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Chapter – 11
After giving Lazette his gift, I went to see the Count.
The Count didn’t say a word—either because he intended to stay silent until I handed over the gift first, or because he’d completely forgotten I was going to give him one in the first place.
“You’ve been coming to my study quite often lately.”
Just a moment ago, he’d been acting sympathetic toward his daughter, but now he looked irritated again.
“It’s a gift.”
Swallowing my rising frustration, I handed him the pocket watch. The Count alternated his gaze between me and the watch.
“What a pointless thing to do.”
“…….”
After adding an unnecessary remark, he finally took the pocket watch only when I tried to pull my hand back.
I hadn’t been trying to win the Count’s favor in the first place. Winning Lazette’s favor mattered far more to me. Still, seeing that reaction irritated me.
“If you don’t like it, I’ll just take it back.”
“That’s enough. Get out.”
It was better for me to use it than leave it neglected with someone who didn’t even want it. But the Count pressed his fingers to his temple, looking tired, and stuffed the watch into his desk drawer.
I thought he clearly didn’t like the gift. I couldn’t even understand why he’d accepted it at all.
And yet, one day, as he was leaving the mansion, I happened to catch sight of him using the very pocket watch I’d given him.
So what? He didn’t hate it after all?
Whatever the case, seeing him use it made the faint regret in my chest disappear.
“Have you thought about what kind of gift you want, Sister?”
After confirming that gifts seemed to work—at least on the Count—I started agonizing over what present would truly win Lazette over.
He’d reacted lukewarm to the gift I’d given him before, but the only thing I could really do was spend money.
What should I give him? Would buying him a building move him? As I spiraled into increasingly ridiculous thoughts, Lazette suddenly asked if I’d thought about a gift.
The question felt oddly out of the blue.
“A gift? My gift?”
“Why do you look so surprised? Your birthday’s in two months.”
“Oh… ah, right.”
I’d been so focused on what to give Lazette that I hadn’t even thought about receiving a gift myself. I’d completely forgotten my own birthday was approaching.
Worried he might find my reaction strange, I studied his face. Thankfully, Lazette seemed to think I’d merely forgotten for a moment.
I shook my head at him as he waited for an answer.
“I don’t know. I haven’t really thought about it.”
“Then what have you been thinking about so seriously? I thought you were picking out a gift to receive from me.”
“What about you?”
Instead of telling the truth, I deflected.
“If it were your birthday, what would you want? I haven’t thought about it either.”
“I…”
I expected him to think about it for a while, but his answer came faster than I anticipated, completely deflating me.
“I like anything you give me, Sister.”
Liar.
You didn’t like my last gift at all.
I pointed out the inconsistency only in my head and turned my gaze back to the book I was holding.
I was in Lazette’s room, sitting beside him for no particular reason, thinking about what to give him.
Even I wondered why I was going this far. But thinking alone just gave me a headache.
“Be more specific. Saying that just makes it harder.”
The book I was reading was one of the few pulp novels in the Count’s library. I skimmed the text and flipped the page.
“Hmm…”
We were sitting side by side on a couch wide enough that we didn’t need to be close. There was actually a noticeable distance between us.
As I listened to him hum in thought, I shifted my position. When I lay down sideways, Lazette stiffened.
“Why?”
I looked up at him from where I’d rested my head on his thigh, pretending not to know exactly why he’d reacted that way.
“…It’s nothing.”
As if.
You hate it.
Knowing that, I still pretended not to notice. I just wanted to lie down, and I chose to ignore everything else.
The sunlight slanting in made Lazette’s face especially clear. He looked like a sculpture—his features were so precise that my hand moved on its own.
“You have a mole under your eye.”
When I touched the tiny dot beneath his narrow eye, his eyelid trembled faintly.
“You’re really handsome when you look this close.”
“……”
“Your eye color is interesting too.”
I kept touching near his eye as I stared into his green irises.
“…Yours is the same as mine.”
Similar, but not quite the same. His was a shade darker. In his deep, translucent green eyes, I could see my own reflection lying there.
“No. Yours is darker. It’s beautiful. Like a gemstone.”
“……”
“I kind of want it. Do you think there’s a gemstone in your eye color?”
If there were, maybe I could give him that as a gift…
Would he hate it?
It almost looked like emerald, but the more I looked, the more it felt subtly different.
As I stared at him, I realized something strange—this was the first time I’d seen no hostility in Lazette’s eyes.
“Sorry, but…”
Without breaking eye contact, Lazette spoke.
“I can’t give you my eyes, Sister.”
“…I wasn’t asking for them.”
What exactly did he think I was?
No matter how much I enjoyed spending money, I was only imitating Lizenne at best.
I suddenly felt like I’d turned into some awful sister who even coveted her younger brother’s eyes.
“So? What’s your answer? What do you want?”
I dragged the topic back on track. Lazette didn’t respond.
I waited patiently.
Staring into each other’s eyes for so long made me feel strangely unsettled. I’d never looked at someone else’s eyes this intently in my life.
“I… I want a sword.”
The words slipped out.
As if his true feelings had escaped without his permission. Lazette frowned as if startled by his own confession.
“No. Forget it. You didn’t hear that.”
He turned his head away, hiding his expression.
I didn’t repeat, A sword?
No. A sword was out of the question. Helping him learn swordsmanship would be no different from shortening my own lifespan. I needed his favor to survive, yes—but unnecessary risks were best avoided.
I kept reading without asking further. But my thoughts were a tangled mess, and the words on the page wouldn’t register.
So he wanted to learn the sword at such a young age.
Lizenne’s end had been death by his blade.
My mood turned uneasy.
In the end, the gift I prepared wasn’t a building, a sword, or clothes. I thought I’d chosen something that was expensive yet practical.
“It’s already here? That was faster than I expected.”
After instructing the butler to place the delivery “there,” I waited excitedly for the right moment.
Lazette was in class. Even a nominal heir still had to attend lessons—though they were lessons in name only.
“Is Calib still in class?”
I’d waited quite a while, but apparently not much time had passed.
“They said it will end soon.”
Amy placed a plate of snacks in front of me. A cake that looked delicious.
A few days ago, I’d instructed Amy to report Lazette’s movements. I couldn’t afford to leave someone who might kill me someday completely unchecked.
While waiting for his lesson to end, I relaxed with something sweet. It was ridiculous to be nervous over giving a gift—but maybe I relaxed too much, because I ended up falling asleep.
“It’s already this late…”
I jolted awake to the sound of birds chirping. An hour had passed. Rubbing my sleepy eyes, I pulled the bell cord to summon Amy.
“Calib is—”
“His lesson ended a while ago. He went to the garden.”
“Really?”
Then it was time to go see Lazette.
I dragged my sluggish body toward the garden.
He was beneath a camellia tree, leaning against the trunk with his eyes closed. Cool shade fell across his face.
March.
The camellias were in full bloom.
“Calib. Are you sleeping?”
I leaned down slightly beside him, whispering softly so as not to startle him.
His eyelids rolled up, revealing deep green eyes beneath.
Our gazes met.
So he hadn’t been asleep. There was no trace of drowsiness in his eyes as he looked at me.
“Sister. What brings you here?”
“Come here. There’s something I want to show you.”
I was confident this time. I was sure the gift I’d prepared would truly win Lazette’s heart.
I took his hand and led him forward, my steps light—
Unaware of what was about to happen next.
