Chapter 110 …
Liam let out a long sigh.
“They told me to go check on you. Crazy, right? Why would they put a fox in charge of the henhouse?”
Even though I knew he was deliberately keeping his tone light, my heart jolted and I froze.
I’d been worried and curious about Erik these past ten days too.
Still, I had never expected Liam to know anything about Erik.
Hadn’t the two of them even thrown punches because of me?
I stayed silent for a long moment before finally forcing the words out.
“How is he? It felt like… something bad might have happened.”
Liam sighed again.
“Sorry, Vivi. I don’t know either.”
Then, seeing my gloomy face, he continued,
“…That’s just how he is. I’ve been pretty close with him ever since he enrolled at Brangel, but…”
There was resignation in Liam’s voice.
“I’ve never heard him talk about what’s really going on inside. Not trying to badmouth him, but… pretending to be kind, pretending to be fine. That’s basically his specialty. It must be hard on him too.”
“But to me…”
I knew I shouldn’t say this to Liam.
“…he wasn’t. He wasn’t like that.”
The words slipped out anyway.
Liam only smiled, not looking offended, and joked,
“Well, he does get unfriendly whenever your name comes up.”
This isn’t fair to Liam…
I hurriedly tried to compose myself. Barely managing to fix my expression, I changed the subject.
“Didn’t your grandfather give you an answer yet? You said he’d think about it.”
“Oh, that.”
Liam grinned.
“I was wondering when you’d ask.”
“Huh…? He answered? What did he say? Wait—did he actually give permission?”
Liam beamed under my barrage of questions.
“I only asked him to give my middle-school cousin six years of grace until he becomes an adult.”
His long fingers spread to show six—then folded down to two.
“He doubled it exactly. Said he’d give me twelve years. Uncle should still be going strong by then.”
“Really? That’s amazing…!”
Forgetting my earlier gloom, I jumped up and hugged Liam.
Chuckling, he placed a hand on the top of my head and ruffled my hair.
“It’s thanks to you. More precisely, thanks to you and Erik. Though, well… I won’t be able to become a judge within twelve years…”
Only after I let him go did he continue explaining.
“If I graduate law school, build up practical experience, and take the bar as fast as possible, I’ll be twenty-seven. He gave me two extra years on top of that—so at least I can work as a lawyer for two years.”
“So he considered your dream?”
“Yeah.”
Liam nodded, his face bright.
“To be honest, I was always scared of my grandfather when I was little. He didn’t like my dad for doing music, and he didn’t like my mom for being a foreigner, so it was only natural he wouldn’t like me either. Half my blood is Albanian.”
“But I don’t think there’s anyone in this world who could dislike you…”
I meant it sincerely, but Liam shamelessly replied,
“Yeah, seems like that’s true.”
“Whaaat…?”
Seeing my dumbfounded face, Liam burst out laughing.
“You know what my grandfather said? He said it was the first time he’d ever seen me look him straight in the eye and say what I wanted. Said I’ve finally become a Guardi.”
I had only thought he struggled as a member of the Guardi, but Liam looked far happier than expected at finally receiving his grandfather’s recognition.
“That’s really great, Liam.”
He nodded.
“So I’m trying to think positively. Even if I become a lawyer the way I want, it might turn out not to suit me after all.”
“Yeah. That happens a lot.”
“And when I become an adult…”
That was when I realized the real reason Liam was so happy.
“…If I want to see my mom more often and bring her to Sweden—if she wants to come back to Sweden.”
With moist eyes, he continued,
“He said he won’t oppose it. Just told me that once I’m an adult, I’ll have to take responsibility for my actions.”
“That’s wonderful…”
I was glad to hear things were going far more smoothly for Liam than expected.
Like joy follows sorrow, it felt as though we were still standing halfway down the road.
Not knowing what lay at the end suddenly felt like a blessing.
If we kept walking, maybe one day I’d meet him again, smiling brightly.
If I narrowed my eyes and stared far into the distance, would I see him standing there?
“So you hang in there too.”
Liam spoke in a firm voice.
“If Erik Brangel really lost you like an idiot in just one month, I was planning to happily seize my chance.”
His gentle blue eyes softly traced my face.
“But looking at you now, all I can think about is going to Djursholm and beating that bastard up again. Guess it’s not my turn yet.”
With a faint smile, I asked him,
“You’re not really going to do that… right?”
“Good grief, Vivi.”
Liam suddenly straightened his shoulders and scolded,
“How can someone who’s going into the legal profession be that violent?”
We looked at each other and laughed for a long time.
By the time every last piece of pepparkaka had disappeared from the plate, Uncle Denny came to pick Liam up.
“If it’s alright, I’d like to invite you to our home next time, Vivi.”
“It would be my honor, sir.”
I shared a goodbye hug with him.
“God Jul, Vivi.”
“God Jul, Denny.”
And so Christmas Eve was passing by.
Meanwhile, at around the same time, in Djursholm.
In the grand mansion where Christmas decorations sparkled like stars everywhere, a quiet Christmas dinner was being held for a modest family of three.
Under the softly glowing crystal chandelier, the luxurious table—lit by golden candlesticks—was filled with all kinds of delicious Christmas dishes.
Yet the dining room felt strangely silent.
The young marquis and his wife had long since failed in their attempts to keep the conversation going, blocked by their son’s curt replies and silence.
It was Erik who gave up on the uncomfortable dinner first.
“I’ll be excusing myself.”
Just as Erik set down his fork carelessly and offered his brief farewell—
Unexpectedly, a secretary suddenly appeared with a stiff expression and whispered something to Marquis Per Edmund Brangel.
“…What?”
—Crash!
Startled, the marquis jumped to his feet so abruptly that his chair toppled over, but the secretary only lowered his head with a grim face.
Erik couldn’t even remember the last time he’d seen his father so shaken.
As he froze in surprise, Helena called out to her husband, her gaze just as unsteady as Erik’s.
“My dear…?”
Per Edmund Brangel’s lips trembled as he looked back and forth between his wife and son.
Then, with a face drained of color—his lips nearly bluish—he delivered the shocking news.
“Father has…”
Erik’s eyes sharpened instantly.
When he had gone to the main house to confirm what Daniel said, that was when he first learned his grandfather had been suffering from Parkinson’s disease for three years.
“Do not resent your parents, Erik. I was the one who asked them to keep my illness a secret from you…”
After looking into it a little, he learned that the quiet voice, the trembling hands, the shortened stride, the hunched shoulders, the frequent falls—those were all symptoms of Parkinson’s.
Erik had thought they were simply natural signs of aging.
That his grandfather had merely grown frail.
He had seen his grandfather three or four times over those three years and still hadn’t noticed—so he couldn’t blame anyone else.
“But now various complications are appearing. I don’t think I’ll live much longer…”
For some reason, he had been angry.
Angry that his grandfather hid the illness. Angry that it was getting worse. Angry that he himself had learned the truth from Daniel.
None of it sat right with him.
And so the resentment he had bottled up for half his life burst out.
“You hate me now, don’t you, Grandfather?”
“…What?”
“There was a time I could feel from your eyes how proud you were of me. Back when I was glad to be a Brangel.”
“Erik…”
“You’re ashamed of me, aren’t you? You think I’m pathetic for not overcoming that old trauma, don’t you? Is that why I had to hear about your illness from Oxenstierna of all people?!”
At his absurd outburst, his grandfather had finally spoken—almost as if he had been preparing for this day.
“Erik, the reason I avoided you… wasn’t because of you, but because of me. Because I… committed a sin.”
Sometimes Erik wondered if it would have been better not to hear the confession that followed.
Because once he learned the whole truth, he no longer even had the right to be in pain.
He deeply regretted ever asking her to be on his side—to stay in his world.
Soon the entire world would tear Brangel down.
And to Vivi, bright as sunlight, he would only become a fatal stain.
That was why he had tried to let her go, feeling as though his heart were being ripped out—
But the marquis’s voice continued.
“His Excellency… has passed away.”
Erik’s world plunged into darkness once again.
