Meeting Shia’s Older Sister

After the library, Shia showed me several more rooms, but the one that surprised me was the exhibition room.

There were plenty of exhibits that had been carefully displayed, but also plenty of exhibits? that had simply been left lying around in the aisles, making it a slightly peculiar room that looked more like a storeroom despite supposedly being an exhibition room.

According to Shia, the previous heads of the family had collected luxury goods and antiques, but she had absolutely no interest in them, so she had apparently crammed them all into this room.

“They were scattered all over the manor and kept getting in the way. It was actually quite a lot of work just bringing everything into this room. …Oh, Nova-san, if there’s anything you want, please tell me. You’re welcome to take it with you.”

“Th-thanks… but I think I’ll pass…”

A single book would have been one thing, but I didn’t feel comfortable accepting valuable treasures of a kind I had never even held before.

Even though she was only showing me around her manor, I was learning more and more about just how extraordinary Shia was, and it was starting to make me feel intimidated.

After making a full circuit of the first floor, we returned to the entrance of the manor.

The timing was just about right.

Shia opened the door to the reception room she had shown us earlier, and Aurora-chan and I followed her inside.

There was already someone in the room that had been empty before.

A woman with fluffy silver hair and glasses noticed us and looked up.

When I saw that she had the same gray eyes as Shia, I realized she must be the older sister Shia had mentioned.

(So this is… Shia’s older sister?)

That was the first thing that came to mind.

I had imagined an older sister who had instilled an inferiority complex in Shia when she was young and might even have treated her terribly, but she was a little different from what I had expected.

If anything, she had an even quieter air about her than Shia did.

She wore a large cape over her shoulders, and together with the glasses that seemed to be her trademark, she looked like the librarian at the desk in the library we had visited earlier.

She certainly carried herself with elegance, but that was my first impression of her.

“Allow me to introduce her. This is Yustitia Ark Gate. She serves as my assistant. She is my older sister, and her nickname is Yuti. Yuti, this is Nova-san, whom I told you about before.”

“…It is a pleasure to meet you. Please call me Yuti.”

“…Nova… Fols.”

I bowed as well while watching Yuti-san lower her head quietly.

While I was still somewhat confused by how different she was from what I had imagined, Shia walked to the far end of the room and placed a hand on the back of a chair.

“Nova-san, please sit over there.”

At the same time Shia gestured toward the chair immediately to the left of the one she was holding, Aurora-chan started walking and sat beside Yuti-san.

If the seat at the very end was Shia’s as the head of the family, that meant Yuti-san and I would sit closest to her, with Aurora-chan beside Yuti-san.

“Um…”

“Please don’t worry about the seating order. It isn’t particularly important.”

“Okay.”

At Shia’s prompting, I headed toward the chair she had indicated.

The white chair matched the luxurious table, yet somehow looked cold even though I hadn’t sat in it yet.

In reality, though, the room was warm, so there was no way the chair itself was actually cold.

I sat down. Since I was directly across from Yuti-san, it was only natural that our eyes met.

Yuti-san stared fixedly at me, but her expression did not change at all.

Then, without warning, she spoke.

“Nova-sama, you are the third son of House Fols, correct?”

“Ah, yes… Oh, you can just call me Nova-san. I’m not really used to being called -sama…”

When I answered, Yuti-san looked toward Shia.

First Aurora-chan, and now her—did these sisters have some sort of habit of communicating through eye contact?

Yuti-san watched Shia nod, returned the nod, then turned her gaze back to me.

“I know of the third son of House Fols. A failure unable to use Haki. Someone unworthy of House Fols. A person with no value as a noble—”

“Yuti.”

“I do not personally think that way. My apologies.”

Even though she said that without the slightest change in expression, I couldn’t tell at all whether she truly meant it.

“I actually believe the fact that Nova-san cannot use Aura is a good thing. Otherwise, you would likely have been crushed by the family head’s mana.”

No, apparently Yuti-san really didn’t think I was a failure.

But more importantly, this woman really was Shia’s older sister, right?

Judging from everything Yuti-san had said and done so far, she behaved and spoke more like a retainer than an older sister.

“However, I do not believe that is the only reason. There is something else…”

Yuti-san leaned slightly forward and stared at me in silence.

Just as I started to feel a little frightened by how unwavering her gaze was—

“I see. As expected.”

(What do you mean, as expected!?)

Yuti-san nodded as though she had reached some conclusion, then leaned back against her chair.

Turning only her face toward Shia, she nodded firmly.

“I never had the slightest intention of opposing it to begin with, but I strongly support the engagement between the family head and Nova-san.”

“I knew you would understand, Yuti.”

“Yes. In that case, I shall take my leave…”

With that, Yuti-san rose from her chair.

Hardly any time had passed since we met, and we had only exchanged a few words, so I could only stare at her in surprise.

“Are you leaving already?”

“I still have a little reading left to do. Besides, I have learned roughly what I needed to know about Nova-san. I will leave the rest to the family head and Aura, who are close to him.”

“I see.”

Shia’s attempt to stop her had little effect, and after giving me an exceptionally deep bow, Yuti-san left the room.

Well, it did seem like she viewed me favorably, at least…

“Yuti-oneesama is rather eccentric…”

Perhaps because I had been staring at the door Yuti-san had disappeared through, Aurora-chan explained it to me.

When I looked toward her, I saw Shia nodding from the corner of my eye.

“Yuti is exceptionally intelligent, but she is also rather eccentric… Combined with how little she speaks, people often misunderstand her.”

“I-I see…”

So maybe she really was exactly the kind of person she looked like.

She might have had something in common with Kairas-nii-sama.

Although with the issue between House Fols’s Aura and House Ark Gate’s mana, I imagined the two of them would be terribly incompatible.

“However, she is the sort of person who says exactly what she thinks, so I believe she has a favorable impression of you, Nova-san.”

“Yeah, that’s good to hear.”

That was much better than being disliked.

I hadn’t sensed any contempt toward me from Yuti-san, and that alone was something to be grateful for.

To be honest, I had half expected her to tell me I wasn’t worthy of Shia.

“But it’s good that you’ve gotten the approval of all the sisters. That means you won’t have to worry about family relations after you marry Oneesama.”

“…Y-yeah, I guess so.”

All I could do was give Aurora-chan, who was looking at me with sparkling eyes, a strained smile.

Shia was just smiling happily without saying anything… Wait, were they steadily closing off all my escape routes here?

While I was thinking that, Aurora-chan raised her hand.

“Hey, Nova-onii-sama! If you’d like, why don’t we go to the courtyard and talk? You too, Oneesama!”

“I don’t mind.”

“Yeah, that’s fine with me too.”

Come to think of it, we hadn’t visited the courtyard yet, so after Shia immediately agreed, I gave my own consent.

And so, we started walking toward the courtyard.