* * *

“……”

“……”

Serena turned her head and slightly tilted the teacup in front of her to drink.

Of course, doing so didn’t change the current situation, nor did it make the man in front of her disappear.

‘Why on earth did he come?’

She couldn’t understand why he had come, given that they were in an uncomfortable relationship with each other.

Serena thought as she glanced at Nocturne Lavernia.

Nocturne Lavernia, for his part, felt like he was going to die from the utter discomfort of the current situation.

However, with the Darkness gone and his emotions finding their proper place, he had come to the conclusion that he absolutely had to apologize.

So he requested this tea time, and for some reason, she accepted, but he didn’t know how to start or what to say.

He had made too many mistakes for it to end with a simple apology.

There are things one shouldn’t say no matter how much they dislike or disapprove of someone.

Nocturne Lavernia had crossed that line.

Even if something external had intervened, a person who would soon become a marquis couldn’t overcome a single emotional impulse.

“…Sister Serena.”

At the single phrase that finally came after a long silence, Serena turned her head to look at Nocturne Lavernia.

Nocturne Lavernia hesitated for a moment, then finally took a deep breath and slowly bowed his head.

Serena hesitated at the sight of him bending his waist until his forehead almost touched the table.

“I’m sorry for having been so rude to you all this time. Of course… although I crossed the line due to emotions amplified by the intervention of darkness……”

As she listened to Nocturne Lavernia’s words, Serena very slowly put down the teacup she was holding.

Unable to find words, she took a deep breath.

Nocturne Lavernia, likewise with a face clearly showing signs of tension, slowly continued to speak.

“Even so, I don’t intend to blame that. This is entirely my fault. I’m sorry for hurting you with harsh words.”

Nocturne Lavernia, of course, didn’t like Serena Lavernia very much.

There was a time when he liked her, but that too had worn away and eroded over a long time of negative emotions.

Nocturne Lavernia still couldn’t like Serena Lavernia.

However, if asked whether she deserved to hear such harsh words, the answer would be no.

Also, if asked whether he hated her enough to say such things, that wasn’t the case either.

Of course, he acknowledges that now is much better than when he was being mischievous.

Maybe she’s grown up.

But they had already spent too much time not knowing each other to bridge the gap so quickly.

Serena wasn’t familiar with Nocturne, and Nocturne was too tired of Serena.

“Regardless of whether I like you or not, Sister, I committed a very rude act. It’s true that I’m uncomfortable with you and disappointed in your actions… I’ve been hurt a lot, so my feelings aren’t the same as before.”

“……”

“Still, I don’t think you needed to hear such words from me.”

“……So.”

Serena looked at Nocturne with a newfound feeling.

It was clear that his quite hot-tempered personality had been swept up by the darkness, revealing a character close to his true nature.

And she thought that some of those words were probably sincere. Nevertheless, Serena didn’t feel bad like she did with the apology she received last time.

That’s because Nocturne was now making a sincere apology, unlike last time.

Seeing the person who seemed like they would only fight while running parallel lines now bowing his head, Serena’s feelings became strange.

“I’m truly sorry. Even if I had feelings of discomfort towards you, Sister, it was not the right thing to do.”

“…No, I must have done many things wrong too.”

Serena said calmly.

She didn’t want to say unnecessary things like someone else had entered her body.

It would have been difficult to make the other person understand, and there was nothing she wanted to gain by doing so.

At best, she would stimulate the other person’s guilt and hear them say they were sorry for misunderstanding until now, but she had nothing to say in response.

However, receiving an apology still made her feel subtle.

“Thank you for apologizing. I haven’t done anything good either, so you don’t need to feel sorry anymore.”

Serena added, hoping he wouldn’t feel guilty anymore.

Only then did Nocturne Lavernia slowly raise his head.

Silence fell again.

Serena wasn’t a person good with words, and Nocturne Lavernia was so bewildered by this situation that he didn’t know what to say.

“I heard you’ll be staying at the family residence for a while.”

After pondering for a while, Nocturne Lavernia opened his mouth as if he had found something to say.

“Ah, yes. Father…… I felt sorry that he kept coming.”

“…I see.”

“…Um, yes.”

The awkward silence showed no signs of dissipating.

Seeing that Nocturne was trying to continue the conversation, Serena also racked her brain.

“Aren’t you going to work today?”

“Ah…! Oh, today is a day off. I took a day off because I wanted to talk with you, Sister.”

“Ah… It seems I’m taking away your precious day off. You can go and rest if you want.”

“…No, I decided to have a conversation with you today.”

“Hmm……”

Until when, what kind of conversation?

Serena couldn’t bring herself to ask that, so she quietly closed her mouth and nodded lightly.

“…It feels like it’s been a long time since we sat down and had a conversation like this.”

Nocturne Lavernia, who had been sitting blankly, suddenly opened his mouth while staring out the window.

It was also a very distant memory for Serena.

Except for when they ate cookies or drinks together when they were very young, this was the first time they had sat face to face like this.

“I used to really like you, Sister.”

“……Did you?”

“Yes, although you weren’t very interested in me, I tried hard to get your attention back then.”

“…I didn’t know that.”

It seemed like he had often hung around, but at that time, she really had no thoughts about it.

He didn’t even catch her eye, and honestly, she didn’t like him much.

“I… think I disliked you.”

“……That’s a bit shocking.”

Nocturne Lavernia said, slightly furrowing his brow. Serena, realizing her mistake, hurriedly continued speaking.

“Now, I don’t have such clear emotions. It’s a story from when we were young.”

“That’s also shocking….”

Wasn’t she saying that she still had no feelings now?

Saying she neither liked nor disliked him.

It meant she didn’t care about him at all. Nocturne Lavernia burst into a small laugh seeing Serena’s lips quiver as if flustered by his words.

It was because he felt that this person, who seemed so scary and infinitely lofty, was human after all.

“So, I think I was even more disappointed. When you changed, Sister.”

“……Well.”

She shrugged, adding “I see.” There was nothing else to say. Serena tilted the now cold teacup.

“I hope we can start over from now on.”

“……Can we?”

Serena asked sincerely. Can a relationship this twisted and broken be mended again?

Nocturne Lavernia looked at Serena and shrugged.

“Who knows, but we have to try, don’t we? We’re family after all.”

“……In the end, once you leave home, everyone becomes a stranger.”

“But we’re still family. Even if we leave home, change our names, and change our faces. In the end, the same blood flows in us.”

At Nocturne’s words, Serena stared at him for a while and then slowly nodded.

She thought that the small child who used to only cry and scream had grown quite a bit.

That much time had passed.

‘Maybe I’m the only one still there.’

Trapped in the past, afraid of that time, unable to move a single step.

“Father and Mother had a hard time when you changed, Sister. Even when you came back… and when you said you wanted to remove your name from the family register.”

“……I thought that was the best gift.”

After a long silence, Serena voiced a bit of her honest feelings.

Nocturne’s eyes widened slightly at those words.

“Why is that?”

“Because I thought you hated me. Anyone would hate having something annoying in the same fence. You did too……”

“……That wasn’t sincere. My small sincerity was inflated… No. I’m sorry for wounding you.”

“It’s not particularly a wound……”

Serena’s lips moved slightly before she quietly closed her mouth.

Wasn’t it a wound?

No, it probably was a wound. After all…… it keeps coming up even now.

“It was a wound after all.”

After pondering for a moment, Serena answered very slowly.