I’m Worried Because My Absolute Fave is Acting Strangely

Translated by: IceCherryEdited by: kemostt

It had been three months since Brother started attending school, and I had been hugging him every day to see him off and to welcome him back. But there was one thing that I noticed—the hugs from Brother were getting longer little by little.

That did make me happy, but the look on Brother’s face during the hugs was concerning.

“Brother, are you tired? Is someone being mean to you at the academy? Maybe you should get some rest.”

“Alba… um, I’m fine. I’m going to go now. Alba, make sure to do your best.”

I was convinced that something had happened at the academy, since today’s hug had lasted ten seconds longer than yesterday, when I noticed that the facial muscles on Brother’s face were not working.

Brother’s smile is dead. This is a big deal!

As Brother’s carriage disappeared from view, I hurriedly ran into Father’s room.

“Orsis’s facial muscles are not working!” 

Father tilted his head with a look of confusion on his face as I explained the situation. Even though it was still morning, Father was already working in his office.

“Oh, I forgot to say my greeting. Good morning, Father. You’re so great to be working from early morning! I wish you all the best!”

“Good morning, Alba. And you are always there to send off Orsis, which makes Father happy for you really are a kind child. By the way, what did you say is wrong with him?”

“Father, haven’t you noticed? Brother’s smile has been fading away lately. This is a serious problem; he must be having a bad time at the academy. We have to help him!”

As I clenched my fists, Father nodded lightly and said, “Ah.”

“Going to school also means experiencing a lot of other things, and he has to develop the ability to avoid the unpleasant ones on his own. When he later grows up and goes out in these social circles, things will happen all the time, uncomparable to the current ‘dreaded’ things in school. That’s why, Alba. Of course, if Orsis comes to Father for help, I won’t hesitate to make my move. But you know, if Orsis doesn’t say anything, it means he’s doing his best on his own, so Father will just have to watch over him.”

“Father…”

I thought Father had a point. But it didn’t apply when it came to bullying.

In such cases, usually either children wouldn’t want to disappoint their parents, they would feel too ashamed, or there would be some kind of mental burden that would prevent them from telling others. I couldn’t even stand the thought of Brother getting bullied by someone.

“I want to protect Brother’s smile! And I’m not his parent, so I don’t have to watch over him!”

Who could possibly be the ones that are bullying Brother? With a snort, I ran out of Father’s room.

Was it him? The son of the knight commander who was in conflict with Brother? Or was it the second prince, who was jealous of my absolute fave since he was always better than him? I began to plan to make my move to help Brother, who was steadily on his way to becoming a cold, expressionless character.

First of all, I had to find out how Brother was doing at the school, no matter what.

That was why I had to get a hold of Bruno-kun. Coincidentally, today was the day Bruno-kun was going to check on me for any side effects of the medicine. There was a maid in the corner of the room, but I felt like it was just the two of us when we were face-to-face like this, so I asked Bruno-kun how Brother was doing at school.

He answered, “How is Orsis at the academy? Well, he’s excellent. I always lose in foreign languages and magic studies. Well, obviously I’m superior in practical skills and math and stuff though. Other than that, the food in the academy cafeteria is not that delectable. Maybe Orsis feels the same way; it’s probably because we’re too used to eating good food here.”

“I see! So you think Brother doesn’t like the food in the cafeteria too?”

“Yes, I guess so. When they served bean soup, he did eat it, just with great disgust.”

“Beans! But he eats them so heartily at home. Is the bean soup in the academy really that bad?”

“For some reason, when he saw that you’d been eating a lot of vegetables even though you disliked them, he thought it would be unbecoming of him to be a picky eater, so he’s been trying to look good at home by eating them as if they were delicious. Oh, but don’t tell him I said that. Or Orsis will get mad at me.”

“I didn’t know that…! He is too awesome; to eat something he doesn’t like and still eat it like it’s delicious…?! I would definitely go ‘ewww’!”

“I’m sure he wanted to show Alba, who still does his best to eat even when he goes ‘eww’, his good sides. All right, no side effects so far. Any seizures?”

“Recently, I’ve had fewer seizures, and when I take Bruno-kun’s medicine, I only cough instead of having seizures, so I am totally fine.”

“I’m glad to hear that, because if you were to fall ill, Orsis would lose all motivation. He will get discouraged, so you must stay healthy.”

“Yes! Wait, no, not yet!” I had accidentally almost finished off our conversation, so I hurriedly brought it back to where it should be. What I wanted to hear was information about bullying regarding Brother. “Brother, has anyone been bullying him lately?”

Bruno-kun blinked when I asked him in a quiet voice.

“Eh? Bullying…? Bullying… There’s no one who dares to make the Duke’s family into their enemy by doing that. In junior high, the students are all children who’ve had that stuff drilled into them before they even enroll.”

“But, Brother must be going through something difficult at school.”

“Something difficult…? Huh…?” At my words, Bruno-kun tilted his head with a troubled look on his face.

So he really doesn’t know? Or does he view the situation the same way that Father does?

Then, Bruno-kun looked down at me and spoke. 

“It’s not bullying,” he paused and stroked my hair before he continued. “It’s time to get serious about not being so attached to your brother, Alba. Soon, it’ll be time for Orsis to start looking for someone to marry. Right now, Orsis is very popular with the ladies at the academy; he’s always surrounded by them.”1

“EHH?!” 

‘Surrounded by ladies’- Bruno-kun’s words shocked me sober. But when I actually thought about it, it was only natural.

“Brother has a good-looking face, and a good personality… he’s also smart and strong at magic; it’s no wonder he’s popular…”

I hadn’t thought about that before. The game I was playing was an otome game at heart, but it was more a battle-based nurturing game.

The main focus was on the romance between the main character and the character of the player, but everyone in the story was very good-looking. They also had good voices. Their personalities might have some problems, but their faces made up for it.

For example, Bruno-kun, the guy in front of me, with his silky straight hair and sharp eyes, was a bullseye for someone with glasses fetish. I didn’t know much about his personality, but I think he was someone who seemed cold until he got to know someone. But I couldn’t say for sure, because all of the capture targets were like that. 

Bruno, one of the good-looking capture targets, was now only eleven years old, just like Brother; yet, I could already catch a glimpse of his future handsome self. They’re both popular, aren’t they? It is not my business whether Bruno-kun is popular or not though.2

But for some reason, I felt sick in my stomach when I imagined Brother being surrounded by the ladies.

I looked down, clutching my stomach, while Bruno-kun stroked my hair again. I felt like my naturally permed, unruly cat-like hair had turned into a big mess.

IceCherry: Man, Alba need to mature up and stop being a spoiled kid.