I Am the Hero's Immature Younger Brother

“......What do you mean, soft as jelly? Pudding is what’s soft.”

Luman answered with a frown.

“Hahaha!”

As Luman watched him laugh brightly, he lightly struck Giselle’s shoulder.

He knew Giselle was suffering too.

“But the use of a needle can’t be ignored either. Someone has to be sharp, don’t they?”

Giselle narrowed his eyes and smiled. His expression was like a cat purring in the sunlight, but inside that sharp gaze, thoughts Luman could not even imagine were likely sleeping. After all, among the Heroes, he was the one who saw the farthest ahead.

“So what did you come to say?”

Under those eyes looking into him, Luman hesitated, unable to bring himself to speak at once. Giselle looked as though he understood.

“It seems something more precious than gold coins has taken root in your heart. You must have come to ask a favor concerning that.”

“......Yes. You’re right.”

Luman frowned at the word “that,” then soon smiled bitterly and rubbed a hand over his face. Leaving Ren in the royal castle continued to weigh on his mind. Luman was even quietly avoiding Ren. There were mountains of things he wanted to say to him, things he wanted to hear, and warnings he wanted to give, but he would only ask about Ren’s condition and then flee at once.

He had to face Ren. Although Ragniel’s stubborn will had kept them in the royal castle a few more days, Luman knew better than anyone that today was the limit.

“Giselle. I have something to ask of you.”

Giselle’s expression turned subtle as he looked at that lonely face.

“Well. Let’s hear it first.”

Giselle tapped the castle wall. Luman let out a faint sigh and smiled.

“Don’t be cruel. That suits me, not you.”

Whoooooosh—.

A fierce wind scattered their hair.

It was not strong enough to make the Heroes’ bodies stagger, but it was strong enough to stir their hearts.

Through the wind, Luman opened his mouth.

“Look after Ren. While we’re gone, take care of him. So that no one can hurt him. So that not even the smallest thing can wound his heart.......”

Luman spoke with an expression that had blurred and fallen apart.

Giselle reached out toward Luman’s face. His fingertips brushed his skin, barely touching his cheek.

“You’ve broken down quite a lot since I last saw you.”

Giselle spoke in an inscrutable voice whose emotion could not be read. Beneath the gentle tone, a sharp meaning was hidden.

“For you, who considered gold coins most precious, something else has become more important. That must be why you left Loroe Territory too. Wasn’t what you wanted a comfortable life?”

“.......”

“Do you like Temar’s younger brother enough to give up a dream you held for so long?”

When Luman gave no answer, Giselle continued. Looking into the expression of a Hero who would not even flinch if struck in the chest by a sword, he watched the flutter of his eyelashes, the trembling of his fingertips.

“No. Is it love?”

Giselle asked.

“Yes.”

“.......”

And Luman answered at once.

The golden eyes within his fading expression grew clear as he expressed his heart.

He no longer denied his feelings. Ever since the day he had spoken with Kenilla, Luman had felt his feelings for Ren gradually taking on a clearer shape.

“But you are in love with him, aren’t you?”

The question that had left him speechless. Kenilla, who had forced him to face the feelings he had avoided by saying he had no intention of seeking Ren out and no intention of expressing anything.

Now, he could answer that same question with “yes.”

Luman was finally giving a name to the feeling he had not dared to name.

Unless he let it out of his mouth, there was no way to handle this feeling.

Luman stared at Giselle.

As if Giselle were Ren himself.

“Yes. I am in love with Temar’s younger brother, with Ren.”

Ah...... His breath scattered white. His own words seemed to bind him like magic.

Yes, Luman was in love with Ren.

As if acknowledging a love he might never be able to express to Ren.

Luman murmured again.

I am in love with that child.

What was love, truly?

What was it?

“.......”

How could merely putting that feeling into words make tears come like this?

Tears welled in Luman’s eyes. Clear, transparent tears like dew, seeming as though they might fall, yet not falling.

When he let out a deep breath, a tear fell with a soft plop and cut down his cheek, leaving a long mark on his chapped white skin.

The tear track, which would soon disappear, lodged deeply in Giselle’s eyes.

“So help me, Giselle. So that nothing can hurt him. I’m asking you like this.”

The golden eyes blinked quickly, evaporating the tears, then curved into a kind smile.

Wearing the same sort of smile he always did, Luman asked shamelessly, as usual.

“We’re still friends, after all. Aren’t we?”

He lightly struck Giselle’s arm, which showed not a single change in expression, acting as if he would not back down.

“Yes, we are friends.”

Friends tangled together by a fate deep enough that they could turn their backs to one another in trust.

“Time is cruel, isn’t it?”

“Out of nowhere? It’s low to dodge the subject because you don’t want to accept my request.”

Luman grumbled and shook his head. Like shattering sunlight, Luman’s hair shone bright amid the darkness.

“Haha.”

“You’re laughing pointlessly today. Still, it’s nice to see. Giselle, do you know there are a lot of people who say behind your back that you’re more machine than a machine person? Smile a little and live.”

The two of them now stood side by side on the watchtower, looking down below.

“Yes, Luman. I will hear your request properly. I will make sure his younger brother does not get hurt.”

“......And don’t torment him.”

Luman added. The words, spoken with narrowed eyes, carried a note of apology.

“But Luman. There is one promise you must make me.”

“What is it? Anything, as long as it’s not too difficult.”

Luman asked, his face much more at ease.

When Giselle, who had been looking down, turned his head, Luman also lifted his eyes and looked at him.

Giselle opened his mouth while looking at Luman’s face opposite him.

His red lips moved slowly, reminding them once more of what they were.

“Promise that you will offer anything for the king.”

“.......”

Luman quietly blinked.

“That goes without saying. The Seven Stars shine for him. For Ragniel...... for the king, anything at all, of course.”

That was only natural. It was also something they had to do willingly.

Giselle’s eyes narrowed. His gaze seemed to be judging whether Luman’s words were sincere.

“Even if that thing is Temar’s younger brother?”

Whoooooosh.

Their voices scattered on the wind.

***

“Again?”

In the hallway where the king’s bedroom was located. As an attendant passed through the hall only carefully selected people could enter, he asked upon seeing an attendant coming from the opposite side.

“Shh. Keep your voice down.”

“Something really must be happening in the royal castle. Otherwise, why would His Majesty reveal his feelings like this?”

“Maybe his personality has gone strange? You know, because the count gave him some strange medicine.......”

“Shut your mouth unless you want to die.”

“His Majesty is too soft-hearted to kill anyone.”

At the attendant’s words, the other attendant snorted.

“Someone else would kill you! Anyway, enough about the count. Shouldn’t we leave too?”

“If we were going to, we should have left a month ago. It’s hard to quit now. Probably, if anyone quits now, they might get suspected of being a spy or something.”

“That’s true. There were rumors going around that people were being suspected, and the atmosphere in the royal palace is awful too. Maybe I should have left with Shinoe when she left.”

“It’s too late to regret it.”

The attendant spoke in an even voice.

“More importantly, you weren’t hurt, were you? It’s the first time he’s ever broken things like this. He didn’t beat you or anything, did he?”

“Would His Majesty ever do that? It’s just pitiful.”

“We can serve him with all our hearts.”

“How are we supposed to serve him? We’re attendants who only run errands and clean rooms at most.”

At the cynical attendant’s words, the other attendant clicked his tongue.

“Doing our own work properly is serving His Majesty with all our hearts. This time, let’s replace it with a mirror that has rounded corners and breaks into large pieces when shattered. That way he won’t get hurt.”

“True. I thought the same thing. Today too, there was blood on his hand.......”

“Shh. Let’s go quietly now.”

Feeling somehow chilled, the attendants closed their mouths and quietly scattered down their separate paths.

In the arms of the attendant who had come from Ragniel’s room were shards of a broken mirror. The drops of blood on the mirror could be faintly seen between the blanket wrapped around them.

Behind one of the enormous pillars of the hall, someone revealed himself.

It was Giselle, his long hair neatly swept back.

He watched as though following the retreating back of the attendant who vanished beyond the hall, then began to walk.