Daily Routine (2)
Although I was the one who later learned of that “blood purge,” the only capable individual remaining in the estate was now Chief Seneschal Himmel Gertol.
Despite his advanced age, the sturdy man with a robust build—who had clearly never neglected his health—peered inside the study.
I was grinding through endless piles of documents with my soul already halfway out the door…
“……Chief Seneschal.”
At the sight of that elderly figure, a cross-shaped vein stood out vividly on my forehead.
Even if it had happened in the past, he was now swearing loyalty to me, the new Duke of Havertz. How could he turn on his own master like this?
Gripping the edge of the desk firmly, I rose and forced a crooked smile.
“You knew, didn’t you?”
“……What do you mean, Your Grace?”
“I never forgive traitors.”
“……”
In truth, I hadn’t kept any exceptionally valuable talent around long enough to call him a true traitor, but my subordinates were undoubtedly aware of the situation.
At the very least, I wasn’t the type to leave a man who had crossed me.
Even if Himmel didn’t know the details, he would have sensed the atmosphere. Beads of cold sweat slid down his weathered cheek.
“I apologize, Your Grace. I had no choice…”
“‘No choice’ is not a light excuse. Because of your decision, I nearly died earlier. Do you understand?”
I growled low, letting genuine malice drip from every word. It wasn’t quite that dire—
—but it had been dangerous enough with Charlotte in such a frenzy.
She had fled while still boiling with rage?
This was no small matter. Which vassal would run from his lord like that?
The root of the blame lay entirely with me, but that truth held zero importance at the moment.
What I wanted was nothing more than a petty outlet for my anger.
“Himmel.”
“……Yes?”
I glared down at the old man with my eyes narrowed to slits. He answered in a stiff, frozen voice.
After letting the tension linger for a moment, I patted his shoulder once, lightly.
“Handle all remaining documents yourself. Do it properly.”
“Yes… I will, Your Grace.”
Himmel’s shoulders sagged as he shuffled weakly toward the desk. I stepped out of the study with a satisfied smile, glad to finally escape those endless, soul-crushing tasks.
After finishing the official(?) business, I headed straight for Charlotte’s room.
……I had a feeling I was already too late, but I had to try something—anything.
As someone who knew how cruel the future “Blood Witch” would become, I had no choice but to tread carefully.
I didn’t want to end up as a dried-up corpse, my every drop of blood drained.
Swallowing dryly, I forced down the rising tension. She had blushed and clung to me like she loved me, after all.
If I just held her tight and told her I loved her, maybe she could survive.
I burned with that desperate hope as I hurried toward her door.
“……”
I froze at the sudden flicker of crimson energy, then knocked.
—If you dare to face me at the dead of night, come inside, brother.
“……”
That message, written in eerie red light accompanied by a heart-shaped emoji, made me whirl around instantly.
It seemed our younger sister was seriously, deeply furious.
Approaching her blindly now would only make matters worse. That thought kept me locked in the study the entire day.
Uwoong……!
The crimson energy behind me suddenly vibrated as if raging, then surged forward and blocked my path once more.
Letters were scrawled again.
—Really not coming in?
—Do you want to die?
“……”
……What exactly do you want me to do, Charlotte?
I shrank in on myself and had to turn back. Still terrified, I knocked on the door.
Creak……
The door opened without a sound, revealing Charlotte in her nightgown, cheeks puffed out in a pout.
“C-Charlotte─”
“Tsk.”
She only lasted a moment before her face crumpled and she stuck out her tongue, stepping aside.
“What are you doing?”
“……Eh, um?”
“Not coming in? Will you stand there all day?”
“……Ah.”
After delivering that haughty line, she turned back inside, lavender scent blooming around her like a cloud.
I followed like a mesmerized man and the door slammed shut behind me.
Kung……!
“……”
Clink!
Even the lock had been secured. The crimson energy that had bound it vanished the instant Charlotte’s fingers touched it.
As I glanced back with a stiff expression, Charlotte smiled brightly.
“……I’m still not completely over my anger, you know.”
“Em……”
“Yet you came looking for me right away? What’s your confidence, brother? Did you think it was fine for you to be all sticky from morning?”
She tugged lightly at the collar of her nightgown, revealing a flash of her snowy collarbone and the hint of her cleavage.
I swallowed hard and clenched my fists.
If she kept tempting me like this, I wouldn’t last…
—But daytime was far safer than nighttime. I had an ideal excuse, at least. I had to soothe her somehow.
“……I really want to slap that cheek of yours multiple times, but—”
Charlotte’s expression cooled. She closed her collar and shrugged.
“Even so, it hasn’t even been a few hours since that hot night. Asking me to be cute again is just greedy, isn’t it?”
“……Charlotte?”
“I don’t want to be a nagging wife either, so whatever. It’s over now.”
My eyes widened in surprise, and Charlotte fanned herself, looking slightly embarrassed.
“……Ah, anyway—”
She plopped down on the bed and patted the spot beside her.
I hesitated for a moment, then sat carefully next to her.
Charlotte tucked her light-blue hair behind her ear shyly and chewed her lip.
“Actually, I was planning to come find you after a little time had passed.”
“……Eh?”
“There’s something I want to say to you, brother.”
I blinked rapidly and turned to her.
Say something? To me?
Completely lost, I tilted my head in confusion when Charlotte gently took my hand.
Her slender fingers intertwined with mine, stroking the back of my hand between the knuckles.
“……U-uh, it’s really embarrassing, but I have to say it, so here it is. Listen with your ears wide open?”
She was acting so strange. I narrowed my eyes seriously, trying not to feel uneasy, and Charlotte finally spoke.
“Thank you, brother.”
One flat, emotionless word.
Yet it was more shocking than I could have imagined.
Because it was even harder to process…
“……Eh?”
Did she just say that?
No, before that.
She had used honorific language? Polite speech?
……Why?
“Thank you for saving me that day. That one thing I absolutely had to say.”
The words came in rapid succession. Charlotte continued, clutching my hand gently, her voice soft.
“I know you risked your life. Against the Duke of Havertz, against that archmage—you’re the one who won. I know that more than anyone.”
“……”
“……That’s why I’m even guiltier. Grateful. And sorry. You’ve never known how much I’ve carried alone, how much despair I’ve shouldered, thinking I was the only one suffering.”
“……Charlotte……”
Her last use of honorifics… so that had been years ago.
Five? Four?
From some point onward, I had never heard those words again.
Without knowing the exact reason, I felt strangely warm in my chest.
Gratitude… I hadn’t even imagined I would ever hear that.
I opened and closed my lips, but no words came out. I was swallowed by a torrent of intense emotion.
“The kindness you showed me was so vast, I could never repay it no matter what. The way you looked under that moonlit sky that night… I will never be able to forget it for the rest of my life.”
Charlotte lifted her head slightly and smiled gently, as if that was exactly how she had wanted to express it.
“You are my savior, brother.”
“……”
“Thank you. I’m grateful.”
She leaned her forehead against my rigid body.
I felt a surge of overwhelming emotion… my eyes began to sting.
“So, in return, I will become your wife.”
“……”
I froze in shock at the sudden, venomous attack, as if a horned viper had struck.
I almost nodded in reflex, accepting her words. If I had to express it too crudely… I would have been finished.
“……”
“……”
A heavy silence settled over the entire bedroom.
I pushed her shoulder aside and looked her in the eye at the same time.
Her gaze was sharper than anything—those of a top-tier assassin carrying out a special mission, staring at me intently.
How long had that sibling intimacy lasted?
“Tsk.”
Charlotte clicked her tongue and turned her head sideways as if the offer had been rejected.
“It didn’t work.”
“……”
“I thought it would.”
“……”
“It’s a bit disappointing, brother. Let me see you again.”
……Give me back my tears.
You damn younger sister.