30: “Good Morning”
The night of the thunderstorm had passed.
I sat in my usual attire on a chair by the window.
Across the round table, two elegant chairs faced each other, but the one opposite me was empty.
The storm clouds had long since departed, and beyond the lace curtains of the window, where the thick, heavy winter drapes had been opened, stretched a cold, bright blue sky.
From this seat, on a clear day, one could see horses being exercised in the paddock, but today, due to last night’s rain, the ground was too wet.
I sensed movement from the canopy bed.
Glancing over, I saw Leticia, sitting up and looking around, murmur,
“Huh… Big Sister…?”
“You’re finally awake? The sun’s already high in the sky.”
I had been thinking of waking my sister for breakfast, but it was convenient that she woke up on her own.
However, I didn’t say that, opting instead for a slightly sarcastic remark.
Affection was built on accumulation.
Then, the same should be true for meanness.
“Good morning, Big Sis…”
“Call me ‘Elder Sister.’”
My sister nodded at my words.
“Yes, Elder Sister… I… thunder…”
Leticia trembled.
She must have recalled last night’s fear with her own words.
“…Last night… I think I used Elder Sister as a body pillow…”
“Don’t be absurd. Was it a dream?”
My sister tilted her head, looking down at her hands.
“…No, it wasn’t a dream. My hands remember…”
Leticia wiggled her fingers.
Then she looked up, her blue eyes gazing intently at me.
“And I feel like… Elder Sister hugged me…”
“…Don’t be ridiculous.”
Inwardly, I broke out in a cold sweat.
Did her body really remember?
I thought I might have hugged her briefly while she was awake, but that didn’t count.
The sleeping draught I gave her last night should have blurred her memories from before she fell asleep… I decided to trust the Vanderwaals’ special medicine.
Of course, there was a possibility she had a tolerance to the drug.
…However, to assume that she also possessed the special skill to prevent me from realizing she was awake, on top of that tolerance, was unrealistic.
Leticia was the protagonist of [Moonlight Liberium].
But she would navigate this aristocratic society as an ordinary girl—or rather, with her ‘ordinariness’ as her weapon.
Simplicity, innocence—straightforwardness.
Qualities we nobles lost somewhere along the way.
Qualities Leticia desperately tried to protect.
…Qualities I didn’t possess.
I adopted a cold tone and said curtly,
“You must have been dreaming. Go wash your face.”
“…Right.”
My sister smiled weakly.
I wanted to do anything to restore the strength to that smile, but I couldn’t. It was a trap.
――This was right. This was how it should be.
Leticia, spotting her slippers—which she had kicked off before getting into bed last night and which I had tidied up—quickly slipped them on and disappeared into the washroom.
My sister was energetic from the morning.
As I stared blankly at the faint afterimage of her back, she quickly reappeared, swinging the door open.
Just as I had instructed, she had washed her face and looked refreshed.
Then, she ran towards me.
“Good morning again, Elder Sister!”
…What had happened to her listless expression from a moment ago?
But this cheerful demeanor was more like Leticia.
“…Yes, good morning.”
Leticia smiled as I returned her greeting.
I was almost captivated by her adorableness.
I abruptly averted my gaze, turning towards the window.
My sister sat in the chair opposite me and looked at me.
Why was she looking at me when she could be looking out the window?
…The expression she had worn while recounting her past to Prince Konrad and Knight Commander Felix flashed through my mind.
That was also a side of her.
A girl with no shadows, simply pure and innocent, wouldn’t be able to navigate the path ahead.
She knew.
The depths of this country.
She knew, deep in her bones, how poverty narrowed one’s options and robbed one of their humanity.
And she would soon learn.
The heights of this country.
How wealth also didn’t guarantee one’s humanity.
Within this love story, she would come to understand the peculiarity of her own position.
She couldn’t lean towards either side.
She was born in the “back alley” and would be raised as a ‘noble.’
I would provide her with a noble education.
And I would teach her the darkness that nobles carried.
I would be her cautionary example, teaching her, more than anyone, that noble status didn’t guarantee humanity, through my meanness.
I was a supporter of the aristocracy.
…However, precisely because I was born and raised as a noble, I held no illusions about nobility, much less about individuals.
We nobles weren’t valuable because we were noble.
We were only allowed to exist as long as we fulfilled our roles and obligations.
The stability we enjoyed was earned through bloodshed.
However, that stability wasn’t absolute.
Just three years ago.
There was a small country bordering the Kingdom of Eustasia, the Principality of Ruins.
They shed blood to ‘overthrow the nobles’ and declared their ‘independence’ as the Republic of Ruins.
…Without any knowledge of statecraft, much less national defense, they plunged their country into chaos and were carved up by neighboring countries.
Our Eustasia also took a piece of the pie.
The “Eustasia Knights” were dispatched for ‘conflict mediation.’
――What was the point?
They abandoned their royally recognized lineage and their small but capable knight order, loyal to that lineage, a force that would burn anyone who dared to touch it.
They ravaged fields, shut down mines, disrupted trade—they starved their people to overthrow the nobles—what was the value of that rebellion… that ‘revolution’?
Most of the people weren’t happy, and wealth quickly began to concentrate.
In the hands of the ‘usurpers’ who had accused the royal family of usurping their wealth.
Repeating the cycle of the aristocracy.
The Eustasia Knights were called ‘heroes who liberated them from oppression’ by the people of that country.
The Vanderwaals merely nudged the rumors in the right direction.
And then, through political marriages with neighboring countries, we gathered the remaining ‘royal blood’ and resurrected the ‘legitimate royal family.’
They were welcomed with open arms.
――Because the announcement coincided with the reopening of the market, accompanied by food aid.
Of course, the Kingdom of Eustasia mediated the conflict from a humanitarian perspective, providing food and supporting industrial recovery.
There was no falsehood in that.
It was just that a portion of the wealth flowed into our country.
And to other countries as well.
The new royal family was essentially a puppet regime controlled by neighboring countries.
Perhaps in a hundred years, they would achieve true independence, but until then, it was effectively a division of power among the neighboring countries.
Even so, according to my beliefs, it was better than a war over ‘unclaimed territory.’
If the flames of war spread across the continental map, they would eventually reach our Eustasia.
It was… understandable that Knight Commander Felix, who had personally led the troops… lost a few of his men, and understood what had truly happened, held some resentment towards me.
He was a simple, rough man, but he wasn’t stupid.
Even so, I had only done my job.
Peace for Eustasia.
That was the Vanderwaals’ mission.
Even if history were to repeat itself eventually, at least while I still had my eyes open…
Our family crest was a gecko, a wall lizard with ever-watchful eyes that never closed.
I gazed at Leticia.
“…Elder Sister?”
“Duty and loyalty… Do your best. As a noble of Eustasia. As a member of the Vanderwaals.”
She didn’t have to inherit the blood-soaked history of this family.
Leticia could forge her own path.
However, the accumulated wealth, the vast territories, the “shadows” envied and feared throughout the continent, whose true nature was unknown, and their information network… wouldn’t go to waste.
“—Yes, Elder Sister! Duty and loyalty!”
Her “duty and loyalty” was still cheerful.
These words succinctly described the relationship between the royal family and the nobles: in exchange for military service and various obligations, they were granted territories and the right to collect taxes.
A noble’s duty. Loyalty to the nation.
She didn’t yet understand the weight of those words.
Even so, it was fine.
…I liked the way my sister said “duty and loyalty.”
I had a feeling that Eustasia after my death would be an even better country.
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