~Chapter 12~
“Wow, Father, look at this!”
Void held up the gold-bordered card as if it were a treasure.
The bug-chewing look on Uncle’s face while watching that was priceless…
“If you liked it that much, why didn’t you buy it earlier?”
When I asked casually, Void turned his head.
“This was only sold in the capital for a limited time. You can’t get it in the North.”
“You could’ve just written to the duke and asked him to buy it.”
“As if I could say something like that…”
His white cheeks turned a little red.
“I told him I wanted to become a great knight, so if I said I wanted something like this… it’d sound too childish… disappointing…”
He mumbled so quietly I could barely hear.
“Hm?”
“Nothing!”
Void neatly stacked the cards and stood up.
“Anyway, thanks for this. I’m not someone who really likes games like this.”
Liar.
“But since my little sister gave it to me, I have no choice but to accept it!”
Puffing out his chest, Void stood in front of me.
“So, do you want anything in return? Just say it.”
“Hmm, I’d like some alone time right now.”
“Alone time? Of course I can give you that.”
With a mock mature face, Void ruffled my hair.
“Then tomorrow, play this card game with me.”
“And if I say no…”
His sharp eyes flicked over to me.
Of course, it wasn’t threatening at all, so I just grinned.
“I’ll play, I’ll play.”
At that moment, Void stared straight at me.
“But your smile…”
“Hm?”
“It really looks like…”
A strange glint flashed in his innocent violet eyes.
“A girl…?”
I froze stiff.
“Well, of course not.”
What is with this kid’s intuition?
Too flustered, I kicked Void out right then and there.
The next morning.
I woke up feeling light and refreshed, like I had just slept on a cloud.
“Ahhh. I slept so well.”
“Seems like it.”
“Ah, you scared me!”
Uncle Leviathan was slouched on the fancy sofa like a pile of laundry.
“What are you doing here this early in the morning?”
“It’s not morning, it’s afternoon.”
“Huh?”
Afternoon? Did I sleep that long?!
I rushed to the window to check the sun.
“….”
The sun was just rising in the east.
“Hey! Why did you lie!”
Uncle chuckled like a lazy local loafer.
He was dressed in a simple tunic. Sure, people say fashion is completed by the face, but how does he still shine dressed like that?
‘Looks really do everything.’
I tugged at my dull silver hair in the mirror for no reason.
“What are you doing?”
“Nothing.”
“Put on slippers. Your feet are cold.”
“Yes, sir.”
I slipped my feet into the small slippers he pushed toward me.
Uncle was tossing and catching an apple in the air.
“Aren’t you busy? Usually, a duke just back from a long trip would be swamped.”
“Well… I am busy.”
With a flick, his quick hand caught the apple and set it on the table. His sharp violet eyes fixed on me.
“You look fine.”
“…?”
I tilted my head, not understanding.
He stood up lightly and turned his back. He looked like he was about to leave, so I quickly asked,
“Where are you going?”
“To work.”
“What about breakfast?”
“…? The chef will bring it to you?”
“No, I mean your breakfast…”
He raised his eyebrows, a flicker of awkwardness in his eyes.
“Ah, I’m going to be too busy for a while to eat with you.”
The dark circles under his eyes said it wasn’t a lie.
“You can eat with Void. Don’t like that?”
“No, it’s not that.”
“When I’m less busy, let’s eat together.”
“Okay.”
“If anyone bothers you, write down their name.”
He smiled in the morning light—an evil smile closer to a villain than a hero.
“I’ll make them cry.”
“My lord.”
As the butler approached, Leviathan lifted his head while strolling lazily down the hall.
“Will you inspect the fortress first, or the Regilus Mountain outpost? There’s also the knight order’s work, and the financial documents you should review…”
The work he hadn’t touched during his absence was piling up.
“Documents first.”
After a moment’s thought, Leviathan chose to shut himself in the office.
The butler raised his brows in surprise.
“You usually leave the reading to others.”
“….”
He didn’t answer.
Saying he didn’t want to leave Rubian alone wasn’t something that came easily—it didn’t feel like something that suited him.
‘Was she okay last night?’
Leviathan had stayed in Rubian’s room overnight.
After arriving at the castle and finishing urgent matters, it had been nearly dawn. He had gone quietly to her room and found her fast asleep, breathing softly.
‘She adapts well.’
He swallowed a laugh.
She could sleep anywhere, wasn’t picky about food, and rarely threw tantrums.
She seemed to like baths, but if the situation didn’t allow, she didn’t fuss.
Last night, Rubian had slept peacefully.
That fact gave Leviathan a certain sense of relief.
On the way from the capital to the duchy, she hadn’t slept well at all.
“Don’t go there…”
“You can’t… go there…”
Whatever she dreamed of, she sweated and tossed miserably.
Even the stiff knights, like Leon, had been anxious watching her.
‘What kind of nightmare keeps haunting you?’
Leviathan’s gaze darkened.
Rubian didn’t seem aware she was having nightmares.
In the morning, she would always get up smiling and wander around as usual.
He wasn’t sure if that was good or bad.
But it weighed on his mind.
‘Is she still dreaming of when the village was attacked?’
Her occasional sleep-talk was oddly different, though.
“I… if only I could…”
“I’ll go… I will…”
What could a child possibly have needed to do in that village?
His brow furrowed deeply.
‘She said she’s a healer’s child.’
Rubian avoided talking about her past, and Leviathan was careful not to touch on what might hurt her.
‘Should I wait until Rosetta returns?’
After all, he was rough and clumsy with people.
Why Rubian followed him, he had no idea.
‘And with Void…’
He sighed.
He had only recently started making eye contact and talking with Void. It was more Void’s friendliness dragging him along than his own effort.
Even so, they were still awkward. With his eldest in the south, it was even worse.
‘This is difficult.’
He didn’t know where to start.
“My lord, a letter from Lady Rosetta.”
“From Rose?”
Leviathan took the letter.
It was an answer to the question he had sent earlier from the capital, asking if they could take Rubian in.
yes, good
It was a simple “yes” that made him laugh.
After losing her unborn child in a carriage accident, Rose had begun actively caring for children with nowhere to go.
She couldn’t adopt them all, so she started by sponsoring them.
That’s how she met Liam and Void—both brought in because of her.
Leviathan had neither strongly objected nor shown great enthusiasm, simply watching quietly.
So when he suddenly declared he’d bring Rubian home, it was only natural she’d have questions.
‘She’ll ask me when she gets back.’
He smiled faintly, sensing her intentions.
“Hm?”
There was a postscript hidden under his finger.
You’re not a girl, are you?
The careful handwriting made his eyes darken.
He had buried his dead child with his own hands.
It had rained so much that day, and the tiny form in his hands had been so cold. He remembered it all as if it were yesterday.
“…Ah.”
His mood sank into the mud. The air around him grew tense.
This wasn’t good.
He forced himself to calm down, shaking his head to erase the thoughts.
“When is Rose returning?”
“In about a month.”
“Alright.”
He started walking again.
Sunlight poured in through the tall windows as he walked the corridor.
He thought of Rubian’s face that morning, freshly awake.
He remembered how she tugged at her silver hair like she didn’t like it, and chuckled.
‘Such a temper.’
The castle servants had talked all day about her shining hair—how lovely and mysterious it was.
Leviathan thought her blue eyes were prettier, but the hair was beautiful too.
‘For me to call a boy beautiful or pretty…’
Words he never used slipped out when he thought of Rubian, making him smile again—
Then he stopped abruptly.
“What’s wrong, my lord?” the butler asked.
He felt a strange sense of unease.
“It’s not morning, it’s afternoon.”
“Huh?”
It had been just a casual tease.
“Hey! Why did you lie!”
Instead of looking at a clock, Rubian had run straight to the window.
As if it were second nature.
Reading the sun or moon’s position to tell the time—
‘Like a soldier moving through a battlefield…’
For a moment, an unknown wave washed over him.
