“TRANSLATED BY RJR”
Louise was surprisingly responsive to my questions. Feeling satisfied with the sincere answer, I nodded and responded vigorously.
“I mainly practice in my free time. The moment you become lazy, your body immediately becomes stiff.”
“Wow! Oh my god!”
“The Auror’s manifestation already occurred six years ago.”
“And! It was awesome, awesome!”
“When swordsmanship is difficult? I think you mostly sleep?”
“Oh my god!”
“What the hell… Awesome, what is this?”
Louise asked, frowning.
“I mean it’s the absolute best!”
Louise scratched his head as if embarrassed by my words. Eyes sparkling with curiosity, upper body fully tilted, meticulous writing. Of course, there were some over-the-top things, but it didn’t mean there was no sincerity. As I listened to Louise’s love for swordsmanship, I thought of ‘learning swordsmanship’ on my bucket list.
‘I can just ask Louise to teach me his sword skills!’
The person I only saw on YouTube was right in front of me! No, since he used swordsmanship and an auror, I have an even more amazing sword expert before my eyes!
According to Louise, Evan and Louise were the same ‘Sword Expert’, but they were divided into levels, with Evan being the highest level and Louise being the advanced level. The only sword master in the empire was our father, Chase. I looked at Louise’s face piercingly, my eyes shining. Louise was hesitant at first, but he soon got used to it and he was proud and talked about himself.
“I plan to decline even the offer of an honorable royal knight. There is deep meaning in academics.”
It was said that the Clemend family has an excellent knighthood in itself, but they send some of the more outstanding swordsmen to the imperial guard. In the Ruman Empire, where the Emperor’s authority was high, enlisting as a knight in the Royal Guard was more difficult than earning a star in the sky, and it was also a position of highest honor. However, only those who were 20 years old or older could join this order. Thanks to the fact that the twin brothers graduated from the Academy early, Evan is currently traveling to the Imperial Castle to receive temporary training for the Imperial Guard, and Louise was teaching Clemend Knights.
“So, you’re saying that Brother Evan will be a knight of the Royal Guard, and Brother Louise will attend the best university, Lu Imperial University? From a year later?”
“Yes.”
When he confirmed that Evan was joining the Royal Guard as a knight, Louise’s expression darkened slightly. I suddenly felt like the atmosphere was getting dark, so I turned my head to change the mood.
“You got good grades in college, right? Brother, you’re smart.”
“Uh? Ah, what. It’s not that good compared to Evan. Because I’m in second place for years.”
I frowned as I saw Louise answering in a sullen tone again. From earlier, Louise had been comparing himself to Evan in every sentence he said. He had never been outside of second place in his life, Evan was much more popular in the academy, the vassals secretly wanted to push Evan to be the head of the family in the future, and the Imperial Guard also said that there was no one as talented as Evan, so Louise made himself known. The condescending words seemed to have become ingrained in him. It was one of two things. Being overly humble or having a deep sense of inferiority.
In front of Louise, who was depressed, I spoke out loudly to him.
“Anyway, you’re both great, right? You’re ranked 2nd in the whole school! Isn’t it amazing that twins are ranked first and second side by side? I felt bad for my brother’s friends who attended the academy at the same time.”
When I praised Louise, he smiled shyly. It was the first time he had heard such a thing. His reaction wasn’t bad, so I continued talking.
“Even if I were to become the head of the family, it would be difficult. Have you seen father’s office? There’s a lot of work to do in and out of the castle, so you’re stuck in the mansion! And yet, you always go down to the estate once a week to work! Do you want to get buried in work, Louise?”
“Uh? No, I don’t have any duties…”
“Look! What’s popular? There’s no need for all that. It is much more important to receive deep love from one person than to receive love from many people. You two haven’t found the right match yet, right?”
“That… Right?”
I grinned, having gotten Louise’s half-hearted nod.
“Don’t compare yourself to Evan. Even if you are twins, you are different people.”
At that moment, Louise’s expression suddenly changed. He stared at me with a lost expression. I smiled brightly and spoke in a bright voice, wanting to comfort him.
“Please show me around the school later!”
“What?”
“If you have time!”
While Louise was embarrassed by the simple request and was looking for something to say in response, I quickly changed the subject.
“Then last question!”
“…Uh, do it.”
Compared to the hostility he showed when I first came in, Louise’s expression had calmed down a bit.
‘I can ask you now.’
I asked, looking straight at him with bright eyes.
“If I try hard, will Louise like me?”
“…uh?”
Louise’s face turned red from embarrassment.
* * *
When asked if he would like me, Louise did not answer until the end. But I decided to be satisfied with not getting the answer, ‘No way.’ On the way back to the room, I thought carefully about Louise’s expression when he was talking about Evan. On the outside, the Clemend brothers seemed to have a good relationship, but I suspected that there might be something going on underneath.
‘If it were me, I would hate Evan.’
When talking about Evan, Louise’s expression was closer to admiration than jealousy or hatred. I tried my best to console him, but… What were Louise’s true feelings? I walked slowly down the hallway, perusing the notebook I had written about Louise.
As soon as I entered the room, the maids greeted me with their happy faces as if they had been waiting for me.
“Miss!”
…Anyone who saw it would think it’s been 15 days since we last saw each other.
“Didn’t he say that you are particularly beautiful today?”
“Master Louise is not the kind of person who would say something like that. What did he chat about with you, Miss?”
“It looks like you talked for quite some time and you seemed to have a good understanding.”
Fanny, Sophia, and even Jane. Everyone seemed very curious about the content of Louise and my conversation. I spoke confidently, not wanting to disappoint the maids whose eyes were shining with anticipation.
“Brother Louise told me kindly about himself.”
“Oh!”
“Oh my god!”
Fanny and Sophia exclaimed as if they had been waiting for a word from me. Thanks to their support, I added one more word.
“I feel like I’ve become closer to my brother.”
“Ah, finally…!”
“Congratulations, lady!”
Sophia covered her mouth with her thrilled face, and Fanny had tears welling up in her eyes. The maids seemed happy that I, who had been an outsider in the Clement family, had become close to Louise. Just as the curious maids were about to add something, Jane stepped forward and gently stopped them.
“You must be tired, so please take a rest.”
‘That’s why you’re a maid.’
I grinned at Jane, who read my tired mind, and answered.
“Huh!”
* * *
The next morning, as soon as I opened my eyes, I instinctively stood in front of the mirror.
‘I didn’t wake up. It’s not a dream.’
Wearing a white one-piece nightgown, with messy blonde hair and red eyes, I was still Roella Clement. I looked around at my pale, thin limbs.
‘Am I really going to live here for the rest of my life?’
If I find the real male lead within a year, I can live here for the rest of my life in good health. That alone was reason enough for me to find the real male lead here.
I walked lightly and opened the bucket list I kept in the drawer. As I went through the list from number 1 to number 100, I felt my will to live become more vibrant.
‘I’m definitely increasing my likeability today as well!’
At that time, Jane came into the room after knocking.
“Miss, did you cough?”
Hearing Jane’s polite and calm voice made me feel even more real that I was in this world. I spoke energetically to Jane, recalling bucket list number 1.
“Huh! Let’s eat!”
* * *
“Dad! Good morn… Huh!”
As soon as I saw the table, my mouth dropped. Last night’s menu seemed like nothing, and the amount of food on the table was twice as much as yesterday.
‘Is the expression ‘kicked with a broken upper leg’ used in situations like this?’ No. Doesn’t that really break your upper leg? A stew made with a tomato base, thick and oily pasta made with fresh cream, and a steak that is so juicy that it almost bursts when you take a bite. Everything from vegetarian food to flour to meat was the same, but the amount was significantly larger than yesterday. I looked at Chase with a puzzled expression. Chase suddenly looked proud at my reaction.
“It’s so good that I gave the chef special instructions.”
So this was all for me? Of course, I ate almost all of the food on the table yesterday… The food was so delicious that I felt sad even after eating it all…
“This… Too much-”
I tried to tell Chase that there was too much food, but I couldn’t finish it as his expression immediately became disappointed.
“Thanks, Dad!”
The brows of Louise and Evan, who were sitting across from us, furrowed at the lively answer. Although I was worried about their expressions, I calmed down by looking at the favorability rating in the green letters floating above them.
[Evan Clemend: Favorability 1%]
[Louise Clemend: Favorability 1%]
Still, it went up 1% in one day! Unlike them who were frowning, I smiled and said.
“Brothers, enjoy your meal too!”
Evan raised one corner of his mouth as if he was laughing at my words. Louise looked a bit startled, but he then turned his head as if to ignore me.
“Let’s eat.”
As soon as Chase finished speaking, I aggressively lifted the utensils. I looked around at the food lined up in a row. Then, very slowly, I started emptying the plate from the very front. The reason I ate calmly was because of Evan and Louise. Of course, it’s good to eat delicious food, but it’s rude for them to have poor appetite and…
‘Because I don’t want to be hated.’
It was a really good thing that I had raised my favorability rating for the first time in a while, but there was no guarantee that I would be able to increase my favorability rating every day.
This was because I thought that if there were only two candidates and they could not even raise the favorability ratings of the two, it would probably be the same even if another candidate appeared.
Clatter, rattle.
Unlike yesterday, there was no clattering sound, only the sound of plates being scraped, and the air became strange. Worry appeared on the faces of the butlers and maids who had hoped for yesterday’s gluttony, and Evan and Louise also glanced at me with puzzled eyes at my change in attitude in just one day. Above all else, Chase’s face, which had been swollen with anticipation, was colored with worry. Eventually, Chase stopped eating and asked me.
“Do you have no appetite today?”
“No? It’s so delicious!”
I answered by shrugging my shoulders as if asking what I was talking about. Then Chase tilted his head.
“But why…”
He didn’t say anything, but I knew what Chase wanted to say. My eyes glanced at the two brothers. If I inhaled food as if I had a beggar in my stomach like yesterday, there was a high possibility that those two brothers (especially Evan) would tackle me. I’ve only just raised my favorability by 1%, so I don’t want to end up looking hateful!
I thought carefully about coming up with a wise answer before replying.
“I was sorry for yesterday. Father, brothers.”
“?”
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Translator Note:
Hello there! This is RJR. I hope you liked it <3
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