Episode 22 – Siblings

*

The day after the funeral,

Mella was in her garden, picking salvia flowers again today.

,Oh my,”

She was absentmindedly picking flowers when she looked at the salvia flowers filling her hands and was startled.

She usually only picked as much as she could eat, but she was lost in thought for a moment and ended up picking this much.

“Oh my, when am I ever going to eat all this? Where is my mind at?”

“You can eat them with me.”

She looked up at the voice and saw a young man standing there.

Mella smiled brightly and greeted him.

“Welcome, Father.”

“…Mother, don’t call your son ‘Father’.”

“Oh my, if I don’t call the Father ‘Father’, what should I call him?”

“And stop using formal speech, you know I get embarrassed.”

“Our Father is so diligent in his studies and prayers, why is he so shy?”

“What child wouldn’t be embarrassed to hear their parents use formal speech?”

The Father walked with Mella through the flower garden and into the gazebo.

He knew that this was Mella’s personal space, so the only chair was hers. He had brought a light folding chair in one hand in advance.

He unfolded the chair and placed it opposite Mella, sitting down and continuing.

“Besides, it’s even more so if that mother is a former high-ranking clergy member, much higher than me.”

“Hehe, Father, I’ve already been laicized.”

“It’s impossible to return as a Saintess, but if you wish, Mother, the Pope said he could at least give you the position of Bishop of the Capital.”

“It might be our Father’s position someday, how can a layperson like me covet it?”

Mella saw her son was embarrassed, so she exaggerated her politeness, treating him with even more respect.

The son shuddered and glared at her.

“Are you going to keep doing that?”

“Hehehe, alright! I won’t do it anymore, stop glaring at me. You’ll make a hole in your mom’s face, Father.”

“If you’re going to call your son by his title, why did you even give him a name? You told me to live up to this name so I wouldn’t be ashamed of it.”

“I did.”

Mella stroked her son’s cheek and smiled contentedly.

“Really, thank you for growing up to be someone who isn’t ashamed of your name, Edward.”

“…Ugh, don’t call me so affectionately, Mother.”

“Oops, did I?”

“Of course, everyone knows what kind of relationship you had with the noble hero who even has a statue in the plaza, but calling my name in such an affectionate voice is rude to me and Father.”

Mella was stunned as if she had been hit hard by those words.

Like his mother, who had an unexpectedly playful wit, he was skilled at cornering people.

Mella’s wit came from Edward’s influence, so she thought her son’s wit resembled the original owner of that name.

Mella chuckled and glared at him playfully, saying.

“Robin has three wives, and quite a few other women he’s been with – Father.”

“Uh, I didn’t particularly want to hear about Father’s sex life.”

“Hehe, really? Aren’t you at an age to be interested in such things?”

“Mother, I think you’ve completely forgotten your duties as a clergy member.”

Mella enjoyed the conversation with her son, who didn’t back down.

Edward usually studied at the Vatican and wasn’t in this city.

She always enjoyed talking to her son and couldn’t wait for him to return.

Her son, who had taken the time to attend the family funeral, received a two-week vacation from the Vatican.

However, since he had to return to the Vatican, which was so far away, without being late, even if he delayed as much as possible, he only had about ten days left to talk with his son.

Mella hoped the conversation would last a little longer, so she poured tea into a teacup and handed it to her son, saying.

“You never know, how do you know you won’t fall in love with someone like me?”

“I don’t think I’d want to marry someone while giving up a position as high as a Saintess.”

“Oh, you never know, Edward.”

“Don’t you regret it, Mother?”

“You mean quitting being a Saintess?”

“Yes, if you hadn’t met Father, you’d be…”

“If that were the case, I would have died.”

“Huh,”

Edward was speechless and sipped his tea.

Mella picked up a salvia petal from the pile on the desk and bit the back of it with her lips, tasting the honey.

Salvia flowers that Mella tastes every day.

Since Edward was young, Mella liked to suck on those flowers.

Edward followed Mella, picked up a salvia flower from the table, bit it with his lips, and sucked in the honey.

It tasted the same as when he was young.

It was definitely sweet, but there were plenty of things that were more delicious and sweeter in life.

Rather, to Edward, who was used to various stimulating tastes, it felt like bland sugar water.

However, Mella always smiled happily when she tasted the salvia flowers.

But he also remembers his father, Robin, looking at that sight with displeasure.

Mella continued slowly.

“And, I didn’t quit being a Saintess to marry Robin. I was originally planning to quit being a Saintess.”

“Because of Edward-nim?”

“Hehe, would you be uncomfortable with your mom’s first love story?”

“It’s not that I’m uncomfortable with Mother’s first love, it’s that I’m uncomfortable because we have the same name-“

Mella laughed at those words, even shedding a few tears.

The two laughed and chatted for over an hour.

A gentle breeze stroked Mella’s hair.

Mella, feeling refreshed thanks to her son, tidied her hair that had been ruffled by the wind and drank the remaining tea.

When Mella emptied her teacup, Edward refilled it and asked softly.

“Do you feel any better?”

Mella was startled.

She thought she hadn’t shown it,

Mella realized that her son had noticed her troubled mind and cheered her up by sharing pleasant stories, and she smiled contentedly.

“Hehe, our son must be popular with women, too bad.”

“…It seems the afterglow of yesterday’s funeral hasn’t left you yet.”

“No, that’s not it. We must pray for the two who went to the side of the Goddess, we mustn’t regret it.”

“Huh, you’re right, you’re a Saintess at times like this.”

“Hehe”

Mella, making a V-shape with her fingers next to her cheek and smiling, was so cute that she didn’t look like a woman in her forties.

Edward looked at his mother and asked.

“Then, is it because of something that happened with the Salvia Baron?”

“…”

Mella was startled by those words.

She didn’t realize it herself, but her son seemed to be right.

For some reason, the man she saw at the funeral yesterday kept bothering her.

The Salvia Baron, who seemed much younger than herself, but somehow knew old-fashioned manners.

He was rescued from a shipwreck in this country’s port city, and he wears a mask to hide the scars on his face from an accident in his childhood, but for someone with such a past, he was a surprisingly cheerful person.

At the same time, he said his body was weak.

She thought she had caught a glimpse of his bare face when he took off his mask and was in pain, and that appearance was somehow very familiar.

She only saw his profile slightly from behind, and didn’t get a good look at his features, but she couldn’t shake the feeling that she had seen him somewhere before.

Besides, the feeling she felt when she saw him standing in the middle of the flower garden was even stranger.

A feeling of longing and nostalgia.

It was even a little overwhelming.

Mella wondered why she was feeling such emotions.

He was truly a man who looked good with red salvia flowers.

Is it a coincidence that his name is the Salvia Baron?

Mella couldn’t stop thinking about the Salvia Baron.

Edward looked at Mella, emptied his teacup, and got up from his seat.

“Why don’t you invite him to the mansion soon for a cup of tea? He’s such a grateful person, considering the funeral and the things with Daniel and Rose.”

“Yes, we need to properly thank him,”

Mella agreed with her son, concluding that her feelings were due to a sense of unease because she hadn’t shown him proper sincerity.

Edward folded his chair, picked it up, and greeted Mella.

“I’ll go up now, I’m supposed to have tea with ‘Tess’.”

Tess.

Mella’s daughter and Edward’s younger sister.

She wasn’t feeling well, so she couldn’t attend the funeral yesterday.

Edward had been a reliable older brother who took good care of his younger sister since he was young.

“Thank you always, Edward. Tess will think so too.”

“She can’t even come out of her room, so I need to talk to her a lot to change her mood.”

“Yes. But it seems like her condition has gotten worse lately, so don’t overdo it.”

“Don’t worry, Mother.”

Mella watched her son enter the mansion, recalling the conversation she had with him.

Edward.

I must have called that name so affectionately without realizing it.

…No, that must have been just her son trying to tease her.

Because I’ve never called my son like ‘him’ before.

I always called ‘him’ by a nickname.

“…Ed.”

It’s just shortening his name, but her voice became several times more affectionate than before.

*

Knock knock.

Edward knocked on his younger sister’s door, holding a tray with a tea set and desserts.

“Come in, Oppa.”

“Huh, that’s amazing no matter how many times I see it,”

Edward muttered as he opened the door.

A room filled with fresh air and warm sunlight coming through the wide-open window.

Thanks to the sunlight filling the room, Edward always felt that everything was fluffy whenever he entered this room.

On the neatly arranged bed next to the window, his younger sister ‘Tess’ was leaning against the headboard of the bed, covering her lower body with a cozy blanket.

“How do you always know who’s standing in front of the door without even looking?”

Tess slowly turned her head towards Edward and smiled weakly.

Even though she basks in the sun every day, her pale skin was as transparent as glass, symbolizing how weak she was.

Edward placed the tray on the bedside table next to the bed.

Tess looked at Edward and said.

“People like me have more sensitive senses.”

“…”

Tess was clearly looking at where Edward was standing, but she was talking while looking at his shoulder instead of his face.

Edward waved his hand in front of Tess’s face.

“You…”

“…Hehe”

“You, you can barely see now.”

“It’s okay. I knew this would happen.”

“Since when?”

“I haven’t been able to see anything since last week… That day, my mom was so sad, I was the one who couldn’t see, but I had a hard time comforting her, really.”

“Ah… Tess…”

Tess had a big accident when she was young.

Fortunately, she barely survived through a long period of treatment, but her body was completely ruined.

As a result of the accident, she couldn’t walk properly, her hair turned white due to the side effects of the strong medicine, and her eyesight deteriorated a lot.

To fix her body, she needed a miracle from a clergy member, not treatment.

But there was no clergy member anywhere who could use a miracle to fix her body.

Several doctors and priests told her that only her mother, when she was a Saintess, could fix her.

Edward became a clergy member to find a way to help his younger sister.

However, he didn’t know if the Goddess would bestow divine healing power comparable to that of a Saintess,

And there was no one among the Pope or other high-ranking priests who possessed that level of divine healing power.

“Mother said your body wasn’t feeling well…”

Edward couldn’t hide his pitiful expression.

Tess looked at Edward with a more dignified expression.

“It’s okay, I’m used to it now. Hurry up and feed me cake, Oppa.”

“…Okay, I got you a really expensive cake.”

“I really lucked out having you as my Oppa.”

“Ha, you know it?”

Tess opened her small mouth like a baby bird and closed her eyes.

“Ah-“

Sunlight shone into her mouth, and her soft, moist tongue sparkled.

Edward picked up a fork, cut a bite-sized piece of cake from the plate, and carefully put it into Tess’s mouth.

As the cream-filled cake landed on her tongue, she closed her mouth and mumbled.

“Hehe, this cake is worth the expensive price. It’s so delicious.”

“Really? I’m glad,”

“Oppa, more.”

Seeing Tess asking for cake in a completely wrong direction, Edward felt tears welling up.

He quickly rubbed his eyes with his sleeve and tried to cut the cake again with a fork, but it wasn’t easy because of his blurry vision.

Tess felt Edward’s silence and groped for him.

After a few misses, Tess’s fingers found Edward’s damp sleeve and climbed up his arm, reaching Edward’s head.

Tess stroked Edward’s hair and said.

“Really, how are Mom and Oppa going to live like this, being so fragile?”

“…Tess, how are you okay?”

She was so pitiful that his heart ached so much, but she was so indifferent to her misfortune.

Edward asked again in a voice that sounded like he was about to cry.

“How can you be so bright? Tess. I would have collapsed if I were you.”

“Um… I’m disappointed that Oppa is saying such things,”

“I’m… not as strong as you.”

Tess stroked Edward’s head as if stroking a large dog.

Edward couldn’t hide his sobs anymore.

Tess groped his face with her fingers, wiped away his tears, and smiled.

“Because I believe that Oppa will fix me.”

.