Chapter 169 – A Timid Girl’s Feelings Are a Spark

In the afternoon class, after lunch that makes me feel like I have to work really hard.

An unidentified barrel next to it sat in the center of the table.

The barrel the older brother prepared for her sister and Rike was black tea, a common denominator for both of them.

My brother grabbed the kettle and said that he wanted to brew tea himself because he had received it for tasting before purchasing it.

He moves thoughtfully holding cups and kettles that are small compared to his gigantic body.

I told her to stay at ease, but Chloe’s heart, who was only sitting and watching her, became restless and ran amok.

Shiver-

“I’m practicing these days, but I don’t know if we did well.”

It was all the more amazing that the reason for the tea was transparent, beyond the uniqueness of being platinum adventurers.

“Thank you···!”

Click.

Chloe, holding the teacup and feeling the scent, repeatedly exclaimed in her mind.

She didn’t know much about tea and drank only what was given to her. The fresh scent of various fruits and flowers reminded her of herself.

It was something that the recipient would surely be delighted with.

“When I was alone at home, I only drank coffee, but I’m used to it, so tea after meals is fine.”

Could it be Rike’s influence? Or sister? Maybe both?

“I think I’ve become a bit cultured thanks to my sister…”

Since I had to go back to the academy soon, I wanted to purely enjoy my lunch break with my older brother.

Chloe, who believes that Roman owes her debt to the church, is guilty of her own.

It was difficult for her to raise her blue eyes and face Roman in this independent space.

But you can’t turn your gaze to the side without being polite.

She lowered her head slightly and looked up at the area around her neck and chest, where she could see the hardened scars where her flesh had been cut and opened like a waterway.

The adventurer’s life is just below, not even a step away.

I heard she carries death in her shadows.

Scars on the skin that cannot be erased are a diary of survival and the spoils of misery and despair.

It’s not just a simple self-image.

If you focus on it, the discoloration of the skin and the scars of the burns can be seen infrequently.

‘Even though you say it doesn’t hurt right now…’

The absence of pain does not simply end the wound.

Same goes for Chloe.

I still can’t forget the pain I felt when I first lifted the sword.

Her palms were torn and bleeding, and her knuckles were blistered.

I have vivid memories of her parents shaking her hands while eating.

‘Only her sister noticed and applied her medicine…’

She wondered how she would have held her sword herself if it had not been for her sister who came to her at night with an ointment.

The effect of the ointment was not so great as to be called a miracle, but the time that had been there that day became a pillar to support him.

The day after I swung the sword, it hurt even more, and the next day, just holding the sword brought me to tears.

When I returned to my room because I hated that nasty piece of metal, I didn’t hang the sword and put it under the bed out of sight.

At the end of the days that followed.

When I came to my senses, I finished training, had the stamina to read my favorite book, and put my sword where I could see it.

Looking back, it is said that this is familiarity with solidity and pain.

‘Actually···.’

I think something important about people is being cut and cut.

Everyone says that mental pain is the most frightening, but physical pain also contains an indelible fear.

Even if the wound disappears out of sight, it is not the end, and it becomes a stepping stone that dulls people.

That’s why, when I saw precious people living militantly every day, I felt fear and fear to become Chloe herself.

The act of taking a light look at a wound that you thought was big at first and using your body more and more boldly.

Everyone praised the figure of being insensitive to pain and wounds as being cool and a state, but in Chloe’s eyes, it was only sad.

“Brother… Are you really okay?”

Today is the first time, but how many times have you asked this question on the day of the incident?

On that day when I was hectic and confused, I hated it when I looked back and checked it out, but I still couldn’t erase the anxiety.

The answer to that question always comes back lightly and with a smile mixed in.

“I’m really fine.”

Although my brother said that the value of a human, an adventurer, or a knight is not determined by force.

Everyone in the empire would know who this empire really needs.

“Hey, brother… I have a favor to ask of you.”

“Huh? Speak comfortably.”

Thoughts that I had been thinking ever since I was sitting in the church with Rike.

Chloe is a timid woman who still has a heart full of fears and one full of her doubts about herself.

Although at times she showed an abrupt and daring side.

When faced with a danger beyond her power, Chloe had had her experience that she could neither move nor freeze without thinking.

In that moment, she felt much beyond her guilt and shame for a man who risked her life to protect her as if it were her duty.

‘Even if her sister had been there, the same thing would have happened…’

She realized that to her brother or sister, she could be a burden on her shoulders more than she thought.

“From now on, even if something like the last time happens, you don’t need to force yourself to protect me… No, of course, I will live my life grateful and repaying the grace this time…!”

My face was clearly reflected in my older brother’s eyes, whose expression was unusually hard.

“… Let’s hear the reason. Why?”

“I am… That-“

The existence of Chloe Dritna.

It should not be a reason for the sacrifice that comes to someone of integrity.

Even though she is always told to cherish herself more than anyone else, she is weak.

The more I vomited out the heart inside her, the more her heart seemed to twist.

Disgust soared in her, thinking that maybe she was living to be comforted by her partner by saying this.

Originally, I was not good with words, but this time it is a hopeless mess and is falling apart.

Still, I bring out the words I want to say and the thoughts I have organized in the end.

When I managed to spit out the tangled words and raise my head, the silence in the room was heavy.

After talking, I suddenly thought that I had an accident, but I waited for an answer.

Small noises that I normally wouldn’t hear tickled my ears.

“Chloe.”

Tension rises to the top of your head when you hear the low voice you hear in an academy class in everyday life.

“Yes··!”

His breath stopped as he looked at her forehead and scratched her dark hair.

He saved me at best, and I knew it was rude to say things like this, so I expected it wouldn’t be a pleasant atmosphere.

He drew a picture beforehand and thought he would get scolded.

Obviously it was…

In real life, what if your older brother gets angry with you or expresses displeasure?

Contrary to my imagination, my hands trembled when I thought that the situation might come before my eyes.

“I know it’s hard to change your values ​​with just a few words. You’ve been living with your own thoughts for a long time, but you can change your mind at once just because someone else told you what to do? .”

“…”

“Write- I didn’t want to show you this kind of side…”

Chloe’s heart skipped a beat as she scratched the scar on his chin, closed her eyes, and let out a lamentable breath.

My brother spoke with a serious attitude to himself who selfishly kept his mouth shut after saying what he wanted to say.

“Chloe. If you were walking down the street in broad daylight and saw an alleyway, let’s say you saw homeless people raping women. What are you going to do?”

“I think you will cry too.”

“Then what would Chloe think of me?”

“He said he would help…”

His black hair flutters from side to side to express and draw negativity.

“I can’t guarantee it. I have the power to save you, but helping someone I don’t have a relationship with depends on how I feel. If I did, I might want to take my anger out on the rapist for his misdeeds rather than save him.”

Roman’s words were not over.

Chloe didn’t even have time to say something, and the back story continued.

“If you really want to kill me with malice, at least crippled.

“…”

“It’s not much different now. It’s garbage that takes out anger with excessive treatment more than necessary.”

I was more concerned about the last words than the lengthy narrative in front.

Although Chloe herself has been putting herself down endlessly.

It was hard to see her opponent self-deprecating.

She realized as if looking in a mirror how bad she had been, but for now, she urgently wanted to correct her words.

“… Older brother is not trash.”

“There are probably more dead people than those who came back to life at my hands. I accepted a request that might harm someone legally as long as the conditions are met. How is it?

“No···!!!”

Chloe’s high-pitched voice echoed through the room.

“You really think so?”

“…”

The answer was not a voice.

It felt like my eyes were getting watery, so I shook my head instead of my mouth to show positivity, and only then did my brother show the same smile as usual.

“Chloe. Even if I’m alive and well in the Empire, there’s no guarantee that I’ll save more people and benefit than Chloe. In the first place, saving people isn’t a proof of unconditional value.”

Tears welled up again, and my brother laughed and got up from his seat.

Like his older sister, her older brother knelt down on one knee to bring her to eye level with her, and her brother carefully wiped away his tears with his large hand.

I can feel the gentleness that I don’t think it’s a scarred hand.

“When I asked Chloe earlier, I might have broken her heart if she had affirmed that it was trash. Chloe saved me.”

“···Brother.”

“Don’t feel guilty about what happened this time or what happened until now. People grow up by making mistakes and doubting themselves. When you meet new people after practically only living in the territory, you’re easily influenced by them, so I think you’ll lose your mind. “

“Black…”

Take out a handkerchief from somewhere and hand it to me.

The older brother who showed a cool smile and put his hand on his head so that the next time we meet, there will be no awkwardness.

Finally, he gave me some advice to close the place.

“You don’t have to try to figure everything out all the time. You just have to look like you are now and try to resolve it and bump into it. Because that’s all Chloe can ask of herself.”

“…”

A strong wind seems to blow in the closed room.

The strong wind pushes her legs away from this spot, but the hot heat that fills her body melts and makes her feet stick together.

“If you’re bored, come visit the church any time. If Chloe comes, I’ll be happy too.”

“Ah, ahhhhh!

Every time Chloe looked at Roman and blinked her eyes, various emotions sprang up like sparks.

…
…

I made my brother, who dared to send me off to the outside of the church, somehow rested.

Not now. It will never happen.

As if running away from her room to leave the church, Chloe hurriedly moved her feet in a daze.

“Brother? Are you okay?”

As I was about to pass her hallway, the young nun I had encountered earlier called out to me.

“Yes···?”

“I think you’re not feeling well…”

Surely.

Chloe felt that something was wrong with her mind or body.

It seemed that her mind was walking on her clouds in a daze.

After leaving the church with a feeling of floating somewhere, Chloe managed to get into her carriage that was waiting for her and headed for the academy.