By Zephyria 
“That’s strange… According to that person, no one should have noticed.”
Even if that person was you. The blue eyes that had seemed like the soft sky of spring were nowhere to be seen. Allen’s bright blue eyes shone eerily, and his voice, unable to hide his interest, was quite cheerful. It was completely out of place in the current situation.
“Hmm, whatever. What can you do anyway?”
“What… are you?”
Just not screaming out loud took all the strength I had. Allen, who still looked innocent, smiled sweetly with his youthful face. He didn’t even hear my question, which I barely managed to utter, as if he had buried it.
“Sweet dreams, Noah. When you wake up, it’ll all be over.”
And that was the last thing he said. In an instant, my entire vision flickered as if the television had been turned off. I lost consciousness.
He was a knight with broad shoulders. He had worked hard to protect me all his life, satisfied with being just my escort knight, and giving up his abilities and wings early on.
‘Your Majesty the Empress. Just give the order. You only need to order what you want, and it is my job to make it happen.’
‘…’
He was never reluctant to bow his head and prostrate himself at my feet. Even when he was ridiculed for being a genius who only became the Empress’s dog, or when he was unfairly criticized for being a knight who claimed to be a loyal subject of the Empire but continued an illicit relationship, he didn’t even bat an eye.
‘If you are going to feel sorry, I would rather not hear such undeserved words.’
‘Sir Kyle.’
‘Any disgrace as a knight is a pleasure if it is given by you. So please don’t feel guilty.’
I was always sorry to him. No, should I feel sorry only for the knight in front of me? My only legal spouse, the loyal knight, and the overly capable magician who knew all my inner thoughts…
‘Would it be okay if I pacified the rebellion in the North?’
‘…’
‘Would it be okay if I saved the life of the Grand Duke who dared to declare that he would protect you in front of me?’
Even that lonely and desolate man who appeared in the North.
‘Give me your orders. I am your loyal sword. Being wielded by you will be my only glory.’
To everyone in this world, I was the worst sinner of all time. Even if I were stoned to death right now, I wouldn’t have a single grievance.
‘I love you. Since you were… my young master, and always.’
I was loved by everyone, but I couldn’t love anyone. That was the most terrible sin I had committed.
Huff! With the sound of my blocked breath bursting, my body shot up. My breathing was strangely heavy. My back was wet. I unconsciously reached back and groped for the hem of my clothes, and found that the edge of the bed was soaked with cold sweat.
I gasped for breath and immediately checked where I was. …It was on my bed in my room. After Allen preemptively conceded the room I had been using to him, I started using this more luxurious and spacious room, which was only allowed to the Little Count, the heir.
“You’re awake.”
It seemed I wasn’t the only one in the room. The person sitting on the single sofa facing the window noticed that I had woken up and immediately walked over. Perhaps because of the wide window behind him, his figure approaching me seemed dazzling for some reason.
“Ah… Brother.”
“I heard you suddenly fell asleep while having tea with Mother. Is it because you have a lot on your mind these days?”
His tone wasn’t very kind, and his expression didn’t seem very concerned either.
But somehow, his concern, which was flowing gently beneath his seemingly stiff exterior, was as transparent to my eyes as a stream with a thin layer of ice on the surface.
“Is it because of that child, after all?”
His voice, filled with deep concern for me, was tinged with a slight anger. What is love, anyway? For the sake of defending someone like me, Andrew Hamilton was showing this side of himself to his own brother, whom he loved so dearly.
In fact, even this room I’m lying in now is like that. After I personally pushed Allen in front of the Countess, I lowered myself as much as possible, pretending to be a fool, and offered Allen the room I had been using. On the surface, everyone admired me for willingly giving up the room I had been staying in since the day I entered this mansion, as if I had an attachment to it, but in reality, I had to empty the room every time, whether I was being robbed or kicked out, so I didn’t have much attachment to it. It was much more profitable to give up a room first and take care of my reputation in the mansion, or even in aristocratic society.
With the help of Nicole and Mr. Seymour, what was happening in our mansion had already been spread far and wide to the servants of other families. Whether they were superiors or subordinates, everyone was extremely interested in me, who didn’t do much external activity, and in the fact that her own son, who she thought was dead, had miraculously returned, so just adding a little fuel to the fire had a great effect.
I thought that the matter would be settled with me giving up the room first, but… there was an unexpected variable.
‘That’s ridiculous. It’s not like there aren’t any other rooms in the mansion, and Allen’s room can be redecorated, can’t it? You shouldn’t be so thoughtlessly happy. Even if Noah offered to give it up first, you should stop him as an adult.’
It was Andrew who, until the last Iteration, had been at the forefront of treating me as a thief who was stealing Allen’s things little by little.
‘But Andrew, that room was originally… I personally decorated it for our Noah… I mean, our baby…!’
‘No, that child is not Noah. That child is just Allen now. Since you insisted on bringing another child, changing his age and name, and filling the empty space, the name Noah has come to refer to only one person.’
The model eldest son, who had never disobeyed his parents’ wishes, stood up to the Countess for the first time that day. He didn’t dare to say it first, but he showed an uncharacteristic seriousness to the Countess, who was just happy that I was going to give the room to Allen, and said that if I had to give the room back to Allen, then I should be given a better room, and he willingly gave up the heir’s room he was living in. He said that the Count and Countess were planning to pass on the title to Andrew and go down to the territory in a few years, so he could just live in the annex until then.
‘How can you say such harsh things to your mother? Look, Andrew. He’s your own brother!’
‘Mother. Then isn’t Noah our family?’
In the frozen and brutal atmosphere, I vaguely realized the moment I faced his stubbornness, who had deliberately not referred to me as his brother. Perhaps, perhaps Andrew Hamilton had been like that all along in all the Iterations I had gone through…
“You don’t look well. Shall I call Mr. Nelson?”
“It’s not that bad. I guess I just didn’t sleep well these days.”
“I see.”
“…”
As I met his calm gaze, the fear and shock that had been endlessly caused by Allen’s unknown abilities seemed to gradually wash away. I calmly calmed my pounding heartbeat and tried to sort out the situation.
When Carlisle first met me again at the Banquet Hall. He seemed confused when he saw Allen, who looked just like me, but that was only for a moment. He definitely recognized me. He looked me straight in the eye, reached out to me, and said he wanted to see me.
Until his eyes became listless and blurred just after Allen jumped into his arms, definitely.
The hazy, foggy eyes were somehow familiar. I had definitely seen those eyes somewhere before.
“Brother.”
“Yes.”
“I have something to ask you about Allen… that child.”
“…”
“Why did you say that you would immediately take him as my exclusive servant when Allen first came to the mansion as a servant? Looking at it now, everything has worked out well, but even back then… he was an unidentified child.”
For example, from Andrew Hamilton, who didn’t even realize that he was doing something that was so unlike himself.