TPCCMO 05

Chapter 5

It Was Out

oh…

It was out.
I thought it was safe, but it was out.
He must have been suppressing his presence and eavesdropping. Like a ninja…

“What’s wrong, Marie? I want to see the real you. Won’t you show it to me, not even to your brother?”

The moment I saw Lord Leon’s mischievous smile, I remembered.

He had originally been an adopted son of the Rudeburg ducal family.
The duke, worried about his frail wife, adopted a child from her relatives.
His wife was a gentle, wonderful woman, but she was bedridden, and the duke, leaving her at home, hardly ever came back, secretly visiting his mistress instead.
He kept that mistress and even had children with her. The wife, despite her struggle, eventually passed away from illness.
The mistress promptly moved into the mansion, slipped into the wife’s place as if it were natural, and tried to cast out the adopted son Leon by marrying him off.
He wasn’t the biological child of either the wife or the husband, but as an adopted child of the wife’s family, the duke must have thought he could justify it to the wife’s relatives if he arranged for Leon to be engaged and sent away. The Rudeburgs were glad to be rid of him.

The marquis family that took Leon in did not officially adopt him but treated him with love as their son.
Later, there was a scene where Leon said about that marquis family, “I could never truly become their child…”

Leon could not love the girl who was supposed to become his fiancée in the family he was taken in by, and to regain the ducal house that had driven him out, he sought favor at the royal court, secured royal backing, returned to the ducal house, and drove out the mistress and her child.
Then he met the heroine, and a romance across social classes began.
A refreshing prince-type character who maintained just the right distance without being clingy… this was it!

My little sister cleared every single one of Leon’s endings a hundred times over. “This is a duty,” she said, endlessly looping Leon’s routes. No mistake about it.
I think he was the character who faced the most sabotage from the ousted Rudeburgs—plots to bring him down, villainous noblewomen interfering, and so on.
In the happy ending, he imprisons the ousted dukes and finally marries the heroine.

In the bad ending, Leon goes to the royal palace, aims even higher, becomes twisted, neglects the heroine, and, surrounded by a bizarre entourage, rises in rebellion and plunges the country into something like a civil war.
My sister even took pictures of the CG of Leon smiling coldly in the bad end. She’s hardcore.

If we’re heading for the happy ending, there’s nothing to worry about, but a bad end civil war is bad news. Maybe I should leave that to the heroine’s skill… It’s still far in the future, and as long as I’m not the chair, it’s an uncertain future.
Come to think of it, Leon’s return to the ducal house happens on his tenth birthday.
Of course a chair-stand-in mob character isn’t lovable. I’m a drop-in bad end. But since I’ve already decided to avoid that by my own will, there’s nothing to fear.

“Marie?”

“Hm.”

I’d gotten completely lost in thought.
I couldn’t afford to make Leon suspicious of me any further.
Even if the “former fiancée candidate is actually the chair” part is gone, finding out I’m actually a stand-in would still be quite a shock.
I focused my eyes, put on an innocent expression, and looked straight at Leon. He looked surprised.

“Did you say you wanted to see the real me?”

Just confirming. I smiled to reassure him so he wouldn’t grow suspicious, but Leon’s eyes wavered in surprise. Was that confusion?

“What’s wrong? Don’t you want to see?”

The arm he had around me slipped away.

“Lord Leon? Oh, sorry. Brother, right?”

“You… knew?”

Knew what, exactly?

I stepped closer to Leon, and he stepped back.
I smiled and stepped closer again, and he stepped back again, until he was backed up to the bed and fell onto it, lying on his back.

“Why are you running? Wasn’t it this mouth that said you wanted to know me? If you want to run, I’ll let you, but do you want to? Tell me with this mouth, brother.”

I placed one hand beside Leon’s face as he lay on his back, cupped his cheek with the other, and touched his lips. Leon shuddered.
His green eyes looked straight into mine, and in them my eyes glittered back.
Of course he’d be scared. The chick had turned into some strange creature in one day.

“…I don’t think I can run away from you anymore.”

No way. Like I’ve said, Leon is a ninja.
Besides, in two years he’s supposed to safely return to the ducal house.
Maybe my words sounded more like a threat, like I was the enemy.
I must’ve overdone it a little.

“Sorry for speaking so meanly. When you say ‘the real me’… I just want to loosen up a little. Wear something less tight than a dress. That’s all. There’s nothing to hide, and maybe I’ll relax in front of you, brother. You can relax in front of me too, you know?”

As I tried to pull my hand away from his cheek, Leon caught my arm and pulled me into his arms instead.
His silky hair brushed against my cheek. It felt nice.

“Marie… will you listen to me? If possible, without looking at my face…”

“Sure.”

Leon took a small breath and, though still speaking slowly as usual, his tone was heavier than normal.

“I’m not your brother…”

“I see.”

“You’re not surprised. So you really did know…”

Ah, so that’s what he meant by “knew” earlier.
I didn’t know. I only knew because of the infinite Leon loops.
But of course I couldn’t say that, so I just nodded silently.

“You’ve really become a smart girl. I think you can understand now. It’s a bit of a boring story, but will you listen?”

“I will.”

Leon’s slow voice and warmth… Right after lunch, this is rough.
If it’s boring, I might fall asleep.

Leon told me how he was an adopted child of the ducal house, how terrifying his stepmother’s gaze was, how his stepbrothers treated him like air, and how the duke’s and the late wife’s love had been a lie.
It wasn’t boring, but the sleepiness hit hard, and I clenched my teeth a few times to hide my yawns.

His voice, even though he was a child, was so clear…

“And then, in this house…”

I was dozing off…

“I wanted a place to belong. When I came here, I was happy. Kind parents, a cute little sister. I thought it was the ideal family… but…”

“Keep talking, brother. I want to hear it properly.”

Don’t stop now or I’ll fall asleep!

“Sorry, Marie. I like you very much, but just a little—just a tiny bit—I resented you.”

“I see.”

“My existence was to become your brother. All of our parents’ love was only for you. I thought… if only you weren’t there… What a horrible brother, right?”

“Fufufu.”

I guess most kids with siblings think that at least once.
That their parents’ love is more for the sibling than for them.
I never fought with my own sister about that, but someone in the neighborhood fought with my sister over something like that… maybe a girl without an older sister challenged Marina because she wanted one.
All I remember is my sister winning and the opponent being utterly defeated. My sister’s strong.

“…Why are you laughing?”

“Brother, you know why? Because we’re family.”

“…Eh?”

“If you have a younger child who needs more attention, parents naturally look more at them, right? Isn’t that the same for every family? Brother and I get the same love. I just need more looking after, that’s all. And if we weren’t family, they wouldn’t have wanted you in the first place.”

“Marie…”

“Didn’t you start resenting me because you learned what real love was? Would you feel the same if you saw another person’s child being spoiled by their parents?”

“No, not at all. So that was all it was…”

Leon tightened his arms around me.
If possible, I’d like to be enveloped by muscles… girls would be fine too.

“Brother, you should be able to tell the difference between fake love and real love, right?”

“Ah… you’re absolutely right, Marie…”

Just then, the sound of a carriage stopping reached my ears. Father must be home.
I had a great idea!

“Hey brother, will you help me with a prank?”

I grinned and whispered the plan into his ear.
He looked confused but nodded.

Operation “Brother is in Trouble” was on.

“Papa, Mama!!”

Mother greeted Father at the entrance.
I ran toward them in a panic.

“Marie? What’s wrong?”

“If you rush like that, you’ll fall. If our cute princess gets hurt it’ll be terrible. Did you come down the stairs alone? I told you it’s dangerous. You mustn’t go down alone, okay?”

So that’s why Father said no to the stairs.
I held back my relaxation at their gentle talk and rushed on.

“Terrible! I! My brother! In his room! What should I do! He’s not moving! I might have killed him!!”

Their eyes went wide, and without a word they bolted to Brother’s room.
I’d never seen my parents move so fast.

“Leon! Leon!”

“Leon!”

I hurried after them to Leon’s room, where they were frantically calling to him as he lay on the bed.
Hmph, mission accomplished.

“…Father, Mother.”

Leon opened his eyes, and our parents clung to him, crying and repeating how glad they were, over and over.

“Papa, Mama… I’m sorry. Brother… I’m sorry.”

Half acting, half real remorse, I stepped into the family circle.
Our parents, still tearful, faced me.
A little scary.

“What do you mean? Saying you killed Leon…”

“Explain, Marie. Did you strangle him like a rabbit?”

Strangle like a rabbit? What?
I stopped Leon with my eyes and slowly walked up to our parents.

“Brother was reading me a book in his room. I got sleepy and clung to his neck. Brother held me even though he was suffocating, and then he collapsed on the bed… I’m sorry.”

“No, Father, Mother. I was holding Marie and got sleepy. I meant to nap with her but couldn’t wake up because I was so tired from yesterday’s party… Sorry for worrying you.”

Both Father and Mother let out a big sigh and smiled happily, hugging both me and Leon.

“Thank goodness. I really thought something had happened to my beloved son… thank goodness.”

“Yes, really. Our proud prince and princess are such kind, good children. Thank goodness.”

Still held in their arms, Leon clung to them tightly.
I probably should’ve fake-cried, but I just couldn’t.

After a while, when we were released, our parents scolded me lightly. “Necks are fragile, okay? Bad!” they said.
It was the first time they’d ever scolded me.
Leon and I looked at each other and laughed.

The butlers and maids had been worried about what was going on, but when they saw it was just our usual family time, they smiled and quietly dispersed.