Chapter 11 - Those Who Ignore Their Good Fortune
****
*Few minutes before Leticia gave Enoch the bracelet.*
“Don’t be nervous and do well.”
El, who had followed Enoch to cheer him on, said while lightly grasping Enoch’s hand. Enoch laughed at El’s somewhat tragic expression.
“If anyone saw you, they would think you were going to take the test, not me.”
“It’s probably because I’m nervous. Anyway, just go and do your best. You definitely have to do your best. And ………..”
El shook her head with a pensive look on her face in the middle of her sentence. Ian, who thought why suddenly his confident sister looked like that, however, he too, had a troubled look on his face and only touched his neck.
“What is it? What’s wrong?” Enoch asked his siblings.
“It’s a gold thread bracelet.” El replied.
“Ah….” Enoch said.
That’s what it was.
It’s a superstition that good things will happen if you wear a bracelet made of woven gold thread, so everyone participating in this entrance exam wore a gold thread bracelet.
Enoch looked casually down at his empty wrist and patted El on the head.
“I already have good luck with your wish.” Enoch said.
El and Ian were sorry that they didn’t have the golden thread bracelet that was supposed to bring good results to give to their brother.
But Enoch told Eel and Ian not to worry.
“I’ll do my best this time.”
He had finally passed the candidate exam, which he failed so many times before, and now there’s only the official entrance exam left. He had to pass unconditionally in order to recover the lost status of his family.
It would be a lie to say if he didn’t feel pressured. But Enoch didn’t have time to sit back and resign.
With a heavy sigh, Enoch looked around surreptitiously. No matter how hard he looked, he couldn’t see the person he was waiting for.
‘She won’t come, will she?’
He was worried about whether he had put too much pressure on Leticia. But soon his worries vanished when he encountered Leticia.
Leticia handed something out to Enoch with a bright smile.
“You can take it if you like?”
It was none other than a gold thread bracelet.
It was a handmade gold thread bracelet, one could not obtain it from anywhere else.
Enoch tried to refuse it, but Leticia smiled and put the bracelet directly on his wrist.
“It looks good on you. I wish you the best of luck.”
Leticia’s gorgeous pink hair swept against the wind, and Leticia smiled as she gently tucked her hair back, keeping her eyes down.
Enoch couldn’t take his eyes off the image before his eyes.
“Thank you.”
Enoch smiled smoothly, looking at the gold thread bracelet on his wrist.
It was nice.
***
After the entrance exam, Levion, who didn’t go back home but unexpectedly visited the Leroy mansion.
Marquis Leroy, who had just returned to the mansion from his long business trip, was puzzled for a while, but he smiled and greeted Levion.
“Well done, Lord Elle.”
“Thank you, Marquis.”
Although the results of the entrance exam had yet to come in, Levion’s ability was in swordsmanship, so there was no doubt that he would pass the exam.
“I hope the food is to your liking.”
“Yes, it’s good.”
People conversed as they ate, but Leticia just nibbled her food quietly.
Then she felt a glance from somewhere, and when she looked up, her eyes met Levion’s.
However, something seemed wrong.
‘…?’
A cold look.
At that moment, she felt cold, as if a cold winter wind swept through her body.
‘What is it?’
Somehow, it didn’t feel good. She wanted the meal to end quickly and be excused. Suddenly, Levion spoke.
“Leticia, may we have a cup of tea in your room?”
“What?”
“I have something to say.”
Everyone’s attention was drawn to Leticia, who nodded obediently, perplexed.
After the meal, they were alone in the room. Leticia grabbed her hands tightly and glanced at Levion.
‘Has there ever been a time when things were this awkward?’
They had been together since they were children. When neither of their abilities was awakened, the time they had given to encourage and comfort each other was longer, and more exceptional than the others.
But the atmosphere right now was more awkward and cold than ever when it was still just the two of them. Unable to bear the heavy silence, Leticia took a sip of her tea.
At that moment, Levion p, who had been watching Leticia, slowly opened his mouth.
“Don’t you have anything to say to me?”
“What do you mean?”
“…”
Leticia widened her eyes and asked. However, Levion’s expression began to harden. It seemed he was somewhat angry.
“You ask because you really don’t have anything to say?”
“Yes…”
“You sent Diana to tell me you couldn’t come, but it seems you have time to fool around with other men.”
“What…?”
“We haven’t broken off the engagement yet, but you’re already flirting with other men.”
“Brother, watch what you say. Don’t insult me.”
“…”
“I’m sure I told you to make an effort to awaken your ability when you have free time.”
As usual, he was not done with the dialogue of the day.
And as usual, Levion could only think sternly, “What are you doing, not making an effort to awaken?”
Leticia took a long exhale to calm herself down and said,
“Please tell me how. How do I do it?”
“Do I have to explain word by words while you just sit and watch?”
“Then brother also knows that you and I are different, don’t you?”
The descendants of the Leroy and Elle families were born, raised, and awakened with abilities. If there was a difference, it was that the Leroy family awakened with a lot of unique abilities, while the Elle family mainly had abilities in terms of academics and knowledge.
“But you can’t just sit still.”
“What do you want me to do when you don’t even try to help?”
“Leticia!”
“Tell me! Tell me how I can wake my ability up!?”
The moment she raised her voice, Leticia felt her eyes burning.
She didn’t want to be angry now, nor did she want to cry.
“Please go back.”
“Leticia.”
“It’s very hard for me to be with brother.”
This situation was so painful and difficult that the sound of her voice ended up drooping.
Leticia, who was tired, stood up and left the room.
She didn’t have the confidence to face him any longer.
As soon as she came out, she was able to breathe properly, just like she finally got up from underwater.
“Hah….”
It was frustrating.
She had been feeling this way for a while now, but it still got to her badly, and when she tried to forget about it, it resurfaced and made her feel suffocated once more.
‘Since when has it been like this?’
She couldn’t remember now.
As Leticia was sighing in the hallway, she felt a presence near her. As soon as she turned to look, she found Diana looking at me strangely.
The moment their eyes met, she had a bad feeling, and Leticia decided to step away.
“Are there really so many ways to embarrass people around you?”
Leticia stopped walking.
“What?”
“What a mess. You didn’t just walk around like this, did you?”
Diana scanned Leticia up and down with her arms crossed. Leticia was offended by the blatant gaze, but she faced Diana calmly.
“What’s wrong with me?”
“Do you call that an outfit?”
Leticia’s attire was beyond ordinary for a young lady of nobility, it looked plain. It was just enough to look neat, but it didn’t meet Diana’s standard.
“What’s this? Where did you pick up this cheap stuff?”
Before she knew it, Diana, who had come right up to Leticia, tapped the neatly tied hair ribbon unpleasantly. At that moment Leticia’s expression darkened.
“Don’t touch it.”
Leticia pushed Diana’s hand away lightly, but Diana just looked at her grimly with displeasure.
“I warned you many times, but why do you keep embarrassing the family?”
Diana purposely tapped Leticia’s hair ribbon harder, and Leticia pushed Diana’s hand away with more force this time.
“Don’t touch it!”
“Then act properly!”
Seeing Leticia dare to push her hand away, Diana couldn’t stand it and pulled Leticia’s hair. At that moment, with the sound of something snapping, the hair ribbon fell to the ground.
Leticia’s expression was dismal as she looked down at the hair ribbon that had somehow become tattered.
“…”
She didn’t know why on earth this was happening to her. She was so frustrated and disappointed that her heart ached.
Leticia suppressed the emotions that were welling up in her neck and tried to pick up the ribbon. But as if she had been waiting for it, Diana stepped on the hair ribbon with her shoe.
“Oh, I’m sorry. I made a mistake.”
“You……………………..”
“It’s a mistake.”
At that moment, Leticia heard something snap in her head.
.
.
.
“Hey! You’re not going to let go? Let me go!”
“I’m not letting go until you apologize!”
While drinking tea in the parlor, Marquis Leroy and Levion heard a noisy sound coming from outside. It was a very familiar voice.
As soon as they realized whose voice it was, everyone went out of the parlor with blank faces.
“What am I sorry for?”
“Don’t you know what you did?”
The noise echoed through the corridor. There were Leticia and Diana, grabbing and pulling each other’s hair.
“What the hell is going on!?”
Leticia and Diana, both startled by the thunderous yell, turned around.
Immediately, Diana, who saw Marquis Leroy, cried and complained of injustice.
“Sister suddenly grabbed my hair…..”
“No. Diana grabbed my hair tie first……..” Leticia pleaded.
“Shut up! How on earth does an older sister fight with your sister!”
When Diana cried with sorrow and held his arms, Marquis Leroy lashed out at Leticia with a fierce voice.
“You can’t do anything right.”
Soothing Diana, who was crying aloud, the Marquis coldly passed Leticia’s side. Later, the other siblings also passed Leticia and left to comfort Diana.
Only Leticia and Levion, who sighed with a complicated expression, remained in the hallway.
“What the hell is going on?”
“…”
“Leticia.”
“It’s nothing.”
Leticia was reluctant to answer at Levion’s urging, but Levion didn’t back down.
“Tell me. Why did you do that?”
“Diana picked on me first.”
“What did you say to her?”
“She said she was ashamed of my appearance, and then she pulled off my hair ribbon.”
While she was talking, her eyes were burning, and she tightly squeezed the ribbon string with the threads sticking out.
It was a string of dark green ribbon.
It was an ordinary ribbon string, available anywhere.
Levion burst into laughter as if he was seeing something funny.
“What’s with this ribbon?”
“…… what?”
“I’ll buy you whatever you want, so make sure to get along with Diana.”
There was a look on Levion’s face as if saying, ‘You’re tiring me out with nothing,’ chilled the blood in Leticia’s body.
“What did you just say?”
‘’What?”
“What did you just say?”
The moment he faced Leticia’s cold, angry eyes, Levion realized that Leticia wasn’t really asking out of curiosity.
“What are you doing with just one string of ribbon?”
“It may be the most ordinary string of ribbon brother can buy at any given time, but it’s not to me.”
“…….”
“I got this string of ribbon as a gift and it is important to me.”
She had forgotten the feeling of having received a gift.
Leticia couldn’t hide her joy because she hadn’t received a gift in a long time, but only given someone gifts. So she fought with her heart as her precious gift got destroyed.
If she knew that the hair ribbon would be ruined like this, she would never have worn it. Instead, she would keep it carefully in a box and treasure it for a long time.
But Levion, who did not understand Leticia, spoke with a sigh.
“So I said I would buy you whatever you want.”
“Do you think I will like what you buy?”
“Leticia.”
“Something from you…”
She felt the edges of her eyes heat up, but Leticia stared straight at Levion and said.
“I don’t want it.”
What would be the point of begging?