Chapter 16
But why?
A flawless appearance. A speech so perfect it gave you chills.
There wasn’t a single thing wrong, so why was he so anxious?
Eden—no, Kyung Eden—looked at Kyung Seha, the person who was undoubtedly the closest being to him, with desperate eyes.
And before he realized it, he let out a suppressed groan.
‘Ahh.’
She was too cute.
The slightly upturned eyes she inherited from their mother, the face so proud and chilly that it radiated cold air. The kind of atmosphere where even lightly brushing against her would earn a fist instead of a word.
Even the muscles that didn’t relax for a moment and her straight posture while she was deep in thought—she was exactly the little sister Kyung Eden had dreamed of.
Lovely.
Adorable!
“Ugh.”
“Huh? Are you hurt somewhere?”
Even on the very first day they met, she worried for him in such a gentle voice. As expected, his little sister was a miracle too precious for this filthy, dusty world.
Ahh, just thinking of how his small, precious little sister had been wiggling her tiny hands and taking care of their mother all alone in this stinking pit of a world made his blood pressure—
“Cough!”
“Blood! You’re bleeding again! Big brother!”
Was there truly no normal human—no, normal constellation—in this family besides the eldest brother?
As soon as the eldest brother, who rushed in the moment she called, diagnosed him with “no actual injury, just temporarily twisted internal flow due to excessive mental stress, causing the shock that made the blood burst out,” the youngest brother clung to her sobbing, begging her not to hate him.
‘…Why would I hate you? I don’t hate you.’
‘Really?’
‘Really.’
He wasn’t even a child.
Kyung Seha sighed as she recalled Kyung Eden’s face instantly brightening like a clear sky the moment she said she didn’t hate him.
He was a very peculiar type of doting fool.
Different from her father or Moa. If those two treated her like a fragile glass doll, this one acted like he was desperately craving her acknowledgment and affection.
‘If I even joke about hating him, he’ll definitely cry on the spot. One hundred percent.’
This wasn’t a guess—it was certainty built from experience.
No wonder he made her think of her father from the moment she first saw him.
‘Still… it’s not bad.’
It was much better than the idea that they avoided meeting her simply because they didn’t want to see her. Not even worth comparing.
For the record, unlike Moa or Grim—Grim couldn’t speak at all—Kyung Eden boldly requested she call him Kyung Eden, not Eden Hales.
He said he’d been called that since childhood, and it felt more natural to him.
‘Well, it doesn’t matter to me.’
Anyway, when was her eldest brother coming downstairs?
Kyung Seha was lying properly on the living room sofa, waiting for Moa.
She tried to leave early for the meeting with the Golden Scale, but Moa stopped her, saying he had business nearby and would take her there.
“Haaam…”
Maybe it was because of everything she’d gone through since dawn, but drowsiness suddenly washed over her. She wasn’t sleepy earlier. Maybe she’d been too startled.
Crunch. Her stomach was getting full thanks to her eldest brother not coming. Seha glanced at the empty snack bag and hesitated. To go to the pantry she’d have to get up from the sofa, pass through the kitchen, open the pantry door inside, and check the shelves…
“Um, Great Puppy Lord. I heard you have the power to move things through space and such—could you maybe bring me one more bag of snacks? No—two bags would be even better.”
PHOOF!
Grim blew out a harsh snort. Because of that, the bangs Seha had resting on his chin were blown into a messy shape.
“If you can’t, just say you can’t. Geez.”
She knew very well that he couldn’t speak and his intellect was stuck at the level of a child along with his body, but she still grumbled.
That was how comfortable Grim had become to her.
“Look at these claws. They’re so sharp. Maybe I should buy nail clippers when I go to Seoul today.”
She was wrestling with Grim’s paw when—
“Seha, what are you doing?”
“Ah—Dad.”
She even said “Dad” so naturally now. A person really could change just by deciding to.
“I’m waiting for big brother.”
“Moa?”
“We’re supposed to go to Seoul together today. I have a meeting with the guild I work with.”
“I see.” Henwood nodded, then said in a small voice,
“Daddy’s good at driving too.”
“…”
“Seha, you don’t know this yet, but when Moa was young, he was driving a carriage and—”
“Father.”
A gloomy voice echoed through the room, and then Moa appeared from the doorway that connected to the garden. His face was bright and soft like a fluffy cloud, in stark contrast to the voice that sounded like it rose from the depths of hell.
“Oh, you’re here.”
Henwood, who had been one second away from selling his eldest son’s honor to become his youngest daughter’s driver, instantly regained the dignity of a stern father.
Moa stared at his father with a strange expression before turning to his sister.
“Let’s go, Seha.”
“Mm. Okay.”
Are we… really okay to go?
Seha handed the squirming Grim to her father—who was practically dripping with reluctance—and followed her eldest brother out of the mansion.
The trip to Seoul took a bit longer than Seha had expected. It had been drizzling since morning, making the roads slippery.
But thanks to that, she got more time to talk with Moa.
Tap. Tap.
Only the sound of misty rain hitting the windows filled the quiet car. Seha wondered whether to turn on the radio or a music app, then decided to do neither.
“So… what exactly did you do with the carriage?”
“Huh?”
Moa—rarely—looked startled.
He hadn’t taken his eyes off the road even once since they got in the car, but he turned briefly toward her, clearly taken off guard. It was only for a moment, but she didn’t miss the fierce tremble in his eyes.
His reaction was stronger than expected.
“Did you break it? Or steal it?”
But would there even be carriages in a dimension where only constellations lived?
She genuinely asked because she was curious, but Moa’s earlobes instantly turned bright red.
She had only asked a question, yet his reaction was so obvious. He must’ve really caused trouble.
Seha looked at him with renewed curiosity. The cars ahead and behind were gridlocked, forcing everyone to halt. Moa leaned forward, resting his forehead against the steering wheel, eyes tightly shut.
“Well… um.”
With an awkward laugh, Moa turned his head. A few strands of hair he had neatly styled for work fell over his forehead.
“I definitely didn’t steal anything. And my parents gave permission.”
So he broke it.
“So you broke it?”
“…That was also basically with permission.”
He got permission… to break a carriage? What did that even mean?
Seha blinked, clueless. Moa let out a pained groan. Just then the cars ahead began to move. He turned the wheel and sighed briefly.
Like he was exhaling the very thought that tormented him.
“…It wasn’t a normal carriage.”
It was a racing carriage.
The words were so quiet and faint that if they hadn’t been in a sealed car, she might have missed them.
In other words, with no radio or music to drown out his voice, Seha heard every word perfectly.
“A racing carriage? The one where you carry shields and wear armor and knock each other off to win?”
“Well… something like that.”
Maybe he realized there was no point hiding anything now that she caught on. Moa answered honestly, his expression halfway between resignation and enlightenment.
