Goodbye to a Sister, Hello to Sisters (2)
Goodbye to a Sister, Hello to Sisters (2)
"Young master?! You cannot go out dressed like that! It is not proper!"
-Whoosh.
"Ah—?!"
I tore through the castle. The servants tried to catch me, but I shook them off and kept running.
"Flare! Flare—!!"
Where are you, Flare? I still hadn't said a proper goodbye. I didn't mean it when I said we should never see each other again. I had to say thank you—for saving my life, for teaching me magic. I wanted to thank you for everything this past year.
But even after circling the entire castle, I couldn't find her.
'Did she already leave? Flare?'
My mad dash eventually carried me straight to the Head of House's Office.
I heaved the heavy door open with my whole body and found my mother behind her desk, her cold glare fixed on me.
"Yune? What manner of dress is that? A man should not..."
That fearsome look of hers. In a single glance, anyone could understand why she was called a villain and why her own children were wary of her.
I didn't care.
"Maman! Flare—Flare is gone!"
"Flare? Ah, the mercenary. She has likely been paid and is already leaving the castle grounds. More importantly—"
"When? Can I catch her if I run? I still haven't said goodbye. Please, hurry!"
"...."
My mother fell silent the moment she saw the desperation in my eyes. A beat passed before she spoke again, her tone brusque.
"Yunes von Nordkirchen. You, too, are a member of the Nordkirchen household. Therefore—"
"Maman, I'm begging you! Quickly!"
She had clearly intended to lecture me. But when she saw how earnestly I was looking at her, she let out the faintest sigh and rose from her seat.
She draped her own outer robe around my shoulders, then opened the window.
"Maman...?"
"Hold on tight. I shall take you there."
* * * * * *
My mother flew. Carrying me in her arms, through the sky. How can a person fly, you ask?
-Boom! Boooom!
"Hyaaah—!! Hyeeeeek!! Guuuuhhh!!!"
"Stop thrashing. You will fall."
Northern Grand Duchess Trait. Flying through the sky barely qualifies as noteworthy.
Back in the game, I'd seen her perform midair attacks and wondered how a swordswoman could fight like that. Now I understood.
The terrifying explosions constantly erupting beneath us. The wind whipping viciously against my face. I screamed my head off and hung on to my mother for dear life.
After what felt like an eternity compressed into a single, suspended moment—
My mother touched down with effortless grace.
-Thud.
"...Lady Northern Grand Duchess? Lord Yune?!"
Right in front of Flare, who was already on horseback and on her way out.
Flare stared at us, utterly dumbfounded. I scrambled free of my mother's arms and ran toward her.
"Flare!"
"Lord Yune, what on earth happened to your face— wait a moment. Let me wipe it for you."
Flare dismounted and gently dabbed at my face with her handkerchief.
So I'd been flying through the air with tears and snot all over my face. Great.
For a second, I cringed with embarrassment as I watched her handkerchief get completely soiled. Then I planted my feet, squared my shoulders, and spoke up properly this time.
"Hey! Flare! Who just leaves without saying a word?!"
"Well, I... the magic contract's binding force compelled me to—"
"No excuses!"
But contrary to what I'd meant to say—a heartfelt thank-you—the words that spilled out of my mouth were snappish and petulant. I could've slapped my own tongue.
Still, Flare looked at me, her foul-mouthed little lord, and smiled faintly.
She knelt, bringing her eyes level with mine with practiced ease. Her eyes curved into crescent moons.
"Really now, Lord Yune. I keep telling you—a boy shouldn't go outside dressed like this."
Even after I'd barked at her, she was still worrying about me. Looking me straight in the eye, her first words were for my sake.
Something raw and overwhelming surged up in my throat.
"I'm a manly man, so it's fine! I'm... a manly man...."
"...Lord Yune?"
Flare's face blurred before me. Tears spilled over and rolled down my cheeks.
Only after the tears had fallen did I manage to be honest.
"Thank you for everything, Flare...."
-I flung myself at her and latched on tight.
"L-Lord Yune?!"
Flare stiffened in shock.
And—
"...Yune! What do you think you are doing with a commoner?!"
—my mother looked absolutely horrified.
She tried to pry us apart, but I had wrapped my legs around Flare and clung with desperate stubbornness. She couldn't easily detach me.
She could have forced me off in an instant. But she probably thought I'd get hurt if she used real strength—there was no force at all in her grip.
While my mother struggled to peel me off, I poured whispers of gratitude directly into Flare's ear.
"Thank you, Flare. I didn't die because of you. You taught me magic. You told me so many stories about the world. Thank you. Thank youuu...."
"...All right."
The truth came flooding out in a torrent. Flare nodded along as if she'd already known, patiently listening to my rambling.
...Although she did keep darting terrified glances at my mother, which was a little odd.
We finally separated only after I'd poured out every bit of gratitude and my emotions had settled.
Now that I could see Flare's clothes completely soaked with my tears, a fresh wave of embarrassment hit me, but—
"W-well, I shall take my leave now! Lord Yunes von Nordkirchen! Please stay well!"
"Ah, Flare!"
Flare abruptly mounted her horse and took off at full speed, fleeing as if something were chasing her.
I couldn't quite understand why, but I cupped my hands around my mouth and yelled at her retreating back anyway.
"I'm definitely going to become an adventurer like you someday too—!! Let's meet again then—!!"
The stories she'd shared about the world. The magic she'd taught me. The admiration those things had planted in my heart—
That admiration now bloomed brightly inside me, taking shape as a dream for the future: becoming an adventurer.
Yes. Let's become adventurers. Let's travel the world freely with Flare, embarking on adventures together. Let's craft a tale worthy of a storybook—the kind that makes your heart pound with wonder.
Flare only grew smaller in the distance without answering.
As I wistfully watched her fade into the horizon, my mother, of all people, answered instead.
"...Adventurer? Yune, what meaning does that hold?"
I looked up at her, wondering what the problem was.
"...Hiiik—!!"
"Yunes. It seems today truly is the day I must teach you the proper mindset of a noble son."
My mother was staring down at me with the single most terrifying expression I had ever seen.
Goo-goo. I'm just a baby Yune. Someone save me.
* * * * * *
After that, I sweated buckets trying to soothe my mother's thoroughly ruffled temper.
"Maman, I love you! You're the best, Maman!"
"...."
"Aah~ when I grow up, I've got to marry you, Maman! I like you so much!"
"......."
"Eee— Yune wuvs Maman this much— does Maman not wuv Yune?"
Outwardly, her face still looked frozen solid. But thanks to me temporarily setting aside my manly pride and deploying maximum cuteness, the corners of her lips crept steadily upward.
Once the corners had risen by about 0.1 millimeters, I was finally able to escape that hell.
'Phew... Mark of a Manly Man: Not letting pride get in the way of practicality.'
I consoled myself by classifying the whole performance as yet another form of manliness.
But my mother did not give me any time to soothe my wounded dignity. She immediately dropped another bombshell.
"Marriage is out of the question. You already have a fiancée."
"...Wh-whaaat?! I have a fiancée?!"
"Yunes. Do not raise your voice so boisterously."
...I had a fiancée?
I scrambled to search through Yune's memories, but there was nothing of the sort. Just useless trivia like that cake I had a few days ago was super yummy, I should ask them to make it again.
Once she'd admonished me for my outburst, my mother continued.
"It seems you had not yet been told. When you were still a babe in arms, the Charlottenburg Ducal House and I..."
She went on to explain various details, but my head was still spinning with shock and I couldn't absorb a word of it.
Only my fiancée's name echoed inside my skull: Kirschblüte von Charlottenburg. ...Why is her name so ridiculously long?
Simultaneously, my mother delivered yet another piece of staggering news.
"Furthermore, your sisters have completed their studies at the Academy and are due to return home shortly."
"Huh? You mean my second and third sisters?"
"Indeed."
This news was at least a little less shocking. The fact that I had sisters was part of Yune's existing knowledge, after all.
But that they'd already finished—that caught me off guard.
The Imperial Academy was an institution every noble was expected to attend, requiring four years of education to graduate.
Typically, students enrolled in the spring at sixteen and finished in the winter at nineteen. My sisters were eighteen this year and already done?
"The Academy is four years, isn't it? How are they finished already...?"
"They are said to have early-graduated by a year and a half. A natural outcome, as the excellent blood of Nordkirchen flows in both of them."
"Huh. My sisters are amazing."
I opened my mouth in genuine admiration. Early graduation—my sisters were impressive.
Yune's memories painted both of them as people who were always diligently doing something. Like sparring with wooden swords every day. ...Admittedly, it had sometimes looked to me like they were playing among themselves while leaving their sick younger brother behind, which had stung a little.
"I'm looking forward to it. Meeting my sisters."
"Good. Mar and Albert will surely be astonished to see how healthy you have become."
Right. When I meet my sisters, I'll show them how much stronger I am now. Then I'll pester them to tell me all about the Academy.
* * * * * *
A few days later.
I was in the Head of House's Office, settled comfortably in my mother's arms and being petted, when a knock sounded at the door.
-Knock, knock.
"Head of House, we have returned...—?!"
"—!!"
The door opened to reveal two women I had never seen before. Figures absent from Yune's memories.
But when I scrutinized them, I found traces of my two sisters' childhood features in their faces.
So that was probably Mar, and that was probably Albert.
'Their height, their chests—how did they change this much?'
I was staring wide-eyed, startled by my sisters' drastic transformation, when my sisters also froze. Their eyes went round as saucers as they stared straight at me.
More accurately, at me and my mother. Their mouths were covered as if to stifle any sound.
...What was that reaction about?