Luman made a dubious face.

"Hey. Temar... isn’t your little brother a minor?"

"?"

Brother Temar looked at Luman while tearing meat off the bone, like he had no idea why that mattered.

Exactly. Why the hell would that matter?

I looked at Luman too while chewing at the stringy meat that wouldn’t come apart.

"Brother! Hurry up and tell me!"

"Haa."

Adventure! The start of an adventure is supposed to have an incident, isn’t it!! The dead, miserable feeling from the carriage sickness came roaring back to life!

We’d run into bandits! Find treasure!! Maybe we’d even meet a dragon! Could I maybe join Brother’s hero group too?! Then later, even if some ogre-like princess from some country got kidnapped, that’d be fine! Because I could just go with him!

When I grabbed Brother’s clothes and shook them, he pulled my hand off.

What the hell.... Making it feel distant again.

"Is someone dying funny to you?"

"...I never said it was funny, okay? Can’t I just ask?"

Mistake.

I just... no. I was wrong.

"Why are you so mad? What did I even do?!"

"Ren."

Damn it! This stupid mouth of mine!

I knew I’d done something wrong. That was why, even while stubbornly pushing back, my voice shrank smaller and smaller.

It sounded like the whining of a brat throwing a fit. So of course that was how it sounded to Brother and Luman too.... I could’ve just apologized, but I really, really didn’t want to.

Did he have to say it like that...? He could’ve just told me to watch my mouth. Why humiliate me in front of Brother when Brother’s right here! I absolutely refuse to lose!

I glared fiercely into Luman’s golden eyes, even while thinking he might slap me across the face.

But Luman just opened his mouth with that habitual smile on his face.

While poking Brother Temar in the neck with the sheath of his sword.

"Why are you stabbing someone else’s brother!"

"We’re not here to play at adventure. Temar is on his way to the capital carrying out a hero’s duty, and Ren, strictly speaking, you’re baggage."

"...!"

Baggage.

He’d said the one thing I hated hearing most.

Brother. Am I baggage? I’m not, right? Then why did you ask me to come with you?

I was so upset I couldn’t get a word out. It felt like I was about to cry, so I forced my eyes wide open.

Don’t cry, idiot...! If you cry here, you’ll look like some whining little kid! I’m not baggage! Brother asked me to come!

No, I know I’m baggage. I know that too. But Brother, I need you to say I’m not. I’ll be careful from now on. Okay? That way I won’t feel so humiliated. Please.

"Just because you’re young doesn’t mean everything gets excused. Even if you’re Temar’s little brother."

Luman cut me down coldly.

What the hell was with that lecturing tone?

He wasn’t yelling at me, and he wasn’t even speaking in a condemning tone, but what Luman said hurt me anyway. It was exactly the kind of thing I hated hearing most.

I had never once been treated gently just because I was young. Me! I’ve never gotten anything good just for being a hero’s little brother!

So why was it that whenever people wanted to scold me, they always dragged Brother Temar into it?

I never thought Luman would say something like that.

God, I’m ridiculous too. How long had I even known this guy? What the hell was I trusting that made me grow this half-baked little fondness for him? After saying with my own mouth that getting attached halfway was pointless. Idiot Ren. Stupid Ren.

More than that, Brother. Are you seriously not going to say anything again?

Brother’s mouth was pressed into a hard flat line. Not even the sound of his breathing slipped past those thick lips.

So annoying.

"If you keep that up, you could end up really hurt. Wow, look at me lecturing."

I didn’t hear the rest of what Luman said.

Like Brother, I clamped my mouth shut and just chewed resentfully on the innocent meat.

Tough, gross. Tol is the worst.

Ptui!

I spat the meat out, scraped dirt over it with my foot, and buried it. 𝙧𝙚𝙚𝔀𝒆𝓫𝓷𝙤𝓿𝒆𝙡.𝒄𝙤𝓶

Shit. He saw that?

Brother’s eyes were terrifying.

Throwing food away was the kind of thing only bad people did, wasn’t it? Why did I do that...? I’m hopeless. If I brushed the dirt off and ate it again, would that cancel out the bad person part? I cautiously checked Brother’s face and started digging at the dirt again.

But Luman drew Brother’s attention away and gestured like I should just leave it.

"So? What was the corpse like?"

"Assassins’ guild."

What the hell. A minute ago you were telling me with your eyes not to talk about it.

I kept digging at the dirt when Luman stood up and planted himself right in front of me!

Right on top of the ground where I’d spat the meat out!

"Why would they come all the way here?"

Even when I thumped at Luman’s foot, he didn’t budge.

Shit. Brother! Please let the throwing-food-away thing slide just this once.... The dirt might be clean, but Luman’s shoes are definitely filthy!

"There were carriage wheel tracks. Judging by the marks, they looked fresh—probably from today. Looks like they chased someone here and got dealt with by the escort."

Brother tossed the stripped skewer into the campfire.

The flames shot up toward the sky and flared fiercely.

"Hmm."

Luman looked like he had some idea what it might mean.

He rubbed his chin and sank into thought, then turned his gaze—and his eyes met mine.

Ah-choo! Ah-choo!

"You okay?"

"Yeah! I’m fine."

Hehe. If Brother worries about me, then I’m fine!

Holding back my coughs, I rubbed my nose.

A long thread of snot stretched from my finger. Ugh, gross. I hurriedly wiped my hand against the dirt.

Brother’s attention left me again almost at once, and he narrowed his brows, scanning the surroundings like he was searching for something.

Could he see something? I turned my head this way and that along with him, but all I could make out were trees soaked in darkness, like shadows.

"Do you know something?"

"There’s a rumor going around in the capital."

While dragging out his words like he was trying to remember, Luman pulled something from inside his coat.

"What is that?"

"A newspaper."

Brother snatched the paper Luman tossed him and unfolded it. His eyes grew serious as he read.

What is it? I want to know too! But there was no way I could wedge myself in. I’d just gotten scolded, and I was too embarrassed and too wounded in my pride.

I don’t need it anyway.

But I pricked my ears up as far as they’d go.

Luman snickered at me, then sat down between Brother and me.

"I heard Duke Gannion passed away. Apparently the duke’s daughter is rushing back to the capital estate. You know how it goes. People are saying some collateral branch that wants the title must’ve made a move."

"I see. You think it could be the duke’s daughter?"

"A coincidence like that isn’t exactly common."

Luman tucked the paper Temar handed back into his coat.

"They say he died of illness, but even that’s not certain. The duke’s daughter is his only child, so everyone’s watching to see who inherits that enormous estate and the ducal title. It wouldn’t be easy to make a move, so whoever stirred the pot must be bolder than expected."

"You’re not involved in this, are you?"

Holy shit! Seriously?

I’d been pretending I wasn’t interested, but at Brother’s words I startled and looked up without meaning to.

Whether it was "heh" or "huh," Luman let out that kind of laugh when he saw me do it. Brother’s eyes rested on me too.

"Whew. I don’t get involved in troublesome matters."

"You don’t care what it is if there’s profit in it. Luman, do you think I don’t know you?"

Are they fighting?

I checked their expressions in surprise at Brother’s sharp words, but it didn’t really seem like that.

It felt more like Brother was just stating a fact, and Luman was taking it that way too.

"Haha. Still, if I got tangled up in the duke’s daughter’s situation, I’d have too much to lose. That kind of careful plotting doesn’t suit me."

Luman’s laugh was clear, and unexpectedly high.

When he laughed, his platinum hair—burned so pale it looked white—shook against his shoulders.

What the hell.... Those two must be really close.

It even looked like there was a trace of laughter in the corners of Brother’s eyes.

Even though it sounded like they were talking about some old mess Luman had caused, he was smiling? Which meant they’d spent enough time together to laugh something like that off. Enough closeness for those kinds of things not to matter anymore.... What the hell.

I hate this feeling. I really hate it....

"Aa-choo! A-choo! Shit...."

Why do I keep coughing? And why does my nose keep running too? Damn body.

My head was starting to feel heavy too, like a fever was coming on.

"I’m fine. Get your hand off me."

"You feel like you’ve got a fever."

What the hell, when did he come over? Luman set a hand on my forehead and tilted his head.

"Move."

"Huh~"

Brother shoved Luman aside and crouched down in front of me.

Eyes warm and gentle in color.

With those eyes, Brother was always telling me no....

"Ren. Are you okay? Are you hurting anywhere? Are you sick?"

"...N-No. I’m just cold."

"Haha. Temar! If someone feels bad, does that automatically make it an illness? This is the problem with heroes."

"You’re not any different, Luman."

"Hm~ Maybe I should make some soup. What do we do... no, not tonight. You’ll have to hold out until tomorrow, Ren."

"...Well, Ren is an ordinary person."

Luman smiled in that irritating way.

I can totally hold out, okay?

For one second, my heart dropped, then started pounding uneasily.

Again... what, did I want him to notice? What would it even do if Brother knew about my illness? It’d only hurt him. God, I’m awful too. Hoping for something that would only make Brother sad....

When I shook my head hard, Brother asked in an even gentler voice, "Does it hurt a lot?"

"It doesn’t hurt! I’m # Nоvеlight # not hurting! I’m tough!"

I will be tough! I’ll throw away weak thoughts like that. I can endure this stupid illness just fine on my own. I’m not going to make Brother’s heart ache over something like this!

I jerked my head up so fast I slammed it into Brother’s chin hard enough for me to yelp, "Ow!" Then I clutched my head and groaned with an entirely different kind of headache.

Unfairly enough, Brother looked completely fine.

"Your head didn’t crack open, did it?"

That was the kind of thing he said! Brother might actually have a rock for a skull.

"Ren, if you’re hurting, tell me right away."

"Yeah. Okay."

His dark eyes looked at me with worry.

The hand that stroked my hair was so, so gentle. And that just made me prickly again. Why are you suddenly being nice? I seriously never know with Brother.

I let out a sigh and pulled the jacket Luman had taken off over myself, hugging my knees, when I heard something.

If I can hear it, then Brother and Luman definitely heard it too.

Before I knew it, both of them were already on their feet, swords in hand, staring toward the source of the sound.

I could hear the soft whinny of a horse too.

"Excuse me. I’m very sorry to ask this... but would it be possible for me to join you?"

The person who leaned out of the darkness was a man with gentle-looking eyes, leading a carriage behind him.