Leto stomped his feet on the floor and pounded his chest angrily.
Valen felt a bit wronged. “If you’re going to blindfold someone, you should kill your sound and ambush them. You came charging in, screaming your head off and making the ground shake, so of course I noticed. You should be using your lean weight. Your centre of gravity is collapsing into the ground. I can hear every footstep.”
“Ah, big brother!”
They reenacted the fight several more times afterward, but it always ended with Valen, playing the villain, winning. Finally, Leto sniffled, “Justice doesn’t win… There is no God…”
But Leto wasn’t one to give up here. There was still a little time left before dinner. The twilight had deepened, and the air had turned cold, but it couldn’t dampen Leto’s spirit. “Let’s stop the role-playing and play hide-and-seek instead.”
“No. It’s too late.”
“Just once, really. Huh? Huh? You’re coming home late tomorrow too, right?”
“……Just once. I won’t call it off if I find you too soon. No whining.”
“Okay. Fine.”
Valen closed his eyes and turned away. In a pleasant voice, he began counting down from thirty. Leto, tense as a bowstring, swallowed hard.
He had to hide well… He had to stay perfectly hidden until his brother begged, saying he couldn’t find him…
Climbing a tree would get him caught on the way up, and under a bench or behind a rock was too obvious. Leto’s eyes frantically scanned the surroundings.Then the lakeshore caught his eye. The wind blew in, roughly shaking the grass and leaves. Using that sound as cover, Leto quickly approached the lakeshore.
‘You should be using your lean weight. Your centre of gravity is collapsing toward the ground. I can hear every footstep.’
Leto quietly slipped off his shoes. He couldn’t make any noise with his feet…
“Eight, seven, six…”
When did the count get so low? Startled, Leto shouted. “Brother, just 30 more seconds. Please. Please…!”
“…Just this once.” Valen began counting down from 30 again.
Leto grinned and dipped his feet into the lake. The bitingly cold water nearly made him scream. He rolled up his shirt, stuffed it in his mouth, and plunged both legs into the lake. Just then, the wind blew again, whipping through the garden more fiercely than before.
But there was an unexpected problem.
He hadn’t considered that last night’s rain had made the water much deeper. At this spot, he should have been able to touch the bottom, but no matter how far he stretched his legs, there was nothing to step on.
Panic made his tightly closed mouth open. Cold water gushed into his throat, and his limbs stiffened rigidly from the water’s chill. Leto’s black hair spread out like fins, and he was gradually sucked deeper into the lake’s depths.
“…Two, one. Searching.” Valen turned around.
Silence hung heavy around him. Annoyed by the hair tickling his forehead, he brushed it aside with one hand before slowly lifting his foot. Leto’s hiding spots were always predictable. Under a bench or behind a statue. If he wasn’t here either… Had he gone inside? No, there wasn’t enough time for that.
Then, something caught Valen’s eye. It was Leto’s shoe, carelessly discarded by the lakeside.
No way…
Valen rushed toward the lake. Without even thinking to look inside, he plunged in headfirst. In the sunset-drenched water, he spotted Leto slowly sinking. Valen swam swiftly and pulled him out of the water.
“Good heavens, young master!” The nanny, who had come to call Valen and Leto, spotted the brothers just as they surfaced at the lakeshore. Stunned, she ran over and grabbed Leto’s arm, pulling him onto the shore.
Leto’s lips had turned purple, and his already pale skin was deathly white. There was no warmth anywhere in his body.
A fierce palm flew through the air. The nanny gasped in shock, covering her mouth with both hands.
Valen, struck across the cheek, said nothing. He showed no sign of displeasure or remorse. He simply looked hollow.
“You nearly killed Leto! Can’t you even look after your own brother? How much more will you disappoint us, how much!” Valen’s mother, Helena Rudwick, cried as if she were vomiting. She shook Valen’s clothes as if tearing at them, unable to steady herself.
Leto hadn’t woken up for a week. They paid the doctor a huge sum for a house call and had him provide 24-hour care, but he only repeated that they needed to wait a little longer.
Fearing the worst for her late-born youngest, Helena too couldn’t sleep. Her husband, Lord Jaden Rudwick, tried to soothe her, saying, “You’ll collapse if you keep this up,” but she stayed by Leto’s side until the end.
Deep-rooted guilt and love for her child. Helena felt as if it were all her fault that Leto was born unhealthy. It was only natural that her heart ached for Leto, who lagged far behind his more gifted siblings, especially Valen.
Despite their modest means, the Rudwicks borrowed money to ensure Leto received the best possible treatment. Had their prayers reached the heavens? Though the change was slight, strength began to return to Leto’s body. Just as they found a sliver of hope after living in despair, disaster struck.
The moment they pulled him up a little, he plummeted back into the abyss.Helena spent her days in anxiety, fearing Leto might never wake again, growing increasingly hysterical. Nothing else existed in the eyes of a parent on the verge of losing a child. Not even her other child, Valen.
Valen was the root cause of everything that had happened to Leto. Though no one said it outright, everyone in the castle was convinced it was Valen’s fault.
Valen thought so too. There was no sense of injustice about it. It was the truth.Leto was six years younger than him, full of playful energy, and fiercely competitive—just like a brother should be. He hadn’t fully understood Leto’s heart, nor could he predict how he might act.
It was his fault. So a few slaps to the cheek were something he could take. If it meant everything would be resolved, he’d gladly endure it.
“Madam. The young master has awakened.” At that moment, the doctor’s assistant arrived to deliver the news.
Helena rushed out frantically, nearly tripping over her own skirt and falling hard. Valen caught her, but she roughly pushed his hand away.
“Leto, Leto!”
Leto, his cheekbones protruding and his cheeks sunken from weight loss, struggled to open his eyes.
“Brother…”
Those were the first words to escape his parched, cracked lips. Brother. Helena, without a hint of resentment, wept and nodded her head repeatedly.
“Yes, yes… You have a brother too.”
Burying her face in Leto’s chest, Helena wept, calling out the name of the god she prayed to daily.
Valen, who had followed their mother, stood cautiously beside the bed. Then, Leto’s emaciated fingers gently grasped Valentine’s hand.
It was cold.
A bone-chilling coldness ran through his skin, making his entire body tremble. Relief washed over him, but simultaneously, an indescribable guilt crashed over him like a tidal wave.
Though he had miraculously awakened, as feared, Leto’s health had deteriorated. His immunity had plummeted, and multiple complications arose, causing his vision to fluctuate between improvement and deterioration. Even chewing and swallowing food became a struggle, and at its worst, he coughed up blood so profusely it soaked through his clothes.
As his condition worsened, the medical bills for Leto became astronomical. The Rudwick couple sent most of the servants away from the manor, hoping to reduce the number of mouths to feed. This included the nanny who had cared for Valen and Leto since they were infants.
“Oh dear… What a pity for our young masters.” Leto wrapped the nanny’s head and ears snugly in a thick muffler.
Even then, she couldn’t stop crying. Being driven out without a chance to plan for the future, she worried about the two young masters until the very end.While Leto and the nanny said their goodbyes, Valen slipped a money pouch made of purple silk into her bag. It was all the money Valen possessed.
He hadn’t placed the purse there out of pity, a luxury of an emotion. Was he in any position to pity anyone? If anything, the nanny, free to leave whenever she wished, was better off than they were. As long as they bore their titles, they were destined to live forever in the shackles of poverty.