Chapter 10 (1/2)

Chapter 10

“Let’s renovate the annex and bring in some new furniture. I’ll call a craftsman, so you choose the furnishings yourself.”

Those words pierced Duran like thorns.

Why? Duran wasn’t sure why he couldn’t respond.

She said it easily because it wasn’t a big deal to her, and this caused his heart to drop.

“Dew, did I say something wrong?”

“Huh?”

“Dew, I’m sorry…”

Not knowing what she was sorry for, he ate an apple first.

‘What are you sorry about?’

Duran wasn’t sure why she was sorry, and eventually frowned.

He couldn’t understand why she became so restless from every expression he made.

‘Because she loves me? Then, isn’t love no different from a noose around the neck.’

Yvor briefly lowered her gaze, which had not fallen from him throughout their visit. Water formed on her eyes looked like a drop of dew rolling over a grape. Duran felt that she was about to cry, which made him impatient.

“There’s nothing to be sorry about.”

Even when he suddenly spoke out, the frustration did not go away. It seemed that the noose that hung around her neck seemed to have passed on to him.

“On the contrary, I should be!”

It was only after shouting that Duran realized why he felt Yvor’s words were like thorns. Rather, he felt miserable.

He had nothing to give back to her.

It was only natural that the boy didn’t know the path Yvor once walked.

Who could’ve guessed that the person in front of him had lived and died once?

Therefore, Duran Craig didn’t know how Yvor had lived and died. He also didn’t know how lonely and distressed she was during that time.

The boy, who was now paying keen attention to every word his sister said, could never have imagined that he once hated this gentle sister as a vicious witch. He couldn’t even know how she felt because at that time he didn’t know. All Duran Craig knew now was the fact that he was receiving kindness from her all the time.

He was staying in her castle. He owed her for everything he ate, drank, wore, and even where he slept.

For Yvor, only Duran counted as her family. For Duran, family was just a ridiculous word.

It was normal to be indebted to family, and it wasn’t an existence to be taken for granted either. Moreover, she said she loved him. She loved him with devotion, where she would even risk her life for him.

Not long ago, Duran Craig was dying of thirst. He lived like that from day to day without even knowing that he was slowly dying of dehydration. He was no different from a weed in a wasteland.

However, one person came. She watered the weed, fed it fertilizer, and transferred it to a pot. She cherished it as if she was caring for the world’s most precious plant. She didn’t even know if the weed would blossom. With the sweetest of waters and the most affectionate of touches that prevented pests. As he received more and more of this, he couldn’t help but think.

‘Do I deserve this?’

The words ‘I love you’ were the sweetest of poisons. He felt Yvor’s love in the way she looked at him, rather than from how she constantly fed him. ‘Dew’, the whispering voice could be heard even in his dreams. Duran had already swallowed the poison, which was more delicious than any other delicacy in the world.

Did he love her, it was something he didn’t know yet. Could he trust her at all, that was also still unknown.

He couldn’t help, but doubt it and feel anxious. As it became sweeter and finer, he was afraid that it would all disappear like a dream one day.

He also didn’t want to receive things that he had no way to pay back. He was feeling a combination of fear and pride.

“It’s uncomfortable.”

He didn’t want to receive any more. When he said it so suddenly, Yvor looked like she was going to fade away. Duran closed his mouth while thinking about what to add.

He was a boy who’d never shared his heart with others. He didn’t know how to talk to people, or even how to respond. He couldn’t figure out how to express his thoughts, and had trouble even being honest.

Yvor reached out to him. Duran was suffering from heavy-heart, because he worried she was about to cry. As soon as he met her, she hugged him and wept, this was Duran’s first impression of his sister. So, the boy thought Yvor was a weeper.

He thought she would be a soft, weak, and teary person like a princess in a fairy tale.

In fairy tales, the princess easily loved and cared for the dwarf and small animals.

But in the end… The prince arrived, the two left hand in hand, and the dwarf remained alone.

“I won’t call the craftsman.”

‘I’m sorry, sister.’

Yvor hugged her brother. Duran thought she might cry, and accepted the strange way she expressed her affection this time without avoiding it.