CLWE 30

Chapter 30

It was when Susan roughly wiped her eyes with her sleeve.

Kamin spoke in his characteristically calm tone.

“At first, I thought it would actually be a disadvantage to reveal that I’m the emperor. I worried someone might try to threaten me using Louis.”

Kamin added with a shy smile,

“But the more we talked, and the closer we grew, the harder it became to tell the truth.”

In the end, it meant that he had fallen for her at first sight and couldn’t bring himself to reveal the truth for fear of being hated. Susan’s face turned bright red as she burst out angrily.

“I told you to bring back the Ego Sword, and what kind of mess is this?!”

“Well, as a result, we can now co-own it through marriage, so it’s not completely unrelated…”

“Do you have any idea who you’re saying that to?!”

Susan spoke in a serious tone, tears welling in her eyes.

“Do you know how Liz and I felt while we were waiting for you, Brother?”

At his sister’s earnest voice, Kamin’s eyes widened slightly. He scratched his cheek and replied,

“Liz has probably been too busy with work, and you didn’t really care that much, right?”

“That’s—no! That’s not true! Do you know how much I’ve been working too?! Do you think I just laze around all day?”

The tears that had been about to spill from Susan’s eyes instantly disappeared as she was hit right where it hurt. Sniffling, her nose red, she argued heatedly with Kamin before fidgeting with her fingers and asking,

“So when are you coming back? You’re going to reveal your identity and return, right?”

“Who knows.”

“…What kind of answer is that? Don’t tell me you’re never coming back?”

“Susan.”

Kamin spoke in a serious tone.

“To be honest, I’ve been thinking that I might not go back. I can handle my work just fine from Faustine.”

“Brother! No matter how you look at it, Faustine is still another country!”

“Exactly. That’s why I asked Liz to review the possibility of turning this place into imperial territory.”

“Whaaat?”

Susan, who had never imagined her brother was thinking that far ahead, swallowed dryly for a moment. Then she forced an awkward smile.

“You’re joking, right, Brother?”

“I’m not.”

Kamin shrugged.

“Stay here for a few days and you’ll see. The weather’s nice, and there’s plenty of good food.”

Then he added with a small smile,

“And there’s also someone I love.”

“….”

Susan felt her head go blank. One unexpected revelation after another left her unable to respond.

Why didn’t you tell me that, Liz?!

If Liz had heard this, she probably would have grumbled that people should listen to others all the way to the end.

Kamin faced Susan with a serious expression.

“If I tell everything right now, Riena will feel pressured. That’s why I want to talk after all the conditions are in place.”

Though it was a sincere confession of love, Susan felt nothing but turmoil inside.

Who wants to hear something like that anyway?

Susan smacked the back of Kamin’s hand and shouted,

“You idiot, you stupid fool, Brother!”

I returned to my room with Louis.

But even after getting back, I couldn’t feel at ease. That was because Susan was sitting in the middle of the room, her eyes brimming with tears.

Fidgeting nervously, I cautiously spoke up.

“Um… did you have a fight with Kamin?”

“Don’t talk to me!”

“Ah… okay.”

I’d finally worked up the nerve to speak, only to get such an awkward reply. I frowned.

Then don’t come into my room in the first place.

Why come into someone else’s room and make things uncomfortable like this?

Pouting, I decided to do as Susan said and not pay attention to her. Instead, I spoke to Louis, who was nestled in my arms like a baby.

“Louis, are you okay now? Are you still feeling really upset?”

—…

Louis had stopped crying, but he still seemed to be in a bad mood and didn’t answer.

And what’s with him now?

There were three sentient beings in this room, and two of them were sulking. Does that mean it’s my job to cheer both of them up?!

Is my fate this year to be a full-time babysitter or something? Why do only people like this keep sticking to me?

I hadn’t dealt with this kind of thing in years. Scratching my head, I stood up.

This is suffocating. I should go outside and do something.

Staying cooped up in one room would only make it worse. If someone was bothersome, then I should be the one to leave.

“Then please stay here.”

“Where are you going?!”

“I’m just going to take a look around the garden or something. I don’t really have anything else to do.”

As soon as I stepped out, Susan and Louis both quietly followed behind me, as if they’d been waiting for it. I let out a sigh.

Seriously, what is wrong with them?

So, with the two beings trailing behind me, I trudged out into the garden.

I’d picked wild raspberries that morning, so this time I walked in the opposite direction—toward the large glass greenhouse.

I don’t come this way very often.

The glass greenhouse seemed to hold some kind of unpleasant memory, as the lady of the estate disliked the place. Once, I had suggested having a picnic there with fruit sandwiches, but after seeing her face twist in discomfort, I never went back again.

Maybe because it’s a place that’s not in Grandmother’s heart—look at how overgrown it is.

Even if the owner didn’t visit often, the gardener should still have been tending it properly.

Pouting, I grabbed hold of a rose vine that had become so tangled it looked like a ball of yarn.

As I slowly began to untangle it, Susan spoke from behind me.

“This is the gardener’s job.”

“Is it? Then could you hand me those shears over there?”

So what?

This stem has lots of buds, so it’d be a shame to cut it.

But if I didn’t, it looked like the other flowers would suffer.

“That’s the gardener’s job, I said!”

Even as she complained loudly, Susan faithfully handed me the shears. She reminded me of Kamin when I’d first met him.

Not only that—while I held the stem to cut it, she even held up a swaying section of the vine for me.

Rose thorns were easy enough to avoid if you could see them, but a beginner could easily hurt their hands. I kindly nagged her,

“Put on the gloves next to the shears. If you’re not careful, you’ll hurt your hands. I’m used to this, and I’ve got calluses, but you don’t.”

Despite my well-meaning advice, Susan said something completely unrelated.

“This is Grandmother’s castle, so everything in it is mine too.”

“…All right.”

So if these roses are yours, are you saying I shouldn’t cut them?

As I indifferently snipped away leaves and stems with the shears, Susan suddenly shouted,

“Do you not understand what I’m saying?! What kind of owner works like this?!”

“Ah, seriously.”

Is this some kind of advanced attempt at picking a fight? I put the shears down and scolded her.

“If you want to eat and live, it’s only natural to work. Are you just going to laze around and do nothing? Susan, do you just lie around at home all day?”

“What? What?!”

“I need to do something, so stop yapping at me.”

Susan stared at me, eyes wide, blinking in shock. I added in a cold voice,

“And if you really think this castle is yours, then you should work even harder. If the owner is loafing around, why would the workers work? If you want to order people around, the owner has to be even busier than them.”

That was one of my core principles in life. After I came to own a massive farm, some villagers used to tell me to take it easy and wondered why I ran around so frantically.

An owner should naturally work more. What’s strange is people who get paid a lot and still lounge around.

The moment you start thinking it’s okay to rest is the most dangerous moment of all. When I rest, gaps inevitably appear.

As I diligently trimmed the rose stems, Susan brushed her hair back and muttered,

“…Ah, now I see why the two of you fell in love.”

“What did you say?”

“Oh—nothing. I get it. I really do.”

I genuinely hadn’t heard her, but perhaps she thought I was annoyed, because she put on the gloves.

That was how we ended up tending the neglected parts of the garden together.

As we worked with our hands, perhaps her emotions settled, because Susan’s ragged breathing eased, and what remained was a young girl appropriate for her age. In a small voice, she called out to me.

“…Um.”

“Yes?”

Ugh, why does she keep calling me? I turned around, answering curtly, only for my face to flush bright red at her next question.

“Do you love my brother?”

“Ah—ah! Th-that is, I do think I love him, but…!”

How did the conversation suddenly jump to our love?!

Come to think of it, we haven’t even been dating that long, but the whole family already knows!

At this rate, wouldn’t we end up getting married at lightning speed? As I was thinking that, Susan slowly began to speak.

“My brother had a hard life growing up. Our grandfather was a very frightening man. He was also full of prejudice.”

“Your grandfather… you mean the lady of the estate’s ex-husband?”

“Yes. He especially disliked Liz and me, so he’d scold us harshly over even the tiniest flaw. Brother would always step in to protect us—and then he’d get punished instead.”

Just hearing a little was enough to imagine what kind of household it had been. That grandfather sounded like a selfish, stubborn man who only knew himself. And Kamin had taken good care of his younger siblings from a young age.

Susan fidgeted with her fingers and then lowered her head deeply.

“That’s why… I was on edge. I’m sorry about earlier.”