Translator: Effe and Nabi

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Chapter 26

It was because she had a feeling that Ellie would have been wrong if he had not entered this mansion. For a short period of time, it was a knight who guarded the home every time Marie slept in the mansion or returned late before Ellie came into the County.

From the moment she heard the words, the question was resolved as to why he had left Marie alone even though she hadn’t harmed the Young Master.

It was because he was ready to threaten her anytime.

Listening to Ellie’s story, it seems that the knight was a knight from the County, and he seemed to have entered the house before.

“How did that happen…”

Kentrail shouted, looking out in anger. He told the butler to bring the Captain of the Knights. Then, he looked back at her across from him.

“I’m sorry…Ellie… “

“How could that be because of the Count… and you haven’t even investigated if the knight is the real culprit.”

“Yes…”

The Count sighed. Even if he didn’t ask, his intuition was telling him that he was the culprit.

“I guess you already realized it wasn’t normal when the window broke like that.”

He briefly asked Marie how she knew. Thankfully, Brielle and Ellie weren’t anxious about the matter.

“The atmosphere of the mansion is so different from normal times. Ellie seems to feel suspicious, but the young master doesn’t seem to know yet. I’ll keep an eye as much as possible.”

“Thank you for always…”

“Don’t say that. I’m the nanny of the young master. So, it’s natural.”

Listening to Marie reassuring him, it felt as though someone would be watching for Brielle with him.

Yes, he wasn’t alone in protecting Brielle. Though he was sorry for giving her this responsibility, Kentrail was grateful.

The Captain of the Knights entered and the Count, who ordered the knight to be arrested immediately, went out to the knights’ training center.

***

Even though darkness came, the County was brightened by the torches held by the knights outside. As a result, Brielle couldn’t sleep. So, Marie was guarding with Ellie by his side, in case he would worry about what might happen.

“Why did the knights suddenly gather like that?”

“The Count says there’s training tonight.” Marie draped the curtains to prevent Brielle from looking out of the window as she spoke.

“But…the lights are too concentrated on one side for training…”

Even the young Brielle was still noticing the unusual situation outside.

“It’s because it hasn’t started yet.”

Brielle tilted his head to see if there was an unscrupulous corner despite Marie’s firm answer. When Ellie looked closely at her older sister like this, she noticed her worries and decided to bring up a different subject to distract instead.

“Come to think of it, I haven’t seen Master Jayden these days.”

“Oh…Jaden is banned from going out right now.”

“What?”

Marie thought back to the story she heard for the first time. She guessed Jayden had even been asked by the Count to refrain from visiting because the situation was still confusing right now. However, it was unexpected news that he was prohibited from going out.

“A letter came, I guess he had a fight with his sister… So, he got in trouble and couldn’t go outside for a while.”

“Ah…”

When Marie was away for a while, it seemed that one of the maids saw that the sender was Master Jayden and told Brielle that he had written a letter to him.

“Why did he fight?”

Ellie asked, lying next to Brielle. She reached out her hand, pulled a fluffy doll on the young master’s bed, and held it in her arms.

“They fight with each other to eat a lot because of chocolate.”

It was common at that age, but Marie laughed even in serious situations when she imagined Jayden, who seemed more mature than Brielle, fighting over chocolate with his sister.

“If I have a younger sibling, I will give it up unconditionally.” Then, Brielle approached and hugged her arm, said sadly.

If the Count marries, Brielle would have younger cousin siblings, but now, he has no lover, so Brielle wondered if it would be impossible for the time being.

“Would you like to have a younger sibling?”

When Ellie asked, the young master looked at her and spoke.

“Yes. Ellie is my older sister, but I don’t have a younger sibling.”

She asked Brielle again, who started to use the expression ‘older sister’ from a few days ago.[T/N: Brielle used to just call Ellie, ‘Ellie,’ Though, now he used the term older sister, which is awkward in English, but in Korean, the terms for older siblings vary depending on the speaker’s gender. ]

“Really…? Am I your older sister?”

“Isn’t that natural?”

At that time, she thought that the young master might have been swept away by the situation, but he seemed to really consider herself as his older sister. Ellie’s heart rose once again.

Marie felt difficult being in the middle. Since she is just the employee’s younger sister, she couldn’t let the relationship between Ellie and Brielle be more than that, and she couldn’t let him think of Ellie like a sister.

“Hehe. Thank you for telling me that.”

When she gazed at the sincerely delighted Ellie, Marie couldn’t possibly say from her mouth that Brielle shouldn’t call her that way.

In the end, when the two were a little bigger and became awkward, they had no choice but to make plans to reestablish the relationship at that time. This was because she thought that when they were in puberty, both of them would move away.

Fortunately, though, Brielle seemed to have forgotten about the knights gathering outside. Marie sighed, glancing out, out of Brielle’s sight.

‘Please. I hope it would be resolved well…’

Meanwhile, she thought back to the impression of the knight who watched her on the Count’s birthday… it was not that knight.

***

The Count glanced at the man kneeling before his eyes. He couldn’t see his face from his head bowing, but it was easy to guess who it was as he was a knight of his own family.

“Raise your head.”

The man, overwhelmed by his momentum, trembled his body and kept bowing his head. And so, one of the knights next to him raised his head with the tip of his sword.

As expected, Kentrail was right about the man. He hoped he was wrong, but his shaking eyes were telling Kentrail that he was the culprit.

“Your reason.”

“…”

“Yes, you wouldn’t have done anything like this if you were going to put it simply.”

He has worked in his family for the past five years, the faces of the knights who had trained while sweating in the training room together filled his mind. Kentrail felt the hope that he was not the culprit. However, it was futile as it was seen that everyone gave up on his appearance of not even denying it.

What made Kentrail even more upset was the thought of him harming Brielle and Ellie as he could be with them anytime, deceiving him.

“I will interrogate him.” Said the Captain of the Knights as he stepped forward.

Although several years have passed since Kentrail’s older brother died and the Count took over the family as a new lord, he always showed himself as the chancellor or the master of the house. That was why the Captain of the Knights thought that it was right for him to step up in this kind of work.

“No, I’ll do it.”

Nonetheless, the Count said otherwise, and when he met his eyes that were looking at him, he knew he was wrong.

Kentrail’s angry eyes were telling everything.

With the words, the Count lifted his head and looked at a place. The butler standing behind knew that it was the young master’s room.

Even though Brielle couldn’t smell the blood from where he was, he decided to pull the knight and took him to another place.

***

“Count.”

“Ah…”

As Kentrail entered the mansion, Marie, who put the two children to sleep, was out in the hallway.

“You weren’t sleeping yet?” He said while approaching her.

“Yes… I thought it would be better for me to stay awake.”

It may be more accurate to say that looking at the two children did not make her feel relieved, and she couldn’t fall asleep.

“He’s locked up, so you can be relieved.”

Whether he knew about Marie’s heart or not, Kentrail gently patted her shoulder once. As his warm warmth enveloped herself, Marie was able to relieve herself. Seeing her relaxed a little, Kentrail thought she must have been surprised at what had happened in the study. He felt sorry for her, who had to take care of the children.

“Sorry I didn’t get to ask then because I was very surprised. Did you get hurt when you fell to the floor that day?”

He gazed to inspect if there were any injuries urgently and asked if there were any places he missed earlier. It was a surprisingly friendly voice from someone like him, though neither of them noticed.

“Yes, I’m fine.”

However, he could see a red mark swept on Marie’s wrist, who waved her head to assure him that she was really all right.

“That’s not okay.”

He pulled her arm with his careful hand.

“Look. Go to the physician right away.”

“This is going to be gone soon. It doesn’t need a physician.”

Kentrail knew it, too, but her little wounds didn’t compromise with his reason. He recommended again but sighed at her firm answer. As Marie glanced at him, she quickly confessed what she wanted to say.

“Maybe there is a person behind him.”

“Yes, I guess so… But it’s up to me and the knights, so just leave it to us and go to sleep. Tomorrow, you’ll be tired when seeing Brielle and Ellie…”

It wasn’t the answer she wanted to hear. Marie wanted to ask more about the knight, but she was forced to nod her head softly at his anxious voice.

“The Count, too, come in and take a break. You’ll be busier from tomorrow.”

Seeing the tiredness on his face, it seemed right to let him go now.

“Yes…”

After Kentrail’s answer, the two went away, exchanging regrettable glances.

One of the times when the Count decided to look back, he could see Marie walking, looking forward. And when it was Marie’s turn to look back, it was already after the Count turned his gaze away.

***

The morning light tickled Brielle’s plump cheeks. Both cheeks were red, as if they were ripe fruit. The child’s hair curled up from the sweat he shed while sleeping.

Marie glanced at Brielle and stepped out of the room. The maids were cleaning in the morning as usual. Last night’s atmosphere all felt like a dream. Seeing this, she could see how well the Count was running the family. She also saw the butler, who was the most helpful, instructing employees nearby.

She approached him and said her greetings.

“Good morning.”

The butler looked behind her for the young master.

“He is still sleeping.”

Only then, the butler broke his expression, which was acting a little. Ellie witnessed the knight, and she was there when the window of the study was broken, so it was natural that Marie would have wanted to know the circumstances of the house better than anyone else.

“You must be tired, too.”

“The Count would have a harder time than me. Is there anything revealed last night?”

“I haven’t heard anything.”

She tried to conceal her disappointment, wondering if she could ever hear an update from the butler.

“Alright…”

“At times like this, please take better care of the young master.”

In the end, she had no choice but to turn away after the butler said so. Unfortunately, Marie had not learned anything from the butler.

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