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“Brother?”
“…But you are not my brother.”
His voice cracked, but sounded pretty much the same as mine.
“Do you have a younger brother? I don’t know if it’s not mine. How do you know?”
“…Because I saw it when my brother died, so he’s not my brother.”
“You two look alike.”
The child squinted at me with those words.
“…I don’t know either.”
Then he turned his head away, as if he didn’t want to talk to me anymore.
“He looks like you when you first came here.”
It was Allen, who added a word all of a sudden.
“What?”
“You sounded like a naughty boy, and you do look like him. I’m sure you’re blood-related.”
At those words, my cheeks and the child’s cheeks flared in an instant.
“No! And I don’t look like her!”
The child screamed as if he were saying he shouldn’t look like me.
“Why? I don’t think you look like me when I saw you for the first time!:
Somehow, I screamed in anger. The Grand Duke got in between us.
“It’s not like this… I think we should find someone who knows all this.”
Our eyes were on him at the same time as he spoke.
“Anyone who would know?”
“Yeah, I think Bebe and that kid are related, but they’re not, so we’re going to Adelaide.”
He nodded loudly for a moment.
“Right! Mom would know! She might be up now!”
“Do you… have a mom?”
The child in front of me frowned at me. He seemed to be freaked out as if there was something I shouldn’t have.
I didn’t know why he was making that facial expression, but I swerved.
“Let’s go to Mom.”
Allen walked ahead in response to my words, but the boy who just looked like me made an uncomfortable expression and followed us.
He followed behind me, contrary to my expectation that he would hate it.
Somehow, I felt strange. It was not enough to meet someone who looked like me, but now he’s following me. Is he really my relative, just like the Grand Duke said? Was he the one who caused my sickness all along?
‘My heart feels strange.’
As if he had noticed what I was thinking, Allen turned his head and smiled foolishly, making eye contact with me as if he were saying ‘Don’t worry’.
Meanwhile, we walked to the room. Theo, who had been guarding the room, opened the door with a slight bow.
“Bebe, are you here?”
In the meantime, my mother was standing up and looking at me.
My mother, who usually sat on the bed, smiled with open arms.
“Yes! Bebe is here!”
For the first time in a long time, my bright mother gently patted my hair when I ran to her.
“Bebe looks happy today.”
“I’m happy my mom woke up.”
“I’m sorry that Mommy always sleeps…”
My mother, who slightly let go of me, looked at me with a sad expression.
“No! It’s good you woke up.”
Now my mom can’t leave until I find a way. She just woke up and calmly pushed her disheveled hair back.
“Are you feeling better?”
In the meantime, the Grand Duke, my pony brother and the child who looked like me came to my mother. That’s when she completely let me go.
“Maybe.”
“Okay. Let me know if you feel uncomfortable.”
“Are you worried about me?”
“I was only worried about… if Bebe doesn’t have a mother, she’d be so sad, so no I wasn’t. Anyway… I have work to do.”
The Grand duke, who was not usually the type to be embarrassed, mumbled and made eye contact with my mother.
“What are you going to do? What are you talking about?”
“Hmm, come on out now.”
Before I knew it, the child poked his head out, as if he was hiding behind the Grand Duke. The child still had untidy hair that covered most of his face, and torn, shabby clothes.
“Let’s take a look at this kid.”
Only then did my mother’s eyes turn to the child. My mother’s face, which had widened eyes, hardened slowly.
I tried to think that my mother wouldn’t know and that there was just a child who looked just like me, but my mother’s expression told me everything.
She knew that kid.