I Don’t Trust My Twin Sister

I lay down on the parade ground inside the castle and looked up at the sky blankly. The glow that had been coming down slowly disappeared, followed by darkness. Deciding to go on a diet, I remembered that Ercia and Benson had been exercising together not long ago, so I also decided to do some light exercise. As a result, he keenly realized that he had never exercised in his life. I thought I was quite active and had good physical strength, but exercise and this were separate things. I dressed lightly and only ran a lap around the parade ground, but I was out of breath and sweat was pouring down like rain.

On the second lap, my breathing became twice as fast. In the end, he couldn’t even run three laps and had no choice but to collapse on the parade ground, unable to control his body.

“…I guess I had poor physical strength.”

I once again keenly felt my weakness. I lay there like that for a while. I sighed and felt that my sweat had already dried, and I stretched out my arms to get up.

“Are you finished?”

When I raised my head at the sound of a voice coming from behind, my strong thighs caught my eye. When I stood up and looked up, I was able to see Benson’s face.

“I was surprised to see that he had collapsed and came running to me.”

It’s embarrassing. Well, if other people see it, they might see the large figure stretched out in the center of the parade ground as scary.

I tried to tell him not to worry by lightly scratching his cheek, but for some reason, Benson’s expression was strangely stiff. Do you have anything to say?

“Do you have anything to say?”

“…I have nothing else to ask of you.”

“What is it? Please speak comfortably.”

As he spoke, shaking off the dust from his coat, Benson hesitated and cautiously opened his mouth.

“Ha… Please forgive my rudeness to your sister.”

Huh? Suddenly what? When I stopped moving my hand and looked at it, Benson covered his eyes with his palm. He seemed to be quite blaming himself. Did he commit some crime?

“If that’s the case, then I have no choice but to assume the worst and answer. Did you at least provide a guarantee in the name of the Ajstain family? If that’s the case, there’s nothing to forgive, so don’t worry about it.”

“…It’s not like that.”

“Or did you get into an argument with someone else and resort to violence? It doesn’t matter because you can get away with it as long as you don’t kill them.”

“Not even that.”

Neither this nor that, then what? I placed my hand on my waist and narrowed my brows slightly. It’s frustrating. The moment I felt like I needed to say something to understand, something suddenly occurred to me and I narrowed my brows slightly.

“Benson,”

“Yes.”

“I’m asking just in case, so please answer me as it is.”

I sighed, looking up at Benson who nodded his head. I scanned his twitching shoulders with my eyes and came up with my guess.

“Did you attack Ercia?”

Look at this? He was not denying it. As I looked at him blankly, Benson quickly shook his head.

“Well, it’s not like that. It may sound strange to say that I attacked her, but that’s not the case… 

“Benson, it seems like misunderstandings are only piling up because you keep changing the subject. Rather, just tell it like it is. That way, I can make a judgment or not.”

“…ha.”

Finally, he let out a deep sigh and seemed to give up, rubbing his dry face with his palm and weakly opening his mouth.

“…I confessed.”

“What?”

“I confessed to Lady Ercia.”

It’s out of the blue. A confession?

“Well, it’s not about penance or confessing mistakes… I said ‘I love you’ to Lady Ercia.”

I was embarrassed and didn’t know how to react, so I opened my mouth in a daze. Of course, I knew that the airflow between Ercia and Benson had been strange these past few days. I also talked to Ersia about Benson, but apart from that, I had no idea that the two of them would quickly become closer. It’s common for princesses in novels and fairy tales to fall in love with their handsome escort knights, but in reality, there are some practical barriers.

Moreover, the princesses’ escort knights were usually nobles. Even if they weren’t good enough, they were the heirs of the count or marquis family, or promising talents of the Knights Guard. In other words, it means that they are the elite of the elite. So it wasn’t that much of a problem for the princess and the knight to be in love.

But what about Benson? He was a mercenary. He was a mercenary, not a nobleman. Of course, it is true that mercenaries with the S-class title are evaluated better than knights, but this does not have much of an impact on reality. Although the Ajstain family did not appear authoritarian, it was a historic family. Even if I acknowledged the relationship between the two of us, there was a high probability that my grandfather would not like it.

“…So?”

As I let out a low breath, breaking the silence, Benson raised his eyes. I put my hands on my waist and lifted my chin.

“So what did you do? Ercia?”

“You didn’t answer.”

“Does that mean you refused?”

“There was no reaction whatsoever. He passed away right away.”

I guess so. Although Ercia seems quite bold and smart, she has little experience in that regard. She had an extraordinary ability to lure men with lies, but she probably lacked immunity against someone like Benson. But what should I do about this? She thought for a moment as she pressed her narrowed eyebrows. Ercia and Benson… How do we do this?

“What do you think, Benson? Why did you confess to Ercia?”

“…There is no reason.”

“There’s no reason?”

Such irresponsible

“I just opened my eyes and was chasing it. No matter where I was or what I was doing, my eyes were always on Lady Ercia. She was the one in charge of escorting, and she was also in charge of surveillance, so it was natural.“

I thought so, but there was one thing I couldn’t understand no matter how much I thought and thought about it. I didn’t need to ask. Benson paused, paused for a moment, and then continued.

“Why did Lady Ercia look so pitiful…?”

“I think I can… pity…”

“I thought so too at first. After hearing the story that Lady Laurencia told me and seeing her actions afterwards, I thought she was a very gloomy person, good at hiding herself, and a dark person. However, as time went by, she changed little by little and became known to people. Once I realized that she was pouring out her heart, I couldn’t stay still any longer. The way she scratched her head in frustration looked like an angry bear. It may have been quite scary, but in some ways it also felt cute. I felt sorry for her as she was irritable and angry at people around her. The anger disappeared. The sight of him gnawing at himself in the dark was somehow familiar and pitiful… Maybe it was sympathy, but I couldn’t help but keep looking.”

Was he saying that she resembled his past self? Although it felt different, Benson was also a person who forced himself to act aggressively, fought with people, and did all kinds of violent things to hide himself. Because he wanted to quit being a mercenary. To him, Ercia was a kindred spirit, something like that.

“Then, the moment I saw you brightening up recently, I was convinced.”

“Do you like it?”

“…I’m embarrassed, but yes, that’s true.”

I chuckled at the sight of him nodding his head courageously. I couldn’t quite figure out how to react because he made a confession so confidently that other people would have turned their heads and answered shyly. How will we do it? In fact, just because he confessed to me doesn’t mean we’re dating, and just because we date doesn’t mean we’ll get married, so it wasn’t a big problem. There is only talk of marriage due to the difference in status. If it were to come out, it wouldn’t be a story worth thinking about easily. I quietly looked at Benson’s face. He was showing courage. He knew reality and faced it head on. If you say something like this to me, it means you don’t want to avoid it. Even though you have a precious person called your younger brother, it takes courage to create someone just as precious. In that sense, Benson was a man of tremendous courage.

And it was difficult to think that Benson had not had any influence on Ercia’s changes. What I vaguely realized while looking at the relationship between the two was that it wasn’t something that happened in one day. It must have had some impact. Therefore, Ersia may have changed her mind and returned to her family again, and just as her small ripples eventually create big waves, the existence of Benson may have given great meaning to Ersia. So, it wasn’t an easy thing to think about.

“Benson.”

“Yes, miss.”

“I’ll be honest with you. It may sound cold, but this is an important story, so I’m going to draw a clear line.”

He nodded and I gave him a look of determination. He looked at his face and grinned.

“First of all, there is Benson’s status. No matter how much the nobles play and the relationship between commoners and lower nobles becomes ambiguous, a marriage between the two is not easy. Because a noble marriage is made up of gains and losses. You know that, right?”

“…I know.”

“Okay. And second, it’s Benson’s rumor. I don’t know what they were thinking, but Benson’s past actions could be a hindrance. It could even be a blemish on Ercia, so I’m hesitant.”

It was sad to see her biting her lip. But what can I do? I have to say what I have to say. He spoke with his mind as cold as ice.

“Another one is the tradition of the Ajstain family. Until now, the companions that the head of the Ajstain family has taken in have been people who worked in related fields. In other words, they are businessmen. Even if they are not nobles, they have some basic knowledge of business. My parents were childhood friends, and as they grew up, they each led their own businesses, and my grandmother also made her fortune selling salt. I rolled over and looked at Benson, and even though his job wasn’t menial and he wasn’t a criminal, I felt a little sad seeing him shrink. “Not Benson. He’s a mercenary, not a businessman. Even if I give permission, my grandfather may be stubborn and not allow it. Of course, looking at his recent appearance, he might allow it… It’s probably more likely than not. Because marriage is real.”

“…ha.”

A sigh that he couldn’t hide flowed out of his mouth. It must be frustrating. Yes, I understood. But understanding and this were different stories.

 

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