I Thought Your Friend's Sibling Wasn't a Girl? - Chapter 68

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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 68
Olivia tapped the toe of her boot against the Training Ground floor, over and over.
“Olivia, you’ve seemed a bit out of it since earlier, haven’t you?”
“Hmm?”
“You. You couldn’t focus properly during training either.”
“I’ve got something on my mind.”
Panya touched Olivia’s shoulder and spoke up.
“Don’t dwell on it too long. That kind of thinking doesn’t usually help.”
“How do you know what I’m thinking about?”
“It’s obvious, isn’t it? You’re mulling over something that won’t yield an answer no matter how hard you think about it right now.”
“That’s… fair.”
Olivia conceded readily. It wasn’t really the sort of problem that had a clear answer anyway.
After all, she was also of the Kishear Family, so she certainly had the right to wield power.
But she still couldn’t quite grasp what Yugin meant.
I’ve already used the Power of Brainwashing? And I already knew what it was?
…I have no idea what that’s supposed to mean.
Olivia blinked vacantly.
“See? Just let it go then. If it really needed your attention, you wouldn’t just be standing here blinking like that.”
Olivia had always lived with countless worries. Some demanded her full, sustained focus; others she let drift away.
Neither approach was wrong. Even the worries she let go eventually drifted back to her in time, carrying their answers with them.
Typically, those were problems that wouldn’t yield answers no matter how fiercely she wrestled with them right now. All they needed was time.
Panya was right. Olivia nodded.
“Yeah. I should just set it aside for now.”
“That’s the answer, then?”
“Yes. I want to find an answer, but it doesn’t feel like the right time yet.”
She couldn’t know where Yugin had gotten such certainty. But if his words were true, then someday Olivia would feel that truth in her bones.
Thinking about it that way, her heart felt remarkably light.
As the sun began to set, the breeze grew rather pleasant—the training ground’s heated floor had cooled.
Olivia welcomed the breeze that whistled in with her whole body and asked Panya something.
The last concern she’d clung to even after letting everything else go.
“Panya. If something I thought I’d never have in my whole life turns out I already had all along… would that be a good thing?”
Once she said it aloud, the question’s answer became starkly clear. Even before Panya could respond, Olivia realized the truth and laughed somewhat hollowly.
“No, it’s a good thing.”
“Of course it’s a good thing. Why are you even worrying about it?”
“You’re right. It should be obvious, so why did I agonize over it?”
“Olivia, your problem is always overthinking. Try living a simpler life for once.”
Yes. This was a good thing.
Cesare’s face, then her father’s, flickered through Olivia’s mind in quick succession. The memory of that day when access to the Guardian Stone had been absolutely forbidden also surfaced unbidden.
“Olivia. Absolutely, never again… don’t go anywhere near that place.”
“Why not? Why can’t I go there?”
“Listen to your father. It’s for all our sakes.”
If Yugin’s words were true, then perhaps…
‘Did Father think I would take what was Cesare’s?’
Cesare, for his part, had protested the restriction to their father multiple times, calling it unjust. But their father remained unmoved.
Olivia blinked thoughtfully.
‘This is going to be annoying.’
If she truly awakened the Power of Brainwashing, it would bring a great many tiresome complications.
Even her parents wouldn’t be pleased. The power was supposed to belong to the heir, generation after generation.
Because Olivia knew that, she had never been curious about the power. Or rather, she had tried not to be.
But she already had it. She had the ability to wield it all along.
‘Then things change a little.’
She still had no intention of becoming the heir. Let Cesare take on that burdensome role. But she should at least learn to wield it properly. Fire kindled in Olivia’s resolve.
“All right. Then I’ll push myself harder.”
“Huh? Push yourself at what?”
“I need to become someone worthy of this power. That means training harder.”
“…I’m a little worried. I think I might’ve said too much.”
What’s there to worry about? Training harder is a good thing.
Now that she thought about it, the training during the few days Aiden was away had felt rather light.
And yet here she was, still laughing and chatting well after training ended? That couldn’t be right.
“Let’s go.”
“Where?”
“Where else? We need to train.”
“W-w-w-we just finished training!”
“No, think about it properly. We haven’t finished yet.”
“No! You’re the one who hasn’t finished! I’m done.”
“You can stand on both legs after training? And the sun hasn’t even fully set yet! This is wrong. Deeply, fundamentally wrong.”
Olivia would grow stronger. And to do that, she needed to work hard.
“Come on, let’s go!”
“Ugh. The instructor ruined us all.”
Despite her whimpers, Panya followed Olivia. Bennett, who had been loitering nearby and tried to flee the moment their bickering started, was caught by Panya’s hand and dragged into the center of the Training Ground without exception.
Thud, crack!
Soon enough, the Training Ground filled with the dull sounds of three people training. If Aiden had seen it, he would have wept and clapped his hands.
Meanwhile, some distance away.
“Why are they training again? Didn’t they just finish?”
“Who knows… they say it’s voluntary training. They’ve all lost their minds. Aiden corrupted them all.”
“I’m telling you, we should’ve talked him out of it more forcefully back then!”
The members of the Lux Knight Brigade, watching from their hiding place, shook their heads and muttered among themselves.
As they continued their whispered gossip, a brief silence fell among them. After a moment, someone carefully spoke up.
“But you know, I’ve been thinking about it for a while now…”
“What?”
“She seems sincere. Respectful and all.”
“You mean Olivia, the Kishear Heir? I mean, Miss Olivia?”
“Yeah. Well, Bennett and Panya seem like decent people too, I guess.”
“I don’t know about all that, but she’s definitely got steel. Young people these days are scary.”
Unknown to Olivia herself, the antagonism and wariness the Lux Knight Brigade members held toward her was gradually, day by day, beginning to fade.
The day their relationship would shift was drawing near.
And a few days later.
Splash!
“I shall demand payment for that insult. I’m challenging you to a duel.”
The dynamic between Olivia and the brigade members began to change rapidly. Because of an annoying incident neither she wanted nor intended.
* * *
A few days before Olivia and the Lux Knight Brigade members would grow “quite” close.
“Mm. The weather’s quite nice today too.”
Olivia headed toward the knight brigade with a brisk stride. Her footsteps felt quite light.
She’d grown quite accustomed to the brush-covered entrance and the narrow footpath leading to the brigade. By now it felt like one of the brigade’s defining characteristics.
Lately her mood had been unusually good. With constant training day and night, she had no time to feel Aiden’s absence, and her body had grown a bit stronger from the effort.
Because of that, she’d naturally found more time to think calmly about the conversations she’d had with Yugin.
“Even if I awaken my power… wouldn’t it be risky to stand against them with just that?”
“Don’t worry about that. We’ll reclaim our position as well. When that happens, there will be many places where we can seek cooperation.”
“Reclaim our position… do you mean restoring our standing?”
“Now it’s time for that. We’ve endured much and bowed low for long enough, haven’t we?”
She didn’t know what method Yugin was considering. But she sincerely hoped it would happen that way.
Olivia had spent barely a month as a member of the Lux Knight Brigade, yet she had already grown fonder of this place than the time she’d spent warranted.
There were many hardworking people here. And there were many who quietly did what needed doing, indifferent to others’ judgments.
Olivia had always believed such people deserved proper recognition.
That’s why people should be shown respect—
“The Emperor is certainly merciful. Look at him giving brigade grounds to these lowly insects just because they call themselves knights.”
Proper respect, that is…
“I beg your pardon? What did you just say?”
“Did I say something wrong? Ah, well, I suppose someone needs to clean up the trash.”
What is this situation?
Olivia turned from her path toward the Training Ground and headed toward the Knights Garden instead. She could hear voices stirring from that direction.
“These so-called knights stick around and act like they can do anything, but they’re useless at everything.”
Harsh words were pouring out. From other brigade members toward the Lux Knight Brigade members.
Olivia’s face hardened into stone.

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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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