We will begin the third arc with siblings interaction! Enjoy the chapter!
TL: clover
ED: clover
"……Lily."
The evening of the day when Al came to the mansion.
As Al predicted, Victor-niisama stopped me when I was trying to head to the lounge after the meal was over.
"Ah……Onii-sama."
"Can I have a moment?"
"……yes."
While I was still in surprise that my eldest brother called me out, he gave an order to for Luke to wait and brought me to the library.
Luke is my exclusive butler, but that doesn"t mean he only obeys my order.
As ordered by my eldest brother, Luke bowed deeply and obeyed his order.
Recently Luke is almost always by my side, so this makes me feel strangely uneasy.
"……you, it seems you were going to an orphanage."
As soon as we arrived at the library, my eldest brother goes straight to the point. I nodded at that.
"Yes. Is there any problem with that? I don"t think I caused any inconvenience to Onii-sama."
"……that"s not what I meant."
"Is that so?"
"I know that you haven"t had any problems. Your relations with the surroundings are also good. You go there almost everyday and have a friendly relationship with Earl Carlisle"s daughter. This is true, right?"
"……yes."
It appears that my eldest brother has done an investigation about me seriously.
I had heard it from Al, so I didn"t think anything about it, but if this were my first time hearing it, I"m sure that I would have been scared.
It is the worst act to conduct an investigation on the actions of his own sister.
As an older brother, he would have been worried that his horrible younger sister would cause problems somewhere once again, but it was an unnecessary anxiety. At least in an orphanage, I can say with a loud voice that I wasn"t doing anything bad.
Looking at my eldest brother"s eyes while thinking about such a thing, he told me as he furrowed his eyebrows.
"You, for you to suddenly go to an orphanage, what exactly were you thinking? And, becoming friends with an Earl"s daughter? With your criteria, you wouldn"t make that kind of girl as your friend."
"……Chloe is my precious friend. Please don"t say such things about her."
There were various things I wanted to reply my eldest brother with, but I don"t like him saying bad things about Chloe more than anything else.
I glared at my eldest brother. He looked at me with an expression as if he was caught off guard.
"A precious friend?"
"Yes. Chloe is my first friend. I go to the orphanage everyday because I want to see her. And, it is surprisingly fun to play with the children. There"s no other reason than that."
I told him my true feelings, but my eldest brother stared at me with dubious eyes.
"You? You found it fun to play with the children?"
"……what"s wrong with that?"
"……as of now, since the problem seems to have not happened, I will close my eyes to this. But."
Pausing his words, my eldest brother gave me his verdict.
"Know this, if you cause a problem even once, I will not let you approach the orphanage ever again. Your actions are seen as the actions of our Ducal House. Do not do this kind of thing halfway."
"……I know."
"I don"t mind if you really understand……I have noticed that your behavior is strange recently. Lily, just what exactly were you thinking?"
"……I don"t know what you mean. But, I am just acting with the desire to become a suitable woman for His Highness."
Even if I say the thing about 『villainess』, my eldest brother wouldn"t understand.
Saying words that were not exactly lies, my eldest brother nodded while making a complicated expression.
"Certainly, the timing when your actions change and the day of your engagement with His Highness matches……the current you are more favorable than how you were before……I hope this is not a temporary thing."
"Nii-sama—"
"Our conversation ends here. Excuse me."
After saying what he wanted to say, my eldest brother left me alone in the library and left. My eyes follow him until he"s out of sight.
"Well."
My long-awaited conversation with my eldest brother.
After a long time, I was finally able to hold a conversation with him, but it didn"t feel good.
I still remain as someone horrible within my eldest brother"s mind, and it seems that he doesn"t know what to do with me.
I think that it can"t be helped, but it feels bad to be warned one-sidedly.
"……haah."
At any rate, the conversation with my eldest brother has ended. I should call Luke. When I thought about that, I heard a voice.
"Lily, are you okay?"
"Ah, Nii-sama."
The one who asked me in a worried voice was my second older brother, Yugo.
He has a beautiful figure as usual. He kept his hair down today.
"It is rare for Nii-san to start a conversation with you. And it seems that your butler was left behind outside, so I became anxious."
"Thank you very much for coming."
"Milady……"
Luke came out from behind Yugo-niisama.
Just when I recall that he was ordered to wait by Victor-niisama, Yugo-niisama said.
"I"m the one who brought him here. If that"s the case, Nii-san wouldn"t say that it was a breach of instruction, right? And he seems to be worried about you too."
"Thank you very much."
When I hear that he was the one who brought Luke, I smiled naturally.
The degree of my mental stability is completely different if he is not by my side. Since I was just thinking that I had to go and pick him up, I feel pleased with my older brother"s consideration.
"Luke."
When I called out to him, Luke came to my side.
"Milady, I apologize for leaving you alone."
"It wasn"t your fault. It was Onii-sama"s order."
When I nodded saying that it was unavoidable, Luke said in concern.
"That……did Victor-sama say something bad to you?"
"Nii-sama? No, everything is fine."
I was told variety of things, but considering how the previous me behaves, I understand why my eldest brother was vigilant. What I have to do is to change my eldest brother"s perception.
I only need to act in ways that will not make my eldest brother worry in order to gain his sympathy.
"I only received some warning about going to an orphanage……well, to summarize things, I shouldn"t do things that would cause inconvenience."
"I see. So, Victor-sama was worried that Milady will do unnecessary things, did I get it right?"
"……something like that."
As I shrug my shoulders, Luke smiled as if in relief.
"Because it is Milady we"re talking about. It is only natural that Victor-sama is worried."
"What do you mean—"
"……Lily."
"? What is it, Onii-sama?"
Yugo-niisama cut into our conversation with a stern voice.
My older brother, who always smiles and likes to hear people talk, rarely interrupts other people"s conversation intentionally. Looking at my older brother while wondering if something happened, my older brother"s brows are furrowed and he is staring at me unpleasantly.