Chapter 172

“You must be tired, don’t work too hard. I should have known better than to take advantage of your frail body.”

“Big Brother, I am enjoying myself. Everyone is so friendly and welcoming.”

“Yes, of course. With your beauty, it’s no wonder they appreciate you so much.”

“Oh my, Big Brother, you.”

The siscon filter is also strong today!

“Big Brother, don’t be so hard on yourself. You are not good at this kind of activity, right?”

“Well, I’m not a crowd-pleaser. Besides, I’m not good at fake smiles. Thinking back on it, I guess I was repulsed by the idea that a favor obtained only by ostentatious affection would be of any use.”

The bastard father who didn’t work was disgusting, but he was outgoing and good at pleasing everyone. It was only natural that he would end up hating it.

Smiling softly, Alexei hugged his sister’s shoulder, and the city’s people gave the day’s biggest cheer. It was a big cheer.

After a few moments of waving together, Alexei spoke clearly.

“Thank you, everyone. I’m glad to see you all here today. It’s getting late. Go home and have a meal… and so do we.”

With that, the window was closed, but at the last moment, the words echoed through the air as one member of the territory shouted louder and louder.

“We wish you happiness!”

***

The next day, the Duke of Yurinova and his entourage departed earlier than planned from the Minor Lord’s residence.

The capital was already quite close to the city. Therefore, they had planned to leave late, but early this morning, the people gathered around the Minor Lord’s mansion one after another. The Duke and Ekaterina wondered what was going on, but it turned out to be people just wanted to catch a glimpse of the Duke and his sibling. The unexpectedly large number of people might make it impossible to proceed with the carriage, so they had to depart earlier than expected.

(Wait…did I overdo it a bit?)

Ekaterina was sweating profusely inwardly. She didn’t expect this to happen just by waving her hands.

She was clearly misunderstood and cheered yesterday, but she thought it was just a wave of the hand, which may be a strange reflection of the disappointing thoughts of romantic relationships. Just as honesty may not always be a virtue, neither was showing appreciation necessarily good.

And Alexei, too, may not understand the meaning of a misunderstood cheer. He thinks it was only a congratulatory gesture to himself as the new duke and to his sister, who has regained her position as the duchess. In a strange way, they resemble each other.

Knight Commander Rozen bowed to Ekaterina with a generous smile.

“Young Lady, do not worry. We, the Knights, will surely protect you both. Besides, the people of the land adore His Excellency and the Young Lady with all their hearts. If you smile at them with the same ease and confidence as you did yesterday on your remaining journey, they will all be moved by the Young Lady’s kindness. Please enter the Castle of Yurinova amidst the cheers of the people.”

…I wondered why Rozen-san seemed to be reopening the situation.

She wasn’t sure why, but Novak was in a similar mood before they left. But there was nothing wrong with everyone being excited, right?

All right, another day of hard work for Big Brother!

So, Ekaterina was smiling and waving today as well.

Surprisingly, her face didn’t twitch. But instead, she was having fun. It was probably because everyone gathered there was smiling with joy. It was easy to smile back at them.

And Alexei, in his cool way, seemed to be enjoying himself as well, likely because Ekaterina was trying to entertain him by spotting someone in the crowd she was interested in and talking about it to him.

However, Alexei was more amused that his sister seemed to be enjoying herself than the effort.