219 — Oblivion (13)

She had originally planned to just watch from a distance and leave.

She didn’t want to cause trouble. Count Lutyian would surely not stay idle, and if she defended herself, it would only disadvantage Greek.

‘It’s okay. It’s not too late.’

With these thoughts, Siena suddenly got up from the bed.

She must not cause trouble.

How big a mess she had caused.

When she thought about how much Greek had suffered because of Count Dedran, she never wanted Count Lutyian to bother Greek.

‘Let’s run away. I’m no longer part of the Greek family anyway. I could have lived quietly in Lutyian City and grown old and died. But I wouldn’t have been able to see oppa grow up. This is better. I’m happy now. I can die now, it’s fine.’

So, Siena planned to leave Greek City first. If she was lucky and could escape from Count Lutyian’s grasp, that would be great; otherwise, she was resolved to die.

If she ran away, she hoped that, much later, she could return and see Greek again. With this thought in mind, she cautiously opened the door.

Since it was already late at night, the hallway was quiet.

Luckily, Greek Castle was the place where Siena was born and raised, so she knew every corner of the castle.

Siena first headed toward a second-floor room with a window, one that overlooked the back garden of the Lord’s castle.

Having already confirmed that the room was empty, Siena opened the window and tried to escape toward the garden.

There were plenty of places to step on this side, so landing in the garden wouldn’t be difficult.

The Lord’s castle, the garden, and the castle wall. The hard part was the castle wall when it came to escaping.

But entering the castle was harder. Escaping was possible, but getting back in was impossible.

‘If it hasn’t changed, the soldier shift change happens just as dawn breaks. For just one minute, they empty the front gate and walk around while passing off the duty. That’s the only time!’

Siena hid in the garden, recalling the security procedures of the castle in her mind, and waited until dawn.

---

In the end, Siena managed to escape from the Lord’s castle. Even though it was dawn, the thick clouds made it so dark that it worked in her favor.

The security procedures hadn’t changed either.

What she didn’t know was that Baron Gerin had already visited Greek Castle, and Greek had declared that he could not hand Siena over.

Had she known that, she might not have chosen to run away.

She had no way of knowing that.

By the time she arrived at the market, it was morning.

The market was bustling. Siena stopped in surprise at the lively atmosphere.

‘Now that I think about it, something’s different. I didn’t notice it when I had no memory, but now I see it’s very different. It’s obviously different from Lutyian City, and it’s different from when Count Dedran was around.’

As thoughts of Dedran came to mind, Siena was filled with questions about what had happened to the one who had separated her from Greek.

At the Lord’s castle, there was no trace of Count Dedran. Greek had somehow become the lord, and he still held the power of the lord in the castle.

He didn’t seem like a puppet of Dedran at all.

‘Yeah, the people look happy. It’s nothing like the market in Lutyian City. Is this the good city oppa always talked about? Then, has oppa become a good lord?’

Siena thought this was truly fortunate, as she looked at the now distant Lord’s castle.

The tears she thought she had pushed down started to flow again.

Greek had become a good lord.

Greek, who had grown up and defeated Dedran.

For some reason, she wanted to hear that story, but it felt like a luxury.

In becoming a good lord, her involvement would surely only be a hindrance.

“Stop crying, I need to leave quickly.”

Siena wiped her tears with her sleeve and started walking again, but even though she thought that, her steps felt as heavy as lead.

Her true feelings were, of course, that she didn’t want to leave.

She wanted to stay and work at Greek Castle her whole life, watching over her oppa. She didn’t need anything else.

But it was an impossible wish. It was like a mirage in the desert, a far-off and unreachable illusion.

Since she was a child, and even now, in this moment.

The brother who had always supported her now had to be forgotten.

Siena gathered her resolve and shifted her gaze from the Lord’s castle, which she had been staring at with a face full of longing.

Then, she turned her body and tried to run.

Thud-!

But at that moment.

She collided with something, and her body bounced back.

“Hahaha! I knew you’d come out eventually. My prediction was right. Finally got you!”

Siena, who had been caught by the eyes of Baron Gerin, who was lurking in Greek City under orders from Count Lutyian, was immediately spotted, and after a report from his subordinate, he rushed over.

It was her fault for hesitating and staring at the Lord’s castle.

Baron Gerin immediately struck Siena at the back of her neck, and at that moment, he grabbed the limp Siena and quickly moved toward the outskirts, along with knights of the Lutyian family disguised in civilian clothing.

---

“Yawn.”

The yawns came incessantly.

The cloudy morning didn’t bring much energy.

Rurin was sound asleep.

Gororong. Gororong.

The regular sound of breathing hit my ears.

Under the bed, a snack bag discarded after eating from the previous night was lying around.

That snack bag. The story behind it goes back to last night.

-Crunch, crunch. Crack.

“Hehe, this is delicious.”

“Really?”

What Rurin was eating was a round biscuit, half-coated with chocolate.

Rurin, as if addicted, kept reaching into the snack bag.

She took them out, stuffed them into her mouth, and chewed.

-Crunch.

“What are you doing?”

Thanks to that, there were crumbs all over her mouth.

“I’m looking at some documents.”

“Documents?”

This time, Rurin crawled over to me with a biscuit halfway in her mouth and hung on my back, looking over my shoulder at the documents I was reading.

“Eh? What’s this? A letter in writing.”

Crunch!

Saying that, she crushed the biscuit in her mouth and ate it before reaching for the snack bag again.

Then, she bit into another one.

“Uuoooherrrohohda…”

I couldn’t even understand what she was saying. She wasn’t eating the biscuit, she was just holding it in her mouth, so no proper words came out.

So, I turned my head and took the half-bitten biscuit from her mouth.

Crunch-!

The biscuit snapped. In the process, her soft lips briefly touched mine.

“Uoooo?!”

Her reaction made it very clear.

Rurin’s eyes sparkled with a knowing glint as she quickly came back to me with the biscuit halfway in her mouth.

Of course, I ignored her.

“I’m busy reading the documents. Go play by yourself.”

“What’s that! It’s rude!”

With an angry face, she reached back into the bag, took another biscuit, ate it, ate more, looked at my face, ate more, then looked at me again, and kept eating.

I’m not some dried fish hanging on a miser’s dinner table.

“Huh?”

Then, she reached into the bag again, but her expression became strange. It seemed like her hand was swiping through empty air. In other words, she had eaten it all.

“Why is there so little left? The bag is so big!”

Is that the power of nitrogen-packing? It’s some sort of fraudulent technique.

Rurin lifted her face, opened her mouth wide, and burned with the determination to eat every last crumb in the snack bag.

Of course, more crumbs ended up on her face than in her mouth.

“Rurin, stop. Come here, come here. If crumbs fall on the floor, you’ll be in trouble.”

“Uuuu?”

At those words, Rurin crawled beside me as if performing acrobatics, her head tilted toward the ceiling.

It was just like a crab walking sideways, with pincers in tow.

“Oh dear.”

When I wiped her off with a tissue, Rurin giggled and tossed the snack bag to the floor, then jumped back onto the bed.

Yes, the snack bag on the floor had such a story behind it.

So, when she wakes up, I’ll have to make her clean up.

Gororong. Mmm…

Of course, Rurin showed no signs of waking up, and I had no intention of waking her at this time, so it’s an afternoon story.

As she puffed her cheeks cutely in her sleep, I quietly climbed onto the bed and poked her cheek.

“Craaah!”

Then she raised both hands and swatted mine away.

“Uunngh!”

Not happy with something, she kept swatting the air and then turned her body to the other side, starting to breathe evenly again.

Look at this.

Why is she so cute?

So, I poked Rurin’s soft cheek once again, feeling how soft it was.

“Uuuuuu!”

As expected, she swatted at my hand again. Even after I pulled my hand away, she swatted at the air for a few seconds before turning again.

She turned back to her usual sleeping position.

Ah, it’s so fun watching her.

The way she swats at the air is so amusing.

As I lay next to her, resting my head on my hand while watching, Rurin suddenly placed her hand on my stomach.

“Uuuu?”

She let out a groan and began rubbing my stomach.

“It’s hard… Heh.”

Half asleep, she crawled closer to my stomach and began nibbling at it.

Crunch.

“Uuuu… It doesn’t taste good…”

“Hey, that’s not food!”

Crunch-!

Then, she bit my stomach even harder. Is she dreaming of tearing into meat or something?

“Hey!”

“Hm?”

I shouted as I pulled her away, and she lifted her upper body, looking half-asleep, with her long hair flowing around.

“Hmm…”

She collapsed back onto the bed, starting to make little sounds again.

Yeah, it’s my fault for disturbing her while she’s peacefully sleeping.

Before any more strange things happened, I quietly got out of bed, tidied up the kitchen, and left the restaurant to go to the market.

My usual morning routine.

But the gloomy sky looked like it could rain any moment now.

Of course, I felt it, but I didn’t bother bringing an umbrella.

If it’s not raining right now, carrying an umbrella is too much trouble.

As I walked around the market, hoping it wouldn’t rain,

I spotted a familiar woman crying while staring at the Lord’s castle.

Why was she out in the market so early, acting like that?

Though I couldn’t understand the situation, the tears on her face were enough to tell me that something had gone wrong.

And then, in addition…

“Hahaha!”

A loud and inappropriate laugh echoed from an uninvited guest.

It was clear that the people sent from Count Lutyian’s family were the ones after Siena.

I was about to act immediately, but they knocked Siena unconscious right away.

Were they trying to capture her?

From the direction, their destination seemed to be the outskirts.

I stopped by Elena to tell her to inform Greek about the situation, and then I went after them.