Chapter 25: A Small Tea Party Between an Older Brother and Younger Sister (Part 1)

“Poheee…”

Faustina let out a vacant sound along with a vacant expression.
Normally speaking, would anyone really keep a noblewoman with unstable health as the fiancée of royalty?
Her partner was the Crown Prince.
The future king who would rule this country.
The Crown Princess who would support such a heavily burdened Crown Prince was required to possess both suitable ability and lineage.

Faustina pondered how she might be removed from the position of fiancée.

Two months had passed since she collapsed at the tea party hosted by the Queen.
The dreams of the past she had seen while unconscious.
There really had been a tea party last time as well.
And at that one, it had been Faustina herself who stained Elvira’s dress and made her cry.
This time, it seemed the juice had spilled on Elvira’s dress due to the carelessness of Cloud, the son of the Fwarin Ducal House.
An apology had already been received from the Fwarin family, and both Citrine and Lyudmila had accepted it.
Only Elvira seemed to have held a grudge, but Lyudmila had given her a new dress, so her mood had apparently improved.

The reason everything was “apparently” was because all of it was information Faustina had heard from her brother Cain after waking up.

Once, Faustina had appealed to Citrine, saying she no longer had confidence in remaining Bernhard’s fiancée, and that she wanted to be removed because she feared collapsing again at any time.

Citrine had worn a troubled expression.

“I understand how you feel, Fana.
I’ve spoken with His Majesty several times, but your engagement to Prince Bernhard will continue.”

“But—”

“I know what you want to say.
There’s nothing that can be done about this.
However, I was able to have some of our conditions accepted.”

Those conditions were that Faustina would take a break from Queen’s education until her health stabilized.
Given that Faustina’s comprehension had been faster than expected and that she never neglected her efforts, Queen Sierra herself had said that even resting for several years would be fine.

“But if I collapse again—”

“At that point, I’ll speak to His Majesty once more.
So Fana, you don’t need to worry about your engagement to Prince Bernhard.
For now, prioritize your health above all else.”

“Yes…”

At that time, Citrine did not say it aloud, but if Faustina’s condition failed to stabilize and she was deemed unfit to become Crown Princess, her engagement would be redone with the Second Prince, Neige.

Citrine had learned this after succeeding the Wittgenstein family.
Long ago, there had been a pact between the royal family and the Sister Goddesses.
If a girl was born who fell under that pact, she was guaranteed to marry into the royal family.
It did not have to be the Crown Prince.
As long as the bloodline remained within the royal family, that was sufficient.

It was only because of birth order that her engagement to Bernhard had been decided.

Faustina sat at her desk and opened [All About Faustina].
In truth, a certain event was fast approaching.
Faustina’s eighth birthday.
She began writing down what had happened last time.

“Let’s see, last time, I think Prince Bernhard sent a birthday present on the day itself.
But he didn’t come to the birthday party.
There was a letter with the present saying he couldn’t attend, but the old me completely forgot about it and stayed in a foul mood the entire time.
Ugh, what an awful person.
That ruined the whole birthday party.”

Since Faustina had been the main attraction, she had no particular memory of doing anything special at the birthday party.
Later, when she went to the royal castle, she had confronted Bernhard, demanding to know why he hadn’t come to her party.
The more she remembered, the more damage she took, but this was necessary to avoid repeating the same mistakes.

This time, she had already asked Citrine to not hold a party at all.

“Mother said it was unthinkable for a duke’s daughter to not hold a party, but right now I’m officially classified as someone who might collapse again at any time.
Holding one would only worry people more.
Father looked disappointed too, but he accepted it, so this is fine.”

Instead, she had properly requested birthday presents.
Since Queen’s education was on hold, she had begged for the call duck she had once asked for, but that request had been rejected.

“Since it’s only a temporary break, I wouldn’t be able to take care of it once things resumed.
…I know that myself.
But if Father says no, then there’s nothing I can do.”

She let out a long sigh.
However, she had prepared a fallback request.
She asked for an apple pie from the shop that Linsu couldn’t buy even when she arrived an hour before opening time.
The head chef could make apple pie, but Faustina stubbornly insisted that if she couldn’t have a call duck, she wanted that shop’s apple pie.

They asked if she wanted dresses or jewelry instead.
But Faustina had never been interested in such things and believed they were only necessary when needed.

“Fana, you’re more interested in food than fashion.”

“At my age, that’s not a problem at all.”

“Haha, you’re right.
I’ll ask Linsu about the shop.
Anything else you want?
Just apple pie feels a bit plain.”

“Well… let me think.
Ah, then I’d like a stuffed toy.”

She was met with a wry smile when she requested a stuffed toy, but the order was approved.
All that remained was to wait for her birthday.

“Hehe, I’m looking forward to it.”

She closed [All About Faustina], left the desk, and hid it beneath the bed.

“Well then.”

She sat down on the bed.

“Even though Queen’s education is on break, my regular studies are too.
I’m bored.”

Just as she thought of reading a book, she realized—

“Oh, there is one.”

There was.
The one she’d wanted to read but had given up on due to lack of time.
Just from the title, it seemed full of messy drama.
She immediately left her room, went to the library, and looked for the shelf where she’d seen it before.

But—

“Huh?
It’s not here.”

She felt disappointed, since it had been right there before.
Among the vast number of books, finding a single one required advanced skill that Faustina did not possess.
She didn’t even know if that book was still somewhere in the library.

She gave up quickly and returned to her room.

“I wanted to read it!”

She dove onto her bed.
As she kicked her legs about, there was a knock at the door.

“Fana.”

“Ughh!”

“…What are you doing?”

“B-Brother?!”

The one who dragged Faustina back to reality as she vented her desire to read into the bed was Cain, looking at her with eyes that clearly said he knew her but wanted nothing to do with this nonsense.

Since she was only turning her face toward him, the position quickly became uncomfortable.
She sat up and cautiously approached him.

“Looks like you’re killing time.”

“Ugh… yes.”

“Then come with me.”

“Where are we going?”

“The garden.
The weather’s nice, and there’s not much wind, so let’s have some tea.”

“Yes!”

She took the hand he offered.
The servants watched the siblings’ affectionate interaction with warm smiles.

“Should we call Elvira too?”

“She’s in the middle of a language lesson.
I went near her room thinking of inviting her, but stopped.
It’s rare for her to attend without complaining.”

“I hope that continues.”

Truly.

They exchanged greetings, but otherwise had little interaction.
The same went for her mother.
In Lyudmila’s case, she radiated an aura of wanting to talk, but since they lived in the same mansion, there would eventually be chances to speak without forcing a topic.
So whenever Faustina passed near Lyudmila, she pretended not to notice her gaze.

They walked down the long corridor, reached the entrance hall, opened the large doors, and stepped outside.

“Wow!
Just like you said, Brother, it’s great weather.
Perfect for a nap.”

“Now that you mention it, you once slept on the lawn just because it was sunny.”

“Because it felt really nice.”

“You didn’t catch a cold because it was you, but if a normal person did that, they’d definitely get sick.”

“What do you mean by that?!”

“There’s an old saying that certain people don’t catch colds.
Maybe that applies to you, Fana.”

“….”

She shot him a resentful glare, but he ignored it with a cool expression, making it pointless.

Cain had always been a bit sharp-tongued toward Faustina and especially merciless toward Elvira.
At his core he was kind, but when either of them caused trouble, this was how he became.

‘Last time, it was mostly my fault, but even so, Brother was kind.’

As the Crown Prince’s fiancée and future Crown Princess, she had sacrificed sleep and worked relentlessly.
Even when her efforts went unrewarded due to first impressions, she had refused to give up on that role.
What kept her going until the very end were the few people who understood her.
And in the end, she had betrayed them.
She would not discard that guilt, and before it was too late, she would reunite Bernhard with the person he truly loved.

‘A noblewoman whose engagement is tainted has no next chance.
Ah, then I’ll use this break to search for a path beyond being a noblewoman.
I’d planned to leave the house anyway once the engagement was broken.’

Even for a duke’s daughter, no family would want a girl who had been engaged once and then broken it off.
Unless they were extremely eccentric, or perhaps an elderly noble seeking a second wife.
She had spent her life striving to be acknowledged by Bernhard and praised by her mother, so she still didn’t know what she truly liked.
At most, she wanted to raise a call duck.

She glanced sideways.
Her brother’s profile, which she had seen for over twenty years counting her past life.
Of course, he looked young now, since he was still a child.

“Whoa, what’s with you all of a sudden?”

“Hehehe.
Nothing.”

An inexplicable urge overcame her, and she hugged Cain’s arm.
Holding hands and then being clung to like this made him flinch, but he didn’t push her away.
He simply looked puzzled at her happiness and let it be.

“You should do that for His Highness instead.”

“I can only do this because you’re my brother.”

“Wow, what a thankless role.”

“What do you mean by that?!”

Despite his complaints, there was a gentle warmth in Cain’s ruby-colored eyes as he looked at his sister.

“What do you think, Brother?
About my engagement to His Highness.”

“What do I think?”

“I’ve collapsed twice now.
Father says Queen’s education is on hold until my health stabilizes, but I think we should annul the engagement as soon as possible.”

“I don’t have the right to decide that.
I can give my opinion if you want, though.
But tell me this, Fana.
What do you think?”

“Me?”

“Yeah.
You ran away every time His Highness came, but you still took Queen’s education seriously as his fiancée.
Father always said the Queen praised you highly for it.”

Faustina herself had felt that the harder she worked, the more she solidified her position as fiancée.
She could have slacked off.
She could have avoided Queen’s education just as she avoided the Crown Prince.

But she hadn’t.

It wasn’t that she couldn’t.
She didn’t.

She had sought the Queen’s hopeful gaze, the smile that acknowledged her efforts, the warmth of her hand on her head.
Though she wished for the engagement to be broken, she didn’t slack off because she was unconsciously seeking the warmth she’d been denied in her past life.
Unaware of this herself, she answered Cain that since she had been chosen, she would fulfill her role.

Cain tilted his head and bonked his forehead against hers.

“Ow?!”

“Yeah, that hurt.
Aren’t you hard-headed, Fana?”

“You’re the one who suddenly headbutted me!
That hurt a lot!”

“Did you know?
Every time you hit someone’s head, a lot of brain cells die.”

“Are you having fun killing my brain cells?!”

“Mine died too.”

“What kind of mutual destruction is that?!”

“No idea.
Oh, we’re here.”

Cain occasionally teased Faustina like this.

She glared at him resentfully, but when she looked where he indicated, her expression changed.

In the wide garden area where Lyudmila often had tea with Elvira, a table was set with a wide variety of sweets.
Two cushioned chairs had been prepared.
A kind-faced boy wearing a butler’s uniform and a top hat pulled out the chairs as Faustina and Cain arrived.

“Please, Lord Cain, Lady Faustina.”

“Thanks for setting this up, Lune.”

“You’re welcome.”

Lune Anderson.
Born as the second son of the Baron Anderson family, which had served the Wittgenstein house for generations, Lune was five years older than Cain.
His blue eyes reflected Faustina and Cain.
He often saw Faustina scolded for her odd behavior and carelessness, yet those scenes were endearing precisely because of how close the siblings were.

Once seated, tea was poured into the cups that had already been prepared.
Steam and rich aroma rose from the amber liquid, alongside the sweets laid out before them.
Cain smiled wryly at Faustina as her pale yellow eyes sparkled.
He thanked Lune for the tea and called out to Faustina.

“Lune prepared all this, so eat plenty.”

“Yes!
Thank you, Lune!”

“You’re welcome.
Ah, I recommend the madeleines.
They’re your favorite, Lady Faustina.”

“Yay!”

She took the madeleine Lune selected and ate it.

Faustina eagerly devoured her favorite sweets, while Cain drank his tea calmly, occasionally picking up a cookie.

This tea party had been Cain’s idea, meant for Faustina, who had too much free time now that both Queen’s education and regular studies were suspended.
Only Lune knew this.

Setting it up hadn’t been difficult.
The only trouble had been teasing Cain for wanting to act like a big brother, which earned Lune an absolutely icy glare.
That wasn’t the look of an eight-year-old child.

As he gazed off into the distance, Cain and Faustina both asked for refills.
Lune calmly poured more tea with practiced hands.

Faustina would soon turn eight.
After her came Cain, then Elvira.
Their birthdays were spaced one month apart, making these three months the siblings’ birthday season.
There would be no party for Faustina this year.
She had collapsed twice from unexplained high fevers, and everyone feared it could happen again.

Though Lune was a retainer, the sisters treated him like an older brother due to the age gap, and they complained if he didn’t give birthday presents, so he prepared them every year.
Cain did the same and often vented his grievances to Lune.
With no one else to confide in and trusting Lune, he spoke freely.
Half the complaints were about Faustina’s clumsiness and occasional problem-causing behavior, three tenths about Elvira, and the remaining two tenths about miscellaneous matters.

“Hehe, it’s delicious.
If I could eat like this every day, maybe things could stay like this forever.”

“If you eat that much every day, you’ll turn into a piglet, you know?”

“What do you mean by piglet…?!”

“Huh?
What’s wrong with piglets?
They’re cute.
If you saw one, Lady Faustina, you’d definitely like it.”

“See?”

“……”

Lune genuinely thought piglets were cute.
Unable to get properly angry, Faustina redirected her frustration toward the sweets.
Eating a lot for one day wouldn’t hurt.

“Lune!
More tea!”

“There’s plenty left, so no need to rush.”

“Lune, me too.”

Before long, after drinking too much tea, Faustina’s stomach would start to ache when she moved—.