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Volume 2 Chapter 11 - Siblings’ Get-Together for the First Time in a While

RAW

The district surrounding the Lord's mansion in the center of Lilac City separated from the rest is where the residences of nobles holding court rank are gathered, it is the so-called noble district.

By creating such a separation, they will be able to tell immediately if a suspicious person enters, saving the guards the trouble, and in the event of an emergency, they can be contacted immediately.

Another reason for this clear separation is to avoid trouble between commoners and nobles as much as possible though.

Although it is the noble district, the closer you are to the Lord's mansion in the center, the higher the resident’s court rank and the larger the mansion, and the closer you get to the outside, the lower the resident’s court rank and the smaller the mansion.

In other words, the ones that live on the outer edge of the noble district are knights, and although their houses’ size was much larger than that of an ordinary household, it is clearly inferior to that of a large merchant.

In a corner of that outer edge, in a mansion that had been recently renovated yet is not new, but was relatively clean compared to the surrounding mansions, the figure of a man and a woman could be seen.

In its not-so-large garden was the man holding a sword with its blade resembling a thick club and was practicing with very slow movements, he was the one who had been knighted just the other day, Allen's younger brother, Eric.

He has received a court rank, and is now Eric Zem Falx.

The movement wasn't particularly strenuous, but sweat dripped from his entire body, and his clothes clung tightly to his body, emphasizing his well-trained muscles.

It was clear that the training was extremely tough contrary to what it looked like, but Eric showed no signs of resting at all.

The one looking at him from time to time as he trained and watched over him with gentle eyes was his wife, Julia.

She is a former daughter of a baron, and at first glance, with her gentle blue eyes, loosely wavy dark blond hair, and thin white slender fingers turning the pages of the book placed at her knees, the term ‘sheltered noble daughter’ seems to be appropriate for her.

However, she is actually a strong-willed woman who fell in love at first sight with Eric, who was still a commoner and just a soldier, pushed past the opposition of those around her, and even gave up her nobility to marry him.

After a while, Eric stopped moving, and noticing this, Julia put down her book and approached Eric.

“Thank you for your hard work.” (Julia)

“Yeah.” (Eric)

With an angelic smile, Julia held out a towel to Eric, and he accepted it. Eric lightly wiped the sweat running down his face with the towel, and softly smiled back at Julia.

“Thank you. I feel refreshed. I thought about this every time but, do you enjoy watching me training?” (Eric)

“Yes, very much.” (Julia)

“...I guess it’s fine then. But our house is bigger now, so housework is difficult, isn’t it? I think it's time we hire a servant.” (Eric)

“Eric, you don't like being alone with me?” (Julia)

Seeing Julia look up at him with her eyebrows furrowed in trouble, Eric panicked and quickly shook his head.

“No, I'm a former commoner after all, so having a servant feels a bit strange, but I'm worried that I might be giving you a hardship.” (Eric)

“I don't think it's a hardship if I'm doing it for you. In fact, I'm the one who is giving you hardship.” (Julia)

“I’m not having any hardship. I was the one who decided to love you." (Eric)

“Eric.” (Julia)

“Julia.” (Eric)

The two looked at each other in a sweet atmosphere, and then Eric bent down and brought his face closer to Julia as she closed her eyes.

And then, just a few centimeters before their lips meet, the sound of a knock can be heard from the front door.

Julia opened her eyelids right in front of Eric, who stopped moving with a frown on his face.

“Ara, seems like a guest. A shame.” (Julia)

Julia stuck out her tongue and laughed innocently. Then, she brought her face a little closer to Eric's and turned the distance between their lips to zero, and leaving a mischievous smile on her face, she quickly walked towards the front door.

Eric didn't move for a while, still feeling the soft touch on his lips, but when he heard a voice coming from the entrance that sounded like had heard it somewhere, he went inside the mansion to change his clothes while feeling a bad feeling in his heart.

.

.

.

Having washed himself and changed his clothes, Eric headed to the only reception room in the mansion, where he found the person he was having a bad feeling about chatting with Julia.

“Ah, Eri-nii, it's been a while. I heard you got knighted. Congratulations.” (Rebecca)

Sitting in a chair while saying that carefreely as if they were making small talk was his youngest sister, Rebecca.

Seeing Rebecca's innocent smile, Eric sat down across from her, his bad feeling growing inside him.

“Rebecca-san gave us some celebratory wine. She said she hasn’t decided on a place to stay yet, so I thought she could stay at our house today.” (Julia)

“Aah, okay.” (Eric)

Eric sent his gaze at Rebecca, thinking in his heart that ‘You planned to stay the night here from the beginning, didn’t you?’ but she returned the gaze with a tilt of her head as if she had not noticed anything.

“We have gotten some good wine, and I want to give you our hospitality, so I’m going to go out for a while.” (Julia)

“I'm very grateful for your consideration.” (Rebecca)

“No, you’re the family of my most important person after all. You’re also my sister-in-law, and more than anything, it is what I want to do.” (Julia)

“Then I will take advantage of your words. As a thank you, I'll secretly tell you about Eri-nii in the old days later.” (Rebecca)

“Oi!” (Eric)

When Rebecca said that on purpose so that he could hear it, Eric couldn't help but shout at her. However, seeing Rebecca not caring at all, and Julia leaving the room with a happy expression on her face, Eric himself understood that that future is certain. 

Ignoring Eric who let out a big sigh, Rebecca listened for a while for the sound of Julia leaving, and when she was sure that Julia had gone out, she erased the smile she had put on.

“Eri-nii, sit down.” (Rebecca)

“No, aren’t I already sitting?” (Eric)

“Not on the chair, the floor!” (Rebecca)

The force of those words that didn’t allow any refusal made Eric immediately get off the chair and sit down on the floor.

Normally, it would be strange to say such a thing to a noble, and it was indeed strange for Eric to hear it, but the habits of a family that had been together for many years were not easy to change.

While sitting in her chair, Rebecca looked down at Eric as he seemed to be shrinking his large body.

“Hey, Eri-nii. You remember your promise to me, right?” (Rebecca)

“Yes.” (Eric)

“When I was hesitating whether I should leave the city or not, Eri-nii was the one who told me to rest assured, that you would watch over Len-nii from the shadows to make sure he was happy and that he wouldn’t get involved in anything weird.” (Rebecca)

“It’s as you say.” (Eric)

Eric hung his head and became smaller and smaller at Rebecca’s words, and she let out a deep sigh.

“I know Eri-nii went through a lot of trouble. It was also written in the letter from Len-nii, so I think there were some parts that couldn't be helped. And after talking to her, I know that Julia-san is also a good person, so if you were fiercely attacked by someone like that, I think it's only natural that Eri-nii would fall.” (Rebecca)

Eric looked up, feeling a little bit saved by those words that seemed like a follow-up.

Such Eric suddenly had a finger thrust in front of him by Rebecca.

“But this and that is a different story! I came to celebrate when I found out that Len-nii became a guild employee, so why did he quit? It was supposed to be the first step to his happiness after being freed from us, yet... it’s Eri-nii’s fault!” (Rebecca)

“No, the stampede wasn't my...” (Eric)

Eric stopped there after saying that much. Because he noticed that tears were dripping down from Rebecca's eyes.

Even though the intelligent Rebecca should have known that the stampede was not Eric's fault, he could sympathize with her heart that made her want to find fault with him.

Eric stood up and hugged Rebecca tightly as she continued to cry.

“Why, why is it always Len-nii that’s struggling? Len-nii, he’s worked hard enough already. He’s done nothing wrong. And yet, why!” (Rebecca)

While patting Rebecca's head as she sobbed in his chest, Eric was thinking.

It's true that Allen had spent most of his life working hard for them, and when he was released and finally obtained the stable job as a guild employee, that job too, was lost.

If it wasn't for them, Allen would have had an easier life, and if Eric hadn't been a soldier and was on a mission to stop the stampede, Allen probably wouldn't have quit being a guild employee.

Once he thought about that far, ‘However,’ Eric thought...

“Hey, Rebecca. Since it’s you we're talking about, you've already met Aniki, right?” (Eric)

“Un.” (Rebecca)

“Did he look unhappy?” (Eric)

“Uun.” (Rebecca)

Eric felt Rebecca shake her head in his chest at his question, and his expression softened.

“Aniki has changed a bit recently. That’s why, I don't think he's unhappy even though he quit being a guild employee.” (Eric)

“Changed?” (Rebecca)

“Yeah. As for how he changed, you should go see it for yourself.” (Eric)

Eric was convinced that Allen is Nella, but he would never say that Allen has changed because of that. Even if it's toward an important family member.

After a while, Rebecca's body stopped shaking, and she pressed her face into Eric's clothes, shaking it from side to side, before pulling away.

There were no tears left on her face as she had wiped them with Eric's clothes, but her slightly red eyes didn't seem like it’ll go away for a while.

Rebecca stared into Eric’s eyes with a serious expression, and seeing that he was completely unperturbed, she suddenly relaxed.

“If it's a lie, I'll tell Julia-san that Eri-nii once wet the bed because he was scared of a ghost in a story.” (Rebecca)

“Please don't!” (Eric)

“It'll be okay. I'm sure Julia-san will still love you.” (Rebecca)

“That's not the problem.” (Eric)

It would be some time before Julia returned from shopping to the sight of the two of them messing around with each other as if the serious atmosphere from earlier had been a lie.

────

(T/N: Rebecca calls him Eri-nii, lol.)

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