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Raymond, who had been walking around the garden with Lucius for a while chatting about work, finally had a pale face and put a cigarette to his lips.
“Ah, apologies. I cannot hold it anymore.”
It was a tone of embarrassment for not being considerate of Lucius, who had already quit smoking. But knowing already that Raymond, the great smoker, wouldn’t be able to stand it for long, Lucius motioned for him to continue without much fuss.
After puffing out a stream of smoke a few times, Raymond became a little more relaxed.
“When another person smokes in front of me and I have nothing else to do?” He said as he took a cigarette until his cheeks hollowed and then exhaled white smoke. “I don’t think I’ll ever be like you and then withstand the temptation of lighting a cigarette.”
One didn’t have to fill every single moment doing something, but Raymond felt that all smokers had to deal with those moments.
As proof of that, Lucius was plucking branches from a couple of steps away. He understood what Raymond meant as looked down at the grayish branch in his hand, breaking it into splinters.
“Ah, this?”
“Well carry on, I have no intention of disturbing your little branch-breaking hobbies.”
Then Lucius smiled briefly and lowered his hand.
Raymond fell into reminiscence as he looked at Lucius’ side profile.
He had briefly seen Lucius during the long war. After the war was over, Raymond became friends with him in earnest when he was knighted. Others criticized him for starting a friendship only after Lucius’ status was stabilized. But to his defense, the ‘Lucius’ in times of war didn’t have the capacity of communicating effectively with anyone at all.
Raymond recalled his reunion with his sister, Dixie, after last saying he would go to war and devote himself to the Empire. Dixie had shed tears as she embraced her older brother who returned alive after three and a half years.
However, Lucius glanced at Dixie with a seemingly bored expression on his face and, after making eye contact with Raymond behind her, he said to himself:
“Oh, right. I used to do this…”  Then pasted a smile on his face and gently patted Dixie’s shoulder.
After that, no matter how many times they met, Lucius was the same as the moment he returned. He didn’t appear violent, nervous, or anxious, but Raymond could easily find that Lucius’ psyche, like many young men, had been shattered by the war.
He seemed to have forgotten what human society was like. Akin to a child who has to learn everything like how to say hello, when to smile, or what an insult is.
Most of the time, he just sat there stoically.
But when Lucius went to the capital by the emperor’s summons, he had become a completely different person. Conversing became natural, and they acted as if they had never been affected by the war.
Dixie once said:
“He’s back to being my brother from six years ago.”
But Raymond knew better. The man Dixie once knew would not return, and the brother in front of her was someone else entirely or an imitation of who he once was.
Even now, Raymond could see that vacant look on his face from time to time.
Quietly staring at the man breaking a branch in two, Raymond suddenly shook his head. In any case, all of his thinking was futile. One way or another, Lucius was doing his job well and appears to be functioning properly as well.
Raymond spoke, pushing a cigarette butt against a cigarette tray. “I think I need to go see my wife. Our talk about work is almost over, and I can’t leave Deatrice to take care of her forever.”
“Deatrice?” However, Lucius focused more on the fact that he called Deatrice by her name rather than the fact that their brief affair ended in vain.
Raymond could not have imagined that calling her by name struck an unsuspecting nerve in Lucius. He then shed light as to why that was the case, “She allowed me to call her by name.”
“Deatrice did that?” Lucius clarified.
“Ah, she must have forgotten. I definitely asked her to call me Roy.”
“You’re the type of person who would allow a passing dog to call you by that nickname.”
Lucius furrowed his eyebrows as if he was dissatisfied with something, then, conscious of Raymond’s gaze, he relaxed his expression.
Unaware of Lucius’ uncomfortable feelings, Raymond freshly admired the fact that the difference in status with the aloof Deatrice had been bridged.
“That’s right. I never thought the day would come when I would call the Marquess by her name. How did you know it would end like this? When I saw you during balls and banquets, it was always from a distance thinking to myself that the people on that end were all so high and mighty.”
On the other hand, Lucius did not say much.
Raymond looked at Lucius who appeared to be deep in thought as he glanced elsewhere. He gently tapped him on the shoulder.
It wasn’t clear what was the cause of the awkward silence that followed when the word ‘pregnancy’ was mentioned earlier, but Raymond did not dare to imagine that Lucius was the one to reject it.
“Usually, everything is up to you. Spend some time with your wife until evening and then have lunch with me tomorrow.”
“Your food doesn’t taste good.” Lucius complained, then Raymond said with a smirk.
“Don’t you like it this way much more?”
At the end of that undeniable fact, Lucius shook his head and asked, “Can she have lunch with us?”
“Are you talking about Dixie? Lunch is fine. But when the smell of food is too heavy, it becomes difficult for her to bear. In addition, she is particularly sensitive to the meals Philip eats because the nanny puts a piece of fish in it every day. She said it was good for his development.”