“Would you like to have a drink after a long time?”
Valquiterre responded to his shameless attitude.
“Did they let you in without taking it when they searched your body?”
“They suspected it was poisoned, so they took a taste, but they let me in.”
Kaian said calmly.
Knock. Gulp.
Valquiterre was astonished when he took out a crystal goblet decorated with delicate carvings that didn’t seem appropriate for the battlefield and poured a drink.
“What are you doing?”
“Drink.”
Kaian lifted the goblet, tilted it slightly toward Valquiterre in the air, and drank it all by himself.
“Why are you doing this? Did you think I would ask for a toast in this situation?”
Valquiterre emptied his goblet with a seething heart.
The strong alcohol that was going down his throat seemed to have added fuel to the boiling fire.
“Did you ask me what I was doing?”
Kaian spoke first.
“That’s what I wanted to say. What are you doing?”
He let out a short sigh.
“I don’t understand you. Why are you doing this?”
“You don’t understand.”
Valquiterre was running low on alcohol. He poured the alcohol on the table with his own hands and drank it.
Kaian’s judgment in bringing the alcohol was not bad.
The alcohol stirred up the table, which was easily at a loss for where to start.
“You didn’t need to understand.”
He was the one who sat in the best seat without any pain or suffering.
“What are you talking about?”
Kaian asked back.
“You still don’t know what you’re talking about even after looking at the notes in the family vault?”
Kaian’s face hardened at Valquiterre’s words.
Valquiterre felt good for once when he saw that reaction.
“I saw it.”
“...”
Hypocrite.
Every time he saw Kaian, he wanted to spit out the words he couldn’t say out loud, but he wrote them down in his notes.
“I always felt disgusted whenever I saw you, Kaian.”
Valquiterre was finally able to pull out the sword that had been sharpening his heart for a long time.
“You said you were kind to me and would do anything for me. But to me, you were always taking it easy.”
Even the words “for me” sounded like pity and charity.
“Why...?”
Kaian looked confused.
Valquiterre felt pleasure in hurting Kaian, who had always been perfect without a shadow.
“...You’re my brother.”
“...You’re my brother.”
Kaian’s mind seemed to become more and more complicated as he listened to Valquiterre.
The moment he read his neat handwriting in the notebook, the hair on his body stood on end.
Claudel, who had not asked anything else after seeing it with him, confirmed the shock he had felt. Anyone who saw it would have thought that Kaian’s confusion was so great that they couldn’t ask him about it.
“What am I doing to you?”
The training to become the head of the family was strict.
If his judgment was wrong, countless people could have been harmed or sacrificed.
The time of learning when he was stricter with himself to avoid it.
The only exception was Valquiterre.
His twin brother was born after sharing the nutrients and warmth equally for ten months since his mother’s womb.
When Kaian was very young, he felt a strange sensation whenever he met Valquiterre.
Valquiterre's appearance was so exactly like his own. It was like looking at a porcelain doll with a different color for the eyes and hair, but with a face and body that looked like it had been stamped out.
Of course, objects can be like that, but they were living people, so it couldn’t be common.
Everyone in the world looks different.
Even the twins, Madame Elise and Queen Sylvia, were not alike at all, so Kaian had never confused his mother with his aunt.
However, Valquiterre, his cousin, sometimes made him feel like he was looking into a mirror.
‘Can something like this happen?’
Kaian’s immature logic, still young, tried to find the most approximate answer.
Valquiterre's mother was his mother’s twin.
They came to the conclusion that it was only natural that they looked similar to their mothers. That was until one night while tossing and turning, he saw his mother comforting Valquiterre with his half-awake eyes.
'...Mother?'
Kaian made a sound and tried to call Madame Elise, but he held his breath without realizing it. He didn’t know why, but it felt like he had to do it at the time.
Madame Elise hummed in a barely audible voice in the dark bedroom.
He quickly realized that the familiar song was the lullaby his mother had sung to him when he went to bed since he was much younger, just singing the melody without the lyrics.
Thump, thump.
His heart was beating strangely. The sight of his mother, who had laid Valquiterre, who was not him, on the bed, leaning over and holding him, and comforting him, while humming the melody instead of singing the lullaby properly, answered the question he had been wondering about.
Thump, thump, thump.
His heart, having come to an epiphany, was filled with excitement.
Valquiterre always coveted Kaian’s.
He was not satisfied with one thing and often coveted the second one he had.
Kaian, who was raised as a squire, was not used to having things taken away and felt bad about it, so whenever Valquiterre came, he would hide and hide his things.
Despite such efforts, Valquiterre would even find the things he had hidden and destroy them as if they were nothing. It felt like the broken things were saying, “It’s because you didn’t give it to me.”
Valquiterre responded to his shameless attitude.
“Did they let you in without taking it when they searched your body?”
“They suspected it was poisoned, so they took a taste, but they let me in.”
Kaian said calmly.
Knock. Gulp.
Valquiterre was astonished when he took out a crystal goblet decorated with delicate carvings that didn’t seem appropriate for the battlefield and poured a drink.
“What are you doing?”
“Drink.”
Kaian lifted the goblet, tilted it slightly toward Valquiterre in the air, and drank it all by himself.
“Why are you doing this? Did you think I would ask for a toast in this situation?”
Valquiterre emptied his goblet with a seething heart.
The strong alcohol that was going down his throat seemed to have added fuel to the boiling fire.
“Did you ask me what I was doing?”
Kaian spoke first.
“That’s what I wanted to say. What are you doing?”
He let out a short sigh.
“I don’t understand you. Why are you doing this?”
“You don’t understand.”
Valquiterre was running low on alcohol. He poured the alcohol on the table with his own hands and drank it.
Kaian’s judgment in bringing the alcohol was not bad.
The alcohol stirred up the table, which was easily at a loss for where to start.
“You didn’t need to understand.”
He was the one who sat in the best seat without any pain or suffering.
“What are you talking about?”
Kaian asked back.
“You still don’t know what you’re talking about even after looking at the notes in the family vault?”
Kaian’s face hardened at Valquiterre’s words.
Valquiterre felt good for once when he saw that reaction.
“I saw it.”
“...”
Hypocrite.
Every time he saw Kaian, he wanted to spit out the words he couldn’t say out loud, but he wrote them down in his notes.
“I always felt disgusted whenever I saw you, Kaian.”
Valquiterre was finally able to pull out the sword that had been sharpening his heart for a long time.
“You said you were kind to me and would do anything for me. But to me, you were always taking it easy.”
Even the words “for me” sounded like pity and charity.
“Why...?”
Kaian looked confused.
Valquiterre felt pleasure in hurting Kaian, who had always been perfect without a shadow.
“...You’re my brother.”
***
“...You’re my brother.”
Kaian’s mind seemed to become more and more complicated as he listened to Valquiterre.
The moment he read his neat handwriting in the notebook, the hair on his body stood on end.
Claudel, who had not asked anything else after seeing it with him, confirmed the shock he had felt. Anyone who saw it would have thought that Kaian’s confusion was so great that they couldn’t ask him about it.
“What am I doing to you?”
The training to become the head of the family was strict.
If his judgment was wrong, countless people could have been harmed or sacrificed.
The time of learning when he was stricter with himself to avoid it.
The only exception was Valquiterre.
His twin brother was born after sharing the nutrients and warmth equally for ten months since his mother’s womb.
When Kaian was very young, he felt a strange sensation whenever he met Valquiterre.
Valquiterre's appearance was so exactly like his own. It was like looking at a porcelain doll with a different color for the eyes and hair, but with a face and body that looked like it had been stamped out.
Of course, objects can be like that, but they were living people, so it couldn’t be common.
Everyone in the world looks different.
Even the twins, Madame Elise and Queen Sylvia, were not alike at all, so Kaian had never confused his mother with his aunt.
However, Valquiterre, his cousin, sometimes made him feel like he was looking into a mirror.
‘Can something like this happen?’
Kaian’s immature logic, still young, tried to find the most approximate answer.
Valquiterre's mother was his mother’s twin.
They came to the conclusion that it was only natural that they looked similar to their mothers. That was until one night while tossing and turning, he saw his mother comforting Valquiterre with his half-awake eyes.
'...Mother?'
Kaian made a sound and tried to call Madame Elise, but he held his breath without realizing it. He didn’t know why, but it felt like he had to do it at the time.
Madame Elise hummed in a barely audible voice in the dark bedroom.
He quickly realized that the familiar song was the lullaby his mother had sung to him when he went to bed since he was much younger, just singing the melody without the lyrics.
Thump, thump.
His heart was beating strangely. The sight of his mother, who had laid Valquiterre, who was not him, on the bed, leaning over and holding him, and comforting him, while humming the melody instead of singing the lullaby properly, answered the question he had been wondering about.
Thump, thump, thump.
His heart, having come to an epiphany, was filled with excitement.
Valquiterre always coveted Kaian’s.
He was not satisfied with one thing and often coveted the second one he had.
Kaian, who was raised as a squire, was not used to having things taken away and felt bad about it, so whenever Valquiterre came, he would hide and hide his things.
Despite such efforts, Valquiterre would even find the things he had hidden and destroy them as if they were nothing. It felt like the broken things were saying, “It’s because you didn’t give it to me.”
Kaian was somewhat fed up with Valquiterre’s personality. A grown adult would understand the child’s eccentric and cruel nature because he was young, but Kaian was also just a child, so he had a limit to how much he could tolerate his cousin’s behavior.
However, everything changed when he learned that Valquiterre was his brother. He didn’t mind giving anything to Valquiterre, even if it was someone else. He didn’t mind giving two when he asked for one, and he didn’t feel bad when he saw Valquiterre coveting whatever was his. He wanted to give him more.
Born into a family with precious hands, Kaian, who grew up alone as an only child, was someone no one could understand. Only one person could reach the top of a family. Therefore, no one in the world could understand or ease the difficulties he felt. Behind his blessed life, which everyone looked up to and praised as their great lord, there was a burden that no one could understand. However, once he became certain that Valquiterre was his twin, the world looked different.
“Did you know that? Since when?”
What did it matter? Since when did he know it was not a big deal. What mattered more was how much Kaian was to Valquiterre.
“Since we were brothers, it didn’t matter later if you coveted what was mine.”
This was because Kaian thought it was right for Valquiterre to have what he had.
“If there was something you liked, I would have bought several.”
Since he would have given it to him anyway if he asked. He wanted to treat Valquiterre better.
‘Would he be happy if I did this?’
Unfortunately, Kaian didn’t get to see Valquiterre very often. Once a year, in the winter, he would come to Rowen to escape, and when Madame Elise went on an outing to the capital, Kaian could see him for a while. However, the circumstances of the estate were complicated, so there were years when his mother did not visit the capital, and there were times when his father had him stay in Rowen for his education, so they could not go to the palace together.
In those times, Kaiqn waited and waited until the winter when Rowen came to escape, and she was finally able to meet Valquiterre once. On the other hand, he was always curious.
'Does Valquiterre know what I know?'
Seeing how selfish and indifferent he was to him, Kaian thought he didn't know. But Kaian wasn't upset. Having a brother was better than not having one.
"When the war broke out, I didn't use my immunity for you."
Because Valquiterre was in trouble due to the chaos in the internal affairs. To lighten his brother's burden, Kaian voluntarily gave up his immunity, which would have allowed him to not go to war. As the son of the Princess and a member of the royal family, he took the lead and headed to the battlefield, and the other nobles kept quiet and followed him. Except for Vermont. But Valquiterre was furious when he heard that Kaian did it for him.
“Don’t be ridiculous. Who told you to pity me?”
“What?”
“You always acted like you were doing a favor.”
“Do a favor? Don’t talk nonsense.”
Kaian felt wrong when he tried to convince him of his sincerity.
“I was just glad that I wasn’t alone.”
That there was a brother who had a greater burden than he had in a noble position that no one could understand.
“When my parents suddenly passed away, I wasn’t the only one.”
When Queen Sylvia passed away, Kaian didn’t think he was the only one who was embarrassed by this.
When he was in charge of one Rowen territory, the existence of a brother who would rule the entire Oberon kingdom made Kaian endure.
“I thought it was fortunate that you were here.”
Without even a shred of doubt about what he thought of him.
Valquiterre raised his voice at Kaian’s words.
“Everything you had was originally mine.”
“What...”
His eyes, which had been filled with the blue sky, turned a murky purple as if blood had rushed to them.
“I was originally the firstborn.”
Kaian’s eyes widened.
“Rowen Castle? The Temnes title? It should have all been mine, but you took it and pretended to give it to me.”
Valquiterre smirked.
“And Claudel. So you took everything that should have been mine.”
Kaian was speechless.
He had never taken anything from Valquiterre.
“Why is it my fault?”
The decision had to be made by the former Duke and Duchess of Temnes and Queen Sylvia.
Kaian was embarrassed, unable to understand or accept that Valquiterre was blaming him like this.
“As long as you live, I will be unhappy forever, Kaian.”
“When my parents suddenly passed away, I wasn’t the only one.”
When Queen Sylvia passed away, Kaian didn’t think he was the only one who was embarrassed by this.
When he was in charge of one Rowen territory, the existence of a brother who would rule the entire Oberon kingdom made Kaian endure.
“I thought it was fortunate that you were here.”
Without even a shred of doubt about what he thought of him.
Valquiterre raised his voice at Kaian’s words.
“Everything you had was originally mine.”
“What...”
His eyes, which had been filled with the blue sky, turned a murky purple as if blood had rushed to them.
“I was originally the firstborn.”
Kaian’s eyes widened.
“Rowen Castle? The Temnes title? It should have all been mine, but you took it and pretended to give it to me.”
Valquiterre smirked.
“And Claudel. So you took everything that should have been mine.”
Kaian was speechless.
He had never taken anything from Valquiterre.
“Why is it my fault?”
The decision had to be made by the former Duke and Duchess of Temnes and Queen Sylvia.
Kaian was embarrassed, unable to understand or accept that Valquiterre was blaming him like this.
“As long as you live, I will be unhappy forever, Kaian.”
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