Anyway, the Days Pass - 4
It was disheartening. I had been certain it was a perfect idea—flawless, one no one could possibly raise an objection to. The person involved had seemed happy enough, so I had even allowed myself a quiet little satisfaction that my brain still had some use left in it.
That was why I shared the glad tidings of victory with my lovers back in the Imperial Capital. Joy doubles when it is shared, after all.
But no. From the eyes of a third party who had not taken part in the discussion, the idea was not flawless at all. It was riddled with flaws.
Watching Eri shake her head in that way made injustice and bitterness well up in me at the same time.
Even if I were completely out of my mind, would I really decide on a lover’s nickname like that? I had genuinely thought Lu sounded nice, so I went with Lu.
“Okay, I get it, so stop…”
Under the relentless barrage I ended up crying inside. Having someone tell you, without even pausing for breath, that your idea sucked was harsher than I had expected.
Fine. I would admit it. My idea had sucked. Even Luise’s smile had probably just been politeness because her lover had made it up for her.
I don’t have a single nickname I actually came up with myself.
And then, abruptly, I arrived at an uncomfortable truth. Mar, Trixie, Lin, Eri, Phine. Every one of those five nicknames had not been coined by me.
Mar, Trixie, Lin, and Eri were simply nicknames other people already used that I had adopted as well, and even Phine had been created with considerable help from Eri. A pure original nickname of my own creation did not exist in this world.
Except for Lu.
…
“Then Rory’s fine, right?”
The reaction that asked why I was even questioning something so obvious made me quietly hang my head. From now on, whenever it came time to invent nicknames for the children, I would leave it to my wives.
After finishing the conversation with Eri, I told Phine that I had settled on Rory as Luise’s nickname, and she praised it as a truly lovely name.
I felt even more wretched.
Ever since yesterday, the corners of my mouth kept rising the moment I let my guard down even a little. Even in the middle of class I would break into foolish little grins, exchanging awkward looks with the teacher several times over.
But there was nothing I could do about it. For the first time in my life I had received a nickname—and one my brother had personally given me at that. Of course I would be happy.
Lu.
I quietly covered my mouth with one hand and looked out the window. If I lowered my hand, the others would catch me grinning so hard it would be embarrassing.
That won’t do.
I steeled myself inwardly and gave a small nod. Right. That simply would not do. The fact that I was happy was undeniable, but my private joy was no reason to show an ugly face.
I was my brother’s lover. I was the future wife to whom he himself had given the nickname Lu. If I failed to conduct myself properly, it would not only damage my own honor—it would become a problem for my brother’s reputation as well.
“No one would dare insult Karl to his face. But they could certainly target the people around him—his lover or his subordinates, for example.”
A long time ago, right after I had first become my brother’s lover, Mar-unnie had said something like that to Irina and me.
In high society, if a wife behaves strangely, the husband ends up hearing unpleasant things as well. Since they lack the courage to criticize Karl directly, they will take aim at us, the people around him, and insult him by detour.
That was something I could never allow. If I were the one being spoken ill of, that would be my own fault and I could endure it. But I could not endure the idea of my perfect, wonderful brother being insulted because of my shortcomings.
Petty people.
The corners of my mouth slowly settled. Jackals who envied and resented my brother yet lacked the courage to say anything nasty to his face, so they prowled around the edges instead. I could not show those jackals any opening.
I am a titled noble too.
So I firmed my resolve once more. Strictly speaking I was still only an heir and not yet a titled noble, but one day I would become a titled noble in name and fact. Even if it was only the lowest rank of Baron, I would still be one of the very few titled nobles among all the aristocracy.
If I conducted myself without gaps and stayed sharp, no one would be able to speak ill of my brother. On the contrary, I would be able to punish those who envied him.
Future me would have that power. The title of Baron and the name of the Magic Lord’s sole disciple would make many things possible in the Empire.
It was a little embarrassing that it felt like I would be relying on other people’s strength rather than my own, though.
“You will remain my only disciple from now on as well. Anyone who fears my name will never be able to see you as a mere baron’s daughter.”
My master—no, Beatrix-unnie—would probably be happy that I was making good use of what I had.
So I would do my best. I would become someone who could properly support my brother from the shadows, not become his weakness.
I would stake the nickname he had given me on it!
I would stake the name Lu on it!
I arrived at the club room with that new resolve, only to hear something completely unexpected from my brother the moment I got there.
“Thinking about it again, Rory has a nicer ring to it than Lu. Besides, Lu kind of feels like I just lazily took the first syllable.”
I flinched at those words.
Had I staked the nickname too quickly? Was that why it was changing…?
“Luise, you prefer Rory too, right?”
I wanted to say that whether it was Lu or Rory did not matter as long as it was a nickname my brother had given me, but strangely his eyes looked a little sad.
What should I do? What kind of reaction was I supposed to give? It felt like choosing either Lu or Rory would end up hurting him.
“Ah, yes. I think Rory is better too.”
After a brief, frantic consideration I chose the latter. His expression seemed to lean that way.
“Yeah, Lu’s a bit much. Anyone who heard it would think I was talking about soup.”
Strange. My brother was laughing as if he were joking, yet somehow it looked as if he were crying.
“Sorry, Rory. I ended up changing your nickname after only a single day for no good reason.”
But when I saw him smile and open his arms, all the worry and anxiety in my heart melted away like snow.
Right. I had overreacted. What reason would my brother have to be sad? I must simply have misread things because my heart was still racing from the new nickname.
Thinking that, I stepped into his embrace. He wrapped his arms around me in turn and pressed his lips to mine.
…I really do love this.
I felt as if I could fly.
After the nickname incident I quietly prepared for the break.
“This one promotes to bishop as well.”
Of course, that only meant I was quiet. The club members were another story entirely.
Fortunately they were not running around outside causing trouble, but they seemed determined to spill inside the room whatever water they might have spilled outside—the club room grew noisier by the day.
“Oh dear. Looking at it now, that’s four bishops again this time.”
“…….”
A third party would have felt their blood pressure spike at the provocative tone and the sound of teeth grinding savagely, but I did my best to ignore it while eating the cookies Luise had baked.
Cruel bastard.
I cursed the heartless, tearless red-haired menace inwardly as I chewed.
For some time now the members had been choosing indoor activities over outdoor ones like foot volleyball. A natural choice in the cold of winter, but the problem was that one of the Baking Club’s signature indoor activities was chess. It had created the perfect environment for Ryutis to unleash the madness of his five-knight strategy and four-bishop tactic once more.
And the primary victims of that madness were Later, or Later, or Later. Every other member avoided Ryutis, yet Later alone stubbornly kept facing him.
While putting on a losing streak so pathetic it made onlookers feel sorry for him.
“Where’d the chess player go?”
At last the classic—and most reliable—provocation flew from Ryutis’s mouth. Even I, who had been ignoring them, instinctively looked over.
Oh dear.
But the moment I turned my eyes I saw Later trembling violently, so I looked away again at once.
If he had simply lost because of a lack of skill, Later would have accepted it and moved on. Being defeated by a bizarre four-bishop play, however, had scraped his pride raw and sent his competitive spirit soaring. After all, making four bishops in the first place meant you could have finished the opponent whenever you wanted and were simply toying with them.
And on top of that he had to hear words like that? Even Tanian would have smashed the other person’s head with a scripture under those circumstances.
“…You damn—!”
Before long Later’s enraged voice rang out and something went flying through the air.
In the end the normal person who had been tormented by eccentricity had completely lost it.
Truly a pitiable sight.
A brief silence followed Later’s all-out board flip, but the usual atmosphere returned soon enough.
Ryutis had provided the cause by teasing his opponent too much, and Later had committed the unsportsmanlike act of rage-quitting. So they seemed to have decided to call it even on each other’s sins.
Strange bastards.
Watching them left me confused. Were they supposed to be called broad-minded and generous, or just simple?
Better than fighting, at least.
After a short deliberation I settled on a safe conclusion. It was still better than the second- and third-ranked princes of the continent getting into an actual physical scuffle.
I watched the male members who had somehow gathered and started a game of poker, then turned my gaze toward the female members. Even with the clamor of chess pieces and boards flying through the air, the girls were calmly absorbed in making sweets.
There had definitely been a time when they too would jump at every racket the hopeless male members caused. Two years had been more than enough to forge steel hearts that simply rolled with whatever happened.
No—strictly speaking, one year had been enough.
They’ve gotten stronger.
Amazingly, even Sera of all people had acquired a heart of steel. She only glanced over at Later’s shout before immediately losing interest.
My chest swelled with grandeur. Was that really the same Sera who had never once socialized and used to freeze up in front of royalty? Even she now looked at princes the way one looked at stones rolling on the ground. The members truly were legends.
Of course I did not feel particularly proud. Useless idiots.
At least our imperial family members are relatively normal. That’s a relief.
With a mixture of bitterness and relief I looked at Ainter, who was in the middle of the poker game. Among them he was the most normal one. Aside from joining the Baking Club because he had fallen for Luise, he had never really caused any disturbances.
Domestic products really were better than foreign ones after all.