After that, Bianca decided to go home first with Julian. On the carriage ride home, Bianca spoke to her second brother.
“Julian, you are very popular, aren’t you?”
Bianca admires him and he smiles good-humoredly at her. He seems to be in a good mood.
“I don’t think so. You are the star of the show right now.”
The second brother replied without hesitation.
“I was wondering if I had any friends before I lost my memory, Brother Julian?”
“What’s the point of asking this now?”
Julian chuckles.
“The friends I have now were made after I lost my memory. I don’t seem to have any friends before that, so I wondered if I had been alone all this time.”
“I don’t think so. You were usually with your cronies.”
It was unexpected that she walked around with an entourage.
“Has brother not told you anything?”
Bianca nodded coyly.
“That’s right. ……. The doctor said you might not remember it, so I don’t think you should be in too much of a hurry to remember. If you want, you can leave it like this.”
He said the same thing as their mother.
“Is that the way it’s going to be?”
“Aren’t you happy right now?”
If she thinks about it that way, she is busy with her studies but she has made some good friends and is living a very materially well-off life.
“I could certainly live as I am now. I am blessed.”
She was rather over-privileged. In the seaside town, not being able to go to school was normal.
Julian is also very kind to her when she talks to him about this. At first, he must have been puzzled by Bianca’s loss of memory.
But when asked if she was happy, she could only reply that something was different and that her life at the monastery was much more fulfilling. Perhaps it’s a luxury to think like this.
♢
It was time for exams again. Bianca did her best under pressure from her father, whom she sometimes shared the dining room and salon with.
And the result was that she had made it to number fifty-three. Since she couldn’t even make it within the top 100 last time, she could say that she did very well. When she returned home with a relieved look on her face, her father’s reprimandation awaited her.
“He told me I was incompetent and couldn’t even make it into the top 50.”
Crying, she complained to her eldest brother about their father’s unreasonableness.
Satias was at his wits’ end. If possible, he would have preferred that she would spill her complaints at the academy, but Bianca has been impulsive and straightforward since losing her memory.
She was cute as a sister, but Satias wondered how she would fare as a high-ranking aristocrat. He had no choice but to get rid of people and listen to his sister’s whining in the salon.
“So what was your number this time?”
The younger sister stares at her brother with weepy eyes. Satias felt uncomfortable.
“Bianca, isn’t it important how much effort you made this time, not how you ranked? You worked really hard. You lost your memory, and there was a blank period of three months. But, despite that, you still came in fifty-third place, which is a wonderful result, isn’t it?”
Bianca’s eyes began to water again.
“I knew you were the best again, brother.”
No matter how a little bit foolish his sister had become, she didn’t fool around. She starts crying again. It was terrible of their father to call her incompetent. She was doing very well despite her significant handicap.
He had tried to tell him that she should be given a little more freedom since she had been enjoying herself at the monastery, but their father would not listen.
Satias took care of Bianca appropriately, and when she recovered from her depression long enough to touch the baked goods in front of her, he retired to his room.
The younger sister who has become an idiot is surprisingly robust, betraying her slender appearance. After crying, she always looks sober.
She is but like a small child.
♢
The school is now on a long holiday break. The Kesslers had left their father in the Royal Capital for work and came to a seaside villa.
Julian, the second brother, was enjoying a tea party and horseback riding, while Satias, the eldest brother, took care of documents related to the territory on behalf of their father.
Bianca was being forced to study by the tutor who had followed her here.
“It’s unreasonable.”
Today’s lessons were over, and Bianca sat in the salon watching the sea and sipping tea.
The clear, marine blue sea was beautiful. It reminded her of the color of her eldest brother’s eyes. The color of her eyes was vermilion in the evening, which was said to be even more exceptional.
Bianca is alone in the house.
Her second brother was either playing or spending time with their mother, Irene, while her eldest brother was doing paperwork on their father’s behalf.
She had no one to talk to, and when she finishes her studies, she has too much time on her hands. She would love to take an afternoon stroll along the seaside, but a duchess’s outing is something that requires a lot of preparation. She didn’t really like walking with servants in tow.
Since she had no choice, she decided to explore the inside of the mansion. Fortunately, there are fewer servants here than in the main mansion, and Bianca was not being closely followed by the maids.
Perhaps she hoped to find a weakness in her father, who calls her incompetent and forces her to study when she can’t. With this sense of anticipation, she stood up.
Someday, I will make him say, “Gee wiz!”
Why should I always compare myself to Satias, who is so talented? It’s getting harder to breathe. The pressure of being compared to brother is getting heavier day by day.
I must have felt this way in the past. Is that why I don’t talk to my brother much anymore? If so, how very sad.……
