Chapter 89

"...Sniff."

The Young Lady's room in the capital estate.

The Young Lady and I, who had nearly been driven out by Kyle's pressure, were staying in self-reflection at the estate without being expelled, thanks to Rosanna and Darbab's help.

The dejected Young Lady was making a gloomy expression while blowing her nose with tissues, and I too was consoling the crying Young Lady with an equally unpleasant expression, handing her tissues.

- How dare you come here.

- ...I'm sorry.

- After destroying the House, where do you get the nerve to show your face?

- I'm sorry...

- Get out. I can't even stand to look at you.

Kyle had been affectionate toward the Young Lady.

Anyone could see they were siblings who got along well, close siblings who relied on each other.

Kyle had such severe sister-complex tendencies that his dream until age 14 was to marry his younger sister.

- When I grow up, I'm going to marry Olivia.

- Are you a siscon?

- Siscon? What's that?

- It's an insult.

- ...?

Though he gave up that childhood dream upon becoming an adult, I remembered Kyle as a good older brother who cherished and cared for Olivia greatly, right up until Olivia entered the Academy.

He would even share his favorite snack, chocolate.

- Olivia, eat this.

- I don't want it. Dark chocolate is too bitter, I don't like it.

Of course, it didn't suit the Young Lady's childish palate so she refused every time, but Kyle cherished Olivia that much and treated her preciously.

Though Kyle would grumble about me always sticking close to the Young Lady, he treated me favorably enough to give me chocolate too.

- Eat this.

- Giving me half a piece instead of a whole piece is a bit much, isn't it?

- Consider it an honor that I'm giving you anything, commoner.

- Consider it an honor that I'm not taking it, noble.

- Grrr!!!

But even such a severe sister-doting brother couldn't bear the weight of black magic.

Two years ago.

When the Young Lady collapsed from black magic, I was grabbed by the collar by Kyle for the first time.

- Why... couldn't you pay attention!? If you had just paid a little more attention to Olivia, this wouldn't have happened.

- I'm sorry.

- That damn 'sorry'... Does saying sorry fix everything? The House could be in danger because of this. Does one word of 'sorry' end this matter?

- I'll try to do something about it somehow. So...

- What could you possibly do...!?

Being grabbed by the collar by Kyle, who cherished the Young Lady terribly, didn't feel good. I was already disturbed enough by not being able to prevent the Young Lady's black magic, and having him curse at me from the side made me feel even worse.

The feelings at that time were indescribably complex. Both in body and mind.

That same Kyle told Olivia to get out today.

It might have been said in a fit of anger from exhaustion, but I could read sincerity in Kyle's rage-filled pupils. Not the Kyle who always thoughtfully looked after Olivia, but Kyle with eyes that looked at her as if she were a stranger who had married out of the family.

It must have been a great shock to the Young Lady, who had only ever seen her brother's always gentle treatment.

So now, the Young Lady is crying, and we've come to the conclusion that we should attend the Head's birthday and quickly return to the estate.

The Young Lady, with reddened eyes, quietly opened her mouth.

"Ricardo... I know I did a lot wrong. But I'm so upset."

The Young Lady spoke to me in a choked voice. Tissues soaked with snot were piled up like a mountain on the table, and sorrowful tears were flowing from the Young Lady's eyes.

"I know too. I know that I caused trouble for the House and my brother... but I'm so upset that the tears won't stop."

The Young Lady repeating the same words.

Her sorrowful voice pained my heart, but this too was a problem the Young Lady had to overcome herself, so I could only silently keep watch beside her without saying anything.

I wanted to help the Young Lady, but this kind of thing wasn't in the novel.

What I could help with was only external matters. Fighting, earning money, and cheering up the Young Lady—there was nothing else I could do for her.

I couldn't interfere.

Since it was a problem the Young Lady had to solve with her own strength, I could only silently bring tissues to the Young Lady's nose.

"Sniff!"

The Young Lady blew her nose and then made a sorrowful face again, burying her face in her palms.

"Hic... hic... I'm upset."

I glanced at such a Young Lady and asked in a small voice. I couldn't just pass by the Young Lady's pitifully trembling shoulders.

"Young Lady. Do you hate Kyle?"

"Why...?"

The Young Lady's gaze, with tears welling up, was directed at me. I answered the Young Lady as if stating something obvious.

"I was thinking of giving him a flick on the forehead or a smack."

"Ricardo, you're not close with my brother."

"What can I do? If the Young Lady says she hates him, he should get hit."

"You can't do that. Ricardo will get kicked out."

"I won't do it."

The Young Lady looked at me with bewildered eyes. I felt a strange satisfaction from the look in her eyes that conveyed 'what kind of guy is this.'

"So. Young Lady. Do you hate Kyle?"

The Young Lady shook her head vigorously.

"No. I'm the one who did wrong... I don't hate him."

"You understand well."

"I'm not that shameless of a person."

"Oh. What's gotten into you? I thought the Young Lady would immediately go find Kyle and cause a scene."

"I'm not crazy."

"I'm joking."

At my blunt joke, the Young Lady's crying gradually began to subside. Her trembling shoulders and flowing snot also subsided, erasing her tearful expression.

I spoke a presumptuous thought to such a Young Lady. I didn't know if it would help, but it was also a problem we both had to solve together.

I carefully opened my mouth.

"Young Lady. If you don't hate Kyle, how about apologizing?"

"I already said I'm sorry. But my brother said he doesn't want to hear it."

Just as the Young Lady's crying, which had barely stopped, was about to burst forth again, I spoke my presumptuous thought without delay.

"Not just saying sorry. A proper apology. Going to his room and saying 'It must have been really hard. I'm sorry for all this time.' Something like that."

Embarrassed by the awkward story, I scratched my head sheepishly and spoke bashfully.

"We don't have anything to give, and we haven't done anything right, so we can't prepare a gift, but our hearts are prepared, aren't they? Of course, we won't kneel. My pride won't allow that."

"Ricardo's knees are really heavy."

"My knees are expensive. If you pay my overdue wages, I'll kneel once."

"I don't have money."

"Then I guess I'll never be able to kneel."

"..."

I didn't resent Kyle's actions. Rather, his behavior was what I had expected, and his words were the resentment we deserved to hear.

That we had ruined the House.

I thought I would have acted like Kyle if I were in his position. I probably would have said worse things. Kyle's action of just saying 'get out' and retreating into his room made me think he was a saint.

So I carefully spoke my presumptuous thoughts to the Young Lady.

Let's have a sincere conversation.

I simply made a suggestion to the Young Lady about doing what we could for now, and after hesitating a bit, the Young Lady shared the doubt she harbored with me.

"I... don't know how to apologize."

"You did it well when you saw my hand last time."

"That's because Ricardo was bad. I was upset because you lied to me..."

"Isn't this similar to that time?"

"It's different. I've never apologized to my brother. And I've never apologized to anyone other than Ricardo either."

The Young Lady hung her head glumly and made a depressed expression. The person most distant from the concept of apology—that's exactly the Young Lady. She couldn't easily muster the courage.

"What if my brother gets even angrier when I apologize? Our relationship might get even worse."

"It's natural for Kyle to be angry, Young Lady."

"I know that. It's just... if I apologize awkwardly... I feel like my brother will hate me even more."

"Young Lady."

I placed my hand on the Young Lady's disheveled hair and made a slight smile. The soft, white strands of the Young Lady's disheveled hair felt fluffy under my fingertips, making me want to keep stroking them for a long time.

"Kyle cares for you very much, Young Lady. He might even be waiting for you in his room right now."

"No way. My brother hates me terribly. Just like earlier... he told me to get out."

"So did he throw you out?"

"No..."

The Young Lady hung her head glumly and muttered quietly.

"If it were me, I would have told them to get out immediately."

"Oh... you've finally learned how to empathize. I'm a bit surprised."

"Of course."

The Young Lady straightened her shoulders with a gloomy expression and nodded. The Young Lady proudly showing off her warm heart, saying she had grown. I looked at the Young Lady's chest, which had grown tremendously in a different sense, and let out an admiring sigh.

"Amazing."

"Yeah."

"Still growing..."

"Huh?"

"It's nothing."

The Young Lady tilted her head slightly with a blank expression and a question mark floating above her head, but I deceived the Young Lady as if it were nothing.

"Young Lady."

"Yeah?"

"When you found out that my arm was injured, what did you feel?"

"I was..."

The Young Lady fidgeted with her fingers and spoke in a somewhat small voice that echoed through the room.

"I was really angry. Because Ricardo was hurt."

"Right? I think Kyle would feel the same way. Just like you did, I cautiously think that Kyle was also terribly angry because you were hurt, Young Lady. Though I might be wrong."

"...What if I'm not?"

I made a helpless smile and ruffled the Young Lady's hair. Looking at the Young Lady's hair that stuck up messily, I made a slight smile and burst out laughing with a 'Puhaha.'

"If not, then there's nothing we can do about it. You apologize again, and if he doesn't accept it, you apologize again. Then someday there will come a day when he accepts it."

"But..."

I looked at the Young Lady's gloomy face and spoke. With the hope that the Young Lady, who looks better smiling than crying, would smile.

"Young Lady. Are you not going to see Kyle anymore?"

"No... I want to keep seeing him."

"What about the Head and Rosanna?"

"I want to keep seeing them."

"Then..."

I raised my head and spoke to the Young Lady.

"Go and apologize refreshingly once. If you get scolded, I'll come and flick Kyle on the forehead."

"...But my brother hates Ricardo."

"I hate him too."

"..."

After a brief silence.

The Young Lady rolled the wheels of her wheelchair toward Kyle's room.

"I'll be back."

And from Kyle's room.

- Hueeeng...! Brother, I'm sorry!

The Young Lady's sorrowful crying voice could be heard.