Miguel visibly relaxed after the noblewoman disappeared into the crowd without causing any trouble. The tension that had been lingering on his face since Hana spoke to her finally faded, and he let out a quiet breath of relief.
Then he immediately turned toward Hana with a serious expression, looking every bit like an older brother preparing to teach an important lesson.
"Hana, you should not speak with strangers like that."
Hana blinked innocently and tilted her head in confusion. "Why?"
Miguel lowered his voice dramatically as though he was about to reveal some profound truth about the world.
"Because they are bad people."
Hana looked genuinely confused by the answer. She glanced toward the direction where the noblewoman had disappeared before looking back at Miguel.
"B-but... she looked nice."
Miguel immediately shook his head.
"You cannot judge people by their faces," he said firmly. "Just remember what I told you."
The little girl still looked unconvinced, but after hesitating for a moment, she finally nodded obediently.
"Okay."
A satisfied expression immediately appeared on Miguel's face.
"Good girl."
Miguel looked satisfied after Hana finally agreed, but as his gaze shifted toward me, the expression on his face immediately changed.
"And you..." he said while pointing a finger toward me. "Do you have a death wish?!"
I looked at him in complete confusion. "Huh?"
Miguel glanced around briefly before lowering his voice, though the frustration in his expression remained obvious.
"Why were you looking at her like that?" he whispered harshly. "Do you have any idea who she was? She could have killed you if she took offense."
"What do you mean 'like that'?" I asked innocently. "I just looked at her normally."
Miguel stared at me for several long seconds as though trying to determine whether I was genuinely serious or simply pretending.
Eventually, he lowered his head and let out a long, exhausted sigh.
"This could have been our last night festival," he muttered.
The dramatic way he said it immediately made both Hana and me burst into laughter.
Hana giggled so hard that she nearly dropped the sweet she was holding, while I could not stop the smile spreading across my face.
Seeing Miguel's increasingly defeated expression only made it even harder to stop laughing. His face looked as though he had somehow become the only sensible person among a group of idiots, which only made the entire situation funnier.
Eventually, after our laughter finally began to subside, I reached over and lightly grabbed Hana's hand before starting to walk away through the crowded street.
"Come on, Miguel," I said over my shoulder. "If you keep standing there sulking, Hana and I are going to leave you behind."
Hana immediately giggled at my words and tightened her grip on my hand as though she was fully prepared to abandon her brother.
Miguel stared at the two of us in disbelief. "You two are terrible."
Neither of us paid any attention to his complaint and simply continued walking. Seeing that we were actually leaving, Miguel quickly hurried after us while letting out yet another long, helpless sigh.
"Coming," he said.
For the next hour, we simply wandered through the festival without any particular destination in mind.
We moved from one street to another while eating sweets, occasionally stopping to watch performances or browse the countless stalls lining the roads. Everywhere we went, the atmosphere remained lively and full of energy. The sounds of music, laughter, and excited conversations constantly filled the air while colorful lanterns illuminated the bustling crowds beneath the night sky.
Somewhere along the way, Hana and I had somehow formed an alliance against Miguel. Every opportunity to tease him was immediately seized without mercy.
At one point, while the three of us were walking through a particularly crowded street, Hana suddenly looked back at Miguel and complained, "Big brother Miguel walks too slowly."
I glanced at Miguel's slightly round figure before nodding seriously.
"That is because he eats too much."
Miguel immediately looked betrayed. "You two are bullying me now?"
Hana immediately burst into laughter while I struggled to keep a straight face.
A little later, after stopping at another stall, Hana suddenly pointed toward me proudly and declared,
"Brother Arthur is cooler than you."
Miguel froze for a moment before staring at his little sister in disbelief. "That one was unnecessary."
Unfortunately for him, neither Hana nor I looked particularly sympathetic.
Eventually, after enduring our constant attacks for nearly an hour, Miguel finally stopped walking and looked at Hana with a deeply wounded expression.
"Hana," he complained, "why are you making fun of me too?"
Hana immediately burst into giggles.
Miguel placed a hand over his chest as though he had suffered a devastating betrayal.
"Am I your big brother," he asked dramatically, "or is Arthur your big brother?"
Without even a moment of hesitation, Hana turned and pointed directly at me.
"Hehehe."
The answer was so immediate that I could not help laughing. A proud smile appeared on my face as I lightly rubbed Hana's head.
"That is right," I said. "I am your big brother now."
Hana nodded enthusiastically in agreement.
Meanwhile, Miguel looked completely defeated.
He crossed his arms and turned his head away dramatically.
"Hmph."
Seeing his reaction only caused Hana and me to laugh even harder. The three of us continued walking through the crowded festival streets together, laughing and joking as we went.
Then suddenly, Miguel accidentally bumped shoulders with someone passing by from the opposite direction.
The collision itself was minor. In fact, under normal circumstances, it was the kind of thing that happened countless times in a crowded festival filled with people moving in every direction.
Miguel reacted immediately without even properly looking at the other person.
"Sorry," he said casually as he continued walking forward.
But before he could take another step, a cold voice suddenly sounded from behind him.
"You dare?"
The words were not spoken loudly, yet they instantly carried a threatening tone that caused the atmosphere around us to change.
Slowly, we turned around and looked at the person he had bumped into. The moment we saw the young man standing there, the color visibly drained from Miguel's face.
The young man looked to be around our age, but his appearance immediately revealed that he came from a wealthy background. He wore expensive clothes decorated with intricate golden patterns, and even the accessories adorning his body looked valuable enough to feed an ordinary family for months.
Three other young men stood nearby beside him. Their clothing and bearing were similarly refined, making it obvious that all of them came from influential or wealthy families.
Unlike the cheerful atmosphere of the festival surrounding them, the expressions on their faces carried a sense of arrogance and superiority that immediately made me uncomfortable.
The moment Miguel saw them, the color visibly drained from his face. Any trace of the cheerful mood he had moments ago disappeared instantly.
He quickly lowered his head and bowed slightly.
"M-my apologies, sir," he said hurriedly. "I did not see you."
His voice carried genuine nervousness now. Unfortunately, the apology only seemed to make the young man even more displeased.
Without saying a word, he slowly stepped forward until he stood directly in front of Miguel.
Then, without the slightest warning, he suddenly grabbed a fistful of Miguel's hair. Miguel cried out in pain as his head was forcefully yanked upward.
Before anyone could react, the young man's hand swung through the air.
Slap!
The force of the strike snapped Miguel's head to the side, causing him to stumble slightly while still being held by the hair.
For a brief moment, both Hana and I simply froze in shock. Neither of us had expected the situation to escalate so suddenly over something so minor.
The lively atmosphere around us immediately changed. People passing by began slowing their steps, and many turned their heads toward the disturbance. Some stopped entirely, forming a loose crowd around the scene, though none of them showed any intention of intervening.
Meanwhile, the three young men standing behind the aggressor merely watched with amused expressions.
The young man continued holding Miguel by the hair as though he were nothing more than an object.
Then he slapped him again.
"Can you not see where you are going?" he shouted angrily.
Before Miguel could even respond, another slap landed across his face.
"You dare bump into me?"
The force of the blow nearly caused Miguel to lose his footing. Yet the young man still was not satisfied.
Another slap followed immediately afterward.
"You cheap peasant."
Miguel's cheeks quickly turned red from the repeated strikes, and his eyes watered slightly from the pain. Even so, he made no attempt to resist. He simply lowered his head as much as he could while continuing to apologize desperately.
"I am really sorry, sir," he said hurriedly. "It was my mistake."
Another slap interrupted him.
"I truly did not mean to offend you."
The young man responded with yet another strike.
"I am truly sorry, sir."
Miguel's voice had become somewhat shaky now, but he continued apologizing again and again in the hope that the matter would end. Unfortunately, the young man showed absolutely no intention of stopping.