Chapter 09
2. The Lonely Boy
Ever since that day, Roana brewed coffee every single day.
Waking up early in the morning, grinding the beans, and pouring water through the dripper became a precious daily routine for her.
Gerald and the three knights also visited Roana’s annex almost every day to drink coffee.
In return for the coffee, Gerald gifted Roana all kinds of magical items, while the knights brought expensive desserts made in the main residence kitchen.
Considering that dessert culture in this world was not very developed—Roana thought it was probably because tea culture itself barely existed—it was an incredible amount of generosity.
Thanks to that, Roana’s life became even more comfortable.
With Gerald’s magical items, she could now turn the lights in the annex living room on and off with a flick of her finger and boil water without lighting a fire.
And thanks to the gifts from the knights, she could enjoy all kinds of snacks that matched perfectly with coffee.
Since Gerald actively cooperated, they were even developing an espresso machine. After all, there were limits to the kinds of drinks that could be made with hand drip coffee alone.
“Ahh. This really is heaven.”
That day as well, Roana was spending another peaceful afternoon doing her best to relax and enjoy life.
“My lady, you’re going for a walk again today, right?”
Roana was deeply buried in a comfortable chair reading a book when Ize approached while bringing her wide-brimmed hat.
“Of course I am.”
Roana happily stood up and put on the hat.
Eating lunch, reading while resting for a while, and then walking through the garden once her meal had settled was Roana’s favorite activity.
Ize tied a ribbon onto Roana’s hat and let it hang down elegantly.
Wearing a loose dress comfortable for movement, Roana stepped outside the annex.
The warm and gentle southern sunlight that lasted all year round welcomed her as if it had been waiting.
“Shall we go pick Adanta fruit again today?”
“No, picking too much isn’t good either. It’s best to only harvest as much as you can drink and roast only what you need.”
Roana shook her head at Ize’s question.
“Let’s go somewhere new today.”
Recently, they had spent every walk wandering around the coffee trees, so Roana wanted to visit somewhere different.
The Bruggen family garden was enormous, and even after living there for two months, there were still many places Roana had never seen.
“Then how about visiting the hedge maze?”
“A hedge maze? There’s something like that here?”
“Yes. The former duchess personally created it herself.”
“Ah, the one who planted the coffee trees….”
Roana knew the previous duchess had passed away long ago.
Seeing traces of her still remaining throughout the garden, Roana thought she must truly have loved gardening.
“Alright, let’s go to the hedge maze.”
Roana pushed back the fluttering ribbon and spoke cheerfully, making Ize smile brightly as she guided her forward.
Soon, Roana arrived at a beautiful maze made from hedges taller than most adults.
“Won’t we get lost?”
Seeing how much larger the maze was than she expected, Roana asked nervously.
“It’s alright. No matter which path you take, it eventually leads outside.”
Ize reassured her, and encouraged by those words, Roana stepped into the maze.
“Wow.”
After only walking a short distance, Roana gasped in admiration.
Inside the maze were all kinds of beautifully trimmed trees shaped into various forms.
Roana saw a roaring lion, the symbol of the Bruggen family, and an eagle, which apparently represented the former duke’s family since he had married into the household.
Besides lions and eagles, there were also cute tree sculptures shaped like hearts and stars.
“This place is wonderful.”
Roana spread her arms and walked as if dancing.
Then suddenly—
Rustle.
A suspicious sound came from the corner directly ahead.
Roana immediately stopped walking and looked toward the corner.
‘A rabbit or a weasel?’
Roana tilted her head.
“I’ll go check first, my lady.”
Just as Ize stepped ahead of Roana and turned the corner—
“Kyah!”
“Ah! What the heck?!”
Two screams rang out at the same time.
One belonged to Ize.
The other belonged to an unfamiliar boy.
“Ize, are you alright?”
Roana quickly rushed around the corner to check on her maid.
Then she widened her eyes at the sight before her.
“What in the world…?”
A teenage boy who looked around sixteen or seventeen was lying buried beneath a pile of leaves.
He had black hair and red eyes exactly like Klaus’s.
It seemed Ize had accidentally stepped on him when turning the corner too quickly, because the boy was clutching his side and groaning.
His eyes were fierce.
Glancing between Ize and Roana, the boy spoke sharply.
“Who are you? This is where I take naps.”
“Really?”
The boy immediately spoke informally. Roana was so stunned by the surreal situation that she absentmindedly asked back.
“Yeah! Even the servants and my brother’s knights don’t come here when I’m sleeping.”
“And who exactly are y—”
Just as Roana was about to ask who he was—
“I-I’m sorry, Young Master!”
Ize hurriedly bowed her head and repeatedly apologized.
‘Young Master?’
Hearing how Ize addressed the boy, something suddenly came to Roana’s mind.
‘Come to think of it, Klaus mentioned having a younger brother.’
She only vaguely remembered hearing it before the marriage, but she recalled that Klaus had a much younger brother.
‘His name was Hartwin Bruggen. I think he’s seventeen this year.’
Unlike Klaus, who had been talented and brave since childhood, Hartwin was apparently known as a lazy troublemaker with no useful abilities.
And looking at him now, it certainly fit the rumors.
He was spending the middle of the afternoon napping beneath leaves in the center of a hedge maze.
“What’s with that look?”
Hartwin’s face turned red and blue as if he had read something in Roana’s eyes.
“I get it now. You’re the woman who married my brother, right?”
Hartwin suddenly pointed at Roana.
“You’re comparing me to my brother right now! If you’re looking down on me, I won’t stay quiet about it!”
It seemed he had been compared to his brother constantly, because the moment he realized Roana was Klaus’s wife, he immediately raised his voice.
Roana was honestly dumbfounded.
‘There has to be something similar before you can compare people.’
To Roana, Hartwin and Klaus were completely different kinds of people.
“There’s no comparison. I wasn’t even thinking about the Duke in the first place.”
Roana crouched down in front of the leaf-covered Hartwin as she spoke.
The moment Roana came closer, Hartwin flinched and leaned backward.
His face flushed red with embarrassment.
Roana looked at Hartwin’s thin shoulder exposed beneath the leaves.
He was so skinny that he did not look healthy at all.
A teenager with a weak body, an aggressive attitude toward strangers, and a mind filled with comparisons to his older brother, sleeping alone beneath leaves in a rarely visited hedge maze….
“W-What? Why are you….”
“Why are you sleeping in a place like this? You could rest somewhere more comfortable.”
At those words, Hartwin’s expression turned cold.
“No one looks for me anyway, so it doesn’t matter.”
Roana looked startled.
No one looked for Hartwin? Even though he was the younger brother of the family head?
But thinking about it carefully, Roana realized she had never once seen Hartwin during the two months she had lived in the Bruggen household.
Even though she mostly stayed around the annex and garden, she still should have at least heard rumors about Klaus’s younger brother and the legitimate son of the ducal family.
But she had heard nothing.
‘Come to think of it, I never even saw him at the wedding.’
The people of the Bruggen family had acted completely normal even though the duke’s only blood relative never attended the wedding.
“Why does nobody look for you?”
At Roana’s question, Hartwin looked irritated.
“Obviously they don’t. I can’t use a sword, and I’m not smart either, so what use am I? My brother already does everything anyway…. Tch, why am I even telling you this?”
Hartwin shut his mouth and turned his head away.
Even from that short explanation, Roana could somewhat understand his situation.
‘Klaus is too perfect, so everyone’s attention goes to him.’
In this world, which strictly followed eldest-son inheritance, it was common for second sons and younger sons to be ignored within noble families.
They had to survive on their own without family support, so most became priests or soldiers.
Once they found work, they were essentially removed from the family. Even after marriage, they could no longer use the family name.
Naturally, younger sons rarely received affection or attention.
‘And since the former duchess died early, there probably wasn’t anyone left to care for him even more so.’
Roana had heard that Klaus was sixteen when the former duchess passed away.
That meant Hartwin had only been eight years old at the time.
‘Losing his mother at such a young age must have left a huge wound.’
Right after the duchess’s death, Klaus’s succession ceremony took place, so nobody probably had time to properly care for Hartwin then either.
‘I also lived like I didn’t exist in the Rius Count family.’
Roana’s case was slightly different since she had been an illegitimate child, but she still felt sympathy toward Hartwin.
“Your name is Hartwin, right?”
Roana sat directly in front of him and pulled her knees together.
“W-What?”
Hartwin leaned back even farther in shock.
‘Why is she paying attention to me? Just leave already!’
Even without hearing his thoughts, Roana could practically read them from his face.
‘Maybe this is unnecessary meddling….’
Still, it was hard to ignore someone in a situation so similar to her past self.
Especially because she knew that fierce rejection was often just another form of asking for attention.
“My name is Roana. Not ‘you.’”
“What exactly are you—”
“Roana.”
“What kind of scheme are you planning—”
“Roana.”
Roana stubbornly repeated her name.
Hartwin glared at her fiercely for a long while before suddenly turning his head away.
“Ah, I get it now.”
Hartwin muttered while staring at the hedge wall.
“You don’t have any support in this family either, so you’re trying to pull me onto your side, right? But it’s useless. I won’t be any help to you.”
Roana tilted her head at his words.
“Pull you to my side? No?”
Hartwin turned back toward her.
“If not, then why….”
“I already have lots of friends though?”
Roana tilted her head and answered in a slightly teasing tone.
“W-What?”
Hartwin’s eyes widened in shock.
Gerald, the magician staying with the Bruggen family, was already on Roana’s side.
There was also Ize.
And the three knights close to Klaus completely lost their minds whenever Roana brewed coffee for them.
So Roana had absolutely no reason to recruit Hartwin onto her side.
