Chapter 312 – Two Girls

On the way back to the mansion.

Chloe glanced at Rike’s side profile, who looked strangely excited.

Rike, who sensed her gaze with his keen senses, started the conversation first.

“Chloe? If you have any questions, feel free to ask.”

Chloe, who habitually pursed her lips, was worried about how to start a conversation in order to confirm the assumption that had just been made at the cafe.

First, I increased my voice to show my intention to ask a question.

“Uh, Rike treated Seria with her brother um…”

“I wonder if there is a real reason why I sent you the unique combination of my brother and Seria?”

Chloe nodded quickly in response to the question that was immediately understood and corrected.

“Today, I didn’t act out of any intention or wish, but I just hoped that the relationship between my brother and Seria would become easier.”

After seeing that Chloe didn’t look refreshed after hearing her answer, Rike tapped her lips with her finger and interrupted her.

“But just in case, I think I should show Chloe what I think.”

“I don’t care how long it takes, if Rikke tells me what’s on her mind.”

Rike was selecting various sentences for Chloe, who was waiting quietly.

She smiled involuntarily as she recalled the lively appearance of Seria who came to her academy dormitory.

“Let’s start with impressions rather than theories.”

“Impressions?”

“Seria and Lily’s older sisters have rolled in a pit of dust, but they shine like jewels without any trace of dirt on them.”

Chloe nodded, understanding what the sentiment meant.

“Yes, I said I didn’t have a very good day at the estate.”

Until now, Seria has not voluntarily revealed her difficult past.

All she mentioned about her past during her time at the academy was that she followed her older sister around since she was a child.

However, Liline thought that the moment a rumor spread, people from the Electra family might get involved.

By mentioning it in the mansion where everyone is, a clear line was drawn.

– It’s a real possibility, but I can’t say for sure that it won’t happen, so I’ll tell everyone, including Roman, in advance. If you hear the name Electra other than Ceria and me, you can ignore it.

Except for Roman, who, if she hadn’t heard that story, knew a little about her past from her time as an adventurer.

He probably hadn’t thought about how bad the relationship between the Baron and the sisters was.

She is a sister with a kind heart that is hard to believe that she grew up under persecution.

“Of course, I don’t sympathize with that. I think there must be a reason why they didn’t bring up the past with us, and I think cheap sympathy would be an insult… But when I look at Seria, who has grown up brightly, I think she is greater than me.”

“If Ceria had heard those words directly from Ricke, she would have been truly happy.”

“···If you compliment me, I won’t bother you for a month because I’m asking you to repeat it.”

Unlike the sentences he spits out, Rike’s calm reaction doesn’t seem to displease him.

Chloe felt her heart fill with joy and her mind warm with warmth.

“Here, she returns to the beginning and the reason she sent the two people… Ceria is such a good girl and her precious friend, so like she said earlier, she hopes that her relationship with her brother will improve.”

“Okay.”

“As always, I’m really self-indulgent and selfish, right?”

“There’s no way you could think such a bad thing!! Rike never does that when it comes to her own work… So when she looks back, she feels like she’s giving up all the difficult burdens every time, so I’m sorry…”

“···.”

“If anything happens, please don’t suffer alone. Please tell me!”

Chloe, who held her hand and comforted her when she was verbally abusing herself, seemed unusually strong.

Rike smiled and smiled at the atmosphere that demanded that he do so.

“You may feel that this method is harsh and there is a possibility that it will be a bad move that will cause the two of you to grow apart, but I believe that my brother would not think so.”

“Onii-sama, she continued to watch over Ceria’s training and she talked a lot back then, so she won’t have any problems.”

Like Chloe Rieke said, I think there is no possibility of the two of them going out and having a falling out.

He nodded vigorously and agreed.

Pause for a moment and take a few steps in silence.

“The final picture I am looking at is exactly what Chloe thinks. As I said before, Ceria is a good woman.”

“Really?!”

When Chloe’s assumption turned out to be true, she was startled and stuttered.

“I’m not trying to force it or trick you. From the beginning, love cannot be artificially manipulated even if I use my powers.”

“Then···.”

“All I can do is let go when I need a leg up to express my feelings for someone and speed up what’s going to happen a little bit.”

Rike’s appearance made me feel like she was confident that Ceria would be like that.

‘Possiblity···.’

The deeper you dig into the case, the scarier it gets.

The problem is that Chloe herself is implicitly convinced that this will really be the case if this continues over and over again.

“What if, really, if Ceria became ‘real’ family, what would Chloe feel like?”

Chloe stopped walking for a moment and at the question asked, Chloe also stopped her legs.

She closes her eyes and lets her imagination run wild, because she knows what real family means.

“Hmm…”

“Can you picture the future?”

Chloe opened her tightly shut eyes and looked at the floor with her face as if it were her fault.

“Well, the first thing that comes to mind for me is something that is not helpful to my brother.”

“Black thoughts?”

“I really enjoyed the time the three of us spent at the academy, but I was scared that someday the time we would spend together like this would decrease…”

“I agree with what Chloe said. Once you graduate, you will usually go your separate ways and get busy, and if you marry someone, it will be difficult to meet them.”

Let Rike defend it in a soft voice.

Chloe whispered softly, rolling the hem of her dress.

“So… I think it would be good if that time continues in some form in the future…”

Ricke expected Chloe to raise her head after she finished speaking.

She covered her face with her hands and did not move.

“Chloe?”

Even if I listened, it didn’t seem like she was crying.

Chloe’s face, seen between her fingers, looked complicated and filled with various emotions.

“I feel incomparably happy just with the time I spend with my brother, but I feel like such a treacherous person to want one more thing like this…”

“A treacherous person doesn’t even think of himself as treacherous. People like me are people who rationalize themselves at this moment and become confident.”

Chloe shook her head and threatened Rike never to say such a thing.

“I’m afraid your brother will be disappointed if he finds out about this kind of nature… Of course he won’t be like that!”

“···.”

A silence followed and buttocks that are dark enough to be said to be the best in the empire, and breasts and facial features that attract men’s attention like a magnet.

And yet, there is a gap that appears to be such clear and clean words and actions.

What kind of man wouldn’t fall for Chloe? If Rikke himself were a man, he might have just fallen in love with Chloe’s appearance.

‘It’s a real foul.’

Ricke poked Chloe’s side with his finger.

“Hiyaaak?!”

“You can’t do that. They already know our true nature and even appreciate it.”

Chloe’s face, as she listened to the sound through her gray hair and twitched her ears, began to flutter.

“Hehe… After all, your brother is like that, right?”

I liked that she looked like an unspoiled girl like Seria.

“In the first place, I don’t expect anything to change just because of this one time. Ceria seems really uncomfortable, so I hope her brother knows that she is a person who is comfortable with both of us.”

“I’ve always been disappointed about that too, but I hope it works out well!”

As Chloe’s eyes brightened with energy, Ricke gave up his thoughts and moved his legs.

“To sum it up, the picture I have in my head right now is not a clear goal, but rather a wish to see it from afar and hope that it will happen…”

“I, too, will have this as a wish, just like Ricke!”

The mansion began to appear in the eyes of the two people.

Chloe had a feeling that this topic wouldn’t be spoken the moment it crossed the door.

“It won’t be easy because, if not affection, at least goodwill has to be two-way, and the timing has to be right.”

“I see.”

“If Ceria shows such signs, I have the intention to help her. If my brother takes the initiative, I have no worries.”

Squeak-

When I opened the front door of the mansion, I saw Alice leveling the ground with magic.

“Should we prepare something to cook as soon as the two of you get back?”

“Yes!”

The two waved at Alice as they opened the door.

*****

“”···.””

Roman was left alone with Ceria.

While training at the mansion, the two would talk, but the atmosphere was different since I was intentionally left behind with Seria.

I walked down her alley with Seria holding her note in one hand.

The space that exists between the two heading forward is large enough for one person to fit in.

“Is it okay? If it’s inconvenient, I’ll go get the groceries right away. Do you want to wait?”

“Oh, no!”

Sending Platinum on an errand and having him wait here is something that should never have happened.

At Roman’s words, Ceria somehow moved her neck, which was stiff from tension.

Seria, broken down by her nervousness and awkwardness, advanced only looking at her front, to the point where her right hand and right foot went out together.

Dunroman, who had taken a step in front of her, suddenly stopped in her tracks and looked back at her.

“Seria.”

“Yes!!”

Looking at Ceria who responded loudly, Green Roman smiled as she pointed to her store with her finger.

“Let’s stop by for a moment and then let’s go.”