Chapter 15
Concerned About My Absolute Fave’s Family Situation

Translated by: chocolalaEdited by: kemostt

After (unintentionally) using my killer move—crying and bawling—I managed to get a once-a-week lunch with Brother at his school.

That time, I had been crying so hard that Father freaked out while Brother piercingly gazed at him with his signature icy cold stare; Sven was, unusually, holding his mouth and trying not to laugh. 

It was chaos, to say the least.

Finally, with my mother’s words, “I’m hungry, let’s have dinner together”, our house was back to normal; the experience until then had been quite thrilling. 

My mother had later scolded me for crying over something like that, but I didn’t mind at all because I’d earned my weekly lunch with Brother. She’d let out a huge sigh, but I simply didn’t care.

What could I say? If I forced myself to hold back, it would be bad for my body. Literally.

The price I had to pay for the weekly lunches at school was studying. If I could comprehend the morning’s study well, I would be allowed to go to Brother’s school. My head and brain may be dim, but I’d do my best! I’d try my best to bite the carrot that dangled in front of me.

I doodled on the edge of a piece of paper without thinking, but my tutor saw it perfectly. It was a deformed drawing1 of me with a fishing rod extending from my head, with my older brother hanging from the end of it. When he saw the picture, he burst into laughter.

The rest of the lesson that day was very relaxed. The teacher’s shoulders would sometimes shake, though.

Thanks to the reward of weekly lunches, I was able to make a lot of progress in my studies. I wasn’t very good at it, so I struggled a lot, but I guess when there’s a carrot dangling in front of me, it will make me work harder. The reward was the important thing. In order to get the reward, I could work hard.

Since I had started studying with all smiles, I felt like the hurdles I had to overcome to get my lunch were gradually getting higher, but it was probably only my imagination.

“Like this, Alba will now be able to attend junior high without any worries. You’ve been behind a lot until now, but you’ve really done well!” My tutor, who usually would urge me to study by comparing me to Brother in every little thing, finally gave me his approval.

“I really enjoy studying with you, because you always provide me with stories about Brother.”

“I’m sure you do. Alba seems to take great pleasure in setting his sights on Orsis whenever he is compared to him, so I would intentionally mention Orsis’s name every time.”

“You are amazing, I feel overwhelmed.”

“You love Orsis so much that I am filled with so many emotions. I hope you will always support each other.”

“I feel like I’m the only one who’s being supported.”

“I don’t think so. Since Alba came here, Orsis has changed for the better. And so has the Duke. Orsis said that Alba was the reason he is able to study so diligently. He sounded so happy when he told me that it was his first time to receive such genuine affection.”

I see. I’ve been supporting my brother a little bit, haven’t I?

But my tutor’s statements bothered me somehow, so I asked, “How about Brother’s real mother…? Didn’t she love Brother?” 

“…That’s quite a difficult question for me to answer.”

“But, I heard that before Brother’s mother passed away, they were a very happy family.”

I knew that from my knowledge of the game. And the fact that things got awkward after her death.

When I looked up at the tutor, he looked slightly troubled and said, “Let’s not talk about that now,” before cutting the conversation short.

I was curious, but maybe it was better to not ask too many questions. After saying goodbye to the teacher and seeing him off at the door, I swallowed a sigh and headed for my room. 

Maybe the game information about a close-knit family was simply superficial. Perhaps, the setting was only made up of those elements so that it could be used as the trigger for the main character to get along with Orsis. 

The game was a free app with in-game purchases, so the setting would not be detailed, but here in this world that had become my reality, the game setting as I knew it might only be one side to Brother’s actual situation.

This meant that although there would have been the aspect of a close family, we didn’t know how close of a family that meant. As an example, my absolute fave and Bruno—the son of Prime Minister Wald—should have never acted together every day like this; they had barely even interacted yet at this point in the game. 

A scenario was a mere setting and could be easily changed. But the scenario in itself still existed to some extent, and that was why, even at this moment in time, I was still able to find the new species of plant.

Hmm, this just confused the hell out of me.

But there was one thing I was sure of. It was quite likely that I had twisted my and my absolute fave’s future. Or I’d like to believe that I did.

Looking at my brother, he didn’t seem to have anything against me2; on the other hand, my chances of dying from seizures had already been greatly lowered by this point in time. Brother and Bruno originally would have never gotten close until they entered senior high school, due to Father’s position of power, but now, they had already met and became best of friends. And as far as I could see, Father and Brother’s relationship hadn’t turned sour, and Brother now had lovely smiles on his face.  

Yup. Brother is smiling. That’s the most important thing. 

As I reached this conclusion, I was filled with satisfaction and decided to give my spinning head a rest. Although I could see him in the mornings and evenings, and if I wanted, he could also play with me a bit after dinner, I was already missing him. 

At times like this, I’d unconsciously cling to Father once I saw the face that resembled Brother’s.

“So you have finally forgiven your father, Alba? Father is happy!”

“I can’t be angry with you because you look like Brother.”

“Do I look like Orsis? Shouldn’t it be Orsis who looks like me?”

Father retorted as he laughed and naturally swooped me up into his arms; I pouted a bit. I’m already seven. I’m way too old to be carried around! 

Ah, but if Brother were to stop holding me in his arms, I guess I would be a little sad. When I would grow a little older, naturally he wouldn’t carry me like this anymore, so I totally didn’t mind him doing it to me until then. Immersed in that thought, I hugged Father’s neck tight as I saw his close-up face, similar to Brother’s.

Time passed as I enjoyed my weekly lunches with Brother and became familiar with the junior high; Brother had now started his second year. This time, he seemed to be in the same class as Bruno. When seeing him slightly elated as he told me, I was overwhelmed by his cuteness. I had desperately tried to keep my composure as I saw him off to the greenhouse.  

Bruno-kun, I’m counting on you to protect Brother.

Right at this moment, Bruno-kun passed in front of me, so I stopped him to lower my knees in a ‘dogeza’ pose. He released an exaggerated sigh and propped me up by my armpits, leaving me dangling. With my feet in the air, my eyes locked gaze with Bruno’s. 

Huh… this situation.. is he trying to toss me into the air as he’d do with a toddler? I’ve.. already passed the age to get excited over something like this…

“You know,” Bruno-kun said as he helplessly stared at me with a mix of annoyance and amusement, while I was confused by the current situation. 

He continued, “Orsis is a very dear friend to me. You don’t even have to ask me to do that, I’ll at least guard him. You should have a little more faith in me.”

“I trust Bruno the fourth-most in the world.”

“Oh, so I’m after Orsis, the Duke and the Duchess? Not bad. But you shouldn’t rub your head on the floor to ask me to take care of your brother.”

“My body just started to move on its own.”

“You really are a sorry sight when it comes to Orsis. I know, you love Orsis that much. It’s hard to believe that you aren’t related to him, really.”

“My love for Brother is already predestined. I can’t go against it,” I firmly replied to Bruno; his face showed a little bit of surprise. 

“Predestined, you say?”

“YES!”

“If so … I can’t help it.”

“It’s not something that you can help or not. This matter is way beyond that dimension.”

Anyhow, my love for Orsis stuck to me from my previous life. Then, I had been simping Orsis continuously like crazy, so just imagine: when being able to meet my absolute fave with my very own eyes, I simply lost control. No restraint whatsoever.

I’m sure fate is telling me to protect Orsis-sama’s smile! See, the heavens have given me their seal of approval.

I grinned as I remembered Brother’s smiles while Bruno-kun finally lowered me to the floor.

It was a secret that I actually enjoyed his actions.

Footnotes

Or chibi if that’s easier to understandYes, he has a thing for you!