“Aren’t you buying one for yourself, sister?”

Ray’s clear, water-colored eyes looking at the candy large enough to cover his face sparkled like fountain water catching the sunlight.

“Just one for your brother and one for you.”

“Yay.”

Arinne paid for two candies. When she wrapped handkerchiefs around the sticks and handed them over, Ray, now holding one candy in each hand—one for his brother—excitedly ran straight toward Jade.

“Brother! Brother, eat candy! One for Jade, one for Ray!!”

“No thanks. You eat it.”

With a coldly quick rejection, Ray ended up with two face-sized candies.

“Why? Jade likes candy. Ray knows everything. Sister bought two. Won’t you eat it?”

“Not ‘two pieces,’ just ’two.’”

“R-Ray knows that too!!”

Following Arinne, even Jade rejected the candy. At the consecutive rejections, Ray’s mouth stuck out in disappointment.

“Hmph. Do what you want! Ray will eat both all by him— Wh-what? What is thiiiis?!!”

Ray’s eyes widened enormously as he sullenly tasted the candy in his left hand.

“Do you like it that much?”

“Yeah! Ray is happy right now!!”

Ray’s eyes sparkled like sunlight on water, overflowing with vitality. He kicked the air alternately with his feet, expressing sweetness with his whole body.

“Jade.”

Ray looked back and forth between Jade’s face and the candy in his right hand with a tilt of his head, then held the candy up to his mouth.

“That’s kid stuff.”

Jade answered indifferently and whipped his head to the opposite side.

Again!! He won’t eat it again?!

Ray made a properly sulky face this time.

“Sister said earlier that Jade is a kid too. So you can eat it!”

“…! I’m not. Only you’re a kid.”

Surprised by Ray’s unexpected attack, Jade answered irritably and glanced at Arinne.

Arinne stayed still.

Technically speaking, Ray was a toddler and Jade was a child, so… from Jade’s perspective, Ray was more of a kid. So his words had some logic to them.

‘I hope they make up and get along on their own.’

Actually, she was just staying still because she didn’t want to get involved.

“No way? Is Jade stupid?”

“Stupid? Who taught you such a bad word?”

Jade hardened his expression and glared at Ray. Tears immediately welled up in Ray’s eyes.

“Right. Fight with proper words. The word ‘stupid’ isn’t nice.”

Arinne couldn’t stand watching and intervened.

“You stay out of it!”

“…Okay.”

Arinne quickly agreed and backed off.

‘A little argument is, well…’

Whether he knew he’d done wrong or felt wronged being scolded by Jade.

Ray, with tears brimming in his eyes, tried to hold back his crying while moving his mouth.

“R-Ray didn’t say bad words…”

“You did.”

“Didn’t!”

“Did!!”

The conversation gradually devolved into a childish argument. Ray got down from the bench and stomped his feet on the ground.

Tears suddenly fell from Jade’s eyes as he glared at Ray, who was stamping his feet in frustration.

“Ray is a liar. You always say you didn’t do things you did…”

As he spoke, emotions seemed to overwhelm him and Jade’s breathing grew rougher.

‘And he says he’s not a kid.’

Arinne picked up the lighter Ray.

“Young masters. Don’t fight— Urk!”

Ray threw away the candy in his hand, turned around, and tightly hugged Arinne’s neck.

“Urk, w-wait, a sec!”

She’d only meant to separate them so things wouldn’t escalate further.

Ray, taking Arinne’s action as her comforting him, clung to her neck.

He hugged so tightly that her windpipe constricted and her vision went white for a moment. Arinne patted Ray’s back with a haggard face.

“Don’t be my brother!!!”

Jade, whose face had somehow become even more upset than before, shouted at Ray. Then he scrunched up his face and burst into tears before Ray did.

The strange thing was that even though he was crying, there was no sound. Clearly he’d burst into tears from the way his mouth was open, but there was nothing except the occasional sound of sniffling.

The sad tears falling silently in drops were pitiful.

“No!! Ray is Jade’s brother!”

Following Jade, Ray also started crying. Unlike Jade, it was loud and booming crying.

“Take it back!! Jade is mean! Ray is Jade’s brother!!”

Jade cried quietly and sadly. Meanwhile, Ray cried out desperately.

“Ha. Kids…”

I want to cry too.

“Don’t fight. Please…”

Just when she was thinking she wanted to get dizzy or pass out.

“Wh-whoa!”

A yellow light burst from the brooch securing Ray’s cravat. The light swallowed Arinne and Ray in an instant.

‘D*mn it.’

It was a protective charm containing a simple protection spell. Arinne had used this type several times. Even with low destructive power, it could definitely take out a few people in close proximity.

‘I know it activates when the brooch breaks… Ah. It’s cracked.’

The brooch had a crack, probably from Ray bumping into something while making a fuss. The protective charm’s spell must have activated along with it.

The moment she realized it, Arinne felt pain throughout her body like she’d been struck by lightning.

She’d wanted to pass out, and now something happened to make her pass out. Life is truly fleeting.

“Ray!!”

“Brotherrr!!”

In the brief, intense pain, the thought dominating Arinne’s mind as she lost consciousness was regrettably of Noah.

‘Still… if it’s Noah, he’ll at least put flowers on my grave.’

The thought that it would be too miserable if the news reaching Noah was an obituary rather than a marriage announcement.

With distant thoughts, Arinne’s vision slowly flickered out.

“Are you okay!? You’re not hurt?”

Jade hurriedly pulled Ray from Arinne’s arms. Fortunately, Ray was fine thanks to her holding him tightly as she fell.

“Brotherrr, hic, waaaah!!”

Ray forgot about fighting until just moments ago and cried in Jade’s embrace.

“Misssss!!!”

On the other side, Jo, her face pale, was running over, and behind her, three or four knights in familiar uniforms could be seen.

They were all faces Jade knew.

“Lord Jade! Are you alright?”

“Yeah… But that person got hurt.”

The knights immediately secured Jade and Ray’s safety and quickly assessed the situation.

Jade held Ray’s hand and stepped back a few paces, watching the family knights handle the situation.

“Brother, hic, a-aren’t you scared?”

“I’m scared.”

He wanted to cry because the unfamiliar situation was frightening, but he didn’t. It wasn’t right for him, who would someday become their master, to show weakness.

Even aside from that, he hated crying in front of others. Comforting touches made him uncomfortable, and he hated pitying gazes.

Crying from being unable to control emotions was basically proof of still being a kid.

“…”

Earlier, he’d unavoidably burst into tears and cried in front of that scary woman. That was clearly a mistake.

He shouldn’t cry anymore.

“Calon. Is sister okay?”

Ray grabbed the edge of Calon’s cloak and asked.

“Don’t worry. She’ll be fine.”

“Can you promise…?”

After looking down at the child for a moment, Calon bent one knee and sat down to roughly match Ray’s eye level.

Then he smiled kindly.

“Yes, Lord Ray. I promise on my name.”

Afterward, Calon’s gaze naturally moved to Jade standing beside him. His brown eyes widened for a moment.

“Were you crying?”

“…No.”

Jade rarely cried in front of strangers. Calon looked at Jade’s reddened eyes with bewilderment.

“He fought with Ray, hic, so Jade cried.”

Ray rubbed his eyes vigorously with his arm and spoke for Jade.

“You fought?”

“Yeah. Ray, huwaaa…!”

Still not fully calmed down, Ray answered while sniffling, then burst into tears again feeling upset.

Calon hurriedly pulled Ray into his arms, held him, and patted his plump bottom to comfort him.

“Shall we talk about the details on the way?”

Calon held the crying Ray, who was getting tears and snot all over his uniform, in one arm and extended his remaining hand to Jade.

“Will he be angry?”

Jade hesitated.

“Perhaps.”

At Calon’s answer, Jade’s face darkened again.

Even though he’d omitted the subject, Calon knew who Jade was talking about.

“Before that. He’s worried about you both. The Marquis won’t be angry. I promise this as well.”

* * *

Arinne slowly opened her eyes.

Lifting her eyelids was difficult, so after her eyeballs trembled several times, she barely managed to open her eyes.

Looking at the high ceiling, Arinne calmly recalled her senses. The bedding supporting her back warmly embraced her body.

Her body was heavy and her consciousness hazy. She felt no particular pain, making this drowsy feeling all the more strange.

‘Right. That…’

Arinne belatedly remembered why she’d collapsed.

Light had surged from Ray’s body, she’d received a shock, and collapsed. That was the last thing Arinne remembered.

At the time, she’d really thought she was saying goodbye to the world.

‘Is this those kids’ house?′

Unless this place was the afterlife.