Then again, Cairn P. Everett wouldn’t ever come up with the idea of blackmailing someone.
“……”
“What the heck. You look like you have something to say.”
“……”
“You’re not gonna tell me? You’re my friend, but seriously, you frustrate me at times like this.”
“……”
“Ha. Damn, okay, fine. I’m saying this because it’s you. Give up on that thought.”
“I don’t understand the flow of this conversation.”
“Seriously, okay? I’m telling you because it’s you. You two won’t get along. Whether it be your personality or whatever… You, too. Don’t you absolutely hate nobles? I’m not calling her a poisonous witch for nothing.”
“……”
“That aside, you rarely ever express your emotions so it’s beyond easy for people to misunderstand you. Even if you two connect somehow, there’s definitely gonna be a problem later.”
“Is that not under the premise that we ‘connect somehow’.”
“What are you getting at?”
“Let’s just say that I heard it wrong. Everything I heard here today was just some nonsense from some auditory hallucinations.”
“What? Say something that makes sense, will you!”
Cairn exclaimed again, but Aldin’s gaze was not directed at him. Unable to say anything, Duke Everett’s son scratched his head and averted his gaze towards the sky outside the carriage window.
As the third young master was unable to speak his mind properly due to his poor communication skills, he tried somehow to continue saying what he wanted to say.
“Just. You can’t. In the first place, Sister… should at least meet someone who knows how to express their feelings properly.”
“So you do know how to use your head, huh.”
“Huh? What the hell do you see me for?! Anyway, I also can’t express my feelings honestly and I’ve got this kind of personality so I can’t say it properly, but at least… At least I know what I did wrong. Considering how ironclad she is, I know she won’t easily forgive me. So what I’m trying to say is— Ugh, I dunno. Anyway. She’s gotta meet a good person.”
“There’s quite a few things I’d like to correct, but alright, let’s leave it at that.”
“What are you saying?”
“……”
“Hey, hello?!”
As Aldin turned his gaze out the window, Cairn once again spewed fire from his mouth.
Those who had not been hurt would never be able to fully understand those who had been hurt. This was clear with just the fact that Cairn called Violet ‘poisonous’ was testament to this.
Of course, in his own way, he must have reached this conclusion by himself.
It could be said that Cairn was worrying about Violet out of the base minimum conscience one could have for their family.
However, the words he had uttered were devoid of the necessary consideration for the other person.
After Aldin organized his thoughts while looking at the clear, blue sky, he slowly opened his lips to speak.
“You can relax. What you’re worried about won’t happen.”
“So unless I misheard you earlier, you’re not thinking of confessing to her, right?”
“Whether it’s confessing or some other act, you don’t have to overwork your brain for such grand things. I… just want her to be happy.”
“I seriously can’t understand you.”
“I never asked you to understand.”
Aldin smiled.
Faced with that smile, Cairn thought,
What a terrible, terrible smile.
It was a smile that reminded him of Violet’s.
“You asked earlier, right? Why I like her despite my abhorrence for nobles.”
“Hah, damn, seriously. Yes, yes, I did.”
“She has instilled in me a goal I’d like to reach. So, I yearn for her, but it is a feeling that will not translate to anything more.”
Accompanied by a smile that would make any viewer’s heart plummet to the ground, Aldin said these words with grave significance.
The naïve Cairn was about to ask back, ‘If that’s not love, what is it then?’
However, he felt it instinctively.
No matter what he’d ask, Aldin would no longer answer any more questions here.
That short meeting—which the girl could not remember—was a turning point in the boy’s life.
The girl of those days was not here anymore. No longer did that terribly proud and arrogant person exist.
However, the yearning that had formed in the boy’s heart back then, which was now much too terrible of an emotion to still be called ‘yearning’, continued to weigh down the heart of the young man.
“I don’t know what you’re thinking, but fine. Well, let’s leave it at that.”
The carriages that carried different thoughts soon reached the art gallery.
* * *
Getting off his respective vehicle first, Cairn reached up to offer his escort. Violet just sharply looked at that hand and alighted the carriage on her own.
Cairn grumbled, feeling awkward for no reason. Violet was treating him as though he was just air. Then next, Mary alighted.
As though it was only natural, Aldin offered to escort Violet. This time, Violet did not refuse the knight’s polite request.
“You seem quite familiar with escort duties, Sir.”
“…I have not done it very often.”
Violet said that with a bit of a teasing tone.
Cairn was utterly baffled. Seeing his sister and his friend like this was unprecedented.
Especially the expression that Aldin made just now.
“Is something the matter?” Mary asked.
“I’m just wondering if my eyes have gotten sprained or something.”
“Um. If you mean to say in a roundabout manner that Milady is pretty, your eyes are fine, Young Master.”
Mary beamed. Nevertheless, Cairn was seriously troubled.
The Aldin who he thought was nothing but blunt and aloof was smiling so brightly over there.
The thought of his older sister and close friend getting together suddenly crossed his mind, and it instantly sent goosebumps over his skin. He rubbed his arms.
Meanwhile, as Mary was next to him, she wondered if he had some sort of skin affliction. She looked through her bag and checked whether she brought a jar of ointment with her.
