Chapter 130

“……”

Egru maintained silence with all his might.

Like someone passing through an alley filled with violent gangs, he kept his eyes downcast, his trembling hands respectfully folded over his navel.

D’Élysée grasped both of Egru’s forearms and looked up at his face.

As D’Élysée tried to make eye contact, Egru averted his gaze. When the puzzled gaze followed, he shifted his eyes to the opposite direction.

It was already difficult enough that they were nearly the same height. Despite straightening his back as much as possible, Egru found himself roughly at eye level with D’Élysée, who was kneeling on one knee.

“Brother, why…?”

D’Élysée opened his eyes wide. As the silence continued, anxiety settled in his pale green eyes.

“Can you recognize who I am?”

His gaze was confused yet persistent. But whenever their eyes might meet, Egru’s amber orbs would roll away, avoiding contact.

D’Élysée’s already pale complexion grew even more ashen.

“Say my name. You know it, don’t you?”

“……”

Egru finally squeezed his eyes shut and shook his head. He shouldn’t look at all.

Otherwise, his resolve would weaken again.

“You don’t know? That can’t be…”

At his brother’s trembling voice, Egru inadvertently opened his eyes.

D’Élysée’s lips moved vacantly. His expression showed he didn’t know how to react.

Seeing his brother’s sad eyes made Egru’s heart ache as if it would split in two. Feeling tears about to burst forth, he pinched the back of his folded hands hard.

Think happy thoughts. One piece of cheese. Two pieces of cheese…

Just as the imaginary cheese reached twelve pieces, D’Élysée suddenly grabbed Egru’s wrist.

D’Élysée stared directly at Egru. A strange light flickered in his pale green irises, like wildfire spreading in strong winds.

My brother losing his memory? That’s impossible.

How would that explain the meeting with the Queen of Röwughor?

Could it be that he alone had been erased from his brother’s memory? No, that absolutely couldn’t be the case.

D’Élysée placed Egru’s hand against his abdomen and pressed.

“Remember? Back then, you rubbed my stomach like this.”

“……”

Pressure.

His brother pulled against his grip, trying to free his hand.

It felt as if his heart had stopped momentarily.

The sense of loss washed over him like their shared memories were being uprooted.

D’Élysée hurriedly rummaged through his clothing and pulled out a piece of paper. All the while, he still held onto his brother with his other hand. Anxiety that he couldn’t let go for even a moment swelled up to his chin, wavering.

“Look at this, brother. It’s a bit wrinkled but…”

D’Élysée cleared his throat and continued.

“I heard Gavin took back what I gave you. So I brought this to give to you again.”

D’Élysée placed a check in Egru’s hand. But it immediately fell to the cave floor.

No matter how many times he picked it up and tried again, the result was the same. When he forcibly placed it in Egru’s hand out of impatience, Egru let out a groan as if in pain.

D’Élysée startled and removed his hand. The fluttering check fell once more. This time, it stuck to the wet stone floor.

“How about this? I brought it for you…”

D’Élysée desperately searched his robe’s inner pocket again. This time, he pulled out cheese wrapped in white paper.

For an instant, Egru’s expression showed interest before he quickly composed himself. D’Élysée, who hadn’t noticed this, placed the cheese in Egru’s small palm. The cheese, much larger than Egru’s hand, weighed heavily.

“Whenever I passed through a village with a cheese shop, I bought one. I threw out the spoiled ones and kept replacing them with fresh ones.”

“……”

“I wanted to see you eat. Next time, together…”

Thud—before he could finish speaking. When Egru pushed it away, the angular edge of the cheese pressed against D’Élysée’s chest.

Unable to bring himself to drop it, Egru was trying to return it intact.

“No, this can’t be happening…”

D’Élysée slowly shook his head. He looked so fragile he might collapse at any moment.

“You love cheese. I know you do…”

With trembling hands, D’Élysée swept back his platinum hair. He repeatedly grabbed his hair and pushed it back, only to dishevel it.

His pale green eyes shook without focus. As if having trouble breathing, he roughly tore off the top button of his constricting shirt.

D’Élysée covered his eyes with his hands.

Barely gathering his wavering reason, he tried to deduce why his brother remained silent.

Inside the barrier…

He had clearly seen him appearing to converse with the assailant. So there wasn’t a problem with his speech organs.

He tried to understand the current situation from various angles, but no answer emerged. He couldn’t easily accept the fact that his brother had forgotten him.

“You’re joking, right? Since we haven’t seen each other in a while…”

A convulsive, hollow laugh escaped him. After a desperate smile, he reached out to touch Egru’s face.

That’s when Egru flinched backward as if electrified. Startled by the sudden physical contact, he hastily shook off the hand that held him.

“……”

D’Élysée wouldn’t allow his hand to be shaken off so easily. His irregular breath gradually intensified.

The fact that his brother was distancing himself from him was shocking.

Glance—Egru looked outside the cave. It seemed like he was eyeing an escape route.

“Where are you trying to go?”

D’Élysée gripped the thin forearm even more firmly. Egru flinched in surprise and stepped backward.

Moist eyes, hunched shoulders, rigid posture. His closed-off response was like someone wary of a stranger.

Why?

Unconsciously, his grip strengthened. The blood vessels in Egru’s slender forearm seemed about to burst.

“Ugh…”

Moisture pooled in Egru’s amber eyes, distorted with pain. Only upon seeing the tears flow did D’Élysée finally come to his senses.

He hastily released his grip as if burned, and his brother slumped to the ground. Egru crawled to the corner of the cave and turned to face the wall. The sound of quiet sniffling echoed in D’Élysée’s ears.

“Ah…”

D’Élysée tried to speak but couldn’t utter a word.

“I’m sorry, brother. Don’t be afraid. I’m just…”

Tears he hadn’t noticed streamed down his face. D’Élysée immediately wiped them away and tried to console Egru.

“On the island, I heard you had died, but then I received information that you had been revived, so that’s why I came looking for you…”

Between his involuntarily quickened breaths, sobs kept escaping.

His ribs ached inside, and his eyelids were swollen and hot. The pain in his chest was unbearable.

“I never thought, never imagined this would happen…”

Now he had to accept it. The fact that to his brother, he was nothing but an unwelcome guest.

Of course, it was understandable to be frightened and want to escape when a stranger appeared out of nowhere and abducted you.

All of this was his fault.

His brother had also experienced raising a younger sibling with a youthful body, repeating hard labor without useful education, and suffering a painful death through the empire’s massacre.

In the end, he had inflicted such great trauma that his only brother had erased him from his memory.

“That day we last met at the Papal Court.”

“……”

“I said something I should never have said, regardless of the reason. I was the only one who knew about your sacrifice…”

Back then, he had only glared with resentful eyes, throwing tantrums like a child.

All this time, he had vaguely imagined that once he met his revived brother, everything would return to normal.

It was a naive dream no different from a delusion. His disgusting, pathetic misconception had led to such a miserable outcome.

“I didn’t mean it. It’s too late to make excuses now.”

“……”

“I can’t forgive myself, brother. Never forgive me.”

He felt his pulse quicken unprecedentedly. His heart pounded like a hammer.

An inexplicable fear washed over him. It felt as if the space beneath his feet was contracting.

If brother leaves like this…

Every sensation in his body became extremely sensitive. That couldn’t happen.

Drip, drip…

The sound of water droplets falling from stalactites in the cave ceiling struck his eardrums like exploding dynamite.

“I’m sorry. I’m truly sorry, brother. But please, just once…”

His breathing grew ragged as if hyperventilating. The surging emotions were impossible to control.

“Please hug me.”

“……”

D’Élysée didn’t know that Egru was also crying profusely, turned away at the sight of his brother’s tears.

The small cave had become a sea of tears in this tearful reunion.

Egru wiped his eyes vigorously, stood up, and extended his arms to embrace D’Élysée.

As the longed-for pheromone scent approached, D’Élysée momentarily stiffened. But soon, he rested his forehead against the small chest and buried his face.

“Just, a moment, brother…”

He bit his lip briefly to suppress the overwhelming emotion. D’Élysée exhaled deeply and showed a trembling smile. He straightened his shirt and rubbed his cheek against his brother’s nape again. The slightly lower body temperature felt pleasant.

“Please give me a chance. I’ll make it up to you.”

“……”

“You don’t have to do anything. I’ll do everything…”

Before he could finish speaking, D’Élysée’s nerves went on high alert.

The moment he separated from Egru, a pitch-black silhouette pounced on D’Élysée.