“My lord. If it bothers you that much, why not ask them to let you join the conversation?”

“Haha. Tom, no matter how much I love Ren, how could I possibly interrupt a reunion between friends who haven’t seen each other in so long?”

But Peruan’s eyes were sparkling as he said it. If Tom encouraged him a few more times, he would pretend to lose and shamelessly, smoothly wedge himself between Ren and Coco. Tom considered it for a moment, but there was nothing more painful than watching his master behave without dignity, so he cut it off cleanly.

“My lord, your consideration is very deep.”

“.......”

Peruan glared at Tom, but perhaps because Tom had watched him flirt with Ren far too many times from right beside him, regrettably, when it came to anything involving Ren, Peruan was no longer frightening.

At last alone with Ren, Coco slammed the carriage door shut and sighed.

“What a mess!”

She shouted, but she did not look upset.

“You.”

“What?”

“Why are you so calm now?”

“Am I?”

Ren blinked. He had felt that he had changed too, so apparently it showed.

Coco seemed displeased by it. Earlier, the change in his mood had not seemed bad, but she disliked that he was this calm even when it was just the two of them. Coco did not think changing because of hardship was a good thing. It would be better to live badly, exactly as one was, without suffering first. Not that Ren’s original personality had been bad!

“Just because.”

“Honestly. Do you really know how much I......!”

She was not the type to repeat herself, but it must have been weighing so heavily on her that the same words kept coming out.

On the road to the capital, her communication device had lit up. Coco had not checked it immediately at the time, but once she did, she had been so startled she dropped the crystal orb. The words written there were something she did not want to believe. The message had been sent by Luman. The contents, shortened briefly, were not brief at all. It said Ren seemed to have been kidnapped near Delfona, so please help.

Coco turned her horse around at once, without considering whether the contents were true or what would happen to her own schedule.

Seton and her maid tried passionately to stop her, but Coco hardly listened. She had already been far too bothered by the fact that she had received no reply to her letter. And now kidnapping! Of all things, kidnapping! Coco was a duke’s daughter who knew better than anyone how cruel the world could be. So there was no way she could pretend not to know that the only friend who had gone through life and death with her had fallen into that filthy danger.

After sending word to the capital to delay the funeral schedule, Coco took everyone with her and searched for the slave traders in her own way. Four nights ago, deep in the night, while she was heading toward the border region in search of the slave traders, she received the coordinates of Ren’s location. Only then did Coco barely feel relieved, and without time to think, she drove the horses hard. That was how she was able to meet Ren here along the way.

But she had not the slightest intention of telling Ren about all the pain and worry she had suffered. She only meant to see his unharmed face and get angry at him a little. She meant to ask why he had set out on his own, to tell him never to do that again, to demand what on earth had happened behind the scenes, whether he had gone through something unspeakable, whether he was hiding something by himself again.

Ren looked simple on the surface because his moods showed so clearly, but he was unexpectedly talented at hiding secrets.

If something had happened to Ren, he would definitely hide it. Coco meant to confirm whether Ren was truly safe and whether nothing had happened, then ask Kirky to make that “nothing” go away.

But before she could even speak, tears blocked her throat.

Ren’s gaze looked terribly complicated.

Before, he had been a boy unable to control himself as anger, unfairness, resentment, irritation, and all those negative feelings swirled inside him. Yet before Coco knew it, he had a face more adult than hers. With an awkward expression, Ren hesitated, then carefully patted Coco’s back. His touch was terribly clumsy, as if it was his first time doing it.

In the end, Coco burst into tears and cried for a long time, and Ren patted her shoulder until she stopped. For some reason, Ren felt like crying too.

When Coco stopped crying, the two of them looked at each other’s reddened eyes and burst into laughter.

Ren and Coco talked about many things. Coco was worried that something might have happened when he was kidnapped, but she could not bring herself to ask first, and Ren was dense in that direction, so he did not tell her. In the end, when Coco grew frustrated and shouted, nagging him over whether he had been hurt anywhere, Ren told her that he had only been captured by the slave traders and moved around in a carriage the whole time. Coco felt deeply relieved and stopped pestering him.

“Ah, right!”

Ren shouted as if something had suddenly flashed through his mind.

“What?”

“I have to get revenge!”

“I have a good idea.”

Coco’s eyes gleamed, sinister and playful.

The two of them spent a long time talking about what kind of revenge would suit Mine, who had deceived Ren. Ren thought that if he asked Luman, Luman would gladly hand Mine over for revenge. When Ren said so, Coco agreed without the slightest objection. Since it was Luman, and since he cherished Ren, of course he would gladly do that. Ren grew embarrassed at those words, but the topic quickly moved on to something else.

After they chattered for quite a while longer, a commotion broke out.

Ren had suddenly leaned in to remove an eyelash that had fallen on Coco’s cheek, only for Coco to shove him away. Weak as he was, Ren was pushed by Coco’s hand and fell onto the carriage floor, making a tremendous ⊛ Nоvеlιght ⊛ (Read the full story) noise.

***

Luman, who had rushed over at the loud sound from the carriage, was relieved to find it was nothing serious and rubbed the arm Ren had hit. Strangely, the boy’s fist stung even against a Hero’s body.

Luman had not been the only one to rush over at the sound.

He dragged Temar, who had tried to involve himself in the situation, away from the carriage.

“What are you trying to do?”

Temar stared at Luman with cold eyes.

“Last time I blamed Ren, but I’m not doing that now.”

“That isn’t what I’m worried about.”

Luman sighed and ruffled his hair.

How was he supposed to mend this brotherly relationship that seemed to have gone crooked?

“I haven’t lost my reason. Ren isn’t in mortal danger, so am I supposed to stand by and do nothing?”

There was meaning in what he said.

Once, Luman had told Temar that if Ren’s life was in danger, Temar should secure a physician for him and then stay far away, because that would help guarantee Ren’s survival. Luman had a reason for saying so. Whenever Ren was in danger, Temar radiated such a threatening aura and failed to contain it that he had nearly harmed not only Ren, but even the physician who could save him! Yet those words seemed to have lodged deep in Temar’s chest.

“What are you telling me to do?”

Those brown eyes, colder than ever before, fixed on Luman.

That gaze seemed to blame Luman, and at the same time, seemed to be asking him for an answer.

But Luman had no answer either.

What Temar was asking about now was not merely the estranged relationship between the brothers.

It was a question about how to respond to everything that would happen once Ren entered the capital. From his deep anguish and turmoil came an unspeakable pain.

“......Let’s think about it.”

That was the only answer Luman could give.

***

“What? He said he was going to get snacks, so why is he going over there? Hey! Erica!”

It was exactly as Coco said. Luman was not heading toward Coco’s maid or the luggage, but toward a place with fewer people. Dragging Temar with him!

Only then did Ren realize that Temar had been standing near the carriage too. He moved his mouth without speaking. Why had his brother come? Because it sounded like a fight? To stop them? Or...... to scold him?

Ren had not deliberately avoided Temar, but somehow, he had not had much chance to face him. Naturally, there had been no chance to talk either, so the awkward happiness of seeing each other again after so long was turning into distance.

But unlike before, Ren could not recklessly look for his brother and bother him.

Coco called her maid over and got snacks, then noticed Charles standing beside the maid, stealing glances at Ren with a red face, and teased Ren about it. But Ren said such comments were rude and showed absolutely no consideration for Charles’s feelings, so Coco offered the poor knight her sincere condolences. While she was at it, she offered them to Ren’s future lover too! With that level of awareness, would Ren ever be able to date anyone?

As Coco thought through one thing and another on her own, she realized Ren had gone quiet again.

Seeing his sunken face reminded Coco of the past. She remembered the days at the castle, when they had talked endlessly as if they were arguing. Her heart warmed and ached at the same time. Coco had not disliked Ren’s prickliness. It hurt because she knew those thorns had grown from all the unfair things he had suffered, but she also disliked seeing him come back from something terrible and look calm, as if he had softened. Coco had advised Ren that he needed to become a little gentler, but in truth, she had also wanted him to stay willful.

If he stayed with her at the ducal house, he could. But he probably won’t leave because of his brother.

Coco thought bitterly, then snapped her head up. Her purple hair swayed lightly.

“Ren. Are you and your brother not getting along?”

Wasn’t one of the reasons Ren had grown this calm because of his brother? If so, he might want to live apart from him for a while!

Coco had meant to say it indirectly, but she simply asked honestly instead. She did, however, try to ask carefully. If she asked in an expectant voice, of course Ren would be hurt!

At the cautious question, Ren shut his mouth as if he had been rendered speechless. But Coco did not seem willing to let Ren avoid answering.

It was not especially a secret, so after thinking for a while, Ren opened his mouth.

“It’s not like that.”

“Then what is it? Why does it look to me like you’ve grown distant? You like your brother best! Did something happen?! Tell me!”

“.......”

So it looks distant to other people.

Ren sank into thought. If he explained it as the joy and awkwardness of meeting again after a long time, the two of them certainly had not spoken much. Ren’s heart was complicated, and there were many things he had to think about, so he had not looked for him...... but that had continued for several days now.

Coco’s words made his heart ache.

It was not that there was some serious reason. They simply had not talked because they had not happened to run into each other.

Ren and Temar had not parted well in the village. Ren had resented him, resented his illness, and left the village with a heart full of pain. When he left, he had carried no hope that he would ever see Temar again. Then, little by little, he had let go of that resentment, but could a broken mirror really be put back together? As if something in Ren’s heart had cracked, perhaps because he had once resented Temar, seeing him felt somehow awkward and guilty.

He definitely wanted to see him. He had missed him. He still loved his brother, and yet Ren felt distance between them. That distance was far clearer and sharper than the distance between him and strangers. But he could not tell whether he was the one keeping Temar at a distance, or whether Temar was keeping his distance from him.