Chapter 12

What did he just say? No, wait, what was he just called? I felt like some outrageous words had just tumbled straight out of my cute, cute little brother’s mouth. Huh? Was that just a daydream?

While I completely froze in place, Will scoffed at me again.

“Figures. You stuck-up young miss. You’ve probably never had to deal with a single hardship in your life.”

Looking down on me with undisguised mockery, Will fixed me with a gaze that felt less like he was towering over me and more like he was looking at something utterly contemptuous. Did I do something wrong?

“Uh… um, Will, did I do something to upset you?”

“That tone of yours is so annoying.”

Though Will was shorter than me, the way he crossed his arms gave him an overwhelming, suffocating pressure.

Will, your big sister is about to burst into tears here.

I seriously must have the worst luck when it came to siblings. Until just a moment ago, he had seemed like such a sweet boy, only to reveal such a twisted personality hiding underneath.

Since Will wasn’t actually that couple’s biological child, he probably never received any proper upbringing. His mouth was far too foul. When I glanced at him sideways, Will flashed a twisted smile.

“What, are you mad? Why don’t you just send me back to that couple, then? I wouldn’t care. I have no intention of playing nice with you.”

The moment he spat those words out, my expression went completely blank.

“Besides–”

“Shut your mouth.”

With a sharp voice, I cut off Will right as he was about to keep complaining. Will flinched for a split second, but immediately knitted his eyebrows, glared at me, and snapped, “Huh?”

He was an absolute delinquent. Let me just put it out there: I pride myself on being remarkably skilled at handling delinquents.

“Will Tybus. Listen very carefully. Starting today, you are the next head of the Tybus family, and you are our family. My father is your father, and my mother is your mother, too.”

When I glared back at him with a sharpness that matched his own, Will instinctively took a half-step back. An obnoxious little delinquent like this wasn’t the least bit intimidating.

“Is that understood? Bertia Tybus is your older sister. Your big sister. Once you understand that, watch your language.”

With a smug, victorious grin, I chuckled to myself. I was probably acting more like a villainess right then than I ever had before. Will dropped his gaze, his shoulders trembling slightly. Oh? Did I actually make him cry?

I was inwardly sneering at the thought of him crying over something so trivial, when Will suddenly snapped his head up. There were no tears pooling in his eyes. He was simply, fiercely angry. Was repentance completely out of the question for this kid?

“What’s your deal? You’re seriously annoying.”

Will clicked his tongue loudly, demanded to know which room was his from a nearby servant, and hurried up the stairs. Left behind in the entrance hall, all I could do was stand there with my mouth hanging open in a blank, foolish expression.

It seemed my younger brother in this life was not going to be easily tamed.

“—And that’s what happened.”

On the afternoon three days after Will’s arrival, I still hadn’t been able to introduce my little brother to the prince. That was because Will locked himself away in his room all day long, coming out only for meals.

He was silently declaring that he had no intention of getting along with us (especially his big sister).

“That sounds rough. It’s a shame, too—I was really hoping to meet my new little brother-in-law.”

“Excuse me, he’s my younger brother?”

When I pointed at myself and protested, the prince simply offered a gentle smile.

“Is he locking himself in his room the whole time?”

“He really is. He refuses to come out for anything other than meals, the bathroom, and bathing. The one time I tried following him to the bath, he yelled at me.”

“Huh? You followed him? Were you planning to go in together?”

“Well, I didn’t exactly mean it like that…”

When I muttered that I simply wanted us to get along, the prince pinched the bridge of his nose and bowed his head.

“Seriously, please don’t pull that kind of stunt with other guys… Well, I suppose my little brother-in-law is out of the question anyway.”

“I just wanted to talk to him!”

Having trailed him all the way to the bathhouse, I had been met with Will’s merciless verbal assault.

Creepy. Stay away. Pervert.

My cute-faced little brother had thoroughly cursed me out with all his might.

I was dying. If he had just worn a more villainous scowl, the emotional damage wouldn’t have been nearly as bad, but why on earth was he so ridiculously adorable? Even though he was just a pint-sized delinquent!

“He’s so cute, really! I want to hear him call me Big Sis with that mouth! Even his foul language has this gap-moe charm that makes me just…”

If I hadn’t been the target of all those insults, it would have been absolute perfection. Of course, provided I wasn’t the one receiving them.

“How long are we going to keep talking about Will? I am finding this exceptionally uninteresting.”

The prince propped his cheek on his hand, looking thoroughly exhausted from having to listen to this endless story. Then, after glaring at me for a moment, his face lit up as if an idea had just struck him.

“Say, won’t you introduce me to Will?”

“Only if he ever decides to come out of his room…”

“It’s fine. Will will definitely come out.”

“Eh… Do you have some kind of plan?!”

When the prince nodded firmly and pointed a thumb at himself, I tilted my head in confusion, and he responded with a lovely, elegant chuckle. The thumbs-up paired with that gorgeous facial expression somehow felt entirely mismatched.

“I’ll see what I can do.”

Peeking my head out cautiously from behind the wall, I spied on the prince. He was currently standing right outside Will’s door.

When he said he’d see what he could do, he actually meant using the prince’s status! As expected of you, Your Highness!

And yet, his fiancée happened to be standing right here! I figured my status counted for something, too!

If I went near, Will might retreat back into his shell, which was why I was forced to wait here by the wall. The prince had laughed and told me it would be fine, but if I had to face another round of harsh insults, I’d probably cry, so I insisted on waiting here. After casting one last glance back at me hiding by the wall, the prince knocked on the door directly in front of him.

“Pleased to meet you, Will. My name is Dylan. Your father’s talk was rather dull, and I was hoping to play with you. Would you mind opening up for a moment?”

Ah, the prince’s high-society mode was out in full force. Was this only the second time I’d seen it since we first met? The prince was remarkably versatile, switching his first-person pronoun between watashi, boku, and ore at will. Truly, a very dexterous person.¹

Startled by the unexpected visitor, Will’s door creaked open a crack. Perhaps he thought the visitor might be the scion of some noble house. He at least seemed to possess some basic awareness of being the heir apparent.

“Um… Your Highness… Dylan? I believe my sister was supposed to be here.”

My sister! Did he just say sister?!

While I thumped my head against the wall in silent agony over Will’s acknowledgment of me as his sister, I suddenly felt the piercing weight of the prince’s gaze. I hastily straightened my expression.

“Um?”

“Ah, well, my apologies. By sister, you must mean her, right?”

Whether out of petty retaliation or something else entirely, the prince outright exposed the fact that I was hiding behind the wall.

How could he do that?!

Looking startled, Will whipped his head around toward me and frantically tried to slam his door shut, but the prince thrust his foot into the gap to stop it. There was a dull thud—was he going to be alright? Wasn’t his foot going to break?!

“H-Hold on, let go!”

“I happen to be Bell’s fiancé, you see.”

“…Ha?”

Switching his pronoun back, the prince flashed a bright, cheerful smile. Completely unable to keep up, Will just stood there blinking in sheer bewilderment.

“Shall I tell you my real name? Dylan Vermelio. I’m the second prince of this country.”

As the prince smiled fearlessly, all the color drained straight from Will’s face. Realizing the gravity of the situation, he stopped trying to force the door shut.

“…Please forgive my disrespect….”

“It’s fine, it’s fine. Don’t be so stiff. Besides, I’m Bell’s fiancé, and your future brother-in-law… More importantly, we’re the same, you and I.”

“The same…?”

His curiosity evidently piqued, Will stared straight at the prince. The prince responded with a gentle, amiable smile.

“Just like you, I’m someone nobody needs at all.”

“……”

When Lord Dylan said that with a teasing undertone, Will tightly pressed his lips together in a sullen expression.

“I was cast aside by my family. Well, it’s a famous enough story, so I’m sure you’ll hear about it eventually.”

Will kept his eyes fixed entirely on the prince as he spoke, smiling all the while though his gaze occasionally drifted downward with a lonely shadow. Looking slightly bewildered, Will listened intently to the prince’s words with tears welling in the corners of his eyes.

“But you’re different from me, aren’t you? You were chosen by the Tybus family. You have a dependable father, a gentle mother, and a somewhat meddlesome big sister. Aren’t you happy? Everyone is trying their hardest to accept you, you know.”

Hold on, I just caught a phrase that cannot go unaddressed. What was that about a “somewhat meddlesome big sister”?

Perhaps sensing my menacing glare, the prince shot me a teasing look. When I puffed out my cheeks in plain annoyance, he just let out a soft chuckle.

“Well, your big sister is going to be mine anyway.”

Shrugging his shoulders, the prince smiled down at Will. Will remained silent, his eyes still shimmering with unshed tears. They looked ready to spill over the moment he blinked.

“So, before it’s too late, you need to face things head-on, too. Nothing’s ever going to change if you just keep putting up a stubborn front. Will, I know you can do it.”

The prince placed a delicate hand on Will’s head and ruffled his hair affectionately. Every time those soft, silver-gray locks swayed, tears finally spilled over from Will’s eyes. Will stood there and cried quietly while the prince gently stroked his head.

Feeling a mix of deep emotional warmth and a tiny pang of loneliness, I quietly wiped away my own tears.