Chapter 33 - Are You Okay?

It was just that they habitually blamed Laila for everything and always took their anger out on her.

After watching him quietly, Laos turned his head again. Rakiel, too, was exhausted from his own anger and leaned his back against the window next to his older brother.

“What are you looking at, Brother?”

“Nothing.”

“What the…”

“I’m not looking at anything.”

“Huh? That’s where the beggar used to live. Yeah, right. You aren’t looking at anything.”

“That is exactly why I’m saying that I’m not looking at anything.”

Rakiel bit his lip, thinking that he was spouting bullshit. Then, he looked at his brother quietly and asked seriously, “Brother, have you gone mad? Hey, how many fingers am I holding up?”

“What am I going to do with you? Tsk.” Laos clicked his tongue and slowly left the window-side. His face was cold, but his expression was deeply thoughtful.

Rakiel looked at him silently, then shrugged his shoulders and muttered sarcastically, “That’s what I wanted to say to you.”

Grumbling alone, Rakiel unintentionally looked out of his window and paused. It reminded him of Laila’s dwelling, which looked like a hovel without an owner. Come to think of it, he heard that that old man, Gail, was going over there.

‘Did he say he was going to bring some medicine there?’

“You and the old man, why are you all like this suddenly? She was never even once considered as a part of us.”

He frowned and headed off somewhere.

* * *

Laila was on some sort of a brief engagement trip with Venio. In fact, it was very embarrassing to call it a trip. The two had decided not to go to their respective homes for just one more day.

“Do you have time for this trip?” Laila asked.

“Of course. Today is the day I don’t have to work.”

In fact, when he returned, it was clear that the first thing he had to do was to meet the emperor, but he decided to think about it later. As always, Venio was very cold-hearted towards his brother.

With a puzzled expression on her face, Laila nodded, “I see.”

Venio added softly, hoping to put her at ease, “Shouldn’t we enjoy making ‘that lady’ suffer?”

“Ah…”

Nevira Bedelium, who they both agreed to call ‘the lady,’ was actually currently destroying things in her room. Although Laila didn’t know about that, what he said made sense to Laila.

“Anyway, Laila, don’t you have to bring anything?”

As they traveled together for half the day, he remembered Laila would put something in her mouth quickly whenever he turned his gaze away from her. It seemed she had secretly done so a couple of times, and what she was taking didn’t seem like food.

He squinted, but Laila didn’t catch what he was thinking. She was just thankful that he had asked.

“There are a couple of things. I’ll return quickly.”

“What do you mean ‘return quickly’? We’ll go together.”

Laila secretly hid her face in the indigo fabric she wore during the engagement ceremony. Venio was certain that she was shy.

There were a couple of things he had come to realize by observing Laila for just these past few days. One of these things was how to read her expressions. Venio smiled with satisfaction as he walked with Laila in his arms.

“I think… I feel full.”

Laila was the one to speak first as they took their time to get to the Estevan’s. She had spoken calmly, but he sensed that she was amazed.

“What do you mean, you feel full?” He couldn’t understand why she said she ‘felt’ full, she could’ve just said that she was full.

“Um… I feel like something is filling up inside of me.”

“I didn’t intend to ask that, but that’s a good thing,” Venio answered with a slight smile. Actually, he was very happy to be spending time with Laila for so long in addition to yesterday.

“Did you enjoy your day today?”

“…”

Laila looked as if she had never been asked something like that. questions. She was choosing her words carefully. Venio gladly waited for her answer as her reddening face already gave him the answer he was looking for.

“Yes,” she answered with a trembling voice. Without realizing, Venio couldn’t help but smile. He swallowed the urge to let out a big laugh and kissed Laila’s head softly.

It was a very light kiss, but Laila’s facial expression was strange. He thought that her strange facial expression was perhaps because she wanted to smile. At this thought, he beamed like a teenage boy.

‘This is marvelous.’