# Chapter 16
---
Suddenly.
"Ah, the weather really is going to change.
How did you get there, Nezar?"
The owner of the voice heard through the open door is, at least, Rockherd.
Nezar looked carefully out the window without responding.
Soon, a crazy friend came to his side.
"Why are you looking at me like that?"
Rockherd, who was standing next to him at a fast pace, narrowed his eyes and looked out the glass window.
Nezar pointed to the burning embers with his chin.
"What is that?"
Rockherd leaned his forehead against the window.
Then a short laugh escaped.
"My younger brother.
"I heard it was quiet today, but I found out they were preparing for it."
"Did you do this?"
I looked closer near the fire.
I don't know if it was an illusion, but it looked like white blond hair was flying nearby.
"I think the maid secretly washed the doll she was hugging and sleeping because it was very dirty.
This kid hates his stuff being touched.
But did you wash it without realizing that the stitches broke in the process and it came back like a rag?
Nezar had no idea what he had to do with the destruction of his beloved doll and the start of a fire in the middle of the garden.
"I heard somewhere that the dead were cremated and buried.
The maids will soon come down and drag you away anyway, right?
"Kate has done something like that more than once."
Kate.
I had never heard he had a younger sister, but anyone could tell it was a name a woman would use.
As Rockherd said, a fight soon broke out near the torch.
Now I could clearly see the face.
Eyes wide open and lips pursed.
In addition to the chubby cheeks that stand out with dissatisfaction.
I couldn't tell if his face was red because of the fire or because he couldn't control his anger.
What is certain is that, unlike other noble women, she did not look like a flower in a greenhouse.
"Why do you say you are brother and sister and talk like you are strangers?"
With these words, Rockherd, who was sitting on the sofa, spoke in a serious tone.
"We just talk like brothers, but we don't actually say hello.
"He also hates people."
"How do you know if you don't even say hello?"
"So if you try to get a little closer, they show their teeth and bite, does that mean they are friendly to humans?"
"A child like that would show his teeth."
"Tell me, Nezar.
I feel like the bite mark from yesterday is still on my finger.
Anyway, don't go and touch the child.
"Kate is so sensitive that she gets stressed easily by even small things."
The fire went out.
As his vision had gone dark again, Nezar had no way of knowing whether the girl had been dragged into the castle or had escaped outside.
Not long after, Rockherd, who had spread cards on the table, called him over.
The intention was to alleviate the early morning boredom with a game of cards, but Rockherd dozed off while playing blackjack and went to his room.
After kicking him out, Nezar leafed through the books he had prepared and threw himself on the bed.
Somehow, I couldn't forget those blue eyes that burned brightly in the fire.
***
It snowed as usual the next night.
As soon as the sun set, Nezar sent Rockherd, who was clinging to the horse's back, without any hesitation.
The second son drives a horse every night when it snows, and the youngest son sets fire to a cotton doll.
At this point, it would seem that the Count and Countess Ezelott were not the criminals, but the Count and Countess they met at dinner were surprisingly ordinary.
Although the wife's temperament seemed a little demanding, like most noble ladies, she was just sensitive to upper-class etiquette.
The same happened with the eldest son, Eden Ezelott, and the third son, Rick Ezelott.
Or maybe it's just the appearance of a universal family before him.
What was surprising, however, was that the firebrand cotton dummy did not attend the dinner to welcome his visit.
Sure enough, just after dinner was served, smoke rose again outside the window.
Nezar discovered the spark on the way back to his room and slowly left.
Thanks to the light wind, visibility was clear even with the snow falling.
A dry dirt path about ten steps from the garden.
The sound of boards creaking and the faint smell of burning smoke.
Nezar made eye contact with the girl.
Eyes as blue as a coniferous forest pierced the night and were engraved in his mind.
"Who are you?"
The tone was also much more aggressive than expected.
No matter how much you act like a colt, you don't even know who I am.
Nezar clicked his tongue and replied in a trembling voice.
"Your brother's friend."
A pure white breath gently enveloped my vision and disappeared.
"Brother?
Eden?"
Eden would be the eldest son of the Ezelot family.
Yes, there are four brothers and the only name given to them is Eden.
It seemed like the girl didn't treat Rockherd as her real brother or sister.
"Not that, Rockherd Ezelot.
"The one you said took your finger off."
"That's not my blood.
They are simply men and women who live in the same castle.
"They don't pay much attention to each other."
The girl, who looked to be only ten years old, had a strong speaking style despite her small stature.
Nezar turned his gaze and looked at the stick the girl was holding.
It looked as if the inner pages of an old book had been torn out and rolled up.
In front of her, simple pieces of wood burned brightly.
Since there was no acrid smell, it seemed that the precious cotton doll had not yet been burned to death.
"What are you looking at that makes you feel bad?
"Aren't you going to get out of there?"
The girl seemed busy showing hostility, perhaps feeling uncomfortable with the stranger's attention.
Was that what it meant to show this?
Nezar approached the fire, shaking his wet hair from the melting snow.
"I don't know what.
"If there are many mourning guests, even your grizzly bear, who is destined to burn to death, will be happy."
The girl, using every muscle in her face to distort her expression, took a few steps back.
Looking at it like this, there was a worn out teddy bear behind a small heel.
It looked like it was the cotton doll that was about to be sacrificed.
"It seems that Rockherd presented me as an idiot, but I am fully aware that this teddy bear is inanimate.
So stop talking nonsense and get out of here quickly."
"Ah, ma'am!"
At that time, a young girl's crying was heard not far away.
It was a time when it was clear that she was a maid, so the eyes of the girl facing Nezar shone brightly.
If you interpret it roughly, it means 'I ruined my job because of you'. degree.
As soon as the maid saw the light, she was frightened and left, barely wearing her maid uniform.
I felt a dry shiver due to my heavy breathing.
"After being so scolded by Madame Morcada...
...
."
"That's why you started a fire on a treeless plain!
"Don't make any noise and come back."
Even though he is an undisciplined boy, he is very good at saying something.
The girl looked at the maid with sharp eyes and threw the yellow paper she was holding into the fire.
The sight wasn't that funny, but strangely, Nezar kept bursting into laughter.
"Miss, maybe you don't know because you're still young, but you have to be careful with fire in winter, especially on dry days like this.
On a day when even an ember reaches the garden...
...
."
"Daisy, are you going to keep ignoring me?
Should I strip you naked and throw you into this fire?" "So will you shut that loud mouth?"
I almost got applause regardless of the venue.
It was literally a level of vitriol that Nezar couldn't even imagine.
Should I just surround him and steal him to the imperial castle?
The number of people I wanted to shout profanities at was ten fingers, even if it was limited to their surname.
The girl, who had been shouting in the maid's face for a long time as if she was holding back her laughter, turned and looked at Nezar.
"Why do you keep looking at me like that?
Aren't the two leaving quickly?
"There are degrees of annoying people!"
This, indeed.
Nezar pressed the corner of his mouth that was about to rise and turned his head as if nothing had happened.
He had never seen a girl as crazy as Katrina Ezelot in his life.
The girl, who was crazy for a while, eventually got tired and returned to the castle.
The maid, who had no idea what to do, breathed a deep sigh of relief.
In the end, it became her responsibility to clean up the teddy bear and the embers that the girl had thrown away.
Very arbitrary.
After seeing that the fire was going out, Nezar clicked his tongue and returned to the room.
That was it until yesterday.
"...
... cold?"
Nezar, who had been reading the text for some time, took off his glasses.
Rockherd, who was just turning the pages of a book half lying down, answered his question.
"After going through all the chaos on a day where it snowed a lot, I couldn't be in good shape."
The tone was so casual that it could be mistaken for saying he had stepped on an ant as he passed by.
Nezar clutched his forehead due to the headache.
I spent the whole day looking through history books to solve my vacation homework, and my eyes felt like they were going to pop out of their sockets.
"Shouldn't you go and see?"
As far as he knew, Lockheed had been with him all day.
To pick up something else to solve the task.
"no.
If I go there, it will only cause more problems and I will definitely get hurt somewhere.
So, considering the child's health, it is much better not to go.
"If I cannot control my anger, I often have difficulty breathing and even faint."
Rockherd is also a really funny guy.
Although the words were being spat out, if you really listened to them, there were phrases that sounded similar to worry mixed in one by one.
“Still, I see that you are treating me like a younger brother.
"I thought you didn't care if I got hurt or not."
"Don't you consider me too much of a devil?
"I'm very sad, I'm so sad!"
Nezar thought of Katrina Ezelot, the girl standing before the flickering flames.
He had curly, platinum hair and eyes that burned as hot as thorns on a bush.
It was a look that would send a shiver to your core, and the dark blue-green eyes seemed the color of the blue winter sea.
It was the first time in my life that I saw such a hostile face.
This boy is only eight years old.
"Why can't I control my anger?"
I wasn't particularly bothered by the swearing and outrageous facial expressions.
It was so ridiculous that I didn't even think about correcting his habit.
Even so, I was sincere in my desire to take him to the imperial castle and introduce him to the elderly.
Rockherd threw the book he was leafing through onto the table.
I was somewhat displeased because the subject of the conversation was my sister.
"I really want to know this.
If you have any complaints, you can speak verbally, but the child is trying to communicate with his body...
...
."
Rockherd stopped and let out a low sigh that only Nezar could hear.
"They say their exclusive maid gets the highest salary because the work is so tiring."
OCD Knock.
The sound of nails hitting the table fills the room.
Rockherd, who soon lost interest in what he was saying, picked up the book again and lay down on the sofa.
I didn't mean to reveal the family history, but it just added to the atmosphere.
Heavy eyes, the color of a damp bush.
A gaze that didn't move even in the crackling flames.
Suddenly, my half-sister, Ezaret, came to mind.
That white face that struggled to speak to me and fidgeted to get closer to me every time I met it in the vast palace.
Ezaret also had dark eyes like Katrina.
Due to the empress's vigilance, I had no chance to approach her except to say hello...
...
.
Despite their opposite personalities, the two had a similar atmosphere.