Chapter 248
‧₊˚ ☁️⋅♡𓂃 ࣪ ִֶָ☾.
Our aimless train journey finally ended that afternoon, and we got off in a small town. As soon as we found a place to stay, Killian went out for a bit and then returned.
“I just sent a telegram.”
He’d hoped to call his brother, but there were no phone lines in this town. So he’d gone to the post office to send a telegram instead.
“How long do you think it’ll take for a reply?”
“Well, if my brother gets the telegram right away, we could hear back within a day. But if he decides to send someone here instead, it might take a few days longer.”
“What if we don’t get any reply?”
“We’ll wait here three or four days, and if there’s still no word, we’ll go to another city and try calling from there.”
Noticing my worry, Killian tried to reassure me with a smile.
“It’s just a precaution. I doubt it’ll come to that. I’m sure we’ll get an answer in a few days. My brother—Ted—has never once turned his back on me when I was in trouble.”
Maybe he was thinking of difficult times from the past, because after saying that, he went quiet, staring into space. When our eyes finally met, he forced a little smile, as if to say there was nothing to worry about.
“Ted will understand my situation. Even when it felt like I had no one in the world, Ted was always on my side. I really miss him.”
Killian spent the whole day talking about his brother.
“There’s an eight-year age gap between us. Ted’s my only sibling, and he’s always looked out for me—sometimes he felt more like a father than my own father.”
It was the first time I’d heard so much about the brother who was so much older than him.
“…Last I heard, he was still single. When I left, he was on his own. Ted lost his first love, and the heartbreak was so deep that he turned down every marriage proposal that came his way through his twenties…”
Just before he turned thirty, Ted got tuberculosis, and he’s remained single ever since. He’d been an officer and a noble, so when the war broke out he should have been called up again, but his illness prevented him from rejoining.
“That’s why I went to fight in Ted’s stead.”
For a moment I wondered if Killian, with his innocent personality, had been pressured into risking his life in his brother’s place. But it turned out Ted had never tried to send him off to war.
In fact, he had fiercely opposed the idea out of fear Killian might not survive. Going was Killian’s own stubborn decision.
“In hindsight, I’m grateful I was so stubborn.”
Killian lay on the bed next to me, gently running his hand across my face, a look of satisfaction on his lips.
“Didn’t your parents object?”
What I really wanted to ask was whether they supported him going in Ted’s place, but I didn’t want to hear an answer that might hurt him, so I softened the question.
“My father had already passed away by then—only my mother was left. She…”
The words seemed hard to get out. Killian fell silent, swallowed hard, then continued.
“We weren’t close, so she didn’t say anything when I said I’d enlist.”
“That’s… pretty cold.”
How could a parent say nothing when their child was heading to war—neither stopping them nor encouraging them?
“How did you two end up so distant?”
As soon as I asked, Killian’s expression twisted as if he’d swallowed something bitter. After a pause, he forced a dry smile and murmured,
“We were never really close to begin with.”
“Were your parents really strict?”
Killian nodded and added,
“And I was always the child who disappointed them.”
I wanted to hear more, but he fell silent again. I didn’t want to satisfy my curiosity at the expense of his pain, so I let it go.
“At least now you have two people on your side.”
I hugged him from behind, running my hand over the back that looked so sturdy from afar, yet felt so fragile up close.
“You must be exhausted after staying up all night. There aren’t any soldiers or military police here. You can sleep peacefully.”
“I don’t think I’ll really sleep well until we’ve left this country.”
“But no one knows where we are. Everyone thinks we’re headed to Dunley. Even if someone wanted to chase us, they couldn’t possibly catch up.”
“I suppose you’re right. At least, I hope so…”
“Everything will work out, Killian. Let’s just imagine happy things together.”
So we held each other close, drifting off to sleep, wrapped in warmth and dreams of a happy future.
“Fire!”
I jolted awake to someone shouting outside.
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