His words failed to comfort me, but I scraped whatever courage I had left and copied his movements, grabbing the window ledge and lifting myself out. I was glad I was wearing a chemise instead of the usual dresses I wore, or this would’ve been an incredibly uncomfortable experience.
We were leaving this place today. Why go through all this trouble?!
“It’s alright, here. Grab my hand and land on the wings here.” Benya extended his hand further to help me come down from the window. At least he had a conscience.
His voice was calm, and he seemed unfazed by where we stood, but my entire body was shaking in fear. The sky was so close… I swore that if I fell and died because of this mini villain, I’d become a ghost and haunt him everywhere!
Okay, here went nothing. One, two..!
With a shout, I grabbed his hand and jumped out of the window. I instinctively shut my eyes when I jumped and slowly opened them again when I felt cold hard stone beneath me. The poor gargoyle seemed to have become a seesaw for children, with Benya and I each standing on one wing. Thankfully, it was quite large.
“You may be a natural at this,” Benya said, smirking at me, and I glared back. We stood there in silence for a moment, then we burst into laughed at the same time.
“See? Not that hard, was it?”
I wanted to wipe that smirk off his face so badly. Why didn’t I fall harder from that ladder?!
“I’m never doing this again!” I frowned at him. What if I fell next time? Who would take care of poor Estelle if I died?
I shook my head to shake away those thoughts and sat down on the back of the gargoyle, covering my legs with my arms. Benya sat next to me, and we enjoyed the fresh morning breeze together in silence as we watched the sunrise.
I whispered to him, not wanting to break the mood. “Was this what you wanted me to see?”
Benya cleared his throat, sounding a bit uncomfortable. “It looked better yesterday when the sun went down.”
I couldn’t imagine how grand that must have been, but the scene in front of us was already very majestic. As the sun rays illuminated the dark sky, the clouds were painted with the orange hues of daybreak. Seeing this phenomenon from so high up had a different feeling from seeing it from the ground.
“Were you out here all day yesterday?” I asked him quietly.
“Not all day. I was browsing the books, but I kept getting distracted by the window, and I couldn’t stop wondering about what it looked like outside. So, I sat down here to think things over.” Benya spoke calmly. Perhaps he was also affected by the scenery like I was.
Curiosity tickled my insides, and I just had to ask him about it. “… What were you thinking about?”
He was quiet for a moment before saying softly, “My parents.”
Benya lowered his head, and the water droplets still clinging to his hair reflected the light, making his silver-gray hair sparkle against the sun rays. He had the exact same shade of hair as his mother, the late Duchess.
My heart ached for this child who had lost his parents too early. I hesitated for a bit before raising my hand and carefully placing it on his shoulder. Instead of shrugging it off, Benya turned toward me with pale blue eyes filled with sadness and other complicated emotions I couldn’t decipher.
Suddenly, he murmured. “At least you’re alright.”
“What?” I asked back, thinking that I had heard it wrong.
Were my ears malfunctioning?
“You know how important you are to Estelle. And honestly, if you weren’t here, I don’t think I would have endured this confinement so well.” He explained.
Was that so? I knew that if the three siblings had been left in here by themselves, a lot of drama would have unfolded, but I didn’t realize how much of a difference my presence made.
While they had run around and played together often since young, those three weren’t really that close to one another. Letis and Estelle were relatively close to one another, but Benya was something of a black sheep. He didn’t know how to be gentle and kind like his older brother, so it was inevitable.
If I were to borrow one of the late Duke’s expressions, I’d have said that Letis fault was him being too affectionate, while Benya’s fault was for being the opposite of his brother. Therefore, I was flabbergasted at what I had just heard. I didn’t know how to act around a Benya capable of such deep thoughts!
I started to view this mini villain in a new light.
Until he suddenly called out to me. “Sasha.”
“… Yes?”
“I think you’re about to drool.”
Benya giggled as I hastily closed my gaping mouth. I wanted to take back the brief moment I spent admiring him.
“You know, in Fjeya, the trend for styling a girl’s hair is to roll them like bread. You’d be a sight if you followed it.” He chuckled, amused at my reaction.
“Well, young master, how could a lowly nanny like me have my hair styled like that? It would fit Estelle more than me.” I mused, already thinking of how it could be done.
“Is that so? It would be a shame if you were teased because of your hair. Then I’d like to see Estelle with that hairstyle.” Benya smiled softly at me.
Indeed, Estelle would look so cute with her hair tied up like rolls. Should I try to learn how to do that hairstyle?
Read Latest Chapters at wuxiaworld.eu
Benya mentioned me styling my hair like that, but I was satisfied with it. I reserved my thoughts on my blood-red eyes, but I very much liked my curly reddish-blonde hair because it was just like my mother’s.
The sky that stretched above us endlessly was now fully brightened by sunlight. We stayed hunkered together on top of the gargoyle for quite a while as we watched the sunrise. It was a view filled with freshness and hope.
The suspicions I had felt when I saw the tray cart seemed to have disappeared. It was impossible for someone to confine us indefinitely. How would they explain our disappearance? Even if they used the plague as an excuse, they’d have to show our bodies for our deaths to be confirmed. If they said the Serpente siblings had left for the vacation house or a foreign country and they weren’t located, the ruse would be discovered immediately.
So, instead of wasting my energy with baseless suspicions, it was better to think about how to live in Fjeya.
I had to do everything within my power to prevent Estelle from dying.