Chapter 6
Chapter 6
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: penny
Chapter: 6
Chapter Title: No Need for Friends
-----------------------------------------------------------------
With clear eyes, Mayches turned his gaze toward the door.
He thought that if his sister ever grew healthy and mature enough to knock one day, he might actually feel a bit hurt.
"Aiel."
Her ash-gray hair was loosely braided down her back. She was pale and thin, but unlike before, her gem-like gray eyes sparkled with vitality.
Due to her health issues, Aiel rarely dressed in formal attire.
Instead of a constricting dress, she wore a soft, loose-fitting dress custom-made just for her.
The light sky-blue dress she had on today matched perfectly with her fluffy white slippers, looking as angelic and beautiful as always... and just as fragile.
Mayches gazed at Aiel's slender ankles, which were smaller than those of girls her age. He vowed to make her healthier than anyone else.
"Brother, let's play a game."
In Aiel's hand as she said this was a notebook.
Aiel had walked laboriously to the desk and was now holding out one page of the notebook, claiming once again that it was a game she'd invented.
Horizontal and vertical lines were drawn at regular intervals.
"This game's called Omok."
"Yeah, I see."
Mayches chuckled softly, swept the papers off the desk, and lifted Aiel onto it.
In the meantime, Doria quickly whispered the situation to Grenji.
"He said we should make her play a game that uses her brain instead of luck games, then bolted right out."
Mayches and Grenji's eyes met. Grenji nodded.
"Got it?"
There was even a hint of determination in Aiel's eyes as she explained the rules. Mayches could only chuckle again.
Black and white circles were drawn alternately on the paper.
Aiel painstakingly drew her lopsided white circle like a pebble and passed her turn. Mayches held his pen, pondering with a hum...
And then, the moment Mayches drew four black circles in a row without any blocks—
"Brother, not bad! I'm not usually someone who loses this easily—you must have a talent for games!"
Aiel couldn't hide her joy and practically jumped with excitement.
Realizing she was enjoying it too much, she tried to compose her expression before patting Mayches' shoulder.
"They say winning's a habit too. What if you start winning everything from now on~? Guess I'll have to practice hard too~."
Losing practice~.
Aiel grinned inwardly.
How's that taste of your first victory? A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step—this is it! Now Mayches is hooked on the thrill of winning!
But what if he gets too addicted to games? Well, game addiction's still better than total family annihilation!
...Even as she thought that, Aiel—who worried excessively about the Rudelriz family's future—felt a twinge of unease.
Aiel rolled her eyes and casually added,
"But Brother, no gambling. Gambling's a straight path to ruin... Got it?"
Grenji expertly suppressed a laugh by recalling something sad. The maids, without that level of skill, bowed their heads to hide their twitching lips.
And Mayches once again became an ordinary fifteen-year-old boy, smiling purely with crinkled eyes.
It was that smile, famous among the maids for disarming anyone.
Word was some lady had already fallen for that innocent smile after glimpsing it by chance.
Some lady was said to be nearly driven mad by the gap between the count's usual cynical demeanor and how he lit up talking about his little sister.
Aiel didn't know that what she dismissed as a "goofy grin" was exactly the kind in high demand.
The Rudelriz household's butler and maids held back sudden tears today as well. There was a time they truly thought this house would fall... How could there be such adorable siblings in the world?
"But what's that?"
However, the peace that seemed eternal cracked the next moment, thanks to something Aiel spotted.
"Miss, sob sob... Please have a cookie at least... Whether three or thirty, just eat some, please..."
I had to eat strictly balanced, nutritious meals. Otherwise, my health would shatter like a shocked glass tube.
But ever since I could walk on my own, I'd started having snacks in small amounts.
It wasn't my preference—my appetite was picky. Too much made me vomit—but my daily calorie intake was so deficient that Mayches and the head chef had racked their brains to find a solution to get me to eat more.
These plain cookies had no sugar or artificial sweeteners, but they were savory in their own way, and I liked having them as snacks.
The side effect, though, was that after eating one, my appetite plummeted, and I'd eat even less at dinner. Even forcing it down, I couldn't pass four bites.
In the end, my snacks were limited to tiny portions, and cookies were capped at three per day.
It felt like they gave with one hand and took with the other, but I knew it was all for my own good, to make me healthy, so I didn't complain much. I was a bit disappointed...
But right now, I was refusing not just three cookies but even rice. Lunch had passed, dinner time was approaching, but I held firm.
When Mayches heard I'd skipped lunch, he knocked on my door, but I ignored him and pulled the covers over my head.
"Aiel... Let's eat. No matter what, why aren't you eating? You'll ruin your health..."
"Changed your mind?"
"..."
"Tell me if you have. Until then, don't come into my room."
Mayches was chased out with a sky-falling expression.
I felt bad for using my health as blackmail, but I had to push through.
Doria offered me a plate piled with cookies. The savory, crumbly aroma teased my nose.
To make up for the missed lunch calories, there were extras I'd never normally get: jam, unsalted butter, even little sugar candies.
Honestly, since reincarnating and getting into the habit of regular meals, the glossy red strawberry jam made my mouth water.
Skipping one meal made my stomach feel like it was sticking to my back. But I feigned disinterest.
"So, Brother's going to the academy?"
"Sob sob..."
Doria pretended to cry without answering. I pulled the covers over again.
The reason for my hunger strike was none other than to send Mayches to the academy.
After savoring a thrilling defeat at Omok in Mayches' study, I'd read the familiar writing on the letter in Grenji's hand.
'Repitelips Academy'.
There was no issue taking the letter from Grenji. Neither Mayches nor Grenji had reason to hide it from me.
Repitelips Academy was a gold-class institution attended only by royalty and nobility of school age, plus a tiny handful of wealthy or talented commoners.
It was also the place one of the novel's six villains later attended briefly before dropping out.
Of course, not Mayches.
In the original story, Mayches was too obsessed with his love-hate blood relative to bother with something healthy and annoying like attending the academy.
...He didn't? That's it!
Seeing my eyes sparkle as I sat on the desk reading the letter for a long time, Mayches seemed to sense something ominous.
Mayches took the letter back from me, and quick-witted Grenji snatched it and tucked it into his inner pocket.
Whatever. To keep Mayches from escaping, I grabbed his wrist firmly with both hands and said innocently,
"My brother's going to the academy!"
Meaning, you should go.
Mayches naturally shook his head.
"How could I leave Aiel and go anywhere?"
It might've sounded heartwarming to Grenji or Doria (and they smiled warmly), but to me, it fanned the flames of the anxiety I'd been harboring.
Yeah, that's the problem.
Giving his heart too much to me—or more precisely, having no one else to rely on!
Wasn't this just the original plot with a slight directional tweak? My chest grew cold.
Of course, I'd work hard to change the future. I'd stay vigilant so nothing would happen to properly blacken Mayches.
But... what if my efforts failed, like with the late Count and Countess Rudelriz—our parents?
To prepare for that, Mayches needed someone besides me to lean on. Someone to steady his fragile mentality.
The Rudelriz household were warm people, but they were servants. If Mayches got annoyed, he could just cut them loose, and they'd have to leave.
So Mayches needed someone on equal footing who truly cared for him.
"You'll make lots of new friends if you go! Sounds great!"
For that, what could be more universal, healthy, and fitting than 'friends'?
Moreover, if Mayches—who didn't go to the academy in the original—enrolled, wouldn't that change the future even more?
But this guy Mayches, oblivious to my deeper intent, refused with a smiling face.
"I don't need friends."
"..."
He's lost his mind... My brother thinks he can live in the world all alone...?