By Some Unbelievable Twist, I Became the Villainess’s Older Brother - Chapter 30.2
Enoch sifted through the countless fragments of memory circling in his mind and tried to recall that day. The day of the banquet. House Laochenes had also been invited, and Enoch had entered the palace with his parents.
‘And then, surely…’
Young Enoch had been dressed splendidly and had watched fireworks, leaving him terribly excited. Ignoring what his parents had told him, he played hide-and-seek in the Imperial Palace with friends his age. Then the scent of roses drew him into a certain garden…
‘Ah.’
But it was not his friends he found there. There was a dazzlingly beautiful woman and a strikingly handsome man. Even from a distance, they made an extraordinarily well-matched pair.
…And a child in the shadows watching them with a cold gaze. When that child turned his head, their eyes met.
As Enoch slowly retraced the memory, his eyes abruptly widened.
The child’s face merged in his mind with Adelio’s, who now looked down at him. Until then, Enoch had known Adelio only as an innocent and guileless boy, so the sight had startled him greatly.
‘It was him. He was the child I saw in the palace garden!’
Only then did the pieces begin falling into place. Adelio had suffered after being sent somewhere dangerous, yet the Emperor seemed to cherish him. Even after sending him away, the Emperor kept trying to summon him back to the imperial capital…
Indeed, several days after the First Empress’s birthday banquet, the Emperor had sent Adelio to the west.
Those who witnessed it said the Emperor must disapprove of his half-brother. In response, the Emperor insisted that Adelio’s skills were exceptional and that he believed Adelio could defeat the monsters and strengthen the western people’s faith in the Imperial Family.
Some believed those words and others did not. Most who disbelieved him brought up the First Prince’s recent injury and whispered that Adelio had been removed because he threatened the line of succession.
But if the Emperor truly disliked Adelio, there would have been no need for any of that. He would not have given Adelio the townhouse or sent Haynes and Leo with him. He could simply have killed him instead of sending him west, sent him away without support, or kept him at the palace and raised him as an insignificant idler from the start.
But the Emperor had done none of those things. He had sent Adelio somewhere dangerous, but in doing so, he allowed Adelio to distinguish himself by defeating monsters and win the people’s loyalty.
He also placed a measure of wealth and honor in Adelio’s hands. Thanks to that, even now there were truly few among his peers who surpassed him.
‘Then the Emperor truly sent Adelio west because he cared for him… So why did Adelio go out of his way to avoid returning here?’
At that moment, someone’s voice abruptly passed through his mind.
‘…You will pretend you did not see what you just witnessed. Understood?’
‘Y-yes…’
‘You saw nothing and heard nothing. Do you understand me?’
‘…Yes.’
The young voices of two children rang in his ears. Enoch blinked vacantly.
Two children deep in a dense forest, beneath a luxuriant tree. Young Adelio, his eyes flashing threateningly as he spoke as though issuing a threat… and Enoch himself, nodding through tears.
It was not his imagination. It had truly happened.
Then Adelio, who had been scrutinizing Enoch’s expression, suddenly thrust his face closer.
“It appears you finally remember something.”
Meeting his gaze directly, Enoch nodded slowly.
“…Yes, I remember what happened then. Your Highness told me not to speak of that day’s events to anyone.”
“What is this? So you hadn’t forgotten after all. I thought you would pretend ignorance to the bitter end.”
“…But I don’t remember what you told me not to mention. What was it?”
“Ha. That is the wrong question, Sir Enoch. If I told you not to speak of it then, shouldn’t you know better than to ask me now?”
“But I asked because I truly don’t remember. I only recalled even this much just now. …Do you believe I’m lying?”
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