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“RosĂ©, Ferre, can I read your cards now?”
Helios asked them in a gentle tone.
“Okay.”
“Okay, Hyung!”
RosĂ© and Ferre each answered in small voices while twisting their bodies shyly. RosĂ© hid her face behind one of Helios’ legs, but what’s surprising was that Ferre hid behind Sera’s skirt.
“Hmm?”
‘Not with me, but Sera Popo?”
Helios was quite surprised by Ferre’s action, and so he tilted his head to the side. Also surprised by this, Sera gently looked at Ferre who was hidden behind her.
Helios glanced at Ferre once more as his younger brother continued to behave unexpectedly, but he soon took out Rosé’s card.
The flower that was loosely attached to the card was sticking out crookedly at the side because the folds on it weren’t exactly fitted. The colorful daisies filled the card’s borders, and it was clear that she tried her best to decorate the entire card.
「 Im sOrry that I dun listen
too You everybay and tHat I
alvvaYs play pranꓘs. Im
gonna liSten to You now.
I liꓘe Hali Oppa a lot. 」
The handwriting was crooked and the spelling was all over the place, but it was a very lovely letter.
Rosé waited for Helios to change his expression, and at this, Helios gave Rosé a warm smile while stroking her silver hair that was the same shade as his.
“Oppa likes RosĂ©, too.”
“Yay! Oppa!”
“Hurry and read mine too please!”
Ferre, who was hiding behind Sera’s skirt, suddenly showed his face and asked Helios to look at his card. Meeting Ferre’s gaze, Helios then took out Ferre’s card.
The paper flowers that Ferre made looked more like real flowers compared to Rosé’s since he was more skilled at this task than her, but next to the flowers were a string of swords that didn’t match them.
‘Did you try to draw the sword that I always have with me?’
In the sword drawings, large purple jewels could be seen, just like the one on his sword.
「 Helli HyUng, I hoPe you read
many many pikture bookS to
uS every nite when we Sleep.
HyUng, I love You.
♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡ 」
Seeing his younger brother’s wish about him reading picture books to them every night, Helios burst into delighted laughter as he read the words that really showed Ferre’s personality. It was just like him.
Their words were clumsy, but these were the first handwritten letters that he received from his younger siblings. Impressed by this, Helios thought that it would be okay to read picture books every night just for this.
“Thanks to you and Miss Sera, I got amazing presents. Thank you.”
Helios carefully put the cards that his younger siblings made in his coat pocket as though they were precious treasures. Over Helios’ lips was a beautiful smile.
Ferre pulled at Sera’s skirt before she could even get distracted by that smile.
“Sera, Sera! You also promised to give what you made for Hyung!”
“Ah! That’s right.”
Sera took out a beautifully folded paper flower from her dress’ pocket. It was the same as Ferre’s and Rosé’s, but there was a small pin hanging in the back so that it could be attached to Helios’ clothes over his chest.
“Sera, go and put it on Oppa.”
Flustered by what RosĂ© said, Sera’s body froze up.
She took out the carnation that she made herself, but she didn’t think that she’d put it on him herself.
‘I was just going to tell him how to do it
’
RosĂ© and Ferre didn’t know because they were still young, but how could Sera ever dare to lay a hand on His Majesty the Emperor’s body? It was a very burdensome request.
‘Considering the proper etiquette, wouldn’t it be weird for me to put it on
?’
Sera’s hands, which had lost their way, hesitated and just fiddled with the carnation’s petals. When she tried to just hand over the paper flower to finish giving it to him, Helios instead removed the insignia pin on his left chest.
“Please pin it here, Miss Sera. It’s something you made with my younger siblings after all.”
* * *
Sera, RosĂ©, Ferre and Helios were sitting in a circle at the study of the Star Palace. Sitting opposite of Sera, Helios’s chest boasted of the carnation that she had given him earlier. The red carnation stood out noticeably on his white coat.
Sera pretended that she was fine, but she couldn’t help but glance over there.
‘I didn’t know that His Majesty would really ask me to pin it.’
It was still unbelievable, the fact that she touched his clothes with her trembling fingertips. She was so worried that she’d make a mistake and prick him with the sharp pin, and until the moment she put on the flower successfully, she didn’t breathe.
Without thinking much about it, RosĂ© and Ferre were just excited about the flower they made Sera attach on their brother’s coat. They didn’t know how uncomfortable Sera felt until the very last millimeter of the pin was in place and until she took off her hand.
It was Helios who brought back the absent-minded Sera back to reality. He pointed towards the desk where there were about thirty small wooden boards spread out.
“Heli Oppa! This is Sera’s teaching aide for Imperial language. It’s really fun.”
“Yeah. We were playing a game until Heli Hyung came.”
“Is that so?”
Helios looked curiously and picked up one of the many pieces, smoothing it over with his hands. He felt some grooves on it, and when he looked more closely, there were letters engraved in the front and back.