CHAPTER~47
“……What?”
Mela stared at the words written on the paper for a long time.
The story was so shocking that she couldn’t manage her expression at all.
So Reia had killed her own brother?
That couldn’t be true.
“What do you mean, Reia?
You killed your brother……?”
Mela asked urgently with a grave expression.
The atmosphere sank heavily, as if it had never been warm and cheerful.
[Grandmother must hate me.
Because I couldn’t protect my brother.
It’s okay if I’m hated.]
“……”
[So I drank the tea the nanny gave me every day.
If I do, I get sleepy.]
The expression on Reia’s face as she looked up was excessively calm.
At first, Mela wondered if she was deliberately acting indifferent so as not to reveal her feelings to others.
But there wasn’t the slightest tremor in her eyes.
It was the face of someone who firmly believed it already.
That her grandmother would hate her.
Reia said it was only natural to be hated.
Because she couldn’t protect him.
Mela had heard about Reia’s brother from Evlyen Leella before.
He had been born with a weak body and was always lying in bed.
In contrast, Reia had been a lively, mischievous child.
A child who smiled brightly at everyone without a care.
[I hope Grandmother won’t be sad anymore.
If I get sick too, Grandmother will suffer even more.
But if I sleep every day, the pain goes away.
That’s why I like sleeping.]
“……”
A lie.
In truth, she wanted to go outside more than anyone, to play pranks and live like she used to.
Even so, Reia chose sleep for the sake of her grandmother, who would be upset.
From those words alone, Mela could guess that Reia probably knew what the nanny was doing to her.
“……So that’s why you accepted whatever the nanny gave you without complaining?
Because you’d fall asleep and wouldn’t feel pain?”
Reia gave a faint smile and nodded.
But Mela could tell.
Reia’s illness was getting worse.
[The hives have darkened into blotches.
At this rate, she might have another seizure soon.]
If she slept, she might escape the pain for a brief moment.
But in the meantime, her body would be deteriorating.
Maybe even her heart.
“……”
Mela scrunched up her face and tried hard to shake off her negative thoughts.
Then, scratch, scratch, the sound of writing followed.
When she lifted her head and saw the words, Mela’s eyes shook violently.
[The nanny is a good person.
When she’s around, Grandmother smiles.
I think she’s happy because she has someone to rely on.]
“……”
The moment Mela read those words, she couldn’t hold it in any longer, and her eyes slowly reddened.
She could understand just how deep Reia’s feelings for her grandmother were.
To think that a child not even ten years old could think like that.
Mela wavered for a moment, but once again bit her lip tightly to hold back her tears.
“Are you really happy?”
“……”
“You don’t actually want to fall asleep either, do you?
You don’t want to be in pain either.
Right now, Reia, your face isn’t smiling at all.
You’re not happy at all.”
“……”
“Reia, you actually want to smile again, like before, don’t you?”
Mela saw Reia’s eyelids tremble slightly.
Reia rolled her eyes around like before, then finally avoided Mela’s gaze.
She didn’t want her emotions to be exposed.
“I’ll make that happen for you.”
Mela didn’t miss that moment and firmly grabbed Reia’s hand.
“Just because you couldn’t stop your brother’s death doesn’t mean you have to blame yourself and sacrifice yourself!”
“……”
“Sacrificing yourself for others won’t help you at all.
I know it.
You’ll definitely regret it.”
At those words, Reia’s eyes widened instantly.
[She looks so lonely.
So lonely.]
Reia stared blankly at Mela.
At first, she just seemed lonely, but the longer Mela looked, the sadder she appeared.
For the emotions of a five-year-old, their depth felt far too great.
Too much to understand.
“Still, Reia, you have a chance.
A chance for this life to be different.
I’ll help you.”
[You’ll help me?
Why?]
Reia quickly lifted the paper and tilted her head.
She looked genuinely curious.
Mela, as if it were the most obvious thing in the world, answered confidently without hesitation.
“Because I’m Reia’s friend now!
Friends are supposed to help each other.”
“……”
A friend…….
Between friends…….
Reia repeated the word “friend” over and over in her mind.
After losing her brother, Reia had no one either.
Even her only remaining blood relative had died right in front of her.
She thought there was nothing precious left for her anymore.
That was only natural.
Because she couldn’t protect the brother her grandmother loved.
Falling asleep was, in her own way, a punishment.
That was how Reia eased her guilt.
Because she didn’t want to lose her only grandmother as well.
To her, guilt was like a cave, pitch-dark with not a single ray of light.
Forever like that.
She thought that perhaps no light would ever enter again until she completely fell asleep.
[I’m Reia’s friend now!
Friends are supposed to help each other.]
At that moment, a light she had never even imagined suddenly flickered on.
That light became an ember and bloomed in her heart.
At the same time, tears soaked the dry skin beneath Reia’s eyes.
The paper resting on her knees became damp as drops of tears fell onto it.
Even as she cried, Reia wrote down the words she wanted to say.
[Thank you, for being my friend.]
Seeing that, Mela answered with a gentle smile instead of words.
Just as it seemed to end warmly like that, Mela burst into laughter when she saw the writing on the next page.
[But I’m the older sister.]
“Puhahaha!
Okay!
I’ll call you big sister.
But only after you get healthy!”
Reia insisting so stubbornly that she was the older sister was unbelievably cute.
Mela clutched her stomach and laughed for a long time.
And Reia, who had been blankly watching her, also lifted the corners of her lips and smiled along.
For a while, the room was filled with laughter like spring.
* * *
“She fell asleep, Reia.”
Perhaps exhausted from all the conversation, Reia soon fell into a deep sleep.
Mela looked at the sleeping Reia and gently stroked her hair.
“Oof, I should get going now too.”
Thinking there was no point in staying alone in a room where the owner was asleep, she hopped down from the bed.
At that moment, clink!
The fork she had put into a box fell to the floor.
Mela puffed out her lips in annoyance and bent down.
The fork was nowhere to be seen, as if it had rolled under the bed.
“Tsk.”
Mela stretched her arm far under the bed, waving her hand around as she searched.
“……Huh?
What’s this?”
Her head tilted when she touched something unfamiliar.
She pulled the unidentified object out slowly.
And froze in shock.
“All of this is…….”
* * *
“Mela!”
“Mom!”
Mela returned to her room very late in the evening.
When I heard she had gone to Artemene’s estate, I was about to go look for her right away.
[Lady Artemene personally summoned her!
So I don’t think you need to worry too much.
Miss Mela also went very excitedly.]
Hearing that Mela hadn’t gone on her own but had been personally invited by Artemene, I decided to wait instead of going.
“Nothing happened, right, Mela?
Your aunt didn’t scold you again or anything.”
“Mm-hm, no!
Nothing happened at all!
I ate a lot of the honey pie Mom made in Reia’s room!
Reia said it was delicious and liked it a lot!”
I figured nothing could have happened in such a short time.
Thankfully, Mela didn’t seem harmed at all.
“Really?
I’m glad you enjoyed it.
I should make other desserts for you next time.
By the way, how did Reia seem?”
At my question, Mela tilted her head and pondered for a long moment.
“She looks okay right now because of the stabilizer Mom gave her……
But I don’t know when it might happen again.
Oh!
By the way, Mom, I found something like this in Reia’s room…….”
Mela held out something she had brought while hugging it tightly to her chest.
When I unrolled the rolled-up paper, it turned out to be someone’s drawing.
It must be a drawing Reia made.
Thinking nothing of it, I examined it casually.
Then I froze.
Mela pointed firmly at the center of the drawing and said,
“Look at this.
Here, right here!
It looks like blood is flowing next to the teacup.”
At those words, I realized it.
This was a drawing of Reia’s brother as he was dying.
