* * *

“Akkad? What are you doing at this hour?”

Lavi made a puzzled face when Akkad came to see her late the next day. She’d already had dinner and would be going to bed soon.

His lips were pressed tightly together, and his silver-gray eyes darted back and forth as she watched him.

‘What is it? Did he run away because his damn cousin was bullying him again?’

Akkad glanced at Lavi’s hand and carefully folded their fingers together. Lavi started heading for her room, wondering about Akkad being the one to take her hand first.

“Akkad. Are you going to sleepover?”

At this hour, what else could it be?

“Huh? Ah… I haven’t asked my mother yet.”

 “I’ll do it for you.”

Akkad nodded. Lavi pulled the bellcord at the bedside and asked Jenny, who came in a little while later, to send a message in the House of Enoch and bring Akkad’s pajamas.

Lavi climbed into bed and waited for Akkad.

“What’s going on? Are you just here to play?”

She was half worried, half happy that she would be able to sleep well tonight. Hehehe. The joy of being able to sleep deeply was definitely not 90% of it…Lavi hugged the pillow and nodded to herself.

Akkad, freshly changed into his pajamas, got into bed with a hesitant expression. He climbed up, took a seat, then immediately pulled her hand and held it.

“What happened?”

Akkad shook his head. Then he took a handful of her hair. Lavi’s face froze as she watched Akkad fiddle with her hair for a long time. 

It wasn’t often that Akkad looked this downcast.

He was prettiest when he smiled brightly.

When Lavi sighed softly, Akkad winced and lifted his head. Seeing that he flinched at every small action, it seemed that something definitely must have happened.

“Tell me, what’s wrong?”

“You…don’t like…?”

She couldn’t hear what was being said properly because the voice was muffled.

“Don’t like what?”

“Lavi hates me now?”

Lavi let go of Akkad’s hand and cupped both of his soft cheeks, making him look at her.

“Who said that?”

“… Oh, no, it’s not like that…”

No, no, no. His face was extremely pitiful, contorted as if he was trying to hold back tears.

Lavi wondered who could say such a thing to Akkad. As far as she knew, there was no one other than his cousin.

“Was it your cousin?”

Flinch. 

The reaction came immediately with just those words. 

Lavi let out a small curse.

She’d been preparing to give him a beating if words didn’t get through to him, but instead of coming himself, he put this child in such a state and sent him off like that?

“Akkad. What did you hear? Huh? Tell me.”

Akkad bit his lip until it turned white, then glanced at her again and again.

Lavi waited for Akkad to speak first. She needed to listen to it before she could take revenge.

“I’m not needed now.” ¹

Lavi clenched her teeth and spat out a small, harsh word. Not needed? Lavi’s heart tingled at the word need, but she brazenly continued with her thoughts. Lavi raised the corners of her mouth and spoke.

“Akkad. Listen carefully.”

“Yes.”

“I don’t hate you.”

“Mm….”

 It was a somewhat unsure voice.

“Me hating you is something that will never, ever happen.”

“Never?”

“Yeah, never. Do you think you could hate me?”

Lavi was a little embarrassed as Akkad remained silent with a slightly blank expression on his face. She felt awkward because it seemed to mean that he could.

“No.”

Okay, she understood well enough. Lavi internally swallowed tears at the delayed answer.

“I like Lavi.”

“That’s right … me too.”

 “Lavi too?”

“Yeah. Anyway, if anyone says otherwise, beat them up.”

 Lavi urged Akkad again, pinching his soft cheek.

But why did Akkad come? Did his cousin have no intention of accepting her invitation? She wanted to ask Akkad, but she couldn’t when he was still feeling so upset.

“Lavi, I’m going down to the territory.” ²

“Territory?”

“Uh. With my father.”

It turned out that the next teacher who would instruct Akkad in the sword arts was an eccentric person who never left the territory of the Duke of Enoch. In addition, it seemed like Akkad’s father had quite a bit of business to take care of in the territory.

Lavi pulled the blanket over herself and lay down looking at Akkad.

“When will you come back?”

“I don’t know.”

“I won’t be able to see you often.”

Lavi held both of Akkad’s hands, feeling that her body was already losing strength.

“When are you going?”

“Tomorrow. I heard about it before I came here.”

He said they were leaving soon because something urgent happened in the territory, and it seemed like this was why he came despite the late hour.

She couldn’t blame Akkad, it was too sudden. Lavi swallowed her regret.

“The replies to my letters should fill up at least three full pages. You know that, right?”

Lavi added that she was sure he would remember how they used to correspond. 

“… yeah.”

Akkad’s face turned white, perhaps because he remembered Lavi sulking because of the replies.

“Lavi.”

“Huh?”

“Will you hate me if I go to the territory and don’t see you for a long time?”

Sleep slowly washed over Lavi, and her eyes closed as she answered.  

“No, I won’t hate you for that.”

“Really?”

“Yeah.”

Akkad wriggled, rubbing his cheek against the back of her hand.

“I told you before. There’s no way I’ll hate you. Ever. So don’t worry.”

Lavi drifted asleep feeling the soft warmth of their clasped hands.

* * *

Several days passed and there was still no response from Akkad’s cousin to Lavi’s invitation. It was an insincere invitation, but she thought he would use it as an excuse to condescend or react in some way.

It was clear that meeting the cousin was out of the question for the time being, so she needed someone else’s help.

Lavi went to her brother’s room, opened the door, and stuck her head inside.

“Lavi?”

“Elder brother.” ³

Werner’s eyes widened at the charming tone of voice that he rarely heard from Lavi. He opened the door himself and lifted her into his arms.

“What are you doing at this hour? Did you come to sleepover with your brother?”

“No.”

Werner put his regret aside and sat Lavi down on the sofa, lowering his posture. Then he poked Lavi’s cheek with his finger. Normally, this would have been immediately followed by a scolding telling him not to do that, but Lavi just laughed. Werner, realizing something was up, pursed his lips, trying to guess what it was.

 “Please find out something for me.”

“Like what?”

“The Earl of Courtenay is coveting the throne of Duke Enoch.” ⁴

Lavi just spoke honestly.

“Where did you hear that?”

These were words he had never imagined, and they were words he certainly didn’t expect would come out of Lavi’s mouth.

“Can’t you just look into it? Brother, please do something about it.”

“If you tell me where you heard it.”

“To tell you, I would have to lie.”

 Lavi replied with a shameless look on her face that said ‘you don’t want your sister to lie to you, do you?’

Werner smiled with an embarrassed expression as he gently tucked Lavi’s hair, which was the same color as his own, behind her ear.

“Should I still listen, though?” ⁵

“… I’ll do it.”

“Huh? I didn’t hear you.”

Lavi spoke again with a truly disgusted look on her face.

“Just investigate for me and I’ll give you a kiss.”

 “What?”

“On the cheek.”

Lavi bargained shamelessly, thinking that even if it was something she really didn’t like, for a matter like this she could at least give him a kiss on the cheek.

Werner repeatedly curled his hands into a ball and pressed his lips together. This is because he knew Lavi would get upset and leave if he laughed here. However, he couldn’t stop his cheekbone from twitching, and Lavi raised her eyebrows at the sight.

“Are you laughing? Then I’m never going to do that again.”

Here she had tried her best to be generous and offer him a kiss. It was a carrot, since after all, her older brother begged her to give him just one kiss every time he saw her.

Lavi crossed her arms and turned her head calmly.

Werner pinched his thigh and stifled his laughter.

“I was wrong. Please look at me.”

“Then you will look into it for me?”

“Something happened, right?”

Lavi shook her head quickly.  It wasn’t her family’s business anyway, so what could happen to her?

“Uh, no. That’s not it. I just heard it somewhere.”

“Okay, I’ll look into it.”

“All right. My elder brother is the best.”

Lavi reached out and patted Werner on the head. It was a completely soulless compliment, but Werner smiled in satisfaction.

“Then when are you going to give me a kiss?”

Are you really going to do this for nothing but a kiss on the cheek? Lavi got up from her seat, pushing Werner’s face that was turned towards her as if to say ‘why aren’t you doing it right away’?

“You haven’t looked into it yet. I’ll do it for you later.”

Since she’d said everything she wanted to say, she was thinking of going to bed.

Lavi, barely evading her older brother who tried to hug her as if he had no intention of giving up, called out Allen’s name and asked for help.

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T/N: That’s it for chapter 2! Sorry there were so many parts…I will try and do other chapters in fewer (and as ever, if someone more competent wants to take over, just say the word)

1.  “이제 나는 필요 없대.” alt: There’s no need for me / you don’t need me anymore ↩︎
2.  영지 domain, fief, vassalage, estate, lands… ↩︎
3.  오라버니 oraboni again, more formal/old-fashioned way for a younger female to address older male than oppa. She uses it consistently with Werner. ↩︎
4. 백작 could also be Count ↩︎
5. “그래도 들어야 할 것 같은데?” not sure on this ↩︎