The Younger Brother Who Reads the Room - 4
If a guest visits, the proper thing is to receive them in the parlor—but Sera is no ordinary guest. She is my friend and the daughter of our nanny, so the household staff treat her less like an outsider and more like family.
Because of that, when Sera comes to the estate the servants never escort her to the reception room. They either guide her to the head maid—our nanny’s chambers—or simply send her straight to mine.
Should I wash up first?
Assuming she would be in the nanny’s room or my own again this time, I was strolling down the corridor when I paused and sniffed near my sleeve.
I had been training until moments ago, yet anyone who can handle mana with even modest skill rarely sweats no matter how fiercely they move. More often you wash because of the dirt and dust that cling during practice.
Still, I am nowhere near the pinnacle of magic like my second sister-in-law, so it is never perfect. Besides, people are notoriously dull when it comes to their own scent.
I should at least rinse off quickly.
After a brief debate I turned around. Come to think of it, I was on my way to see frail little Sera—I could hardly appear filthy—
"Where are you going?"
I had not gone far before a voice behind me stopped me cold.
"Good thing I came out. If I’d stayed in my room I would have waited forever."
When I glanced back, Sera stood there blinking up at me.
Ah—so she had been coming to find me as well. Perfect timing.
"I just left the training grounds, so I was going to wash first. Having a smelly guy in the room would be a bit much, right?"
"Smell?"
Tilting her head, Sera buried her face against my chest and drew a deep breath.
"I don’t smell anything."
She looked up with a soft, bashful smile. I carefully eased her back. Even if there was no odor, there might still be dirt on me.
Strange, though. Normally Sera would have pulled away long before I pushed; yet now she held her ground with quiet firmness. Of course a little more force would have moved her, but I could never put strength into it against someone so delicate.
"I must be pretty dirty."
"Not at all. If you call this dirty, you should just live in a monastery."
Giggling, Sera slipped her arm through mine as if it were the most natural thing in the world.
The warmth and soft pressure traveling up my arm sealed my lips. Friends can share this much contact, certainly—but Sera had never been the sort to initiate anything so bold.
"You’ll just wash again when we come back anyway. Do it later."
"Go out?"
This time I was the one tilting my head. Go out? Where?
"Mm. I want to go to the Imperial Capital. Will you come with me?"
"Of course I will."
The reply was short, yet more than enough for an unplanned outing.
Aside from Academy enrollment, this was the first time Sera had ever suggested going somewhere herself.
The moment the words left my mouth, Erich summoned a Crassius family mage and we transferred to the Imperial Capital.
It happened so swiftly a smile rose to my lips without permission. I had braced myself for a long campaign of persuasion after springing the idea on him, yet Erich simply nodded the instant I said I wanted to go—no hesitation at all.
If only I could have him all to myself…
Before long the glow of satisfaction curdled into bitterness. He is so thoughtful, so kind—if I could monopolize a boy like this completely, how wonderful that would be.
I have already decided to surrender monopoly, to choose second place rather than first, yet the lingering attachment refuses to die. If only Erich would act cold for once; instead he keeps showing me the everyday sides that make me cling. What am I supposed to do?
…Being second isn’t so terrible.
I crushed the bitterness gnawing at my heart and forced myself toward brighter thoughts.
Right—ending as second is hardly a failure. Brother Karl’s second lover is a duchess, after all. The marquis’s daughter is fifth. For a baron’s daughter like me to land second place is a solid result. Absolutely.
"How about that café? I’ve been a few times—it’s decent."
While I was busy rationalizing under the banner of positivity, Erich pointed without breaking stride at a compact little café.
I studied the place he indicated. Not a single customer was visible. Anywhere else one might assume a failing shop, but the mere fact that it operated inside the Imperial Capital was proof of quality. Likely a quiet café known only to those in the know.
Thank goodness.
I exhaled a silent sigh of relief. Plenty was going to happen inside that café; extra eyes would have made everything mortifying.
"Yes, it looks lovely. Let’s go there."
I put on my brightest smile and linked arms with Erich once more.
I felt him stiffen slightly at the bold contact, yet he made no comment.
Hnnngh—
I was embarrassed too. A young lady of a noble house, expected to uphold dignity, initiating such forward touch—it still felt alien.
And it was not mere contact. My chest was…
"I-It’s a little cold. Let’s hurry inside."
I tugged Erich forward at once. This was no time for bashfulness; practicality came first.
Brother Karl and the future sisters-in-law had said the same thing. The most urgent goal was to register in Erich’s mind as a woman, so approach him by every means available. Endure the embarrassment and an astonishing number of options open up.
Advice from people already near marriage—surely they knew what they were talking about.
Inside, the café proved larger and cozier than its exterior suggested. Exactly the sort of place Erich would have visited more than once.
"Is it all right? Being in the Baking Club has made my dessert standards rather high, but even so this place holds up."
"It really does. Strange how few customers there are."
"They deliberately chose a hard-to-reach spot, apparently. They’ve already made their fortune and run it as a hobby, so crowds are just a nuisance."
Erich chuckled and popped a macaron into his mouth, chewing with cheerful abandon. For a noble the manner was far too free, yet it was a relaxed face he showed only with me—and that made me glad.
It meant he could drop every mask and sprawl comfortably in my presence. That already made us family, yes.
The problem is that it’s siblings, not husband and wife.
If the direction of “family” had tilted just a little differently, everything would have been perfect.
—Ding
Right after I bit into a macaron following Erich’s example, the bell chimed and a familiar face stepped inside.
She’s early.
The visit arrived faster than expected; I could not help a flicker of surprise. She lived in the capital, so speed was natural—but this fast?
A sudden chime of the bell made me turn. This was already my fifth visit to the café, yet in all five times I had never once seen another customer. Curiosity tugged my head around—only for the identity of the newcomer to leave me stunned.
"Sister?"
The guest was far too unexpected.
Zenobia noona, currently serving as an Imperial Count, ought to have been buried in work at the Imperial Diet alongside the family head. Even if we were in the capital, meeting her in this deserted little café was the last thing I imagined.
"Hello. First time seeing you face-to-face since big brother’s wedding, isn’t it?"
Smiling gently, she approached and joined us as if it were the most natural thing in the world.
"Lady Sera, it’s been a while. Have you been well?"
"Yes, thanks to your concern nothing untoward has happened."
Settling beside Sera, noona offered her a soft, polished greeting.
Honorifics?
What? Had noona always spoken formally to Sera? I remembered her treating Sera casually—there was an age gap, and a gap in family rank as well.
I hurriedly rewound my memories of the Club Expo, yet no matter how hard I searched, the speech then had not been honorific. Easy familiarity on first meeting, then formal address on the second—something felt off.
"Never expected to run into you here. Are you a regular too, noona?"
I shoved the puzzlement aside and spoke. Honorifics or not, the real point was meeting her in a place like this.
"First visit today. I didn’t even know a café like this existed."
The confusion only deepened. How had she found her way to a place she claimed not to know?
"Ah—I invited Her Excellency the Countess. I gave her the location through a communication orb earlier."
I blinked blankly at the revelation.
Contacting someone’s communication orb requires knowing its unique number. Numbers are shared only after a certain level of friendship or for necessary official business. I never imagined Sera—who had barely met noona a handful of times—would possess that number.
Were the two of them closer than I thought? No… that theory collapsed the moment I remembered they were using honorifics with each other.
"Actually, there’s something both of us very much wanted to say to you, Erich. Myself, and Her Excellency."
At Sera’s words I kept blinking, then slowly straightened my posture.
Something was coming. My mind still could not grasp it, yet instinct was already shouting that something enormous was about to leave Sera’s lips.
"Oh—right. I shouldn’t speak first. Please, Your Excellency."
"…Thank you, my lady."
Bowing her head toward the smiling Sera, noona turned to me with a face tight with tension.
Unease prickled. I could not fathom what sort of alliance Sera and noona had formed, nor what matter could freeze an active Imperial Count like this.
Was it about me graduating from the Academy and becoming a deputy assemblyman? But if that were the case the family head or my brother would have spoken long before noona. And if it concerned the Diet, Sera would never have been seated here at all.
What is this?
Overworking a brain already starved of information brought on a faint headache. Just what on earth—
"I like you, Erich."
?
"I’ll say it clearly so there’s no room for misunderstanding. Not as an older sister fond of her younger brother—but as a woman who loves the man named Erich."
The mild headache vanished. My entire head felt as though it had simply locked solid.
"…Huh?"
A pitiful sound escaped me, yet I felt no shame. All my energy was spent trying to restart a frozen brain so I could process what noona had just said.
Wait.
The instant thought returned, my body jerked. If noona had spoken those words to me—then what about Sera? Sera, who sat right here, who had summoned noona herself?
Half-dreading the answer, I turned to her. Sera’s face was flushed crimson as she opened her mouth.
"I-I’ve loved you since long ago, too."
The world went white.
After the storm-like whirlwind of the Imperial Capital, we returned to the estate.
Yet my mind remained trapped in the eye of that same storm, tangled beyond hope of sorting.
"I’m not asking for an answer right this moment. I simply… simply wanted you to know that this is how we feel. If we never speak first, we’ll never reach you at all."
The image of always-confident Zenobia noona lowering her gaze in shy embarrassment.
"I’ll wait until your heart decides. Waiting is something I’m used to, so don’t worry."
Sera’s face, bright red, yet still forcing out a joke.
Recalling those two scenes, I felt a long sigh rising.
What is this…
I raked both hands roughly through my hair and rolled across the bed. Completely unforeseen—impossible to calm down.
They liked me? Sera and noona? Since long ago? Even before I fell for Luise?
Really…?
Emotions I could not name began to surge upward, fierce and unstoppable.