Chapter 9

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Translator: Harry Potta

Chapter: 9

Chapter Title: Clover Hunt and Forest Quarrel

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Creak—

The door swung open, and someone stepped inside.

Standing at the doorway were a girl and a boy who looked about Lucas's age or a bit older.

They had been chatting animatedly for just a moment when they spotted the four children in the room and jumped in fright.

"S-Sorry, Young Master! We thought no one was here…!"

"Please forgive us!"

It was just a simple mistake, but the two turned noticeably pale and began trembling violently.

"If I hadn't been here, were you planning to use this room however you pleased?"

A chilling voice rang out—one none of them had ever heard before.

As if the laughter from moments ago had been a lie, Herwin's face hardened rigidly.

"Hey, why are you getting mad? It could happen by accident."

Sensing something off, Lucas nudged Herwin.

"Yeah, just don't do it next time. Bro, sis, you can go now."

Henry agreed with Lucas and sent the shaking pair away.

They hurried off, afraid Lucas and Henry might change their minds.

Lucas glanced at the closed door, then shot Herwin a look. Herwin clearly wasn't pleased with the situation.

"What was that about all of a sudden? No need to overreact like that."

"………."

"Big bro hates those bro and sis types. His brows furrow like this whenever he runs into them."

Henry answered in Herwin's place, scrunching up his own brow mercilessly to imitate him.

"Did something happen with them?"

"……No, nothing."

Herwin brushed it off in response to the cautious question. He returned to his usual self and started goofing around with Lucas and Henry again.

The once-quiet room quickly filled with laughter.

Ha ha ha ha ha—

Amid the group laughing heartily, only Lucia wasn't smiling as she watched them all tangled up in play.

For a while, she couldn't tear her eyes away from Herwin.

"Sis! Sis! Look at this!"

"Rabbit grass."

"They said if you twist it like this, you can make a ring! I'll make one and give it to you, sis!"

"I'm looking forward to it."

Henry perked up at Lucia's bright smile and focused intently on making the ring with his small, twig-like fingers.

They were currently on a small hill behind the ducal castle.

Having heard that four-leaf clovers brought good luck, the four had been frantically searching for one.

"Wow, this is really hard to find."

"Yeah, there are so many clovers, but not a single four-leaf one."

"That's why it's luck, right? Luck doesn't come to just anyone."

"Is that so? I'll definitely find one."

Lucas's eyes burned with determination as he steeled himself.

Tug—

At that moment, someone tugged at his clothes. He looked down to see Henry fidgeting restlessly.

"What's wrong?"

"Henry... wanna pee…."

"Huh?"

"Sis, can I go pee with Henry?"

Lucia's eyes trembled like aspen leaves.

"O-Oppa."

"Yeah?"

Lucia ended up sending an SOS to Lucas.

"Henry wants to go to the bathroom."

"……Why tell me?"

"He asked me to go with him…."

"Oh? Well, no choice then."

Lucas stood up and approached Henry.

Henry didn't like Lucas, who teased him endlessly.

As Henry stuck close to Lucia and glared at him, Lucas snorted. He scooped up the little boy.

"Waaah! Put me down!"

"If you need to pee, ask me or your big bro. Why bother Lucia?"

"Hate big bro! Go away!"

"No choice even if you hate it. Come on, over there…."

"Waaang! Over there!"

Henry hated it so much that he burst into tears. As his cries grew louder, Herwin turned his head.

"Bro, want me to go?"

"No, it's fine. Henry, stop crying… Ack!"

Lucas, who had been patting Henry, suddenly screamed.

"Aaah! Don't pee here!"

A faint smell wafted as Lucas's clothes began to wet where he held Henry.

Henry had relaxed amid his crying and had an accident.

Whether from grievance or embarrassment, Henry wailed even harder.

"Oppa, sorry. I should've just gone with him…."

"No, it's fine. Didn't expect revenge like this…."

Lucas let out a hollow laugh and patted Henry's back.

"I'll head back to the castle with Henry to change. You two stay here."

"You sure you'll be okay alone? I can…."

"Said it's fine. This is nothing."

As Herwin started to approach, Lucas waved him off. In the end, Lucas headed to the castle while soothing Henry.

Henry called out to Lucia and Herwin, but his voice only grew fainter.

Suddenly, only Lucia and Herwin were left. Being alone together always felt awkward, so they looked away, feeling out of place.

"Shall we hurry and find that four-leaf clover?"

"Huh? Oh, yeah, let's do that."

At Lucia's suggestion, the two resumed their search for the four-leaf clover.

"Hey, Herwin."

In the midst of the awkward silence as they quietly scanned the clovers, Lucia called out to him.

"Yeah?"

"I have something I want to ask."

"What is it?"

"Yesterday, those older brother and sister came into the room by mistake."

Herwin froze.

"Why were you so mad back then?"

"……Why are you curious about that?"

"Hmm, because you're not the type to get mad for no reason?"

Herwin lifted his lowered head.

"……You've only known me for a week."

"But we lived together for about a year and a half before that."

"That was two years ago already? Honestly, I don't remember much from back then. Do you remember everything we did?"

"I don't remember everything either… but I know you're not like that."

Herwin's face crumpled. He couldn't comprehend what Lucia was saying.

How could she judge that he wasn't like that?

It was flattering if she saw him in a good light, but it wasn't enough to make him spill his hidden secrets.

An unforgettable memory surfaced in his mind.

Days when he, younger than Henry now, endured all sorts of mockery and ridicule from the retainers' children.

No amount of time could erase it. Recalling the unpleasant memory, Herwin's face hardened.

"I don't really want to talk about it."

"……I'm not going to tell anyone."

"I said I don't want to! Why should I tell you in the first place?"

Irritation surged, sharpening Herwin's tone.

"Because… I'm your friend…."

"Friend? We might've been close as kids, but not now. I don't think we're close enough to bare our hearts to each other."

Herwin glared at Lucia with cold eyes. It was a clear rejection laced with wariness.

Suddenly, Lucia felt hurt.

'You used to listen to everything I said back then.'

It was so long ago she couldn't be certain, but it felt instinctive.

The current Herwin was so different from the past one.

It made her sad and angry, so she pouted her lips.

"Where are you going?"

Lucia abruptly stood up and headed deep into the forest without a word.

"Hey! You can't go too deep inside!"

"What's it to you! I'll do what I want!"

Hearing Lucia yell for the first time, Herwin was dumbfounded.

His bewilderment lasted only a moment before his own expression soured.

"Fine, do whatever you want!"

From inside the forest, Lucia shouted back.

"Herwin's a dummy!"

"What? Dummy? If I'm a dummy, you're an idiot!"

"Ah! Yeah, I'm an idiot, so don't follow me!"

"Hmph, who said I'm following!"

Catching his breath, Herwin looked to where Lucia had been—and she had already vanished into the forest.

"Why's she the one throwing a fit?"

She had provoked him first, yet here she was getting mad. It was absurd.

Herwin grumbled, convinced he'd misjudged her all this time, voicing his complaints about Lucia.

After a few minutes of venting, he glanced at the forest she'd entered.

'Never go into the forest alone. No monsters, but wild beasts make it dangerous. Don't enter without an adult.'

Hail's words from before echoed in his mind.

"If she's not an idiot, she won't go too deep."

He had warned her, so she probably hadn't ventured far.

With that thought, Herwin irritably began plucking clovers.

"………."

After taking out his frustration on innocent clovers for a while, Herwin suddenly stopped and lifted his head slightly.

His gaze turned toward the forest where Lucia had gone.

"……Seriously, you're getting on my nerves."

He couldn't stop worrying about her.

It dawned on him that if he'd responded more gently, she wouldn't have gotten mad or run into the forest.

He usually wouldn't care about others, but with Lucia, he just couldn't let it go.

"Is it because we lived together back then…."

Even memories he couldn't recall seemed to hold him back.

Imagining her bright, sunlit smile twisting into tear-streaked sobs made his chest ache.

"Agh, really!"

Caught in an inexplicable emotion, he yanked out a clump of grass in frustration.

As he went to toss the pulled weeds, he froze at the large leaf caught between his fingers.

"……Huh? A four-leaf clover."

Among the clovers he'd plucked, one was miraculously a four-leaf.

Larger than the others and perfectly intact without a tear.

"Wow! A real four-leaf clover!"

Thrilled at finding it, Herwin jumped to his feet.

His excitement faded as he sensed the quiet surroundings and looked around.

If Lucia were here, she'd celebrate it like it was her own victory.

Herwin's lips turned downward.

His buoyant mood sank in an instant. Staring at the four-leaf clover with mixed feelings, he carefully clenched his fist to protect it.

"No helping it. Guess I'll have to go find her."

Surely, giving her this would lift her spirits.

It was a shame to part with the hard-found treasure—even if just a little—but if it cheered her up, he didn't care how many he'd give.

'Wow, is this for me?'

He pictured Lucia's delighted face upon receiving it.

"Seriously, does Lucia even know how I feel?"

He grumbled, but his face was brighter than before.

Excited at the thought of making up with her, Herwin unwittingly hummed a tune as he stepped into the forest after her.

"Dummy, mangy mutt, sea anemone, squid…!"

Deep in the forest, Lucia spat out every bad word she could think of.

She snorted fiercely and stomped her feet with all her might.

Thud thud—!

"Herwin's a dummy idiot."

If he didn't want to talk, he could've just said so—did he have to get so mad?

Sniff, sob.

She tried to hold it back, but tears and snot had already begun to flow.

Showing tears over something like this felt like losing to Herwin, so she didn't want to cry.

Lucia hurriedly wiped her glistening tears with her sleeve. Yet the stubborn tears paid no heed to her feelings and kept coming.

"Sniff, Herwin's a dummy…."

Not accepting her as a friend hurt more than his anger.

She wondered if that's why he'd been hanging out more with Lucas—her heart ached at the thought.

"I don't… I don't need a friend like Herwin!"

Even as she resolved to hate him and voiced it aloud, the lump in her chest showed no sign of dissolving.

The more she dwelled on it, the more sorrow crashed over her.

"Sniff, hue, huung…."

After shedding tears nonstop, she finally let out a wail from deep in her throat.

Waaang—

The not-so-loud cry echoed through the forest like a ripple.