Volume 3 Chapter 30 Holidays For Each： Stefan Bernard
When he met Lydia, he felt like he had to protect this sad but cute and dear person.
He thought he needed to take care of Lydia, who seemed to have lost her emotions somewhere.
The Head Priest didn't want Stefan to go to the Rest Temple.
So, he called Lydia to the castle as much as he could.
He made sure Lydia, who hadn't been eating well, had something to eat.
He looked for things that Lydia liked while she was confused by all the new things she was seeing.
They read books, went to plays, and he told her all kinds of stories.
"I have 2 younger sisters. Emilia is the same age as Lydia, and Anna is 2 years younger."
"I have a sister too. Sir Stefan, are you close with your sisters?"
"Yeah. Emilia and Anna are both kind-hearted. When Anna was born, our mother passed away... Anna doesn't have any memories of her. Emilia was also not well when our mother was pregnant with Anna, so she doesn't have many memories of being close to her either."
"The queen... has passed away, right?"
"Yes, she has... but I think she was happy to have given birth to and protected Anna. Our father is busy, and our mother is gone. I've tried to take care of Emilia and Anna like a mother."
Lydia didn't talk much on her own.
She wasn't used to speaking.
So, if he asked her too many questions, it seemed to tire her out.
Instead, when he met Lydia, he often shared his own stories while they were eating, taking a relaxing walk in the garden, resting in the gazebo, or reading together in the library.
While talking, he realized he hadn't really shared much about himself either.
His mother had passed away, and he had 2 young sisters.
His father, Zeere, was busy and didn't come around much to the palace where they lived.
Even though it was a peaceful life in the palace, he thought it must have been lonely for his sisters.
"Are you trying to be a mother for them, Sir Stefan?"
"Yeah. Does that sound strange?"
"I think it's really nice. Hehe, mother..."
When Lydia laughed happily and kept saying "mother," he felt a mix of embarrassment and a sweet feeling in his chest.
To 16-year-old Stefan, Lydia was still just a 13-year-old girl, and he didn't see her as a romantic interest, but he felt a kind of affection like family.
But──.
"I don't have a mother either. Sir Stefan, we're the same. It's lonely without a mother. ...Being alone is lonely. Were you lonely too, Sir Stefan?"
"...No, I──."
"I feel like I'm not lonely when I'm with you, Sir Stefan."
"...I might have been lonely for a long time. When I'm with you, I don't feel lonely either. I like seeing you smile, cry when you hear sad stories, and get angry."
"You like it when I cry or get angry? But crying and getting angry aren't good things."
"Crying and getting angry aren't bad. It's good to express your feelings."
"Sir Stefan gets angry a lot."
"Does it seem that way?"
"Yes."
"Is it scary?"
"It's not scary. It's good for you to get angry, and it's good for me to get angry too. We're the same."
He found Lydia, who slowly shared her feelings as if confirming something important inside her, to be dear to him.
He thought, 'I will protect Lydia.'
And someday, when they were older, they would become a couple that everyone envied, just like his father and mother, who were said to be very close.
When he was young, he thought he had to protect his sisters, and as he grew up, he felt like he had to protect this big, fluffy thing called the country.
That's how he had lived his life. For Stefan, Lydia was the first person he felt he needed to protect, and the first one he opened up to and shared his feelings with.
But that peaceful time, which seemed like it would last forever, was suddenly taken away.
On the night of the dinner party, the Head Priest Feldur brought Francois to the castle.
That day, Stefan's father suddenly got very sick.
His face turned pale, he was sweating a lot, and he said he didn't feel well, so he went back inside the castle and collapsed on his bed.
He didn't look okay at all.
They called the doctor, but they couldn't figure out what was wrong.
Stefan laid Zeere down in his room and tried to go back to the big hall for the dinner party.
The king's strange behavior would upset everyone. He wanted to at least pretend to be normal to keep the panic to a minimum.
As he walked through the hallway, confused about what was happening, Francois appeared silently from deep inside the castle and said he had cast a curse of death.
Then, the holy sword that Stefan had inherited from Zeere was taken away, and Stefan was controlled by Francois──by Famine.
"I'm such a loser."
His memories from the time he was controlled are a bit fuzzy, but he hasn't forgotten everything he did to hurt Lydia.
He remembers the terrible things he said to her, his bad attitude, her hurt face, and the big tears in her eyes.
For those years when he wasn't himself, and now that he has gotten himself back──who exactly is Stefan Bernard? While he was under Famine's control, he acted like a tyrant in the castle.
Those actions don't just disappear.
He was spoiled at Lydia's shop, wanting to be close to her even though he shouldn't have been.
Just yesterday, he got so drunk that he had to be carried back to the castle.
Holding his aching head from a hangover, Stefan sat on the couch in his room, feeling overwhelmed.
He felt sick.
His head was spinning.
Memories of Lydia kept flashing in his mind, and thinking about the time he lost made him want to scream.
The fact that he hurt Lydia and that he can't get back the time he had with her──it's painful.
But he knows he doesn't have time to just suffer and regret.
"Lydia..."
She had grown so beautifully.
If things had gone right, they would have already been married and living a peaceful life together.
But Lydia, who used to rely only on him, was no longer there.
Now, there were many people around her, and there were beast-like men who thought of her as a prize, waiting for their chance. It made him want to tear his throat out thinking about what he had done.
There's so much he needs to do, yet he got drunk.
That's just crazy.
Still, he couldn't help but drink.
Last night was especially bad.
He thought he needed to be more careful from now on.
To get back what he lost, he couldn't show himself as weak.
He had to become king in place of Zeere.
And he wanted Lydia to see that──he wanted her to understand that he was a fake who had hurt her.
"Elder Brother!"
"Brother!"
The door was knocked on gently, and when he answered, Emilia and Anna rushed into the room and ran to Stefan.
"Elder Brother, I heard you're back to normal...!"
"I came with Anna to check if the brother who bullied Lyd-Lyd is really gone."
"Elder Brother, you look terrible. How can you be a king like this?"
"I heard you got so drunk in town that you had to be carried by the Lord Ciel."
"You two... it feels like it's been a while. ...You've both grown so much."
Emilia, even though she's a girl, is dressed like a boy because she dreams of being a knight.
Anna, on the other hand, is dressed in a fluffy dress and is very feminine, but she's strong-willed and speaks her mind.
"This feels like talking to a relative instead of my Elder Brother. Elder Brother, Elder Sister Emilia...!"
"That's true. This weird old vibe feels like my big brother."
Emilia and Anna looked at each other and nodded.
Then they both asked, "Did you apologize to Lyd-Lyd?" "Is Lyd-Lyd doing okay?" Seeing his unchanged and familiar little sisters made Stefan feel a bit relieved, and he almost started to cry again.
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