39: Someone to Rely On
When I returned to the attic room, Ciel was just about to leave.
“Has the Chief Physician left?”
“Yes.”
I nodded, and the Chief Physician’s words echoed in my mind.
(She admires you, you know.)
…His words still pricked at me like a thorn.
Did I really appear that way?
Was that how I came across?
I felt inadequate.
Ciel leaned closer, peering at my face.
“…Lady Adelheid, are you feeling unwell?”
“What? No, not at all.”
This wasn’t good.
“I’m glad to hear that. Since Lady Leticia has a cold, please take care not to catch it yourself.”
“I understand, Ciel.”
I smiled.
It was nice to have someone care about my well-being.
…Did Leticia have someone like that?
During her time in the “back alley,” did she have someone she could show her vulnerability to, someone she could trust and rely on completely, someone like Ciel was to me—?
I suddenly imagined it.
A scenario where I lived with Leticia in the “back alley” as her older sister.
…That ‘me’ wouldn’t have everything Ciel had taught me.
Could I still act like Leticia?
Her circumstances, while common in the “back alley,” were considered a hardship in Eustasia.
My sister was innocent, yet simply because such a district existed, because her mother had lived there—simply because she was poor, she had been born into those circumstances.
It was the negligence of us nobles… the ruling class.
Without Ciel’s teachings, I wouldn’t be me.
And Leticia, too, was shaped by her past, so such an imagination was a pointless fantasy.
But.
Even if I were a hopelessly incompetent older sister without Ciel’s guidance…
If I could be with Leticia…
If there were no guillotine.
No [Events] leading up to it.
And, naturally, no encounters with the three high-ranking [Capture Targets].
If we could simply live together as sisters…
How…
“—Lady Adelheid?”
Seeing the concern veiled beneath Ciel’s restrained demeanor, a concern only I would recognize, I mocked my own weakness.
…How pathetic.
I had decided to walk this path.
I had accepted it.
I had decided to protect the future presented by this ridiculous fate, the scenario of [Moonlight Liberium].
Because it was a future where my sister would be happy.
Otherwise, her past would be nothing more than a wound inflicted by fate.
“Ciel, I’m going to check on my sister.”
“Yes, ma’am. I’ll give instructions in the kitchen.”
Ciel bowed… and then looked at me intently.
“…Lady Adelheid.”
“Yes?”
“Do you remember… our promise?”
“…Yes. It’s a promise with you. I would never forget.”
Before I became the head of the family, I made a ‘promise’ with Ciel.
Ciel’s education had made me the successor to the “Coldhearted Vanderwaals.”
The wall lizard, who considered ruthless political decisions to be commonplace and watched over this country from the shadows.
But I had my own desires.
Having been born a noble and enjoyed its privileges, I had obligations.
Duty and loyalty. That was the code of the nobility.
Even so, my strongest motivation now wasn’t duty or loyalty.
‘Duty and loyalty.’ Those words had become a part of me.
But if that were all, I wouldn’t have so readily accepted my fate.
I had simply… come to love my sister.
A girl I had never met, who had done nothing.
I had simply learned the story of her future.
“…Then, that’s good. —Forgive my impertinence.”
“No, don’t worry about it.”
If it weren’t for my promise to Ciel, I wouldn’t be doing this.
I felt a little bad for her, who always prioritized me as her master.
But this was my wish.
Objective one: The [Final Ball].
Objective two: The [Guillotine].
If I only had one life to live, I wanted to live it for my adorable sister.
And for my adorable sister, I would willingly die.
I simply wanted to see Leticia smile.
“By the way, Lady Adelheid, please bathe with Lady Leticia today. You usually bathe alone, but it’s unsafe for her to be alone while she’s sick.”
“What?”
Bathe with my sick sister?
I didn’t know about such an event.
…[Official Scenario], do your job.
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