I Thought Your Friend's Sibling Wasn't a Girl? - Chapter 13

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Chapter 13
* * *
It was a break week unlike any in recent memory.
During the three months of Practical Training, students received only one day of rest per week—but once a year, there came a single stretch of seven uninterrupted days.
That time was now.
“Sigh—Olivia. Do you really want to see the opera even on your day off?”
“But I haven’t been able to come so often lately. It’s good to see as much as I can while I have the chance.”
“Well, it’s refreshing enough, I suppose…”
Though they had all come together, each wanted different things, so they had split off into pairs.
Olivia had come to see the opera after all this time. With her brother Cesare’s help, she had even managed to claim the Kishier Family’s private box in secret.
Olivia needed Cesare’s assistance for one reason: if her parents found out, they would certainly send someone to drag her back at once.
“You still haven’t replied to Mother’s letter?”
“No. I sent something yesterday.”
“What did you say?”
“What did I say? I just told them the truth. I said I should be a Knight by next month. They’ll be thrilled about that, won’t they?”
Won’t they be thrilled, Panya muttered softly to herself.
At those words, Olivia let out a short, quiet laugh. On stage, the performance was beginning.
“I know. My parents absolutely detest the idea of me becoming a Knight.”
Olivia’s parents were narrow-minded people. They did not lack love for their children, yet they believed that if a noble failed to act as a noble should, the very heavens would fall.
“A noble lady must always be graceful and dignified, in all times and places.”
Her mother had said this to Olivia countless times. There were things, she insisted, that could never be surrendered no matter how the world changed.
Olivia had heard it so many times her ears ached—that keeping her virtue, never raising her voice, and living with elegance and propriety were the virtues expected of noblewomen like them.
Olivia had believed it was true. Until her elder sister Gloria ran away from home.
Gloria, who had sat quietly and endured their mother’s lectures alongside her, called Olivia to her one day and spoke in hushed tones.
“Listen, Olive. Do you know what happens when you give up something you’re not supposed to give up?”
“No… I don’t know.”
“The whole world flips upside down. Spring breezes become winter winds, heaven becomes hell. Soft hands grow rough, and white jade skin gets scars. That’s what happens.”
“That sounds frightening!”
“But you also learn how much fun there is in this world. You’ve done somersaults before, haven’t you? When you were a baby?”
“…I suppose so?”
“That’s it. We’re all born with the talent to flip the world on its head.”
Gloria, watching Olivia tilt her head in confusion, merely smiled sadly before packing her things and leaving that very day. She wanted to experience adventure, she said.
Olivia had not understood what Gloria was talking about back then.
How could a harsh life—bracing winter winds instead of spring breezes, growing calluses on your hands—bring joy to living?
‘But now I know it very well.’
Olivia’s hands were covered in calluses and scars, and the soft, slender forearms she once had were now firm with muscle.
Her world had flipped once. Admittedly it was Aiden who had cast her out so mercilessly and left, but truthfully, Olivia rather liked the life she had now.
—I was always afraid of the strange world, she heard the actor sing. The world where day and night are reversed, where good and evil intertwine.
At that moment, the actor’s voice filled the theater, and Olivia was instantly drawn into the performance.
—Ah, now I understand the allure of this strange world. We can breathe here too.
Since entering the Knight Academy, Olivia had felt truly alive for the first time.
What would Gloria say if she could see her now? In the few letters they had exchanged, her enthusiasm came through clearly.
Though she had suffered greatly after leaving home, Gloria—no longer “Gloria Kishier” but simply “Gloria”—found far greater happiness in that freedom. And so Gloria had been the first to offer Olivia wholehearted support for the new life she had chosen.
Training was nearly finished now. Soon the real Practical Training would begin in earnest. And after that would come the Final Practical Exam.
Olivia longed for that day to arrive.
“This is actually rather fun.”
“Right? We should come often. We can use Cesare’s name.”
“That works. It doesn’t seem like a bad idea.”
Before Olivia realized when it had happened, Panya had leaned so far over the railing that she was practically pressed against it.
“Panya. That’s dangerous—come back inside.”
“Hmm? Oh… but that person over there. That’s not the instructor, is it?”
“What? Where?”
Olivia’s gaze snapped toward where Panya was pointing. She carefully pulled Panya back and pushed her safely behind the railing, and for just a moment, something gleamed gold in her eyes like a fleeting illusion before vanishing.
“There’s no one there.”
“What? Really? I could have sworn I saw someone I recognized—but there’s no one?”
“You must have been mistaken.”
The box Panya had indicated was empty. Nothing but an abandoned private box and a gently swaying curtain met their view.
“…I suppose I was seeing things.”
“Just watch the play. We’re coming up to the climax.”
The performance was building toward its peak. Olivia’s green eyes remained fixed on the empty box across from them for a long moment before slowly drifting away.
* * *
Aiden truly, genuinely had no plan to follow Olivia. That would be far too deranged.
He simply happened to have business of his own.
Sert Square was the capital’s largest commercial district and sprawled immensely. The odds of running into Olivia here should have been zero—and yet…
“Opera on my one day of rest! Of all the tedious hobbies to have!”
“But you’re the one who said you’d come along. You can go do something else now if you want, Panya.”
“I can’t leave our Olivia alone. I’m a woman of loyalty, after all. Aren’t I?”
By the worst possible chance, he ran directly into Olivia. Worse still, it happened inside the Opera House itself. Aiden hastily concealed himself and slipped into his assigned seat.
But there was one catastrophic problem with that seat…
‘Cesare, you bastard!’
Aiden’s box was directly across from the Kishier Family’s private box. Which meant Olivia could see him just as clearly as he could see her.
“Aiden! Could you go see this opera in my place? All you need to do is sit there. I was asked to attend, but I don’t have time to go.”
“What? Why should I?”
“Should I tell our parents you’re in the capital? They’re at the estate now, but the moment they hear you’re here, they’ll come riding back at full speed.”
“…You shameless bastard.”
Aiden’s blood boiled.
He’d wondered why Cesare had suddenly brought up the opera. It was only that Cesare had blackmailed him using the Kishier Marquess and Marquessa, forcing him to comply—and now this was happening.
Cesare must have deliberately orchestrated this, knowing Olivia would be coming.
‘I absolutely cannot be discovered.’
In truth, it might have been slightly better to be caught sitting in the box and claim it was pure coincidence, explaining the situation truthfully. But Aiden’s current state of mind could not afford such rational thought.
The performance was reaching its climax.
In any case, he had done as Cesare asked and held the seat. Having stayed this long, he’d seen well over half the opera—Cesare wouldn’t complain.
Aiden carefully parted the curtain and slipped out of the private box.
Though he was burning with curiosity—desperately, insanely curious about whether Olivia really was about to go have a “date” with those idiots—
He shouldn’t spy on her like that. It would be far too creepy.
As Aiden walked along, running his fingers through his hair in irritation—
“Oh my. What a surprise to meet you here.”
He froze.
“Such an extraordinary coincidence, wouldn’t you say? Brother Aiden.”
“…Olive.”
Olivia stood beside the pillar next to his box, dressed in a crisp pale-green one-piece dress and a small bucket hat, waiting for him as if nothing were amiss.
“Did you enjoy the opera?”
Cold sweat drenched Aiden’s back.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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