I Captured the Enemy Who Tried to Kill Me - Chapter 47
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Luias nervously swallowed.
His heart was already racing from using the necklace against his promise to his brother, the Emperor, but the atmosphere inside the palace seemed strange as well.
‘Where did everyone go?’
It shouldn’t be this quiet.
Luias carefully slipped into a small space beside a pillar in the office and covered his mouth with both hands.
Soon, the sound of a door creaking open was heard.
‘Who’s coming in?’
Could it be his brother? If not, another fight between magicians and Awakened Ones might break out because of him.
While he was covering his mouth with his small hands in fear and holding his breath until his cheeks turned bright red:
“Come out.”
It was his brother’s voice!
Luias exhaled with relief and poked his head out.
There stood his handsome brother, looking more tired than usual.
“Luias, why are you here?”
Though the words were scolding, the boy felt more relieved in this moment and ran quickly to cling to his brother’s leg.
Tears began to trickle down.
The shock the boy felt when he heard his Master sobbing had been immense.
Seeing his only remaining family member, his tension suddenly released.
While he was sniffling and getting mucus and tears on the expensive pants, he heard a sigh from above.
Then his body lifted off the ground.
His brother had inserted his hands under the boy’s armpits and lifted him up.
“Luias.”
***
Kaisis had a headache.
Being someone who could sense his brother’s presence, he knew Luias was there as soon as he opened the door to his office.
He gestured to dismiss the knights waiting behind him to give their remaining reports.
Only after closing the door and approaching did this troublemaker come running with tears and snot.
‘What should I do with this little one?’
Having been forced to repeatedly experience childhood scenes inside the mental attack Gate, he sighed as he looked at his young brother who seemed even more pitiful.
Perhaps he used the emergency measure that was only to be used in dire situations because he felt hurt about being harshly sent away.
Unable to coldly dismiss him, Kaisis lifted him up and placed him on his knee, whereupon the boy fully embraced him and cried.
Warm body temperature. Small heartbeat.
“Luias.”
His brother, who could make no sound except for sobbing.
A precious small life.
Though he was a cold-hearted man, his brother’s silent tears were heartbreaking.
“I won’t scold you. But when a truly urgent situation comes, you might not be able to use it.”
Luias shook his head several times. Taking it as a promise not to do it again, Kaisis decided to leave it at that.
Instead, he pulled his brother from his embrace and rubbed his flushed, nearly bursting cheeks.
They were damp. This child didn’t usually cry so easily.
As if he had come here with something to say, Luias quickly patted his cheeks to wipe away his tears.
Then he took out writing materials from inside his clothes and began to write.
âMaster is sick.
“The Duke?”
Kaisis frowned deeply.
Considering the magicians who had been barking like wild beasts today, it seemed this wasn’t a fake illness.
Yet on the other hand, it was hard to imagine that cold-hearted Duke actually falling ill.
In the current situation with suspicious circumstances, he might have secretly hoped for the latter.
‘But she’s really sick, you say.’
Seeing him silent, an urgent Luias grabbed and shook his clothes with his small hand.
As if telling him to look at his writing quickly.
âShe bled a lot. Brother made her hurt.
“…It wasn’t intentional.”
This was also an irritating statement.
It reminded him of the Duke standing still, receiving his attack.
Despite treating Luias’s life so lightly with those nasty, cold words, why didn’t she avoid it?
And what was more unpleasant:
‘She was injured by my power…’
It was the unsettling way his heart began to race at the Duke’s injury.
What did it matter if that woman was hurt!
What more should he have done in that hostile atmosphere?
âShe was c-crying.
After staring intensely at what seemed like a sentence written and then erased, Kaisis ruffled his brother’s small head.
“Lying is not good.”
âIt’s true! Please don’t be angry. Please don’t fight.
Kaisis felt even more sorry for his brother, who seemed to be trying to please both sides.
“Your Master and I have never gotten along well, so don’t worry about it too much. And it’s not good to unconditionally cover up your Master’s faults. That woman didn’t try to save you.”
A moment of such carelessness could have taken the life of a child who couldn’t protect himself.
As he recalled that situation, which still made him angry, the small hand wrote another sentence with urgency.
âMaster did try to save me.
What was this now?
âShe reached out her hand. I couldn’t speak!
That she tried to save him.
But that made no sense.
Wasn’t she a great magician who could cast instantly if she wanted to?
Although she was a fire magician and perhaps lacked finesse in non-attack magic, if she had wanted to, she could have saved him by any means.
Either with attack magic or by using teleportation magic to disappear instantly.
âMaster is kind. She is gentle. Other magicians are nice to me, too.
He frowned but didn’t stop the child from writing.
Instead, he carefully observed what his brother wanted to tell him about his daily life.
âThere’s lots of delicious food. I’m not good at eating oysters, so Master opened them and fed me herself.
That, woman.
In Luias’s sparkling eyes was a deep affection for his Master that hadn’t been there before.
Things that make people weak.
Affection, accumulated warmth, feelings.
Such things.
‘Is she manipulating a child?’
Or was it as he suspectedâsomething about Duke Ariel had changed, and she was genuinely caring for her student?
But Luias was definitely doing well.
He had already heard through reports that his treatment had changed, and his clothes were neat and his expression natural.
‘He seems to be receiving attention without being intimidated.’
If that was the case, then perhaps it really was a misunderstanding.
That the woman had tried to save him.
But whyâwhy did she speak that way, and why didn’t she explain?
âBrother.
To the child who addressed him so intimately, like in the old days, he couldn’t bring himself to scold him for having such an absurd illusion.
Once again, memories recalled fragmented consciousness.
Someone saving him.
Red hair spreading like waves.
Andâthat face.
A face that couldn’t possibly have been there.
And now, someone who could confirm his suspicions was right in front of him.
Believing that children don’t lie, especially that his young brother wouldn’t deceive him.
“Luias.”
To the child looking up at him with bright expectation, he asked:
“Was your Master at the mansion last night?”
***
Luias’s heart dropped.
What did his brother know that made him ask this? Why was it important?
He remembered how the cat Lucy had repeatedly urged him to go back.
And the sobbing he heard after hesitating and returning.
‘This.’
I shouldn’t tell.
Luias was quick-witted.
Though he didn’t understand why it was important, he felt that if he revealed this, something irreversible would happen.
Long ago.
‘My beautiful son. Only you should know this.’
Like the frightening stories his beautiful mother had whispered while holding the young prince’s hand when he was very little.
I’m sorry, Brother.
He couldn’t tell a complete lie.
His heart pounded rapidly.
âI don’t know. I was sleeping.
His brother’s quiet gaze felt scary today, like never before.
How much time passed like that?
“I see.”
His body was lifted up and then set down on the floor.
Having suddenly been removed from his brother’s knee, Luias looked at him with desperate eyes.
Would the two of them reconcile now? Did I do well?
“I understand what you’re saying.”
The hand gently stroking his hair felt nice. Just like Master’s touch.
“I’ll have the knights secretly take you back to the Duke’s mansion. And never use that again unless it’s truly an emergency.”
Luias nodded with a dejected expression.
How nice it would have been if he could say that even though he was scolded, he was happy to see his brother.
Today, too, the wish to speak filled the young heart.
