Vol-2: Chapter 11.3

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As the inner palace, which had been vaguely visible, completely disappeared from sight, Richard clicked his tongue slightly. He has the habit of coming out whenever he didn't like something.

On this day, Richard's nerves were still on Etienne. He looked at Etienne whenever he had a chance, even when he wandered from place to place in the banquet hall, led by the emperor. In his heart, he wanted to talk to Étienne, whether the emperor was displeased or what the people thought, but he couldn't.

Étienne sat alone in a corner throughout the banquet. He did not suit the behaviour of the prince who was mentioned as the next owner of the throne. Although he, the person in charge, did not seem to care.

Étienne tilted his glass to himself with a bored expression on his face like a child forced out. Several nobles circled around him, but did not pay attention.

Seeing Etienne like that, Richard felt a sense of relief. Reassuring to see that there was no one by his side, he became disillusioned with himself.

What can I do though, that was originally made like this.

Richard took a sidelong glance at Étienne as he greeted and accepted those who spoke to him. Then, when he saw Étienne heading to the balcony alone, he made the excuse that he was going to rest for a while, and he followed. He felt that if he didn't follow through now, he wouldn't have a conversation with him until after the triumphal banquet.

'Why do you keep pushing me away!'
'Leave me!'
‘Give me a reason to understand!’

There was an uninvited guest on the balcony where he thought only Etienne would be. Richard was enraged when he saw Theodore shouting and grabbing Étienne's arm.

'What is this?'

My body moved first before I could grasp the situation and think.

Richard grabbed the wrist of Theodore, who was holding Etienne's arm.

He dared.

Richard felt his eyes turn bright red with anger. He couldn't control it, his pheromones fluctuating wildly as he got angry. Had Étienne not stopped him, he would have slammed Theodore to the floor.

'Are you okay?'
'I am okay.'

Étienne seemed a little taken aback by Richard's sudden appearance, but he soon regained hiz composure. Left alone on the balcony, Étienne looked at Richard with his characteristic nonchalant expression.

'How did you know this place?'

Étienne seemed unwelcome to Richard. There was a hint of discomfort in his voice, which was lower than usual.

'It's only the two of us now, brother.'

Richard pretended not to notice Etienne's discomfort with him. He couldn't let his hard-earned opportunity go to waste. Etienne's brow crinkled slightly as he spoke to him brazenly.

After several scuffles, Étienne gave up trying to kick Richard. Only then was Richard able to put his mind at ease and talk to him.

'Did you receive the letter I sent you?'

When he saw Etienne again, he had so many things he wanted to say. But when he saw him, he didn't know what to say.
After thinking about it for a while, Richard brought up the story of his letter. Because that was what he said the last time he met Etienne.

‘…...I got it, until last year.'

Étienne's eyes trembled slightly at the story of the letter. Richard did not miss the fluttering of his long eyelashes.

He said, ‘I wanted to send this year too…...Things turned around in a hurry. I was a little distracted.'

It was a plausible excuse, but in fact it was a blatant lie. This year, Richard deliberately stopped sending the letters. Because the more he sent the letters to Étienne, the more he missed him.

Étienne kept what he had said three years ago. He really never sent Richard a reply.

It would be a lie if I said I wasn’t saddened by the reply that didn’t come, but in a corner of my heart I thought I was glad.
Just writing a letter to Étienne made me want to go to him, and I probably would have been impatient if I had received an answer.

Maybe it was an expedition or something, and he ran to the capital. Richard was sure of his idea.

He said, 'I said I wouldn't reply.'

Étienne fell for Richard's lies. Hearing Richard's false excuses, he grumbled with a sullen face.

'The content is always the same......’
'You read my letter.'

When he found out that Étienne had read his letter, Richard was really happy. In fact, he thought that Étienne might not be reading his letters. It was all the more so because he never got a reply.

Nonetheless, he sent a string of letters over the past year. At first he soothed his longing with it. Then, when the longing grew and became unbearable, he quit.
There was a reason why the contents of the letter were always the same. He had so many things he wanted to say to Étienne that the letters became endlessly long as he wrote them. When he shortened it a bit, he didn't know which words to use.

So he just asked for formal regards. He put his heart into it instead he came to that sentence.

I don't know if the worries and longings contained in each letter were conveyed to Etienne, but at that time it was for the best.

At the time, I was very disappointed that I could only write like that, but now that I think about it, I think I did well.

The empress could not leave the letter he had sent to Etienne unattended. Most likely, she would have checked his letter first.

The only thing he was fortunate in was that his letter had reached Etienne. If it was the empress's personality, it wouldn't be strange if she threw away his own letter.

'I missed you, older brother.'

Even after making that decision, he was glad that Étienne had read his letter, and in the end, his heart that had been holding back came out.

As expected, Étienne was uncomfortable with Richard. He hardened his expression when Richard begged him to call him 'Shar' as ​​before. And he said it in a harder tone than usual.

‘…...I have no intention of accepting your foolishness. We are no longer children.'

It was an outright refusal. It means that you can never go back to the past.

“…...How did we come to be like this?”

Richard thought of Etienne, who openly expressed his discomfort, and mocked himself.

"Yes? What did you just say?”

"Don't mind. Just talking to myself.”

Richard responded nonchalantly to Alvin's question and continued his thoughts.

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