The Young Scholar's appetite had dwindled back to what it had been before he started eating more.
No.
It had even gotten worse.
After all, every day the Black Monster failed to appear, the Young Scholar felt that his heart couldn't fully settle down.
His unsettled heart affected his appetite.
He ate even less than he had at the beginning.
This wasn't good.
The Young Scholar knew that.
His older brother and sister-in-law had completely left him to his own devices. As the days went by, however, unease gradually began to grow in his heart.
He was restless all over.
He couldn't settle down.
How long had it been...
Since he'd seriously studied...
The Black Monster still hadn't appeared.
The Young Scholar's studies weren't progressing either.
It was as if he were still stuck on the day he'd been in the capital.
In truth, a long time had already passed.
Once the Young Scholar realized this, he grew even more agitated.
He was even a little angry that his older brother had really stopped caring about him.
His brother said nothing to him.
His sister-in-law only set down the lunchbox and left.
A sudden loneliness welled up inside the Young Scholar.
It was a feeling he'd never had before.
Even though his parents had both passed away when he was young,
he had his older brother.
The two brothers had depended on each other.
He had never felt lonely.
His older brother had married.
His sister-in-law treated him well, too.
The home that had felt so quiet after his parents' deaths was warm and lively once more.
He had studied so hard not only to make a future for himself, but also to give his older brother and sister-in-law a better life.
He had failed.