Temar did not answer.

“......Ren.”

“Brother? Why?”

Temar, who had been walking down the long, long corridor, stopped and tugged Ren’s arm. Ren stumbled and turned back with a bewildered face. Temar caught the swaying boy in his arms and looked down at him.

Temar knew what kind of dinner this was.

He knew what command would be given to him.

This time, too, he would leave with his back turned on Ren. Without being able to say any of the words that lay between them, he would have to part from Ren like that.

Would Ren understand?

Would he understand this time too?

Would he not...... run off somewhere, like he had at the inn?

“Brother. What’s wrong?”

Ren frowned. The arm Temar was holding ached sharply. But he did not want to whine that it hurt, so he only bit his lip.

Temar, his face deeply twisted, could not utter a single word.

He did not know what he was supposed to say. His thoughts were so tangled they could not form any words. He only stared with eyes holding a hot, burning fever, as if hoping Ren would notice the countless words he was swallowing down.

“Sir Temar. You are late.”

The attendant, who had been silently waiting for the two of them, spoke carefully with a nervous look. At the voice filled with distress, Temar, who normally would have moved at once, did not budge.

Ren’s clean eyes seemed unable to read any of Temar’s feelings.

His worry, his concern, his fear of what was about to happen......

“Ren. I have something to tell you.”

“......What is it? Is it important? You can tell me after we eat.”

“We’re late,” Ren said, pulling at Temar’s hand, but instead Temar pulled Ren’s arm back. At the rough grip, a groan finally escaped Ren’s mouth.

“I’m sorry.”

Only then did Temar notice the reddened wrist, flinch in shock, and let go. Then he looked at Ren with a helpless expression.

As if asking Ren to do something about him.

A grown man with a huge body made of armor-like muscle, wearing an expression like an abandoned child......

A face that looked as if he were trembling in terror of something.

His long-grown hair covered his eyes, and his gallant appearance seemed like something that belonged only to a time long past. Temar looked weak and powerless. Like he might collapse at any moment.

Watching him, the attendant was suddenly afraid.

Nothing had been made clear about Heroes. But the authority they wielded was extremely dangerous, unknown, and carried the risk of going out of control. The servants of the royal castle received basic instruction on Heroes as soon as they entered service. It was Giselle’s order. The fact had been forgotten, since the Heroes did not stay in the castle long and had been scattered for more than a year, but now it flashed sharply through the attendant’s mind.

The attendant kept watching Temar, poised as if ready to run. Ren glanced at the attendant, whose Adam’s apple trembled as he barely swallowed, then abruptly grabbed both of Temar’s hands.

Ren’s face was perfectly calm.

A peaceful face. Because of the makeup layered over him, his face looked just like a doll’s. As he quietly stared at Temar without any particular expression, the attendant felt a sudden chill, as if he were looking at a beautifully crafted doll. While he was still fiercely debating whether he should run to call Giselle, Ren finally opened his mouth.

“Brother.”

His eyes, wiped clean of emotion, were so clear and spotless they looked like glass jewels.

Those bright eyes, which held a summer forest, now reflected only Temar and the portrait hanging behind him. In those mirror-like eyes, there was himself, trembling pitifully.

Ren, dressed in expensive fabrics and ornaments, looked like a machine person.

Temar abruptly reached out and clasped Ren’s cheek. His large hand covered Ren’s cheek and touched his neck. That faint warmth was little different from a machine person’s, but the carotid artery beating strongly beneath his hand proved that Ren was a living human being.

What was he so afraid of?

Ren was here before him, alive and breathing, moving.

“Brother. You don’t have to say anything.”

“.......”

How could he say Temar did not have to say anything, when he did not even know what Temar was going to say?

Temar could not know exactly what Giselle would say. But it would not be pleasant. All he had done was bow his head to Giselle’s words that this was an unchangeable matter of the greater good, and that Ren’s safety would be guaranteed. Giselle had said nothing else. What he told Ren would probably also come only after Temar left the royal castle.

If Ren refused what the royal castle wanted from him. Temar...... perhaps Temar might take Ren and run.

His loyalty to Ragniel and his affection for the land Ren stood upon held him back. The sliver of reason he had left stopped Temar’s thoughts from branching any further. That was why Temar had not pressed Giselle with more questions. Giselle must have known him well enough not to tell him.

But he could no longer bear it.

“Why?”

Temar bit hard into his lip. He bent his huge body down as far as he could. As he stepped close to Ren, the gaze revealed between strands of hair stared at him like fire. With eyes like a blaze that would burn itself out in the middle of the night and leave only ashes by morning.

“Why don’t you ask anything, Ren?”

The hand that had held Ren’s cheek slid down and gripped his shoulders.

“Why? Why don’t you ask your brother anything? Why......!”

The shout he had swallowed down finally spilled from his mouth.

“Ren, tomorrow, I......”

Temar poured out the words like a burst dam, without even trying to collect them. If Ren showed even the slightest dislike, he would take him and run this instant. He did not know what would happen afterward, but for even one moment, he would live entirely for Ren alone. That would be good. That would be best. Taking Ren, taking his younger brother. Anywhere would do. A small shack, the endless sea, a red desert where they might be burned to death by the sun, it did not matter. If he could be alone with his brother, untouched by interference or threats from anyone, Temar would gladly throw away everything he had. Even if the sunlight burned all the skin from his body, even if he drowned in seawater.

Temar could give Ren everything he had.

Even his own life and honor.

But Ren did not allow him to continue.

At the soft, damp sensation against his arm, Temar had to release the strength from the hands gripping Ren’s shoulders, despite that powerless touch.

His arms dropped with a helpless thud, as if falling.

This time, Ren held his thick forearm. The faint warmth he had felt when holding Ren’s cheek covered Temar’s arm.

“Don’t.”

“.......”

Whether Ren had said “don’t do it” or “don’t say it,” Temar could not remember. He tried to hold on to the afterimage of that voice scattered like fog, but it was useless. Only the word he had heard clearly, “anything,” repeated in his head as if striking him.

“Excuse me.”

The attendant flinched in surprise at Ren’s call. He had been pretending not to look, staring instead at the portrait hanging behind the two of them, and now he barely turned his eyes back and answered with a stammer.

Even from that brief glimpse, he could tell there was nothing ordinary about the brothers’ story.

Looking at the attendant’s embarrassed face, Ren asked with an utterly calm expression.

“Are we very late?”

“W-well......”

The attendant hesitated, unable to answer clearly. Ren let go of Temar’s hand and came close, right in front of the attendant. When that beautiful face entered his field of vision, the attendant flinched and pulled his upper body back. Looking at the attendant in that awkward half-bent posture, Ren opened his mouth.

“Five minutes. We’re already late anyway, so please wait just five more minutes.”

“......A-all right. This really shouldn’t be......”

“And scissors.”

“Pardon? Scissors?”

The attendant looked at Ren in confusion, checking whether he had heard correctly. 𝘧𝘳𝘦ℯ𝓌𝘦𝒷𝘯𝑜𝑣𝘦𝓁.𝒸𝘰𝓂

“Yes.”

Ren nodded. Then he asked about an empty room and dragged Temar inside without answering him when he asked what he was planning to do. Soon, the attendant brought scissors at a quick trot, and Ren sent him back out of the room while listening to his plea that it really had to be exactly five minutes.

Around the time the attendant, worried about what would happen if a furious scolding came down, was anxiously pacing back and forth in front of the room, the door opened precisely as the second hand of the clock pointed to the next number.

Hup.

The moment the attendant saw Temar, he swallowed his breath and guided the two of them to the banquet hall.

He forced himself to walk, putting strength into the tips of his toes so he would not turn around and look back.

***

The first thing that greeted them was the blinding light of the chandelier.

Light emphasizing splendor and majesty to the point of stabbing the eyes shattered and poured down over the banquet hall.

The goddess statues placed at each corner reflected the chandelier’s light and shone white.

The banquet hall was dark, and yet bright.

Where the chandelier’s light reached, it was excessively bright. Where the light failed to touch, it was dim.

The long table stood on the deep green carpet beneath it, and beside the nobles seated without a single gap between them, attendants stood one by one to assist with the meal.

Boom.

With a heavy sound, the banquet hall doors closed behind them. Only now did Ren see knights standing in the dark places near the pillars throughout the room. Standing without even the sound of breath, they looked at first glance like mere decorations. Their silver armor reflected the chandelier’s light and stabbed at the eyes.

Before those silent men, the attendant moved forward, trying hard to hide his tension. Barely suppressing the urge to flee, he announced the entrance of the Hero Temar and his younger brother.