After the busy morning passed, it was afternoon.
Padrid set aside his work and was lost in thought by the window for a long time.
Horas, who had come in after finishing his morning work, tilted his head to the side at the sight of Padrid’s back.
With his hands thr*st into his pockets, even his glasses removed.
Padrid, deeply lost in thought and unaware that Horas had entered, looked quite strange.
He had seemed somewhat normal this morning, but since yesterday, everyone had been concerned.
Though they hadn’t said anything, not just Horas but the other executives felt the same way.
That was also why Hailo hadn’t played any pranks on Padrid since yesterday.
“Padrid.”
“Ah, you’re here.”
Only when Horas called did Padrid come to his senses and turn around.
As he was about to return to work as though nothing had happened, Horas asked.
“Is something going on these days?”
“No, nothing at all.”
Despite Padrid’s answer, Horas clearly didn’t believe him.
“It’s definitely not work-related. Family issues?”
“Really, nothing’s wrong.”
Padrid even smiled to show that there was truly no problem.
Horas shrugged and headed toward the file cabinet.
“Well, if you say so. That’s good then.”
Though he was worried, he didn’t pry further after asking twice and getting no answer.
As he was examining the topmost file drawer, Padrid’s voice came from behind.
“Horas.”
“Yes.”
“If you had just one chance, would you regret not taking it? Or…”
“Ah, here it is. What did you just say? If I’d regret not taking it?”
Horas, having found the file he needed, turned to Padrid.
“What would you do… if you were in my position? If it’s something you don’t really want to do.”
“Hmm…”
After pondering with the file propped against his shoulder, he plopped down on the sofa.
With his head against the backrest, Horas looked at Padrid while almost lying down.
“I think the latter is better.”
Padrid raised his eyebrows slightly.
“Is that so?”
“Yes. With the latter, you just have regret, but with the former, you’re left with discomfort too.”
“I see. Would that apply to meeting someone as well?”
Padrid, who usually kept conversations short, was unusually prolonging this one.
Anyone could see it was about himself, so Horas didn’t point that out.
If Padrid was talking like this, it was something Horas could somewhat guess, even without knowing the exact circumstances.
“There’s this one person I absolutely despise.”
For a moment, Horas’s eyes flashed with anger, but then he quickly brushed it off as if it had never happened.
“Yes.”
“I’d prefer never to see them again, but if I had to face them again, I’d willingly do it.”
“….”
“If it’s something you haven’t been able to let go of for a long time, it might be better to settle it once and for all.”
Glancing up, Horas saw that Padrid had already turned back toward the window.
“…I see.”
Padrid answered as if speaking to himself, and remained motionless in that position for quite some time.
A heavy, large hand was placed on Padrid’s shoulder.
Horas had approached.
“Just because you meet doesn’t mean you have to resolve things or forgive them.”
Padrid slowly raised his head.
“That’s true.”
“Seeing how you’re still worrying about it, it seems like a nightmare you can’t easily shake off. So confront it. You never know. You might be able to get rid of that nightmare this time.”
After calmly leaving those words, Horas patted his shoulder a couple of times, said “I’m going out,” waved the file, and headed toward the door.
“….”
At the threshold, Horas paused briefly.
“Tell me about it later when you have time. We’re always on your side. Oh, and Gemvil said if you have too much work, give some to him. He’ll help when he’s free.”
Horas strode away.
Padrid lightly touched his shoulder, which still seemed to retain a rough warmth.
“On my side.”
It wasn’t a bad thing to hear.
As if shaking off his downcast mood, Padrid suddenly shook his head.
Horas’s words seemed right.
If he was going to keep this in his heart for so long, maybe it was time to make a decision.
“They say eating something sweet makes you feel better!”
Suddenly remembering the rookie’s energetic voice, he opened the drawer, and a glass bottle rattled and rolled out due to the rebound.
“….”
A peculiar light flashed in Padrid’s eyes.
Soon, he gripped the glass bottle and smiled faintly.
What he held was the white, opaque fatigue recovery potion that Hailo often drank.
“That means you fail, big brother!”
“Hmm?”
“F-fail?”
“A big brother should always protect his younger sibling, no matter what!”
Rodi’s voice could be heard from outside the window, scolding someone harshly.
Padrid’s pupils trembled slightly.
His brother Darka was sitting awkwardly on a bench, being thoroughly scolded by Rodi.
Click.
Padrid opened the window in a trance-like state.
It was a situation he couldn’t bear not to hear more of.

***

Darka’s ears were ringing.
After listening to Rodi yesterday, Darka had made a decision.
Instead of just feeling sorry and guilty while waiting, he would reach out first.
With that resolve, he had come but got lost in the guild again.
He should have checked the teleport coordinates in advance, but he had been so overwhelmed just by meeting his brother again yesterday that he hadn’t considered it.
“Oh? It’s Darka. Did the magician mister get lost again?”
“Ah, not yet. I just arrived a little while ago.”
“Are you here to apologize to Padrid?”
“…Yes, that’s right.”
So today, while wandering around lost again, he had coincidentally run into Rodi.
“Not now.”
“Is something wrong?”
“No, Padrid is busy right now. He’s really busy until 2 o’clock. He made a lot of mistakes yesterday, so we shouldn’t disturb him today.”
Rodi firmly grabbed Darka’s sleeve and led him to a bench.
Hearing that he might interfere with Padrid’s work, Darka followed obediently.
They ended up sitting face-to-face on the bench again.
Rodi hadn’t been angry from the start.
When she asked why he had fought with Padrid, saying Padrid wouldn’t have done anything wrong, Darka had nodded in agreement.
But it was after he mentioned that his brother had suffered a lot because he hadn’t protected him that Rodi became upset.
“How could you not protect your younger brother? Especially when he was in so much pain!”
Darka was startled by Rodi’s anger, which he hadn’t expected, but at the same time, he was truly grateful that there was someone who would get so angry on his brother’s behalf.
“Eat this.”
Rodi, still looking somewhat disgruntled as if her anger hadn’t fully subsided, plopped down next to Darka.
Darka, who had flinched thinking she might hit him, received what she was holding out.
“…What is this?”
“Something delicious.”
And so, sitting there, Darka had begun to gradually share the story of himself and Padrid.
While chewing on the black stick jelly that Rodi had given him.
“Why was Padrid in pain?”
Rodi’s voice lowered again.
She thought others shouldn’t hear this.
“We weren’t always on bad terms.”
“Then?”
“About 15 years ago…”
Glare.
Rodi glared at him again, and Darka looked frightened.
“Hmm… where should I start the story?”
Darka had never shared what was inside him before, so it was difficult to gauge how much he should reveal.
He thought this would probably remain difficult even as he grew older.
Still, he hadn’t expected to share his story with a child.
“I’m the only magician in our family.”
“Just Darka?”
“Yes.”
In families with a high probability of magical lineage, magicians tend to emerge, but the Temere family was different.
A once-in-a-generation magical prodigy was born into a family that had absolutely nothing to do with magic.
“Naturally, my parents were ignorant about it. So was I.”
“Mmhmm.”
But there were so many things that came along simply because he was born with magical power.
Wealth was a given, and as soon as he was registered as a magician at the Magic Tower, the Temere family rose rapidly.
His father, Minato Temere, who had been on the fringes of a branch of the Temere family, took over as the head of the family to revive the family name.
After all, there has never been a poor magician family in the empire’s history.
“I remember… they were very pleased.”
Having been born with such strong magical power that even the Magic Tower welcomed him, he received excellent treatment despite his young age.
But the problem began when his younger brother was born.
Eleven years after Darka was born.
“Unlike me, Padrid was ordinary.”
“Yes.”
“I think they were disappointed by that.”
Then came that day.