A Man Crashes In?
"Yuri's here!"
"Careful. From now on we've got to call her Yuria."
"Ah, right! Yuria's here!"
Charlotte and Yulia peered out the window, their hearts hammering in their chests.
When Aslan had mentioned in passing that Yuria would be staying at the estate, they'd half-assumed he was joking. They hadn't really believed it.
And yet here she was — for real!
"She brought a bag and everything. Doesn't look like she's just dropping by. I think she actually means to stay the whole vacation."
"I think so too… I really think so…!"
At last — they could live with Yuri again!
How long had it been since they'd parted ways with her? After that, Yuri had enrolled at the Imperial Magic Academy, used her connections there to join Belmont Security, and from there ended up staying at the estate — nearly four months in total.
In the middle of that rush of excitement, though, Charlotte and Yulia suddenly realized this reunion wasn't a complete one. Their shoulders sagged almost at once.
"Yuri… she's still going to keep pretending, isn't she?"
"Probably. But why is she hiding who she is from us?"
"I don't think it's from us so much as from Aslan. It felt like she absolutely can't let him find out that she knows us."
"But why!?"
They'd been reunited, yes — and yet Yuri refused to acknowledge them at all. Still wearing that mask everyone had already seen through, still using a fake name…
If she was going that far, there had to be a reason.
Charlotte and Yulia put their heads together and tried to figure it out.
"Aaaah! I don't get it!"
"Me neither…"
Before long they had to throw in the towel. No plausible explanation would come to mind.
Surely she wasn't thinking that if Aslan found out they all knew each other, he'd try to drive a wedge between them. Yuri was stubborn, but she wasn't that much of a fool.
They would have loved to let her know they'd already seen through the mask — but there was no telling what might happen if they did, so they had no choice but to tread carefully too.
After all this time, they'd finally gotten close enough to live under the same roof. The last thing they wanted was one careless slip sending her drifting away again…
"No other way, then. We'll just have to find out ourselves!"
"She said vacation was two months, right? We've got plenty of time. We can take it slow and feel her out. If the two of us join forces, we'll crack it in no time…!"
"Join… what? I don't know what that means, but yeah, we'll figure it out…!"
Charlotte and Yulia looked at each other and nodded.
Either Yuri was in some kind of trouble — or she was laboring under a serious misunderstanding. One or the other.
The old versions of themselves would have fretted helplessly, unable to do a thing. But now both of them were strong enough to help her.
So there was nothing to worry about.
Unless, of course, they started fighting among themselves first…!
"I heard a rumor that Count Belmont is raising you two to make you his wives someday… Is that true…?"
"H-hmm. Th-that? Well, of course…"
"It's true!"
"It's not true…"
"…?"
Blank stares. Charlotte's eyes met Yulia's.
Then both heads tilted at the exact same moment, wearing matching expressions of total incomprehension.
"Huuuh? Anyone can see it. Uncle is obviously raising Yulia as a future bride!"
"Charlotte, have you gotten swept up in the maids' silly gossip too? Aslan isn't that kind of creepy person. Anyone else, maybe — but you, who's been closer to him than anyone, shouldn't be saying that!"
"Me, swept up in gossip!? No way! It's obvious Uncle likes you a ton…!"
"It's not that kind of 'like,' you dummy. Aslan's gentler than he looks. How have you even been looking at him this whole time? It's so frustrating, seriously."
"Ha!? Haaah…! I'm the frustrated one here, okay? For someone who's supposed to be a dense-type tsundere…!"
"D-dense-type tsundere? What is that even…!"
Before long Yulia's face had gone bright red, and Charlotte's voice was climbing higher and higher.
"How can you not notice when Uncle is being that obvious about it? He keeps manufacturing excuses to be alone with you and carving out time on purpose — and you still don't get it? Hwaaah. Ruthless. This is why dense types…"
"Huuuuh."
Charlotte shook her head with a heavy sigh, and Yuri — watching all of this — let out a shocked gasp of her own.
Yulia might look cool-headed and clever on the surface, but when it came to people, she'd always been a complete denser. Even so — for her not to notice when Aslan himself was making it plain, and the maids were saying it to her face…!
Or maybe her contrarian streak had kicked in — that whole I'm a brilliant intellectual, not like the foolish masses thing — and she simply refused to believe the maids.
Or, more likely still, she'd realized ages ago and was only pretending not to know, terrified that accepting Uncle's feelings would destroy the relationship they had now…
Either way, it was maddening!
Yuri had always known Yulia was bad at reading people's hearts. But she'd never come this close to exploding from sheer frustration.
"Ha! What do you mean, dense-type!? I know I'm not the most honest person, but I'm not that bad, okay?"
"Yes you are."
"No I'm nooot…! If I'm dense-type, then you're super-dense-type, Charlotte!"
"Why are you suddenly coming after me?"
"Because everything you just said applies to you too! Aslan keeps manufacturing excuses to be alone with you and making time for you the exact same way!"
"What!? Wh-what…!"
"You're the one who hasn't noticed! Aslan hates going outside because of his sensitive skin, but whenever you're in the garden he comes out just to talk to you. And the way he burns through massage vouchers the second he gets them refilled. And how he keeps buying you fancy clothes and making you wear them even when you complain they're uncomfortable — don't you get it? He's training you in advance for the day you become a countess! The dense one isn't me — it's you!"
"Huuuuuh."
Yulia finally unleashed everything she'd been holding back in a piercing screech, and Yuri gasped again.
Charlotte could seem sharp enough at times — until she herself was involved, at which point her instincts vanished completely. There had always been kids like that at the orphanage: the ones who could read every pink romantic vibe in the room except their own.
To think Charlotte was one of them…
I'll admit I'm not honest, and that sometimes — very, very rarely — that makes me dense. But I can still look at a situation objectively.
If Aslan is giving me special treatment, then he's giving Charlotte the exact same thing!
So why am I the only one being raised as a bride, and not Charlotte? That doesn't make any sense!
Faced with Yulia's airtight logic, Charlotte found herself at a complete loss for words.
"That's not it! Obviously Uncle would like the cuter, prettier Yulia more!"
"Charlotte, you're plenty pretty and cute too!? You have all that bold charm I don't even have!"
"Huuuuuuh."
Thud!
Neither girl gave an inch. Their foreheads knocked together as they glared at each other with undiminished ferocity.
Yuri kept gasping as if she might actually pass out.
On the surface it looked like they were shouting and sniping at each other with sharp tongues. But if you listened to what they were actually saying…
Two girls so adorable you wanted to nibble them, bickering over who was cuter and prettier!
Faced with this catastrophically irresistible spectacle, Yuri found herself, for some reason, craving popcorn.
I knew it. Charlotte and Yulia together really are the best…
At a glance they seemed like total opposites. But that was exactly why putting them side by side created such incredible synergy. When their personalities clashed head-on, the resulting fluffiness reached absolute maximum levels.
Aaaah. So sweet. Rotting. She was rotting.
Yuri was drooling in a blissed-out daze when the argument continued.
"I-I'm too childish. Uncle probably doesn't like that. The way he likes me is just doting, you know? He wouldn't actually be thinking of me as a bride!"
"That's exactly why Aslan sees you as bride material! From the very first time he met us, he's never been interested in kids who were already mature and responsible! Aslan is the kind of person who enjoys watching a childish little girl slowly grow into an adult under his protection!"
"U-Uncle couldn't be that much of a pervert…! Okay, that does sound kind of right… Hmm…"
"So if he had to choose, of course it'd be Charlotte. Unlike gloomy old me, you're livelier and cuter and act more like a kid…"
"Why are we even assuming Uncle has to 'choose' in the first place? Yulia, you have charms I don't have too! If Uncle picked me, he wouldn't pick only me — he'd take you as a bride along with me!"
"Whaaaat!? Even Aslan couldn't be that much of a pervert… Wait… um… Actually, that… might be possible…"
"…"
At the conversation that followed, Yuri felt she might faint on the spot.
A man crashing into the Charlotte × Yulia combo.
Aslan snatching both of them away.
Just imagining it made her chest ache something fierce.