“This is a race against time. I have to make a move before Sister reaches out.”
Elkant didn’t wait a single day before setting out for the Kingdom.
&
Before long, he was able to make contact with Ian Lucevalt in the Kingdom.
The location was a charming café near the royal capital.
Elkant, who had arrived first, spotted Ian approaching from afar with an escort knight and rose from his seat.
“You really did come. I was worried you might refuse.”
“So you’re Aileen’s little brother, Elkant.”
Ian wore his signature easy smile.
“Nice to meet you. But what did you want to see me about?”
The moment he sat down, Elkant deliberately crafted a serious expression.
“I’m very worried about my house.”
“Hmm?”
“I’m worried that my sister has fallen for someone as wonderful as you, and might hand over the entire house without a second thought.”
Ian blinked once.
Elkant took that reaction positively.
“That’s why I’ve come to propose a deal.”
He leaned forward confidently.
“You get my sister, and I get my house.”
And he smiled.
“What do you think?”
A brief silence fell,
and then Ian looked at Elkant and burst into a chuckle.
“Hahaha.”
His laughter was much lighter than expected.
“Ah, I see what you mean.”
Ian, laughing as if amused, leaned back and crossed his legs.
“Looks like you want to push your sister out. Well, I don’t feel bad. After all, it means you thought Aileen likes me, right? Haha.”
Elkant was slightly flustered by those words, but forced a laugh to hide it.
“Who wouldn’t fall for you, Lord Ian?”
“Exactly.”
Ian smiled.
“Belmardian’s got an interesting one too. Good. So what kind of deal do you want?”
Elkant brought out what he had prepared.
It was a proposal along the lines of: if Ian cooperated in keeping his sister in check, he would also help Ian from within House Belmardian when needed.
Having heard the story to the end, only one corner of Ian’s mouth rose.
“I see. A deal like that…”
He rested his chin for a moment and spoke low.
“The more I hear, the more relieved I feel.”
“Excuse me?”
“That Aileen is in Belmardian.”
Ian slowly leaned forward.
In that instant, the atmosphere completely changed.
*Whoosh—*
A suffocatingly sharp aura pressed down upon Elkant.
“If that weren’t the case.”
Ian’s gaze sank chillingly.
“We would have devoured you long ago.”
“E-excuse me?”
Frozen solid, Elkant could only blink his eyes.
Ian clicked his tongue at the sight of him.
“Tch. You still don’t get it?”
And he spoke mockingly.
“You probably believe that coming here was a choice you made yourself? That was all laid out by Aileen. As for the information you found… well, it’s obvious.”
Elkant’s expression stiffened.
“So what I’m saying is, you’ve been dancing in the palm of her hand this whole time.”
Ian smirked and rose from his seat.
“Well, either way, thanks to you, I’ve gained an excuse to meet Aileen.”
He straightened his collar lightly and added,
“She’ll probably ask what I talked about with you over there soon. I won’t tell her the details of the deal, but I won’t be able to hide the fact that I agreed.”
Ian looked thoroughly delighted.
“Then Aileen will use that to write another interesting script.”
He swept his hair back and smiled one last time.
It was a face so handsome that even another man would admire it.
“You, who attempted some secret deal with House Lucevalt… within House Belmardian, I wonder.”
Clicking his tongue and shaking his head, Ian soon turned away.
Those words left Elkant’s mind blank.
What is this?
What is he talking about?
His plan hadn’t been anything like this.
The picture he had painted was of Ian smiling, shaking his hand, and striking a splendid deal with him.
That was the future Elkant had envisioned.
Because he had believed the proposal was clearly not bad for Ian, either.
But reality was completely different.
And to think he had been manipulated by Aileen?
He couldn’t understand it at all.
Just then, as he stared blankly out the window,
he saw someone looking at him from beyond the window.
An unidentifiable figure.
The moment their eyes met, that person spun around and disappeared somewhere.
“Wh-what?”
Only then did Elkant feel a chill run down his spine.
Everything was moving differently from what he had thought.
And by the time he came to his senses, he was already back in Belmardian territory.
And while walking down a hallway, Elkant ran into Aileen.
“S-Sister?”
“What am I going to do with this?”
Aileen slowly approached with a faint smile on her lips.
“I heard something interesting.”
She stopped right in front of Elkant and whispered into his ear in a very low voice.
“They say you tried to sell our house’s secrets—and not just to anyone, but to House Lucevalt, whom Father hates most.”
“M-me? No. No, Sister. I really didn’t. It wasn’t a house secret…”
It was in that moment.
Aileen’s eyes turned ice-cold.
The moment he met that gaze, Elkant felt a chill run down his spine.
And he realized belatedly.
The words his sister had said that day.
Deal.
Weakness.
How she had told him to try.
That they had all been words designed to guide his actions from then on.
He had truly been in the palm of her hand.
“S-Sister!”
Elkant clung to her, almost sobbing.
“Please forgive me! I just… for the house… Please! I’ll live quietly from now on! Just don’t cast me out!”
Aileen looked down at that sight and clicked her tongue briefly.
Then, as if nothing had happened, she eased the tension.
“You should consider yourself lucky thanks to Risel.”
“R-Risel? Who is that?”
“She exists,”
Aileen said nonchalantly.
“My cute little sister.”
“Huh? We had a little sister?”
Elkant wore an expression of genuine incomprehension.
Clicking her tongue at that sight, Aileen had actually been planning to deal with her brother.
To be exact, she had planned to separate him from the house so he wouldn’t obstruct her path, quietly setting him up in a separate residence with just enough money to get by.
But while staying at House Signal for a few days,
she had witnessed a “real family” up close for the first time.
People who laughed together, spent time on trivial conversations, and stayed by each other’s side without any calculation.
People who could show their emotions without hesitation, things they didn’t need to hide because they could be weaknesses.
Things she could never have in her own home.
They were absolutely impossible in Belmardian.
Yet, strangely, she felt an anxiety that if she truly cast Elkant aside, she might never feel that kind of happiness again.
That thought came to her as a rather vivid fear.
“A guest will arrive soon. If you behave rudely, what I just said can all be undone. Keep that in mind.”
“Y-yeah, I got it.”
Just then, a maid came rushing in.
“A guest from House Signal has arrived.”
“I’ll go right away.”
The moment she heard those words, Aileen’s demeanor completely changed, and she broke into a bright smile, immediately moving her feet.
Seeing her practically run out of the hallway, Elkant was dazed once more.
He had never seen her smile like that, nor rush like that.
Elkant urgently followed behind for now.
Just who could it be?
He was incredibly curious to see what kind of person could make that cold woman smile like that.
When he arrived at the entrance, the first thing to catch his eye was a shabby carriage.
A carriage far too modest to stand in front of the Belmardian mansion.
And the moment he saw the man getting off, Elkant couldn’t understand even more.
He was far too ordinary.
Though his body was fairly well-built, neither his appearance nor his bearing was particularly striking.
“Sister, is that person rea—”
Elkant’s words couldn’t even finish.
Because Aileen cut him off with a bright smile and ran over.
And that voice.
It was a bright voice Elkant had never heard in his life.
Who was she?
The cold, detached woman who always looked down on others from a distance.
“What the hell is that?”
Elkant’s eyes went wide.
“What’s with that expression, that behavior? And that voice… what is that?”
The moment it surpassed the bounds of understanding, his mind instead went blank.
***
Seeing Aileen welcoming me the moment she saw me, a laugh escaped me before I knew it.
“It’s been too long, hasn’t it?”
Aileen’s expression held a hint of playfulness.
“It feels like it’s only been a month.”
“That’s what I’m saying.”
Aileen looked disappointed, still wearing that playful expression.
“But it’s been so long.”
And with those eyes looking up at me softly, my heart raced again.
“Didn’t you miss me?”
By now, her expressions were so direct they were practically stabbing.
Even though I knew she was teasing, I couldn’t help but react automatically.
“I-I missed you.”
Pleased with my answer, she smiled once more.
How could anyone say no when she acted like that?
Then I saw a man approaching hesitantly.
It was a face I’d never seen before.
I looked at him with puzzled eyes.
“Say hello,”
Aileen said very casually.
“My younger brother, Elkant Belmardian. And this is Reyon Signal.”
Elkant Belmardian.
The moment I heard the name, I remembered.
I knew of his existence, but this was the first time I had seen him in person.
If I remember correctly, he had branched off and lived separately later on.
So they’re still living together, I see.
“Have you eaten? You must be hungry, right?”
“Ah, yes. On the way, I just had some jerky…”
“Oh my.”
Aileen immediately frowned.
“You can’t fill your stomach with that. Let’s go.”
And she naturally linked her arm through mine and pulled me along.
Elkant was still looking at me with a blank face.
***
And so, I ended up having a meal alone with Aileen.
Though there was far too much food laid out for just the two of us,
I first asked what I was curious about.
“But… do you really need me for the promotion?”
“Of course,”
Aileen answered as if it were obvious.
“Don’t worry. We’ll take care of everything properly.”
Th-that’s to say,
why do you need me?
But she changed the subject so naturally that I couldn’t ask any further.
“Have you seen the Elemental Lake? It’s really beautiful. Let’s go together after we eat.”
I had tried to answer that, but before I could, she changed the subject again.
And so, it naturally became a situation where we would go.
“How are your father, mother, and Risel doing?”
“Ah, yes. Both of them—well, they and Risel all said they missed you.”
“Oh my, really?”
Aileen suddenly nodded her head.
“Then I’ll definitely have to visit again. I can’t help it.”
Huh?
She’s practically locking down the excuse just like that.
But right after that,
suddenly, Aileen set her glass down with a clack and looked my way.
To be exact, she glared.
“But…”
I swallowed dryly from nerves before I knew it.
“You went to Seraphinrie too after I left?”
And she added very slowly,
“Carrying bundles of gifts.”
She was definitely smiling.
But it was terrifying.
“Y-yes. Not many days after, Lady Seraphinrie came to visit.”
“You didn’t talk about anything important?”
“She said she had to leave soon, thanked me for helping her back then, and left behind only gifts.”
I scratched my head sheepishly.
“There were so many nice things that it was burdensome, really. I even wondered if I should return them.”
“She’s always been like that,”
Aileen cut in immediately.
“She never considers the other person’s position, thinking everything’s fine if she just spends money.”
“Is-is that so?”
“Yes.”
Aileen leaned a bit further forward.
“So did your father and mother like her a lot? And Risel?”
“Risel said she still likes Lady Aileen better, though.”
I smirked as Risel’s figure came to mind.
“Though of course, her hands were full of gifts Lady Seraphinrie had given her.”
In the end, Aileen burst into laughter.
“Hahaha. Risel is so cute.”
Somewhere along the line, Aileen’s expression had relaxed, and she begged excitedly,
“Tell me more about Risel.”
After that, we continued our meal naturally with trivial stories about Risel.
Before we knew it, we had eaten our fill, and we immediately boarded a carriage heading for the lake.
The lake wasn’t very far from the mansion.
Thanks to that, we arrived quickly.
“Oh… wow.”
It wasn’t a large lake.
But looking at the flowers blooming around it and the gentle spread of the water’s hue, I once again thought that no matter how elaborately humans decorated things, it was hard to beat nature.
“Isn’t it pretty?”
Aileen’s silver hair fluttered in the wind as she looked at the lake before me.
And she turned around to look at me and smiled.
*Thump.*
Truthfully, I had been here a few times before.
Always alone.
And every time I walked this path, I had thought at least once.
How nice it would be to walk side by side with Aileen, smiling while looking at the same scenery like this.
Pathetic.
Even though I knew her actions weren’t sincere, I was shaken far too easily.
I was hoping they were sincere.
Even if they were sincere, I already knew how things would turn out.
Yet I was so pathetic and pitiful for hoping that this time might be different.
That made me even more anxious.
Because I was afraid I would end up deluding myself again.
“Oh my, why that expression?”
“Because I’m falling for you.”