I Will Return My New Brother Chapter 67

After repeating that this would be the last dress multiple times, I declared the eighteenth dress as truly the last.

Since recently I had a lot to be sorry about to these two people, I tried to play along with them which resulted in my mind and body getting tattered.

When I declared my surrender, Rany spoke cheerfully.

“Give me everything she tried on.”

“Rany.”

If she had been planning that from the start, then what was the point of the literal show I was forced to put on?

Rany was still acting proud despite my glare.

She said something similar to 'having that many clothes was an obligation, as there would be a lot of occurrences where I would have to attend formally as a Young Lady of the Duchy'.

As I shut my mouth because I didn't want to quarrel, Rany haughtily brushed her hair back before saying.

“Please put the tab on Rocke Guild.”

“No, put it on Miller Dukedom.”

Orion's words made her eyebrows shoot up to her hairline.

“Huh? I'm buying my friend's clothes, what's it to you? Why are you making a fuss?”

“As her brother, I'm buying my sister's clothes. I can't understand why you are meddling, though.”

Sparks shot from the eyes of the two who were acting like platonic soulmates a few seconds ago.

Rany threatened the clerk, who was confused and had no idea what to do.

“This boutique resides in a building owned by Rocke Guild. I can take over this store if I want.”

“But do you think it's possible to run a boutique in the capital with Miller Dukedom as your enemy?”

The building owner who wanted to take over the store, and the highest noble who would bully her just because of personal feelings.

I shuffled behind the nervous clerk and left.

Maybe because there were a lot of women who would take rests after trying out clothing, there was a resting space prepared.

When I plopped down on the soft sofa and stretched out my legs, I heard someone burst into laughter.

“My Lady, it's bad if you sit like that when you're finally wearing a beautiful dress.”

“. . . I want to go home.”

Hearing my weak voice, Sir Rune handed me the water he held.

My mind became a bit clearer after I quenched my thirst.

When that quarrel ends and we go home, I shall never take a step out of my room.

As I fanned my flushed face, Sir Rune cleaned up the empty cup in front of me and added.

“Please bear with it, My Lady. Aren't you finally starting to accept Orion's kindness?”

“Orion is becoming very happy. Because you didn't reject him.”

Hearing his soft voice, an awkwardness that somehow surfaced made me shut my mouth tight.

Now that I thought about it, wasn't this my first conversation alone with Sir Rune after the absurd request to 'be my brother'?

Even if I was so confused that I decided to call Orion to the hearing, I still hadn't told him that that request was canceled.

Well, he was there back then, so he must have understood the situation.

Still, it bothered me that I changed the promise unilaterally and didn't even ask for his understanding.

“In the end, I couldn't properly fulfill our promise.”

“Hm?”

“You completely used Orion from the start. You made the Knight Order of the Duchy involved in your personal business and you brought them to the academy as you wished.”

Orion Miller was a man of principle.

Even though there were times where he lost his focus, or appeared as though he had a screw loose, it was when he was on personal occasions, not the official ones.

Judging from his reputation, I could tell how much effort he had been putting in all this time.

Neutrality was such an ambiguous word.

Thinking of how much effort I had done to protect my 'normality', Orion, being in a far higher position and had a bigger responsibility, his effort must be much larger than mine.

For such a person to bring the knights for my sake was no different than breaking his own principle.

“Well, I personally think you have done a good thing, My Lady.”

“Really?”

Sir Rune slowly nodded.

Then, he lifted his fingers and folded them as he showed an example of Orion's business recently.

“First, Orion wasn't disciplined for the academy problem. Rather, he received praise from the palace for solving a grave problem in advance. Of course, it also became a chance for us to solidify our relationship with the Temple.”

I suddenly remembered when Sir Bishop visited the Duchy in person and had a private meeting with Orion.

The atmosphere was peaceful, and on his way back, Sir Bishop's face looked very relaxed.

“And above all, you don't know how happy he was when you asked for help from him at that important moment.”

“. . . Even though I have been putting space between us and only asked for his help when I was desperate?”

“Didn't you do that because you don't want to take advantage of Orion? You rejected his kindness because you felt burdened, right? Normal people would certainly accept his kindness from the start. Still, when you asked for help when there was an emergency, wasn't that because you trusted Orion from your heart?”

Did I?

I began to think about it carefully.

But what made me think of Orion at that time was more of a safe method of elimination so the situation wouldn't get out of control.

“The important thing is that Orion is in your option list.”

“And my request is still valid.”

Sir Rune smirked and pointed with his head to where Orion was bickering.

“You can just start it from now on, right? Orion seems to be enjoying it enough even now.”

“It seems like he is happy that he can do something for the little sister he finally has. That fellow isn't in a position where he could easily show kindness to others.”

Hearing his words, I stared beyond the wall to where the argument began to subside.

Chapter end