When I arrived at the training ground, the continuous explosions had stopped.

Summoning my courage, I entered the training ground.

It was completely empty. Though smoke rose from unidentified dust piles here and there, there was no one.

“Kellian…?”
The training ground was bustling. Far in the distance, a makeshift shelter with a slightly open door came into view. I cautiously moved deeper into the shelter.

Uncertain of when something might explode, I felt a bit uneasy, but I didn’t stop walking.

As I reached the vicinity of the shelter, I heard a faint sound of breathing.

I paused. If it were Kyrian, there was no way he wouldn’t have heard my approach. Could he be injured somewhere?

“Kyrian!”

I pushed open the half-open shelter door.

And I froze.

“……Uh, uh.”

Kyrian, with his back turned to me, fortunately seemed unharmed. However, his attire was very disheveled.

“Oh, sorry.”

Kyrian, looking back, quickly apologized.

“I didn’t know my sister was here.”

Kyrian, without his shirt, was running his hand through wet hair. There was a faint scent of sweat, likely from just finishing training. It wasn’t unpleasant, but it had a strangely tingling fragrance.

My eyes wandered aimlessly. However, no matter where I looked, it was futile.

The Kyrian I knew seemed almost unrecognizable.

Broad shoulders, a solid chest, a sharply defined abdomen. It seemed as if someone had shaded Kyrian with a dark pencil, emphasizing his features. The combination of his narrow shoulders and a height taller than mine was suffocating.

“Oh, no!”

I started stammering.

“I-I’m sorry. I didn’t even knock.”

To make matters worse, I took a few steps backward.

“Sorry for bothering you. I’ll, um, leave now.”

In a hurry to leave the shelter, I stumbled and got stuck on the threshold.

Just before falling, Kyrian effortlessly caught me. As I stared blankly at Kyrian’s arm muscles moving like waves, a low voice echoed in my ears.

“You should be careful.”

His large hand enveloped the back of my head. The spot where his fingers brushed against my earlobe felt warm. Unconsciously, I swallowed my breath. My face felt hot, and I couldn’t look directly at Kyrian.

“You almost hit your head.”

His voice was nonchalant to the point of indifference. It made me feel like I was the only fool here. And it was true. While I was thoroughly embarrassed, Kyrian remained casual. Annoyingly so.

“Thanks!”

I hastily tried to get up.

As my steps got tangled again, the hand supporting my waist gained strength.

Even though I was staring at a certain spot on the ceiling, strangely, everything came into focus. A cautionary whisper, a moving jug handle, veins popping in the arm supporting me, a faintly dried red corner of the mouth.
I eventually tightly shut my eyes, but strangely, the scent tickling my nostrils became even stronger.

“Sorry for bothering you! I-I’ll leave now.”

After a short silence, Kyrian spoke.

“You didn’t come here to tell me something?”

When Kyrian released me, I unconsciously breathed a sigh of relief.

Kyrian picked up a shirt that had been crumpled on a bench. Smoothly flipping the shirt back on, Kyrian turned to face me again.

Now he looked more composed, and there was no reason for my heart to thump, but the slight contours and the long fingers that finished buttoning up beneath the shirt, as well as the sweat droplets trickling through the slightly open collar, caught my attention.

Meeting Kyrian’s cleanly faced appearance made me feel even more awkward than before, unlike my thoroughly blushing self.

“Yeah. That’s right.”

But after overcoming difficult surveillance magic and coming this far, I couldn’t just turn around so anticlimactically.

I unconsciously averted my gaze. Suddenly, Kyrian’s expression from the last time we met came to mind. A smile that seemed to have cracked somewhere unknowingly.

Although he came on his own accord, facing Kyrian made me unsure. Would he even want to hear what I have to say? I might not want to see him again either.

A small sigh escaped.

“Don’t force it.”

I realized the meaning of those words a bit late. Kyrian truly believed that even a conversation with him was a torment for me.

That wasn’t true. On the contrary, I was at a loss about what to say, and my mouth was filled with all sorts of words.

As if Kyrian would pass me by, I twisted my body, and my heart suddenly sank.

I didn’t want to lose Kyrian anymore.

I hastily grabbed Kyrian’s arm.

“It’s a misunderstanding.”

I abruptly opened my mouth. It came out without any context, but I wanted to make this clear.

“I don’t know why His said those things, but not everything is true.”

As I verbalized the truth within my heart, tears welled up, on the verge of overflowing.

“I never wanted to leave.”

I continued speaking slowly. Gaining courage, I looked at Kyrian, meeting his red irises that scrutinized me thoroughly. My breath involuntarily caught for a moment. But I took a step closer.

“The Duke said… you too.”

A small ripple occurred in the quiet. In the gaze that subtly examined me, courage emerged.

“Indeed. I don’t dislike it.”

“On the contrary…”

“While you were away, you were the one I missed the most.”

I awkwardly raised the corner of my mouth.

“Of course, when I first came to the mansion, there were times when you were scary. But it was brief.”

At some point, whenever I needed help, Kyrian was always there. While others always feared the cold face of the Duke, strangely, when I thought of Kyrian, his gently smiling figure was the first to come to mind.
The Duchess had always worried that Kyrian wouldn’t get along with anyone other than me, but perhaps I, too, didn’t realize that since coming to this world, I couldn’t attach my heart to anyone other than Kyrian.

“I’ve always been grateful.”

Kyrian just looked at me silently. Feeling embarrassed under his persistent and upright gaze, I avoided his eyes, and in the meantime, Kyrian parted his red lips lightly.

“As a younger brother?”