For some strange reason, he could not look Jaelin straight in the eye, so Lionel lowered his gaze and rubbed the surface of the sofa meaninglessly. He did not even register what words were spilling from his mouth.
“Jaelin, stay here just a few more days before you go.”
“B-but……”
“You haven’t fully recovered yet. Hmm? You can do at least that much for me, can’t you?”
At Lionel’s face, which darkened in an instant, Jaelin reluctantly nodded. After hesitating for a moment, Jaelin called out to Lionel.
“Y-Young Master.”
“Yes?”
Jaelin’s intermediate rune textbook was suddenly thrust before Lionel. It was the worn and tattered rune textbook Lionel had returned to Jaelin.
“Why this……?”
“I-I just wanted to give it to you. I’ve r-received so many gifts from you, Young Master…… and th-this is the only thing I c-can give.”
Lionel stared blankly down at the book, then reached out and took it.
He was overjoyed that it was not a new book, but the old, worn one Jaelin had cherished so dearly.
“Thank you.”
Lionel did not know then. What this book meant to Jaelin.
And that autumn, Lionel left for the capital. It was at his father’s suggestion—that he might consider formally learning how to handle mana.
He truly did not want to part from Jaelin. But Lionel wanted to become strong. He never wanted to repeat what had happened that day in the pouring rain.
That moment when he had to stand there helplessly, knowing Jaelin would be hurt, was too horrifying. He wanted to become strong enough to protect Jaelin.
With that single resolve, Lionel left the Eduard estate.
There were days that were torturously hard. On such days, he poured mana into the doll Jaelin had given him and watched the fireball rise into the sky and burst.
‘Someday I’ll invite Jaelin to the townhouse in the capital. And then we’ll definitely go see the fireworks I promised her.’
But Lionel’s resolve was pushed aside by the fierce reality and forgotten.
Studying the sword, building the qualifications to become a duke—each day passed in a blur. He had not a moment of leisure to look back.
Even the letters he had faithfully written gradually grew further apart.
Ten summers passed. At a young age, ten years is a span long enough to change an entire life.
In Lionel’s memory, Jaelin gradually faded.
The immature feelings of his boyhood withered helplessly with the passing of time.
The heart that had come on like a midsummer downpour, drenching him completely, had dried up as if it had never been.
Without ever realizing what that feeling was, what kind of feeling it was.
It was a clumsy, young infatuation—so young that he did not even know the world called it love.
Without knowing that the other person still could not forget, still ached and suffered.
It simply became a memory of one hot summer day, passing by in a single moment.
***
When Jaelin first saw the Young Master, she thought he was not a living person.
Would the angel statue of the Great Bernel Cathedral, praised as the pinnacle of beauty that humans could realize, be like this?
But young Jaelin, who had never even stepped on the shadow of the great cathedral, could not know such a thing.
The figure she had thought was a sculpture slowly raised its head.
When the golden eyes, as if forged from melted brilliant summer sunlight, revealed themselves, Jaelin felt a distant shock as if she had been struck on the back of the head.
The boy before her was not a sculpture standing still, endlessly enduring the passing years. He was a person through whom moving, speaking life flowed.
The overflowing brilliance, the pounding thrill—it was dazzling. It felt as if her eyes would go blind from the beauty.
In the shock, everything in her head burned white and crumbled to pieces.
She did not remember how she behaved after that. When she came to her senses, Jaelin had already left that room.
They said he was a noble young master. Even to Jaelin, who knew nothing of the world, he looked the part.
But Jaelin thought those beautiful eyes looked terribly lonely. Even though he was a young master who had grown up in a lavish mansion without lacking anything.
Perhaps that was why. The reason Jaelin could not take her eyes off Lionel.
All Jaelin hoped was that, while she had been dazed, she had not been rude to the Young Master as the servant had warned her beforehand.
After that, once a week, Jaelin faithfully met the Young Master. It was a happy time.
The Young Master did not torment her the way her orphanage peers did.
He did not snatch her book and throw it, sneering that she was a snob reading an intermediate rune textbook. He did not mock her as a fool who could not even speak properly and imitate her.
When she received the fountain pen as a gift from the Young Master, she felt so happy she thought she might fly. It was too precious an object for her to use, so merely looking at it made her happy.
Jaelin tucked the fountain pen inside her pillowcase and took it out to look at from time to time. Just touching the delicately carved floral patterns and the sparkling gem made her heart flutter.
But happiness did not last long. She ended up having the fountain pen discovered by Beth, an orphanage peer who shared her room.
“Hey, stutterer. What’s that? Hand it over.”
Beth, roughly shoving Jaelin, tried to snatch the fountain pen.
“N-no. Y-you can’t.”
Jaelin dodged Beth’s grab, hid the fountain pen against her chest, and shrank back.
Beth, grasping at empty air, gritted her teeth in fury.
“You little—!!”
Beth, much larger than Jaelin, seized Jaelin by the hair.
At the pain of her hair being torn, tears trickled from Jaelin’s eyes.
While Jaelin struggled, Beth snatched the fountain pen.
“This is a fountain pen, isn’t it?”
“I-it’s mine. G-give it back.”
Jaelin lunged at Beth to get the fountain pen back, but she tumbled helplessly under the force of Beth’s shove.
“Wow. This looks super expensive.”
Beth, turning the fountain pen over and examining it, let out an exclamation.
“What the—isn’t the thing on the cap a real gem? If I sell this, I could make some serious money. Hey! S-st-stutterer. Give this to me.”
Beth mimicked Jaelin’s stammering and waved the fountain pen before Jaelin’s eyes.
“N-no! I-it’s mine.”
“It doesn’t suit you anyway. A gutter rat like you, this kind of thing? If I sell this and make a nice sum, I’ll toss a little your way too.”
Beth gazed at the fountain pen in her hand as if bewitched and giggled.
While Beth was distracted by the fountain pen, Jaelin scrambled to her feet and rammed into Beth with all her might.
With a heavy, thudding sound, Jaelin and Beth tumbled across the floor.
“You crazy bitch!”
A sharp, shrill scream burst from Beth’s mouth.
Beth’s hand seized Jaelin’s hair and shook it violently.
“I-it’s mine. G-give it back.”
As Jaelin and Beth rolled and wrestled, a stern shout rang out from behind.
“What is all this commotion!”
The orphanage director, Sallindwe, had already entered the room.
Sallindwe swept her piercing eyes over Jaelin and Beth tangled together on the floor.
“What kind of uncivilized behavior is this! Get up this instant.”
At the director’s shout, Jaelin and Beth rose hesitantly, but neither let go of the hand holding the fountain pen.
Sallindwe, spotting what the two held in their hands, narrowed her eyes.
“What is that? Bring it here.”
Beth, glancing around nervously, irritably released the fountain pen from her hand.
Jaelin, who had been clutching the fountain pen to the very end, reluctantly held it out to the director. Sallindwe, taking the fountain pen, furrowed her brow and glared at Jaelin.
“Where did this come from?”
“Th-the Young Master g-gave it to me. Th-the Young Master of the place I g-go to every week.”
“You mean the Young Master of the Eduard ducal household?”
“Y-yes.”
“So why did you two fight? Beth, you tell me.”
Beth, shooting a fierce glare at Jaelin, grumbled.
“I asked to borrow it just once to try it, and she wouldn’t give it to me at all.”
“Beth, as punishment for causing a disturbance, you will be in charge of cleaning the girls’ restroom for a month. And Jaelin, you come with me.”
“D-Director!”
Beth’s voice, full of injustice, rang out, but Director Sallindwe paid it no mind and took Jaelin to the director’s office.
“You rat-like thing, instead of being grateful for the grace of the Duke who sponsors you, you steal?”
“I d-didn’t s-steal it.”
“Then do you think I would believe that the Eduard heir gave such a luxury item to you? Do you even know how much this costs?”
“I d-don’t.”
“A thing like you couldn’t buy a single gem on this pen even if you worked your whole life!”
“B-but I r-really didn’t steal it. I c-can swear it. If you j-just ask the Young Master……”
“Do you think I can’t ask him just because you say that? Learning nothing but wickedness—tsk. Get out now.”
“Th-then the f-fountain pen, can I k-keep it until then……”
“You really are impossible. How could I trust you and give this to you? I’ll verify the facts with the ducal household, and if your words are true, I’ll return it, so don’t be a nuisance and get out this instant!”
After that incident, Jaelin never saw the fountain pen again. She went to the director several times to get it back, but all she received was harsh verbal abuse.
In the end, Jaelin had to give up on the gift the Young Master had given her.
The paper and ink she had received from the Young Master were taken by Beth.
Beth, angry that she could not have the fountain pen, had rummaged through Jaelin’s belongings and mattress and stolen the paper and ink she had hidden away.
Still, Jaelin had her rune textbook. Though the cover had been stained and ruined by Beth’s venting, the tattered intermediate rune textbook was something of no value to them.
Clutching the book, Jaelin curled up on the bed and lay down. It was all right. She had runes. No one could take this from her.
