Nathan froze for a moment, clearly not expecting those to be Paul's opening words.
"Why? You were in Arda, yet you hid and refused to come find me."
Paul took a step forward, a teasing note in his voice.
"What, are you feeling 'shy' about facing your own brother now?"
At those words, Nathan's brows drew together even more tightly.
Paul did not press him. Instead, he followed Nathan's gaze toward the bound dwarf. "Leaving that aside, you dropped this dwarf in front of my horse. Could it be a 'gift' for me?"
Nathan's tightly furrowed brows relaxed, replaced by his usual frivolous expression, tinged with a hint of carelessness.
He raised a hand and smoothed the folds of his cloak. The corner of his mouth curled into a half-smile, and his tone was distinctly arrogant. "Hey, hey, hey. Could you not act so familiar right away? It's embarrassing."
He lifted his eyes to Paul. His gaze held a clear distance now, along with a trace of hostility that was difficult to detect.
"Mother isn't here. I haven't figured out how to be alone with you, my mortal brother."
He enunciated the word "mortal" with unusual clarity, as though deliberately emphasizing the difference between them.
As a Spellcaster who had displayed a talent for magic from childhood and grown up in the Secret Art Society under his mother, Mariana, Nathan had never taken ordinary people seriously. In his view, Spellcasters who could control the elements of magic naturally stood above mortals.
Yet he had never expected that after following his mother to Northwest Bay, he would suddenly gain a mortal older brother who shared his bloodline. He had found that difficult to accept all this time.
During his previous meetings with Paul, when he had accompanied his mother, he had