I’m Not Doing This With A Friend

I knew that you thought of me as a family, but hearing it in person made me feel different.

I might have run to my Aunt and the Count’s arms.

If it weren’t for the words that came after.

“I’m against it!”

“Erhan?”

The people in the room turned to look at him in bewilderment. He bit his lips nervously and continued.

“It’s true that our Leen is part of our family in a broad sense. But she wasn’t born between mother and our father, like us.”

“What…!”

“I think we have done our best to provide her food, clothing, and shelter.”

The Count’s voice filled with anger echoed through the dining room.

“Erhan!”

“I didn’t say anything wrong! Leen is my Aunt’s daughter, not my father and mother’s!”

The Count sprang from his seat and raised his hand in front of Erhan. Seeing this, my Aunt screamed immediately.

“Honey! Don’t be violent!”

At that moment, as if recognizing what he was trying to do, the Count lowered his hand.

But there was still anger in his eyes.

“I’m very disappointed in you, son. Are you against the adoption just for that reason? If you are genuinely opposed to it, you should give a more plausible reason.”

I was so embarrassed that I couldn’t stand the reason they were fighting.

It was a fight that would not have started if it wasn’t for me.

A deep sense of guilt came over me as I thought I had created a riot in the Count’s family.

In the end, I ran away from the place I was standing.

However, I did not feel any resentment towards Erhan. It was sad, but he only said the very right thing.

Erhan must have had his own reasons for opposing my adoption.

Predictably, Erhan probably felt threatened by me.

The Count and my Aunt were never the ones to discriminate against anything just because I was adopted.

If I became the daughter of the Count, I would be given the same qualifications as Erhan.

For example, the position of successor.

Luca was not interested in the position of a count, and built a barrier to related studies.

Without me, Erhan would have definitely inherited it without a fight for succession.

So, that’s why he must be anxious and repulsive to my adoption.

When my mind was settled to some extent, the Count came to see me.

It was not difficult to predict what he was going to say.

“Leen. I was trying to officially register you to our family. Will you be our daughter?”

The Count must have come to me without being persuaded by Erhan’s opposition.

Because of this, I declined the offer.

I wanted to let Erhan know that I was harmless.

I won’t take his place. I know my position well.

Foolishly…

The Count did not try to persuade or force me to become their daughter.

He respected my choice and asked me to tell him whenever I changed my mind.

I embraced the Count’s arms and answered ‘Okay’. His arms were as warm as those of my late father.

The next day, Erhan gave me a friendly smile as usual.

I thought it was fortunate that the smile hadn’t changed.

On the other hand, however, I felt an unknown sense of incompatibility.

I smiled, pretending to be ignorant of the discomfort. I didn’t want to be hated by him.

So, I smiled like a fool.

✿

Since I left the room, my daily life has changed quite a bit.

Not on paper, but the Count and my Aunt treated me like their own child.

I started studying herbal medicine again in the lab provided by the Count.

On sunny days, I went on picnics with the Count’s family, and sometimes went horseback riding with Erhan.

Luca was attending the academy, so we could only hang out on vacation.

After some time and complete stability, I began to receive several lessons from teachers invited by my Aunt.

My daily life was restored as before in the love of everyone.

It was at the end of the especially long summer that the daily life that I thought would be so full of happiness got messed up.

I went out to buy herbs and bought a bunch of lavender flowers.

It was supposed to be a gift to the people of Count.

It was the first time I was giving something as a gift, so I entered the mansion with excitement and anticipation.

When I heard that Erhan was in the guest room, I headed straight there.

A little thought would have made it easy to understand why he was in the guest room, which meant he was with someone.

Excited, I didn’t give much thought about it.

As I entered the room, I saw a boy with dazzling silver hair and gray eyes.

The boy’s eyes glanced at me as if he felt my gaze.

There was an eerie chill in the air but I thought it suited the boy.

Yeah, until then.

“Le— Leen?”

Erhan’s bewildered voice struck my ear.

Only then did I realize that I had made a mistake and hurriedly bowed my head to the boy and apologized.

“I’m sorry. I was in a hurry and came in without knowing that brother Erhan was with his guest.”

Usually, I spoke of his name, regardless of age difference, but since it was in front of someone else, I decided to side with Erhan.

“…Brother?”

As if something had happened, the silver-haired boy frowned and looked at Erhan.

“Uh-huh. She’s not my real sister, but my cousin who lives with us here at the Count.” Erhan said apologetically, sweating profusely.