33 Chapter 30

"Would you like to have an afternoon tea, Young Master?" Charlie, the butler, asked. He had his salt and pepper hair neatly slicked back into a ponytail, and wrinkles on his face appeared more pronounced for his age. Charlie came to the Wintern dukedom as a part of the duchess' dowry. He had taken care of Leonard since the day he was born, in place of the sickly duchess. He was more like a father to Leonard than the duke himself.

"No, Charlie. I'm not in the mood for anything." Leon replied. The slap from the duke had cut the inner walls of his cheek. So his hunger didn't matter, as he wanted to preserve the last bit of his dignity and keep what happened behind the closed doors a secret.

"Did that Child wake up?" He asked, raising his eyes from the book he was reading, and looked at the butler.

"Yes. He woke up in the evening. Looking at the watch, he must be eating dinner by now." The butler replied with a bow, pocketing his golden watch back in his blazer.

"What? Why didn't you tell me sooner?" Leonard got up with a start and ran out, flinging the book of philosophies which flew across the room. The butler was left shocked at his young master, whose skinny figure soon disappeared from his sight. For once, he was acting his age.

Leon was excited to see his half brother. He remembered how ghastly the figure of that unconscious child appeared in the commander's arms when he first arrived at the mansion at dawn. He must look better now that they had given him proper medication and nutrition.

However, as soon as he entered the room, a metal was threatening his throat. The bearer was a pale, bandaged child, much smaller than himself, whose trembling hands barely held the harmless butter knife to his throat.

"Who are you guys?" he asked. The maid who had brought the food for him stood there, pale.

"Put the food down and leave." Leon ordered the maid, who obliged gratefully. Meanwhile, he had procured the blunt weapon threatening the health of his neck and threw it away.

The clang from the metal hitting the floor made the child jump in his skin. He cowered away now that Leon had snatched away his only tool of defense. But before he could escape, Leon bent down and picked him up in his arms.

"I am your older brother." He said, trying his best soothe the child, who looked more surprised than before. He could not fathom why someone wearing clothes so soft to touch would call him brother.

"W-why?" The child asked. His expression showed that he didn't know what face to make anymore. Leon burst into a laughter.

"What do you mean, why?" With one hand, he brushed the black hairs covering the child's face back and answered the blue eyes that peered directly into his. "Don't we look alike?"

"Yes..." the child answered after one thought. But he wasn't talking about their blue eyes and black hair. His small, blistered hands softly grazed over Leon's cheek, which had been punched by the duke and was bruised.

His hands were rough for a young child, Leon thought. He walked over to the bed and sat down, making sure the child was comfortable on his lap.

"What is your name?" he asked.

"I don't really have a name, but sometimes my mother used to call me Derek in front of officers." the child replied casually.

"How did she usually call you then?" Leon asked, even though he felt he might not like the answer.

"She called me 'Jinx'."

"Ahahaha!" Leon burst out in laughter, which turned bitter by the second. "We're more similar than I first thought." He said. "Anyway, how did you manage to get yourself so battered up?"

"He promised me sweets if I gave that fat man his letter." Derek looked down, his eyes tearing up as it reminded him of the abuse he had received on the square. Those harsh words were not the only thing he recalled, and the pain he had suffered resurfaced.

Leon, who was keenly observing him, felt his heart clench watching his hurt expression. Though he would vehemently oppose whenever the butler would call him out, but despite his own circumstances, the young master had grown up to be incredibly kind, perhaps an influence of his late grandfather.

"It's okay. No one can hurt you anymore. I'm with you now." he hugged Derek. The sudden gesture surprised the child. Even his mother had never hugged him like this. He experienced a feeling so foreign and yet so profound and sweet that he was overwhelmed with emotions. "Just say the word. That is all you have to do. And I'll come running wherever you are. Okay?" Leon continued. Each of his words only left Derek feeling better and better.

Derek nodded. "Now that you say I have a brother, does it mean I have a father as well?"

"Uh-huh. However, I doubt he will ever act like a father to you… or us, for that matter." Leonard smiled bitterly. He didn't have any memory of seeing the duke from when he was younger. The first time he got to see his father's face was when the king had called them together for an audience.

When the duke saw him, "You look surprisingly okay for someone who came out of a shrewd whore's womb. I guess it was worth to wait and see what the baby looked like, than killing it as a foetus. Hahaha!" these were the first words he had said to him. "Ah!" was all Leon could say. All his hopes had come crashing down at that moment. That feeling of despair and disappointment, he did not wish for this small child to experience the same.

"Father… has no interest in us. So just think as if you never had one to begin with." he said.

"It's okay. I had never had one to begin with." Derek smiled cheerfully.

Leon chuckled. "The most he would give us is his name. Nothing more." he felt contented to see Derek relax a bit.

When Leon had ordered to search for the duke's illegitimate child, he had never imagined him to be such a lovely kid. He was like the sibling Leon always wanted to have.

"Brother, are we rich?"

"Yes. Very. Why do you ask?"

"Does that mean I can learn the swords?"

"You can do anything you want to. I'll make sure of it."

"Then I will protect you from that man when I grow up....." Derek said, cupping Leon's bruised cheek.

Derek's sweet voice that echoed in his ears and Leonard woke up from the dream of his past. He wiped the tears that kept rolling down his face hurriedly. He would not have minded had it been just him, but he was not alone in his bed.

However silently the duke tried to move his arms, the light shuffle of the sheets between them disturbed commander Fredrick's sleep, who groaned in protest before snuggling closer to the duke's chest and falling asleep once again in his arms.