TYWML 41

chapter 41. Noah Lorraine (3)
2024.06.10.

“Asher hyung and I had a big age gap. By the time I came along, a capable heir was already established, so I wasn’t really a welcome child.”

Riena wanted to object, but for now, she quietly listened to his words.

“Besides, I was weak and timid. Both my father and my older brother probably saw me as a burden in many ways. But even so, my brother didn’t find me annoying and took care of me.”

“I see.”

That was something she already knew.

She vividly remembered Cass crying bitterly when he heard news about his older brother during childhood, insisting it couldn’t be true.

“When mother passed away, my brother worried about me even more. Looking back now, no matter how grown up he was, the shock must have been great, but he never showed it to me. Seeing him like that, I thought he really was different from me…”

Cass’s voice trembled.

“My brother was just holding himself together, both as an heir and as an older brother.”

“……”

“Around that time, the teacher came. My brother asked the teacher to take care of me.”

That was the first time Riena had heard that story. Until now, she thought it was Count Dyke who first brought Cass away.

“Of course, the teacher also said he intended to take me away. But honestly, I didn’t want to follow. My brother persuaded me — that the teacher was a good person, that there would be friends my age at the Dyke estate, and that the weather was milder, so life would be much better there than here.”

“……”

“I promised my brother that I would come back much bigger next time we met, then came to the Dyke territory. In the end, it was a good choice — I was able to meet the teacher and the young lady.”

He smiled faintly, lost in memories.

“It was wonderful. If I could, I wanted to live there forever; those were truly happy days.”

But one summer day, Asher Winkler — the heir of the Winkler family and Cass’s older brother — suddenly died of illness.

Cass was dragged away by knights from the Winkler family and never returned to the Dyke estate.

Up to this point, Riena roughly knew the story. Cass calmly told her what happened afterward, which she did not know.

“When I heard that my brother had died and returned to the estate, everything had changed. The troublesome second son had suddenly become the family heir.”

“……”

“From right after the funeral, I started the heir’s training. Since I started late, the lessons were even harsher.”

Cass didn’t go into detail about how harsh the lessons were.

But knowing that he was only 11 years old at the time and started late, it must have been difficult to keep up.

Aaron Dyke, who was 10 years old, was already attending heir’s lessons.

The Countess Dyke even scolded Aaron for being slow and said he needed to work harder.

If the lessons were this strict in a frontier count’s family, one could only imagine how suffocating they must have been in a duke’s family.

“I wanted to run away several times a day. No one comforted me when I cried. Everyone just told me to act like the young lord of Winkler.”

“……”

“During those times, the letters the young lady sent me were my only joy.”

Back then, Riena wrote letters to Cass. Since she didn’t know his family or address, she entrusted their delivery to Count Dyke.

He actually replied several times. But after four or five replies, Cass stopped responding.

Riena kept sending letters steadfastly even without replies.

But one day, she received letters returned unopened, and she stopped writing.

It was one spring day when she was twelve.

Since then, she tried to forget the cold Cass.

When she was younger, she didn’t understand why Cass ignored her letters, and she felt very hurt that her friend wouldn’t even reply.

But now as an adult, she could fully understand Cass’s situation.

He had no time to write to a friend he had spent only half a year with because he was working day and night to become the perfect heir.

“I’m really glad my letters helped. They didn’t contain much, though.”

Indeed, her letters contained nothing special. Riena’s life was quite ordinary, with nothing overly dramatic to write about.

The rare unusual events were things like her father’s prized horse giving birth to a foal, or how the apples tasted especially good that year.

“Even if the content wasn’t special, I really liked those letters. I read them over and over whenever I was having a hard time, until the paper got so worn I couldn’t even read the handwriting anymore.”

“I see.”

“That’s why I remember feeling very sad when the young lady stopped sending letters. Even after sending several letters, there were no replies.”

“I didn’t reply?”

Riena was surprised and asked before he had finished speaking. Their memories didn’t match.

Noticing her reaction, Cass asked again.

“Are you saying that’s not true?”

“I kept sending letters, even over a year after you left. But from some point, you stopped replying, and later some letters came back unopened. So…”

Riena added somewhat gloomily,

“I thought you didn’t need my letters anymore, so I stopped sending them…”

Cass’s face stiffened.

“I never returned your letters.”

“But I definitely got some letters back unopened. They were exactly what I sent, with no sign they were opened.”

“Since the Dyke family wouldn’t have stopped sending them, it seems the Winkler family must have intercepted them somehow.”

“Could the Winkler family really have stolen the letters?”

“My late father disliked that I valued the young lady’s letters so much.”

“Why?”

“He said an heir responsible for the family shouldn’t have anything precious. Something precious becomes a weakness. Of course, when interests conflict, it could mean making choices against the family’s interests.”

“That’s…”

That was such a cruel thing to do.

A child suffering without a place to belong was denied even one letter from a friend?

She’d heard the Dyke family, and the previous Count Dyke, were known for being surprisingly down-to-earth for nobles.

But she never imagined they lived in such a different world.

Riena smiled bitterly.

“I never knew that. I just naturally thought you refused my letters. I even resented you a little, no, quite a lot.”

“……”

“You must have resented me a lot too.”

“I did not.”

“Really?”

“Yes.”

There was no hint of falsehood in Cass’s face when he answered.

“I never resented the young lady. But I did worry. I wondered if something had happened to you, preventing you from sending letters.”

Cass frowned slightly.

“More than anything, I felt sorry.”

“Sorry?”

“Yes. Because I broke a promise. I promised to definitely come back to the Dyke estate.”

Riena shook her hand.

“That was unavoidable. And we did exchange some letters…”

She muttered softly,

“In the end, you came here to keep the promise.”

Whether Cass heard that or not, she didn’t know.

“In any case, my father, who was raising me as the heir, was not pleased to suddenly have Noah, a late-born child. My father was old and worried about entrusting the family to Noah directly. If Noah inherited at a young age, the Lorraine family might meddle in Winkler affairs a lot.”

“That sounds difficult.”

“Yes, I think so too.”

Cass nodded quietly.

“My father clearly designated me as the heir, and after that, the Winkler family didn’t interfere with the Lorraine Marquis family or my sister-in-law. The monthly child support payments were all. I heard my sister-in-law insisted strongly on that, but I don’t know the actual situation.”

“……”

“That’s all I knew.”

“So what happened after that?”

Cass clenched his fist tightly.

“When Noah was born, the Marquis family was happy to have an heir for Winkler. But when Winkler family drew the line, Noah was left without a place to go. The Lorraine Marquis family already had an heir. Even if Chloe was arranged for a political marriage later, it would be very difficult for Noah, a boy.”

There was a way for him to enter another family as a son-in-law, but it seemed the Marquis family did not want that.

“So Chloe was raised as the Marquis family’s child, but Noah was neglected. I heard my sister-in-law caused trouble whenever she saw Noah, saying he reminded her of my brother.”

Thus, Noah naturally lived in the Marquis family as if he didn’t exist.

It was heartbreaking to think a child who should have been raised with plenty of love was left unable even to long for love, wishing only for death.

“I should have come sooner…”