CH 42

“Will!!”

Brother Oluris, who seemed to have left his horse at the front gate, came running up to us at a great speed.

“Are you hurt?!”

He grabbed Brother Will’s shoulders and shouted as he visually confirmed Brother Will’s safety.

Then immediately, he seemed to notice the duel going on in the hall along with the situation, and blinked his eyes.

“………Huh?’’

“Oh, Brother…well…I’m not hurt, but…”

Brother Oluris turned bright red in the blink of an eye.

And while he was being held by his shoulders, Brother Will was also turning red.

“Oh……so the magic was activated just in a duel…?”

“Yes, Brother Oluris. The duel between my father and Brother Will triggered the magic. No one was injured.”

As I was explaining, Brother Oluris turned red and then pale, and then he turned around and started to run away towards the entrance.

But Brother Will hurriedly called out to him.

“Brother, please wait! Wh-Why did you have me carry a talisman like that?!”

Brother Oluris stopped at the sound of his voice.

“………I was worried……and…”

“What were you worried about…Because Brother, you…”

When I lost my temper, you tried to harm me…

Brother Oluris slowly turned to Brother Will who had lowered his eyebrows with a voice that sounded like he was about to cry.

“……That…well…”

Brother Oluris timidly tried to say something, but then shut his mouth.

There must be a reason for this.

It wasn’t because he’s a game capture target or anything. The Brother Oluris that I had come to know was not someone who would hurt another person just by arguing with them.

Even Brother Will must have also felt that way, even though he was hurt and angry. Now that I knew about the amulet, I felt even more convinced of that.

“Brother Oluris. There must be some circumstances, right? Can you please tell me?”

As I offered a statement to help, Brother Oluris looked at me.

“Alice…You’re right…I can’t just run away from it, just like how you never ran away from your hardships…”

Muttering this, Brother Oluris squeezed his eyes shut and clenched his fists.

Then he looked up.

“…Mother, Will. Will you listen to me?”

“–!! Yes, Brother.”

“Of course, Oluris. Can you tell me…?”

When Brother Oluris said this to them with a somewhat upward glance, Brother Will and Aunt Felicia looked nervous and fixed their appearance.

“I used to be good at plant magic, but…about two years ago, I started to lose control of it.”

“……Eh?!”

Brother Will and Aunt Felicia were surprised.

I nodded my head, wondering if this was such a surprise, but Matilda, who was beside me, told me in a whisper.

“Alice-sama. I’ve heard that a person’s attributes and the quality of their magic power never degenerates. They may become skilled and good at it, but it can’t really become worse…so this is very unusual and rare…”

“I see…Thank you.”

When I thanked her in a whisper, Matilda smiled and stepped back.

“When I’m calm, I’m fine, but when I’m sad or scared, the plants nearby get angry and start attacking on their own. When I start to get angry, it’s hard to stop the plants even when I ask them to. These days, even hearing a maid’s innuendo or getting a little sad makes the plants in the room start shifting and buzzing in anger…I’m too scared to go near people anymore…”

Brother Oluris was in a lonely daze.

Brother Will and Aunt Felicia looked at each other, seemingly convinced by the short exchange, saying, “So every time we tried to discuss it, the plants were going wild…”

…Hmmm? I see. So is it that?

Was it the kind of thing where there was trouble because a yandere spirit loved you too much?

As I was thinking about that, Brother Will spoke up.

“But then why…why didn’t you say so at the time? No, it’s been…two years now. If you had said something, I could have helped you–!”

At Brother Will’s words, Aunt Felicia also couldn’t help but speak out.

“Yes, why did you not tell me about such an important matter? I don’t have the Virgil’s powers, but my husband and Will could have done something about it–!”

Hearing this, Brother Oluris spoke painfully.

“Mother, I am truly sorry. I am just a person who has no confidence. I’m…and yet I’m confiding in you about my fatal flaws…I was raised to be the Virgil’s heir, and the thought of not being able to fulfill that was frightening…too frightening to bear.”

Brother Oluris, who’s tears had started to fall, continued.

“When I couldn’t find a solution after reading through the family’s library, I was going to hand over the inheritance of the house to Will and quietly disappear somewhere else…I’m sorry for continuing to trouble everyone because of me. I’m really, really sorry that I kept making you sad, too, Will…”

Brother Oluris had finally started crying in earnest.

Upon hearing Brother Oluris’ apology and the circumstances, Brother Will sounded frustrated and sad, but at the same time relieved.

“…If it wasn’t on purpose, then I forgive you for what happened, Brother…Maybe it’s more the fault of our family members, who didn’t try to get to know Brother better and instead only saw him as a danger…I’ll have to ask you to forgive me…”

Brother Will said so with a lump in his throat, but Brother Oluris shook his head.

“That’s not true, Will! It was because everyone kept asking me over and over that I started the problem. My father kept waiting for me without punishing me, and didn’t disown me…But I was scared, and just kept hiding–!”

“Oluris…”

Aunt Felicia was holding her chest in pain.

“Both of us were afraid and kept our distance…But Oluris was all alone. I, as your mother, should have trusted you to the end. I’m sorry, Oluris…”

“Mother…”

Brother Oluris looked terribly surprised at that.

And then,

He laughed while crying, just like a beautiful flower.

“No…I’m sorry–Ah, thank you…”

Brother Oluris expressed his gratitude while laughing.

“Oh, that…? Alice-sama, please look at this!”

Yulena made a startled sound.

At the same time, my eyes widened.

I was surprised to see that flowers and plants were growing out from under Brother Oluris’s feet, and one by one, those flowers were growing into full bloom one after another.

‘Great Spirit-sama?!’–I was tempted to blurt out, but I help myself back.

“Oh, wow, wow…!”

Looking at his feet, Brother Oluris staggered back and forth. Seeing this, Brother Will burst out.

“Hahaha! You really do react to emotions. That would certainly make it hard to go out in public.”

“Ugh…”

Brother Oluris looked embarrassed and cringed.

As I watched this scene with a chuckle, the duel that had been going on behind me also seemed to be over.

Applause and cheers echoed in the garden of the party venue.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

T/N: I’m so happy that the issue was cleared up~!

Anyway, there’s just one more chapter left until Part 2 is over. Then we can finally go into Part 3 and read about the Magic Academy!