Chapter 131
As expected, the snow that had fallen all night was piled up thickly to ankle height.
I was so happy to see the morning with the entire world dyed white that the moment I opened my eyes, I roughly grabbed some clothes, put them on, and headed outside.
Crunch. Crunch.
The sound of snow being stepped on felt warm and familiar. As I excitedly stamped my footprints into the wide, untouched snowfield, at some point I noticed large footprints closely following behind me.
“Feyden!”
Under the dim early-morning sunlight, Feyden was trailing after my footprints with his hands tucked into his trouser pockets.
Unlike usual, a languid smile hung at the corner of his lips. Aside from his mischievous pranks, he was someone who gave off a very dependable, older-brother-like feeling.
I trotted over and stopped in front of Feyden.
“Why’d you wake up so early?”
At my question, he plopped his large hand down on top of my head.
“Work doesn’t do itself.”
“Work?”
At my blank expression, Feyden snorted with a laugh.
“Making sure no one carries off the colt.”
I don’t know if it was because of the cold, but my cheeks felt hot and flushed.
Just then, Feyden shoved the snow he’d been hiding in his other hand down the back of my neck and said with his usual mischievous face,
“Your drool’s falling.”
“Ah! Cold!”
A dependable older brother, my foot! I take that back. He’s just an immature youngest brother!
After chasing each other around until my ears felt like they were about to fall off from the cold, I finally headed home only after slipping and falling. Because of the scrape on my knee, I was carried on Feyden’s back, and his back was so warm that I think I ended up falling asleep without realizing it.
When I woke up feeling refreshed, I saw Feyden sleeping uncomfortably beside me, using his own arm as a pillow.
Seeing him sleeping without even a blanket, I felt oddly sorry and grateful at the same time. Just as I quietly got up to cover him with a blanket, he spoke with his eyes still closed.
“I’m not asleep.”
“You were sleeping. Cover yourself with this.”
“I’m not cold. This is the warm spot.”
When I placed my hand on the floor where Feyden was lying, it was practically sizzling hot. With this much warmth, it made sense that I should be the one keeping the blanket.
The emotion I’d felt just moments ago vanished without a trace.
I pulled the blanket back up to just under my eyes and looked at Feyden.
“You stayed here the whole time?”
“Yeah. Guess I nodded off, sleep just came naturally.”
He laughed easily, then sprawled out flat on his back and put his hands behind his head.
“Thanks.”
“Huh?”
“Thanks to you, I get to sleep like this and even earn money. I’m living an ordinary day I never thought I’d have. Before, I’d never slept this peacefully.”
“……”
Hearing Feyden’s inner thoughts for the first time, I stayed silent and listened.
“It’s the same for Truu. I never imagined I’d be able to send him to a priest school. I was just scraping by day to day. How would I have known I’d end up living this comfortably. I don’t know what kind of luck I have to have met you, but thanks to you, I’m grateful.”
“It’s nothing.”
I smiled playfully, just like he always did.
“At first, yeah. For a few months, I couldn’t sleep at night because I was suspicious of you.”
“Really?”
“Yeah. I couldn’t figure out what kind of scheme you had, giving Truu and me a huge sum of money and doing something that only caused you losses. I even thought about paying someone to look into your background, but I just gave up.”
“Why?”
“Your smile…”
“Uh, what about my smile?”
Feyden turned his body toward me and propped his arm up as he looked at me.
“Your smile was so guileless and stupid that I couldn’t help but believe you. I figured there was no way a kid that dumb was approaching us with ulterior motives.”
“Hey!”
I thought something touching might come out of his surprisingly serious words, but instead. Having gotten my hopes up, I irritably pulled the blanket all the way over my head.
While I was fuming, Feyden’s soft voice came from beyond the blanket.
“Potato.”
“……”
“Hey, Potato.”
“…Ah, what.”
“I’m sorry for betraying you.”
“Huh?!”
I quickly threw the blanket off and looked at Feyden. Hearing the words “I’m sorry” come out of that lump of pride was unbelievable.
Seeing my gaping mouth, Feyden seemed to have expected it and slightly nodded, avoiding my gaze.
“I grew up without learning how to apologize, and I couldn’t do it because it was damn embarrassing. Sorry. For being late.”
“…You apologized, even if it’s late, so it’s fine.”
In truth, after spending about three years with him, I’d long since forgiven everything Feyden had done behind my back.
Because I knew his sincerity, the way he followed me everywhere, insisting on guarding me whether I was eating or sleeping.
There was no way I didn’t know that he’d always been apologizing to me through his actions.
“Seeing you apologize like this… you’re planning to go back to the Empire first, right?”
“……”
“You made a good decision.”
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