“The maids say otherwise. Even if he’s your friend’s little brother, Ronald is at the age where people can start talking. He may not be an adult yet, but he’s not a child either. He should know what’s wrong.”
“But Ronald was trying to show me something,”
Sophia said. At her words, a bit of color returned to Ronald’s face. He lifted his head and gave the Count a small nod.
“Then go ahead and bring it. What is it you want to show?”
The Count still sounded doubtful. Ronald hesitated, then looked at Sophia, as if asking for permission.
She didn’t know what he was planning to show either, but she nodded anyway.
Ever since they were young and she visited Solid’s estate, Ronald was either overly cheerful or too timid. Most of the time he was energetic, but whenever he was quiet, it was usually after being scolded by the adults.
After seeing that side of him, Sophia once suspected that Count Medecia might be hitting him. Later, it turned out not to be true, but for a while, she treated Ronald with extra care during her visits.
Ronald had been confused by her kindness at first but soon got used to it. Whenever he was questioned by adults, he would always look to Sophia first. When she nodded, he seemed to gather the courage to speak more easily. Even though it had been a long time since they’d seen each other and things had grown awkward between them, Sophia was a little surprised that Ronald still looked to her the same way.
After she nodded, Ronald seemed to gain a bit of courage and said he’d go get what he had planned to show.
“Then go on,”
the Count said, giving permission. Ronald bowed and left the room.
While he was gone, silence filled the parlor. Solid sat like a criminal, and Sophia sat slightly slouched, feeling nauseous.
Then, a short scream from a maid rang out.
“Young Master Medecia! Where are you taking that?”
“You’re not really bringing that into the parlor, are you?”
Amidst the noise, Ronald’s cheerful voice responded.
“The Count told me to bring it.”
The door burst open again, and Ronald threw something onto the floor.
Thud.
In the quiet room, the object landed on the carpet.
“……”
It was the corpses of two birds. Severely rotted, stinking terribly, crawling with bugs.
Everyone stared in stunned silence, unable to believe what they were seeing.
“Ugh.”
Solid was the first to gag and ran to the window. The Count, snapping out of it, shouted in anger.
“What is the meaning of this! The very idea of giving this to my daughter is an insult! What’s the meaning of this?”
Two decayed bird corpses.
If interpreted, it could be seen as a great offense to the Duke and Sophia’s engagement. The Count, who was used to reading meaning into things, was understandably furious.
Ronald stammered like a child, trying to explain.
“I… I didn’t mean anything by it. I just wanted to show this to Sophia. I… found it in the tree. Sophia wasn’t wrong.”
In truth, the Count was being far too harsh on Ronald, who was only seventeen.
“What do you mean by that?”
Felix, who had stayed calm, asked. The Countess waved to the servants to open the windows.
As the servants rushed around trying to air out the smell, Ronald tried to explain.
“There really was a dead animal outside Sophia’s window. So what she said about smelling something wasn’t wrong. Sophia isn’t strange.”
He looked firmly at Solid. Solid blushed, covering his nose with a handkerchief, and turned back to the window.
Only then did everyone understand what Ronald had meant.
Ronald had searched the tree to prove that Sophia wasn’t imagining things. When he found the bird corpses, he was so happy to prove her right that he brought them in, which caused the misunderstanding.
The Count’s expression finally softened. Embarrassed at his outburst, he cleared his throat and ordered the servants to remove the corpses and clean the carpet.
“No one thinks Sophia is strange, even without all this,”
Felix said. Ronald seemed to disagree and muttered, “But…”
At that moment—
“Wait.”
Anita, who had been silent the whole time, stepped forward. She bent down and carefully looked at the bird corpses before speaking.
“It doesn’t seem like these birds are what caused the smell Sophia noticed. They haven’t been dead that long. Maybe three or four days. But Sophia said the smell started over a week ago.”
Anita, who always liked clear facts, calmly pointed it out. Ronald could only pout and say, “So… I was wrong?”
“They’re badly hurt. Looks like someone tortured them. Maybe they fled to that tree and died there not long after. The wounds look like they were done on purpose.”
Without flinching, Anita analyzed the corpses. The Countess, unable to take the sight any longer, signaled a servant to clean up everything, including the carpet, and then left the room.
The Count, still annoyed, gave a sharp warning to Solid before leaving.
“Whatever the reason, the fact remains that you tried to enter a young lady’s room before the engagement. I won’t make this a bigger issue for the sake of the long friendship between you and the Medecia family. But I hope you say something firm to your brother.”
Solid nodded with a pale face. Ronald still clung to Anita, repeating, “So I was wrong?”
Sophia didn’t feel disappointed—because she hadn’t expected anything.
With a sick feeling in her stomach, she stood for a moment holding the armrest of the sofa. Then, by chance, she made eye contact with Solid.
Instead of an apologetic or awkward look, Solid gave her a cold, unreadable stare, then grabbed Ronald’s hand and pulled him out of the room.
Sophia felt a strange chill inside her chest and placed her hand over her heart to steady herself.
Ronald was sitting in a gazebo near the western garden—one of the places Sophia used to hide when she was younger. He was snapping a twig he must’ve picked up from somewhere.
Sophia let out a sigh and approached him.
“You were here?”
Ronald’s hand paused, but he didn’t lift his head. Like a sulking child, he went back to breaking the twig casually.
“I’m not going to apologize. My teacher said not to apologize when you’re just trying to find the truth.”
“Who said that?”
“My teacher.”
Ronald pouted. He was talking about Sir Neil St. Johnson, the tutor who was fired after three months. Sophia remembered him well, mostly because Solid hated him so much.
“Ronald practically worships that weirdo. I think he’s just insane. The guy used to be an advisor to the royal family in Scotfield, but we should’ve known something was off. My mom’s the type to like anyone with a royal background. But think about it—why would a royal advisor end up tutoring a count’s son? Obviously something was wrong with him!”
Neil St. Johnson looked decent enough, maybe just a little strict. But Sophia didn’t like him, mostly because Solid disliked him. She only saw him a few times but remembered thinking he looked somewhat shady.
Now that she thought back on it, she realized how arrogant and narrow-minded she had been.
“You mean Sir Johnson?”
Sophia asked. Ronald looked up in surprise.
“How did you know?”
“Solid told me you liked him.”
Disappointment spread across Ronald’s face.
“Then you probably didn’t hear anything good. You didn’t like him. I think it was just his face you didn’t like. You sometimes do that—you judge people at first glance. If I weren’t your brother, you might’ve thought I was weird and disliked me too.”
“Did Solid scold you?”
If Ronald had ears like a dog, they would’ve drooped by now. He nodded and pouted again.
“He said I dishonored both myself and Sophia. That I might’ve seen her in her nightgown. But I swear I didn’t see anything. It was bright outside and dark inside the room.”
