Chapter: 4
“So you’re saying you didn’t come because you were worried about me, but because you need my vote for that damned family and its power?”
Dorothy, an only child, had always harbored a vague longing for siblings.
Things like unshakable trust in one another, a deep and affectionate bond.
I thought siblings walked hand in hand.
But watching Rose and Brandon, she realized not all siblings were like that.
“Hahaha, it makes me sad that you’d take it that way.”
“You dress your words up nicely, but do you think I don’t know how rotten you are inside? A vulgar man who doesn’t even try to understand people’s feelings. That’s exactly why I hate you.”
“I can’t say I like you very much either, Sister.”
Unlike Rose, who was shouting in an agitated voice, Brandon was slouched crookedly on the sofa.
On top of that, no matter what he said, it was laced with an easy smile.
“So what, are you planning to keep yourself locked up in Sailbrums forever?”
“Yes! I’m going to stay here until I die!”
“And will staying here until you die erase your past or your pain?”
He replied with a gentle smile.
“No one will understand how hard things are for you just because you hole yourself up here. Nothing will change.”
“Then what do you expect me to do?”
“Haha, that much I don’t know.”
Dorothy felt like a shrimp caught between fighting whales.
As her ears rang from the shouting, she thought to herself.
This sibling fight had unexpectedly revealed some information to her.
Her neighbor Rose was a young lady of the Kaishner family.
And her younger brother Brandon was none other than that famous duke.
But even before that, Dorothy had noticed the biggest problem with them.
Their way of talking is already completely wrong.
It was as if they didn’t even know how family members were supposed to treat each other.
Did they not realize that the closer you are, the more careful you should be with your words?
Their conversation felt precarious, like a screw was missing somewhere.
Rose is too emotional and tends to speak recklessly.
She raised her voice right away, so of course the other person would feel provoked.
And the Duke’s polite speech doesn’t even sound polite.
Maybe it was because his overall behavior felt too light.
Smiling brightly, he was only scraping at Rose’s nerves.
As a result, an enraged Rose was spewing words she didn’t truly mean.
“I just wish you’d disappear from my sight. That we’d never see each other again.”
That was going too far.
Dorothy hesitated, wondering if she should step in to calm things down, but Brandon remained indifferent.
“If that’s what you want, I’ll do so.”
It wasn’t that difficult anyway.
At his casual reply, Rose felt even more choked with emotion.
“Honestly, I can’t talk to you at all! Don’t ever show your face to me again!”
In the end, the conversation ended with Rose storming out of the room.
Before she knew it, Dorothy was left alone with Brandon.
“She told me to get out of her sight… but she’s the one who left.”
Though he had maintained an indifferent attitude the entire time, perhaps the conversation hadn’t been easy for him either.
He let out a low, deep breath and leaned back fully onto the sofa.
Then his eyes met Dorothy’s, who was sitting far away.
“Why are you sitting so far away, Miss?”
“So I don’t catch your cold.”
“…?”
Perhaps it was an unexpected answer, because he smiled faintly.
It didn’t look like a smile of amusement, but more like a habitual one.
“I don’t really mind.”
“I’m the one who’s worried.”
“I showed you something unpleasant. I’m sorry.”
He spoke with an indifferent expression, never once meeting her eyes.
“What about you? Do you think the same way my sister does?”
Though he asked the question, he didn’t seem particularly interested in Dorothy’s answer.
Dorothy wondered if this might be Brandon’s true nature.
“Well…”
Still, she decided to answer as sincerely as she could.
“It’s not exactly that. I think it’s more that the two of you have very different dispositions.”
“Different?”
“Yes. Of course, Your Grace’s way of thinking isn’t wrong. You’re probably trying to present a realistic solution.”
It seemed that Brandon, in his own way, did worry about his sister.
Though his manner of speaking was deeply flawed.
“But sometimes, there are situations where comfort is needed more than solutions.”
So—
With the hope that their sibling relationship might improve, Dorothy said,
“Why don’t you try offering comfort first, rather than solutions?”
At her words, Brandon blinked in surprise.
“Comfort?”
“Yes!”
“And… how do you do that?”
“….”
At first, Brandon only half-listened to what Dorothy had said.
After all, solving the fundamental problem was better than mere comfort.
Comfort didn’t change the situation.
Put sincerity into it, she said.
Brandon snorted inwardly.
Rather than being sociable, he was good at putting on a front.
Having been raised by others, his life focused on survival rather than friendships or socializing.
He had lived far removed from things like sincerity, love, or heartfelt emotions.
He had learned basic manners, but honestly, dealing with people was bothersome and tedious.
He didn’t really know how to do it, but he decided to reflect Dorothy’s advice anyway.
“I’m sorry I haven’t recognized your pain until now.”
He stripped away his usual smile completely.
“I should have considered your feelings first. I only kept pushing my own way. That wasn’t right. I’m sorry.”
Since it was his first time offering comfort, his words came out awkwardly.
Would this really work?
As he waited for his sister’s response with half-doubt—
“…I’m sorry too.”
The effect was immediate.
“I’m sorry I shouted at you. You were probably saying all that because you were thinking about me, in your own way.”
For the first time in his life, Brandon truly felt the power of conversation.
“You know… what I said earlier, I didn’t mean it.”
Rose spoke without meeting his eyes.
“About wanting you to disappear forever…”
“I know. It did sting a bit, though.”
“I won’t say things like that again. We’re making up, right?”
“Of course.”
A rather warm atmosphere formed.
Caught up in the mood, Rose was just about to give her younger brother a light hug when—
“Ugh, no matter what, hugging is a bit much.”
“Ugh… yeah, this is too much.”
“That just gave me goosebumps.”
The moment their skin barely brushed, they sprang apart.
Both of them scrunched up their faces as if they had eaten something rotten.
And yet, seeing each other like that made them burst into small laughs.
“Let’s talk again next time.”
“Yes.”
With a gentle smile, Rose promised another time.
Brandon was seized by an unfamiliar feeling.
This is the first time we’ve ever talked like this, just the two of us.
The divorce of the previous Duke and Duchess.
When they were young, he was sure he and his sister had played together like ordinary children.
But as the family scattered, each of them was left to survive on their own.
He only heard much later that Rose had given up life in the capital.
Of course, Brandon had tried, in his own way, to bring Rose back to the capital.
Though for some reason, she got angry every single time.
Right from the moment they met.
Still, the fact that their relationship had narrowed simply through conversation—
He had lived in a world that moved solely by the principle of power.
This kind of peaceful problem-solving felt unfamiliar.
Their relationship had been twisted from the start.
Maybe… things really can change.
Perhaps he might even be able to bring Rose back to the capital.
He immediately sought out Dorothy.
“It helped. Truly.”
“I’m glad.”
He couldn’t be sure whether she would really help or not.
But Brandon wanted to cling to even the thinnest possibility.
It had already been three years since Rose left the capital.
He couldn’t let his sister be buried away from the world forever like this.
At the very least, she needed to return before her place disappeared completely.
There was no time.
“So please, help me.”
“…Pardon?”
Busy just trying to survive on his own, he hadn’t paid attention to how Rose had been living all this time.
He shouldn’t have been like that.
“I’ll give you any amount of money. Whatever you want—anything at all—I’ll grant it.”
Perhaps because he was so desperate,
Brandon had completely shed his usual smile.
“Please help me bring my sister safely back to the capital.”
“But… I don’t even know how I could help you.”
“Any way is fine. It would be better than me trying alone.”
Leaving behind Brandon’s bitter smile, Dorothy pondered.
So he really was worried about her.
She had thought he looked like someone who cared not even a speck about others.
But at least that feeling seemed genuine.
“So I beg you.”
Just as Rose had said—
He wasn’t simply an unbearably unpleasant person after all.
