Luman had been rambling on and on, but after about ten minutes, he finally realized that the only thing Temar was holding was a single portrait, and looked genuinely dumbfounded.

“Seriously. That’s all?”

“Looks like it.”

“Hm. Crystal orb.”

When Luman held out a hand, Temar pulled the crystal orb from his clothes and tossed it over.

“So you do carry this around all the time.”

“Better than leaving it behind because it’s a hassle.”

Temar let out a faint snort of laughter.

“Hmph. This is my last time, remember? Now I can finally live without having to look at those exhausting faces ever again.”

There wasn’t a trace of lingering attachment in his voice.

“Luman.”

“What?”

Luman, pouring mana into the crystal orb, answered without even looking at Temar.

“Ren has to come too.”

“Ren?”

Luman echoed the name back—“Ren?”—then looked up.

“You’re saying you’re bringing your brother? When people told you to bring him before, you refused flat-out. What changed?”

“I don’t think I can leave him behind.”

Temar’s gaze stayed on the rabbit doll for a long time, worn down to threads and patched up in places so many times it was barely holding together.

“I don’t care either way, but even if he goes to the capital, it’s not like he’ll get to stay with you there. He’ll be lucky if he doesn’t get scammed.”

He muttered it under his breath. As if people in the capital were the kind of people you could trust.

Temar shook his head.

“I’m not planning to take him into the palace.”

“Then?”

“It’d be better to get a townhouse in the capital and have him stay there.”

“...If that’s your plan, then why bring him at all?”

The disbelief was obvious on Luman’s face. He clicked his tongue, and at that moment, the sound of ragged breathing cut through the room.

“I’m not going!”

“Ren?”

Who knew when he’d come out, but Ren was standing there with his fists clenched, practically shaking.

“Ren, come with me. You said you wanted to go with me before.”

Ren’s eyes flew wide.

Like he’d never, ever expected Temar to say something like that.

His clenched fists trembling, Ren sucked in a rough breath and shouted.

“How many years ago are you talking about?! Back when I kept saying I wanted to go, you didn’t even pretend to listen!! So what the hell is this now?! What are you even doing?!”

“Ren! Lower your voice. What are you doing in front of a guest?”

“Whoa. I’m fine.”

Luman quietly stepped back.

“You said you quit!! But now you’re going again? Why do you have to?! You promised! You said you wouldn’t go anywhere! You said you wouldn’t leave!!”

Ren screamed until his voice went hoarse almost immediately.

“That’s why I’m saying come with me, Ren.”

Ren’s face flushed bright red. He looked like he was about to explode.

“Temar, I don’t think that’s the problem here.”

Even Luman’s jab didn’t seem to help. Temar looked like he still didn’t understand.

“Ren. We can just go together. Right?”

Trying not to get angry, Temar let out a sigh and spoke as if soothing him.

It was such a gentle voice. Which only made it worse, like it jabbed straight into Ren’s heart.

Barely staying upright, breathing like he might collapse any second, Ren kept shouting through his ruined voice.

“You’ve never once stayed by my side when I wanted you to!! You promised you’d quit, and that was all a lie too, wasn’t it?! You think we can just go together and that fixes it? I hate it! I hate it!! What am I to you? Less than a stranger! I hate it, I’m not going, if you want to go that bad then go by yourself!!”

“Ren! What kind of mouth is that? What do you mean, you’re not going?!”

“...!”

Tensed to the breaking point, yelling himself raw just so he wouldn’t fall over, Ren suddenly spotted the container sitting on the table and flinched in shock before bolting toward it.

Seeing Ren rush at him out of nowhere, Temar awkwardly spread both arms.

He’s going to hug me, right? Yeah. There’s no way Ren really doesn’t want to come with me.

Temar relaxed without even realizing it.

But Ren wasn’t running toward Temar’s open arms.

He was running toward the table.

Ren snatched up the container and clutched it to his chest, his shoulders trembling violently.

“Ren?”

“Uh, wait, was that something you cared about? It tasted awful, but—”

“Why the hell are you eating this?!”

“...Ren.”

As if he were shielding something precious, Ren hugged the container tighter—and at last, tears started pouring from his eyes.

“I’m not going! I wouldn’t go with you if I died!”

“Ren!”

He wouldn’t go?

This was the first time in his life Temar had ever heard Ren reject him—heard him say he didn’t want him.

At first he’d thought it was just sulking, but the way Ren was fighting it with everything he had made it clear he meant it.

He hates me that much? Enough that he doesn’t even want to share a cup of tea with me?

Temar froze, dazed with shock, while Luman—suddenly forced to watch a brothers’ fight he’d never asked for—covered his mouth so he wouldn’t burst out laughing.

From a third party’s point of view, it just looked childish and cute.

No, more than that—

Ren’s tear-streaked face was what looked cute.

“I hate you most of all, brother!!”

After throwing out one last childish, adorable line, Ren glared at Temar with eyes full of resentment—

and bolted out of the shack.

Ah, of course, before he left, he made sure to glare at Luman hard enough to burn holes through him for delivering that vicious letter.

His eyes practically screamed, I’m going to kill you.

“Whew.”

Luman let out a whistle.

“He’s got one hell of a temper.”

The body was so absurdly thin it might have gone unnoticed entirely—if Ren’s eyes hadn’t been so vicious.

That body’s way too thin. Come to think of it, is he skinnier than other kids his age?

But Luman didn’t get to linger on the thought.

Because Temar called his name with the darkest expression in the world.

“Luman. What did I do so wrong?”

“Pff.”

Enough that he didn’t even want to share a cup of tea.

Temar made a bitter face and drank down the tea still left in the kettle.

It was unbelievably, unbearably bitter.

Just like how Temar felt right then.

***

My brother’s an idiot.

Meanwhile, Ren ran down the hill with tears spilling nonstop from his eyes, his face twisted with misery and rage.

When I thought I couldn’t fucking take it anymore, that was just me lashing out in the heat of the moment. They didn’t have to steal my brother over it!

My eyesight already sucked, and with tears pouring out on top of that, I could barely see where I was going.

Then someone grabbed me hard in the middle of my run.

“Ah! What the hell?!”

Rubbing my throbbing arm, I looked up—and saw the baker’s son, the one I’d gotten into it with earlier that day. The asshole who was always picking fights with me.

His face—one eye blackened from my fist—was actually pretty satisfying to look at, but I wasn’t in the mood to appreciate it right now.

“Get lost!”

“Cocky little shit. I let you get a few hits in and now you think you can’t see straight, huh?”

“I said get lost!”

The bastard looked over my face and smacked his lips.

My swollen, messed-up eyes apparently looked pretty tempting to him.

Then he shoved his face closer.

“Your brother’s not here right now anyway. I know everything!”

The sneering hand of that bastard reached not for my stick-thin body, but for the one place on me that had at least a little flesh—my ass.

“You motherfucker!”

“Heh heh heh heh. You’re two whole years younger than me, so where the hell do you get off acting up?! Your brother isn’t a hero anymore, right? Which means there’s no reason for anyone to go easy on you now!”

Gross!! Aaaagh!!

His fingers touched my ass.

My teeth slammed together.

I was already furious. This worked out perfectly.

I’m gonna tear his fucking ears to shreds.

If it came down to fists, I’d win. If it came down to temper, I’d win even harder. But when it came to weight or brute strength, I couldn’t compare to the baker’s son, whose thick arms hauled sheet pans around all day long. With my arm already caught, the only way I’d get free was if I bit him so hard all his teeth fell out.

But before my teeth could reach his ear—

“Urgh...”

Foam spilled from his mouth, and he collapsed on the spot.

Thud!

Dust puffed up over his fallen body.

When I looked up, I saw a man whose eyes had completely snapped.

“Temar! Get a grip! He’s a civilian!!”

“I’ll kill him.”

Temar.

My brother.

“Brother...?”

What the hell did I just see?

The scene that had flashed «N.o.v.e.l.i.g.h.t» past in an instant replayed itself in my head.

So... that bastard touched my ass, and then my brother suddenly appeared in front of me like a flash, grabbed that asshole by the throat with one thick hand. If Luman hadn’t followed Temar and struck him away, that bastard would already be dead.

“I’ll kill him.”

“Temar! Te-mar—!”

Luman clamped down on his arm with crushing grip strength.

“You want to become a murderer that badly? You’re the one saying you’re quitting being a hero, so do you not get what happens if you kill a civilian?”

“......”

It looked like blue heat haze was rising off my brother’s fist.

Even with just my hand lightly gripping his forearm, I could feel it—my arm tingled from the force of it. Violent and cold and crackling—

“If you kill someone, you’ll be chained to the kingdom for the rest of your life. Forget living alone with your brother. That dream dies right here.”

“Brother!”

At Luman’s suddenly level voice, it looked like a spark returned to my brother’s eyes. The moment light came back into those dead, emotionless eyes—eyes like a killing machine’s—relief hit me so hard my knees nearly gave out. I shouted at him and threw my arms around him from behind.

“Get a grip, brother!! Why dirty your hands over a piece of shit that isn’t even worth killing? Just give me the knife and I’ll kill him myself! That guy’s right—if a hero gets civilian blood on his hands, he’s screwed!!”

“That guy? It’s Luman. ‘Luman.’ And wow, you really can say terrifying things with a completely straight face...!”

Luman muttered it like he was finally catching his breath. Then he looked down at the asshole on the ground like he was pathetic and nudged him a few times with his foot. The bastard was still unconscious, not making a sound.

Ugh, gross, white foam.

My brother was breathing out slowly, like he was trying to calm himself down. Luman stopped messing around with his foot and turned to look at me. He cut himself off mid-sentence and suddenly leaned his face close.

“You’ve got a nosebleed.”

“...! Ren!”

My brother instantly turned and grabbed my arm.