"It's a good thing we were passing through here. We're traveling up north, and Enrica likes to see the forest lakes."
"The lake here is really pretty."
A pink-haired girl named Enrical followed the Duchess's lead.
"Whew, if that weren't the case, what would have happened by now?"
The Duchess stroked her daughter's hair and said in a horrible tone.
It's a common thing for me, so you don't have to worry too much.
Raphael looked at the mother and daughter, swallowing what he wanted to say.
"Who is he? He looks so young. Mom. So you were the one who cured his injury? The teacher said you shouldn't use magic! When are you going to the dorm?"
The child named Enrica was constantly moving her lips, babbling about something she wanted to say.
Raphael wiggled his eyebrows at the comment that he looked very young.
"I'm not young. I'm 12 this year."
"You're only three years older than me, huh? Then why were you out in the forest alone?"
Raphael felt uneasy as he looked at such a bright child.
Children who seem to have never felt pain in their lives. Children who grew up hiding behind parents who loved and cared for them.
He did it even though he knew that it was an inferiority complex that came from his own shortcomings.
He hated It because it felt like he was watching a life that he could have been granted.
"You don't know."
So Raphael ended up speaking sharply to the daughter of the Duchess, who was his benefactor.
He thought the Duchess might get angry, but she just smiled faintly and tried to calm Enrica down.
"He must be very tired right now. Let's give him some time to rest, Enrica."
"Yes, Mom."
"You must have been surprised when I suddenly stopped the carriage earlier. Are you hurt anywhere?"
"Um, my back hurts! So buy me some ice cream on the way back!"
Raphael glanced at them, pretending to look away.
"You already had it twice this week. You can't do it anymore..."
"You too, brother, have some ice cream. I'll buy it for you with the money I saved up!"
Enrica smiled brightly and said, not listening to her troubled mother.
Raphael, seeing that sight, answered in a cold voice.
"... It's obvious that you're faking it, but why don't you stop acting like a spoiled brat? Your mother doesn't look too happy either."
After spitting out words that seemed to criticize a child younger than him, Raphael realized and regretted his actions.
His face turned red with shame because he knew that the truth was that the child's behavior was not wrong.
It was his fault. His ugly heart couldn't accept kindness as kindness and was jealous of a child.
He was just about to open his lips to say that he was going to get off the carriage.
"I'm a bit of a spoiled brat. But that's okay! Mom is a very strong magician. She's a little sore right now, but she'll get better soon. She's decided to live with me for the rest of her life."
"..."
"Have you ever been a spoiled brat?"
It was a pure voice without any malice. Raphael hesitated and then answered.
"...My mother passed away. My father has many children besides me, so he doesn't care whether I die or not."
It was the first time he had said such things to someone else. Raphael glanced at them and then lowered his gaze.
He felt like he had said something pointless. They wouldn't understand anyway.
"Then I'll take your prank."
At that moment, Enrica, who he thought was just a childish girl, opened her mouth and spoke.
"I'm going to become a very strong wizard like my mother. Then I'll be able to protect at least one older brother!"
"..."
"So just wait, yes?"
Enrica's confident speech still looked far from strong.
Somehow, he didn't feel bad. Raphael smiled faintly.
He couldn't even remember how long it had been since he last smiled...
"Who are you protecting, something as small as a rat bean?"
Just then, there was a sound of something hitting a solid object.
"What now."
He was so dumbfounded that it took him a while to realize that it was the sound of Enrica hitting his butt.
"Oh my, oh my. I'm so sorry. You should hurry up and apologize to this brother."
The Duchess's fidgeting voice could be faintly heard in his ears.
Raphael narrowed his eyebrows and looked at Enrica with bewildered eyes.
"It's not a rat bean!"
Tears were welling up in her large pink eyes and were on the verge of falling.
"Oh, no. What I mean is..."
Raphael doesn't think he's ever been more embarrassed in his life. Raphael said, feeling a cold sweat run down his face.
"So, I talking about a really big rat bean..."
Even to hear it himself, it was the most stupid voice and excuse in the world.
But Enrica seemed to believe those words again and slowly stopped crying.
"... Really?"
Raphael nodded quickly. As punishment for almost making her cry, he had to watch Enrica's puppet show until they reached the ice cream shop downtown.
***
Ice cream was a famous snack in the North, but it was a story far from Raphael.
Of course, since it was his first time, he had no idea what flavor to choose or how to choose it.
As he was wandering, Enrica was the first to boldly jump forward.
"Please give me two strawberry flavors! Brother, the strawberry flavor is the best in this store."
"Enrica, you have to give your brother a choice."
The Duchess scolded her as if she was scolding her. Raphael immediately shook his head.
"No, I like it too."
Actually, he was grateful to Enrica for getting him out of trouble.
Soon, two pink ice cream cones appeared. The sight of the child with pink hair, pink eyes, and even pink ice cream was quite a sight.
Raphael took the ice cream Enrica handed him and bit into it.
The ice cream he tried for the first time in his life was too sweet.
"How is it?"
Raphael raised his lips slightly to Enrica, who asked with sparkling eyes. His facial muscles twitched because it was an unfamiliar expression.
He was thinking this inside.
'It feels like I'm eating your hair.'
***
The time to go back had come, even if he didn't want to. Raphael planned to tell the Duchess to drop him off at his estate and then walk away.
Enrica scribbled something on a piece of paper the whole time she was riding in the carriage.
It would have been nice to hear a little more chatter, but it was a shame.
The identity of the something became apparent as they got off the carriage.
"Now, here's a defensive magic scroll! Use this when you're in danger."
Although it was called a scroll, it was actually a drawing that looked more like a doodle.
"It won't work, but it would be nice if you could just say thank you."
Not knowing how to react, Raphael looked at the Duchess behind him and she smiled and mouthed something.
"This is the magic scroll of Enrica, who will become the great magician. Please accept it with gratitude!"
Enrica spoke, oblivious to her mother's whisper. Now, her confident tne did not seem unpleasant at all.
As Raphael accepted the scroll and said thank you, the carriage suddenly stopped.
The Duchess followed Raphael down and handed him the pouch.
"You have to get treatment when you get home, okay? You can use this."
"It's okay. This kind of thing..."
The pouch the Duchess handed him contained jingling gold coins.
Raphael shook his head and refused, but the Duchess stubbornly gave him the purse and quickly got into the carriage.
"Always take care of yourself."
"See you later, brother!"
Enrica waved her hand for a long time outside the window. The carriage started off again with a jolt and soon disappeared from his sight.
Raphael watched the carriage as it moved farther and farther away until it became a dot.
A strange rumbling, a slight heaviness. Then he muttered softly.
"Yes, let's see if we can live..."
Let's hold on and hold on and live tenaciously. So he thought he really had to check if that little kid could become a great wizard.
If that doesn't work out, he should tease her to his heart's content.
***
So Raphael had a goal that wasn't a goal. Now that he had confirmed that there was no escape from here, simply holding on and surviving was no longer enough.
He slept less and ate more. He built muscle and learned swordsmanship. He read books he could get his hands on to gain knowledge.
He pushed himself to his limits and slowly built up his power.
The boy who had difficulty enduring has now become a young man and has begun to fight back.
Raphael got rid of a few brothers who had been persistently keeping him in check since he was little.
There were times when the work was so hard that he couldn't bear it and was so exhausted. There were many times when he just stood there in a daze, feeling neither relieved nor sorry.
Every time that happened, Raphael would take out his now-tattered magic scroll and look at it.
Even though several years had passed since then, the only thing that could still be called a place of peace in his heart was the memory of that time.
The crooked handwriting made him laugh just by looking at it, and it had a strange power to put him at ease even when he was tense all day.
'I'm nineteen now, so she must be sixteen.'
She would have grown up to be a very brave and beloved noble young lady.
Even when she was young, her face was cute and chubby, but she must be even prettier now.
How will she deal with the men who woo her?
...I wish I could just kick them away.
Like someone hit him on the head with a hammer.
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