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Chapter 10
“Arès?”
Abellin’s eyes shook rapidly as she watched her younger brother charging toward them like an enraged bull.
“What, a jeewel? Take your hand off him!”
Having sprinted over at full speed, Arès grabbed his sister’s hand, which was covering Duke Libes’s mouth.
“Didn’t I tell you to clap if anything seemed strange? Or not?”
Abellin blinked in confusion at Arès’s sudden appearance.
“You were hiding over there and watching everything?”
To make matters stranger, Arès had jumped out from the window of the servants’ corridor—a place he would never normally set foot in.
“Uh… uh?”
Caught red-handed, Arès’s face turned bright red as if it were about to burst.
As Theron turned his head to follow the direction Abellin had pointed, Arès hurriedly spoke.
“Anyway!”
Raising his voice to change the subject, Arès shifted his attention toward Theron.
“No matter how great a duke you are, I think it’s improper to suddenly visit the home of a young woman who has only just come of age.”
“Hey, what’s gotten into you?”
“Stay behind me, Noona.”
Startled by her brother’s hostility, Abellin poked him repeatedly in the side. Arès ignored her and instead stepped in front of her protectively.
“Hmm.”
A quiet spark of interest appeared in Theron’s blue eyes as he watched the twins.
Judging by his expression, he seemed to find the situation rather amusing.
“By now, I’m sure a few busybodies have already noticed that the Duke visited this house. And surely you know better than anyone how rumors become distorted.”
“I don’t pay much attention to baseless gossip.”
Compared to Arès’s sharp tone, Theron’s reply remained perfectly courteous.
But beneath those polite words lay another meaning.
You seem very sensitive about rumors. I, however, am not.
Arès somehow caught the implication.
A deep crease formed between his brows.
“Perhaps the noble Duke doesn’t care, but my sister isn’t someone who stays locked inside the house every day reading strange books! If these rumors ruin her chances of marriage, how are you planning to take responsibility?”
Theron’s eyes blinked slowly at Arès’s heated outburst.
“Strange books?”
A trace of caution appeared in the way he looked at Abellin.
“Oh my, what are you saying!”
Having her hobby forcibly exposed, Abellin laughed awkwardly and secretly kicked Arès hard in the shin.
“Argh!”
“Haha… You don’t need to pay any attention to what he just said.”
“…”
Silence lingered.
The slight furrow between Theron’s brows made it seem as though he was genuinely wondering whether he should let Abellin continue keeping his jewel.
I barely managed to buy myself some time. I can’t get dragged away and have my stomach cut open now.
Abellin looked at Theron with the most pitiful, desperate expression she could possibly muster.
“…”
Theron quietly avoided her gaze before speaking.
“Then let’s do this.”
Both Arès and Abellin immediately looked toward his lips.
“Today, I came to visit not Lady Herols, but Young Master Herols.”
“Pardon?”
Arès’s mouth fell open foolishly at the completely unexpected statement.
At the same time, the faint smile on Theron’s lips deepened.
“You said you’re worried about your sister, didn’t you? Then if people hear that I came to visit Young Master Herols, it satisfies the busybodies, preserves Lady Herols’s reputation, and in the end works out well for Young Master Herols too.”
The moment Theron finished speaking, all the color drained from Arès’s face.
Even after Theron left, Arès couldn’t calm himself down.
“Will you sit still already?”
Abellin scolded her brother, who had followed her into her room and was pacing around like a madman.
“Don’t you think he meant it?”
Arès stopped in place at her shout, wearing an unusually serious expression.
“What the Duke of Libes said.”
“What are you talking about?”
“Come on! About telling everyone he visited today because he came to see me!”
“Oh.”
Arès looked genuinely worried.
His mind was already overflowing with thoughts of what kinds of rumors would spread afterward.
The meeting of two men considered among the Empire’s greatest beauties.
She certainly knew the sort of people who would lose their minds over gossip like that.
“To think I’d get tangled up with someone that strange. My precious reputation…”
Abellin was beginning to grow tired of listening to her brother’s constant whining.
Honestly, she wanted to tell him that he didn’t exactly seem normal either and throw him out immediately.
But then she remembered that, despite his pride, he had been lingering around the servants’ corridor because he was worried about her.
Suppressing a smile, she forced the corners of her lips upward.
“I doubt Duke Libes even has any friends to go around telling such things to. So I don’t think you need to worry that much. Why don’t you get some sleep and organize your thoughts again tomorrow, my adorable little brother?”
“…Why are you talking like that?”
“Talking like what?”
“…Forget it. You’re annoying.”
“Sweet dreams, little brother!”
Abellin enthusiastically waved at Arès’s back as he stormed out of the room with a sulky expression.
“Ha. Finally, I’m alone.”
The moment she confirmed he had completely left, Abellin flopped backward onto her bed.
“I need some peace of mind.”
The book she chose to read before sleeping was titled The Tyrant Is a Little Sister Fanatic, a childcare-themed novel.
Just like its straightforward title, the story itself was simple.
At first, the tyrant disliked having a much younger little sister.
But before long, he completely fell for her unbearably adorable charms and became hopelessly obsessed with her.
But that’s exactly what makes readers feel so satisfied.
After such an exhausting day, Abellin settled comfortably into bed and opened the book.
She had already read it several times and practically knew every scene by heart.
She skipped straight to her favorite moments.
The scene she was reading now was where the heroine, Chloe, gathered flowers in the garden and presented them to her tyrant older brother, Klein.
When Klein saw the tiny hands stained green with plant sap, despite all the times he had pushed her away, he was completely overwhelmed by the cuteness of his little sister.
This was the moment he truly became obsessed with spoiling his sister.
Mentally exhausted from everything reality had thrown at her, Abellin escaped into the story.
Before long, she drifted off to sleep.
Someone gently stroked Abellin’s forehead as she slept.
“Mmm…”
When she stirred at the presence, the hand paused for a brief moment.
Then it slowly resumed its gentle caress.
Who is this?
The touch was unfamiliar.
It was the kind reserved for something precious.
It was something Abellin had never experienced before.
There’s no one in my family who would do this.
There was absolutely no chance her father would ever stroke her head so affectionately.
Then who was it?
Fully alert now, Abellin slowly forced her heavy eyelids open.
“Sleep a little longer.”
The voice was unfamiliar.
This time, Abellin opened her eyes wide and turned toward the speaker.
“Did you sleep well?”
The owner of the gentle voice was a graceful young man with brown hair and green eyes.
What? Another dream?
Having experienced this once before, Abellin hurriedly looked herself over.
Plump little hands.
Short arms.
A round belly.
Soft chubby cheeks that sank when pressed.
I’m completely a child.
What kind of situation is this now?
While she sat there blankly, the man spoke again.
“Chloe, did you have a bad dream?”
Chloe?
The name sounded very familiar.
Wait…
Only then did Abellin properly examine the man once more.
Brown hair.
Green eyes.
And she herself had just been called Chloe.
Then…
Was that man Klein, Chloe’s older brother?
No way. Isn’t this the world of The Tyrant Is a Little Sister Fanatic*?*
Yesterday she had dreamed herself into a regret novel.
Today it was a childcare novel.
Looking at Klein, who gazed at her as though she were the most precious thing in the world, Abellin finally realized just how bizarre this all was.
But her surprise lasted only a moment.
Once she accepted that she wasn’t waking up anytime soon, she quickly adjusted.
Then I’ll enjoy it.
Since I’m already here, I might as well experience what it’s like to be doted on by an older brother who’s completely obsessed with his little sister!
Until she finally woke up, Abellin was showered with Klein’s endless affection.
“Big bwother!”
“My goodness, an angel can speak! Someone, hurry and confiscate this angel’s wings at once!”
True to his reputation as an incurable little sister fanatic, Klein returned every single word Abellin spoke with affection multiplied several times over.
The twenty-year-old tyrant nearly lost the strength in his legs every time he heard the clumsy pronunciation of his sister, who was fifteen years younger than him.
When Abellin recreated the scene from the novel and presented him with a bouquet of awkwardly arranged flowers, Klein even wiped away tears.
“With such tiny hands… how could you make something like this…? Sniff.”
“Don’ cry.”
“Write down every single word Chloe just said! Not one syllable is to be omitted!”
By this point, Klein had ordered all of Chloe’s babbling words to be carefully recorded.
Every night, he reread those records while kicking his feet in delight.
“How could anyone ever hate you?”
Then he gently stroked the head of his little sister, who sat beside him happily eating dessert.
“Hehe.”
Abellin gave Klein the brightest smile she could manage.
It was the first time in her life anyone had ever looked at her as though she were so incredibly precious.
She sincerely wished this dream would never end.
Although Klein had been cold toward his younger sister in the beginning of the novel, the current Klein was the best older brother and family she could ever have imagined.
And Abellin loved being looked upon as someone so deeply cherished.
But dreams never lasted forever.
Before long, Abellin opened her eyes in her own bedroom, still dark because the curtains had yet to be drawn.
