Chapter 51
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 51
“M-money? You want money?”
Their last encounter had been anything but pleasant.
It had ended with a physical altercation and a frigid exchange of glares. Given how much time had passed since then, one would have expected them to still be at each other's throats.
“I’m completely broke right now.”
Every word out of Leon Frezier’s mouth left Lisian utterly bewildered. The usual tension and awkwardness that should have followed their reunion were buried instantly under the sheer absurdity of the situation.
“W-why are you… b-broke?”
“Because of this. Look.”
Leon Frezier pointed a finger at his own cheek.
The signs of medical treatment were loud and clear. The layers of gauze plastered to his face had been noticeable the moment he stepped into the room. To keep the gauze securely in place, Leon had his entire head wrapped in bandages, making him look like a patient with a dislocated jaw.
“Brother, do you have any idea what’s smeared on my face right now?”
“...?”
“What was it again? Wood Flu, Thousand-Year Snow, and… something else.”
He couldn't remember the names of all ten or so medicinal ingredients. However, mentioning just a few was enough, as Lisian already looked sufficiently stunned.
“W-where did you… g-get all that?”
“Tulia Frezier brought them.”
“...Tuli-a did?”
Lisian let out a sharp, huffing laugh a beat late. Even during the time he had refused to deal with Leon Frezier, he had continued to see Tulia. For some reason, the girl seemed to enjoy seeking him out and talking to him. He had worried that spending all day talking to someone who stuttered as badly as he did would be frustrating for her, but Tulia simply smiled whenever she saw him.
She had smiled even during their very first meeting.
But Tulia—she probably didn't know.
From the very moment of their reunion after so long, Lisian had sensed her peculiar ulterior motives. Back then, Tulia had been calculating something as she looked at them. Measuring, weighing, and acting with nothing but pretense. That was how she had treated them.
At first, he hadn't cared.
The Academy, high society, even their direct relatives in the Frezier family—the world was overflowing with people who treated them that way. Lisian didn't mind if one more person—a mere younger sister—was added to that list of calculating eyes. He truly didn't care.
And yet…
In just a few days, she had changed so rapidly. In that short span of time, he had realized it. He had noticed that she was actually overflowing with a thirst and longing for family. He had come to the sudden realization that she had been left neglected and alone for a very long time.
Even though he knew she might find his slow speech frustrating, Lisian had spent the last few days constantly by her side. It was because he realized that, before he knew it, he was smiling whenever he looked at her, too.
“It would be… n-nice if we could… t-take her to the A-academy.”
“Brother!”
Leon Frezier practically jumped out of his skin.
“You think Tulia’s a good person now, don't you? That’s why you’re saying that, right? Did you not hear what I just said?”
“...Huh?”
“I said I’m broke! Those expensive, expensive, expensive, incredibly expensive medicinal herbs—she said the Grand Duke gave them to her personally, but anyway, they’re insanely expensive!”
Tulia had marched in with a whole basket of them, leaving his chief physician dazed and starstruck, and then she had declared with total confidence:
“Pay up.”
“She forced the sale on me!”
The chief physician, who had already lost his mind over the rare ingredients, wouldn't listen to a word Leon said. Besides, everything Tulia had said was technically true. Their relationship with Tulia was already the talk of the Grand Duchy, so that didn't matter, but there was no need to broadcast the discord between the twins. Such things were weaknesses. The fewer weaknesses one had, and the better they were hidden, the better.
He needed to heal as quickly as possible, and the chief physician—who acted as if he’d been bribed by Tulia—kept chiming in, saying they had to use every last bit of the herbs to even have a chance of making the bruises subside in time.
Leon didn't know it, but Tulia had already consulted his chief physician for advice on this 'transaction' beforehand. It was a battle Leon never stood a chance of winning.
“I don't know if he’s my doctor or Tulia’s henchman…”
Despite his repeated sighs, he had ultimately been forced to buy them.
“Anyway, Tulia really cleaned me out, so lend me some money, Brother.”
“The h-hunting competition is… in a f-few days.”
Lisian spoke as he stood up from his seat.
“C-catch a bear and… s-sell it.”
“No, Brother! I don't even have enough to last until then! Tulia, that girl… she was absolutely merciless. She took every single penny—”
Tinkle, tinkle.
The clear sound of a bell rang out. A servant who had been waiting outside the door at the pull of the cord entered immediately.
“You called, Young Master Lisian?”
“Leon is… l-leaving. Please… s-see him out.”
“Yes, Young Master.”
The servant gave a light bow and approached Leon with a polite tone.
“I will escort you, Young Master Leon.”
“Hey, Brother!”
* * *
“Lisian, Lisian.”
I gave his side a light poke.
“Yes, Tu-tulia.”
Lisian’s green eyes looked up from the book he was paging through and settled on me. I gestured with my eyes toward the distance.
“Look. Look at Leon Frezier’s face. Is it because the herbs were expensive? The effect is actually amazing.”
Lisian’s gaze shifted toward Leon Frezier, who was practicing his swordsmanship in the distance. The dark, heavy bruising on Leon’s cheek had almost entirely faded. Even though I saw him every day, the speed of the recovery was truly impressive.
“I knew it. I did the right thing by selling him those herbs.”
Lisian chuckled.
“Yes. You d-did… w-well, Tu-tulia.”
Whether it was because I’d sold him all those herbs or because he was now penniless, Leon Frezier—who used to be busy bristling like a hedgehog whenever he saw me—seemed to have lost some of his fire.
Maybe I should just keep him broke for the rest of his life instead of trying to raise his favorability?
The wicked thought crossed my mind, but I soon shook my head.
Unlike me, he’s getting plenty of child support from Marquis Aster Frezier.
One look at the clothes he wore or the sword he swung made it obvious just how wealthy an upbringing he was receiving.
Does the Marquis hate Tulia that much?
Enough to not send a single cent. Even though he was a high-ranking noble with such immense power and wealth.
Well, I suppose…
It would be hard to feel affection for a daughter who was widely rumored to be the product of his wife’s affair.
I shrugged my shoulders.
In a few days, the cooldown for the free Favorability Check would be over. It had been nearly a week. Of course, any lingering expectations of 'what if' or 'maybe' had long since crumbled into dust. I had become firmly convinced a few days ago that there was no way Leon Frezier could be a male lead who loved me while possessing such a ruinous mouth.
Then is it a different male lead? Who could it be?
My deduction didn't last long.
“Lisian, Tulia. Since when did you two become so close?”
“Uncle Lilius?”
When did he get here? Lilius Frezier approached us with a smile.
“Come, get ready. A guest has arrived.”
“A guest?”
“Yes. It’s been a particularly long time since you’ve seen him, Tulia.”
As I blinked in confusion, Lilius spoke kindly.
“Great Count Nigella Frezier—your eldest uncle—has arrived.”