Chapter 26

Translated by Momo & edited by Mary

The following day, Cecilia looked like a mossy garden statue.

Sitting on a bench located between the dormitory and the school, she was facing down, stunned and completely still on that spot.

All the students who passed by noticed her abnormal behaviour, but because of her hard-to-approach atmosphere, they pretended to ignore it.

The reason she became utterly stunned was, of course, because of Gilbert.

Cecilia got ready to go to school earlier than usual today. She did that because she wanted to apologize to Gilbert when he came to pick her up every morning.

He always arrived early to meet Cecilia. Usually, she wouldn’t be ready to leave and he had to wait a good amount of time, but today, Cecilia hoped to spend that extra time on her apology.

However, Gilbert didn’t show up even after some time had passed. Cecilia, who had already charged up herself, decided to go to Gilbert’s room instead, but he had already left for school.

In other words, Gilbert had left her behind.

(This has never happened before …)

They have been siblings for twelve years. Of course, they quarrelled before. However, they had always reconciled the next day. This is the first time they had a disagreement that lasted this long.

“What are you doing in this kind of place?”

She looked up and saw Oscar. He stared down at Cecilia with a confused expression.

Cecilia looked back at him with a frown.

“Gil…”

“Hmm?”

“Gil h-ha-hates meee…”

She suddenly started to weep.

Disoriented, Oscar looked around and sat next to her for the meantime.

Cecilia loudly blew up her nose, the noise resembling the sound of a house being torn down.

“For now, stop crying…”

She crassly sniffed her nose while receiving the handkerchief that Oscar handed to her.

“What should I do? He really hates me.”

“…Is this about what happened yesterday?”

“There’s also that, but I think he’s really mad and disappointed about me.”

Gilbert’s words about ‘showing more modesty’ were echoing in her mind.n/ô/vel/b//in dot c//om

It really wasn’t that she thought she could just act recklessly while posing as ‘Cecil’. But she truthfully felt more liberated than when she was 'Cecilia’. The daughters of high-ranking aristocrats were often burdened by their nobility status. They were always obliged to maintain proper manners in whatever situation.

Cecilia thought that surely Gilbert read through her thoughts. She also came to the conclusion that he wouldn’t have been so aggravated if she had behaved as a more respectable person.

“Well, I don’t really have many friends so I don’t know much about this stuff…”

Oscar let out a hesitant voice.

“But if you offended him, why don’t you just apologize? If you recognize you’ve done something bad, just lower your head and sincerely ask for forgiveness.”

Cecilia glanced over at Oscar.

It was obvious that he wasn’t accustomed to giving out this sort of advice. His face looked more troubled than usual.

“But in this case, since I am the reason why he’s angry if I just appear in front of him to apologize…wouldn’t that make him even more annoyed?”

“Well, that’s true…”

Gilbert was resentful at Cecilia. Oscar could only think of apologizing. But that might not be appropriate in the current situation, on the contrary, a simple plea for forgiveness might be seen with disdain.

Cecilia looked at the Oscar with pleading eyes.

“How should I apologize?”

“Let me think…How about giving him something he likes as a token of appreciation?”

“Something he likes…?”

Gilbert is someone that doesn’t reveal his preferences. For example, he clearly has food that he likes or dislikes, but it doesn’t mean that he’ll leave out what he dislikes or that he will be upset if there’s nothing that he likes on the plate. The same thing applies to other things and relationships.

“I wonder if there’s anything Gil really likes?”

“Can you remember anything? Maybe something he liked during his childhood, or any old time favourites?”

“Hmm… Ah!”

Cecilia suddenly raised her head.

There was only one thing she could remember. There was just one thing that Gilbert has always valued and still safekeeping.

“Oscar! Are you by any chance familiar with this area?”

“I can’t say I know a lot of details about it, but…”

“Do you know if any wild bluebells grow around here!?”

◆ ◇ ◆

“Aaaaah.”

At noon, Gilbert was sitting on a chair in a courtyard. In front of him, there was a round table with reports spread on top of it. He didn’t feel like having lunch, so he was silently working on some tasks that were previously assigned.

His interaction with Cecilia yesterday bothered him. It would be too awkward to meet after that, so he went to school alone this morning without picking her up on the way. But now, that was starting to weigh on his mind.

(Sis must have been upset.)

Although it was difficult to face her at the moment, he regretted just leaving her behind in the dark like that.

Trying to erase such thoughts from his head, Gilbert silently moved his pen.

“Gilbert, is there something you’re worried about?”

When he was almost finished, he heard someone calling out to him.

Gilbert lifted his face and found Leanne there.

“May I ask what are you concerned about, Leanne?”

He said it with his usual nonchalant but polite tone.

Gilbert was a high rank noble, but he treated everyone with due respect. Actually, out of everyone the whole school, only Cecilia would act guileless and straightforward without caring too much for manners.

“I wondered what you have been doing here and came to chat with you.”

“I see. As you can notice, I’m busy.”

Gilbert laughed lightly as if hinting to her to go away.

However, Leanne responded with an undefeated smile.

“I’ll wait until you’re done, so let’s talk a little bit after that. I’ve been wanting to know more about you for a long time. I’d be happy if you allow me to hear it directly from you…”

“You want to know more about me? Is this a joke…?”

Gilbert laughed through his nose. Leanne couldn’t possibly be interested in him. That was something he could tell from the way she acted up until now.

Gilbert finished his reports and gathered up his stationery and papers.

“Anyway, you’re only here because Cecil asked you to come, right? He must have said something about taking care of me. But I’m fine, so you can leave me alone.”

“Oh, it seems you’re well aware of everything.”

Leanne shook her shoulders and smiled while unpretentiously acknowledging his words.

“No matter how much of an idiot or fool Cecil is, he wouldn’t just agree to help you out of the blue. If he agreed, you must have given the terms and conditions. Cecil cooperated because he wanted you to take care of me. He seems to think I fancy you… ”

“I don’t want you to misunderstand, but it was Cecil who came up with the exchange terms first.”

“…I understand. Just that part.”

He scrunched up his nose.

While talking with Leanne, Gilbert just felt more and more frustrated.

Cecilia kept saying that “Leanne never acts as expected!” but the only certain thing was that she clearly wasn’t acting according to someone else’s plans. Rather, one can realize she was always doing everything according to her own will.

“Did you feel uncomfortable seeing him like that?”

“Isn’t that irrelevant to you?”

He didn’t like that question that seemed to hint at his true feelings.

“Cecil is actually very idiotic and foolish, right?”

“…”

Gilbert had been playing along until now but hearing those words immediately set off a bomb inside of him. It was one thing if he said that about Cecilia, but he got angry when hearing it from other people’s mouths.

Gilbert glared at her silently.

However, Leanne didn’t even flinch and continued to look at him with a gentle smile.

“So…it’s very naive to think 'please be more aware’ or 'please be more conscious’. He will never be able to notice such unspoken feelings.”

“…What do you mean with that?”

“I just think that if one needs to apologize, the faster, the better.”

“…”

“And then you can show me an even more interesting development.”

After saying that, she just gave out a nimble curtsy.

Then she turned away.

“Oh, my. I forgot to ask one thing.”

Lean looked back gracefully.

“Cecil didn’t show up at school today. I wonder if Gilbert knows his whereabouts?”

“What?”

“…I hope he’s safe. After all the world is full of dangers.”

She said what she wanted and swiftly left.

Gilbert covered his mouth with his hand while having a bad premonition.

“Danger… could it be…?”