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Translator: Vine
Chapter: 12
Chapter Title: My Arch-Nemesis Sister Cherishes Me
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“...What level is that child at?”
Callista asked Theon.
“...I cannot say yet.”
At the vague answer, Callista frowned in puzzlement.
“Didn’t you criticize Aramis quite harshly when you briefly tutored him in mathematics at the Imperial Academy?”
“Did I?”
“You said your disciple was too foolish to be worth teaching. Aramis ended up quitting and sliced the desk in half with his sword. That was the first time he manifested his Aura.”
“I recall it now. A foolish response to the very end.”
“You were making a twelve-year-old read a professional mathematician’s thesis.”
“A thesis I wrote when I was twelve.”
“So a student you’ve been preoccupied with for days can’t possibly be ordinary.”
Callista crossed her arms and leaned back in her chair as she spoke.
Her eyes gleamed with interest, but it was hard to tell if it was favor or malice. Perhaps it was a mixture of both.
“...She is not someone for Your Ladyship to be wary of.”
Theon was silent for a while before slowly replying. Though it wasn't apparent at first glance, his fists were tightly clenched with tension.
Callista slowly curved one corner of her lips upward.
“You may leave, Theon.”
“...”
“My offer still stands, so give me your answer anytime.”
“...Rest well, Lady Callista.”
Callista picked up the documents on her desk as if their business was concluded. Theon didn't wait any longer and rose.
Click.
After leaving Callista's study, he stood stiffly in the hallway, biting his lip. After thinking for a long time, he opened his mouth and murmured softly.
“Master... indeed.”
The face of the child who fluently read an unfamiliar magic book as if it were a fairy tale, who remembered ten things for every one she was taught yet seemed unaware of her own ability, lingered in his mind.
And the warm hand that had offered him a light blue water bottle when he was suffering from a cough.
Harper was different from Callista. She was different from anyone he had ever taught.
Someone with talent who was too timid to realize it. Someone who, if taught by another, might achieve dazzling growth.
Theon shook his head once.
He couldn't quite grasp what he was thinking.
Just a few days ago, he had been planning to accept Callista's offer the moment she returned.
“Haa...”
He let out a small sigh, shook his head once more to clear his thoughts, and walked away.
***
“Lady.”
Waking me up again.
“Lady Harper.”
When am I ever going to get to sleep in? Jena's great, but she really lacks flexibility.
“Are you awake, Lady Harper?”
Huh? Her voice is strangely gentle. A little different from Jena's, isn't it?
“Mmm...?”
Opening my eyes, I saw a woman with fiery red hair looking at me with a worried expression.
She looked about sixteen or seventeen. Her smiling lips gave her a kind impression, and there was a faint scent of herbs about her.
The lingering sleep instantly vanished, and I half-sat up.
“...Vittori?”
The person I was looking for is right here.
“You know me?”
The red-haired woman, no, Vittori, smiled sweetly.
Of course I do. If you don't know Vittori Mueller and Aramis Mueller, the twin siblings, you're not truly part of the Luperne household.
They were vassals of Luperne, the sword and shield of Luperne guarding the northern borders, children of Count Mueller.
With deep red hair and dark eyes, they looked quite similar but were contrasting siblings in many ways.
One was a genius with the sword, the other a genius in medicine.
“It's not so much a specific illness as a slightly weak constitution. You'll be fine if you eat well, sleep well, and exercise.”
Of course, the Vittori currently feeling my forehead is the one skilled in medicine.
Her brother, Aramis Mueller, was someone who saw the end of the war by Callista's side in my previous life.
When I died by Callista's hand, he was removing the crown from the deceased Calein's head. To place it on Callista's.
A genius who could manifest Aura from the age of twelve and imitate sword techniques after seeing them once, techniques that took others years to master. Yet, I heard he refused the title 'Imperial Sword' bestowed by the Imperial Family.
Simply because he was only Callista's sword.
And Vittori Mueller, Callista's closest lady-in-waiting and friend, was...
“I’ll send a suitable diet plan to the kitchen. And if you feel unwell again, please call for me. I’m always at the Academy.”
Vittori's gentle voice broke my reverie. She placed her hand on my forehead one last time, advised me to drink plenty of water, and then stood up.
The moment Vittori exited the room, Theon entered.
His round glasses glinted in the sunlight, and behind them, cold gray eyes were visible.
“I heard you collapsed, but it seems you just sleep a lot, Lady Harper.”
“Ack! No, I didn’t!”
At Theon's characteristic way of poking at others' weaknesses with his emotionless voice, I kicked off my blanket and sat up.
“It won't do for a child to get into the habit of sleeping in so early. From now on, you will go to bed at 10 PM and wake up at 7 AM.”
He knelt on one knee in front of the bed and took my foot. Something soft and fluffy touched my skin.
“...What is that thick pink fuzzball?”
“A sock.”
With his cool, intelligent gray eyes fixed on my plump foot, Theon unrolled the heart-patterned fuzzy sock he'd brought and began putting it on my toes.
“It’s too thick.”
I wiggled my toes as I spoke. Theon gently pressed down on my big toe with his finger, preventing me from moving it.
“Wearing thick socks keeps your body warm, and a warm body means fewer fainting spells. You have a long road ahead, so you must stay alert.”
With that logical explanation, he skillfully used his long fingers to pull the sock over my heel, then smiled with satisfaction.
“I brought ten pairs, so wear them in rotation from now on. I’ll inspect them every morning.”
Theon held up the small pouch he’d brought. Indeed, it was filled with numerous bundled socks.
They were colorful, with embroidered patterns of either hearts, flowers, or teddy bears.
It seemed he'd decided this was my taste after seeing me like the flower-patterned water bottle.
Well... he wasn't wrong. It was true that ever since I regressed, I'd grown increasingly fond of cute and colorful things.
“I brought patterns appropriate for your age.”
Come to think of it, the dress he sent also had an unusually large number of cute ribbons wrapped around it. Enough for Jena to find it amazing and adore it.
“Every morning... you’re going to see me every morning?”
I asked, half-delighted, half-surprised.
Callista had returned. I couldn’t quite understand why someone who should be attending to her was in my bedroom.
“That is correct. Your Ladyship’s education is also one of a butler’s duties.”
“But before, you told me to just read fairy tales...”
I recalled the incident at the library a few days ago. At the time, Theon had said that there was no point in me learning anything useful.
“That’s canceled. Learn something useful. Fairy tales are forbidden.”
“Forbidden?”
“That is correct.”
I'd never seen such an extreme person. First, he took away my light blue water bottle, and now it seemed he was determined to completely dry up my childlike innocence.
“I heard about your diet from Vittori. From now on, eat chocolate in moderation. I will be monitoring you.”
“No... Wait, from Vittori?”
As I stopped myself from protesting and asked, Theon nodded as if it were obvious.
“Because she is more capable than any other physician in the mansion.”
Ah, so it was Theon who called Vittori. I hadn't expected it, but he was surprisingly loyal.
His words were true. In my previous life, Vittori had also shown prodigious talent in both medicine and pharmacology.
I'd heard that at the medical academy she attended after giving up on the Imperial Academy, she achieved better results than the professors themselves.
“Theon... are you close with Vittori?”
“Close, you say... She is someone who could become a good colleague.”
Theon said it as if that was the highest praise he could offer.
“Well, she is kinder than her brother. They are twins, but very different.”
“Aramis?”
“You know him.”
Theon continued.
“Aramis is a hothead who pulls out his sword at the slightest provocation, and a fool who barely scraped into the top 10 percent of his class.”
Theon spewed venom as if he had a blade in his mouth.
But the content was strangely illogical.
Aramis had graduated from the Academy in five years, when it typically took seven. This was to match Callista’s graduation year.
Furthermore, being in the top 10 percent meant he was a highly regarded talent. On top of that, he was a martial artist, a genius with the sword!
“To be defeated by one tenth of the entire Academy’s population... I’d say he has no right to exist.”
But Theon, who had graduated at the top of his class, was shaking his head, looking as if he found it astounding that such an imbecile could exist in the world.
“Anyway, that fellow is skilled with a sword. He possesses the ignorance—no, the ruthlessness—to cut down even a child if they pose a threat to my Master. He is Lady Callista’s sharpest blade.”
Gulp.
I swallowed dryly. Although I already knew the facts, Theon’s description was so frightening that a trickle of cold sweat ran down my spine.
“But Vittori is the exact opposite.”
Theon continued.
“She is a warm person. I heard she takes good care of abandoned cats and dogs.”
That’s right. Vittori is a warm person. Even in my previous life, she was the one who tried her best to elicit kindness from Callista, caught between the cold Theon and Aramis.
If she had remained close, perhaps Callista wouldn't have tried to assassinate me, a mere child.
“With a little more training, she will become the Ducal Family’s personal physician.”
My expression clouded over ever so slightly at Theon’s words.
“...Oh, really?”
“There’s no reason she shouldn’t.”
…But there was a reason in my previous life.
Something that happened a year or two from now.
Namely, Vittori’s death.
This was an event that changed Luperne and Callista. After that point, Callista never forgave anyone she deemed an enemy.
Whether by design or by chance, Callista ruthlessly eliminated everyone who stood in her way. Myself included.
‘The Elder Council had been preparing for this for a long time, I heard.’
It all stemmed from the Chairman, who was opposed to Callista, trying to win over the Mueller family to his side by exploiting Vittori’s weakness and pressuring her.
Vittori took her own life, not wanting to be a burden to her family.
Exactly one month after Vittori’s death, Callista purged half of the Elder Council, which consisted of vassals and collateral relatives, and secured her position as the family’s successor.
‘Igard, Bortea, and Osen all died then.’
Another person suspected of being involved in the incident at the time was Clarissa, but perhaps due to lack of evidence, she managed to cling to life for a few more years.
There was a reason I remembered the events of that time so vividly.
Because Callista, who typically avoided inflicting unnecessary pain even when killing enemies, had been terrifyingly cruel specifically when she purged Igard, the Chairman of the Luperne Elder Council.
