Chapter 1
My Absolute Fave’s Smile Is Totally Destructive

When I woke up, I was on a very fluffy bed.

The moment I opened my eyes, I heard my mother calling out to me, 

“Alba!”

I turned my head towards the voice, and there I saw my mother, her remarriage partner—the Duke—and my absolute fave watching over me.

Ah, I’ve messed up my first greeting was the first thought that crossed my mind.

I took a deep breath and made sure I wasn’t coughing, relieved to know that I had survived another fit. 

My illness was a congenital condition called Launen disease. This disease was named after the phrase ‘The whims of the Gods’, and when a seizure occurred, the symptoms resembled those of asthma; along with expired air, magical power—or mana—that usually circulated inside the body would be drained out. It was that kind of disease.

This disease would deplete one’s mana, which was connected to their life, so once the mana inside their body had been completely exhausted, the victim would die. It was said to purely be a congenital disease and could never be acquired after birth. I had never been sure of the complete details though.

It was said that those who suffered from this disease had more magic power than normal people. However, every time they had a seizure, their magic power would be close to complete exhaustion, and in the worst-case scenario, it would result in death. I couldn’t even remember how many times I felt like I was about to cross the river to the underworld in my head. And I was only meant to be four years old.

The origin of the name of this disease came from how these children were born with more mana than others and were, therefore, favoured by the gods, who would take it at their whims. Every time they came to take the mana, the children would end up at the brink of death; so for me, it was no joke.

Everyone in this world possessed their respective attributes. For example, my mother had the water attribute, so she could only use water magic, while my new father and my absolute fave, Orsis, both had the ice attribute. And they were damn strong.

I wasn’t sure how strong Father was, but in the game, Orsis was OP; to put it simply, just with him there, it would be an easy win. When monsters appeared, he would mercilessly and effortlessly impale them with his ice spears.

That part of him was also cool, it made my desires burn…Totally moe1! With an inscrutable face that made one doubt whether his facial muscles had failed to develop, he would just shoot out strong magical attacks one after the other with gusto.

Alas, for children who suffered this disease like me, we had no chance of discovering our attributes at all. First of all, if we shot out our mana, it would threaten our lives.

If a seizure were to occur when mana was nearly running out, there would be no more hope left. As soon as the coughing fit started, the body would lose strength; one would feel as if their blood was draining out with each cough. Their mana could probably be exhausted in one go. Besides, mine was apparently quite critical. Even before checking my attribute, my life was already in danger.

As soon as I caught the eye of Orsis-sama, I couldn’t look away, frozen in my bed.

As expected from a pretty shota; even his worried face with lowered brows was so precious.

A rare worried face—GET!

Seemed like his facial muscles were still alright when he was still at this age…

I think I might have stumbled upon a very, very rare scene. You know what, even when I made Orsis-sama fall for me in the game, raised his favourability to the max, and got confessed to by Orsis-sama; none of his facial muscles had been at work! I couldn’t say anything other than how precious it was to see his cheeks flush red during that particular scene. 

That was precisely why I instead chose to play the ‘Friends Route’ numerous times. The ‘still image’2 from that route was the only time when Orsis-sama would subtly raise the corner of his mouth; his facial muscles hinting something like a smile.

The first time I saw that, I literally cried.

So he can actually smile. I was beside myself with happiness.

That was just how my absolute fave was in the game, so for him to actually lower his eyebrows in worry like this, I might have really ascended to heaven just now.

“Alba-kun, are you alright? Are you in any pain? Can you take this medicine?” Father looked at me and asked with a gentle voice.

Ah, this voice, this was just like Orsis-sama’s voice in the game! When I looked closely, his face even resembled Orsis-sama! 

Oooh, Mother, what a man you’ve caught, thank you so much! Just with this, my happiness meter has already reached the max. And now, thanks to Brother, I’m currently in heaven.

I was in a state of enraptured fascination with the situation, but I immediately snapped back to reality when Orsis-sama worriedly asked, 

“Are you okay now?”

“I’m o-kay…” My throat was chapped from coughing all the time, so my voice was scratchy. 

My stepfather offered me something to drink, which my mother fed to me with a spoon. It was warm and sweet. 

My throat cleared up; it was probably something like herbal tea. At the poor baron’s house, where I had lived before, I had only been given water, so the sweet tea tasted amazingly good in comparison.

It was these things that made me feel the difference in our family statuses. 

…What a harsh world.

“…I’m sorry, I didn’t properly pay my greeting.” I apologised to them when my voice had become a little smoother. 

Hearing my apology, they had exactly the same expression on their faces—relieved, eyes narrowed. Their gestures were so similar that the super-duper ‘kyun’ I was having was about to kill me.

Please stop it, I just managed to desperately hang on to my life. I inwardly pleaded.

“It’s all right. I’ll make sure you have all the medicines you need, so you can live in peace.”

“Thank…you…”

I thanked him, feeling sorry for myself as I laid there, and my stepfather gave me a superb smile and responded with ‘No problem’.

Finally, they briefly introduced themselves. 

It was just as I thought:

“My name is Orsis Sol-Saliente. From today onwards I’m your brother, so if you suddenly feel pain, let me know right away.”

“O…shi…“

Ah… I accidentally said ‘oshi’ out loud... I snapped back to my senses and looked at Brother, who gave me the most beautiful smile.

“Yeah, it’s Orsis.”

A smile, it’s a smile! I exclaimed in my heart as I saw the face I had wanted to see so much; it was so destructive that it stimulated my tear glands. I cried wholeheartedly, this scene was just too precious.

My mother told me later that everyone in the room, even the servants, were panicking when I suddenly started crying.

In fact, my mother had no intention of remarrying. From my point of view, my mother and my father—related to me by blood—were on good terms and I knew they loved each other as well. My father was the third son of a baron, so he had married into my mother’s family as she was the only child of her family. Both families were barons, so they got along pretty well.

But I also knew that after I was born, our family became poorer little by little. This was because of my disease; the medicines had cost them a massive amount of money. A potion to restore magic had to be ingested by the body throughout the duration of the attack, but it was also ridiculously expensive. The ingredients needed to make the medicine were rare, so I understood how tough it had been on my parents; I felt really sorry for them.

As for why my stepfather remarried my mother, apparently, it was love at first sight.

My biological father had passed away when I was just under two years old, and my mother had still been depressed after the mourning period, so my grandparents had encouraged her to go to an evening party and have fun. There, my stepfather instantly fell in love with her.

I knew from my knowledge of the game that my stepfather’s—no, my absolute fave’s mother—had died when he was still little. Up until then, they had been a very close family, but after his mother’s death, he was subjected to strict discipline and education by his father; so their relationship had become strained following that.

But currently, my stepfather had a very gentle and worried face, nothing like the above description.

But I wouldn’t be fooled. I was not going to be cheated by this stepfather, who, in the game, had treated my absolute fave so harshly that he had no working facial muscles left. I liked his voice a little bit, though. His face also resembled my absolute fave, so I-I… didn’t exactly hate that.

And as it went, my stepfather ended up with a troublesome child in his care; but for some reason, after I finally could get out of bed, I was eating snacks on his lap.

‘Please, Brother, don’t look at me with such a surprised face.’

…That face is so cute though. I internally cried out.

My stepfather loved me—a stunning resemblance to my mother—as much as he loved her. He had placed me on his lap with a smitten face. I, on the other hand, felt a piercing gaze from the shota version of my absolute fave, Orsis-sama, who was in front of me, staring in my direction with distant eyes.

So was this that thing—the one I inferred in my previous life: ‘the father was strict with his son but doted on the younger brother’? 

So it was really true. How could it be?

At this rate, if I continued to be doted on by my stepfather, I would be abhorred by the one person I want to be liked the most, the one person I want to get along with the most—Orsis-sama!

N-no way!

When I looked at my brother with moist eyes, he sighed and opened his mouth.

“Father. Alba is in distress there, so it is time to take him off your lap.” 

In my eyes, my brother had become my saviour. My absolute fave is now my saviour, I’m truly in heaven!