Act Three : Second eldest brother – Ishuma’s Monologue (Part Two)

IT: For some reason, this just seems to be getting harder to translate and more confusing the further in I go… I feel like my brain is going to explode trying to decipher this. Hope you guys can understand what’s going on. (~=3=)~

Good news~ Hime-sama has told me that she’s picking up this project! Thank you very much Hime-sama. She is starting from Act 2 so go read that Here.

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Almost at the same time my sister was born, father tried to educate her as a future consort of the Royal Palace. He hired a live-in tutor at once. As a result, my sister received the education of a lady before she could even speak…. Isn’t it too early? I once thought to myself.

Well, she may not be able to understand it, but my sister’s restrictions were equal to those of elder brother, perhaps even more than mine. I wonder if these things are what they call a blessing in disguise? As soon as I learned of my sister’s existence, the maid and her tutor were continuously raving about her as if she were above the world…. Honestly, I thought that too much praise couldn’t possibly be good. If a child is cute, they certainly should be complemented; if they are smart and clever, they should be praised, but such a massive amount is not good. In the future, that child could grow to be high-handed and spoiled.

But that is my parents’ responsibility to stop it, as well as dealing with the future consequences; not mine. I thought it might be best to leave the matter alone unless it directly affected me.

So as to why I didn’t end up stopping them…… well it was troublesome to say, and father hired the tutor to teach and to discipline at the tutor’s discretion; not saying anything about the matter. Elder brother was indifferent, (in the first place, I hadn’t met elder brother face to face since I had entered the dormitory while Cordelia was one years old.) and my sister was, at the time, being catered around and cared for by my mother, who was busy conducting her debut into various social circles.

Well, I was sympathetic with my sister, but there was no meaning in taking pity on the poor puppet; don’t think of me as a good person who would do so. Just because I knew of the problem doesn’t mean I could have done something; I had enlisted and had to leave home when my sister turned four.

When I returned to the family home after a period of time……. In no way could I imagine, when I enlisted in the Guard Corps, that during my trip, father would turn into a dere and dote on my sister.

Father seems to be trying to hide the fact that he’s a dere, but Cordelia ended up messing it all up. I mean no offence to Cordelia, but father probably doesn’t favor her 100 percent, so I will say this on behalf of him. Cordelia, father is not a person who buys souvenirs for his children. So do not go beaming in front of him saying thank you. Father replied with a curt “Ah,” but I have to say I somehow got a different feeling from that sound.

……. Just because I saw such a confusing scenario, I asked the butler, Benjamin, what happened. Apparently, when I left home, Cordelia seemed to have said an 「utterly charming remark」 to father.

I’m worried about my sister. This child is looking to be a little devil in the future.

Acting like this unconsciously or consciously, I do not know which is worse. Really, I’m doubting if she really is a toddler.

However, while father was elsewhere doing his daily tasks, the butler informed me of Cordelia’s traits. 「She is a very vigorous and inquisitive girl. She especially seems to like staying in the library almost everyday to look at books.」he told me. Because I wanted to know how she was like outside the gaze of the household servants, I questioned her tutor…… but that left me just as confused as before. Apparently, my sister isn’t selfish at all, and her thirst for knowledge seems to be ever increasing.

My sister met me for the first time in a long time, wearing the manners of a young lady, her speech almost as eloquent as mine. Although a visitor had said, 「Truly, you daughter is very similar to the Earl,」in what way does she look like father? It truly is ominous. I chose not to stay any longer during the discussion of the current tax system. I wonder if brother was also like this when he was young. In any event, my sister is already no longer the common daughter.

But there is also the fact that she is way to young to say such a thing.

My sister’s actions are like this; being in the Garden and observing the plants. It was quite interesting to watch her pulling the petals off of flowers, or looking at a butterfly with round eyes, all while glancing around at her surroundings restlessly to make sure no one was there. Of course, she did not notice me, since I was observing her from the second floor, but looking at her made me feel like I was watching a small animal.

When the others and I were leaving for an excursion, I felt her staring enviously. Looking at that, I thought, 「Do you also want to come?」Somehow, I had said that out loud –  and at the same time I regretted my words. It didn’t matter if my sister were to be invited at the time, it was not a matter that I could handle at my discretion. In the first place, there was no reason for father to easily allow her to come; the reasoning as I have said beforehand. Not being able to retract my words, I regretted my poor question but – no way. Later I never thought that I would really have to go on an excursion with my sister. sigh…

Father sent me a letter, saying「If Cordelia does something, remember to look after her and tell me what she does (paraphrasing)」 as well as going as far as to say, 「If I had time, I would want take her myself. 」Such words scared me. Really, it’s terrifying. But it is entirely not my fault that he cannot go, it is because father is too talented.

From what I know, father was injured on his right arm for his Majesty… but this was before he was married and was young. Because of this, he turned into a civilian and quit being a knight, (there were rumors that he didn’t wish to remain in the castle, even though there was some major urging for him to do so) which led to people saying that because of this incident, 「his arm has dulled」and were, honestly, no better than an ordinary person’s arms. I believe this is what earned him the hidden title of the 「left armed knight」of the kingdom. Father with his right hand? That would be incredible. However, it’s odd that after a simple injury, he lost all his strength. If this were the case, then only his martial arts would be affected…… not his magic. I myself have an honest chance at winning against 30% of the promising new recruits. Seriously. Well, in reality, I wouldn’t want to do that, and maybe that is how father felt as well.

Before, I was hoping to escape from this situation, but because of my faux pas as well as the vaguely frightening letter from father, I now have no choice but to escort this strange sister of mine.

I cannot seem to understand it, but it is like my sister has never met mother.

I have seen the difference between my mother and sister. Whenever she looks at me, I think, 「It’s good that you are not similar to that person.」She is as different in manner to mother as elder brother is similar to father.

The way mother acts towards anything related to father…… I do not think it is hate. It’s more like she is obsessed. When she interacts with brother, she does so at a distance because he looks so closely like a carbon copy of father. Elder brother is too similar to father, even just in association. When I met elder brother in the hallway, my complexion shifted slightly. From childhood, and now even into adolescence, he had just grown more and more like father. So, it is natural that the same thing for my sister would be true, but in regards to mother. But perhaps because, since childhood, she had little to no conversation with father, while she had seen more of mother and us elder brothers, she placed her hopeful feelings of love onto father. As for mother, this situation must be very repugnant to think of.

I believe the disastrous rift between my father and mother was amplified by the both of them, but in this situation, usually the woman is seen in a disgraceful light…… Uncle likes to say that mother had approved the marriage, but she said she hadn’t. Well, I wonder if father’s solution to this lack of interest in kindling love between the two was to frankly acknowledge the rift.

But back to the subject of my sister, if I think about the situation, I can imagine that my sister doesn’t see much of mother. However, she, who tries to stretch out a hand to mother, cannot be compared to father and elder brother, who are forever expressionless. But it is a hopeless situation.

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