DDSWTB 29

Chapter 29

Then, Liam sat in the seat next to me, holding a book in one hand.

Why is he sitting next to me?
I don’t really want to sit next to Liam… but if I move now, even Liam might get hurt.

I hesitated about whether I should move to a different seat.

I quietly stayed in my seat. I didn’t understand why he came to sit next to me, but I couldn’t bring myself to ask. Liam… he’s always seemed uneasy around me, right?

As I read my history book, Liam seemed to be glancing at me repeatedly.
At this rate, I won’t be able to concentrate on my book at all.

Before I could speak, Liam opened his mouth first.

“Ah… um, about the other day… it was my fault…”

He seemed to have something he wanted to say. His face was red, and without looking at me, he muttered in a small, trembling voice.

“Eh? What? Sorry, I didn’t hear you.”

“…So, I’m sorry for hurting you in the garden!”

Liam turned toward me with force and apologized in a loud, powerful voice.

“Suddenly shouting like that, you scared me!”

“…Sorry.”

Liam has a proud personality, but he was able to apologize.

“After that, I went to your room before dinner because I was worried about Ellie. Then I saw Ellie, looking at the flowers in the vase so carefully. That vase of flowers… those were the ones I knocked out of Tiana’s hands. I asked Ellie what she did with them. Then she said happily, ‘These are flowers that my dear Tia gave me as a present. He picked the colors that he thought would suit me.’”

Big sister… Liam said something like that.
I’m glad he’s taking care of them.

“I knew Tiana didn’t think well of Ellie, so I assumed she’d do something terrible to her and ended up misunderstanding and hurting you. I’m really sorry… And besides that… I acted overbearing too…”

Seeing Liam being this honest is… kind of cute. Feels like I’ve got a little brother now.
Actually, if you consider the age from my past life, Liam is in the middle of adolescence.

But until now, Liam often picked fights with me. I was different from everyone else—I wasn’t smart, and I wasn’t physically strong.

Also, once I tried something and found I had no talent, I never touched it again. I just couldn’t bring myself to try. I didn’t even put effort into studying. There’s nothing I ever kept up consistently.

Compared to that, Liam practiced swordsmanship every day, hoping to catch up with the Duke and Gilbert.
He probably grew frustrated seeing my lazy attitude and lack of effort.

No, even more than that—the biggest problem was that he had been teasing you, big sister.

What should I even say…?