Ch.236236. A Wish in the Snowy Winter (10)

After the carriage door suddenly closed, I simply sat there, having laid bare all my thoughts.

It was only natural that my eyes were drawn to her. I was carefully arranging the hair of my junior who had succumbed to sleep, making sure it wouldn’t disturb her slumber.

One strand at a time.

As I was gently moving Renias’s hair aside while she slept peacefully, the carriage, as if playing a trick on me, arrived at the duke’s residence all too soon.

‘Surely the coachman must have adjusted the speed to ensure the master’s sleep wouldn’t be disturbed.’

I was still rustling through her hair when we arrived in the blink of an eye.

Junon found it strange how quickly time had passed.

But contrary to his perception, a considerable amount of time had actually elapsed.

Offering his leg as a pillow instead of a soft cushion, and watching Renias smile brightly with a “hehe” whenever he stroked her head as he was doing now—time had simply felt short because of these moments.

‘Well, at least we arrived safely.’

Though he wasn’t sure why she had brought him in the carriage, it was enough that Renias had arrived on time.

However, waking her up…

“Snore…”

That wouldn’t be right, would it?

Rather than deliberately waking a child sleeping so soundly, it would be better to move her while she slept.

‘That’s it for today, Renias.’

It wouldn’t be cold anymore, and the sun had set, making it too late to go out. With her energy completely drained and fallen into deep sleep, she couldn’t play anymore anyway.

Though she had clung to him throughout the parade period, begging him to play with her, they couldn’t stay together forever.

Only by ending today could tomorrow come.

‘Did you enjoy today?’

Junon asked silently as he gently lifted Renias’s body.

“Mmm…”

As if answering, Renias squirmed and burrowed deeper into his embrace.

Seeing her smile, she must have enjoyed it, right? Yes, I hope she did.

Junon secretly smiled as he confirmed the happy expression on Renias’s face as she drifted into dreamland.

“I had fun too.”

Junon whispered as he stepped out of the carriage, carrying Renias who was nestled against his chest, sleeping soundly.

The carriage door opened carefully, and Ronelion was waiting outside.

For him too, the day that had felt so brief was ending, and the time to prepare for tomorrow had arrived.

“Thank you for entertaining my childish Reni, brother.”

“It was no trouble at all. I had fun playing with her.”

Ronelion laughed casually at those words, “Haha, is that so.”

“Instead of just laughing, you should take care of your sister. Here.”

“Oh, I think you misunderstand, brother.”

“Hmm?”

“I didn’t come to pick up Reni. And I have no intention of taking her to her room right now.”

What is he saying?

Junon tilted his head in confusion at Ronelion’s incomprehensible words.

Looking around, he noticed that none of the employees had come out. One would expect someone to greet the young lady of the Lantana duchy upon her arrival, but no one came.

Junon’s gaze returned to Ronelion.

“Have you already figured it out?”

“Did you deliberately set this up?”

“Yes. Right now, you’re the only one who can move Renias. Please, let me guide you.”

Though he couldn’t understand what was going on, Ronelion simply showed him the way.

***

Once again, he noticed the servants taking turns guarding the mansion.

By now, someone should have come to take Renias. Why did they want me to take her personally?

“Brother, it’s here.”

“…”

“What are you doing? Why aren’t you coming in?”

“This… is this Renias’s room?”

“Yes, it is.”

Faced with this absurd situation, Junon felt his legs freeze.

Normally, families don’t guide unrelated men directly to their younger sister’s room, do they?

“To avoid any misunderstanding, let me explain that even if I were to take Renias now, it would take at least 30 more minutes to reach this point.”

“30 minutes…? It seems like it would take no more than 5 minutes to walk here.”

“That’s not the issue. Actually… the way Reni responds to you is quite exceptional. Ah.”

Ronelion sighed briefly as if he had misspoken, then said,

“I apologize. Please pretend you didn’t hear that.”

He slightly bowed his head in apology, trying to cover up what he had said.

‘Renias’s response to me is exceptional, huh.’

It would be a lie to say it didn’t pique his interest at all. But Renias always treated him the same way she treated others.

That statement was probably just Ronelion’s subjective opinion. Better not to read too much into it.

“Just make sure to explain it well to Renias. Tell her I came in because she was asleep and there was no other choice.”

“Yes… well…”

Ronelion mumbled something afterward, but Junon couldn’t hear it clearly.

First, he pulled back the blanket, then carefully sat Renias, who was on his back, down and slowly extended his arms to lay her on the bed.

And just as he was about to withdraw his hand to cover her with the blanket again.

“Mmm…”

Renias squirmed, pushed away the blanket, and firmly grabbed his hand.

‘That sleeping habit again.’

He knew about this from his experience with Professor Dalia.

If he tried to pull his arm away now, Renias would grip even tighter, making it impossible to escape.

“Ronelion, is there anything here I can give Renias to hold?”

“…”

“Ronelion?”

“Huh? Oh… I’m sorry. I was lost in thought…”

“That can happen. Let me ask again—Renias has bad sleeping habits because she often has nightmares, right? I think she needs something to hold instead of my hand.”

Professor Dalia had brought a doll at that time to help free my arm from the sofa.

Being her family, and a twin at that, he should know where things are. So I hoped he would bring something.

“…It’s better if you just hold her hand.”

“Hold her hand?”

“Yes. She’ll need to fall into a deeper sleep before she can hold something in her arms. Deep enough that she can’t tell the difference between your hand and a doll.”

“Hmm… then I’ll have to wait a bit. I’ll be going to bed late tonight.”

Seeing her expression relax as he held her hand, it seemed Ronelion wasn’t wrong. Of course, he wouldn’t be.

“You don’t need to leave. We’ve already prepared a guest room.”

“…Is this related to why you brought her directly from the carriage?”

“That’s right. I apologize for the inconvenience, but I’d like to talk with you for a while.”

“Talk, huh.”

Next to Renias’s bedroom where she had begun to sleep, Ronelion brought a chair and pushed it toward me.

So he brought me here because he had something to say from the beginning.

Moreover, if he’s confident that Renias won’t wake up, then it’s just the two of us in this room.

The fact that he’s offering a chair suggests he has quite a lot to say.

“Go ahead.”

Let’s hear what he wants to talk about.

Then Ronelion asked quite directly.

“Why are you trying to drop out of the academy, brother?”

***

Dropping out of the academy.

It was something I had been planning for a long time.

I’m in my third year now, and next year will be my fourth, but my circumstances probably won’t change much.

So I had paid all the hospital bills, covered the tuition, and had been quietly getting rid of my belongings by passing them on to other students, but few people were perceptive enough to interpret this as a signal of my intention to leave the academy.

‘Who told him about this?’

Who could be around Ronelion?

I had heard that he was teaching Senia, but even she probably doesn’t know about this. Not unless she had seen it directly.

Then it must be…

“Was it Professor Muniher?”

With the current absence of Grand Duke Ardelion, Professor Muniher, who had taken over academic affairs, is the only one who comes to mind.

There’s no other way anyone could have obtained this information.

Ronelion didn’t deny it.

“From what I’ve seen, your skills are among the best at the academy. Even if they brought in all the elites from a reputable guild, they would struggle against you. This isn’t flattery.”

“I appreciate the praise for my abilities, but it’s not about strength.”

“Then is it because some residents blamed you? That’s no longer the case. After your achievements in the subjugation battle, who would dare criticize you?”

“I didn’t act seeking recognition. I just know my own inadequacies.”

“Inadequacies? Is it because you couldn’t save Senior Adel? The residents who threw stones at you turned out to be people bribed by nobles—that’s what Uncle Muniher said. So you can hold your head high now!”

Ronelion raised his voice in frustration, despite Renias sleeping right beside them.

Though she didn’t suddenly wake up and sit bolt upright, if she did, I wouldn’t be able to escape her questioning.

It would be better to resolve some of his doubts before that happens.

“I’m not trying to drop out for the reasons you mentioned.”

“Then why?”

“I can’t tell you that far. However…”

I wasn’t sure whether I should say this or not.

“Nothing is decided yet. That’s all I want to say for now.”

Objectively speaking, dropping out would be the right choice a hundred times over.

Because too many eyes are on me now.

People recognize me just walking around, making it difficult to move alone.

I’m grateful that Renias spread rumors to clear up misunderstandings, but the current praise, contrary to past evaluations, holds me back. That’s the reason.

But his next words rekindled my cooling thoughts.

“If you drop out, Renias will suffer greatly.”

“…What?”

“You are Reni’s only sanctuary. If that disappears, she will completely fall apart this time.”

For some reason, I felt my mouth go dry.