The General's Wife Wants to Leave-Chapter 243: A fragile little girl

"I beg your pardon, Master. Madam Viona insisted on using the carriage to the soirees she attended," the coachman replied with his head lowered, preparing himself to get scolded, as he could not stand his stance when the mother of his employer insisted on using the carriage with the pretext to attend some social activities.

Looking at the coachman, who kept his head lowered, trembling in fear as he seemed to be waiting to be scolded, Canillas ordered, "Keep checking on the condition of the carriage and horses well. I don’t want to hear of any mishap happening during our journey back to Archess." His tone was firm; his expression remained grim.

The coachman nodded his head vigorously as he replied with a decisive "Yes, Master" before he let out a quiet sigh of relief, for his master did not reprimand him as he had been worried about even before he departed to Terra, knowing how strict his master was.

After receiving confirmation from the coachman, Canillas turned to see Luca, who stood near Fabio. He asked, "How is your wound?"

"All is good," Luca answered in one breath, puffing his chest.

Nodding his head, Canillas said, "So we are all ready to set back to Archess within three days." As the words had been said, Canillas felt the hand that he held tense more.

"I’ll see you all tonight." Canillas dismissed his men before turning his focus back to the lady who was quiet beside him, not removing her eyes from the carriage, yet he noticed that she stared into nothing in particular.

Without saying anything, Canillas pulled Joanna’s hand, which, without any effort, was followed by the seemingly absentminded Joanna. And Joanna was pulled back from her trance when she bumped into a solid surface, which was her husband’s back, who seemed to take a sudden halt from his track.

With a frown creased on her forehead, Joanna looked up, about to see why the man who led her way suddenly made a halt, and her eyes opened wide in an instant when she followed the direction of the eyes of the man only to see a figure standing on the porch.

Realizing who it was, Joanna wriggled, shaking off her hand, causing her hand to be freed by Canillas. Climbing the stairs in a dash by lifting the front of her dress, Joanna threw herself at the figure that she saw, and the figure, without any hesitation, caught her in his arms.

Soon, the sound of sobbing erupted from Joanna, but muffled as she buried her face in the chest of the figure that hugged her, patted her back, and stroked her head with a lot of care and love.

In contrast to Joanna, who broke into tears, pouring out the content of all the emotions that swarmed in her heart and mind from what she had seen and was now seeing, the figure who had his arms around her body let out a low chuckle.

"I never thought that my ugly sister would miss her handsome brother that much. Had this handsome brother known, he would have delayed his return home so she would miss him more," said the figure, who was none other than Phillip de Lara, Joanna’s sole older brother.

Upon hearing the words that her brother said, what came as a response from Joanna was that she tightened her arms around her brother’s waist and buried her face more in his chest so that her weeping that got louder would be suppressed.

At the moment, she looked like a fragile little girl—a little girl who cried like a river when they separated far by distance for the first time when he went to study at Lasse in the first year, and the same reaction came from her every time he went back to Lasse after his holiday at home was over.

Thus, he did not come to send her off to another kingdom for a marriage, which was not expected and wanted by all of his family. Not only did he avoid making her cry, but he did not have a strong heart to see his fragile sister live far from home to live with a so-called ruthless soldier.

He also had no courage to face the reality that he would not see her again when he went back home for the holiday after she departed for Archess. He was not ready to find the absence of the sister who kept wandering around him once he was home.

He admitted that he was a coward in regard to his family, particularly his little sister. As for him, his little sister was like a treasure, a treasure that he had to protect and keep in his heart, especially after the sorrow and grief he felt after their mother left them forever.

If he had a choice to make, he did not want to find another absence of another member of his family, although he would see her again as she was still living in the same realm as him.

Still patting Joanna’s back and stroking the back of her head, Phillip planted a kiss on top of Joanna’s head before resting one side of his cheek on her head, closing his reddened eyes.

Opening his eyes where tears did not spill down, as he had held back as to how he had been so far every time he tended to her, as he had to appear as a strong brother, he said, "I know you miss your handsome brother so much, sister, but can you please stop crying? Or else you will turn more ugly to the point this handsome brother cannot recognize his little sister anymore."

Finding his effort to calm her fruitless as Joanna kept on weeping, he uttered, "There is a man down there staring at me unblinkingly, seeming to be ready to pounce on me. What do you say about that, sister?" Phillip attempted to calm his sister as his gaze fell on the man whom he saw in person for the first time—the man who would take his sole sister far away.