43. I Did Everything For You

By the time we made it back to the house, the rattle of the carriage had grown as familiar to me as my own bedroom.

“Young Master!!”

I’d barely stepped down when a welcome voice came smacking into my ears, and its owner flung herself into my arms without a moment’s hesitation.

“…I missed you, Young Master.”

“Are you my little brother’s girlfriend?”

Lillian had climbed down after me and was watching the whole scene with great interest.

“Hmm, so this is the type you like?”

Before the misunderstanding could dig in any deeper, I tried to push Elli off.

“She’s not my girlfriend, and back off a little — I think you’re about to crack my ribs.”

I took her by the shoulders to peel her away, but she clung to my waist like a leech. And now that I looked closer, something was different.

“…Elli?”

I fiddled with a lock of her hair. The long-haired country girl I knew was nowhere to be found, and in her place was a short bob swishing just above her jawline. Her height had changed too. The height at which she fit into my arms had changed — she’d shot up so much that she now reached my shoulder.

“Did you get taller? And cut your hair, too, looks like.”

Only then did Elli pull back from my chest, and she glared at me as she answered.

“Some Young Master I happen to serve went and vanished on me without a word, that’s why.”
“Ah, did he now?”
“It’s not ‘did he now,’ it’s you did!”

She’d clearly worked up a good head of steam, standing there with her arms crossed and scowling at me. I’d never seen Elli like this before, so I was a little thrown.

“When a girl cuts her hair, it means there’s been a change of heart. So from now on, you’d better pay more attention to me.”
“U-uh… yeah.”
“What was that!?”
“Got it.”

Apparently that finally smoothed her ruffled feathers, because she broke into a smile.

“Actually, I cut it because it got in the way during training. It kept poking me in the eye. Does it look weird?”
“No, it suits you.”
“Hehe.”

Anyway, I never thought I’d hear the word training come out of Elli’s mouth. I wanted to keep the conversation going, but we couldn’t just loiter around outside, so for the time being I started hauling Lillian’s luggage out of the carriage.

“Let me… take that, sir.”

Right then, Leo came up from behind Elli and took the luggage from me. But this guy was off somehow, too. If Elli had matured, then Leo had a screw come loose, I guess you’d say. Unlike before, he dithered, and there was no strength in his stride.

Then Elli spotted him struggling under the weight of the bags.

“Let me take some.”
“I’m fine.”
“It’s heavy.”
“I said I’m fine.”

Leo tried to resist, but he was clearly outmuscled, and she lifted the bags off him even more easily than she’d expected.

“You really ought to work out a bit,” she said flatly.

“…You’re the one who’s weird.”

What was this whole vibe?

To get a read on the situation, I snagged Leo by the scruff of the neck, and he flinched in surprise and let himself get dragged over to me. Then I turned to Lillian and Elli.

“You two go on ahead. I need Leo to fill me in on what’s been happening.”

At that, Lillian linked her arm through Elli’s.

“How about a little chat with your big sis on the way?”
“Huh?”

Elli got hauled off. Once the two of them were gone and it was just us, I cracked a sly grin and got down to business.

“So? Make any progress?”
“Huh? With what?”
“Oh, come on, don’t play dumb. It’s been half a year — surely you’re not still stuck at square one?”

At my needling, Leo let out a deep, heavy sigh. A sigh deep enough to cave in the ground.

“…How does it look to you?”
“Hmm. From what I caught just now, doesn’t look good. To be precise, it might’ve actually gotten worse than the last time I saw it?”

“Yes. Exactly right. There’s not one thing in the plus column. Honestly, you could call it a net minus,” Leo answered glumly.

Even so, I could tell that his feelings for Elli were still there, buried in all that gloom. If he’d given up ages ago, he wouldn’t be this depressed about it. So I patted him on the shoulder to console him.

“Buck up, man. Hack at any tree ten times and it’ll fall.”

At that, Leo stopped walking and glared at me.

“This is all your fault, Young Master.”

I try to comfort the guy and this is what I get. What an absolute riot.

“How is you failing to win Elli over my fault? Did I get in your way? Did I do anything? I wasn’t even at the estate.”
“That’s exactly the problem! You were gone for half a year, Young Master, and Elli went and turned weird on me!”
“Turned weird how?”

Leo answered with a look of pure disgust.

“She’s been training with Lord Valerian!”

I doubted my own ears. Elli’s been doing what with who?

“Training with Big Brother Valerian? Elli?”
“Yes!”
“And by training, you mean the kind where you pick up wooden swords and beat on each other, right?”
“Yes!!”
“…Why, though?”
“That’s what I’m saying!!!”

Leo stamped his feet in place, venting his frustration.

I mean, Elli had asked Valerian to train her, and Valerian had granted the request. What in the world was that combination?

“And what were you doing instead of stopping her?”
“What do you mean, stopping her? Young Master, if Lord Valerian had said he was going to train Elli, would you have been able to tell him no to his face?”
“Hmm. Yeah, that’d be a tall order.”
“Why on earth would that prickly Lord Valerian take Elli on? Thanks to that, Elli practically lives at the training grounds all day. I’ve ended up handling the work Elli used to do on top of my own. So now I’m pulling overtime more often than not, which means I’m earning more money. Thank you. Thank you so much.”

He shot me a resentful glare. It stung, so I cleared my throat and changed the subject.

“…Come to think of it, are you still doing the running crew?”
“Yes. Very faithfully, every single morning, running ourselves half to death. Everyone except the crew leader, that is. Elli’s stamina goes up by the day, and it’s killing me.”
“…My bad.”

I’m the one who started it and then never once showed up, so I had nothing to say for myself.

So much for changing the subject. I’d just ended up apologizing.

“Forget it. Don’t just say sorry — write my sister back instead.”
“Rio’s doing all right, then?”
“Yes. She’s still not fully cured, but they say she’s even getting out and about now.”

The moment Rio’s name came up, a single thread of life returned to Leo’s face, which until then had been nothing but gloom. This was my chance.

“Your family’s health is what matters most, don’t you think? Hahaha!”

Is love what matters?
Health’s the best. The very best.

We arrived in front of the head’s chamber to report to Kairon. Lillian gripped a handful of her skirt tight and swallowed dryly.

“I never imagined it’d take this long to open this door again.”

Her tone was composed, but the hand clutching her skirt gave away the tension, so I decided to lighten the mood a little.

“Just because you see someone a lot doesn’t make them a good person, right?”
“What?”
“Even when I was laid up in a sickbed, that man was off signing documents. Get summoned by a workaholic who loves his job that much, and all you’ll ever get is an earful. He’s better in small doses, trust me.”

At my shameless little pep talk, Lillian snorted out a laugh.

“You’ll be in big trouble if you ever say that anywhere else.”

I pressed an index finger to my lips.

“It’s fine. As long as you keep it secret, Big Sis.”

Lillian mimicked my gesture.

“Right. Our little secret.”

Knock, knock.

“Enter.”

Once permission came down, I opened the door and led Lillian inside, and Kairon greeted us with a face as expressionless as ever.

“I’ve brought her, just as you ordered.”

Behind me, Lillian shrank back a little before stepping forward.

“It’s been a long time.”
“…Yes.”

For someone who’d set off through the forest so boldly, she was being awfully shy now. Of course, Kairon never lifted his eyes from his documents, so he couldn’t see it.

“Your room has been made ready. I’ve also set aside a lab for you on the top floor of the west wing — use it as you like.”
“…Thank you.”
“Good.”

It looked like the conversation was about to end right there. For an emotional reunion, it was awfully dry. So dry it was practically arid, to the point of being embarrassing. I cleared my throat a few times and said to Kairon:

“Why did you have me bring Big Sis back?”

This was a man who’d handed me the mission the instant I came up out of the underground training ground. There was no way he’d called Lillian home after ten years just because he missed her. He had to be up to something.

“Lillian.”

At my question, Kairon’s busily signing fingers came to a halt. Then he lifted his head, fixed his gaze on her, and spoke.

“Will you, too, enter the succession contest?”

For a moment, silence settled over the room, and Lillian and I dropped our jaws in unison.

“What?”
“…Excuse me?”

Whether we stood there dumbfounded or not, Kairon went on as if it were nothing.

“Opportunity must be given fairly. Naturally, Lillian is just as entitled to undertake the trials.”

I let out a flabbergasted, incredulous laugh.

“You haul someone home after ten years and the first thing out of your mouth is asking whether she’ll join the succession contest?”
“Why? Are you afraid you can’t beat your own sister?”
“No, that’s not what I’m—!”

But the instant I went to fire back at his provocation, Lillian, who’d been listening quietly beside me, stepped in.

“What options do I have?”

Her eyes were serious.

“Is it only a choice between entering the succession contest and giving it up?”

Her voice carried such gravity that for a second I half-believed she might leap into the heir race right then and there.

“No. There is one more option.”

Kairon set down his pen and looked at the two of us.

“Instead of competing directly, there is the path of becoming a ‘guardian’ who backs one of the candidates entered in the contest — just as Seraphina did.”

The instant he finished speaking, Lillian opened her mouth without a shred of hesitation.

“Then I’ll be Arden’s guardian.”
“…Big Sis?”

I balked at how fast she’d decided, but she looked at Kairon and drove the point home once more.

“Arden saved me, so I’ll help him in return.”

Kairon nodded as if he’d expected as much.

“Understood. See that it’s done.”

And the situation got sorted out in the blink of an eye.

I grabbed Lillian’s shoulders and spoke urgently.

“Hold on, Big Sis. Think it through. You don’t have to do this out of some sense of obligation just because I rescued you in the forest.”

This wasn’t something to decide so lightly.

“If you take my side, you’ll have to make enemies of Big Brother Valerian and Big Bro Lucius. You come home after ten years and the first thing you do is sour things with your own brothers?”
“Why does that matter?”
“What do you mean, why does that matter!”
“You becoming the heir doesn’t turn family into strangers, does it? Same way I didn’t become a stranger just because I spent ten years out in the forest.”
“That’s…”
“Either way, the choice is mine. And so is the responsibility. That’s what you taught me, isn’t it?”

She’d suddenly gotten so good with her words that I had no way to argue back. While I stood there dumbstruck, she leaned in close to my ear and whispered.

“And besides — you know, don’t you? If the poison ever fills me up again, you’re the only one who can take it.”

She was right. It was a plain fact that I was the only person who could take on her DV. I heaved a sigh, and yet I couldn’t stop the corners of my mouth from lifting.

If Seraphina was a swordsman strong enough to serve as the Empire’s Knight Commander, then Lillian was a magician the likes of which the world would never see twice.

I held out my hand to her.

“Well, since it’s come to this — make sure I end up the heir.”

Lillian took my hand and thumped herself on the chest.

“Just leave it all to me!”

With that handshake, the mood in the head’s chamber settled. Feeling unburdened, I turned to Kairon.

“Well then, head of the house. Everything’s ready now.”

“Ready?”

I squared my shoulders proudly.

“Let me undertake the final trial.”

The succession trials are held in three parts. There’s the Trial of Arms, where you must spar against a hero of the house’s past and claim victory, and the Trial of Wisdom, where you investigate a truth lost to history. Now all that remained was the last trial, the one Kairon had tried to scare me away from, swearing it could never be beaten and urging me to abandon the heir’s seat.

There’s no time to gather information.

A great calamity would break out at the Crown Prince’s coming-of-age ceremony four months from now, and if I was going to wield enough influence to stop it, there wasn’t a moment to spare. I had to grasp every authority the house could grant its official heir, and the sooner the better.

But.

“It is too soon.”
“…Sorry?”
“You are not qualified to undertake the final trial.”

I did everything for you, didn’t I.
Isn’t this just way too rigged?