Only Realized After Losing You

27. Siblings of the County of Phever 

Exhausted from crying, I fell asleep in her arms.

Perhaps it was an aftereffect of not being able to sleep properly last night, but I slept deeply and dreamlessly.

I woke up to the sound of someone talking.

“… You finally found it?”

The voice heard first was that of a man with a low cadence.

His voice was cold and sharp.

“I was about to give up and go back home when we met, as if by fate.”

The second voice I heard was familiar.

It was Hannah’s voice, the woman who had gently comforted me.

I wondered if I should indicate that I was awake.

But I immediately changed my mind.

Let’s pretend to be asleep for now.

Because Hannah had said,

‘Because, for the past few years, I’ve been looking for someone who looks like me.’

Maybe I would be able to find out the answer to that question.

The conversation between the two continued.

“Did you tell her about your situation?”

The person who asked the question was the man, and he sounded like he was displeased with something.

“No, not yet. What else do you say to a child who is tired from crying and falls asleep? I don’t know what happened to her, but it seems like she’s been through a lot. She couldn’t speak well.”

“Do you think that a kid who can’t even speak well can act as a stand-in for my older sister?”

The kid who couldn’t speak obviously referred to me and the “stand-in for my sister” seemed to refer to Hannah.

What happened to Hannah, who looked like me but had a noble beauty that I didn’t have?

“Shh, shh. Lower your voice. You might wake her up.”

“… … .”

The man fell silent at Hannah’s words.

The sudden silence felt uncomfortable.

Although my eyes were obviously closed, I felt like I could feel the gaze of two people on my face.

Maybe the two people were looking really hard at me right now.

At that point, I realized that pretending to be asleep was no longer an option.

I awkwardly opened my eyes.

When I opened my eyes, the first thing I saw was an unfamiliar ceiling.

The ceiling was very high, and the wallpaper had luxurious patterns engraved on it.

It wasn’t just the ceiling that was luxurious.

The bed I was laying on was also very spacious, and the white sheets on it looked clean.

At least this wasn’t my room, with its old wallpaper and tattered sheets.

I clenched and unclenched my hands a couple of times to make sure it was real.

Even though I overheard Hannah’s conversation, it was hard to believe that I was completely free of my father.

But I could feel it on my fingertips.

It was real.

After taking a deep breath, I half-raised my body.

Then I saw Hannah sitting on the sofa in the center of the room and a man sitting across from her.

The stranger was quite handsome, with the same silver hair as Hannah.

I was not wrong about the two of them looking at me.

As soon as I looked towards the sofa, the two people made eye contact with me.

“Did you… wake up? Was your name… Ellie?”

Hannah recalled my name quite accurately from when my father said it.

She didn’t just start talking to me, she moved closer to me.

Then she sat down on the corner of the bed.

“If you can’t talk, you can answer by nodding your head. Is Ellie your name?”

I nodded like I did every other day.

“Good. Good job.”

“… … .”

“First, let me introduce you to the boy over there who is looking at us with a dissatisfied face.”

Hannah gestured toward the man.

Just as Hannah said, the man’s face was filled with dissatisfaction.

Nevertheless, the man slowly picked himself up and began to walk toward me.

I didn’t really notice it when he was sitting down, but the man who got up was really tall.

He quickly approached me with long legs that matched his height and stopped in front of me.

Up close, he smelled good.

It was a smell that reminded me of a certain season.

Given the coldness of his face, I was tempted to assume it was winter, but the season that came to mind was spring.

It was an overly warm and cozy scent.

We looked at each other again.

The eyes of the man were a mysterious emerald color.

For some reason, I thought they reminded me of the ocean.

Of course, I had never actually seen the ocean, only in paintings.

The man’s eyes were cold as he stared down at me in silence.

It was a coldness that matched his emerald eyes very well.

“This is my brother, Hardwin Phever.”

The man called ‘Hardwin Phever’ responded insincerely to Hannah’s introduction.

“Nice to meet you. As my sister said, I am Hardwin Phever.”

Instead of answering, I nodded my head slightly in acknowledgment.

Hannah’s explanation continued.

“We are the siblings of the County* of Phever. To be more specific, I am Count Phever, and Hardwin is my servant. Heh heh.”

“… … .”

Hannah let out a pleasant chuckle.

Despite her obvious sarcastic tone, Hardwin was not the least bit fazed .

As if this wasn’t the first time it had happened.

“I want to hear your story first, but you’re not much of a talker, are you?”

I nodded my head repeatedly in affirmation.

“Poor thing.”

Hannah looked at me pitifully, who was unable to speak.

“Then, let me tell you about our story first. You might think it’s random and sudden, but I don’t have much time.”

Time.

Hannah spoke as if she was going somewhere far away.

She had the air of someone who was going to leave for a place from which she would never return.

What came to mind at that moment was ‘death’.

Death was a dark word that did not suit the beautiful and sweet woman at all.

Hannah seemed to sense that I was thinking that way.

A bitter smile crossed her face.

“I might die in fifteen days.”

“… … !”

I was the only one surprised.

There was not the slightest sign of distress on Hardwin’s face.

He was calmly accepting his sister’s death.

No, he was not calmly accepting it; he seemed to have known about his sister’s early death from a long time ago.

It was as if he had become numb to the cruel truth after hearing it over and over again for a long time.

‘Poor thing.’

I wanted to repeat to Hardwin exactly what Hannah had said to me.

I didn’t know their situation fully, nor did I know Hannah all that well.

But there was something about the death of someone that brought a certain kind of sympathy.

I suddenly remembered the funeral of someone I went to with my father a few years ago.

A coffin made of sun-kissed wood. A body that has lost its warmth lying inside.

The lavender held in two white hands.

At that moment, a faint scent of flowers reached my nose.

I could never forget the smell of that place .

Hannah continued with her explanation.

“If I die, it means that someone will have to take over the county. Our parents died young, and we have no other siblings, which means Hardwin will have to take over the county.”

Hannah’s eyes were solemn as she talked about her situation.

They resembled the eyes of the three men who told me their secrets.

“But according to imperial law, the age at which you can inherit a title is eighteen, and Hardwin is only seventeen. My brother won’t be able to inherit the title until after his birthday next year.”

“… … .”

“But like I said before, I’m going to die soon. So what happens to the county? It’ll be taken over by one of our cousins ​​who are anxious to take it, sigh.”

Hannah brushed away the hair that had fallen over her face.

Her silver hair gathered and fell apart repeatedly under her touch.

I recalled how Hannah had defeated my father, who was quite large, in one fell swoop.

What would cause the death of a woman who seemed to be skilled in martial arts?

I was curious, but Hannah didn’t elaborate.

“So that’s why I have been looking for a woman who looks like me for the past few years. It’s more like I’m looking for the right person to act as my stand-in until after Hardwin’s eighteenth birthday.”

I studied Hannah’s face closely.

Silver hair of similar length and texture. Not exactly the same, but vaguely similar eye color. White skin.

Looking at Hannah again, she looked surprisingly similar to me.

So much so that it wouldn’t be strange at all to say we were sisters or twins.

“Ellie.”

Hannah quietly called my name and held my hand that was resting on the bed.

“I’ll give you whatever you want. Money? Whatever you ask for.”

“… … .”

“Can you pretend to be me until Hardwin can inherit the county?”

Money…

Of course, money would be nice.

I was determined to make a new life for myself after all.

If I had a lot of money, my journey to create a life for myself would be smooth sailing.

“… When you asked me to save you from your father earlier, to be honest, I only saved you to ask you this favor. You can think of me as selfish.”

No, you are not selfish.

If you hadn’t helped me, I would have been caught and lost everything.

“Just as you desperately asked me for help, I am also desperately asking you for help.”

“… … .”

“Ellie, what do you think?”

I thought about it.

About living as ‘Hannah Phever’ for a while.

As Hannah said, it was definitely a very sudden proposal.

But still.

That sudden offer felt like a good opportunity to me.
*t/n: Count and Earl/ County and Earldom are interchangeable