Chapter 88
Karha looked delighted as he made his vow to Chesha.
He smiled while inhaling the scent of the freesia flowers.
“Where did the flowers come from?”
“I picked them.”
“Really?”
Karha, who had been playfully teasing Chesha with the freesias, let out a huge yawn.
“Ah… I’m so exhausted.”
Bandaged from head to toe, he flopped back onto the bed.
Then he rolled onto his side to face Chesha.
Grinning mischievously, Karha patted the spot beside him with his palm.
“Baby, come here. Let’s sleep together with your big brother.”
Chesha’s eyes widened in surprise.
This was the first time Karha had said something like that.
Noticing her startled expression, Karha muttered a bit sheepishly.
“Kierne and Belzeon are always holding the baby whenever they get a chance to sleep.”
He said he’d been curious about it himself.
Kierne had always been in and out of Chesha’s bedroom as if it were his own.
And after the running-away incident, Belzeon had subtly started sleeping with Chesha quite often too.
As a result, Chesha rarely slept alone these days.
“I like that.”
In this situation, there was no reason she couldn’t fall asleep with Karha.
Besides, Karha had been through a tough ordeal today.
Deep down, she didn’t want to leave him alone anyway.
Chesha lay down facing Karha.
Karha pulled her into his embrace.
The smell of herbs and ointment made Chesha feel even sorrier for him.
Karha buried his face in Chesha’s hair and sniffed.
“The baby is so cozy, soft, and always… smells like flowers.”
I like that, he said slowly.
His voice was already half-asleep.
Even with his drowsy eyes, Karha continued whispering.
As if he couldn’t bear not saying it right now.
Whispering as though he couldn’t hold back without pouring out his overflowing affection.
“How did a baby like you end up in Basilian? When I first heard Kierne was bringing home a little sister, I wasn’t interested at all.”
Small and weak things feared Basilian.
He’d thought no matter what child they brought, it wouldn’t suit the name Basilian.
“But you… I liked you from the first moment I saw you. Baby, do you remember? You were looking down at us from the window.”
Chesha remembered too.
The moment the three Basilian brothers returned and they first met eyes.
At that time, Chesha felt like an arrow had pierced her heart.
It was an incredibly strange feeling.
“Mother said she had a fourth in her belly. If it had been born, it probably would have looked like you.”
Realizing what he’d said, Karha quickly added.
“I just mean that. Now, the baby is our…”
A bashful smile spread across his face.
“Family…”
His eyes slowly closed.
They twitched as if trying to lift the lids, but they wouldn’t budge, heavy as if weighted with stones.
With his eyes shut, Karha mumbled.
“Right, baby…”
With that final murmur, Karha fell completely asleep.
The soft sounds of his steady breathing filled the air.
Chesha quietly watched the sleeping boy.
Family.
That word stuck unusually in her ears and wouldn’t let go.
For no particular reason, Chesha repeated the short word over and over in her mouth.
It was a meaningless act.
But knowing it was foolish, Chesha still chewed on it thoroughly for a long time, savoring the sweet juice that seeped out.
Eventually, she drifted off to sleep following Karha.
It was a pleasant, restful slumber.
Slap!
A large hand struck the cheek without mercy.
The forceful swing whipped the face to the side, sending the body staggering back several steps.
But Theo quickly straightened his posture.
He stepped forward again before the marquis and bowed his head.
“What the hell can you even do right!”
Marquis Nemea bellowed thunderously.
His voice boiled with seething rage.
“You can’t even handle being a simple security captain…!”
A major uproar had erupted in the capital.
Prince Skaya had clashed with the Basilian count’s household and ended up captured as a heretic by the Holy Knights.
It wasn’t an incident a mere security captain could prevent.
But Marquis Nemea blamed it all on Theo.
He raged that Theo should have mediated somehow as the security captain.
“I’m sorry, Your Excellency.”
Theo couldn’t even meet his father’s eyes and just repeated the same words.
Because that was the only thing he was allowed to say.
Only after slapping his cheek three or four more times did the marquis’s anger subside.
He clicked his tongue in dissatisfaction and sat on the sofa.
“Quit being security captain for now. Go as an escort for the Basilian count’s household to the Little Saints’ Prayer Assembly.”
“…!”
“Build rapport with those Basilian bastards while you’re there, and report back regularly.”
Theo’s lips parted slightly.
He’d taken some pride in his work as security captain.
He’d just started getting close to the team members…
To abandon his duties and become an escort for the Basilian count’s household.
And “report” was just a word for it; in reality, it meant spy on them.
Theo wanted to refuse.
But he didn’t know how to phrase it so his father would be even a little less angry.
The Marquis Nemea, seated on the sofa, glared with flashing eyes.
“How the hell did that snake-like bastard butter up the emperor and the duke… No matter what I say, it doesn’t get through!”
He’d brought up several times that Count Basilian was suspicious, and that even the Holy Empire seemed to be watching him.
But people who were sharp in other matters turned into idiots when it came to anything involving Basilian.
Both the emperor and Duke Ivroiel blindly took Basilian’s side.
For Marquis Nemea, it was enough to drive him mad.
“I have to be the one to keep an eye on that bastard.”
Watching his father’s fury, Theo gave up on speaking out.
Nothing he said would get through anyway.
As always, he quietly obeyed.
“I’ll prepare.”
“Get out.”
“Yes.”
As Theo turned, the sound of dissatisfied tongue-clicking fell on his back.
Theo pretended not to hear and quietly left the room.
As he walked slowly down the hallway, he saw someone waiting from the opposite direction.
“…Theo.”
She had short blackish-brown hair and a sturdy, muscular build like Theo’s—a woman.
She was the heir to the Nemea marquisate and the eldest daughter, Sionel Nemea.
Unlike Theo, who was neither here nor there, Sionel was solidly establishing her position, known as the Lioness of Nemea or the Little Marquise.
She’d already secured her place in the capital’s political scene by taking the position of imperial knight commander.
Seeing this incomparably impressive person, Theo smiled faintly.
“Sister.”
Sionel looked at Theo’s swollen cheek.
Theo subtly covered it with his hand.
“I was inadequate at my security captain duties, so he got angry.”
“…I see.”
She said nothing to the words defending their father.
She simply took Theo to her room and applied an ice pack.
“Are you going as an escort for the Basilian count’s household?”
“Yes. They’re all good people, so the escort work should be enjoyable. I’m just worried I might be a burden to them.”
Theo muttered while rubbing the ice-filled pouch against his cheek.
“I’m… kind of stupid, after all.”
“I’ve told you time and again, Theo.”
Sionel scolded him with sharp eyes.
“You’re not stupid; you’re kind.”
“……”
“And your kind nature is something incomparable to anything else—the most valuable and precious thing.”
But no one else thinks that.
Theo swallowed the words rising inside him.
Everyone liked shiny, brilliant people.
Like his father said, someone stupid like him was just easy prey to be taken advantage of.
“I’m worried. Basilian, of all places…”
Sionel sighed as she looked at Theo, steadfast like a bear.
“Especially since the count is such a smooth talker.”
It was a polite way of putting it, but she was cursing the count.
She was concerned that Theo would be completely taken in by the count with his serpent’s tongue.
Especially given what happened when she briefly visited the east before.
Theo knew well what Sionel was worried about.
But this time, it felt a little different.
Recalling the boy and the baby he’d met, Theo spoke up.
“But, Sister. About the youngest daughter the Count of Basilian recently took in.”
