“Malraeng-ah…!”
But it seemed something else had also been settled.
“Prince Benedict has!”
Having returned to the assigned room without gaining any useful information about Baron Moss, Mikhail was shouting excitedly.
“Finally seems to want to make me his confidant…!”
I subtly avoided Mikhail’s moved eyes.
‘How can I see you even a little more often.’
That was what Benedict had said that night when we spent a short but dreamlike time at the Iota people’s salon. Among the playful solutions he had proposed,
‘Is your brother trustworthy?’
There was that too. At first, I thought he was joking.
But Benedict really seemed to be trying to make it happen. Since it would be unnatural for Mikhail to suddenly become close to the prince, Benedict carefully connected the threads starting from past charity events. Mikhail had to endure a difficult push and pull with Benedict for nearly a month.
“That’s really wonderful. I’m proud of you.”
I just felt a bit embarrassed and also sorry to Mikhail. So I only listened for a long while as Mikhail went on and on about how magnificently he had responded and proven his abilities.
“Now, with this momentum! Let’s finish today’s other important matter well too!”
Mikhail, who had clapped his gloved hands together loudly, stood up abruptly.
Mikhail walked through the corridor with particularly long strides. Following his back that had become dignified as if he’d decorated his shoulders with a mountain range, I entered the banquet hall.
Since it was the first day of the hunting festival, the hall was packed.
“Soon, the congratulatory remarks from Marchioness Nord and Her Highness Princess Regemeritte will begin.”
A courtier was announcing loudly to the people.
Standing beside the tense Mikhail, I listened to Princess Regemeritte’s gentle words of congratulation.
Benedict hadn’t come yet. Wondering if perhaps he had entered, I surveyed the hall and spotted an unexpected person. It was Marchioness Anis.
She really wasn’t a ghost and was in fact the prince’s teacher. The elderly lady standing at a distance was wearing a simple mage’s robe, and when our eyes met, she curved her elegant eyes and accepted my bow with a nod.
“The moment has finally arrived.”
Mikhail spoke as if refreshed, yet somewhat bittersweet.
Along with applause, Princess Regemeritte was coming down. It was the moment Mikhail had received permission in advance from Benedict, from the royal family.
“The reason I stand here is to clarify the various unsavory rumors about the Meyer family thus far.”
Standing on the platform, Mikhail pulled up the corners of his mouth and smiled deliberately coldly and arrogantly. A young, capable, handsome count. This was the external image Mikhail projected, and therefore, whenever he stood before the masses, it was always that face.
“You must have been uncomfortable because of the rumors related to the Meyer family. I hope you’ll understand that my decision was made before my beloved younger sibling Rilke secured his current residence. I’d like to inform you that the date written in the documents already notarized by the court is also before Rilke left the Meyer household.”
Though very late, it was the day to put an end to the connection between Rilke and the Meyer family.
“Henceforth, the Meyer family will terminate the contractual relationship originally promised with Rilke Ebner, who was called Rilke Meyer—”
And like mud suddenly dropped into a pond, murmuring spread rapidly from behind.
People’s gazes frantically alternated between Mikhail on the platform and the back of the banquet hall. Occasionally glances passed over me, but those were very few.
Rilke had appeared, together with the Regent Duke.
“Mikhail hyung…”
People murmured and parted.
Rilke, with Duke Yorick at his side, slowly approached up to the front of the platform.
“How could you do this?”
Rilke looked up at Mikhail plaintively.
Mikhail, who had paused briefly, moved his lips coldly as if unconditionally predetermined to do so.
“—terminate the contractual relationship, and I intend to remain as his patron. Rilke Meyer,”
“You’re finally trying to abandon me…”
“From this moment on, is no longer a person of the Meyer family.”
Mikhail’s rigid voice intertwined with Rilke’s sad tone and sounded like dissonance. Since neither person backed down at all, the two contrasting voices drifted confusingly through the hall.
But soon Mikhail had to close his mouth helplessly because his prepared statement had ended. For Rilke, it was just beginning. That child wasn’t addressing Mikhail, but looking around at everyone. He appealed.
“I had to endure endless discrimination in the Meyer family!”
The corners of Mikhail’s mouth flinched slightly.
“You all must have seen it!”
Rilke continued speaking.
“Even when Joachim pushed me off the terrace, the Meyer family didn’t take any measures at all. You all must have seen Joachim getting hit. Just that much? I had to grow up being hit countless times.”
As far as I knew, Rilke had been hit by Mikhail only once—that day a month ago.
“But this is only a very small part of what Count Meyer, who was my older brother, possesses.”
Before I knew it, Mikhail had come down from the platform.
“What are you saying right now?”
Though at a loss, I first went and stood by his side. Looking at his state, I knew that Mikhail was currently barely holding back from wanting to rage.
Rilke flinched back as if frightened.
His pale face looked even more pitiful with scabs settled on it and faint bruises that hadn’t faded, appearing as if they were wounds caused by being hit by Mikhail given the circumstances.
Not that Mikhail did well, but the wounds Mikhail had inflicted had all healed long ago. Those were definitely newly made wounds, I swear.
“Are you regretting it now?”
“H-regretting?”
Mikhail answered Rilke’s question.
“I will never regret it! I don’t know what dark intentions you have…!”
“Count Meyer.”
The Regent Duke, who had been standing back one step, came forward.
“How about you refrain from speaking.”
The Regent Duke had that excessively bleak, withered face as usual.
“Well, Your Grace.”
Mikhail answered in an agitated tone.
“If we’re talking about this matter, it’s an internal problem of the Meyer family!”
“It was the Count’s statement that you would send Rilke out of the Meyer family. Well, should I say thank you for allowing us to skip the bothersome procedures?”
Mikhail’s eyebrows twitched.
“What do you mean?”
The Regent Duke pulled up only both ends of his lips and smiled crookedly.
“As of today, Rilke Meyer has become Rilke Yorick.”
A powerful tremor swept through the hall.
“He’s my new son.”
Shock and murmuring spread uncontrollably.
In that chaos, Rilke ostentatiously threw himself into the Regent Duke’s arms.
“Though I’m afraid, I’ll speak to reveal the truth!”
Rilke said, squeezing his eyes shut.
“I had to be hit countless times! My nights of anguish couldn’t all be covered even with tears. How can I be hit less, how can I hurt less!”
“What! What are you saying?”
Mikhail, who had been flustered, shouted angrily.
Mikhail was known as a decent debater in society, but that was only when he was sufficiently mentally prepared, and especially when it wasn’t about himself.
“Don’t tell me you don’t remember hitting me? If I have any sin, it’s only the sin of trying to be loved by you, hyung.”
“H-how shameless!!”
But I couldn’t blame Mikhail. Listening to Rilke’s words, really only the words ‘what are you talking about’ would come out.
I hurriedly blocked Mikhail, who was breathing heavily and moving forward. The clenched teeth visible before my face looked menacing.
“Then please tell me. What did I do wrong?”
Rilke provoked once more.
“Tell me! I can tell you countless things that you, hyung, did wrong to me. Please tell me what exactly I did wrong.”
I wished Mikhail would speak instead. My reputation was already rock bottom anyway.
‘You, you. Stay still.’ If only Mikhail hadn’t tightly grasped my wrist, I would have just spoken myself.
“I don’t know what grievances you have!”
“You’re just saying I’m wrong again, hyung!”
Mikhail, who had barely calmed down, made an attempt but was instantly blocked by Rilke.
“Everything was my fault. Joachim being sick was my fault, the business facing difficulties was also my fault!”
Mikhail’s mouth gaped open and closed.
“You did that at the last subjugation army banquet too. I did my best in an unfavorable situation, and you didn’t give me a single word of praise! Only my cousin worried about my poor complexion!”
Unable to withstand the bombardment, Mikhail’s mouth fell wide open.
“Tell me! What should I have done?”
Before my eyes, Rilke’s emotions soared steeply. He gave an impassioned performance. He was flailing pitifully like a herbivore caught in a trap.
“You can’t say it, can you? You, hyung, just treated me like a doll you could discard anytime, and hit me to vent your anger! I couldn’t meet anyone! To avoid showing the wounds on my face, you confined me…”
But Rilke’s words couldn’t continue.
“Count Meyer!!”
Because Mikhail, suffocating from injustice, had fallen backward.
