And finally, we see the true dynamic between Lily and one of her siblings. Enjoy the chapter!
Also, with the part one finished, the author has decided to turn this series into a book! Waa~ and the ill.u.s.trator is Yukio k.u.moya. Can"t wait!
TL: clover
ED: clover
"I am pleased with Father and Mother"s feelings, but I"ve made up my mind. Besides, if you said that I can do what I want, please let me choose not to make dresses. As I mentioned earlier, for the important evening parties I plan to make a brand new dress. I promise I will not bring shame to our family."
This is only to strictly divide the necessary expenses and unnecessary expenses.
I"m now 15 years old, but when I"m 16 I will debut in the social circles and will be able to appear in the evening parties hosted by the royal family.
The evening party hosted by the royal family roughly held once every three months.
I think I will make a dress when I"m going to attend it.
Until now, I made a new dress every week. With that in mind, I wonder if I do it like this it would be more tolerable.
I can"t overdo it, but money have to be spend where it should be spent.
I am the fiancée of the First Prince and I will definitely have to attend every evening party that is hosted by the royal family. In that case, if I always wear the same dress, my father will be ridiculed by everyone.
So, about this matter, I think I will approach it in the same manner as before.
"I……see. If you are fine with it."
Perhaps he was convinced, my father nodded for the first time after listening to my argument. Following him, my mother also nodded.
"If you want to do so, I will not stop you. But, when will it be fine to stop you? I don"t think I want you to endure it. Because, you are such a cute girl."
"Thank you very much. Well, for my debutante"s dress, I will make a more than adequate one."
When I said it clearly, my father and mother nodded in satisfaction.
Our conversation finally ends. Luke spoke to me secretly.
"—Thank you for your hard work, Milady. But, are you truly okay with this?"
"Shut up, Luke. If I said it"s fine, then it"s fine. Or, what? Do you object my decision?"
"No."
When I stared at him, he narrowed his eyes and gave me a big smile.
"Because I am your butler. I will not oppose what you would like to do."
"Well, then it"s fine."
I turned the other way. Luke nodded "yes" and went to the back. But, I feel like he was laughing.
Indeed, my butler is troublesome.
But I never dislike such trivial interactions that becoming more common recently.
I finished my meal and went to the library. Usually I would go back to my room, but I wanted to go there somehow.
The library is on the first floor and contains a lot of books collected by our Ducal House. Of course, there are books on the difficult territorial management, precious books left by old scholars, as well as storybooks.
There are also many romance novels, which seem to be my mother"s hobby, but I also love reading them.
Today I decided to read one of those books and went to the library accompanied by Luke, but there was a guest there today.
My two older brothers. Victor Beltran and Yugo Beltran which I met in the dining hall.
They are in different places of the library and they don"t seem to be talking to each other.
I sighed at the usual sight.
My oldest brother.
Victor Beltran.
Just like me, he has blonde hair and green eyes. He"s 20 years old this year, he wears gla.s.ses and has a cold atmosphere around him.
He is a secretary in the castle and he is active as a civil servant, he"s mainly in charge of legal affairs.
He is an excellent person who was rumored that he will become a minister in the near future.
That oldest brother of mine, while it was not the case in the past, doesn"t talk to me, my other older brother, nor my parents except for the minimum necessary.
My oldest brother always looks at us with severe eyes which seem to say not to approach him, so we can hardly talk to him.
He seems to especially hate me, and even now he looks at me as if he finds me detestable. It couldn"t be helped when we were in the dining hall, but I don"t want to see him in other places unless necessary.
I think about it a little.
As usual, as soon as I saw my oldest brother, I made a U-turn. I don"t dislike my beautiful oldest brother, but he hates me. I don"t think I want to approach him intentionally.
But I recalled what Al told me.
He said: "The 『villainess』 is often hated by their family members and servants."
Luke probably already, no, at least he shouldn"t dislike me anymore right now.
But for this oldest brother of mine, I can a.s.sert that he hates me.
—Isn"t this a bad thing if it continues as is?
Before I knew it, I am hated by my oldest brother, so I don"t know what caused it. However, since he wasn"t like this before, there should be some reason for this.
I must improve my relationship with my oldest brother.
Otherwise, I will be a villainess.
Imagining that, I trembled in fear. Then, I mustered my courage and talked to my oldest brother.
When I think of becoming a villainess, speaking to my oldest brother is a hundred times more preferable than that.
"……Victor-niisama."
As I approached my oldest brother, I called out to him.
Probably didn"t expect me to come closer, my oldest brother seemed surprised. However, as expected there is hate in his eyes.
"……what do you want?"
"Ah, no, there is nothing in particular, but……"
"If there is no reason, don"t approach me. It"s unpleasant."
My oldest brother closed the book he had in his hands with a slam and glared at me, then he quickly left the library.
"……I failed."
"At the very least, wouldn"t it be good to have some purpose before talking to him?"
A much-too-late advice came out of Luke"s mouth. I looked back at Luke who was behind me and told him.
"What do you mean purpose? I have no business with my brother."
"That is true, but Milady wanted to talk with Victor-sama, right? If so, I think it would be necessary to create some fabricated purpose to suit the occasion."
"Fabricated……"
"It doesn"t matter what as long as it provides you an excuse to converse with him. Right……for example, try asking about the book that Victor-sama has read."
Certainly, that"s not too bad as a topic. However, there is one big problem about it.
"I can"t comprehend Nii-sama"s books."
"……so, telling him what you don"t understand is also a good topic."
"I have no interest in them, you know? I can"t do it."
My oldest brother"s books are too difficult, they are gibberish to me.
It is also difficult to pretend to be interested in them. When I told him the truth, Luke looked at me with eyes as if seeing something disappointing.
……even though I am his master.