I Will Return My New Brother - Chapter 213

Like an animal, acting on instinct alone, the man seemed to have forgotten how to wield a sword.

The recklessly swung sword cut the air continuously.

It was funny to see the small bottle of alcohol fall out of his arms.

Even when chasing me to this garden, this lout couldn’t let go of his drink.

I blinked and opened my mouth.

Although it was my own voice, somehow, it felt unfamiliar.

“Marco Gramia is weird, isn’t he?”

My voice was unusually hoarse.

Even so, as though he understood me, a calm answer came from behind.

“Yeah, he’s weird.”

It was the moment when the trembling sword tip was aimed at me.

As though the sword swing, which was not only slow and clumsy but also easy to avoid, was a great danger, Zen quickly pulled me away.

The sword fell from the hand of the man who was attacked by his magic.

I looked down at the sword that rolled to my feet.

Then, I slowly turned my head to look at Zen.

He wasn’t in a shirt, nor a splendid mage robe.

I subconsciously bit my lip the moment I saw the old, familiar hood.

There was blood at the tip of my tongue.

“You don’t look surprised at all.”

Whether about my taking away the Bolton family’s heirloom, or about that man turning crazy after snatching it from my hand.

Those deep green eyes stared at me calmly.

Facing his gaze, I parted the hardly moving lips and confirmed it.

“You knew it, right? Both you and Bertin.”

Was that why he hid from me, and approached the Crown Prince?

To discover what the Bolton family was doing?

Or to find out if Mom was involved in ‘that case’ years ago?

My eyes were stinging from the silent tears.

“So that’s why . . . You really hate my mother.”

Zen slowly looked up, muttering.

“Because that woman always makes you cry, eventually. Just like right now.”

He then added slowly.

“And it’s the same with me.”

Zen reached out his hand and touched my eye.

Contrasting his blank expression, it was a gentle touch like usual.

I felt nauseous, as if I was about to throw up.

The hand touching my eye slowly moved to my hand.

“Why did you learn such a useless thing?”

His low voice reached my ears.

When he touched the tips of my ragged fingers, small bits of mana clung to me.

Looking at the glowing fingers, I mumbled, “I know. This is Rany’s habit, though.”

Did I catch it because I saw her doing it so often?

I realized, yet again, that we had been together for a long time.

It was just the two of us, at first.

Bertin came into that world, and then Rany.

That foolish innocence, thinking that that world would not collapse because it was utterly perfect, struck me very hard.

* * *

“It would be difficult for his mind to recover, right?”

“I don’t know.”

Marco, whose body was contorted, fell asleep as though fainting after being hit by Zen’s magic.

I was curious as to how Lady Gramia would react to this situation, where her family’s heir lost his sanity.

Bertin had already been ordained, so perhaps the position would be transferred to his younger brother or cousin.

Zen spoke while I was looking down at the sword under my feet.

“He’s only paying for recklessly touching the sword.”

So it has nothing to do with you.

It seemed like he wanted to say that.

I stood there blankly, without saying anything.

It wasn’t like I was dreaming, but my head was blank, as though my sense of reality became insensible.

Zen, looking at me, suddenly bent his body.

“Take off your shoes.”

I blinked my eyes, doubting his words as he swiftly knelt before me.

“Quickly.”

In his hands, he held low-heeled shoes, quite unlike those on my feet.

“Those shoes . . .”

When and where on earth did he bring them from?

It was at once amazing and dumbfounding.

And flustering as well.

Unlike me, who was speechless, he looked up nonchalantly.

“They might try to check the trail. If the shoes you’re wearing are different, they won’t be able to say anything.”

I blinked. They wouldn’t be able to notice my shoes anyway— they were hidden by my dress.

Instead of continuing to urge me, he simply grabbed my ankle and eased off my shoe.

I saw that my foot was a bit swollen due to those unnatural shoes.

“The other one.”

“Zen.”

“Give me your other foot.”

His voice stayed calm as ever.

“When returning to the banquet hall, go back through the other side. After you’re hidden in the crowd, I’ll wake Marco Gramia—”

“Zen.”

When I cut in, only then he looked up at my eyes.

He looked at me with unreadable eyes.

For the first time in my life, I felt afraid looking at the green eyes that I always thought beautiful.

“I’m . . .”

The rising courage quickly disappeared.

At the same time, the mouth that I tried hard to open closed again.

I felt helpless, like a lost child.

You knew everything.

So how could you care for me even in this moment?

I swallowed back the words rising from my throat.

It would be cowardly for me to burst into tears in this situation.

“Sorry.”

After spitting out a single word, my locked throat eased up a little.

“I thought that I shouldn’t say anything, that a few words could never be enough . . .”

“. . .”

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