The Kind Older Sister Is No More

      “Irene, we have arrived.” Noel smiled. “Here, hold my hand and get off.”

He jumped off the carriage and offered his firm hand to Irene. The carriage had stopped in front of the Kristen mansion’s main building. Irene did not make the same mistake as she had done in the beginning. She firmly grasped his hand, ignoring the slight jump in her stomach, and got off the carriage with his support. It was such a gentlemanly act, and she knew it was normal. But rarely had she experienced it. Irene found it hard to hold back the emotions that were threatening to spill from her trembling heart. With a deep breath, she forced herself to settle – now was not the time; she was here to accomplish something important, the second step to her freedom.

      Irene had only heard about the Grand Duke Kristen in name. Still, stories were incomparable to the real thing. It was the first time she had ever witnessed such vast wealth. Though the Chase family did not lag with regards to the power and title of Count, it was unduly incomparable to that of Grand Duke Kristen. As far as her eyes could see, the estate was glamorous. The house, which abruptly terminated the gravel road, was grand and handsome and drew her eye in with stone parapets framing the edge, and before the front gardens, curved around a fountain with a marble statue centrepiece. The streams of water caught the sun and dazzled the estate in a glitter of rainbow water diamonds. Just the landscape – it made the Kristen’s of some more natural importance and social importance. Irene could not help but feel out of place. Nervously, she gulped down her saliva.

      What if I make a mistake?

      A rush of anxiety filled Irene.

      “It’s all right.”

      Noel comforted Irene as if he knew what was inside her mind. Irene looked up at him with a nervous face. Noel, who was unperturbed, softened his expression and soothed her with a calm smile.

      “Before you came, my situation... It was at its lowest point, so much so that I could not fall further, even if I had tried.”

      “...Noel.”

      “So, you won’t make me feel any more troubled or embarrassed. You do what you do. I do what I do. Just do your best and be yourself. That is enough.”

      It was amazing how those words affected her. Irene, whose heart had been filled with unrelenting anxiety, gradually calmed down, and the air became easier to breathe. Each breath from that point onwards eased the tension down her spine. By the time she managed to enter the mansion, the pressure weighing on her had long since disappeared.

      “So, you don’t have to blame yourself, and you don’t have to overdo it, Irene.”

      Noel’s sweet words permeated Irene’s ear and seemed to spread all over her body. From her head to her fingertips, his warmth and kindness seeped into her. Then Irene nodded, and only then could she face him with a bright smile.

      “Thank you, Noel.”

      Noel smiled quietly at her words.

      When Noel and Irene entered the main building together, a man approached them as if he had been waiting in advance. He had green hair and green eyes. Irene could recognise him at once. It was the man who had handed Irene and her father the documents and dragged Boris away last time.