the walls I had built toward them crumbled too easily.

“Asena…. wake up. Your brother is here.”

I called her name, placing my hand on her cheek.

“….I’m not dead. I’m not dead, so…”

Gritting my teeth, I next stroked Kirsy’s cheek.

Stroking Kirsy’s silver hair as well, I called to her.

“….Kirsy, you need to wake up… it’s still daytime… I told you before… you shouldn’t sleep so early…”

A heavy silence descended.

No one spoke. I finally lost strength and knelt before them.

With my head resting on the bed, I couldn’t move for a long time.

-Rustle.

At that moment, I raised my head at the sound from the bed.

Kirsy was twitching and opening her eyes.

“Ki..Kirsy. Yes, try to come to your senses…”

“……”

Kirsy seemed so weakened that even with her eyes open, she couldn’t see me.

At that sight, I bit my lip and stroked her cheek again, calling her name.

“Kirsy…. your brother is here.”

She startled at my touch on her cheek.

After blinking three or four times, the color returned to her eyes.

Her pupils finally found me and began to tremble continuously.

“……..Uh…”

“….Kirsy… I said come to your senses…”

“Ah…. Ahhh….!!!”

She forcibly raised her weakened body and embraced my neck tightly. Her broken sobs began to fill the space.

As if she couldn’t believe it, she felt all over me, then pulled away to check my face, then embraced me again while crying. Her loud sobs didn’t stop throughout.

“Kirsy…. this is too much…”

Even as I held Kirsy in my arms, I began to feel the same anger as grandmother.

“Just because I disappeared…! To act like this…! To become this weak, what are you thinking…!”

But Kirsy seemed in no state to listen to me.

“Ahhh..!”

She could only cry, unable to speak.

The more I looked at her, the more frustrated I became, and finally I pulled her away and scolded her.

“Is this how I taught you both..? What are you two doing…! Acting like this-“

“Ah…uh….ah…”

Suddenly, a strange feeling enveloped me. Kirsy seemed to want to speak, grabbing her throat with a desperate expression.

It was as if she had so much to say to me but couldn’t.

“……..Ki…rsy..?”

“Uuh…..auh….”

It was like a baby babbling.

Tears flowed from her eyes once more.

She shook her head in frustration, hitting her mouth and throat with her small fists.

I grabbed her wrists to prevent her from hitting herself.

She looked up at me with a desperate expression and cried out. The frustration of not being able to speak was conveyed.

“Ah!! Uuh..! Heuik…! Ahuik..! Aah..!”

Deeply shocked by this, I slowly looked at Helen.

All the servants behind her wore sympathetic expressions, but none seemed surprised.

“….Helen..”

She spoke with difficulty.

“…. After hearing the news of your death…. from the shock… she developed aphasia…”

Kirsy threw herself into my arms.

She wrapped her arms around my neck and buried her eyes against it.

Climbing onto my lap, she embraced me tightly.

“…Aah…! Auh…!”

Kirsy’s tears wouldn’t stop.

She sobbed loudly against my chest.