Beggar Siblings - Encounter
“No. It’s not that. You need to consider what happens after your sword clashes with your opponent’s. Leave some room here and… like this… swing.”
The knight teaching Leo couldn’t hide his frustration as he demonstrated the move again.
Leo was learning swordsmanship from a knight the Marquis had assigned to him, in the Marquis’s own training ground.
This trustworthy-looking, elderly knight had initially been amazed by Leo. However, as days turned into weeks, his amazement morphed into doubt, and doubt into disappointment.
Leo, with renewed determination, adjusted his stance, swung his sword, and asked, “Like this?”
“...Yes.”
‘I was wrong.’
Leo, noticing the knight’s expression, sheepishly lowered his sword. The knight, seemingly having lost the will to demonstrate further, remained silent.
As an awkward silence filled the air, Leo offered an excuse. “I couldn’t sleep a wink last night, so I don’t think I can continue the lesson. Let’s stop here for today.”
“Very well. As you wish.”
Despite his strained smile, the knight simply responded curtly and left, taking his sword with him.
Left alone in the training ground, Leo flung his sword down in frustration.
He had no talent for swordsmanship. The knight teaching him, seemingly experienced in instruction, provided explanations that were easy to understand, yet Leo’s swordsmanship didn’t improve an inch.
{Swordsmanship.2v} granted him the skill of an average knight, and Leo understood it perfectly.
However, progressing beyond that point was a completely different matter.
This was particularly true because it was the stage where the unique characteristics of each swordsmanship style began to emerge. Noel Dexter, for instance, feigned vulnerability in a single exchange to lure his opponents into a false sense of security. Katrina, on the other hand, employed a sword style that blended power and finesse, resulting in aggressive attacks.
His fiancée Lena, was no different.
She might have been quirky, but when it came to swordsmanship, she possessed an exceptional talent. She grasped the essence of Noel’s teachings and, after observing Katrina’s style, began to fuse the two, forging her own unique approach.
However, Leo couldn’t replicate this. No matter how much he practiced, he felt an overwhelming sense of forced awkwardness, like repeatedly banging his head against a wall.
Whether it was because Leo in this “Beggar Siblings” scenario lacked talent in swordsmanship, or because his growth was stunted by Minseo’s essence overshadowing him, he couldn’t tell.
However, considering that even when he was in Leo Dexter’s body, he only repeated training to the extent of mastering the swordsmanship obtained as a scenario reward, the problem wasn’t Leo, but…
“Damn it! This is driving me crazy.”
Leo cursed under his breath, unsure who he was even addressing, before picking up the sword he’d thrown and returning it to its place.
Anxiously, he bit the dry skin around his fingernails.
‘The Marquis probably already knows, right?’
Lately, his worries had been piling up. The depth of the Marquis’s smile was growing with each passing day.
Leaving the training ground, Leo washed off his sweat-drenched body. He declined the maidservant’s offer to help him dress, choosing to change his clothes himself.
The maidservant quietly withdrew.
The Marquis’s mansion was quiet. Or rather, it was eerily devoid of human presence. Hundreds of servants were stationed throughout, ready to appear at a moment’s notice with a clap of one’s hands. Yet, until summoned, they were practically invisible and silent.
Initially, he hadn’t questioned this. He’d assumed it was simply because Bernard Tatian, the master of the mansion, preferred a tranquil atmosphere.
However, as he frequented the place, he realized it wasn’t just quiet.
The servants maintained their silence like ornaments, striving to keep their expressions neutral. They interacted with each other through purely functional gestures, with voices nowhere to be heard.
A palpable tension permeated the entire mansion.
Leo entered the room temporarily allocated to him and grabbed his money pouch. He opened a drawer tucked away in a corner of the room to find it filled with gold coins, seemingly intended for him to use freely.
His hands trembled slightly as he rummaged through the pile of gold, searching for silver coins to put in his pouch. As he did, a thought crossed his mind.
‘Lena needs to marry the prince quickly…’
The mansion’s coldness seemed to seep into Leo’s bones.
He was afraid of the Marquis’s smile.
Even when Leo displayed awkwardness or made mistakes, the Marquis never addressed them directly. Instead, his dimples would deepen, and every time Leo saw that gentle smile, he’d be gripped by a fear that made him struggle to speak without stuttering.
His instincts told him that those smiles weren’t genuine.
Bernard Tatian, the Marquis who had ascended to his glorious position after orchestrating the deaths of his two elder brothers, was as terrifying as his blood-soaked past suggested.
The previous Marquis had died in a mysterious accident.
“Have a safe trip back, sir.”
Leaving the mansion, Leo boarded a carriage headed for the marketplace. He politely thanked the bowing coachman and proceeded to a flower shop near the entrance.
This was a stepping stone to getting closer to Lena. His sister had always loved receiving flowers. Lately, she’d been acting indifferent even when he brought them, but Leo continued to replace the flowers in her room regularly.
- Cling
The newly bloomed autumn buds swayed gently. Sensing his presence, the flower girl, who had been tending to the pots, quickly stood up to greet him.
“Welco… Leo!”
Soyi, with a bright smile, ushered him to a seat and prepared some tea.
She’d been offering him tea ever since he started visiting with his sister.
Leo accepted the cup with a hint of reluctance.
“Thank you. This is lovely.”
“Don’t mention it. I have some cookies, too.”
‘This is too much.’ He was only here to buy flowers for Lena. Yet, somehow, it had become routine for him to have tea and chat.
It all started because Lena kept asking about the different flowers at the shop, forcing him to inquire about them.
As usual, Soyi sat across from him. With a radiant smile, she launched into a lighthearted conversation.
“You know, the other day…”
She was an attractive young lady with a lovely jawline and striking orange eyes. Her vibrant orange hair was always tied back tightly due to her work at the flower shop, but the freckles scattered across her face were so endearing that anyone would be drawn to converse with her.
However, Leo only offered perfunctory responses, keeping his own thoughts to himself. He was preoccupied.
He wasn’t thinking about the Marquis.
Although his life at the mansion was mentally taxing, a more pressing matter had arisen recently.
Lena was sick.
She’d been looking unwell for some time, her energy depleted, and finally, she succumbed to a high fever, bedridden and miserable.
Leo had panicked, his heart pounding like a wildfire, and immediately summoned a physician.
“It’s just a mild cold,” the physician had declared. “Common during this change of seasons. I’ll prescribe some medicine, but keeping her warm and giving her plenty of hot tea will do the trick.”
Relieved that it wasn’t anything serious, Leo had slumped back into his chair, his worries momentarily forgotten.
Then, last night, he’d sat by Lena’s bedside, watching over her as she slept. In the darkness, he’d stroked her hair, replaying her words in his mind.
- “So you took me there to show me off to that man.”
Those words, uttered by Lena in a delirious murmur, continued to echo in his ears.
He felt guilty towards Lena. He loathed himself for exploiting her beauty out of his own inadequacy.
But…
‘What else could I have done?! It was necessary! This is ‘Raise Lena’! It’s only natural to interfere in her life. And I’m her brother! A brother does what’s best for his sister!’
He tried to justify his actions, clinging to the belief that Lena would find happiness as a princess.
He had to convince himself, or else he wouldn’t be able to bear the guilt. Later… he might even have to break off her engagement.
That night, by Lena’s bedside, Leo had been tormented by a gnawing anxiety. And every time the Marquis’s unsettling smile flashed in his mind, he’d be consumed by the fear that he’d made a terrible mistake.
Just then, Soyi’s voice snapped him out of his thoughts. She had reached out and touched his clasped hands.
“So? What do you say? Would you like to go with me on the weekend?”
Emboldened by Leo’s absentminded nod, she blushed, extending a date invitation.
Her shy touch grazed his knuckles.
‘I’m exhausted.’
He’d only come out to buy flowers because he was worried about the parched pot in Lena’s room last night. Now, this woman’s attention felt suffocating.
Leo mumbled a halfhearted agreement to end the conversation and stood up to choose some flowers.
Soyi recommended a variety called ‘Scabiosa’ with a blend of white and pink hues.
It was a beautiful flower with white at the base of the bud, gradually deepening to pink towards the edges of the petals.
As Leo examined the flowers with apparent interest, Soyi, with a radiant smile, began talking, her words flowing seamlessly from question to answer.
“Do you know what the flower’s meaning is? It’s ‘I follow your lead.’ Look, see how the fern-like leaves around the flower look like outstretched hands? That’s why…”
“I see.”
Cutting her off before she could elaborate further, Leo made his way out of the shop.
‘I made a good choice.’
‘These will look perfect in Lena’s room. The scent is lovely, too.’
The sweet fragrance of the flowers lifted his spirits. As he quickened his pace, eager to return to his sister, a voice startled him.
“Oh my!”
He turned towards the sound, and an exclamation escaped his own lips as he froze in his tracks.
“Ah!”
* * *
A few hours earlier.
"Damn it!"
She threw her sword in frustration. She couldn't train like she used to.
After panting for a moment, she noticed her junior looking at her nervously, which only worsened her mood.
"I can't do this. Hey! I'm leaving."
"Se-senior, but it's still training time..."
"It's menstrual leave."
Leaving her flustered junior behind, she stormed out of the training ground, thinking she wanted to quit everything, and changed her clothes.
Today, no, like every other day, she decided to go home early.
But contrary to her initial thought, she stopped by the market to pick up some groceries. Ellen suddenly came to mind on her way back.
What should I make?
'I'm in a bad mood, so maybe I should buy some meat?'
Yes! Let's do that.
You have to spend money while you're earning it.
She ordered a large amount of meat, her sword dangling at her waist.
A knight skipping training with a sword at her side. She thought she looked ridiculous and asked the butcher to cut the meat into small pieces.
While the meat was being prepared, she wandered in front of the butcher shop. She casually scanned the bustling market and suddenly shouted without realizing it.
"Whoa?!"
A man who resembled 'that soldier' appeared holding flowers.
He's short. Did that soldier look like this when he was young? They look similar, but... this one is much more handsome.
"Ah!"
While she was staring at him in surprise, Leo also froze stiffly, staring back at her.
Red hair let loose, captivating red eyebrows and provocative eyes, lips with a long and alluring curve...
Though she was in casual attire, she was someone Leo could never forget.
Katrina stood before him.