DLV 47

Chapter 47

Now that she thought about it, didn’t Stella ask to sleep together?

When she stepped out of bed and opened the door, there she was—Stella, holding a pillow in her arms, just as expected.

“You said we’d sleep together!”

With her hair down, she looked even more like a poodle and smiled adorably.

Had there ever been a time she wasn’t alone in this big bed? It was the first time. The first time she had ever slept beside someone else.

Maybe that’s why she couldn’t fall asleep. She kept tossing and turning restlessly until she heard a soft voice.

“Sophie… are you asleep?”

“No.”

“I see. Then… can I ask you something?”

“Go ahead.”

Turning toward Stella to talk, she found Stella’s wide, sparkling eyes already locked on her own.

“When we got lost, you mentioned your family.”

“Yeah.”

“At the time, I asked if you got along with your siblings, but you didn’t answer.”

“That’s right.”

“…So, do you not get along?”

Stella’s hesitation showed how nervous she was about asking. She must’ve gone back and forth several times before finally saying it.

“I was just worried that you might have strained things because of me… Ah, if you don’t want to talk about it, you don’t have to—!”

“It wasn’t good.”

It wasn’t good—spoken in the past tense.

“Up until a few months ago, we didn’t even see each other’s faces.”

At those words, Stella swallowed hard, waiting for the next part.

“They were the ones who distanced themselves first, and they were also the ones who tried to come closer again.”

“…Why did they push you away?”

“They were scared I might hurt them because I was under a sorcerer’s spell.”

As she spoke about something she’d only recently come to understand herself, she remembered the voices of her siblings, apologizing again and again.

“They’ve apologized so many times… I’m just slow to forgive.”

She knew it wasn’t their fault—but it wasn’t easy to accept everything right away. The memories were still there.

The cold eyes that stared at her with indifference as a blade cut into her flesh.

Because of that, she had given up on struggling to survive in this life. But after learning what they had been hiding, after gaining certainty that the sorcerer had something to do with her death—

She decided not to give up. She would slowly mend the relationship, eliminate the root cause, and survive this time. She would try.

“I’m getting better now. So don’t worry.”

She said that gently, not wanting Stella to feel needlessly burdened or pained. As she spoke, she reached out to gently stroke Stella’s hair.

Then Stella reached up and held Sophia’s hand tightly in both of hers.

“How could anyone forgive someone who hurt them so easily?”

“…”

“Even if they had their reasons, you still hurt. And pain doesn’t just disappear.”

Stella smiled sadly, as if she had experienced something similar herself.

“Sophie, have you ever thought I was being too clingy?”

“…A little.”

Stella let out a small laugh as if she expected that.

“You probably didn’t understand. We haven’t known each other that long, but I acted like we were really close.”

“…”

“I didn’t mean to, but my heart just reached out to you. And now, I think I know why.”

Why? Curious about the reason, she waited for Stella’s next words. Even in the dark, Stella’s emerald eyes sparkled as they locked with hers.

“I think… it’s because we have a lot in common.”

A lot in common? It didn’t make sense.

They looked completely different. While Sophia had sharp and fierce features, Stella looked soft and gentle—like a puppy. And she smiled often, someone who would be loved by all.

There was no way they had experienced the same things.

Stella paused for a moment, then opened her mouth again.

“Remember I talked about my older brother before?”

“Yeah.”

“My brother who left the family to become a knight in the Central Administration… I was just as lonely as you were.”

Stella smiled as if she were fine—but it was a pitiful smile.

Eren left the Roash family when Stella was only three.

He had always been an outsider within the family, and Stella was the only one who looked for him.

As he read a letter from someone unknown, the door opened slightly. He flinched and turned to see who it was.

A cute little face peeked through the small crack. Relaxing at the sight, he patted the side of his bed—asking her to come over.

“Oabuni!”

The little girl mispronounced “orabeoni” (big brother) and ran to him with quick steps. Eren greeted her with his usual expressionless face and gently patted her hair. The same brown hair, the same fresh green eyes.

When Stella laughed innocently, Eren crumpled the letter tightly in his hand.

“Stella.”

“Yeah!”

“I’m sorry.”

He was only four years older—but she had always leaned on him like he was a grown-up.

And with just those words, he left the mansion the next day.

Stella, unaware of anything, kept looking for him. Her mother said:

The first time: he went on a trip.

The second: he went for medical treatment.

The third:

“Your brother abandoned the family and became a dog of the Central Administration.”

That’s what she was told.

By the time she was a little over ten, Stella couldn’t remember anything about Eren—what they talked about, whether they were close, or even what he looked like.

She had caught a glimpse of a portrait once—when her mother burned it. He had sat in a large chair with an expression far too calm for his age.

Whose shoulder had that small body leaned on? Had he even had someone to lean on?

“Brother’s not a dog.”

“He swore allegiance to that place.”

Allegiance. What was that, that it made someone abandon their family?

Later, Stella researched the Central Administration’s knights. With her attendant’s help, it wasn’t too difficult.

She read through the materials while eating her favorite Mont Blanc cake.

The Central Administration served as the anchor between the territories, making sure no single region gained too much power.

Knights of the Central Administration had to sever all personal ties—with family, lovers, or anyone outside the Central. They couldn’t have weaknesses outside the capital, or lords from other regions might exploit them.

“To live only for the Central and die only for the Central? That’s where brother went…?”

What a twisted cult.

That day, Stella began to understand—why her mother was so devastated, why she wanted to forget him as soon as possible.

Once someone left for the Central, they never returned. They cut all ties. No one in the family ever knew why Eren made that choice. Not even Stella, who had been closest to him.

Stella hugged her knees, curling up as she told Sophia all this.

“We’re family, but he felt like a stranger. No—like someone who never even existed.”

“…”

“I saw him once when I went to the Central. Even though no one told me, I knew. That was my brother.”

She had followed her mother to a council meeting in the Central and wandered off—only to spot Eren in the training ground, locked in a duel with someone.

His slightly tanned skin was glistening with sweat, and his dark green eyes shone with a cool, sharp light—like a blade forged in shadows, not sunlight.

“He looked cold—just like Mother.”

She knew he had seen her too. Their eyes met, clearly.

But he had to turn away almost instantly, distracted by the incoming sword. And Stella, too, had to turn away when her mother called for her.

Though they shared the same Roash surname, they were no longer family—just strangers. They had supposedly been close in the past.

But she was the only one who seemed to cling to that past.

Then one day, her attendant Cyril quietly brought her a gift box.

“He said it was sent in secret.”

“…It was your brother.”

“Yeah. You’ve seen it, right? That blue ribbon I always wear when I tie up my hair.”

Just as Sophia thought, it had been a gift from him. A letter had come with it, too.

The paper was smudged with ink, like he had been tapping his pen for a long time, unable to find the words.

[Hello.]