WBESFL 39

Chapter 39

The Apricot Festival had begun.

A unique liveliness overflowed in the small domain of Oklama as the three-day festivities commenced.

Eleanor dispelled any suspicion about her not going out by using the excuse of feeling unwell.

Although her aunt and Kenis said it was fine to join the festival, seeing the Yahin siblings who had to stay inside the castle throughout the festivities made her uneasy.

There would be many chances to see the festival later, so this year she wanted to stay with the siblings.

She told Cain and Stella they could go enjoy the festival, but they said they wanted to stay with Eleanor.

They smiled brightly, telling Eleanor not to feel sorry.

So, even as the castle’s servants went out to enjoy themselves, the five of them gathered cozily in the southern fortress.

“This is over,” Stella declared solemnly.

“No, it’s not over yet,” Cain gritted his teeth and resisted. His calloused hands, hardened by a lifetime of wielding swords, trembled.

Swallowing dryly, he grabbed the tip of a small wooden piece. He pulled his hand away.

“No…!”

The Jenga tower collapsed. Cain held a piece of Jenga in his hand, lowering his head in disappointment.

He thought this time would be okay.

The wooden piece that seemed ready to fall with the slightest touch didn’t move at all when he actually touched it.

Stella warned that if he touched it once more, it would be over, so he couldn’t switch to another piece. He tried every trick to remove that one stubborn block, but he lost again.

This was his fifth defeat.

“If you’re going to keep losing alone, either quit the game or improve your skills,” Stella teased as she cleaned up the fallen Jenga pieces.

Cain couldn’t argue because he had lost consecutively in every game.

Eleanor felt sorry when she saw Cain’s shoulders slump.

Although they hadn’t made a penalty for losing out of consideration for Yasmin, Stella’s teasing every time Cain lost felt like a punishment in itself.

“How about we play dominoes this time?” Eleanor suggested, deliberately choosing a game without winners or losers. When Cain glanced at her, she winked.

The wink, meant as a gesture of changing the game for him, unexpectedly made Cain’s heart flutter.

“Good,” Stella agreed cheerfully as she put away the Jenga. Yasmin clapped and suggested playing dominoes. Yahin sat quietly beside his younger sister.

When Yahin saw Eleanor exchanging glances with Cain, his face puckered a little. Stella glanced sideways at Yahin.

“Let’s divide the sections,” she said.

They decided to each take one of the five colored domino sets to build.

Everyone carefully set their dominoes in their assigned spots.

This time Cain was relaxed. Since there was no winning or losing, he placed the dominoes confidently.

As he stretched out his arm to place one far away, he felt the silver button on his sleeve hit something.

Tap.

“…?”

Cain blankly followed the domino that started to lean backward.

It traveled past his zone, past Stella, past Eleanor, and finally reached Yasmin.

Unfortunately, Cain had taken the front section, and that meant Yasmin’s dominoes behind him also collapsed.

Yahin, who had the last section, was left with an empty front.

“Hey, come out.”

Stella quietly put down the domino and grabbed Cain’s sleeve. Like a cat being dragged by a wolf, Cain was pulled out of the room by Stella.

“Sorry. I’ll set them up again,” Cain apologized hurriedly before his sister could scold him.

But that wasn’t why Stella called him out.

She crossed her arms and tilted her head, looking up at him. It was hard to tell whether she was looking up or glaring, but her eyes were narrowed more than usual as she stared at him.

“Cain.”

“Y-yeah?”

“Do you remember the promise you made to me before you came here?”

Of course he remembered. Cain nodded, and Stella’s gaze sharpened.

“Do you remember the conversation we had when I wrote the letter to Eleanor?”

He remembered that too. When Cain nodded again, Stella smiled widely.

To Cain, who had always seen her with a blunt and annoyed expression, Stella smiling was almost terrifying.

“But why aren’t you keeping it?”

“Huh…?”

“Why aren’t you keeping the promise you made to me? You said you were confident, so I brought you here. But now the festival is ending, and what are we doing?”

From Stella’s observations, Cain had only tried to do something on the first day they came to Oklama, but after that, it was all for nothing.

He just wandered around aimlessly, showing little sign of trying. As his sister, watching that was frustrating.

“Do you really intend to keep your promise?”

Cain hesitated at her fierce question.

He clearly remembered the promise he made when he stopped Stella from writing a letter to Eleanor before coming to Oklama.

It was the day Eleanor replied that she could come down anytime. Stella checked the date, planned to go to Oklama, and told the family.

‘I’m going down to meet Eleanor.’

‘What? Then take me with you!’

Half on impulse, Stella shouted upon hearing the name Eleanor.

Worried about Eleanor, who showed no sign of returning, her feelings burst out.

Cain, stumbling over his words, looked pathetic. Stella initially refused firmly.

‘What stupid thing do you want to do there? No.’

‘Hey, what stupid thing did I do…?’

‘Every time you see Eleanor, you get all flustered and just look at her from afar. Is it a crush or an assassination attempt? Actually, did someone hire you to kill Eleanor?’

Cain was speechless, struck by her words that cut to the bone.

He had tried to show some signs in his own way, but as Stella said, it was so subtle it was like an assassination attempt no one noticed.

Seeing him sulk, Stella frowned and suddenly said,

‘If you promise to confess this time, I’ll take you with me.’

‘…What?’

‘If you promise to confess to Eleanor, I’ll take you.’

It was a declaration from a sister who had watched her brother’s foolishness for years.

‘But what if she hates it if I confess all of a sudden?’

‘Do you think there’s a good timing to confess? No matter when, you’re just a friend’s brother. If you keep hesitating, you’ll just confess at a coffin.’

Stella’s words flew like arrows and pierced his heart.

If he did nothing, Cain would remain just a friend’s brother forever.

‘…Is it okay if I confess to Eleanor?’

‘What? You mean if it’s okay for me if you get rejected? Yeah. You’re you, and I’m me.’

Stella answered calmly.

Even if one of three brothers got rejected after confessing, it wouldn’t shake Eleanor’s friendship with them.

Though it hurt him to assume he’d be rejected, he also felt relieved.

He didn’t want to ruin the friendship between his sister and Eleanor for nothing.

‘Just so you know, don’t say nonsense like you’re holding back because you’re afraid it might harm my friendship with Eleanor.’

‘…’

‘You’re just scared. And we’re not the kind of friends whose friendship will break over someone’s crush.’

Cain wondered whether he should be hurt and cry or smile in relief at his sister’s words.

Stella smiled faintly with her chin resting on their intertwined fingers.

‘Promise you’ll confess. Then I’ll take you. If not, I’m going alone.’

‘…’

‘What, you’re really not confident?’

‘No! I’m confident!’

Stella hammered her point home after Cain’s flare-up.

Though his mind was dazed at the thought of confessing, he didn’t stop Stella from writing a reply.

He secretly wanted to go with her and felt the need to confess.

Recalling the forced promise that brought out his true feelings, Cain smiled awkwardly but gently.

‘Well… not necessarily right now…’

‘Wow, are you trying to be stupid again?’

Stella sighed, holding her forehead.

Seeing him refuse help even when it was served on a silver platter made her not want to help at all.

‘It’s not that, you heard her. Eleanor plans to become a baroness. So you should prepare and confess accordingly.’

Cain gave what he thought was a reasonable explanation. The circumstances had changed, so they both agreed more preparation was needed.

But Stella no longer wanted to see her brother act like a three-year-old who can’t even go to the bathroom alone.

‘I don’t know where you get your confidence, but this is a place where people live. There are men. Even one of the Haytar siblings is a man.’

Stella frowned at Cain’s dumbfounded expression.

‘Just live your life doing assassination attempts. If you’d had courage even once back when Edward Hans was around, something would have changed. But you didn’t. That’s why it’s like this.’

Cain’s fists clenched. It was his biggest regret.

When Eleanor and that bastard Edward Hans got engaged, he hadn’t even spoken a word and just stared dumbly.

‘If you don’t have courage, just wish Eleanor happiness from afar. I’m not being sarcastic; I really mean it. It might be better that way.’

Stella turned around without hesitation and entered the room, leaving Cain behind.

Eleanor, who had been giggling at Yahin’s notebook, asked Stella,

‘What about Cain?’

‘He’s standing on his head apologizing for knocking over the dominoes.’

‘Really? Tell him not to bother and come in.’

‘No. I told him to reflect alone.’

While the two talked, the others neatly reset the dominoes.

As she returned to her seat, Stella looked at Yahin and Eleanor sitting quite close.

The black eyes watching Eleanor sparkled vividly. Their lips, usually tightly closed when looking at Cain, slightly curved.

Hmm.

‘I only meant to provoke him. He might really do something stupid again.’

Though the day to return to Bairn was near, Cain seemed to have no progress. Stella had only pushed him to hurry up.

But just now, she felt that maybe he really had to move quickly.

At dawn, with dew on the grass, Cain stepped outside into the dim light as the daybreak began.

Wearing his training clothes and carrying his sword, he headed to the training grounds.

When his mind was full, he moved his body to regain balance.

It was a principle Cain set when he started on the path of a knight. He held his sword, breathing in the hot summer air even at dawn.

‘If you don’t have courage, just wish Eleanor happiness from afar.’

Stella’s words echoed in his ears from yesterday to today. Cain had acted that way once.

Two years ago.

He had no courage to approach Eleanor, who was engaged to Edward Hans, and congratulated her only from afar.

That bastard betrayed Eleanor two years later and sullied her honor.

For Cain, who valued honor above all as a knight, that was unbearable.

It hurt to see the woman he liked have her honor dragged through the mud by a trash like that.

He wanted to tear apart the mocking gossip magazines filled with insulting articles.

But Cain did nothing.

Why? Because it was nothing!

Cain knew better than anyone that he was just a friend’s brother to Eleanor. He had experienced repeatedly how, after asking, ‘Have you been to the new dessert house?’ Eleanor replied, ‘Wow, I didn’t know. I’ll go with Stella. Thanks for telling me.’

Cain clenched his teeth, recalling Eleanor’s clear, pure blue eyes. Such pretty eyes.

But those eyes contained only human affection, nothing more for Cain.

‘If you’d had courage even once, something would have been different.’

Stella’s words buzzed loudly in his mind as Cain swung his sword faster. His sister was right.

All the excuses he made to delay confessing were just excuses.

He was just unwilling to admit he lacked the courage to say it.

He was disgusted with himself.

‘I was going to make excuses and delay it again this time.’

Cain stopped swinging his sword and caught his breath.

He was scared of rejection.

Admitting that plainly brought both embarrassment and relief.

‘If you make a promise, you have to keep it.’

It was a promise made with a little sister who was annoying but cute enough to put in his pocket.

Though he pretended not to care, he knew she helped him a lot.

Having been helped that much, it was time for him to take responsibility.

‘Have courage.’

Don’t avoid being rejected.

Cain put his sword away and returned to his room.

He took off his sweat-soaked clothes and quickly washed.

After roughly drying his hair with a towel, he left the room again.

The second-floor rooms of the west fortress where he stayed and Eleanor’s room were just one floor apart.

Cain hurried up two steps at a time and arrived at Eleanor’s door.

Soft murmurs came from inside.

Standing before Eleanor’s door, Cain’s heart shrank.

Thinking Eleanor was inside made his heartbeat loud enough to echo in his ears.

Cain carefully knocked on Eleanor’s door.

The murmuring stopped, and footsteps approached.

“Oh my, is that Max?”

Lisa opened the door and widened her eyes at Kyle. Cain awkwardly cleared his throat.

“What brings you here?”

“I… have something to say to Eleanor.”

“One moment, the lady is still getting ready. Is it urgent?”

“It’s not urgent. I can wait as long as needed.”

Realizing he came without consideration during morning preparations, Cain waved his hand hastily.

Once he made up his mind, he got anxious and came without notice.

Lisa closed the door after understanding and went back inside.

Cain stepped back and leaned against the wall.

He was ready to wait patiently for an hour or two, but surprisingly, the door opened quickly.

“Cain.”

Eleanor appeared, dressed in a simple white dress for breakfast without any accessories. Her face looked especially clear and bright today.

Cain moved away from the wall and approached her.

Her deep blue eyes shone like the sea, reflecting him.

He lost himself momentarily looking into those big, clear eyes.

“What is it?”

Eleanor’s soft voice brought him back to reality. He cleared his throat.

Her eyes, more precious and radiant than any jewel, nearly made him forget everything.

“Eleanor… would you like to go to the festival with me tomorrow?”