Chapter 2
I’ll Protect My Absolute Fave’s Facial Muscles

I saw my stepfather’s expression change when he heard Brother’s words. It was truly dramatic. In my heart I knew he was still the same, but it was as if he had become a different person altogether.

“Orsis. Is it not time for your tutor to arrive? You should get ready.”

“…I know.” At his father’s slightly cold tone, Brother let out a small sigh and stood up. 

I hurriedly jumped down from my stepfather’s lap and ran to him.

“Brother! Thank you for noticing that I was in distress! Are you going to go study now?”

I grabbed his trousers as he was leaving and looked up at him; with a thin, fake smile, he patted me on the head.

Aww! He stroked my head! I’m totally not washing my head today! I exclaimed in my mind but then realized that was not the most important issue at hand here.

“Oh, Alba, were you distressed? Was it uncomfortable to sit on my lap?” Father stood up and asked me, as if in a panic.

I had no idea why he was so nice to me, but when I thought it was probably because I looked just like my mother, whom he had fallen in love with at first sight, I could only sigh.

Good adults don’t discriminate against their children! I was slightly annoyed.

“Father, I want to be as good as my brother when I grow up, so I also want to study,” I said as I turned my head towards him, still grabbing Brother’s trousers. Father lowered his eyebrows.

“‘Orsis is the heir to our dukedom of Sol Saliente, so he has to learn well. Alba is still very young. If you feel so free, just come and play with your father.”

“But Brother always studies hard. He is very good. Father should be proud that he has such a great successor. You should praise him more. Unlike me, a no-good, he’s truly outstanding.”

“Eh… praise, Orsis…?”

At my words, both my stepfather and brother stopped moving and looked at me with a blank expression.

Whoa, that face is awesome! I exclaimed inwardly. Unlike the usual cold and perfect face, this somewhat dumb expression was something I never thought I could see; in my mental album, this was certified as the second rarest expression on Brother.

“No, Alba, I’m just doing what I have to do, it’s nothing amazing. I’m still not good enough. And Alba is nothing like the ‘no-good’ you said you are.”

My brother’s hand stroking my head was so warm. Look how he had so many expressions on his face; the one who rendered his facial muscles useless totally deserved to die.

Who was that person? 

…It was me—me and my father. I should just apologise and go die.

“I am a no-good, who always gets sick in bed. But Brother is different. If Father does not praise you, then may I have the honour of praising you? How many times can I praise you every day? If there’s no limit, I can definitely do it from morning till night. But wouldn’t you find me annoying if I do so?”

I had inadvertently ended up squeezing my brother’s trousers at the moment, hurriedly releasing them once I noticed that they had become wrinkled.

Oh no, my brother’s very cool clothes have become wrinkled. I gotta borrow an iron later… Oops, I forgot. In this house, everything is done by the maids. How blessed!

“I’m very lucky to be your little brother. Brother is really a wonderful person. I know that you work hard, even harder than other people. I also know that this effort will pay off in time and you will become one of the best in the country, but there will still be times when you feel tired. But you are a good boy who works very hard, even in such a situation. Moreover, you have a high level of emotional intelligence, and you’re a very kind and gentle boy.

Brother, you deserve to be praised a lot every day. Brother is a very good boy. I can’t praise you very well, because I’m not very good at speaking, but you are brilliant. Not even you yourself can deny that. Brother, I really, really like you.”

Brother’s mouth gaped open; I thought what I said had not been conveyed well, so I had just carried on speaking. I couldn’t help it, Orsis-sama was truly amazing and a hard worker.

At the age of fifteen, when he studied in the academy, he had already been well versed in advanced ice magic. This could only have been achieved with real effort, and that alone gave you a glimpse of the effort that Orsis had put in up to that point.

In terms of grades, he was always one of the top five students on every test. This meant that he had been taking the lessons seriously too. Among the capture targets, there was one, who was only good with swords plus good personality, and another, who was only extensively proficient with magic; but Orsis-sama was the almighty.

And that was quite a feat, you know. There were other capture targets, like one who excelled academically but was no good at all with the sword. In addition to that, whether he was being a tsundere or what, he also always gave snide remarks; compared to that, Orsis-sama had a very nice personality—it was like a miracle.

Even then, Orsis-sama in the game also had some flaws with his personality. That forever cool expression on his face and his ridiculously high standards served as a barrier to anyone. But somehow, I kind of understood how that came to be. Putting my stepfather’s personality aside, he was like an upper-grade version of Brother—he was utterly incredible. Except for how he treated Orsis he had no faults. 

But for me, the most important criterion in a person was whether they would love and adore my absolute fave together with me; my stepfather had failed miserably in that aspect, so he was totally worthless. If only my stepfather would praise and compliment Brother to no end cooperatively with me, that would be best. Alas, he flopped at this most crucial point. 

As I stared at my stepfather frustratedly, he came back to himself and hurriedly tried to explain.

“I also acknowledge Orsis’s effort, you know. However, succeeding to the dukedom is a very difficult thing, and I don’t want him to forget that.”

“Who decided that you shouldn’t praise people when they do something very difficult? Father, because you’re like that, Brother’s facial muscles would lose function in the future. I won’t let you do that. I’ll protect Brother’s smiles! I won’t expect anything from you anymore, Father.”

“Orsis’s… fayshel.. what?”

I angrily turned my head to the side and my stepfather looked totally perplexed. When Brother saw Father like that, he then glanced at me and suddenly he accidentally let out a ‘Pft’.

D-Di-did he laughhhhh??

“Fufu, sorry. I’ve just never seen Father that flustered in my life.”

“Ah… Well, I don’t mind. Rather than that, Alba, what did you say about Orsis’s ‘fayshel mussels’?”

My stepfather asked me after he let out a cough, readjusted his expression and then gave Brother, who had actually laughed, an incredulous look.

Apparently, there were no such words as ‘facial muscles’ in this world. I could see that my stepfather was bewildered.

“If Brother continues to grow up like this, he and Father will have a falling out, and he will not be able to move his facial muscles at all. If his muscles do not move, he will not be able to express himself. His face will look like a Noh mask2. Brother is so beautiful that in a way, also a blessing to the eyes, but the reason he’ll be like that is because of me and Father. So, I’d like to preserve that precious smile of his at all costs.”

As I finished, I realised that I was letting my emotions get the better of me.

I accidentally said ‘precious’. No-no! They’d surely be taken aback by this. 

I felt that if I said anything more, they would only be more repelled than ever; so I decided to keep my mouth shut, implying that I had said what I wanted to say.

I had set myself the goal of praising my brother three times a day. If not, I would end up praising and worshipping Brother endlessly and he would be appalled and distance himself from me.

My stepfather looked at me for a moment, then let out a big sigh, as if he was ruminating about what I had said.

“Alba, are you suggesting that I’m going to deprive Orsis of his smile in the future?”

I nodded, and my father-in-law raised his eyebrows a little, then nodded in return as he said, 

“All right, I’ll see what I can do about that.”

For now, I’d be watching him closely to see how he would handle this.