The Damn Family Is Back Again chapter 140

140. The Broken Frame (1)

“No, no, no! Don’t get hurt! Don’t get hurt, Carsein…!”

Flora, who was holding my arm and trembling, was spouting nonsense about not getting hurt.

“What’s with this weird behavior?”

I tried to shake off her hand and enter the hotel again, but this kid grabbed my arm once more.

“You’re hurt! Shayden is here. We need to call a doctor…!”

I tried to shake off Flora’s hand again, but this time, she didn’t let go, holding my arm with all her might.

“Shayden! Where are you? Come quickly!”

And then, she started yelling, asking where Shayden was.

I don’t know what kind of misunderstanding she has, but looking at my bloody clothes, I can somewhat understand.

Seeing the bloodstains all over my clothes, it’s no wonder she thinks I’ve been seriously injured. It’s hard to distinguish between the blood flowing inside me and the external bloodstains.

If I leave this alone, things might get complicated.

It’s better to take action before things get messy.

“Hey, kid. This isn’t my blood.”

“What, what…?”

“It’s someone else’s blood. I don’t have any internal injuries.”

I explicitly showed her that there were no bloodstains on my inner shirt, proving that I didn’t have any injuries.

“I’ll say it again, this isn’t my blood. It’s from the outside, and I don’t have any injuries like that.”

“…”

“Okay, done? Now let go of my arm. You little brat.”

But no matter how I said that, Florian didn’t let go of my arm.

“Is it not your blood that I’m tasting?”

What’s coming out of my mouth?

I had already wiped it clean, though…

‘Ah.’

When I touched my lips, I felt a hard, congealed blood clot near my mouth.

It seemed that I hadn’t properly cleaned the wound back then, and an unnoticed injury remained.

“Yes, you’re really hurt! We need to call Shayden…!”

“There’s no need.”

What’s with this guy?

“Compared to what you’ve been through, isn’t this much lighter?”

“…!”

“If you really want to recover from your injuries, then just leave me alone. I don’t want to see more blood here because of you.”

It’s not a lie, it’s true.

▶The distance between Arian and me is closing in.◀

▶Avoid meeting Arian and enter the building.◀

If I stayed still, it seemed clear that I would be discovered by Arian and get hit again, whether it be a slap or a punch.

“…”

Then Florian carefully let go of his grip on my arm, his head bowed.

Why? I thought he would say more, but…

‘No need to think too deeply about it.’

I didn’t hesitate and entered the hotel.

After entering, I immediately grabbed a pen.

To escape this place as quickly as possible.

***

I was in high spirits.

A sunny day, a family outing in the spring – what’s not to enjoy?

Whatever we eat here, it’ll be fun, and whatever conversation we have, it’ll be a fulfilling time.

After the meeting with the 2nd Prince Florence, my little sister Claire left.

Until then, I thought Florian would be able to enjoy the outing without a care.

Carsein, who had promised to join us, was fortunately attending, and said he would take a stroll, so I thought it wouldn’t be a big problem. My little sister would catch up later.

However, Carsein, who had gone for a stroll, didn’t return even after a long time.

Compared to the short time since the meeting ended, even my big sister had to move, and time was passing.

Suddenly, Heron and Shayden arrived, and even Mom went somewhere, making me increasingly anxious.

After a long time had passed, Carsein finally appeared.

I should be happy that Carsein had returned, but Florian wasn’t happy at all.

The appearance he showed before getting on the carriage was different.

His clothes were stained and discolored, entering my line of sight.

A crimson bruise stuck to his lips.

It was as if I saw Carsein’s figure from my dream again.

So, I wanted to take him to Shayden.

Coincidentally, he was with his mother, and if I showed him that figure, he would be cured right away.

However.

Carsein’s heavy words took my breath away.

-Is this something you’ve been tormenting me with, and you think it’s much lighter than that?

Up to that point, I thought it was my own fault.

However.

-If you really want to heal my wounds, just let me go. I don’t want to see more blood here because of you.

The next words were even heavier.

What kind of courage did it take to hold onto Carsein like that? After hearing those words, I had to let him go.

I wanted to say that I wouldn’t do that again.

I wanted to shout that I would study hard and create a medicine to counter Kelvia’s allergy.

My sad heart felt like tears would fall.

I had to let him go.

Like this.

Before long, Carsein entered the hotel.

He went into the hotel, so he would rest well. He wasn’t even his own flesh, so he would recover well.

When Mom comes back, I’ll just tell her that he’s back.

Floara sat on the bench, waiting for Isabella.

But it was little sister Claire who came back first.

“Floara? Why are you alone here…?”

“Un, ni…”

Why was she alone here, and where was everyone else? Claire asked.

She saw the crying youngest sibling and vaguely sensed that Carsein had passed by here.

She quietly hugged her younger sibling.

“Will you tell your sister what happened honestly?”

If it were someone else, she wouldn’t have answered.

She would have just said that Carsein came back to the hotel.

But since it was Claire…

So, she honestly told her everything that happened today.

“Carsein… Ah…! He came back injured. Little sister…”

She waited and waited, but Carsein came back with an injured body. The clothes he had prepared for the photo shoot were stained with blood, and Carsein’s lips were still stuck with a crimson bruise.

She tried to grab his arm, which was still trembling, and take him to Shayden, but she couldn’t reach that far.

There were many things she wanted to say.

Among them, she wanted to show her determination to study hard and create a medicine to cure Kelvia’s allergy for Carsein’s sake and promise to change from now on.

But she couldn’t.

She might make the wounds worse if she kept acting like this, so she let Carsein go.

“That’s right.”

Gently stroking the small back that had entered the room, Claire consoled Flora.

It was a bitter result, but she believed in herself and told the whole truth without omission.

“…I’m the same, Flora.”

She wanted to say something.

She wanted to say that she had spoken carelessly at Rusmaeyer and that, unlike Arsien, she couldn’t handle it properly.

The problem between the Shatren territory and the Rilfeton Earl’s family was largely her fault, and she wanted to reveal this fact to clear up the misunderstanding between the two sides.

She wanted to talk about everything, from the small things to the big ones that had blown out of proportion.

So, as Claire, she had to respond to this.

There was a bad guy who had tormented Karcein today.

He was a trash who would even tell lies to frame others, and she had announced that she would refute his lies and punish him properly.

She reassured Flora that Karcein hadn’t been hurt much in the process.

As the conversation progressed, Flora’s expression gradually relaxed.

“Fortunately… Karcein must have been very angry?”

“…”

“If he gets angry and leaves like this, what do we do? What about the portrait…”

At the mention of the portrait, Claire’s lips trembled slightly.

Yes. She had to tell that story too.

From noble mtl dot com

This wasn’t something to be overlooked.

“Flora, I… no, our family has committed a great wrong against Karcein, so… it’s better to give up the family portrait.”

“Why, why? We’ve come this far, and there are still a few days left. If Karcein’s anger subsides, we can draw it then…!”

“No. That’s not possible.”

Karcein’s anger would never subside.

Never.

“Flora, do you remember when we came to the spring outing a long time ago?”

Claire began to tell the story with a sad expression.

Not just her, but the whole ducal family.

The story of how they had tried to treat Karcein as not part of the family.

***

“What’s going on?”

Heron and Shayden had come to deliver the urgent news.

Isabella had hastily moved to a different location, preparing for any unexpected situation, but due to the crowd of people who had come for the outing, they were only able to deliver the news now.

“It seems that the madam didn’t notice at all.”

The two of them secretly lamented.

They had come to this place for the spring outing before, so it was possible that some memories might remain. They had maintained a positive outlook until the end.

However, Isabella showed no signs of this.

Not even the other sisters had noticed, which made it the worst possible situation.

If things continued like this, Karcein’s wounds would never heal, and his heart would remain closed.

Before things reached an uncontrollable state, they had to awaken him to the truth.

“Madam, first, let’s hear what Heron has brought…”

“You haven’t changed a bit, madam.”

Shayden was about to continue the conversation, but Heron changed the subject. It wasn’t what they had agreed on beforehand.

-Tap tap.

“Hey!”

Shayden poked Heron’s side.

Originally, they were supposed to slowly reveal what had happened that day to Isabella, while showing her the portrait in the frame that was in front of Carsein’s room.

The portrait in the frame was torn, proving Emma’s guilt.

Carsein was the only one who received this frame, unlike her other sisters.

Finally, they had to inform Isabella that this frame was hidden in a place where it was almost never seen in the ducal household.

By comparing the current situation to the past, they wanted to guide Isabella to realize that the same thing was happening again.

“Do you really think of Carsein as your son?”

Heron was trying to divert the conversation from the start.

It couldn’t go on like this.

They already had a heavy burden of risk, and they couldn’t afford to make mistakes.

Shayden immediately asked Heron to retract his statement and continued to answer instead.

But…

Looking into the eyes of his old friend, he could see that Heron was furious.

“…It wasn’t about putting the button in a different place.”

It seemed that Heron had never intended to tell the story from the beginning.

He only wanted to convince madam, and he had a valid reason to do so. There was no mention of what had happened, but…

Shayden decided to wait quietly.

“Heron, you said you had urgent news to tell me.”

“That’s right, madam.”

“If you’re worried about Carsein, don’t worry. I’ll finish my walk and come back soon. I’ll take the urgent news into consideration.”

Then, Heron asked Isabella, who was about to leave, with a stern expression.

“It’s a story that’s only a few months old, but do you remember, madam? The total number of letters sent to Carsein was different.”

“…Why is this coming up now.”

Isabella turned around, looking puzzled.

Heron didn’t hesitate to give her a sharp rebuke.

“The current situation is no different from back then, madam.”