Chapter 1

Romian became a widow. She was only twenty-five years old.

* * *

Her husband’s funeral was modestly conducted. As if proving the deceased’s eccentric temperament during his lifetime, the number of mourners could be counted on one hand.

“Tsk. A widow at such a young age.”

“She got married as if she was sold to an old husband, so what can she do? It’s something you brought on herself.”

“How do you know? She might be rejoicing on the inside, considering how well he departed from this world.”

By now, such banter had become familiar. When Romian had decided to marry a man well over forty, her age of just twenty was bound to attract comments about the age difference.

Moreover, Romian’s husband was physically disabled. In fact, for Romian, the term ‘marriage’ didn’t entail becoming a man’s wife. Rather, the term ‘caregiver’ seemed more appropriate.

The past five years of marriage. She took care of her husband, who was not well, with utmost care, but his temper became crankier day by day. He often overturned the table or threw things at Romian, saying he didn’t like the meal she prepared hard for. Her living expenses were also not paid properly, so she had a lot of trouble making ends meet.

Standing there with a dazed expression on her face, Romian looked like a delicate flower. She was too beautiful to be called a widow. Her silver hair shimmered brilliantly, and her eyes were a shade of purple that hinted at a touch of red. People sent her a mixture of disdain and sympathy in their gazes.

Romian wasn’t particularly saddened by her husband’s death. The fact that she no longer had to deal with her husband’s inconvenient behaviors brought relief to her.

She didn’t have to face her husband’s grimacing face as he complained about the tasteless meals anymore. There wouldn’t be the nightly chore of tending to his bare chest, soothing him until he fell asleep.

“You’ve done well, Romian.”

The night she came back from her husband’s funeral. It was the first words from her mouth, which was tightly closed. You did a great job. You really did a great job. She consoled herself for a long time.

As soon as she took off her mourning clothes, Romian cleaned up all the shops her husband had been managing. After sorting out the assets he left behind that could be converted into cash, She looked for a new house to move into.

She was going to leave for the border town. Hide herself where no one recognized her. She also dreamed of forgetting everything and starting anew there.

But before that, Romian had one obligation. It was now a lifelong guilt.

Sitting at a sunny window table, Romian picked up an ink pen. The ink on the parchment paper soon became neat.

[Looking for a younger brother who was lost 20 years ago]

Tears flowed down Romian’s white cheeks every time she pressed it down.

“Eric, where the hell are you…”

Eric Belderk. It was the name of her brother, whom she lost 20 years ago. The face of a three-year-old boy, who was smiling brightly, was still vivid in her memory.

Romian, who tried to wipe away the tears with the back of his hand, calmly wrote down. In order to write to the newspaper that she was looking for her younger brother, she tried to bring up her childhood memories.

It was the day of the village festival that she lost her brother. She wanted to see the fireworks so much that she woke up Eric who fell asleep and left the house without their parents knowing. Until then, Romian had not expected to lose Eric.

Red, blue, green. Romian was mesmerized by the sight of colorful fireworks beautifully embroidered in the sky. Because she had never seen such a beautiful sight in her life.

When she suddenly came to her senses while looking at the fireworks as if possessed, she realized that the hand holding Eric was empty. Unknowingly, she let go of her younger brother’s hand. That was the last of her little brother that Romian remembered.

After that, the house has been in a mess. The parents gave Romian a good scolding. Then, immediately, they reported the disappearance to the police and distributed leaflets throughout the village. Giving up her livelihood, she set out to find Eric, but even after many years, she couldn’t even find out if her younger brother was alive or dead.

The night when she took her younger brother to the festival was left as a lifelong regret for Romian. She prayed to God that she would do anything if he could return her brother, but it was all useless.

That’s how 20 years passed. The parents closed their eyes without seeing Eric’s face again. Every night, Romian met her late parents in her dreams. They shed bloody tears as they looked at their first daughter, who considered herself a sinner.

After writing down all the stories about losing her younger brother, she folded the parchment paper finely and put it in the letter envelope. It was not until she enclosed a donation for the newspaper that Romian put her hands together and prayed.

‘God help me find Eric this time.’

* * *

“How can you prove that you are my brother?”

Romian’s eyes looking up at the man were full of doubts. Since she wrote that she was looking for her younger brother, there have already been several men who appeared, calling themselves “Eric Belderk.”

People who look nothing like Eric and insisted that they were her younger brother. Even that was not enough, some of them were older than Romian. They looked down on the widow living alone and openly tried to cheat.

However, the man who came to see her today had a somewhat similar appearance to Eric. He had the same silver hair color as Romian and even the same features that reminded her of her late father. His appearance closely resembled the last image of Eric that she remembered.

Due to the poor family circumstances, She couldn’t leave a single portrait of her younger brother, so recognizing her younger brother had to rely only on Romian’s faint memories. Even her parents, who gave birth to the brother and sister, were no longer in the world, so she was the only one who could recognize Eric Belderk.

“Can this be proof?”

Just then, the man smiled and handed her an old and worn handkerchief. It was a handkerchief embroidered with the name Eric Belderk.

“It’s…”

“It’s something I’ve had since I was young.”

Romian’s eyes grew bigger. Because that handkerchief was made by her mother on Eric’s birthday. Watching her embroider step by step, young Romian would always admire her mother’s skills.

Romian’s white hands trembled with the handkerchief.

“W, wait here for a moment.”

Romian walked into the house with the man standing outside the door. Toward the kitchen, she rummaged through a small drawer of the table. And at last, she could find the same handkerchief that the man had. In the same handwriting, her name ‘Romian Belderk’ was embroidered.

Maybe ten minutes passed. Romian left the house with a blank face. The man outside her door was smoking a cigar, and when he saw her come out, he stomped on the cigar with his foot. Even the appearance was so foreign that Romian’s fine brows were wrinkled. In her memory, Eric was a child with timid and obedient eyes, so it was only natural that she would not adapt to his present robust appearance.

When Romian still couldn’t stop her suspicious gaze, the man smiled again. Indented dimples were considered harmless. Wait, did Eric have dimples?

A man claiming to be Eric continued to talk to Romian, who had been preoccupied for a while.

“If you really don’t believe me, you can do a blood test.”

“…”

Blood tests using magical tools cost a lot of money and time. No matter how much property her husband left, she couldn’t afford to pay the huge cost.

“On the day of the festival, Eric and I had a promise…”

“Promise?”

“Do you remember what that promise is?”

When she wrote to the newspaper, she described in detail how she lost her brother, but she kept a few things secret. Romian and Eric, a story that one would never know unless they were involved. That was the only clue that could find the real Eric.

“Promise… It’s a promise.”

The man couldn’t answer easily. Then, disappointment spread quickly on Romian’s face.

“You don’t remember.”

“Ah… Is this it? ‘If you lose your sister, come to the place where the guardian tree of the village is, Eric.’”

“…!”

“I’ll be waiting there.”

Romian’s purple eyes were full of water when she heard it. Soon, her slender shoulders began to shake greatly.

“Oh, my God…”

As soon as Romian realized that she had lost Eric, she ran straight to the meeting place. In the center of the village, it was the place where the guardian tree was located. She waited for Eric to come there, but he didn’t come back.

“I’m sorry I couldn’t go to the meeting place at that time.”

“E, Eric…”

Romian jumped straight into Eric’s wide arms. Eric, who eventually hugged her, hardened his body for a while, but soon comforted his sister’s slender shoulders.

“Eric, I’m so sorry… I’m so sorry… I shouldn’t have let go of your hand then……! Wah!”

“It’s all right, sister. We met again like this.”

“Huh… I missed you so much, Eric.”

“I missed you too, Romian.”

The two siblings, who were reunited after 20 years, embraced each other for a long time.