chapter 08
Serena, momentarily frozen by the intensity in the boy’s eyes, finally snapped back to her senses and apologized.
“Ah, sorry…! I thought you were having a nightmare, so I tried to wake you up.”
The boy didn’t answer and simply stared at her with his red eyes.
Was he in too much pain to speak, or was he simply unable to?
Or had she made some other mistake? Serena cautiously asked,
“Um, are you okay? Are you hurt anywhere?”
“…It’s you.”
“Huh…?”
But the reply made no sense. Confused, Serena blinked.
The boy continued speaking without taking his eyes off her.
“…It was because of this.”
Again, she couldn’t understand what he was saying.
He pressed down on various spots on his head.
Worried he might be hurt, Serena examined his expression.
“Are you really hurt? Should I call a doctor? I can… I can call one, right?”
If he didn’t answer properly this time, she was determined to call a doctor.
Fortunately, this time he responded clearly.
“I’m fine. No need to call. I wasn’t okay before, but I am now.”
She still didn’t fully understand what he meant, but Serena was used to being around people who spoke in strange ways.
She just nodded, thinking that was probably the case here too.
The boy suddenly asked,
“Who are you?”
“Ah, I’m Serena. Serena Roselantis.”
“Serena Roselantis?”
He seemed as if he had never heard the name before.
Even Jeremy, the head of the household, was seeing Serena for the first time today, so it made sense that a boy outside the Roselantis family wouldn’t know her.
Serena just nodded vaguely.
Now it was her turn to ask.
“And you are?”
“Carlos.”
“Your family name? Are you from our house?”
“No, just call me Carlos.”
He probably was a noble, since a commoner wouldn’t be wandering freely here.
Was he from a family with many rumors? Maybe he didn’t want to reveal it. It didn’t matter much anyway.
“So, why are you here?”
“To see Harpe.”
Harpe was Jeremy’s eldest son, and Serena’s cousin, three years older than her.
Serena suddenly had a bad feeling.
“…Is he a friend?”
“Yeah.”
He spoke casually, but if he was friends with Harpe, that meant he was the older cousin.
After all, even though he looked young, he was very tall. Being ten didn’t seem right—thirteen, perhaps, but still very tall.
In fact, speaking casually first was against etiquette in noble society.
Since she had just turned eighteen that morning, the casual speech slipped out unconsciously.
When Serena closed her mouth and looked uneasy, Carlos asked,
“Why? Don’t you like that I’m friends with Harpe? Should I break it off?”
His joke was extreme. Serena blinked and shook her head.
“Uh, no… It’s just… Harpe is three years older than me… so it feels like I spoke too casually too suddenly…”
Her awkward, slightly slow formal speech made Carlos blink his red eyes slowly.
Then he seemed to understand and smiled slightly.
“It’s okay, you can speak comfortably.”
“Really?”
“Yeah.”
Even though he looked sharp, the slight smile softened his expression considerably.
Carlos asked Serena,
“So, what were you doing here?”
“Oh.”
Serena suddenly remembered the book she had forgotten. She had dropped it when Carlos grabbed her wrist and startled her.
“I was bored, so I wanted to read a book.”
“You read a book because you were bored?”
…Maybe that was a bit odd.
Carlos frowned as if he had heard something ridiculous. The expression seemed strangely fresh to Serena. She bent down to pick up her book and stood back up.
“Will you let go of my hand?”
He was still holding her wrist.
Carlos looked at his own hand as Serena pointed it out.
Her fragile wrist in his large hand looked pitiful. It seemed like it could break with a little force.
He slowly released her hand and apologized.
“…Sorry, I got startled.”
“It’s okay. I woke you up while you were sleeping, after all.”
That made sense.
Free again, Serena picked up the book she had dropped.
Unfortunately, it seemed to have been bent slightly at the top corner.
Thinking she could fix it by pressing carefully, she fiddled with it when Carlos stepped closer and read the title.
“A legend about Rosegold? You read this book because you were bored?”
Following some strange light that led her here, she had to say it was to read this book.
If she told the truth, he would probably think she was crazy.
“Yeah… it looked interesting.”
Carlos crossed his arms and tilted his head.
“Interesting taste. Your clothes too.”
“…Wait, these aren’t my clothes.”
She really didn’t want to be misunderstood about this strange outfit.
When Serena suddenly bristled, Carlos asked curiously,
“Really? Then why are you wearing it?”
Indeed. If she had even slightly better clothes, she wouldn’t have worn this.
The outfit was too weird, and she had no excuse.
So Serena confessed honestly.
“My family is poor, so we can’t afford new clothes. I inherited these from my second sister.”
It wasn’t something to hide. Although it was a little embarrassing since he seemed like a well-off noble.
“Roselantis, right? Why is your family poor? And why inherit clothes?”
Carlos seemed quiet, but he was very curious.
Well, it made sense. A supposedly wealthy, prestigious family, yet she wore strange clothes and spoke of poverty—it was natural to be curious.
Poverty couldn’t be hidden. Serena shrugged and answered.
“My father is incompetent. The allowance from the main house each month is our family’s entire wealth. We can’t buy new clothes, so I inherited my sister’s. Kind of funny, right?”
Trying to laugh off her embarrassment, Carlos looked at her seriously and asked,
“How much do you get?”
“Fifty gold per month.”
“…Fifty gold? That’s all a count gives?”
Carlos’s sharp eyes widened. It really was a shocking amount.
Since she finally had someone to complain to, the words came out more easily.
Serena shared an even more shocking detail.
“Yeah. But my father takes 25 gold as pocket money. Plus, the carriage fare here and back costs 5 gold, so our family’s monthly allowance is just 20 gold.”
But even that had been taken and lost in his gambling. The more she thought, the more pitiful she felt.
“You didn’t mean per day, right? How could you live on that?”
“If we don’t eat much, don’t buy much, and save carefully, we somehow manage. I hate it, but we make do with clothes like this.”
Carlos’s expression twisted.
In their first meeting, she had shared such a depressing story, and the atmosphere unintentionally sank.
She had just been venting a little, not asking for sympathy.
Such feelings only drained motivation and were useless for life.
Trying to lighten the mood, Serena smiled brightly.
“If I look pitiful, will you buy me new clothes, Carlos?”
Of course, she was joking.
She held her skirt and twirled in place.
The shabby clothes spread out and flashed bright colors painfully dazzling to the eyes.
“I’m going to burn this as soon as I get home. So, if you buy me something normal, I’ll wear it gratefully.”
“….”
Her tone and actions clearly indicated a joke, but unfortunately, Carlos’s expression didn’t improve.
‘I must look so pitiful that he doesn’t even realize it’s a joke… I didn’t want to go this far.’
The person who ruined the mood had to fix it.
Serena spun around again, singing a strange little song asking for new clothes, and finally, Carlos seemed to understand and softened his expression.
“Alright, I’ll do that.”
“Thanks.”
Even if it was just words, Serena smiled gently, grateful.
