Sore Finger (3)

Lily’s breath caught.

“S-sister….”

The sight of her brother leaning against the head of the bed was horrendous. His swollen face was almost like a freshly drowned body. Dark red bruises. Chapped lips.

His bones were broken in his left arm. It was secured with a white cloth with a splint.

She had seen things like that all her life.

“It’s your fault. Remember.”

The black paint that overlaid her memories dried up and cracked and peeled off like a drought-stricken land. There was a girl in the middle of the canvas.

The girl who watched her brother crawling in the corner of her room, holding her father’s knees and arms.

The day she returned from seeing the night market secretly, unable to resist the temptation of Rocus. Her eight-year-old brother was beaten to death like today. With a whip, with a belt.

Her father gripped her forearm, staining her soul red.

Lily stumbled across her bed and sat down.

When she looked closer, Dandelion was even more miserable.

Lily’s body ached as if she was the one beaten. “Are you in a lot of pain? Oh, how did you become like this…” She lowered her hand to the side of his bed, staring at the white sheets.

“Oh, I just hit them with a pickaxe. With a shovel. Write something like that…” Every time he opened his mouth, it sounded like he was in pain.

Hans sighed at Dandelion’s expression. It was obviously an untruthful answer, but Lily couldn’t see it because she was bowing her head.

Dandelion gazed at the wall. “The day I met my sister on the street, I dropped all the bread… I felt angry. So I just passed by and cursed. There was a dirty serf…”

Lily paused.

It was an unbelievable excuse. Bizarre.

She slowly raised her head. Her brother’s curly hair caught her eye. “You… I’m afraid. You never did that alone.”

Arguing was something Rocus and Tristan did.

It was as if the clumsy excuse he was holding onto collapsed.

Lily’s breathing, which had been harsh, gradually subsided. “Then your cheeks… Was it someone else who slapped you on the cheek? Who is that person? I will punish them properly.”

“That one was different. I’m injured, so why do you keep asking me questions? I mean, it’s too hard to answer.” Dandelion wiggled his right hand under the blanket.

Dandelion is lying to me.

Even if she barely noticed it, she always tried to hide by pretending she didn’t see it.

“Ah… it hurts. It hurts because my sister is asking me questions. It’s because of my sister.”

Yeah. If that is the case, I won’t ask any more questions.

He knew all too well that if he forced it, his sister would let it go. Because Dandelion was her younger brother, she never let him experience the pain she was going through.

It was the same when she became the Duchess. Tristan was kicked out at the hands of her older sister’s husband, but didn’t she forgive him?

He loved his older sister, but he was equally afraid of his brother.

“I’m sorry it hurts. Still… Can you elaborate on what you remember? What was the situation?”

Contrary to what Dandelion expected, Lily did not give in as soon as before.

“Just because. That’s it. It’s because I cursed. Oh, it hurts. It hurts!”

If it was before, she would have passed over in fright as if possessed. He was so sick. It doesn’t matter if he lied or tried to accuse someone else.

Something seemed to block the way.

“It is not your responsibility. What is the only thing that a grown-up young man can do but resent his sister? Rather, he should thank you.”

Dandelion, even a commoner, was the Duchess of Winter’s family. In Cadis, even nobles were polite to Dandelion.

That was it. No serf would have dared to beat the duchess’ brother.

“Tell me honestly. I… Please, Dandelion.”

He shrugged, knowing that the jig was up.

Had he known that it was his last option to reverse his relationship with his only sister, he would have chosen a different answer.

Unfortunately, Dandelion was weak in the end.

“Ow! It hurts so much! Sister, it hurts!”

The doctors waiting in the hallway rushed in.

Dandelion lay on his back with his older sister and groaned more.

So he waited until his sister left his room and never looked back.