Chapter 17: Promise
The night had deepened.
Lucian sat on the edge of the bed, Lakyus beside him, both legs dangling off the side and swinging. Moonlight came through the window and fell across her face, picking out the flush of excitement still in her cheeks with particular clarity.
"Onii-chan is going back to the domain?"
Lakyus's voice jumped up sharply, and her swinging legs went still.
"Yeah." Lucian nodded, his gaze settling on the full moon outside. "Tomorrow morning."
"What about me?"
"You stay here."
Lakyus froze.
Those pale green eyes went wide, filled with something that looked like disbelief. Her mouth opened, wanting to say something, but she seemed to have no idea where to start.
Moonlight fell across her face and made every stage of what came next perfectly visible — her brows drawing in first, just slightly, then her nose giving a small twitch, then her lips pressing into a line.
Then she threw herself at him, both small hands seizing his sleeve in a tight grip.
Her fingers were cold. The grip was fierce, the way someone holds on when they're afraid that the moment they let go, whatever they're holding will be gone.
"I'm coming too!"
"No."
"Why not?"
"Because I'm going back to train." Lucian produced the excuse he'd had ready for some time. "Knight's training. It's hard going. You're too young."
Lakyus's eyes narrowed.
Lucian recognized that look. It was the one she got every time she caught him being slippery about something.
"Onii-chan."
"Mm?"
"You're lying."
Something tightened in Lucian's chest, but his face stayed easy. "No I'm not."
"We're the same age." Lakyus said it word by word, her grip tightening further. "Why can you go and I can't?"
He had nothing for that.
How was she this impossible to fool?
He turned it over quickly, searching for something that would actually hold up.
Got it.
"Because..." He lowered his head and met those bright, searching eyes. His voice took on a serious note. "Because I'm more mature inside than you are."
Lakyus blinked.
"Knight's training isn't just the sword. It's the spirit too." Lucian pressed on. "Someone whose spirit isn't mature enough can't handle what the training demands. When you've grown a little, you'll be able to go."
Even as he said it, he could feel the hollowness in it.
But Lakyus's expression changed.
She released her grip on his sleeve and lowered her head, those small shoulders dropping just slightly. Moonlight fell on the top of her golden hair and made the soft strands glow.
A few seconds of silence.
"Then..."
Her voice was quieter now, carrying a small, muffled edge of hurt.
"Then onii-chan has to grant me some wishes."
Lucian blinked.
"What wishes?"
"Promise first." Lakyus raised her head. Her eyes were red, but she was holding it back with a stubborn set to her jaw. "Promise, and I'll let you go."
Lucian looked at her like that, and something in him went soft.
"Fine," he said. "Go on."
Lakyus counted on her fingers.
"First — write to me. Often. Don't forget."
"Fine."
"Second — come back to see me every so often. You can't just stay in the domain and never come back."
"Fine."
"Third..."
Lakyus paused and looked up at him.
Moonlight poured in from outside and lit her small face with unusual clarity. In those pale green eyes there was no coyness now, no trace of the hurt from a moment ago. Only a seriousness — the kind that made something in Lucian's chest go very still.
"Onii-chan. At the very beginning — were you going to take me away and run?"
Lucian's expression froze.
The room went quiet. Quiet enough to hear his own heartbeat. Quiet enough to hear the night wind moving through the leaves outside.
Lakyus watched him, unblinking.
He opened his mouth.
What was he going to say? Deny it? Keep making things up?
He looked at those eyes, and found that every prepared word had gone.
Those eyes were too clear.
Clear enough to make every carefully constructed excuse look ridiculous.
"I..."
His voice came out rough.
Lakyus didn't push. She just watched him and waited.
Moonlight fell quietly over both of them, casting their shadows down onto the floor where they blended together at the edges.
Lucian lowered his head.
Silence.
A long silence.
He didn't know how long it lasted — maybe a moment, maybe much longer — before Lakyus's voice came again.
"Last wish."
Lucian raised his head.
Lakyus stood in front of him, her small figure looking especially slight in the moonlight. But she was standing straight, face tilted up, like a small tree straining toward the sun.
"I want onii-chan to have courage."
Her voice was soft. But it reached him clearly.
"The next time you face something evil — don't run."
She paused, the corner of her mouth curving just slightly, into a smile that was small but entirely serious.
"Because that version of onii-chan is really cool."
Lucian went still.
He looked at this small girl in front of him — his twin sister, the girl whose eyes lit up at knight stories, the girl who charged into an alley empty-handed and put herself in front of a commoner she had never met.
He thought of her standing in that dark alley, facing a fat-faced baron, reciting her lines word by word.
"In the name of justice, I command thee. Release that child."
At the time he'd found it ridiculous. Chuunibyou. He'd thought she'd been thoroughly poisoned by those knight novels of hers.
But now —
"Yeah."
Lucian heard his own voice.
"I promise."
The words came out before his reason caught up. Before any calculation.
Lakyus's eyes lit up.
That brightness was more than the moonlight outside. Warmer than daylight.
"Really?"
"Really."
Lakyus smiled.
She threw herself at him and held on tight, her face buried in his shoulder.
"Onii-chan is the best."
Lucian raised his hand and patted her back, gently.
Moonlight fell quietly around them, wrapping both small figures in a soft silver glow. The night wind moved through the leaves outside. From somewhere in the distance came the long, drawn-out call of the night watchman marking the hour, stretching out long and clear through the silence.
"Onii-chan."
"Mm?"
"Even at the domain, you have to remember to think about me."
"Fine."
"Every day."
"...Every day might be a bit much."
"Then every other day."
"Fine."
"No, wait. Every day."
"..."
"Onii-chan?"
"Thinking about it."
Lakyus smiled with satisfaction and buried her face deeper into his shoulder.
Lucian looked at the full moon outside, and found he had no clear idea why he had agreed to any of this.
Was it because of the look in Lakyus's eyes? Or was it that somewhere deep down, Lucian also harbored his own fantasy of being a hero?