(IRAOS) Chapter 52

‘My brothers are fools.’

Yurina’s three older brothers, Riggs, Edwin, and Justin Carthia really cherished their youngest sister, Yurina, like the silly older brothers in romance fantasy novels. They literally, ‘terribly’ cherished her.

Riggs, who had a calm personality, was a little less, but Edwin and Justin, who were hot-tempered, uncharacteristic of the Carthia family, were so affectionate to Yurina that she could not handle them.

Ever since she was little, whenever they saw Yurina, they held her in their arms and kissed her on the face, saying she was cute, and they also sent Yurina letters and gifts every week from the academy.

‘It was really hard back then.’

Now they felt like real brothers, but when everything was unfamiliar shortly after she came here, their affection was just burdensome.

She couldn’t help it. When Yurina was 10, Riggs was 16, and Edwin and Justin were 13. Unfamiliar boys, who felt much younger than her, poured out excessive affection to Yurina, which made her feel embarrassed.

Still, Yurina couldn’t express her dislike openly because of her conscience that hated her older brothers, so she slowly avoided them. However, when Edwin, who had been chasing after her, tried to kiss her on the mouth, she could not bear it and quickly ran away, getting fed up.

At that time, the three older brothers were speechless with very shocked faces. She thought she did something very mean, but Yurina was also in shock and didn’t even look at them.

– This is ridiculous!

Edwin, who saw it, jumped like an angry foal, saying that Yurina must have forgotten his face because she had not seen him for a long time since he was attending the academy. In the end, the servants were stunned by his ridiculous insistence that he did not want to return to the academy.

At that time, Yurina thought that he was pathetic from a really objective point of view.

In the end, after Yurina kissed Edwin on the cheek, he returned to the academy with a satisfied face. Since then, the three men have worked even harder at the academy to send letters and gifts, and often visited the mansion whenever they had the chance.

Perhaps thanks to such efforts, Yurina became familiar with the three older brothers and they felt like her real older brothers.

‘Although the excessive affection is still a little strange.’

Yurina smiled naturally to comfort the two men who were still in shock.

“My brothers are bothering me. It’s because I’m worried about my brothers getting tired.”

Only then did the two men smile brightly.

“I’m not tired at all!”

“That’s right. If you’re tired of training this much, you can’t be called a knight. I didn’t see you this morning, so I wanted to see you now.”

“That’s a relief.”

“By the way, Yurina, who is your escort for the hunting competition?”

“Escort?”

Yurina could not answer immediately. There were so many things to prepare that she didn’t even think about it because she was busy. After hearing Edwin’s question a little while ago, Yurina belatedly thought, ‘That’s right, I have to think about an escort as well.’

“Won’t father do it for me?”

“Did father say he would?”

“No, that’s not it…”

In hunting competitions as well as in public places, escorts are usually lovers or fiancés. If there is no lover or fiancé, it is common for family members to do it.

Since Yurina doesn’t have both, her family has to do it, but she wondered if her father, the oldest, would do it.

However, as if it wasn’t the answer he wanted, Edwin raised his eyebrows and rubbed his chin.

“Hmm, is that so?”

As he glanced at Justin with a strange expression on his face, Justin also faced Edwin with a look that seemed to be up to something.

“What are you thinking about?”

“It’s nothing.”

“Yeah. It’s nothing.”

Their smiles seemed too suspicious to pass over as nothing. However, Yurina did not ask anymore.

* * *

“Lady.”

Yurina, who had already completed two handkerchiefs and was making the third handkerchief, looked up at the door. One of the servants bowed towards her in front of the door.

“The young masters said they had something to tell you.”

“Yes?”

“I’ll guide you.”

Yurina followed the servant and left the room. As she walked down the bustling hallway with servants, she suddenly had a question.

‘Why are you looking for me?’

Her brothers came directly if they had something to say, so they didn’t tell Yurina to come. The reason was that her pretty older brothers would have a hard time.

When Yurina expressed her doubts, the servant stopped and smiled awkwardly.

“Well, you’ll know when you go, My Lady.”

Instead of questioning further, Yurina motioned to guide her quickly. It was only after she arrived at the training grounds after following her that she could understand what she meant. Edwin and Justin, who had called her, were fighting with the support of the knights.

‘You called me?’

When Yurina silently looked at the servant, she was restless and placed a chair in the corner of the training hall.

“He said to wait a moment.”

“Yes?”

Yurina sat down on the chair she prepared for her without further voicing her thoughts. She couldn’t figure out why her brothers were asking her to wait, but she decided to wait silently because there was nothing urgent.

Only then did the servant bow with a relieved face and hurried into the mansion.

‘It’ll be over soon anyway.’

However, contrary to her expectations, the two continued their fierce confrontation for quite a while. Whenever she heard the sound of wooden swords clashing, suppressed exclamations leaked from the knights who were holding their breath.

Unlike them, Yurina watched their spar with a gloomy face. She had no interest in swords at all and was more concerned about the sand in the training grounds than the twin’s battle, who had a lot to learn just by looking at them.

Besides, sitting still for more than ten minutes under the scorching sun was like death. It was still the end of winter, so the sun wasn’t too hot, but Bessie made a fuss and gave her a parasol, so that she could not bask in the sunlight.

There were a lot of eyes on Yurina, so she pressed down on her hot face with a smile, and suddenly a shadow fell over her head.

‘Is it Bessie?’

Yurina looked back slowly to say thank you and smiled brightly when she saw the man smiling.

“Older brother.”

It was Riggs Carthia. Yurina’s eldest brother. He was wearing a training uniform, perhaps because he found her while going out to the training grounds to practice.

“What are you doing here?”

“I was watching my brothers spar.”

Riggs raised his eyebrows slightly as if he were surprised.

“What kind of wind suddenly blew? Are you interested because the hunting competition is getting closer?”

Yurina shook her head lightly.

“It’s not like that, I came out because my brothers said they were looking for me, but I was waiting because they were in a match. I thought it would be over soon, but it’s not.”

“Hmm, really?”

Riggs glanced at Edwin and Justin with unimpressed eyes. He immediately shrugged his shoulders once and slightly pinched Yurina’s cheek. Yurina deliberately looked at him with a pouty face, but in reality it didn’t hurt at all.

Unlike the twins who were hot-tempered, Riggs Carthia was so calm that anyone could tell that he was a member of Carthia.

Unlike the twins who had been constantly sticking to Yurina since childhood, kissing and hugging her, his expressions of affection were also tame. All he did was pinch her cheeks or pat her head when Yurina looked as cute as she was now.

Yurina thought that he was more sparing of her than she thought, but that wasn’t the case. One day, when he returned to the mansion from vacation, Yurina fell ill with a serious fever, and he cried next to Yurina saying that his sister must not die. It happened when she was sixteen.

Of course, compared to the twins who were bawling with tears and runny nose, he was calm, but Yurina fully felt his affection at that time.

‘It’s better to be calm like this.’

Now, she feels like they’re her real older brothers, but at the time when she wasn’t completely Yurina, she liked the calm Riggs the most. It was also Riggs who opened her heart first.

“Brother, doesn’t your leg hurt? Shall I ask them to bring a chair?”

“It’s okay. I’m going to practice right after they’re finished. By the way, are you preparing for the hunting competition well?”

“There’s nothing to do well at. There’s nothing for me to do.”

“Is that so?”

He let out a small laugh. Unlike his mature face, he had a youthful smile. Somehow, she felt better, so Yurina laughed too.

Then Riggs suddenly asked with a voice mixed with laughter.

“Oh, right. Who is going to be your escort?”

“Isn’t father going to do it?”

In particular, Marquis Carthia did not say he would do it, but Yurina naturally thought so. However, looking at him tilting his head, she asked back in an unconfident voice.

“No?”

“Didn’t father tell you?”

“What?”

“Yes, one of us was supposed to be the escort. Father said he might return to the villa early to see mother.”

“Oh, really?”

Riggs looked at Yurina who nodded without much emotion, leaned his back to meet her eye level. Then he smiled with his eyes.

“Yurina, do you want your older brother to escort you?”

“Okay.”

“That’s good, but aren’t you answering too quickly?”

Yurina shook her head at him, who was playfully complaining that it didn’t matter who it was.