CH 11

“Uh…”

How am I supposed to take this?

I agonized, rubbing my lower jaw with a serious face.

From the fact that he told me about his snake tattoo before, Liel never hides anything from me.

He didn’t even tell me that his noona was confessed to by a man.

‘He didn’t even want to talk about it?’

Knowing that, he must have not been okay.

“Lucy, Lucy.”

While contemplating over my worries for a long time, Liel called me with a more gloomy face than before.

“Are you mad that I didn’t tell Lucy?”

Seeing that his chin was shaking, I felt like he was about to cry soon.

I thought his tears have decreased a little these days, but it seems that his habit of crying has not completely gone yet.

“No…”

The problem is that it is me that wanted to cry today.

***

It was a rare day when Lucy did not visit the Duke of Marsen.

Liel waited for Lucy to come, just in case, and eventually reached the point where he went out to the main gate of the mansion.

The first thing that caught Liel’s eyes, who came out of the main gate, was Dioleta, who was being confessed to by a man he had never seen before.

“Young Lady Dioleta. I love you. On the premise of marrying me…….”

At that time, Liel was listening to the man’s confession, looking at his sister’s back with a blank face.

Love?

As soon as he heard the ticklish word, the first thing that came to Liel’s mind was Lucy.

When Lucy’s face came to mind, a blush came up at the end of Liel’s ear.

‘I like Lucy, too.’

Is it possible that the man’s “love” and his “like”, which is his feelings for Lucy, are the same?

Liel fiddled with his heated earlobes. The blush didn’t go away easily.

Far from subsiding, his blush reached the point where it spread throughout Liel’s face.

Before long, Dioleta’s voice was heard.

“I’m sorry. I’ve never thought of the young lord that way…….”

As if she would not give any room, Dioleta flatly refused the man.

The rejected man’s shoulders drooped down. Then he turned around and left before Dioleta.

Then, Liel, who was shy alone, came to his senses quickly.

‘Why is he just leaving?’

Liel opened his eyes wide as if he could not understand.

Just in time, Dioleta sighed heavily and turned around as well.

“L, Liel.”

As soon as Dioleta turned around, she found Liel standing like a rock and called him in a bewildered voice.

At the same time, Dioleta’s face turned bright red.

Liel slowly rolled his eyes and looked at his embarrassed sister.

“Liel, are you waiting for Lucy? Looking at the time, I don’t think she’ll come today…….”

Dioleta fanned his face with her hand. Even in this way, she wants to get through this situation quickly.

“Noona, why did that person give up so easily when he said he likes you?”

However, Liel did not understand his sister’s feelings.

“What?”

“……He went back as soon as noona refused.”

With incomprehensible eyes, Liel asked in a curt tone.

“If it was me…”

Liel’s eyes darkened.

“I would never give up easily.”

“Liel, that’s…….”

“That’s what it’s like to like someone.”

At least the Duke of Marsen did.

He followed Liel’s mother to the end, and refused to let her go.

“……?”

As if his thoughts were general, Liel’s voice was full of strong conviction.

“……there are people like that, but not everyone is like that.”

Dioleta shook her head and corrected Liel’s words.

“It varies from person to person. Liel.”

“……?”

“The way you deal with separation and the way you like others are different for each person.”

Dioleta said with a bitter smile.

“Liel, you like Lucy, right?”

“Yes..?.”

Liel’s facial muscles, stiffened by Dioleta’s question, quickly loosened.

Soon after, Liel blushed shyly.

Only then did Dioleta smile comfortably at the sight of her shy younger brother.

“Yes…”

Liel, who had hesitated for a long time, nodded his head, wiggling his fingers.

“I, it’s a secret to Lucy…….”

Liel shook his hand in a hurry just in case Dioleta tells Lucy.

“Lucy is different from me…….”

“Different?”

“Yes…….the way I like Lucy is different from how she likes me…….”

“…….”

For once, even Dioleta could not deny Liel’s words.

“When Lucy likes me, I’ll tell her then…….”

“Liel…”

Liel asked Dioleta again, red to his neck. Dioleta covered her mouth with both hands as she saw her brother’s cute appearance.

“If I try hard, Lucy will like me the same way, right?”

“Sure. I’m sure she will.”

Dioleta eventually couldn’t resist and took off her hand covering her mouth and stroked Liel’s head.

Liel’s expression, which was fierce, had already disappeared. Dioleta breathed a sigh of relief inside.

But that was just for a brief moment.

“I really hope so……. I don’t want to be hated by Lucy…….”

“Huh…?”

Dioleta stared blankly at her younger brother who said meaningless things.

Then, Liel closed his eyes and smiled brightly at her. It’s a smile that gives her a chill for some reason.

***

Yeah, it’s not really that ridiculous.

Liel sometimes gets lazy when talking about Dioleta. I thought this was a natural change that could be seen as he got older.

And no matter how much I go to and from the mansion every day, the two are family and live in the same house, it was natural that something that I didn’t know would happen.

Suddenly, I was lamenting about preventing the little brother from falling in love with his noona.

“Lucy, do you like flowers, too?”

Liel spoke to me when I was crushing the fruit peel that I had eaten with my hands with an unfair heart.

“What?”

I couldn’t hear because I was thinking about something else.

“Lucy, do you like flowers, too?”

Liel was kind enough to say it again.

“Flower?”

As soon as I heard the word flower, I remembered a bouquet of flowers in unnie’s arms.

I felt my anger rising.

Originally, I didn’t like or dislike flowers. But I thought I would hate flowers from now on.

“I don’t want to like it from now on…….”

I answered, crumpling the fruit peel. Unintentionally, there was conviction in my voice.

Liel blinked as if he didn’t know what to say, but he closed his mouth.

***

I turned 12 years old this year.

I went to see Liel steadily until I was 12, and if there was a strange atmosphere between Dioleta and Liel, I suddenly intervened.

Whenever that happened, Liel and Dioleta looked at me like I was a strange person.

To be honest, I was embarrassed and ashamed, but I held out with the thought of enduring it until unnie entered the academy.

That means there’s less than a year left.

***

It was when I was reading a book in LIel’s bedroom.

“Noona got another flowers.”

The owner of the room opened the door and came in, as I was wondering where he had gone.

At the same time, the words that came out of Liel’s mouth were enough to put me in a state of tension.

‘That flowers!’

I thought it was quiet these days, but it started again. I put down the book I was reading and quietly swallowed my dry saliva.

“I-is it from a woman……?”

It didn’t sound right.

It was kind of a struggle for me.

I always ask this ridiculous question to Liel whenever unnie is confessed to.

Of course, the answers from Liel were always consistent.

“No. A man gave it to her again this time.”

There was not even a smile on Liel’s face as he answered my question as if he were familiar with it.

Until two years ago, it was unimaginable for Liel to say this to me.

Since last year, Liel suddenly changed his attitude and began to report to me every time he saw his sister being confessed to.

I was rather relieved on that side, but Liel, who stared at me every time, felt a little burdensome.

At the same time as I turned 12 this year, Liel turned 13.

As if he had grown taller again, Liel’s fingers were longer than mine now.

And now Liel doesn’t cry at all. Thanks to this, the number of handkerchiefs that I always carry has decreased from two to one.

I have to wash my hands after eating cookies.

Also, he started calling Dioleta noonim, instead of noona. It’s been a long time since he started addressing her formally.

(t/n: noona (누나) and noonim (누님) both means older sister, but noonim is the formal form)

When LIel first called Dioleta noonim, I wondered if he was trying to appeal to her as a man.

He’s still as small as a bean! What kind of man is he trying to appeal for!

I was angry for a moment, and I asked Liel why he called her noonim.

Then Liel replied, with tears in his eyes, without knowing why I was angry, that it was because Mrs. Marsen had asked him to do it.

When I found out the truth, I didn’t just kneel, but I also had to pray until my hands and feet were worn out.