Chapter 3

-----------------------------------------------------------------

Translator: Harry Potta

Chapter: 3

Chapter Title: A Tearful First Meeting

-----------------------------------------------------------------

“Here, Herwin. This is Young Master Lucas Agnes and Lady Lucia Agnes of the Agnes family. Lucia is the same age as you, so get along well while you're staying here.”

Herwin quietly glanced at his mother before looking at the Agnes siblings standing in front of him.

“Hi, I'm Lucas Agnes. Looking forward to getting along.”

“I'm Herwin Peneus. Likewise.”

After exchanging greetings with Lucas, Herwin turned his head toward Lucia.

Herwin's eyes widened slightly in surprise as he looked at Lucia. But they quickly returned to normal, and he approached her.

“Hi?”

“.........”

“Lucia, what are you doing? Shake his hand.”

Lucia had been standing there awkwardly, but at her brother's words from the side, she hurriedly took Herwin's hand lightly.

“Ah, hi......”

Unlike when their eyes had met just moments before, Lucia couldn't properly look at Herwin now that he was so close.

When she stole a sidelong glance at him, Herwin noticed and lifted the corners of his previously expressionless mouth.

For an instant, Herwin looked so breathtakingly beautiful that Lucia thought an angel had descended to earth.

“So pretty......”

The corners of Herwin's mouth, which had just curved upward, dropped straight down in a flash. Seeing his stiffened expression, Lucia flinched.

“Don't say I'm pretty.”

“Huh...?”

“I'm handsome, not pretty.”

Herwin suddenly flared up, leaving Lucia flustered.

She had only called him pretty because he resembled an angel—was that really something to get so upset about?

Lucia fidgeted, gauging Herwin's mood, before opening her mouth.

“But... I said it because you look like an angel......”

“Tch, I told you not to call me pretty!”

Herwin roughly shook off the hand Lucia had been holding.

“Hey, why are you suddenly getting mad like that!”

Lucas, who had been watching the bizarre unfolding from the side, stepped in to shield Lucia.

With Lucas—whose head towered much higher than his own—defending her, Herwin hesitated and took a step back.

Dazed by the sudden turn of events, tears began to well up in Lucia's eyes one by one.

“U, uu... Th-the angel hates me......”

Lucia, the treasured daughter of the Agnes family who had grown up receiving nothing but unconditional love, was experiencing rejection for the very first time in her life.

And from someone she actually liked, no less—the one who had gotten angry and shaken off her hand. She couldn't hold back the wave of sadness crashing over her.

Waaah.

In the end, as Lucia burst into tears, the adults who had been chatting happily jumped in alarm and rushed over.

“Lucia, what's wrong all of a sudden?”

“There, there, our good girl. Let's stop now.”

Julian and Yohan began soothing Lucia.

But as anyone knows, having people try to comfort you only makes the sadness worse, making it impossible to stop the tears.

Lucia's sobs grew even louder.

With no idea what had caused this fiasco, the adults turned to Lucas and Herwin for an explanation of what had happened.

“That kid made Lucia cry!”

Lucas jabbed a finger at Herwin, fuming. Herwin shrank back under the onslaught of stares that poured over him in an instant.

“The Young Lord did?”

Yohan and Julian looked at Herwin with puzzled expressions, while Hail and Scarlett—well aware that Herwin wasn't the type of child to make a stranger cry—were utterly bewildered.

“Son, did you really make Lady Agnes cry?”

“I, I......”

Scarlett asked gently. Even so, Herwin found her words frightening.

Bombarded by gazes from all sides and eyes that seemed to reproach him, Herwin felt deeply wronged.

In the end, unable to offer a proper explanation, Herwin began to sniffle himself.

“Sh-she started it first......!”

Uherung.

Herwin mumbled something more after that, but it was all mixed with sobs, rendering his words incomprehensible.

Hail simply scooped up his pitifully crying son to comfort him.

The cries of Herwin and Lucia clashed together in a discordant symphony.

As Hail and Yohan each held their children, their eyes met.

The two men exchanged awkward smiles and patted their respective children's backs.

It took quite a long time for the pair of children to finally stop crying.

“Ah, so that's how it happened.”

“What did I think it was. Turns out it was nothing.”

“But... I'm not pretty, am I?”

Once the commotion had fully settled and the two families had entered the mansion, they were finally able to hear the full story.

In the end, it all stemmed from Lucia calling Herwin pretty.

“Lucia, Herwin doesn't like being called pretty. That's probably why he got upset. It's not because he dislikes you.”

Scarlett kindly explained to Lucia, who was nestled in Julian's arms.

Lucia, who had buried her face in her mother's embrace, peeked out just a little.

“The angel doesn't hate me...?”

Flustered at first by the word “angel,” Scarlett realized it referred to Herwin and cleared her throat.

“Angel? Ahem, right. He doesn't hate you. Isn't that so, Herwin?”

“Hmph, I don't know. I don't want to get close to her.”

Herwin had already made up his mind about Lucia.

A kid who had upset him.

He vowed not to become friends with her.

Rejected once more, Lucia began sniffling again.

“Uu... You do hate me......”

Scarlett shot Herwin a fierce glare, but he pretended not to notice and looked away.

“Lucia, you don't call boys pretty. You call them handsome.”

Before Lucia could break into fresh tears, Lucas spoke up to her.

“Huh?”

“I like hearing 'handsome' better than 'pretty' too, you know? He's a boy. So you should say handsome, not pretty.”

“Is that how it works...?”

“Yeah. Well, I wouldn't go crying just because someone called me pretty.”

Just as Herwin had passed judgment on Lucia, Lucas had now sized up Herwin as well.

A petty jerk who made his little sister cry.

To a doting older brother, Herwin was now a figure to keep a sharp eye on.

Hearing the pointed remark aimed at him, Herwin felt a surge of indignation.

“Who said I cried!”

“You were bawling your eyes out, snot and tears everywhere just a minute ago. Be a man—don't cry over something so petty.”

“Pet-petty?”

“Yeah. Totally petty.”

Herwin trembled with fury. Lucas, sensing he'd struck a nerve, flashed the sly, mischievous grin unique to children.

“Lucas! You can't behave like that even as the older one!”

At Yohan's stern warning, Lucas pouted and finally stopped needling Herwin.

“I apologize. Because of my children, the Young Lord has...”

“There's no need for the Count to apologize. Children grow up through these little squabbles, after all.”

“Exactly, don't worry about it. Herwin was in the wrong too.”

“Mom! I...”

“Hush, the adults are talking.”

Herwin felt a pang of hurt at Scarlett dismissing his feelings like that.

Glaring briefly at his parents before looking away, Herwin's eyes happened to meet those of the Agnes siblings.

Lucia couldn't hide her curiosity and kept stealing glances at him, while Lucas scowled in clear displeasure.

“They'll surely warm up to each other over the remaining time.”

But upon hearing the adults, Herwin thought to himself.

'No way, absolutely not! I'm never getting friendly with them!'

The beginning of Herwin and Lucia's long, enduring bond was anything but smooth.

“Um, hey......”

“.........”

“He-Herwin......”

Crackle, crackle—

Lucia called out to him several times, her pronunciation still a bit unclear, but Herwin showed no reaction whatsoever.

This situation—being left alone together in the vast playroom—was hardly what Herwin or Lucia had wanted.

Herwin just wanted to get out of there as quickly as possible.

Yet no matter the quarrel between Herwin and the Agnes siblings, the Peneus family had already decided to stay at the Agnes Count House.

It was too late to seek new lodgings now, and they couldn't very well spend the entire stay on bad terms. So the adults hoped the children would make up sooner rather than later, even if just a little.

In the end, unable to defy the adults' insistence, the three children were bundled off to the playroom. Not long after, Lucas left for his lesson with the family tutor.

That left only Herwin and Lucia in the playroom.

If it weren't for the biting cold forcing them to stay by the fireplace, Herwin never would have gone anywhere near Lucia.

Lucia's plump cheeks sagged at Herwin's resolute refusal to respond no matter how she called.

She clutched the pair of dolls in her hands tightly and plopped down right there.

Aside from the crackling of the firewood in the hearth and the occasional muffled noises from the hallway, the playroom was utterly silent.

Herwin, his resentment toward Lucia still unresolved, hugged his knees tightly to his chest.

'If I'd known it'd be like this, I never would have come.'

He had been so excited for his first trip away from the North to the capital.

They'd told him he could make friends his age, and he'd even imagined what kind of friends he might meet.

But the moment they met, she called him pretty.

The adults always said it was a compliment, but the word never sat right with Herwin.

'I'm a boy. Why does everyone always say pretty? There's handsome too, you know.'

It always felt like “pretty” came bundled with “girly.”

'Oh, you're a boy? Quite delicate-looking for one. If you were a girl, you'd grow up into a stunning beauty.'

'No way, you're a boy? Don't lie! You look like a girl—why pretend?'

'You'd suit a dress better than pants. Try one on sometime.'

All the words he'd heard so many times before echoed in his ears, tormenting him endlessly.

If she hadn't said “pretty,” they might have even become good friends.

Herwin pouted needlessly.

Back when they'd first disembarked from the carriage and met the Agnes family, Herwin had been quietly surprised by Lucia.

'She looks like a fairy.'

Her short brown bob that reached down to her chubby cheeks, her blue eyes clearer than the sky itself, and the pink dress that evoked roses.

The moment Herwin saw Lucia, a fairy sprang to mind.

She was so incredibly cute that the large ribbon on the back of her dress even resembled fairy wings.

His first impression had been excellent—until that one word from her ruined everything.

Sniff—

As he grumbled inwardly, the sound of a sniffle reached his ears.

Herwin paused and glanced back cautiously.

Lucia, who had been circling around trying to strike up a conversation, was now sitting with her back to him. Her small shoulders somehow looked slumped.

Sniff— sniff—

The sound of her sniffling nonstop continued.

Herwin figured it was none of his business and turned back around. But even after several minutes, the noise didn't stop, and he abruptly shot to his feet.

“Seriously, crying again? You're such a crybaby......!”

Wondering if he'd made her cry, he started toward her—

“Sniff, sniffle! Uu......?”

Lucia wasn't crying. She just had a runny nose and kept sniffing it up. Herwin froze, his words dying in his throat.

“Hehe, you all better now?”

Oblivious to Herwin's inner turmoil, Lucia flashed a bright smile.

Herwin's face heated up at her adorable expression, and he whipped his head away.

“Wh-who's better!”

“But you came over to me.”

“That was only because I thought you were crying... Never mind.”

Herwin decided there was no point dealing with her anymore.

As he turned to leave again, the dazed Lucia suddenly grabbed the hem of his clothes.

“......Why?”

“Sorry.”

Herwin's sullen lips twitched upward just a fraction.

He hadn't expected her to apologize so straightforwardly. He'd figured she'd only do it reluctantly, pushed by the adults...

Herwin cracked open his eyes slightly and looked down.

Her clear blue eyes reflected his own image like a mirror, and without realizing it, Herwin swallowed hard.