Chapter 84
After returning to the mansion, Lucas became very busy a few days later.
From what I heard, it seemed he hadn’t prepared for his upcoming knighting ceremony because he was focused on my debutante. Tristan spoke with a gloating tone.
“It’s his responsibility for not managing his schedule properly, so you don’t need to worry about it.”
“So it’s self-inflicted, huh.”
“Hmm. I wonder whose little sister is this smart.”
Tristan smiled brightly as he pinched my cheek. Without Lucas around to stop him, touching my face had become quite a habit for him.
A knighting ceremony must require a lot of preparation, so why didn’t he show it?
“When exactly is the date?”
“Probably the day after tomorrow.”
It was more urgent than I’d thought.
I glanced at Heishar, who had helped with my ball. His ears fluttered as he lay on a cushion.
Still in wolf form, he was staying in my room. I pulled Heishar into my arms and kneaded his soft paw pads.
Woken by this, he spoke into my mind.
[What are you doing now?]
“I have something to think about.”
[……Sigh.]
Heishar’s golden fur felt wonderful to touch. I understood why people advocate for animal therapy.
Since forming our contract, I felt more comfortable with Heishar. Thanks to knowing his true purpose, I could also shed my guilt about the fire incident.
‘You’re trying to kill me anyway, right?’
When someone openly hates me, there’s no need to feel sorry.
Heishar, who had been bewildered by my friendly treatment, had recently become quite accepting of me. More accurately, he had resigned himself to it.
[You’re the first human to treat me this way after knowing my true identity.]
Regardless, looking at Heishar’s beautiful fur gave me a good idea. I wondered why I hadn’t thought of it before.
“Tristan, do you have any ribbons?”
“I should have some in my spatial storage, but what do you need them for?”
“I’m bored and want to tie pretty ribbons in Choco’s fur.”
[These humans, really!]
When Heishar jumped up and barked, Tristan quickly pulled out ribbons. Tristan found it amusing how Heishar’s emotions were so transparent despite being a wolf.
He approached Heishar even more often than Lucas, who had initially shown interest.
“But doesn’t this dog seem to understand human speech?”
“No way. He’s just an animal.”
I grabbed Heishar’s fur with both hands and started braiding it.
I tied ribbons at the ends of the nicely braided fur. Despair filled Heishar’s face as he was forced to wear ribbons.
There was a strange satisfaction in teasing Heishar in his animal state.
I had to return all the stress I received during dance lessons. I tied the ribbons with personal vengeance.
[Why am I subjected to this?]
As I was attaching the twelfth ribbon to Heishar’s golden fur, Lucas returned staggering. His complexion was dark, looking extremely tired.
Lucas grumbled in a gloomy, sunken voice.
“Liat, Tristan. Isn’t it too much to play without me?”
“Brother, you finished early today.”
“I somehow managed to finish today’s schedule.”
“I told you not to come. Liat is already busy playing with me.”
Despite Tristan’s words, Lucas approached, removed the wolf from my lap, and placed his own head there instead. A floral scent rose from his hair, which had been treated with perfumed oil.
When our eyes met, he narrowed his tired eyes. His pale eyelashes fluttered, and his golden eyes shone. That was clearly the expression he used when deploying his beauty tactics.
“Lucas, you’re heavy.”
“Do you know how difficult it is to have a knighting ceremony? I have so much to prepare, my head feels like it’s splitting.”
Lucas was openly whining to me.
The previous version of him would never have shown such weakness. My heart softened toward the childish Lucas, so I let him rest.
“What’s the knighting ceremony like in the Grand Duke’s family?”
“You have to catch the animal designated as that year’s target within the time limit and present it to the person who will conduct the ceremony.”
“So you’ll present it to the Grand Duke.”
“…Mm.”
“That must be burdensome.”
If he had so much work, he should have left the debutante to me. If he hadn’t helped with dance practice, he would have had time.
‘How foolish.’
Lucas took my hand and placed it on his head. I obediently stroked his long, pleasantly textured hair and asked.
“Lucas, you don’t seem to talk about Kashian much these days.”
“Do you miss it?”
“A little.”
“I decided to become stronger myself before talking about heroes.”
“Brother, if you confess that reason is because of my sister, I’m going to throw up.”
Tristan, whose mood had soured, retreated quietly.
What I thought was just a threat turned out to be true. Last time, Tristan had vomited directly on Lucas’s face.
It was probably when Lucas was twisting his body and acting shy. Not a sight I wanted to see again.
“Lucas, you heard Tristan? Don’t say anything.”
“……”
Having prevented a potential accident, I fell into thought. So it was already time for his knighting ceremony.
Lucas’s knighting ceremony was also a kind of coming-of-age ceremony.
I wondered if there was a way to give him a special memory as he was recognized as a full-fledged knight.
It seemed like a good idea to discuss this with Tristan.
***
Tristan, who had been enjoying Lucas’s busy schedule, soon faced his own crisis. It was because the Grand Duke had ordered Tristan to return to the academy after the knighting ceremony.
Tristan, who had planned to stay at the mansion, strongly objected.
Tristan’s loud voice filled the office.
“I said before that I won’t attend the academy! My brother doesn’t go either, so why do I have to?”
“If you had been as considerate of your surroundings as Lucas, I would have left you alone.”
That’s a fair point.
Tristan needed to develop his social skills at the academy.
As an excellent magician, he also needed to learn how to control his emotions.
“Look at this and then rebel.”
The Grand Duke handed Tristan a stack of documents taken from a drawer. Tristan’s face showed embarrassment as he skimmed through the documents.
Having been dragged along by Tristan to meet the Grand Duke, I predicted the winner of this fight.
‘The Grand Duke will win, of course.’
The Grand Duke spoke to Tristan in a voice filled with anger.
“Those dozens of documents are all petitions about you. Do you have anything to say about this?”
“I can just apologize!”
“You surely don’t think that’s actually possible.”
Curious, I also peeked at the documents Tristan was reading. The content from the first page was not trivial.
[Young Master Tristan seems to be looking down on my class, and by extension, this world! Otherwise, he wouldn’t skip class just because the weather is nice.]
Is this written by that old professor who teaches Tristan?
Suppressed anger could be felt in every sentence. This didn’t seem like resentment built up from missing class once or twice.
After reading the documents, Tristan spoke in a deflated voice.
“Fine. I won’t skip classes anymore.”
“You need to read the next one, too.”
“Father. I’ve hardly caused any trouble since I came back.”
“Read it.”
At the Grand Duke’s chilling voice, he picked up the next document. Anguish was evident in the Grand Duke’s expression as he leaned on the desk, swallowing a sigh.
I had suspected it since he announced that Tristan should return, but it seemed the trouble he’d caused was considerable.
The next document was a bill for property damaged by Tristan.
[This is the status of facilities destroyed by Young Master Tristan while claiming to be researching magic. Recently, there was an explosion in town…]
The mention of town and explosion reminded me of something. I realized what had triggered this situation.
That incident happened when I went to town with Tristan as promised.
‘It was quite a big incident.’
Tristan, who often went to town alone, had friends among the commoners. Friends who didn’t know Tristan was a nobleman spoke to me without formality.
“What’s this, Tri? You said you weren’t interested, but why are you walking around with a kid?”
“This is my sibling.”
“Your sibling? I know a big brother who might like her. Want to come along?”
“Yeah, that’s right. If you go with that child, big brother will buy you something delicious.”
As it turned out, that “big brother” was connected to slave traders.
It was good that I insisted on going to see this “big brother” out of suspicion. I was planning to turn the whole gang over to the guards.
But Tristan, thinking he had almost lost me, exploded.
“I’ll kill you all!”
“Tristan, calm down!”
“Those bastards were trying to sell you! And of all things, they were involved with slave traders.”
With crazed eyes, Tristan destroyed the area with his magic. Unfortunately, it was a busy district with many people, and the damage spread enormously.
Protecting people from getting hurt was the best I could do that day.
“What’s this now?”
I picked up another document that Tristan had dropped on the floor.
It detailed yet another of his misdeeds. Waking up the cooks at dawn to demand muffins was among the cuter offenses.
Finding the finished muffins unsatisfactory, he had blown up the kitchen.
[Young Master Tristan got angry, saying he couldn’t give this kind of thing to the little one, and caused a fire. That fire destroyed over two hundred kitchen utensils, and we all… (omitted)]
I felt I shouldn’t say anything to Tristan. Receiving my overtly contemptuous gaze, he made an aggrieved expression.
“This isn’t right! Kid, you promised to take my side!”
“I never said such a thing.”
“Brother will also return to the mountain knights after his ceremony, so how can I leave you and go somewhere!”
“I’ll be fine on my own.”
I wondered if Lucas and Tristan were the ones who didn’t want to part.
It wasn’t like they had to leave completely; they could return during vacations. After gaining more subjugation experience, Lucas would also stay at the Grand Duke’s residence.
“Just accept it, Tristan.”
Judging by the volume of documents, this wasn’t something that could be resolved with an apology. Tristan seemed to sense this fact and looked depressed.
‘The coming-of-age ceremony will become a farewell ceremony.’
I learned that partings should always be dramatic. You never know when your last meeting might be.
‘I know what to do.’
I’ll throw a farewell party for Tristan and Lucas. It would be good to commemorate the memories with those two.
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