Chapter 19 - Volume 2

Family Arc – Lycoris and the Voluntary Service

I’ve made the blunder of a lifetime.

What was it about?

It was about the time when I was clinging to that girl, shivering and shaking like a leaf.

After hearing about my real father through my mother, my life has been filled with troubles to the extent that it could be called a drama.

But no matter what kind of cheap drama this was, having the Duke’s Family take charge of the main character and having them all live happily ever after as the story’s conclusion might not be how the plot would go about being written. At the very least, the word『Duke』should not have been used.

What’s more, of the five Duke families.

In this country, it was only those five families and no other family, whose influence shined radiantly if seen from the viewpoint of the masses.

The Duke of Lilia, Kaffir Radiata, was in fact, a person worthy of respect.

To be upfront, my real father, Narcissus Rankgerüste, in comparison, was not.

Initially, for sure, I’d been vigilant against the impression of a crafty adult, however, he didn’t even have one unreasonable bone in him, he treated me the same way as he would his beloved daughter, Lycoris.

I definitely have no intention of saying this out loud, but at the time that my mother told me 『you know, your father is an aristocrat』, his conduct was what I’d imagined my father to be.

No, more than imagination, it exceeded that of being considerably indulgent.

And, supposed to be shining in the same influence was the duke’s daughter, Lycoris Radiata.

Although even to me, her demeanor and conduct were as one would expect from the duke’s daughter, the things she says when she opens her mouth are all considerably frank. Having observed my real sister, Crinum, I had been under the impression that this was what an aristocrat’s sheltered daughter was supposed to be like. For that to be the exact opposite of her disposition astounds me even until this day.

Lycoris had reluctantly accepted the fact that I became her step brother, but now that I was attempting to start a new life, she already seemed just like a mother bird building a nest since she tirelessly tended to my affairs.

「This is your room, right?」

「This is yours. Including me and Father too, if someone comes in without permission, it’s fine to get angry at them」

She had gone out of her way to do this task of explaining it to me.

That is to say, she was trying to make it clear what my so called privileges are with regards to this family. I won’t say that it was her endeavor, in particular, that had borne the fruit, but, while not very much time had gone by, I felt like my own room in the duke’s house became a『place where I belonged』. At the very least, the room was much more than what was given in the Rankgerüste mansion.

But, having said that.

There’s no way I’d say that with this I’d reconcile with her – no, with that woman.

The first of that woman’s unforgivable acts was, for sure, coming to wake me up early in the morning.

For me, who had been accustomed to the night street’s life since I had been aware of my surroundings, a life sleeping from the rising sun had been the norm. Though if that time was compared to the life sleeping at night that one gets accustomed to, I was weak in the morning.

That woman did it – roaring mercilessly close to my ear, tearing off my futon without exception; one time, I ended up dropping from the bed along with my futon. An apology immediately followed, but since there was laughter in her voice, I won’t let her off for this.

In addition, she’s been forcing me to eat breakfast without fail.

When I refused to eat, she’d have a smug look on her face, saying:

『That’s the reason why even though so much time has passed, you’re still skinny, you know. Although your arm is much more slender than mine, what’s with that – are you proud of it?』

Do you think there would be a possibility that I would be?

The second of that woman’s unforgivable acts was, the fact that she keeps tricking me into doing things using that eloquent mouth of hers.

That woman – she kept bringing up the time she helped me after my father got mad that one time in the Rankgerüste mansion, saying things like, 『even though you were really cute then』 or『if you can’t sleep at night, I can read you a book』, as she had come to tease me with. I already feel like I had no chance of winning with words against this fellow. Honestly, the fact that I requested aid from this girl, earning me a blunder at that time, had been regrettable.

Even now, this was still the case.

「Voluntary service – how about it?」

Having personally heard the completely out-of-character words, I’d attempted resistance just in case.

「Well, I don’t have any interest in it. If you ask me, who is of commoner origin, I’d say things like these are a nobles’ deceits」

「Yeah yeah. But among the group of children invited today, I’d imagine they wouldn’t know such a word as 『deceit』. Just with a candy or a meal, they’d be happy, you know. Well – they are pure. Unlike you」

「I dislike children」

「Because you’re a child yourself?」

This was exactly what I mean.

In the end, somehow or the other, having been tricked into this, I ended up being the attendant assigned to handle those misbehaving brats.

As for that woman, she was attempting to get a group of children to learn manners even just a little through an absoluteee~ly useless endeavor. Although it was only to train them how to properly use a napkin, as far as the children were concerned, the likes of using the beautiful napkins was probably more inconceivable than using their own clothes. Even as they were told that it was okay to dirty the napkins, they were all but bewildered.

From the beginning, a birthplace and even an upbringing would make a difference as heaven and earth for humans, for them to try to surround the only dining table was itself a mistake.

Having these sardonic thoughts, I gazed in that direction; whatever Lycoris was thinking, with a pure, spotless white napkin, she straight out wiped the face of a child who had dirtied the corner of his mouth the most.

Although the white napkin had tragically turned dirty, she reassured them and smiled, this was how it was to be used, she directed.

Thereafter the children mimicked her actions, instead of their clothes, they used a napkin to wipe their mouths and hands.

For some reason or another, as I watched, I carried an unsatisfied feeling within me.

–to tell you the truth.

For my body, the habit of waking up early in the morning, had already been indelibly ingrained.

In the morning, I feel slightly awake from hearing the noisy chirps of the birds and, though my eyes still did not open, due to the aroma of the freshly-baked bread, my stomach will grumble in hunger. A little bit more after that and she’d probably come, I think at the back of my head.

Whether it was somehow my body’s calculating way. Or whether the surrender to the duke family’s tranquil life quickened this much, it was to the extent that I felt tamed.

All of a sudden, with my eyebrows narrowing my field of vision, was a child, who had consumed more than enough portions of the meal for a small body, running up to Lycoris. It was the child whose face she’d wiped earlier on.

The small child, who was difficult to identify as a girl or a boy even by looking, also had the audacity to blush while looking up at Lycoris. With Lycoris bending down to match the child, it frantically made some kind of conversation with her.

「ーーーーBig sister Lycoris～～～～」

The brat probably didn’t properly understand the difference in social position, calling Lycoris, “big sister”, without a care.

「Rather, she’s not your big sister, right?」

The words that were only murmured surprisingly reverberated across the large dining hall; After she’d looked in my direction with surprise, whether it was a look of happiness or of craftiness, she grinned broadly.

I’ve made the blunder of a lifetime.

Firi: Hi guys, Family Arc is now over. Now off to the next volume. But may I know, did anyone buy the second LN?

I want to see the images so badly. Would anyone like to share the images with me? I don’t need the entire book, but I do want to see the pretty pictures. As a trade off, I’ll upload the first chapter earlier, IF, I see all the pictures. Well you could also donate for this hobby of mine, and I can buy it myself… hihihi.

tldr; I’m shamelessly begging. Give me pictures = Faster updates. It will definitely drive me to translate even faster.