I Thought Your Friend's Sibling Wasn't a Girl? - Chapter 3
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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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Episode 3
Three years before the present.
Olivia was in a state of partial derangement from the wound of heartbreak.
The Kishear marquis and his wife made endless efforts to comfort her, but at that time, she saw nothing.
In truth, it couldn’t have been otherwise.
Aiden Oblion.
Olivia’s first love and childhood friend of the Kishear siblings—the man who had now become Olivia’s fiancé.
He had broken their engagement and vanished just three days after the betrothal.
“Are you asking where Aiden Oblion is?”
“Yes. Since I am his fiancée, I believe I have the right to be curious about his whereabouts.”
“Well. Information about dispatched knights is confidential.”
And that was precisely why Olivia had come to the Luxes Knight Order in broad daylight.
Eugene, the commander of the Luxes Knight Order, watched his soldiers train while regarding Olivia with an expression of boredom before responding.
“I’d advise you to leave. There’s nothing I can do for you.”
“You won’t even deliver a letter?”
“It’s not official business.”
“But—”
Shh. Eugene gestured for silence and pointed toward the Training Grounds.
Silence followed.
Olivia bit her lip hard as she watched the scene Eugene was observing, then opened her mouth again.
“Listen, Eugene. As a knight, you know well—victory and defeat in combat hinge not on flashy technique, but on habit carved into the body.”
“A noble lady offering quite a novel analogy.”
“See that knight over there? He has a habit of tensing his shoulders excessively before swinging his sword. That’s why his movements are sluggish.”
“…… What?”
Olivia needed to persuade Eugene.
She had simply chosen an analogy he would find easiest to accept, but Eugene, upon hearing it, widened his eyes in surprise and fixed his gaze upon her.
Olivia continued calmly.
“Aiden has a very bad habit. He avoids things. I know him very well. This dispatch is because of that habit of his—Eugene? Are you listening?”
Eugene was looking at her with an entirely different light in his eyes than before.
“What about that one?”
“What do you mean…… Are you asking about his habits?”
“Quickly.”
“…… He has a habit of dragging his back foot slightly when he should be pushing forward. It seems he’s applying force incorrectly, but—wait. Why am I telling you this?”
But Eugene prattled on as if his ears were stopped with wax, speaking only what he wished to say.
“Can you mimic the movements of knights?”
“I’m not sure. I’ve never tried, but I think I understand how they should move. The Kishear Family is a martial house, after all.”
Aiden had trained quite often in the Kishear Family Training Grounds with Cesare.
And watching him had been Olivia’s delight.
‘I was never permitted to train myself.’
She had to behave as befitted a noble lady; only then would she bring no shame to her house.
Olivia had always been imprisoned within the words the marchioness had once whispered to her. She had to be—she could not disappoint her parents as her older sister had.
So Olivia lived as a noble lady should. She buried her countless wishes and desires deep within her heart as though they were nothing, consoling herself that she would eventually forget them if she endured.
Perhaps that was why. Even if it were mere scraps of attention, if it were ‘permitted’ to Olivia, she would grip it with clenched teeth and never let go.
“…… You can?”
“If I possessed the musculature to support such movements. Now it’s impossible. As you see, I am exceedingly frail.”
Olivia was a noble lady and therefore could not wield a sword.
But ‘as a noble lady’ should, she could bring water buckets and towels and attend her brother’s training—he who had labored so. And so Olivia did.
Muscular movements, techniques deployed, even small habits.
Watching, she memorized them, and naturally began to analyze as well.
Because she was curious.
Through this, her eyes opened somewhat.
But then again……
Wasn’t this something anyone could manage if they devoted themselves to one subject long enough?
Olivia did not understand why Eugene found this interesting.
“Passed.”
“…… What?”
Eugene suddenly spouted utter nonsense at her.
“What did you say your name was again? Olion?”
“It’s Olivia! Olivia Kishear.”
“Right, right. You’ve passed.”
Can I really trust this person?
Did I come to the wrong place?
Such doubts flooded Olivia’s mind.
It was then that Eugene dangled an appetizing lure before her.
“You wanted to know where Aiden is? Actually, the method isn’t entirely impossible.”
“What is it?”
It was a seductive whisper.
“Won’t you join the Luxes Knight Order?”
“…… Are you insane?”
“Then I’ll certainly bring Aiden before you. Within three years.”
It sounded like madness, but that was precisely why Olivia chose to transfer.
* * *
Olivia smiled softly as she recalled that day.
She had to transfer to the Knight Academy Division to join the Luxes Knight Order, and she had to endure hardship that cannot be described without tears in this place…….
But in the end, Eugene kept his promise. This was evident from Aiden appearing before her eyes.
Thinking so, Olivia turned her gaze toward the platform once more.
Aiden was still there.
She was not concerned that he was staring at her with intense eyes.
Rather, the fact itself that they occupied the same space now. That was what mattered.
“Olivia. That instructor seems to be glaring at you. Is it my imagination?”
“It does seem that way, doesn’t it?”
“Yeah. If you’ve already made a bad impression on the first day, what are you going to do?”
That couldn’t be.
And even if it were, it didn’t matter.
This was precisely the situation Olivia had longed for all this time.
Her fiancé, whose location had been unknown until now, had finally appeared before her eyes—it still felt like a dream—and moreover, he was looking only at her. It was thrilling.
Olivia answered Bennett’s question with a spinning smile.
“No. I don’t mind being noticed.”
“…… What?”
“It’s thrilling. How much attention will he pay me from now on?”
“That, well. I see. Thrilling indeed…….”
With those words, Bennett fell abruptly silent.
Drawing back a step as if unwilling to associate further, Bennett muttered in a voice too soft for Olivia to hear.
“There’s no cure for that kind of illness…… I might catch it.”
Olivia was generally composed and well-behaved, but occasionally she had these moments when her eyes would turn inside-out.
At such times, she had to be left alone. Nothing anyone said beside her would get through.
As Bennett predicted, Olivia, lost in her own world, was completely oblivious to the look Bennett was giving her.
Three years. A full three years.
The time she had spent fretting and worrying, waiting for her reunion with Aiden.
For Olivia, this moment felt like a dream.
At last she would be able to have a proper conversation with him.
Olivia’s wait, endured without knowing the reason she had been abandoned, was finally drawing to a close.
In Olivia’s eyes, clear joy rose alongside a faint anger.
* * *
Seton, the Swordsmanship instructor at Veritas Academy, was enjoying a pleasant conversation with his former student who had come to visit after a long time.
“Eugene. Tell me, have you spotted any students who catch the eye?”
“They’re all outstanding students. Since they’ve been taught by you directly, what could be otherwise?”
“Ha, look at you now. Your flattery has improved quite a bit! But surely there’s a student who stands out. Isn’t there?”
Eugene returned an inscrutable smile to his question.
“Well. I’ll have to seek them out gradually from here on. Though I’m not certain they’ll join the Luxes Knight Order, of course.”
“Don’t lie to me. You came to the academy after so long and summoned Olivia first thing.”
“Miss Olivia is an exception. She’s a talent I marked three years ago. Don’t covet her, Professor.”
“Heh. That’s up to Miss Olivia’s choice. So—”
Bang!
At that moment, the door burst open with a loud crash.
“What, what is this? An intruder?”
“Calm yourself, Professor. It doesn’t seem to be an intruder.”
“Then what! Who dares open a professor’s study door like this—”
It was just as Seton was rising sharply from his seat in indignation.
“Professor! I know you’re in here!”
A voice so familiar it was almost heartening came from beyond the door, which had begun closing with a creaking sound.
Seton, who had seemed about to rush out in pursuit of the culprit, became remarkably composed the moment he heard that voice.
The fact that its contents bordered on threatening hardly registered at all.
This person had always been that way.
“Ah, I thought it was someone else. I hoped that as he grew older and entered society, he might develop some sense, but what a vain wish that was.”
An entry so discourteous and the audacity to burst into a professor’s study like that.
No need to see more.
“Aiden? Still your old self, I see. Or should I call you Aiden Oblion now?”
Aiden Oblion, the notorious ruffian of the Luxes Knight Order, crashed powerfully and noisily into Seton’s study.
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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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