After hearing Alastor's story about himself and Lavenia, my brother became gloomy.

"So it turns out that Lania's rude behavior was learned from the demons..." Brother Valius muttered while looking down.

Alastor, upon hearing that, confidently raised his eyebrows and stated, "That's just a coincidence. I firmly believe the true cause is you and your family, who abandoned her then."

Brother Valius banged the table with one hand while staring at Alastor fiercely. "I didn't abandon her."

Alastor snorted. "Really? Are you sure? From what I see, the little sister 'who you didn't abandon' feels like her brother no longer remembers her. It's funny that you 'accidentally' let her suffer at the hands of others and act as if you still care about her. Now let me ask you, after she returned, did you ask about her condition?"

Brother Valius gritted his teeth, unable to deny it.

Seeing him speechless, Alastor laughed sarcastically. "See? You don't even know what she went through back then"

Brother Valius quickly denied it. "I know, although not everything. My family and I are trying to uncover all the details from back then and are still searching for the mastermind."

Alastor stared at Brother Valius intently. "What do you know? That she was kidnapped? That she was tortured? Not given food for days?"

He smiled sardonically, his eyes twitching. It was evident that he was infuriated. "A mere line of words followed by 'sorry' cannot excuse your ignorance. She was tortured for days, and every second in the word 'days' is not short for her. Have you ever thought how many times she calls her beloved 'brother' in a day? No? Have you ever asked if she has any trauma from that day? No, right? What kind of brother are you? I can't believe she loves and is proud of a stupid human like you." He scoffed and then muttered under his breath, "smart? Mature? Ridiculous."

Brother Valius lowered his head and clenched his fists, looking very guilty.

...this matter has nothing to do with me, but seeing my brother cornered made me feel uncomfortable.

I frowned and started to think hard.

After a few minutes of uncomfortable silence, I held my brother's hand. He turned his head weakly, looking at me with his reddened eyes. "Brother, I know very well how caring you are for your family. I believe that you really care about Lavenia. I mean, I'm your sister, and I know very well what your nature is like. Especially for your little sister. Seeing Brother Darius' condition at that time, it was understandable that your attention was focused on him."

I sighed. "And again, when Lavenia came back you said that something happened to uhm- Duchess Alfaret... You are not a god nor a person with steel mentality. You were shaken, and that was natural. Especially after experiencing the events in our world. So don't blame yourself too much."

I rubbed his stiff back. "Do you remember what mom said? No human is perfect, everyone must have made mistakes whether intentionally or unintentionally. No matter how capable you're, in the end you're just a human. You can't handle everything around you perfectly."

His eyes welled up with tears, and a single droplet trickled down his cheek.

This is...

He raised both hands to cover his face. "I'm sorry, Elli, Lania..." His voice so soft and small.

I couldn't see his face clearly, but the tears that were flowing down his hands gave me a picture of his face right now.

"Brother..."

"Enough, Elli... I know I'm wrong... you don't need to comfort me."

Alastor, who had been casually observing, smiled happily. "I'm pleased to see your self-awareness. I hope you continue to blame yourself like that and remember it for the rest of your life."

I frowned. "You're too much."

He looked at me with an expression I couldn't explain. "You're too biased. I'm only stating my thoughts."

"But still."

"Look." He leaned forward. "I can't argue with you who resembles my little lady. You irritatingly resemble every inch of my cute little lady. And it pissed me off."

I snorted. "I get it now. You like Lavenia."

"So what if I am?"

...What?

I stared at him in disbelief. "You like Lavenia..? As in love?"

"Yeah, so?" He leaned back lazily.

"She was 5 years old at the time!"

"Age is just a number to my kind. So what if she's 5? Physical factors? If that's the only thing then when she's old, I'll still be young, and that's not a big deal." He said indifferently.

"...what makes you like a 5-year-old?"

"You're wrong. I don't like 5-year-old kids. I only like her. She's amusing and my mother like her. And I think that's enough."

I stared at him, observing the expression he was showing. His eyes didn't radiate love, but they didn't radiate hate either.

...amusing and liked by his mother? Isn't that just ordinary interest and because it meets the criteria?

Wait... Is he saying all this with full awareness of his feelings..?

"Lying without blinking. Is that one of the demon's abilities?" A familiar voice was heard from the direction of the bedroom door.

Darius stepped in with big strides. He sat down next to Brother Valius and then handed him a handkerchief. "You said you wouldn't cry in front of Lania."

Valius accepted the handkerchief and wiped away the tears that were still flowing non-stop. "I can't help it."

I could see Darius' gaze soften for a moment, then return to his indifferent gaze when he looked at Alastor. "This is your second warning for trespassing on human territory, especially Alfaret territory."

"I didn't trespass. When I stepped in, neither of them said anything."

"Not saying anything doesn't mean agreeing."

Alastor rolled his eyes lazily. "For demons it is."

"This isn't the demon world." Darius lowered his voice.

Alastor looked at Darius disdainfully. "Your understanding and tolerance are low."

A flash of light appeared and rushed towards Alastor in a blink of an eye. But it disappeared when it was about to touch his face.

"Your little trick won't work." Alastor clenched his fist and propped his chin.

Before my room was damaged because it turned into a battlefield, I cautiously raised my voice. "Wait! Darius, can you not use magic?"

He looked at me briefly, then leaned back on the sofa.

Alastor sighed. "Whatever. Actually, I came here because I wanted to say that I lost one ingredient. But I didn't expect to fight with idiotic humans." He paused for a moment and then looked at me. "You're not my cute little lady, and it's taken me back. But since I said I would help you, then I will. I won't go back on my words."

He stood up and walked out at a leisurely pace. "Give me some more time, or you can find it yourself. It's called delonium."

When he stepped onto the balcony, his white wings appear and grew larger from his exposed back.

He turned to me with a small smile. "See you again when one of us finds it." He said, then flapped his wings. Some white feathers were left behind, making me lose in a trance a little.

Fluffy... I want to touch it... Is it soft..? Wait, what did he say..?

"Elli..." Brother Valius' weak voice made me wake up from my thoughts and look at him quickly.

Ah, right...

"Brother... Don't take Alastor's words to heart. I know-" he raised his hand, cutting me off.

Despite his sad expression, he smiled. "It's okay, Elli. I deserve it. I know I'm wrong and he's right. Regardless of the reasons, I failed as an older brother."

He opened his arms and looked at me with droopy eyes. "Can I get a hug? I'd been longing for this."

Without thinking, I hugged him, wrapping my arms around his waist as he put his arms around my shoulders. He bent his back and buried his head on my neck.

"Elli, I'm so happy that I feel like I don't deserve it. Of course, I feel sad about losing Lania, but it's not as sad as losing you. I dedicated my entire life to you after you died. I worked so fucking hard until my sleep schedule was broken. I don't even know how many times I ate in a damn month. I took on all the jobs available, even though they were far from my field of expertise. Whether it was summer or winter, morning or night, my birthdays or national holidays, I still worked as hard as I could. I hope to avenge your unjust death. Every day my hatred and anger grows towards those rotten bastards... and myself too." His body trembled, and he closed his mouth tightly as if tears would fall if he continued.

I moved my hand, stroking his back gently. With a sour nose and teary eyes, I said, "Brother, I'm so sorry... And thank you... But brother... You didn't fail... Sniff- you didn't fail as a brother..."

He shook his head. "Sorry, Elli..."

A gentle pat on my head made me look up.

Darius patted my head and Valius's lightly. He looked at us with a warm eyes. "Why talk about the past? The important thing is that you are in front of each other, alive and kicking."

Brother Valius didn't look up but nodded slightly. "Darius... Help me make a funeral..."

"Um." Darius nodded without hesitation. They didn't say who the funeral was for, but we all knew.

It's a complicated feeling...