Chapter 18
Chapter 18
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 18
Chapter Title: My Brothers Aren't Villains!
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Yan, next in turn, pulled out a Jen block.
With a pounding heart, I watched him do it, when suddenly I felt a gaze and turned to the side. For a moment, my eyes seemed to meet Calipan's.
"If there's something you've been thinking about lately..."
Yan read the mission.
He scratched the back of his head and scanned us all.
In the flickering light, we saw Yan's pale pink eyes tremble faintly. Among us, I swallowed hard, waiting for his words.
"Even for those who want to die..."
...Those who want to die?!
"I want to create works that can make them want to live..."
...Want to live?!!?
"What?! Why? Why are you reacting like that?"
Before Yan could even finish one sentence, I'd been shocked twice in a row, and it seemed to bother him greatly. For the first time since entering this house, Yan snapped at me.
But seeing that, I became convinced he'd truly bared his real heart.
Unknowingly, I murmured.
"No, it's just... too... too warm a sentiment..."
When he mentioned people who wanted to die, I'd hallucinated a title like "Artist of Slaughter and Blood" beneath him...
"What...? D-don't say it like that."
Yan spoke in a voice as wilted as a head of cabbage that had run out of breath, then stacked the Jen block with trembling hands.
How had I said it...? I mumbled apologies like "Yes, sorry..."
And before the shock from Yan's "recent thoughts" could fade, Daluh drew the next block.
[Have you ever prayed like this before bed?]
Daluh stared down at it blankly with an expressionless face.
Soon, his voice flowed out casually, but unlike his demeanor, it carried a hint of complex emotions.
"I hope this world doesn't perish."
It was the true heart of 16-year-old Daluh, who in the original story had cursed this world with divine words and died.
Calipan, having regained his brazenness by then, responded to Daluh.
"Don't worry, brother. Our family will protect it diligently."
It was the pledge from Calipan, heir to the Jedkaizer Duke Family, who handled most of the monster subjugations.
Hearing that much, I somehow felt uneasy.
I glanced around stealthily and dropped my gaze before it could meet anyone's.
Bamper drew the Jen block.
"It says to pick two friends and share your first impressions of them."
As always, Bamper smiled softly and vibrantly, with a generous ease of mind.
"I didn't first meet Mayches at the academy. I saw him when he was eleven, coming to the imperial capital to receive his title. Honestly, back then, he looked like he was about to cause some kind of incident. Even my spirits avoided him."
Bamper's cocoa-brown hair seemed to sway gently. He gazed at some point in the air and chuckled as if tickled.
"But now, he's become the benefactor who treats my brother Bandahen."
"That was only because you chased me all the way to the academy."
"Right, 'only because.' That's your warmth, Mayches."
Bamper toyed with the end of the Jen block with his fingers. His eyes had already left Mayches and turned toward me.
"And the one who made Mayches that way is you."
"......"
"You're the white flame that heals people with warmth. ...That's what I thought when I first saw you, Aiel."
Bamper placed the piece. With each block stacked, my heart pounded harder.
This was bad... It seemed I was being punished for recklessly stirring things up to hear their true feelings.
It was true I'd started with the intention of blocking it if I could...
The more I felt they were ordinary boys like Mayches, the heavier it weighed on me.
I knew half-hearted resolve would lead to me dropping out easily, but sincerely opening my heart to them terrified me too. It meant living a life with so much to protect.
It was then, while I couldn't even look at Jayhan, next in turn. I tilted sideways.
Mayches had quietly pulled my shoulder to lean against him.
"Wh-what... are you crying? Little brother Mayches...?"
To Yan's stammering question, I shook my head. I'm not crying... If I cry, I faint...
"Aiel overdid it today and has a slight fever. Want to head in, Aiel?"
Mayches patted my shoulder. I hesitated.
I had to either ignore everything or shoulder it all. Jayhan, next in turn, stared at me blankly with his usual detached-from-the-world expression.
I brushed back my fallen hair. No... Maybe I was thinking wrong.
From the moment they entered this house—our house with Mayches—ignoring everything might not have been an option.
No more 'I should have later, I should have done that, I should have said something.' I'd decided not to dwell on those regrets.
"No, it's fun... Let's play a bit more."
Jayhan looked at me for a moment.
He raised the hand that had been under the table and extended it toward the Jen.
"I have a lot I want to know."
A soft orange flame settled on the rectangular wooden piece at Jayhan's fingertips.
We watched the wooden piece glow warmly in its pale brown hue.
[Tell your friends the dream you want to be cheered on for.]
Our gazes slid from the text up to Jayhan's face.
Jayhan's voice was low and flat.
"The pain, loneliness, sorrow rampant in the world. And the things that aren't."
"......"
"What joy shines through layers of misfortune. What it means to love the red fallen leaves brushing your shoes, the dewdrops pattering down at dawn, the children frolicking at dusk. The feeling that stirs when you see eyes that hold and gaze at all of it..."
"......"
My eyes met Jayhan's. For an instant, the corner of his mouth seemed to lift faintly.
"But there's no one to tell it to."
With that, Jayhan stood the Jen block vertically on the precarious edge of the tower...!
When it was Mayches's next turn and he muttered, "There's really no one reliable...," Jayhan flatly retorted to Mayches, "I'm good at learning," perfectly snarking back (that's when I vaguely got how Jayhan fit into this group).
In a daze, I watched Mayches draw the next piece.
In the end, Mayches knocked the Jen tower crashing down, and Calipan rolled up his sleeves, asking if it would be Boing Hammer or homework as punishment.
While everyone noisily decided the penalty, Jayhan held something out to me.
[Jayhan Usage Rights]
"This is... why?"
"Mine isn't a one-time use."
Jayhan spoke indifferently, watching his friends chatter wildly.
"You can use it again."
Doria pulled the blanket up under Aiel's neck as she lay in bed.
Aiel was feverish and groaning. All the while, she kept mumbling something.
"This is bad... What to do from now on..."
Doria changed the cloth on Aiel's forehead to a cold one.
"Miss, don't talk. You'll raise your fever more."
"These friends... how did they..."
"Sleep and wake up, and I'll listen all day tomorrow, so rest now, miss. Everyone's worried..."
After saying it, Doria wondered to herself, 'Everyone's worried?'
Chewing it over, the sentence felt a bit abrupt.
Tracing her memories, Doria recalled the count's friends leaving the Rudelriz estate.
In the end, Lady Aiel's body hadn't held out, and she'd returned to her room early.
The quietly watching eyes of the count and his friends had left a deep impression on Doria in that brief moment.
For some reason, it reminded her of that winter day when the count had called her and said, "Take good care of my sister."
"Ca...de......"
At the miss's tossing and turning, Doria snapped out of her thoughts. She looked down at Aiel again and patted lightly over the blanket.
Aiel, staring blankly at the ceiling and murmuring, blinked.
Then, at one point, Aiel's lips pressed into a straight line.
Doria knew that was the habit she had when making a decision.
Sure enough, Aiel spoke in a decisive voice.
"I'm going to the academy."
"......"
Doria's eyes and mouth opened wide in circles.
