Carren quietly watched Leciel.

She had this quality, something that subtly stirred people’s emotions without much effort.

It was there in her smile, warmer and clearer than sunlight, and in the meaning behind her casual words.

‘A precious person.’

Did Leciel say that knowing what it truly meant?

Did she say it knowing it would shake him?

Even though it might seem insignificant, Carren felt his heart flutter at those words.

Yet, he hid his feelings and spoke bluntly.

“I can understand Father being precious, but I didn’t expect to be included among your precious people.”

After all, his father was, in a way, her benefactor. He had taken her in when she had nowhere to go and treated her with utmost care.

He even promised to take care of her until she became an adult.

Compared to that, he had done nothing for Leciel. He was just the son of her benefactor.

But it didn’t seem like Leciel considered him precious simply because he was her benefactor’s son.

“Because you’re kind, brother.”

“… me?”

Carren looked incredulous, as if he had never heard such words before.

“Yes. For one, you don’t hate me.”

“Is that all?”

“It’s not <just> that.”

At least, that was what Lesier thought. If it were her, could she have accepted it so casually when her father suddenly brought home a child of her age and introduced him as family?

She might have felt insecure, thinking her place was being taken, and ended up hating that child.

She might have felt jealous of her father’s affectionate gaze now directed at another child and pushed that child away even more.

But Carren didn’t do that.

Even if he didn’t like her, he didn’t hate her either.

He even took good care of her.

He worried about her clothes when even Kael hadn’t noticed, comforted her when the maids’ words might have hurt her, and protected her from monster attacks.

Carren was always considerate of her.

He asked a maid to guide her when she didn’t know the mansion’s layout, laid down her jacket so she wouldn’t sit on the floor, and caught her when she was about to fall.

How could he not be kind?

Regardless of what Carren thought of himself, Leciel at least thought Carren was very kind.

Therefore, Leciel could open her heart to Carren.

Not just because he was Kael’s son or because she needed him to prevent the original ending.

“… is that so.”

“Well, there are many other reasons, but it would be tiring to list them all, so let’s skip it.”

Leciel said, winking playfully.

“… interesting.”

Many things, really. Maybe her very existence felt that way to Carren.

“Hey, to end my words with <interesting>. My goal from now on is to become precious to you too, Brother!”

That way, when the original protagonist appeared, he wouldn’t fall for her and kill his father, leading to the tragic ending.

If she becomes precious to him, he wouldn’t be able to ignore her words.

Even if that was not the case, she really liked Carren and wanted to be close to him.

“… try it.”

Carren replied indifferently to Leciel’s bold declaration.

In truth, she already felt like a precious person to him, but there was no need to tell her that.

He was curious to see what she would do to become precious to him.

Hopefully, her efforts would last long, and her attention would be solely on him.

Just imagining it made Carren feel excited.

“Yes, I will do my best!”

Leciel said with a bright smile, seeing hope in Carren’s response.

After a while, Leciel treated her injured wrist and returned to the study with Carren.

Her wrist was now in a splint to prevent movement and heal quickly.

“If you need any books, let me know.”

She shouldn’t do anything dangerous like reaching for books again with her injured hand.

“But it’s annoying when someone interrupts you when you’re focused.”

“Just this time. Because you’re a patient.”

“Thank you, Brother.”

Leciel said with a smile.

‘See? How can you not be kind?’

If he were really cold and indifferent, he wouldn’t care if she was injured.

Kael’s words that Carren was naughty but not a bad kid was wrong.

He wasn’t bad in the first place.

‘Let’s really start reading now.’

Since she was concerned about Kael’s sleepwalking-like symptoms, it was better to understand them properly.

If it was just sleepwalking, there wasn’t much to worry about, but if not… it might be a clue to Kael’s rebellion.

Kael wouldn’t have rebelled and gone mad without a reason.

‘But if it’s not sleepwalking, then what is it?’

Maybe… a curse? If it was a curse, it would make sense.

What if it was like this:

The Emperor, wary of Kael, cursed him, and Kael, struggling with it, discovered the Emperor had cursed him and rebelled for revenge and to break the curse.

And then…

Leciel pondered for a moment.

‘In the end, the curse wasn’t broken.’

Was that it?

So, after raising a rebellion, he went mad.

But even so, there was something that didn’t quite make sense.

There were questions about what kind of curse the emperor put on Kael, how it was done, and why the curse remained even after he died.

Of course, all of this only mattered if Kael’s symptoms were actually due to a curse and not sleepwalking.

‘So first, I need to confirm whether it’s sleepwalking or not.’

With that thought, Leciel temporarily set aside the worries that filled her mind and focused on reading the book.

However, she couldn’t determine if it was sleepwalking from just one book.

So, she needed more information.

With that, Leciel glanced at Carren, who was sitting beside her, diligently reading a book.

“Um, brother….”

Even at the smallest call, Carren looked up at Leciel.

“I finished reading this book.”

“Really? Just tell me what book you need. If you sit here, I’ll get it for you.”

Anyway, Leciel wouldn’t know where any book was in the library.

“Well… I’m looking for a book about sleepwalking.”

“Sleepwalking?”

Carren looked puzzled, as if wondering why Leciel would be interested in such a thing.

“Yeah, I think someone I know might have sleepwalking, so I want to check if that’s the case.”

Reluctant to reveal who it was, Leciel vaguely referred to the person as someone she knew.

“… someone you know is sleepwalking?”

“Not exactly, but I suspect so.”

“Anyway.”

“That’s it.”

Leciel nodded slightly.

Carren still wore a puzzled expression.

If someone she knew had sleepwalking, it was understandable to be interested in it.

Sleepwalking wasn’t common, but if someone around had it, knowing the name of the condition was reasonable.

But <someone she knew>? Did Leciel have acquaintances besides himself and his father?

Of course, there could be people she knew before meeting his father, but it still raised doubts.

From the information gathered so far, it didn’t seem like Leciel had anyone around her.

And it didn’t seem likely that she or his father had sleepwalking.

If his father had been sleepwalking, he would have heard about it by now.

‘Hmm.’

“Brother?”

“It’s nothing.”

Carren was curious about who this <someone she knew> was, but he didn’t ask.

Seeing Leciel’s slightly troubled face, it seemed she didn’t want to reveal who it was.

Besides, if it wasn’t herself or his father, it didn’t matter to Carren who had been sleepwalking.

Soon, Carren quietly got up and brought the kind of book Leciel wanted.

“Thank you, brother!”

Leciel looked at the stack of books, finding it a bit troublesome to bring them all.

“Let me know when you finish reading them.”

The number of books was more than expected, making Leciel wonder if she could finish reading them all today.

“Yes!”

Answering confidently, Leciel resumed reading.

 

* * *

 

That night, Leciel stayed awake until late.

Normally, she would have been asleep by then, but she had something to check.

From today’s reading, she had memorized the criteria for diagnosing sleepwalking.

Now, the remaining task was to see if Kael’s symptoms matched those criteria.

However, this was difficult to judge from just one observation.

One of the diagnostic criteria for sleepwalking was <repeatedly getting out of bed and walking around during sleep>.

While Kael’s blank stare and inability to remember actions taken during sleep met some criteria, it wasn’t enough.

So, Leciel stayed awake late deliberately, hoping Kael would repeat his actions from the previous night.

‘By now, he should be asleep.’

With that thought, Leciel cautiously got out of bed.

She quietly left the room.

Unfortunately, Kael was sound asleep in his room.

Leciel lingered outside the room for a long time, just in case, but Kael didn’t come out.

‘It’s a relief, but….’

Leciel, with sleepy eyes, pondered as she walked.

‘I still need to keep watching.’

The term <repeatedly> didn’t necessarily mean every day.

But staying awake every night to monitor Kael wasn’t feasible, so another method was needed.

 

* * *

 

Two days later.

Leciel rode a carriage with Kael and Carren towards the capital.

In Leciel’s arms, Mimi was hiding.

Since Mimi was a living creature, it didn’t seem right to put her in the baggage cart, and it seemed safer for her to be with Leciel.

After all, both Kael and Carren knew about Mimi’s existence.