The Academy (5)
I had been turning things over in my mind, Lottie.
“Hmm?”
“As you said, you’re definitely going to enter the Academy. There’s no doubt about it, right?”
“That’s right……? What’s the point of that?”
“But why did the Emperor summon only me alone, without mentioning you at all?”
“……Um?”
Charlotte, who had been sprawled across my knees flipping through magazines, blinked her eyes repeatedly.
And tilted her head back to look up at me upside down.
Honestly, I had been wrestling with the Emperor’s intentions in recent days…….
“Well, there’s no need to overthink it.”
Charlotte answered with her head tilted in confusion, as if wondering why I was worrying about it, and I frowned at her.
“……Do you sense something?”
Could Charlotte have noticed something I hadn’t? The Emperor’s hidden schemes and true intentions that I still hadn’t figured out. She was someone with a special ability in an entirely different category from me. Maybe she had caught on to something.
Almost immediately, Charlotte seemed pleased with my worried expression, resting her chin in a V shape.
“Hoo…… What do you think the girl lying on her big brother’s knee right now is called?”
“?”
“I am none other than the Blood Witch, Charlotte Havertz. You know, right?”
I slowly blinked and stared at Charlotte. What exactly was she trying to say?
I couldn’t guess her intent, but the next words were simple and intuitive.
“So, in other words, the Emperor is so fed up with his dear little sister that he’s even afraid of her.”
“……Oh.”
“Got it now? That’s why I definitely have to enter the Academy too. I know how strong you are, Brother, but if I’m with you, we’ll both be twice as safe, won’t we?”
Charlotte naturally wove her words together like flowing river water to present the perfect reason why she had to enter the Academy alongside me.
I opened my mouth in astonishment, but couldn’t find anything to counter her with.
The reason the Emperor hadn’t summoned Charlotte. Even after thinking about it, I still couldn’t come up with an answer.
So perhaps it was better to make a simple guess. Had the Emperor really been that terrified that day?
It seemed unbelievable, yet there was logic to it…… In fact, a twenty-one-year-old girl alone had managed to block an entire division of ten thousand soldiers.
The Emperor had mobilized the entire war and legion. He must have been stopped dead by that sudden Blood Mountain rising from the ground.
Even now, when I turned my head slightly eastward, I could vividly feel the events of that day.
Because, right outside the window to the east of this study, that Blood Mountain stood there.
At first glance, it might seem like a mysteriously beautiful landmark. But put plainly, it was a monster that had thrown the territory’s residents into confusion. I had even tried to request that it be removed——.
-Why? Why? It’s not that ugly……?
That expression on Charlotte’s face back then, as if she had been shocked that her aesthetic sense might differ from everyone else’s.
It had made me unable to bring myself to destroy that mountain.
……Well, whatever. Seeing it, it actually made for quite a lovely scenery, and the residents had adapted to it quickly enough.
“Hmm.”
Anyway, returning to the story. If the Emperor’s sinister intentions were hard to guess, it would be fine to just let the thought go.
As her older brother, I found myself unable to leave Charlotte alone. Especially now, when she was strongly insisting on joining the Academy with me——.
“If worst comes to worst, I could simply flip the Imperial Palace upside down.”
Even harsh measures were possible. First, let’s assume the Emperor had truly feared her power so much that he left her out.
That would mean he calculated that Isaac Havertz personally would be able to handle the rest.
It wasn’t that he underestimated the 8th Circle, but that he trusted his subordinates’ power enough to bring me to the Academy.
In fact, among the knights and mages who served the Emperor, there were quite a few who were far beyond what I could casually dismiss.
Perhaps that was why he had wanted to place me in the Academy.
By any means necessary, we would gather our forces to neutralize the siblings’ power—— bring one of us close to the capital, leave the other in the Duchy as planned, halving our strength.
Right now, the power of the Havertz Duchy was surprisingly weak. The spies of the Sephirot who had been collaborating with Duke Douglas inside the manor had all been exterminated.
We were barely holding on with the existence of an 8th Circle mage and the Blood Witch as our asymmetric forces.
“Hmm……”
I gently stroked Charlotte’s light blue hair, following its natural flow, and let out a sigh.
The more I thought about it, the harder it became to find a reason to leave the girl who was happily purring against my lower body.
Emotionally, yes. And calculation-wise as well.
Originally, I had wanted to leave this sister who was treated like a human disaster outside the capital in the Duchy.
“Is it really necessary……?”
Was there any need at all……? The Emperor treated Charlotte with care because she was pretty.
Rather, I wanted to bring her along even more so that she could be given a good spanking. Wasn’t that right?
“Fine, it’s decided.”
Having finished all my worries, I stopped stroking Charlotte and nodded my head once.
Charlotte’s ears perked up sharply. She sprang up with sparkling expectant eyes.
“Decided? What is it, Brother? You’re taking me, right? You’re going together, right?”
“……Ah, really.”
With those dazzling eyes, how could I possibly resist? I had already intended to take her, and the decision had only grown firmer.
I let out a soft chuckle and gently tapped her cheek with the back of my hand.
“That’s right. I lost. I lost. Let’s go together.”
“……!”
Once I had delivered that decision, Charlotte’s already bright face became twice as radiant as she spread her arms wide toward me.
“Waaah, Brother! Our Brother truly loves me the most……!”
“Kuh.”
And with that, she lunged forward, attempting a close-range takedown.
Since I hadn’t prepared, as expected, I was forced to the ground by Charlotte’s overwhelming strength.
Despite the force she exerted, her body weight was shockingly light. There was no great discomfort…….
“Fine, whatever. If it’s inconvenient, it’s not like I can complain.”
How much did she want to follow me? How much craving did she have for affection because there were no other close people around?
It was inevitable given the path my life had taken. But that didn’t mean I could ignore the emotion in my heart.
I lightly patted her back, which was gently choking my neck, and carefully voiced the worry that had been nagging me.
“Lottie.”
“Yes, Brother. I love you too.”
“Do you have any friends?”
“……”
And silence fell. The air suddenly turned cold. I belatedly realized I had spoken out of turn.
“Um…… No. I said something a bit odd, you see.”
“……Yes, Brother. Hurry and tell me. I’ll give you a chance to correct yourself.”
“Lottie, you……”
“……”
“……You……”
“……”
In that sudden, urgent situation, I did my best to spin my brain.
I was, after all, an Archmage’s computational ability.
I needed to quickly gather alternatives for the previous slip-up, but…….
“I’m going crazy.”
The only thought that came to mind was—— that one thought had completely taken over my brain.
Charlotte Havertz. Twenty-one years old. The height of youthful energy.
Yet she spent her time lying on her big brother’s knee, reading magazines or newspapers.
“……”
Friends…… You don’t have any, do you?
“Aha.”
“……No, wait. Hold on.”
“So, Brother…… suddenly struck someone with words, and still can’t provide a plausible correction. Is that it?”
“It’s not that, Lottie. I wanted you to broaden your human relationships—— whether you’re my servant or the Duke’s retainer——”
“Hoo…… Brother is really hopeless.”
“……Eh?”
I replied with a dumb voice, and Charlotte immediately hit my knee and sat up straight.
Then, with ease, she undid the knot of her beige negligee.
The loosened clothes quickly slipped down, leaving her half-naked.
Supporting the underside of her proudly rising breasts with her hand, Charlotte let out a gentle smile.
“I’ll give you ten seconds, Brother.”
“……”
“Take off your clothes.”
I clamped my mouth shut, along with the involuntary hiccup that had sprung out.
I had no choice. Charlotte’s eyes were already rolling, and crimson veins had burst across her forehead in anger——.
Yet the corners of her mouth were curved so sweetly.
“……It’s in properly. Switch activated.”
It meant I couldn’t possibly stop her. I couldn’t make up some excuse about the study, activate a purification spell, or casually deflect it.
If I did, I had no idea how she would overwhelm me.
Even if I somehow managed to escape this place…… someday I might wake up to find Charlotte on top of me.
In other words, I had no right of refusal.
I looked at Charlotte with a bewildered expression, and she rested her hand on her cheek and continued.
“Still, you know, Brother. I listen very, very well. I’m kind, gentle. And I’m your true little sister who loves you.”
“……Eh, eh?”
“I’ll give you a chance. Pick one of the two options. How about it?”
Why was she drifting again? As I truly blinked in confusion at her incomprehensible thought process, Charlotte simply kept going with her one-sided conversation.
“First option. Your big brother who suddenly hurts my feelings so much—— you will gracefully undress and whisper sweet nothings to me all night in bed.”
“……”
“But what if you don’t like this one? Then it automatically becomes the second, and I think you’ll be fine with it too. Want to hear it?”
“……”
“Your big brother who suddenly hurts my feelings so much…… from now on, you will take one hit from me, and tonight you’ll become the victim of a rape.”
I stared at Charlotte with eyes that were half-dead from shock.
“……You call those options?”
Was there even a world where something like this could be called an option?
I didn’t think so, but Charlotte’s perspective was entirely different.
“What a poor, dear Brother of mine.”
She had climbed onto my lap and pressed her petite breasts against my face.
Then came a mocking whisper.
“……You know, the strong always have the final say, right?”
I sighed and tightly closed my eyes. Perhaps this was all predetermined.
That was why, the moment I decided I couldn’t use physical force against Lottie…….
Whenever a sibling fight started, I was always the loser.
“You’ve heard me clearly, Brother……?”
Just like right now.
“Hurry and take them off. Those expensive clothes—— before I tear them off one by one.”