As Keith recounted everything to Julianne, disbelief painted his face. He could hardly believe what he was saying.
"Sebastian with a book?"
Julianne pondered, his brow furrowing. After all, Sebastian was always seen wielding a gun or a sword and he had never even seen him hold a book in his life.
"Can't imagine it, huh?"
Keith scoffed, shaking his head while brushing the tip of his nose with his index finger.
Just before Keith continued to tell the story, he was swallowed by a sudden moment of silence, tightly clenching his fists as it was difficult for him to revisit the memory. After all, it wasn't just Sebastian who was trying to bury everything from the past; Keith himself had also been profoundly affected by it.
"Sebastian, that so-called bookworm, is more addicted to books than I am, surpassing even the knowledge of the professors in our academy."
He paused, a smirk crossing his lips reflecting the admiration and respect he had for Sebastian.
"At first, I thought that a boy like him had a bright future ahead…"
For countless time, Keith hesitated to speak, as if a hand were gripping his chest tightly, causing his heart to race so fast that it felt like it could burst out of his ribcage at any moment.
"I judged him too harshly, not realizing I'd be watching the tree wither along him."
Julianne's expression grew somber as he tried to blink, preventing the water from escaping his eyes.
"GREAT, just great, to bail on someone."
Keith affirmed in a huff before he slammed a pile of books on the floor.
"Not even a reply to my letters?! HUH?! Sebastian?!"
He rolled his eyes, frustrated that the contest they had signed up for together had left him to deal with the fallout, disqualifying both of them because Sebastian hadn't shown up at the agreed time.
"Look, I'm not expecting an apology after you bailed on me for our paired science fair competition, but don't you have at least ANYTHING to SAY?!"
His voice roared like thunder, searching for an acceptable reason, but instead of an answer, all he heard was an apology, a genuine one, or perhaps just words spoken through a trembling voice.
"I'm so—sorry..."
Sebastian mumbled, the composed tone of his voice tinged with fear sitting on the same windowsill where they had first met, clutching his knees to his chest.
Keith frowned, noticing the tremor in Sebastian's voice.
A heavy breath then escaped his mouth as he tried to rein in his frustration.
"You know what? It's fine, it's not like we won't encounter more opportunities in the future."
Keith then sat beside him, hoping that Sebastian wouldn't appear culpable about it, but instead, he continued to apologize like a broken record.
"I'm sorry..."
"...I-
-Hey! I said it's fine! Stop it already!"
Keith couldn't take it anymore and suddenly stood up from where he was seated, visibly showing the pinched line appearing between his eyes.
"Anyways, are you not aware that it was His Highness Ciarán who was being bullied in our class for advancing?"
Again, Sebastian was silent, refusing to answer, but Keith scowled in confusion when he heard muffled cries coming from his mouth, which he was trying to silence.
"Wait?! Are you crying?"
Keith then glanced at Sebastian's face, holding both of his shoulders. His grip slowly tightened as he noticed that Sebastian's once-sparkling sapphire eyes had turned dull. His eyes widened like saucers upon unexpectedly seeing the visible bruises and cuts on Sebastian's neck and arms.
"Never mind what I said earlier. What happened?!"
"Who did this?!"
Though Keith was already aware that the bruises and wounds had appeared only after Sebastian took a leave of absence from school, his tongue felt tied, and his mouth seemed zipped shut. He didn't know what words to say; all he knew was that Sebastian was trembling in his arms, like leaves slowly falling from the tree behind them.
"And as I listened to everything he told me, I felt like my insides were being twisted, not because of Sebastian, but because of what that mischievous woman did to him."
When Julianne heard it, his expression darkened as he tightly gripped the rosary in his hands.
"Have you told anyone about it?"
Keith asked, a hint of distress stain his voice, but Sebastian just shook his head.
His sorry state seems like Sebastian had already tried to tell it to someone, maybe his mother or his father, the Duke but it seemed like no one listened or believed him. Was it because he was a child? or did they fear that a scandal would tarnish his family's reputation?…
"I regret that we couldn't do anything about it."
Keith smiled, but it was a smile that hid the pain within.
"Then… what did you guys do?"
Julianne asked, swallowing the prickling pain he felt from the past that had shackled Sebastian.
"He decided to escape it, so he went to participate in the military."
Hearing it, Julianne thought back to when he first saw Sebastian at the victorious parade after the war.
"Is that when he was crowned as a hero?"
He asked, unaware that by the time he met Sebastian, the scars on him had already run deep. Deep enough to change something inside him.
"How I wished! But before he got that title, we were barely twelve when he sought to flee from everything…"
"He didn't do it out of responsibility, but to escape the nightmare that clung to him."
Keith then turned, facing Julianne.
"…Yet instead of finding freedom, it only deepened his suffering…"
The look in Keith's eyes sent a shiver down Julianne's spine, as if he had felt the same torment Sebastian had experienced that day after seeing the rueful expression in his hazel eyes.