Chapter 78 : Reason for Running

“You left so suddenly, I missed you so much.”

Natalia smiled at her brother, who spoke in a slightly sultry tone.

After taking a break, Natalia and Fritz sit side by side on a bench in the courtyard, reunited for the first time in a long time.

“Fritz. How did you get here..?”

“Father told me. He says my sister works here.”

“..yes. Did you come alone?”

She already knows the answer, but she still dares to ask.

Sure enough, Fritz shook his head from side to side.

“Father sent me here. He said it’s a little far and was worried about me going alone. Father is waiting for me outside.”

I knew it.

Natalia bit her lip.

Is father going to use Fritz this time?

The Reinalpha family told her that they had given her father a substantial amount of money in order to get him to sign her expulsion papers.

But from the looks of it, that money has probably already been spent.

No, it’s too soon for that.

Maybe they came up with the idea of using Fritz as a last ditch effort, since they would no longer be able to touch Natalia after the official notice was given.

At any rate, if Natalia would come back voluntarily, she would not have to pay back the money they had received from the Marquise.

Natalia exhaled quietly as her father’s intentions became transparent.

It was true that he was concerned about Fritz, after all.

Even though he would not be treated like Natalia because he was the heir to the viscount’s throne, it was his sister Natalia whom he admired the most.

Naturally, Natalia also cares for her brother, even now that she has left the registry.

Once this brother looked at her with tearful eyes, her guilt was undeniably aroused.

“Hey, sis. Why don’t you come home all this time? I asked Father, but he wouldn’t tell me.”

“..Fritz. You know, your sister’s house isn’t there anymore.”

Natalia opened her mouth, wondering how she could make him understand.

Previously, his father, Viscount Olsen, himself came to the hospital and caused a commotion.

Fortunately, he was immediately stopped by the hospital guards. Furthermore, he was given a bride by the Reinalpha family, which made him more quiet.

Fritz, not knowing this, lowers his eyebrows sadly at Natalia’s words.

“If you had a fight with Father, I will apologize to you. So, sister, please come with me..”

“Thanks, Fritz. But..”

Fritz’s trusting eyes were unbearable because he didn’t know anything about the situation.

So she dared not hear his brother’s words to the end, but interrupted him mid-sentence.

“I am no longer a member of the Olsen family. Everything has been done and all I have to do is wait for the notice to come.”

“Eh..”

Fritz blinks his eyes.

It was probably too much to confide everything to a nine-year-old, but considering that her brother was being successfully used by her father in this way, she couldn’t help but talk to him to some extent.

“I’m going to be a commoner. And I’m going to work by myself.”

Fritz’s eyes widened.

“Umm..what does it mean? Will my sister stop being my sister..?”

“On paper, yes, but that doesn’t change the fact that you are your sister’s little brother. “

Fritz’s eyes flicker violently, probably due to his bewilderment.

Tears began to well up in his eyes.

“What’s wrong? Sister, you don’t like us..?”

Natalia shook her head in panic.

“No way. How could I not like Fritz?”

“Then why?”

Natalia’s heart ached and sadly lowered eyebrows.

Yes, truly.

Natalia’s father knows Natalia’s weak spots.

But I can’t give in here.

Even if I decided to leave here, I would not be able to live with Fritz.

“Your sister loves Fritz. That will never change. But she can’t live in that house anymore.”

“..I don’t like that.”

Tears trickled down from Fritz’s eyes.

“Father said that my sister was being stubborn, so he told me that I should pick her up and bring her back”

“That’s..”

Natalia was speechless.

As Natalia hesitates, Fritz then opens his mouth again.

“I want to be with my sister..”

“..Fritz.”

Natalia hugged her brother, whose teardrops had already fallen down.

If she told him what happened, he might be more saddened, but..

Natalia opened her mouth with her determination.

Of course, there are more stories that cannot be told, including regressions. Nevertheless, she can still tell him about the expulsion procedure and the accompanying story of the support she is receiving from the Marquise of Reinalpha.

And that part of the money that has already been given to the Viscounts Olsen.

And another thing.

“..my sister is going to be a second wife..?”

“Yes. It was about two months ago. Your father was here once. He told me that he had a marriage proposal with a man named Count Gimlouis.”

“Um, sister?”

Fritz opens his mouth hesitantly.

“You said he had a wife before, right?　But why? My sister is only eighteen..”

“He says he’s sixty-five over there.”

Natalia’s mouth twisted sadly.

“Sixty···”

Fritz moved his mouth in disbelief.

“The Marquis of Reinalpha must have given quite a bit of money when they asked him to sign the papers. I wonder if it’s already gone.”

“Sister..”

Fritz clung to his sister with trembling hands. Natalia gently patted his back.

“After my sister left, my father and mother started buying food and clothes as they pleased. They even bought me new clothes..”

Having said that much, Fritz stopped speaking once.

“..so that money was all thanks to you, sister. But our father wasn’t satisfied with that.”

“..”

“Is that why father sent me here?”

Natalia bit her lip.

Fritz’s shoulder in her arms was shaking.

“Father said.. if I asked you to come back, I’m sure you would.”

“..”

“That’s why he told me to pick you up.”

“..Fritz..”

“But if my sister comes home for me, I’m sure she’ll soon..”

“..yes. I think I’m going to marry the Count soon.”

“..such a thing.”

Once more, Fritz’s body trembled violently.

Sorry, Fritz.

I really wish I could have left home with you.

Natalia hugged her brother’s back tightly.

It was then.

“..?”

From the corner of Natalia’s vision, a man appeared.

They didn’t get to see much of each other. But it was a face that Natalia recognized in her own way.

Why are you here?

No, it would not be surprising if he was here. After all, this is a hospital.

But Natalia was talking to Fritz on a bench in the courtyard.And then she saw the man in the direction where the service entrance used by the staff is near the backyard where Natalia had just hung the sheets.

He proceeds to the hallway, looking around warily.

“..I’m sorry, Fritz. Can you wait here for a minute?”

She desperately suppressed her voice from trembling and showed a smile.

But even so, it seems that she couldn’t hide her unnaturalness. Fritz looked up at his sister anxiously.

“I’ll be back soon. I’ll be right back. I just forgot I had to talk to the hospital staff for a minute.”

Fritz hesitated for a moment and then nodded his head.

Seeing this, Natalia patted her brother on the head and then turned to the hospital wing.

She looked back once before she was out of her brother’s sight and waved reassuringly.

Then, turning a corner, Natalia ran at full speed, paying no attention to her surroundings.

I had a bad feeling about this.