Chapter 11

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“That’s enough.”

Mathias snubbed Joel’s provocation.

“Joel, did you hear that? Liti doesn’t even call you brother. She calls you Master Joel.”

Joel’s frustrated expression remained intact at Mathias’ provocation. Mathias shrugged his shoulders and strode toward Lestia.

He then grabbed Lestia by the waist, who was holding a stuffed rabbit and lifted her up.

Startled by this sudden action, Lestia grasped the rabbit doll tightly and looked at Mathias.

Before she could say anything else, Mathias smirked and said loudly,

“I’m so happy, Liti! I never imagined that I had a sister!”

“What? Liti? My name is Lestia.”

“Yes, yes, it’s a pet name. Liti, Liti, Liti. That’s what I’ll call you. I decided as soon as I heard your name.”

Mathias began to spin Lestia around.

“What…?”

Lestia was puzzled.

One time, she saw a girl of her age playing with her father like this.

She was jealous at the time. But now that she was experiencing it, she felt so dizzy.

It was as intense an experience as trying it for the first time.

Lestia had no choice but to scream in impatience.

“Master Mathias! I’m dizzy. Please let me down!”

“What? Master Mathias? No, no. Liti, repeat after me, ‘brother Mathias’.”

“Huh?”

Lestia was at a loss of words when she was told to call him brother.

“Yes. That’s right. I’m not letting you down until you call me big brother!”

Mathias said and didn’t stop spinning around. He was on the verge of not really letting her down at this point.

In the end, Lestia had no choice but to say what Mathias wanted.

“Please let me down, brother Mathias!”

“Ha! I love you! My sister is the best!”

Mathias burst out laughing gaily and hugged Lestia, then he gently lowered her to the ground.

Then he shouted overjoyed at Joel and Lysian.

“Hahaha! You two, Liti has never called you brother, has she? Well, that’s too bad.”

Joel and Lysian’s expressions sank coldly for a moment as they watched Mathias’s actions.

It felt like the sweetest thing was taken away from them by someone who hadn’t made any effort.

Of course, not knowing how they felt, Lestia rolled her eyes nervously when the atmosphere suddenly became quiet.

‘It was my fault. I was thoughtless.’

She shouldn’t have called him brother unless it was certain that she’s a member of the Verchester’s.

Lestia lowered her head like a habit and looked down at her toes, feeling gloomy.

But what was in her field of vision was not the tattered shoes that dominated her mind, but the large rabbit doll that Joel had given her.

It was staring at Lestia as if to comfort her with its adorably placed little eyes, nose, and mouth. The nervousness seemed to subside a little.

“Lestia, I’m glad you’re finally able to say the word brother.”

Joel was the first to break the silence and approach Lestia.

“That shows how well you’ve adapted to Verchester, right?”

His voice was meltingly sweet and gentle. It made Lestia forget the cold atmosphere from earlier.

But then, unexpectedly, the surprise began again.

“Lestia, I also want to hear it, can you call me brother?”

“Huh……?”

Lestia’s hands naturally tightened as she hugged the stuffed rabbit.

“Well, can’t we do that again?”

Come to think of it, this was already the second time Joel had asked her this kind of request. She couldn’t do it the first time.

However, when she met Mathias for the first time today, she called him brother without hesitation.

Although she had no choice but to do so because she was involved in a prank…. Suddenly she felt some kind of guilt rising in her chest.

“I know. If you find it hard then you don’t have to.”

But Joel never got angry, and was always kind to her.

She wanted to repay him for that kindness.

‘This time…I have to say……’

Lestia gulped and said in a small voice, gathering her courage.

“No, brother Joel. You asked me to do this the other day…… It seemed difficult at the time.”

“Oh, Lestia.”

Joel smiled broadly, feeling happy that Lestia finally called him brother.

“No, there’s no need to feel sorry at all. So you’ll continue to call me brother?”

“Yes, if you don’t mind.”

Lestia gave a small nod, and Joel reached out and patted Lestia’s head.

“I’m glad, thank you, Lestia.”

“It’s nothing, brother Joel.”

Joel looked straight at Mathias and Lysian with a triumphant look on his face.

He had a smug look on his face even more than that of Mathias’s.

Now, out of all the Verchester men present, the only one who didn’t hear the word ‘brother’ from Lestia was Lysian.

‘It’s childish.’

Lysian twisted his lips and made an impression that this competition was ridiculous.

Lestia, on the other hand, was wondering if she should call Lysian ‘brother’ too. So she spoke cautiously to ask for opinions.

“I’m sorry….”

But Lysian spoke bluntly before Lestia could say anything else.

“I’m fine with whatever you call them. Just leave out the word Master and feel free to call me Lysian instead.”

To Lestia, however, that was more difficult than using the word ‘brother’.

It just seemed inappropriate to call a high class person like him ‘Lysian’ intimately.

He was such a noble and amazing person that Lestia couldn’t call his name recklessly.

Because of Lestia’s troubled expression, Lysian was the first to speak.

“Don’t worry. Do as you please.”

Then he turned to Joel and said,

“Joel, there’s something I need to discuss with you. Let’s talk in private for a moment.”

“Hm? Lysian, why are you so serious?”

Joel met Lysian’s gaze and said while smiling at Lestia.

“Lestia, please wait here for a moment. I’ll be right back. Mathias…you can just ignore him.”

“Ignore me?”

Then Mathias immediately picked up Lestia.

“What are you teaching my sister, Joel? I’m going to be a nice big brother and spend some quality time with her, so hurry up and go.”

Mathias held Lestia and took her to a large sofa in the corner of the study and sat her down. Then he asked her in a sweet voice.

“Liti, Liti, Liti. What do you want to play?”

“Huh?”

“Say it. I’ll play with you any way you want, Liti.”

Lestia was having a hard time figuring out how to deal with Mathias, who suddenly wanted to play with her.

She wanted to ask someone for help, but Lysian and Joel already walked out of the study.

“Liti, you don’t think this brother is too old to play, do you? That’s terrible. I’m only eighteen.”

When Lestia’s reply was delayed, Mathias began to urge her on, almost crying.

At this point, it was almost impossible to know who was playing with whom.

“That’s …… that’s not true!”

Lestia couldn’t think of a single thing about how she should play with Mathias.

When was the last time she played with her friend?

There was no time to play because she had to sell flowers from early in the morning until late at night, every day.

Her uncle chased away all the kids of her age who wanted to get to know Lestia.

So it was the first time for her to think about how to play.

She couldn’t solve this problem by herself. Lestia decided to speak honestly.

“It’s just that I don’t know how to play ……”

But with those words, about a million question marks popped out in those purple eyes of his.

“You don’t know how to play? Then what did you usually do in the mansion? Didn’t you play with Lysian?”

As soon as the name Lysian was mentioned, Lestia answered immediately.

“Oh, brother Lysian has been teaching me the official language of the Empire!”

“Huh? That’s not a game.”

“But ….it’s fun.”

Mathias immediately frowned at that answer.

“Good grief. Is that all you do?”

“Oh, I’ve read books and I’ve taken walks….!”

“Walks! Good! How far have you gone?”

Mathias raised his voice at the word ‘walk’. It sounded as if that was what he wanted to do. Lestia, thinking she had finally found the answer, smiled broadly and said,

“The garden of the mansion! The garden of the Verchester mansion is truly magnificent.”

But her answer made Mathias look even grimmer than before.

“That means you’ve never been out of the mansion before?”

“Yes? Yes.”

Lestia nodded as Mathias hugged her and shouted.

“Oh my God….poor Liti. You couldn’t play properly because you met the wrong brothers.”

“What?”

Lestia looked at Mathias in disbelief.

Mathias looked at Lestia with a wistful look as if he was about to burst into tears.

“Yes. The house of Verchester is a frustrating place. Gerard is a perfectionist, Joel is a model student, and Lysian is unsociable and uninteresting.”

Then he continued talking with a serious expression.

“It’s been 18 years since I’ve been in this tight family…I got a deep realization. I’m just glad it’s finally time to pass it on to someone.”

“Deep realization?”

“It’s the realization that there are people in Verchester who were born to just have fun. The truth is that I’m okay to be on my own.”

Lestia was having a hard time understanding what Mathias was saying.

“Come on, Liti! This third brother will teach you how to enjoy life!”

“How to enjoy life?”

“Come on, let’s go!”

Mathias grabbed Lestia’s wrist without hesitation and ran straight out the door, thinking it was time for Joel and Lysian to go away.