LVSMLA 11

Chapter 11

Calisto was anxious and made a mistake because he was so eager for his first impression to be good. Lawrence was the son of a ducal family, so in terms of etiquette, it should have been me who greeted him first. I shouldn’t have suddenly brought up Calisto’s name.

I couldn’t afford to get on the main character’s bad side right from the start. I felt a sense of urgency, as if an unintended death flag had just been raised.

“I’m sorry, young Lord Armagnyac. I was being rude….”

“No, that’s not what I meant.”

Lawrence widened his eyes, then quickly waved both hands. Fortunately, it didn’t seem like he had any bad intentions. Feeling a bit relieved, I looked at him, and Lawrence smiled awkwardly before continuing.

“Just call me Lawrence. And please speak casually too…. I just wanted to get close to you.”

“Pardon? Me?”

Not Calisto?

I asked back in confusion, and Lawrence nodded brightly. I became even more bewildered. I hadn’t expected Lawrence to show interest in me instead of Calisto. Did this happen in the original story?

“No…. I don’t think it did.”

By this point in the original story, Etienne had already left the scene. Later, he would reunite with Lawrence while attending classes with other noble children, but even then, Lawrence showed no particular interest in Etienne. So why was he asking for my name while Calisto was right next to him? I nodded in confusion.

“Yes, Armagnyac…. no, I mean, Lawrence.”

“Mm. You’re Etienne of House Winyeats, right?”

I was a little surprised at how naturally he spoke informally. In the original, Lawrence maintained formal speech with Etienne until the end. On the other hand, he was much closer with Calisto, who was his peer, and that difference had intensified Etienne’s sense of inferiority toward Calisto.

Anyway, I couldn’t ignore the question, so I opened my mouth to introduce myself when Calisto spoke faster.

“Don’t go getting interested in Etienne!”

“Calisto! Why are you being so rude?”

I hurriedly stopped him in shock.

Setting aside the original plot, Lawrence was the son of a ducal house. Calisto, who was only a child under the guardianship of a count’s family despite being a prince in reality, had no right to act so freely toward him. I couldn’t understand why he was suddenly acting like this. I was worried this would turn into a twisted “bottom dominates top” type of tragic story instead of a dominant “top controls bottom” one…. Either way, I’d be stuck in the middle suffering forever….

“Apologize to young Lord Armagnyac right away, Calisto.”

I urged him, but the boy frowned deeply with a very displeased expression. He looked like a truly annoying seven-year-old. I got so irritated that I almost raised my voice.

At that moment, Lawrence stepped in and gently stopped me.

“It’s alright. Your younger sibling must be shy.”

“He’s acting strange today. Sorry. He’s not usually like this….”

He usually wasn’t like this.

He was only sharp with me; he was always cute with the count or Elsie. I hadn’t expected him to bare his teeth at Lawrence of all people.

Fortunately, Lawrence didn’t seem bothered by Calisto’s behavior. I wondered if Lawrence was around nine years old now. Even though he was still so young, he was so kind. As I was inwardly moved thinking that a “gentle top” really was different, something unexpected happened.

Instead of apologizing, Calisto cut in angrily.

“He’s not my brother! I mean, he is, but not my real brother! He’s basically a stranger!”

“……”

“Calling him a brother is the same as lying!”

“……”

What did he mean, “basically a stranger”? Even though it was true that he wasn’t a blood sibling but an adopted younger brother, I felt a little hurt at how strongly he was drawing a line between us. Somewhere along the way, I had started thinking of Calisto like a real younger brother.

Actually, in terms of age, he was less like a brother and more like a nephew… or maybe even a son…. I glanced at Calisto.

Lawrence still kept his gentle smile as he looked down at Calisto. He was much taller than the child. Suddenly, the “younger dominant male lead” keyword attached to Calisto came to mind.

As a kind older male lead, Lawrence tried to soothe him.

“I see. So your name is Calisto? But isn’t it bedtime now? Little kids shouldn’t stay up so late. You’ll have nightmares where ghosts and monsters chase you all night. You shouldn’t interrupt the older brothers talking. That makes you a bad kid, okay?”

……Was that really soothing?

“What? Why am I a little kid? And how old are you anyway?”

“I’m nine. How old are you? You’re much younger than me, right? Don’t interrupt the older brothers.”

“……”

What’s with “much younger”…. To me, seven and nine both looked like little kids, but apparently it was different for them. A two-year age gap must have felt huge to children, because Calisto could only grit his teeth and stay silent.

Lawrence straightened his posture with a soft laugh.

Then, with an extremely kind expression, he turned to me.

I felt a strange chill. Something was off.

That feeling peaked the moment Lawrence held out his hand to me.

“Then Etienne. Why don’t we send the little one off to bed and go talk in the garden together?”

“…Huh?”

So I wasn’t the one being dismissed—Calisto was?

From his earliest memories, Calisto had always dreamed.

No matter how deeply he slept, he was tormented by vivid dreams every night. His nanny worried about him and stayed by his side, but it was useless. The dreams never left him.

At some point, Calisto realized they were not ordinary dreams. Sometimes they were events from the near future—tomorrow or a week later—and sometimes even half a year or a year ahead, but everything he saw in those dreams inevitably came true. The most shocking event had been his nanny’s death.

Even though he knew it in advance, he could not stop it. A five-year-old child could not block a murderer’s blade. On a stormy night, Calisto fled, leaving his dying nanny behind. It was exactly as he had seen in the dream.

After that, he wandered the streets for two years. He was chased by stray dogs, beaten for being a beggar, and time passed like that.

Eventually, he realized that a certain nobleman would come to save him, and he clung to that hope. On a sunny day, the nobleman—who looked gentle and dignified—stared in shock at the torn hem of Calisto’s filthy clothes, especially at his waist area. After that, the nobleman took him to his estate and declared him his son.

But the future in the dreams was never happy.

Calisto repeatedly saw himself being abused by the count’s biological son. Even so, when he met the count, he could not refuse to follow him. Life in the slums was worse than the future of being abused in a noble household.

So Calisto entered the Winyeats Count’s estate.

There, he met Etienne.

Etienne was exactly as he had always appeared in his nightmares: silver hair falling softly around his shoulders, translucent pale skin like milk, long thick silver lashes, and violet eyes like violets. In his seven years of life, Calisto had never seen anyone so beautiful.

He looked like a beautiful demon. So Calisto clenched his teeth and glared at him.

But Etienne smiled at him… kindly.

“…Huh?”

Calisto was bewildered.

From that moment, the dream began to go wrong.

To be precise, everything else stayed the same—but only Etienne was different. And as time passed, it became even clearer.

The Etienne in reality looked at Calisto like a troublesome younger brother. As if Calisto were truly his sibling.

“I’m not your brother.”

Calisto thought sulkily.

If Etienne treated him like a real brother, that would be a problem. He didn’t know why it would be a problem, but it just was.

On the day of the Winyeats Count’s banquet, Calisto was tense from the morning, but nothing went wrong as he feared. That was when he realized it clearly: everything in the dream might predict the future, but Etienne alone was completely different.

Until he met Lawrence Armagnyac.

Lawrence, the fox-like young lord of House Armagnyac, was also a recurring figure in his dreams. In those dreams, it was Lawrence who helped Calisto instead of Etienne. But that wasn’t why Calisto was wary of him.

Calisto remembered the way Etienne looked at Lawrence in those dreams.

It was the gaze of someone who had fallen in love at first sight.

Calisto was stunned. How old were they, and already like this?

And in reality, when Etienne met Lawrence, he looked just as dazed as in the dream, as if his usual sharpness had gone somewhere else.

Calisto grew uneasy. On top of that, even Lawrence—who had shown no interest in Etienne in the dreams—now seemed interested. Very interested.

Calisto’s mood darkened.

Whatever the fox from the ducal house was planning, he didn’t want him taking Etienne away to the garden. It also irritated him that they kept treating him like a child. After all, whether adult or not, they were all the same. What difference did two years make? Seven and nine were basically the same.

“Then Etienne. Why don’t we send the little one to bed and go talk in the garden together?”

Even you’re a kid!

And when Lawrence tried to brush him aside, Calisto finally snapped.

“What? I’m not going to bed! If you want the garden, go alone!”

And so he lost his temper.