Chapter 1. I was abandoned by my family
****
He always enjoyed his time with Leticia. However, behind the happiness, there were hidden feelings that he never wanted to be revealed.
He must have pushed his feelings down too much. He couldn’t stand it, and Leticia must have been swept away by him.
A sense of frustration and anxiety that he could never express. All he could do was hide and conceal it as much as he could.
As if she had read his mind, Leticia put him to the test.
“I’m not that innocent. The same goes for me towards you.”
The small hand that grabbed his sleeve trembled. However, her blue eyes looked straight up at him.
He couldn’t decide whether it was fortunate, or unfortunate, that she didn’t retreat until the end.
Enoch wondered how he would win against her with her clear voice, and her obvious greed for him.
“Leticia!”
He heard how raspy his voice was, as he suppressed the urge that was rising up inside him. His mouth lifted grimly as she meekly looked up at him without knowing what he was thinking.
He wanted to treat her preciously, and cherish her endlessly.
It’s like you’re always testing me. Seeing that I’m not offended, I guess I’m not in my right mind either.
“Don’t make it worse.”
Enoch said, as he slowly touched her lips with his fingertips.
So don’t let me cross the line
While talking, his mouth dried up, and Enoch reluctantly stepped back. As soon as he took a step away, Leticia approached him.
“If it’s Enoch, I like everything. I mean…”
She touched her fingertips shyly, and soon grabbed Enoch’s arm as if she was hanging onto him.
“I hope you won’t hold back too much.”
“….”
“You know what I’m saying, right?”
Instead of answering, Enoch cupped Leticia’s cheek gently in both hands. It was a problem telling a person who’s struggling to endure, and telling them not to hold back.
“I hate myself in places like this. It’s not enough to make it more special.”
“Oh, I don’t care…”
“I’m holding it in, so you should hold it in.”
Enoch cut off Leticia’s worlds and moved to bed. As they were pulling up the covers, Leticia peeked at him nervously.
Enoch gently took hold of Leticia’s hand.
“Shall we hold hands while we sleep tonight?”
“That’s not enough…”
The moment he was about to ask her what she wanted, Leticia slipped into Enoch’s arms. She clung to him, and Enoch was beaming without realizing it. Her small body wriggling in his arms was annoyingly adorable.
“We’re finally going back tomorrow.”
Enoch patted Leticia’s back affectionately, as she closed her eyes.
He was tempted to go home and spend some time alone with her.
***
“What do you want now that Leticia and my brother aren’t here?”
Elle went to greet the uninvited guests. She asked this as soon as she opened the door, without hiding her hostility. Emil and Xavier frowned in displeasure, not only at the tone of her voice, but the fact that she went so far as to say they had no business being there.
Emil immediately pushed down his annoyance and broached the reason for his visit.
“I’m here to meet Ian Achilles.”
However, Elle frowned as if she was displeased at his words.
“Please use the proper honorifics, even friends don’t call each other like that without first asking.”
“Ha…”
It was clear that she didn’t plan on letting this go, so Emil sighed as he pulled at his collar.
It was obvious that she’s the twin sister of that unlucky fellow. They were very similar in how they bothered him.
“I’m here to meet Young Master Ian Achilles.”
“Where did you learn the courtesy of showing up unannounced?”
“In that sense, the Duke of Achilles came to our mansion without prior warning.”
“Then you can complain to my brother.”
Elle always had a retort the moment Emil was about to say anything, eventually Xavier intervened.
“Excuse me for a second.”
“What? Wait a minute!”
He suddenly pushed past her, it happened so quickly that she didn’t have time to catch him. Emil and Xavier started to shamelessly stroll through the mansion. If a stranger saw them, they would’ve thought they were the masters of this household.
“What are you doing now?”
Elle walked faster and tried to block them. Xavier merely pushed her away, as if he was annoyed.
“It’ll only take a moment.”
“Hold on! What are you talking about? Get out of my house right now!”
Elle hadn’t expected him to act so recklessly, and she was perplexed. They visited without permission, and invaded her home. They were acting in a way that would damage their reputation.
However, the two opened the doors from room to room without the slightest hesitation.
Eventually, they reached Ian’s room and opened the door decisively. Inside the room, Ian was sitting on his bed with a blanket covering him.
“What is this?”
Ian had been quietly reading a book when they barged in. He looked up with an irritated expression, but Emil casually said.
“I have some business to attend to.”
“Is it okay to enter without knocking?”
“Xavier.”
Emil easily ignored Ian’s words. He looked at Xavier and pointed to the room.
“Find it.”
“Hey, have you gone crazy?”
They acted no different than a guard trying to secure evidence in a suspect’s home. With this insane attitude, Elle violently pushed at Xavier’s shoulder and shouted at him.
“You guys! Are you crazy? You’re crazy!”
Then Emil’s gaze turned to the bed that Ian was sitting on.
‘What is this?’
He thought something moved in the bed just now.
Emil was so taken with the idea that he didn’t hesitate to look under the covers.
“What are you doing?”
Ian sighed irritably and got up from the bed. He flapped the covers and there was nothing to be found.
“Brother…”
“….”
Xavier, who’d searched the room, looked at Emil with a troubled expression. Emil said nothing and gritted his teeth.
[The one who beat you at the Swordsmanship tournament was a woman?]
Emil heard an unexpected story while he talked to Xavier that day.
He’d already heard that Xavier had won second place at the tournament. However, he had no idea that it was a woman who’d beated Xavier and won first place.
[Yes, a woman with blonde hair and red eyes.]
[Blonde hair and red eyes…]
It didn’t sound unfamiliar. He felt like he’d even heard of her somewhere, then something came to mind.
The Duke of Erebos, who was destroyed for treason when he was young.
[She looked like she was close with our eldest sister.]
[What? Is that true?]
If she had a good relationship with Leticia, then she must have a contact point with the Achilles family. She might even be secretly staying at the Achilles mansion.
If that was true, then Ian could be dropped from the Imperial civil service.
Emil was taken with the idea and took Xavier with him to the Achilles household. He wanted to prevent Ian from destroying possible evidence.
‘If she’s not in this room, there’s only one room left.’
Only Leticia’s room was left.
Elle, who’d been watching the bewildered pair, slowly crossed her arms and spoke.
“Since we’ve made it this far. Ian, why don’t you tell him your secret.”
“What secret?”
“The secret to passing the Imperial civil service examination.”
“….”
Before Elle could finish her words, the atmosphere sank heavily. Emil, who’d grasped the doorknob, stopped walking and stared fiercely.
Even with that look, Elle didn’t lose the smile on her face.
“It’s obvious that you came in without permission, searched every room in the house, and then entered here.”
“It’s not like that.”
“To go this far, how desperately did you want to pass? I feel sorry for you.”
Emil told her that it was enough already, but Elle pretended not to hear him.
“Seeing you being rude like this, it will take a lot of time and effort to become an Imperial official. Don’t worry too much, If you learn well from Ian, you might succeed.”
Now she grasped his hands and looked at Emil with an expression of real support. However, the gaze that faced her was piercingly sharp.
“If you hear the secret of getting accepted without having to attend the academy, you’ll definitely get accepted next time.”
“Are you insulting me?”
There was no one who didn’t know that he was rejected, but it was unbearably unpleasant to hear this from a member of the Achilles family. Emil gritted his teeth fiercely and took a step towards Elle.
Ian tried to stop him, but Elle smiled at him with a rather hateful glint in her eyes.
“What’s that, an insult? I’ve learned to share the good things, but…”
“….?”
“I’ve learned that good people aren’t meant to be divided.”
“What?”
Emil quietly furrowed his brow, unable to understand the words that were surely referring to someone else. Elle, who’d been smiling for some time, coldly said.
“Get out of my house right now. Otherwise, I’ll go to your father right now and demand an apology.”
“If I look in this last place, there’s nothing more to see.”
“Hey.”
She yanked Emil’s arm roughly from behind him as he tried to open the door again.
“That’s enough, there’s a limit to how much I can tolerate.”
“That’s funny, cause I’m the one who’s being tolerant.”
Emil roughly pushed Elle, who kept disturbing him, and opened the door. No, he tried to open the door, but someone else beat him to it.
“What are you doing here?”
The person who had opened the door first from outside the room was standing there with a cold, stiff expression on his face. When Emil realized who it was, he cringed.
“Brother!”
“Big brother!”
Unlike the embarrassed Emil, Elle and Ian approached Enoch with looks of utter joy on their faces.
“Get out.”
“I came because I wanted to check something.”
“I won’t say it twice.”
“….”
Enoch rebuked Emil, cutting off his words halfway.
Emil realized that he wanted for them to leave quickly, so he was forced to exit the room with Xavier. As he left, he made eye contact with Leticia, who was standing behind Enoch.
“….”
“….”
“….”
“….”
They stared at each other briefly, but it was Leticia who turned away first.
Xavier was perplexed by her attitude, as if she was disappointed in them or they didn’t have anything worth talking about. He thought Leticia would at least be willing to hear them out about why they’d come.
Emil nonchalantly walked past Leticia with Xavier in tow.
Enoch asked only after confirming that Emil and Xavier had left the Achilles mansion.
“What was that? What’s going on?”
“No, they suddenly showed up and went crazy.”
“Why?”
“That…”
Instead of answering, Elle glanced at Ian’s bed, as if there was something over there.
The bed moved up and down just as Leticia approached it with a curious expression on her face. As she was about to step back in surprise, a woman covered with dust jumped out from under the bed. Under the dark gray dust, Leticia could see vivid blonde hair.
“Oh, I cleaned the floor under the bed.”
Keena finally noticed the gazes focused on her, as she shook off the dust from head to toe.
“Hello, how are you?”
“….”
She greeted them politely, but there was no reply.
Even in the midst of her embarrassment, she knew better than anyone else what to do first.
“I’ll start first, I’m sorry.”