I Will Return My New Brother - Chapter 215

At the time the knights headed to the lounge, Zenin looked at Marianne’s silhouette as she walked the dark hallway.

I did think she’d try to confirm it, but I didn’t know she’d use the Crown Prince and daringly steal the heirloom from the hall herself.

Technically, it was the most convincing and clear method.

And it was a method only Marianne would use.

He sent a knight, who was walking toward Marianne, elsewhere with some light deception magic.

Calming her breath, she looked at the sword closely.

It would be nice if she simply pretended to not know.

He’d actually hoped for that to be the case.

However, he’d already predicted that she wouldn’t be able to pretend not to know.

No matter how heartbreaking it would be, she wasn’t someone who could be shameless enough to act innocent ignorantly and laugh.

She’s timid as well.

While Zenin sighed, Marianne’s hand reached toward the sword without hesitation.

* * *

That day, when the world he lived in collapsed.

Only one carriage escaped from the village, which burned so fiercely that only ashes were left.

The carriage that ran all day stopped at a shabby inn.

Zenin Arcadia, who slept so soundly, opened his eyes on top of the hard bed.

Marianne, who was asleep while holding his hand, had eyes rimmed red as though she was tired from crying.

Mother, father, older sister.

And all the villagers.

As soon as he recalled the situation, he got off the bed and looked outside the window.

A new landscape entered his eyes.

The young boy, who had never left the village, realized he had moved to quite a far place while he was fainting.

He grabbed the door, trying to leave the room in his confusion.

Then, there was someone’s voice heard through the gap in the door that wasn’t closed tight.

“We have shutted up the visiting merchant guild, and it seems like an agreement has been reached with the lord.”

“No rumors will spread, then.”

“The sole survivor is only a little kid, after all.”

The conversation between the two people was faint, but it wasn’t hard to understand it.

The head of the young Zen spinned.

Survivor. Agreement. Kept quiet

No matter how young he was, he wasn’t at an age where he couldn’t understand the meaning of those words.

While he was stunned, the conversation continued.

“Don’t leave anything behind. I have to change that child’s last name as well.”

“Will it be okay?”

“Saving the child wasn’t in the plan, but what can I do?”

At the end of the conversation, the man asked hesitantly.

“Do you want me to leave anything?”

“Burn everything. Leave no traces behind. So that people can’t even find a body.”

The voice of the woman who said that was icy cold.

The red shoes worn by someone were seen through the gap in the door.

Zen knew the owner of those shoes.

She, who was sitting, stood up and slowly walked closer to where he was.

As the clacking sounds of the heels came closer, Zen quickly laid down on the bed again.

Coming in through the door, the woman looked at the two sleeping children and left again.

While that woman’s gaze stayed, Zenin closed his eyes tightly and calmed down his wildly beating heart.

At that very moment, fear dominated his mind more than the news of his family.

He could instinctively feel it.

That he had to pretend to not hear the conversation shared between the two people.

The boy left the village, changed his last name, and stayed in Marianne’s house as a ‘guest’.

The boy, who fearfully pretended not to be aware of that moment, survived, but his choice at that moment was deeply embedded in his mind.

That ‘moment’ when he closed his eyes because of his fear tormented him for a long time.

And after some time passed, he started to look for something to resent, as he couldn’t forgive himself.

“Zen, let’s eat.”

Marianne came to him everyday and tried to pull him out of his own mind.

She wasn’t the one to talk, but all day, she stuck next to him and spoke.

Every time he saw those glittering eyes, embarrassment and anger took the lead.

Your mom is at fault.

He regarded that thought as an indulgence to torment her cruelly.

Every day, he slapped away her hand and spoke heartlessly.

She should have given up, but the foolish girl would rather be driven to tears than stop approaching.

“I’m sorry. It’s my fault.”

The overflowing hatred made him unable to look at the girl’s crying face.

Whenever she apologized, he felt as though it were a reason for him to keep resenting.

It stayed that way for a whole year.

A time long enough for Zenin, who was filled with hatred, to tire and fall first.

That girl, who was so stubborn and stupid, didn’t know how to give up.

And oddly, Tatiana overlooked Zenin, who made her daughter cry.

Zenin’s world fell into ruin.

There was no one alive and breathing in his world anymore.

On sleepless nights, whenever he sobbed and cried in loneliness, it was Marianne, not his non-existent family, who stood by his side.

Even though she was hurt by the thorny words he spat, she never gave up.

Memories were bound to fade, and it was too hard to endure.

The same was true even when he closed his eyes and plugged his ears to push her away.

The warmth leaning on him, that little body, was the only comfort in his broken world.

When he recalled those infernal moments, he felt cold to the bone.

So cold that he wouldn’t be able to endure it if it wasn’t for the gaze and warm touch directed to him.

Although he couldn’t admit it, it had been long since his frozen heart melted.

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