Vol 1 Chapter 19 – Still, A Story of Peaceful Days, Part 2【Vol 1 — A Happy Childhood】

Threatening the Blum family to annul the arranged marriage between Sophia and Regen Blum.

To put it simply — it worked.

Regen Blum: the heir apparent, or rather, the de facto lord of the Blum territory stretching around the medical city of Medicia. Armed with a video camera — a mana-powered recording device — that had captured undeniable proof of how he’d assaulted me, practically a child, and attempted something frighteningly close to rape on Sophia despite their betrothal, I later stormed the Blum estate alongside Sophia and her father, Fullo-san, who had since been let in on everything.

The footage I’d captured proved far more effective than I’d anticipated.
As expected, having their heir’s disgraceful conduct brought to light was more than the Blum family could stomach.

Half-blackmail as it was, the engagement between Sophia and Regen Blum was called off. On top of that, most of the “assistance” the medical city of Medicia had extended to combat the epidemic spreading through Romul Street was retroactively reframed as humanitarian aid — meaning nearly all the debt had been wiped clean.

In exchange, however, that mana-powered video camera was confiscated.

I’d taken something that was Sophia’s, used it without permission, and then had it confiscated all over again.

Sorry, Sophia-nee-san.

After that, nothing particularly troublesome arose, and peaceful days returned to us once more.

If anything had changed, it was that Sophia had become noticeably more… forward with me.
Well, after everything we’d been through together — and now that I knew exactly how she felt about me — yeah, it made things a little awkward.
I liked Sophia, sure — but taking things all the way to marriage felt like a different matter entirely, somehow.
So I’d been putting off giving her a proper answer to her confession.

Sorry — again — Sophia-nee-san.

Whatever the case, what mattered right now was one thing: peace had returned. That was all.

◯

Time passes quickly.
Especially when those days are ordinary, peaceful, and genuinely fun — the faster it all seems to slip away.

Before I knew it, my little sister Elena — always fluttering around me like a persistent little moth — had turned nine.

And I was fourteen.

In this world, men could marry at fifteen and women at ten.

Which meant that in less than a year, Elena and I would both be of legal marrying age.

And therein lay a very inconvenient problem.

“No way… Elena-chan. You’ve been holding onto that promise since you were little — and you actually mean it?”

“Yeah… well, pretty much.”

Sitting in the shade behind the estate, I was consulting my childhood friend Aria.

The subject: my little sister, Elena.

The problem — the one that made me feel like I was losing my grip on reality just saying it out loud — was that Elena had every intention of marrying me.
I felt like I was going crazy just thinking about it, but it was the truth.

It had all started at Elena’s recent birthday celebration.
She had leaned in close and whispered, just for my ears:

“Onii-chan! Only one more year until our promise, right?”

“Hm? What promise?”

“What do you mean, ‘what?’ Marriage, obviously. You made a promise, remember?”

Those eyes — wide, trusting, incapable of doubt — and that smile, so bright and genuinely happy it could make your chest ache. It was all right there.

Needless to say, cold sweat had poured down my face in that moment.

I mean, you wouldn’t actually expect someone to still remember that…

And to make matters worse — in this world, blood relation was no legal barrier to marriage.

Elena had been attached to me since she was old enough to toddle after me.

And here’s another wrinkle: Aria and Sophia had been around me for just as long.

Embarrassing as it was to admit, apparently because I’d helped them both out of difficult situations when we were younger, Aria and Sophia had developed… feelings for me.
I wasn’t the oblivious type — I was fully aware that they were, genuinely and seriously, in love with me.

The problem was that Aria and Sophia made absolutely no effort to hide it.

Being the spineless coward that I was — still unable to commit to anything — I hadn’t given either of them a straight answer.
Part of me wanted to enjoy the harem life while it lasted. (Two girls counts as a harem, right?)

But leaving things ambiguous only made Aria and Sophia more brazen about it.
The physical contact alone had increased dramatically.
And Elena, who was always nearby and completely devoted to her big brother, naturally started mimicking everything they did.
The kicker was that Elena had grown up watching that dynamic her entire life — so as far as she was concerned, it was completely normal.

In short: Elena had no rational limiter on her feelings for me. None whatsoever.

And so, on top of everything: “Onii-chan, when next year comes, let’s get married like we promised.”

She said it with full understanding of what the marrying age actually meant. There was no writing it off as a child’s innocent daydream anymore.

“What am I supposed to do about this…”

“What do you mean, ‘what do you do?’ Just tell her the truth — that the whole thing was a joke back then!”

Aria said it with a lightness that suggested she was enjoying this a little too much.

“You want me to say that to my adorable little sister who’s been believing it for years?”

“Well, it’s the truth, so what else can you do? You don’t actually plan to marry Elena-chan, right?”

“I mean, yeah, not right now at least, but… whoa!?”

By the time I noticed, Aria’s face was right in front of mine.
Apparently, she’d pushed me down.

“Will, what exactly do you mean by ‘not right now?'”

Oh no…
That was a careless thing to say.

Staring up at Aria’s unsmiling face from inches away, I realized my mistake immediately.

Lately, both Aria and Sophia had been noticeably… jealous. More than usual.

“I-It doesn’t mean anything! You never know what life has in store, right!? I just said it — there was nothing weird behind it, I promise!”

“…So that means there’s a chance you and I could get married someday.”

She closed her eyes for a moment, like she was turning it over in her mind, and then brought her face even closer as she said it.

“W-Well… I suppose so.”

“Really!? Ahh, Will, you’re the absolute worst!”

Aria threw her arms around me and, completely unable to contain herself, started rolling us both across the ground.

“H-Hey, Aria… don’t drag me along while you roll around, I’m getting dizzy…”

“Oops, sorry, Will~!”

She really is sweet at heart…
Still, lately there’s been a lot of things catching me off-guard.

“Hey, Will.”

“Hm?”

“I really like you, you know? Like — seriously. So, so much.”

“O-Oh, yeah — thanks. It… it makes me happy to hear that.”

Maybe coming to Aria about the Elena situation was a mistake after all…

“Oh! Onii-chan! What are you and Aria-onee-chan playing!? Elena wants in too!”

Maybe I should just think this one through on my own for a while.
I’ve still got a whole year, after all.

Elena popped her head out from around the corner of the estate and came sprinting toward us — and that was the thought running through my mind.

“…………”

“What’s wrong, Aria?”

“Nope, nothing at all! Come on, Elena-chan — let’s play!”

“Yeah! Okay, Aria-onee-chan — ……”