Chapter 15 (2/2)

Ricarda blinked at my words, and stood up from his seat and said, “Why? I don’t want to! I’m going to love you always!”

“?!”

The sudden shouting of Ricarda surprised me enough to escape from my sleep. I opened my eyes wide and looked at him, and he suddenly hit his mouth.

“Oops, Ricarda, your mean mouth. You can’t be this loud.”

“…I, I mean.”

“And Daphne says things that she doesn’t have in her mind.”

Then he pinched my mouth very lightly.

“Woo woo?”

With my lips caught, I couldn’t say anything but mutter. When I tried to be annoyed as if I was protesting, he shook his head.

“You haven’t even received it properly yet, so you shouldn’t think about losing it. Then, in the end, because of your fear, you won’t be able to have anything.”

“I’m greedy for that! In the first place, I asked for the successor position in front of Lennox and Ricarda …”

It was heartbreaking to confide in what was most on my mind.

He pored over my words for a moment and said, ‘Ah!’ with a face that realized something.

“That’s what bothers you. Is that why you just kept on staring at me? Did you think that because we hate you, we’ll treat you kindly and suddenly start to ignore you one day?

“…..”

It wasn’t wrong, so I kept my mouth shut. Ricarda sighed briefly and asked me to excuse him and hugged me tightly. After putting my head on his shoulder, he gently patted me on the back.

“You can worry because you don’t know anything. You can think like that.”

“I’m sorry. I asked her to give me the position of the successor. Even if it was just words, I suddenly took that place away.”

Perhaps I should have apologized first.

“But, I still needed it.”

It may be that the conscience left in my heart urged me to apologize, and the firm commitment I made was shaken.

Ricarda said there was no need for my apology and continued patting.

“I haven’t told you yet. First of all, I’m a great wizard, and my brother is a great alchemist.”

I heard that from Lennox yesterday.

“That’s why both of us are aiming for the seat of Magic Tower and the Pension Tower.”

It was the first time I heard it. I asked, looking at him with eyes full of tears.

“Then… what about the seat as the head of the merchant group? After mother retires?”

“The seat was undecided. But just recently, there appeared a person with great talent. What was her name…? Was it Daphne?”

I couldn’t keep up with his joking voice, so I had no choice but to make a blank expression.

“So, it’s all right. Yeah, it’s fine.”

“Can I take it all? Once I get one thing, I’ll want to keep getting others too.”

“The more greedy you are, the better. You can want more. I’m going to keep on loving Daphne. You’re going to refuse me, even if I say no?”

I don’t know if everyone here would think like Ricarda, but considering that they might, I was relieved.

With the voice that soothed and comforted me, my body which was swollen due to tension slowly loosened.

As my body gradually started to loosen from tension and awkwardness, I felt tired and leaned my forehead comfortably against Ricarda’s shoulder.

Ricarda’s gentle patting on my back, like a lullaby, made me fall asleep. Soon the sound of breathing came out, and she fell asleep immediately.

* * *

Ricarda carefully placed Daphne, who was asleep, on the bed.

Then, he gently raised the blanket to the tip of her chin and used magic to raise the room’s temperature a little.

“That’s not too childlike.”

A barren and hostile environment has made a child who still needs protection into a  child who is already mature.

Ricarda gave Daphne a gentle pat on the head.

Despite saying he would treat her wounds, let alone the wounds, even minor wounds on her legs did not heal quickly. Neither Ricarda’s own magic nor his brother Lennox’s recovery potion worked properly, which made him worried. Ricarda sighed briefly and sat down beside Daphne.

“It’d be nice if you were to behave like a little kid.”

Maybe it’s because you haven’t gotten familiar with this environment, right, Daphne?

Ricarda breathed a sigh of relief, and the room’s fire gradually dimmed darker and darker.

Daphne reminded him of his childhood. Even if she was a child whom he saw just a few days ago, the child’s poisonous words and actions hurt his heart.

And he knew it wasn’t just him.

Mother and Lennox, who is late today because they are busy, probably feel the same way.

Knock Knock-

The door opened with a cautious knock. Watching Lennox with a gloomy face coming in, Ricarda smiled as if he knew he would.

“Great work today, brother.”

“What about mother?”

“Sadly, she’s working overtime again today. She’s going to come early tomorrow.”

“Daphne must have been very disappointed.”

Lennox threw off his coat to one side and strode over. Then he looked at Daphne, who was asleep quietly, and then frowned.

A week has passed since she came here, but the child has not yet found stability. And from then on until now, she had been suffering in her dreams without being able to escape her nightmares.

As Daphne shook her arms in agony, Lennox frowned and slowly brushed the child’s forehead.

“It’s okay. It’s okay.”

You’ll be fine. You won’t die.

I’ll help you. I’ll save you.

His hypnotizing voice did not stop until Daphne stopped crying and escaped from her nightmare.

“Ug- Ugh. I don’t- I don’t want- I don’t want to die.”

And as if it had waited, today too, tears began to flow from Daphne’s eyes.