3-2 - Sisters Are Romantic Interests, Right?

After explicitly declaring to Father that I had no intention of succeeding him as head of House Granches, in exchange for a guarantee of Alice’s safety, I finally returned to the detached residence.

When I returned to my room, Marie came to see me shortly afterward.

“Welcome back, Lord Leon. You’re home rather late… Where have you been, and what have you been doing all this time?”

“Well, I just had something to discuss with Father.”

“…I’m surprised. I know I’m the one who asked, but is it really all right for you to tell me that?”

“You’re welcome to report it. It’s not something I need to hide. In fact, I expect Father will tell them himself. More importantly, I’m surprised you’re worried about me like that, Marie.”

“…Whatever your reasons, the fact remains that you rescued Alice-san.”

Ah, so that was why.

She did make small talk with Alice, after all. Even though she never did with me. …Well, I was grateful that Alice had another ally.

“I’m the one who should be thanking you. If you hadn’t told me Alice had been abducted, I might not have made it in time. Thank you, really.”

When I expressed my gratitude, Marie looked bewildered, as though she’d heard something completely unexpected.

“…To be frank, I thought Alice-san was someone of little importance to you, Lord Leon. That’s why I never expected you to go to such lengths for her.”

That’s a terrible misunderstanding! I nearly blurted out, but swallowed the words at the last moment.

Marie had been assigned by Caroline-san to keep an eye on me, so I couldn’t let her discover that I’d been learning all sorts of things from Alice.

And so—

“Well, Alice takes care of me every night.”

I deliberately phrased it in a way that invited misunderstanding. My plan seemed to work, as Marie’s gaze turned contemptuous. If I could hear her thoughts, she was probably cursing me with something like, What a disgusting little pervert, and you’re still just a child.

“By the way, where’s Alice?”

“Alice-san is bathing.”

“…Huh?”

Had I already been too late by the time I reached her!? I started to worry, but as though anticipating my concern, Marie added,

“Apparently, she worked up an unpleasant sweat.”

Honestly, don’t scare me like that.

“Then tell her to come to my room once she’s changed.”

“…………Understood.”

Another contemptuous look. I could almost hear her thinking, Are you really going to sully someone who’s just finished bathing to satisfy your desires? Wait, did I actually hear her say that!?

“Uh, hey. I thought I heard you mutter something just now.”

“I didn’t hear anything… Was there something else you needed?”

“No, nothing.”

“I see. Then please excuse me.”

Well… I supposed it was fine. Or rather, I’d brought this on myself. I felt like I’d finally figured out why Marie still barely spoke to me, even after all this time.

From Marie’s perspective, I was no better than Blake had been today. Worse, I was a depraved child who supposedly repeated those acts every single night. Of course she’d hate me… Sigh.

After several minutes of feeling depressed, I heard Alice’s voice alongside a somewhat hurried knock. When I told her to come in, Alice practically flew into the room.

“Lord Leon, are you all right!?”

“I’m fine. I’ll explain everything, so have a seat.”

I calmed Alice down and explained that I’d asked Father to guarantee her safety in exchange for explicitly renouncing any intention of competing for the succession of House Granches.

“But… Was it really all right to do that for my sake?”

“I was never interested in becoming a count anyway. If all I have to do is make that clear to secure your safety, it’s a small price to pay.”

“But there were other things you could have asked for, like having Milly-san brought back. I feel terribly guilty that you did this for me.”

“It’s fine. I simply prioritized you because your situation was the most urgent.”

Besides, Milly was someone Caroline-san despised. If I’d made Milly’s reinstatement a condition, I thought there was a good chance Caroline-san would refuse the deal.

“…Even if it was a lie, I would have liked you to say it was because I’m the most important person to you.”

“—Huh?”

Surprised, I looked at Alice’s face, only for her to giggle and stick out her tongue.

“Just kidding. It was a joke!”

“Come on, don’t tease an innocent child.”

“Hehe. How can you call yourself an innocent child with a straight face?”

“I may not look it, but I am innocent. What would you do if I accidentally took you seriously?”

“Then there’s nothing to worry about.”

“Nothing to worry about? Why?”

“Because I never make jokes that would trouble me if someone took them seriously.”

She smiled a little bashfully. Looking at her, I gave a wry smile.

“Don’t think I’ll fall for the same trick twice.”

“Oh, but that was how I really feel.”

“Yeah, yeah. Whatever you say.”

I brushed it off lightly and turned my thoughts toward what came next.

“Anyway, Alice’s situation depends on Caroline-san’s reaction, but I think it’ll probably be fine. So the immediate problem is Claire-nee’s marriage.”

“Lady Claire? If I remember correctly, she attended a marriage meeting recently, didn’t she?”

“So it seems.”

More precisely, it had been a group marriage meeting disguised as a ball. Although the ball brought together influential people from various regions, apparently arrangements were made beforehand concerning who would be introduced to whom.

At that ball, Claire-nee had apparently danced with a marquis who was twenty-nine this year. His personality and appearance weren’t bad, apparently… But that was precisely why she couldn’t turn him down.

As a result, she’d spent the next several days visiting the detached residence and complaining in a foul mood.

“If you wanted to prevent Lady Claire’s political marriage, wouldn’t becoming the head of House Granches have been the quickest solution?”

“…You make it sound so easy.”

“Wouldn’t it actually be fairly easy if you put your mind to it, Lord Leon?”

“Not a chance. Besides, even if it were possible, Claire-nee is getting married in less than a year. No matter how hard I tried, there’s no way I could inherit the family before then.”

“Perhaps not… But do you have another idea?”

“I have a plan, but I’m running short on time for that one too.”

The reason Claire-nee was being forced into a political marriage was that it would benefit House Granches.

In other words, if I could offer benefits that exceeded what the marriage would bring, it should be possible to win Claire-nee her freedom. The problem was whether I could generate enough profit to serve as a bargaining chip.

If I used the resources of House Granches and exploited every bit of knowledge from my previous life to revolutionize the territory’s administration, it might be possible. But that would undoubtedly give Caroline-san the wrong idea.

I could also negotiate with Caroline-san beforehand, but reaching an agreement and generating the necessary profits within a year would be difficult.

“That certainly sounds troublesome. …Speaking of which, how did things go for you, Lord Leon? You visited House Sphiel today, didn’t you?”

“Ah, yeah. Sophia was a really cute girl. She’s quiet and still has a childish side, so she felt more like a little sister to me.”

“Like a little sister… In other words, you see her as a potential romantic partner.”

“Why would you think that!? I obviously meant that while I enjoy spending time with her, I don’t see her romantically!”

“Is that so?”

“Huh? Why do you look so genuinely surprised?”

“Well… You’re trying to help Lady Claire because you love her, aren’t you?”

“Well, yeah, but… Just so we’re clear, I only mean as a brother!”

“But siblings are potential romantic partners, aren’t they?”

“Whyyy do you keep coming to that conclusion? Actually, Alice, do you consider your siblings potential romantic partners?”

“Of course.”

Whoa, she answered with a completely straight face. Was that a normal attitude in this world?

…Hmm. Looking at the people around me, I couldn’t entirely rule it out… But I still had the values I’d developed in Japan.

It wasn’t as though the idea repulsed me so much that I’d rather die, but I still couldn’t imagine it.

“Come to think of it, Alice, you had siblings?”

“…Yes, I did.”

A shadow fell over her deep blue eyes. Seeing that, I understood why she’d spoken in the past tense.

“…Sorry.”

“No, please don’t worry about it. I’ve already come to terms with it.”

Come to terms with it, huh? I studied Alice’s face, realizing that she’d indeed experienced something tragic in her past. As I did, I noticed the ornament nestled in her pink hair.

“Speaking of which, you said that hair ornament was a keepsake, didn’t you?”

“…………Huh?”

“You know, that silver hair ornament. When we first met, you said it was a keepsake and asked me not to take it away.”

“O-oh, that’s right! I think I did say something like that!”

“…You think?”

“No, it is a keepsake! This is a precious memento that my older brother used to wear!”

…Wait, your older brother wore it…? That was clearly a woman’s hair ornament, no matter how I looked at it. Though judging from her reaction, it was probably better not to point that out.

I didn’t really understand, but whatever. Alice couldn’t possibly have any malicious intentions, so I’d pretend I hadn’t noticed anything strange.

More importantly, I needed to decide what to do next.

First was Alice. I wanted to free her from slavery someday, but before I could do that, I needed to resolve my own problems, so I had no choice but to put that aside for now.

Next was Milly. I’d confirmed that Milly was living peacefully in her hometown, so there was no urgent need to act. That would have to wait as well.

That left my own situation and Claire-nee’s problem… I still had relatively plenty of time to deal with mine. So I supposed Claire-nee’s situation should come first.