‘Arthur Leander. Is that the man who’s going to be my husband?’
He would never forget that smile. It had captured him in a trance, a rose-like Mercé blooming under the red veil.
Mercé filled the Leander mansion with her unique brightness. The mansion where Mercé’s voice cannot be heard is now unimaginable.
‘I’m here to be happy. There’s no such thing as a marriage of convenience. How about you? Are you happy with me?’
‘I promise you, Mercé. I will protect your happiness.’
Arthur wanted to keep his promise to Mercé, if he could, for the rest of his life.
“Don’t let this happen again, Arthur. Don’t get sick. Never get sick without my permission.”
Arthur nodded. “I promise.”
Arthur made another promise. A promise that he had to keep.
Squeak.
A new start.
Arthur shrugged his shoulders and turned to the door. Louella and Alexid had their eyes wide open through the open door.
“Lulu? Sid?” Arthur called in a startled voice. “Is that you guys?”
Mercé jerked her head around. “What are you doing, children?”
Louella cleared her throat and opened the door wide and squeezed herself in. With an awkward face, Alexid was also dragged in by Louella.
“The bed is big.”
Oh, my God.
Mercé shook her head. “You guys are already old—-!”
Louella elbowed Alexid’s side.
“Oh, my gosh.” There was silence.
It wasn’t the sound that usually came out of Alexid’s mouth, but was a distraction.
“Because I’m still a baby. Right, Sid?” Louella forced his brother to nod. “Good job.”
Alexid shook his head wildly. He balked. This wouldn’t have happened if he had not lost in rock-paper-scissors.
Louella dragged Alexid to the bed.
“It’s okay because I’m a baby.”
Louella closed her eyes tightly as she begged her mother not to kick her out.
The eyes of Mercé and Arthur met. The two burst into laughter at the same time.
There’s no day that is spent quietly anyway.
Perhaps because Mercé and Arthur raised them specially, the children behaved differently than other noble children.
And Mercé and Arthur loved and liked Louella and Alexid equally. Eventually, the large bed was filled.
“Isn’t it too small for us four?”
“No.” Louella replied stiffly.
How did she force Alexid to go with her? Close your eyes like a piece of wood and stay still.
“Sid. I think it’s narrow.”
“It’s because my younger sister, who is a pig, is fat…. Argh!”
“You said you’d only cry today!”
Alexid sighed as he glared at Louella with blazing eyes.
How could he do that? He just couldn’t be mean to his younger sister like that?
Alexid rolled over. Since she had never won against him, she didn’t even think about attacking him and just let him slide over. Gerald didn’t like that.
Louella pinched his side as if she had noticed what Alexid was thinking.
“Ugh! Pig, do you want to be scolded?”
“Come on.” Mercé, who was getting a headache, said in a low voice, “Stop that, now.”
“Yes.”
“Yes.”
Louella and Alexid, who were fighting, lay back down. Mercé took a deep breath and stroked Louella’s head.
Perhaps tired, Alexid and Louella both fell asleep soon after.
Mercé and Arthur smiled. Fortunately, their happiness was still around.
* * *
Weren’t the four of us sleeping in the same bed?
“Oh, my body is stiff.”
As I trudged along, Alexid put his arm around my shoulder.
“Why are you pretending to be close with me?”
“Why are you picking a fight again? Are you in a bad mood this early in the morning?”
“No. I feel good—ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh.” I yawned and pushed Alexid away. “You’re heavy. You muscle monster.”
“And you’re a pig.”
“Do you want to be beaten to death by a pig?” I was walking while bickering with Alexid when he told me that.
“By the way, ugly.”
“Why?”
“Are you looking into the future? Something like a dream.”
“What nonsense are you talking about again?” I answered curtly.
No.
Is he still 10 years old? Why does he ask and talk so much nonsense? I feel sorry for Veronica. I feel sorry for her!
“It’s not nonsense……. Right? What did you say to me before? You said you had a dream about our father’s death.”
“Oh, that.”
“That’s what I’m saying. You could be seeing the distant future, not the near future. That’s what’s in my dream.” Alexid said seriously.
“Is that so?”
“You were really serious back then. Like it was what was going to happen to our father right now.”
It’s him…
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