Older Brother - 2

I calmed my expression and subtly averted my gaze from Ruen, who was glaring at me.

*'When did she start listening?'*

Judging by her expression, she seemed to have heard quite a lot... Just as I was wondering how to appease her, Ruen took a step closer and spoke.

"Brother Damian. Did you want to hear “Older Brother” that badly?"

"No, it's not like that."

"If you really wanted to hear it, you should have told me. Why did you ask Lady Liana?"

"That... I'm sorry."

"I wasn't asking for an apology. But I'm a little hurt."

The word 'hurt' coming from Ruen, of all people, felt like a huge mental shock. I had no idea the word 'hurt' could be so powerful, and as I quickly racked my brain, Liana, who was standing behind me, awkwardly smiled and spoke to Ruen.

"It was just a small prank, Saintess. You don't have to worry too much."

"Be quiet."

"Yes..."

When the usually gentle Ruen showed such a sharp reaction, Liana truly fled behind the sofa. She must have quickly realized that this situation was hopeless. I decided to get playful revenge on Liana, who had abandoned me, and spoke to Ruen.

"Now, listen, and don't misunderstand."

"Yes. I'm not misunderstanding."

"Well, what happened was..."

"Speak."

I tried to explain why this had happened, but there were too many complications in telling Ruen about what happened on the train, so my mouth quickly shut. I realized I was truly screwed and stammered, while Ruen glared at me sharply and spoke.

"You said you'd tell me."

"That's..."

*'Is she unaware? Should I try to avoid the situation by saying I can't tell her yet?'* I briefly considered it, but if I did, Ruen would really get upset, so I just closed my mouth and offered an apology.

"Sorry."

"I wasn't asking for an apology. I was just curious why it could be Lady Liana, but not me."

"That... Liana is easier to tease?"

As I unconsciously blurted out my honest feelings, Ruen stared at me blankly. She quietly mumbled the word 'easy' and then spoke to me.

"Am I... perhaps inconvenient to you?"

At her somewhat pitiful question, I quickly waved my hands and said,

"It's not like that... What should I say?"

A strong alarm bell rang in my head. It was telling me that whatever I said next was extremely important, so I wracked my brain and answered.

"Ruen, it's not that you're *easy* to tease, but more like you're someone I want to cherish and protect...?"

Honestly, saying such things wasn't my style. But if I didn't say something like this, Ruen would surely get upset, so I spoke.

"... Cherish?"

Ruen's expression quickly brightened, and she spoke to me with a faint smile.

"Oh, my. If that's what it was, you should have told me sooner."

From that single sentence, her anger seemed to subside surprisingly quickly. It seemed Ruen wasn't angry about the “Older Brother” thing, but rather wanted reassurance about our somewhat uncertain relationship.

*'Ruen doesn't seem to realize it, though.'*

As I looked at the brightened Ruen, I gave a wry smile. Ruen giggled and spoke to me.

"Damian seems to be misunderstanding something, but I'm also very good at taking jokes. Look! *Boop!*"

Ruen playfully poked my cheek with a bright expression, then looked satisfied. This time, she grabbed my hand and made me poke her own cheek.

"I'm good at taking them like this too."

"O-okay? Next time, I'll tease you too, Ruen."

"Sounds good."

Perhaps thanks to my words about cherishing her, Ruen seemed to have somewhat redefined our relationship. Ruen smiled contentedly and spoke to me.

"By the way, I didn't know you wanted to hear “Older Brother,” Damian."

"..."

To be precise, it wasn't that I wanted to hear it, but Liana had unilaterally bet on it. However, if I said that, Ruen would get upset again, so I awkwardly nodded. Ruen playfully smiled and whispered to me.

"Should I call you that too?"

"Huh?"

"It's a little embarrassing, but... if Damian wants to hear it, I can do it anytime."

"Good."

*Ah, the word "good" unconsciously slipped out.*

Perhaps because I'd experienced so many deaths in the Training Ground, my Instinct Control wasn't working well, and I covered my mouth with my hand. Ruen, with a playful expression, fiddled with her hair.

"What should I do? I'm conflicted."

Ruen, who had been pretending to ponder for a moment, glanced at Liana behind her. Then she leaned closer and whispered to me in a small voice.

"It's embarrassing with Lady Liana around, so I'll call you that when we're alone."

Then she gently rubbed her cheek against mine and said,

"Damian, perhaps because you're the youngest sibling, you're quite the attention-seeker."

Then she giggled, waved her hand, and walked away. It seemed like a misunderstanding had been resolved rather well, so I let out a sigh of relief and headed to my room.

* * *

The next morning, I found Shiren glaring at me with a pouting expression. The reason for her sudden expression was undoubtedly what had happened last night. I got out of bed, unsure what to say, and Shiren spoke to me.

"Damian, Older Brother."

"..."

My body stiffened for a moment. I looked at Shiren, my gaze meaning “What are you doing?”, and Shiren met my gaze and said,

"Older Brother, Older Brother, Older Brother, Older Brother."

"... Th-that, I'm sorry."

"Yeah. As long as you know. And next time, tell me first. Because I want to be the first to say it."

I nodded with an awkward smile, and Shiren quickly forgave me and said,

"Then let's go eat. Ruen prepared a lot of things today."

"Okay."

I was dragged along by Shiren, letting out a deep sigh. Contrary to my expectations, breakfast proceeded rather uneventfully.

Of course, there were a few oddities: an excessive amount of meat dishes was piled on my side, Ruen kept winking at me every time I ate, and Liana was trying hard not to make eye contact with me. As I stood there, unsure how to process the situation, Lorraine spoke to me, looking puzzled.

"Young Master, did something happen?"

"... No."

"Is that so? The atmosphere feels strange."

Only Lorraine acted as usual, tilting her head. I tried to explain but gave up, putting a piece of meat into my mouth. Just then, Liana, who had been avoiding my gaze, let out a deep sigh and spoke to me.

"Since you killed Archbishop Mikhail, the Order Faction will likely make a full-scale move. Up until now, the damage was something they could overlook, even if it meant accepting losses. But because you have killed an Archbishop, a Key Figure of the Order Faction, who was entangled with Dark Mages, the Order, and the Imperial Family, the Order Faction will probably decide they can no longer overlook it."

"That's true."

"Thanks to Lord Damian hiding his identity well, it will take some time to find the culprit... but if they find out that all these actions were done by Lord Damian, the Order might attack the Karsaril family under the pretext of a Heresy Trial."

For reference, 'attack' here meant a physical attack, not merely Political Pressure.

"So, Lord Damian must choose one of two options."

Liana carefully placed the fork she was holding down and continued.

"Either create a problem for the Order so they can't focus on the Karsaril family, or completely eliminate the Order. At least one of these two must be chosen for the Karsaril family to be safe."

"It would be good to do both."

"Realistically, eliminating the Order is impossi... huh?"

"If we create a problem and then use that to eliminate the Order, wouldn't that work?"

"..."

Liana looked at me with an expression that suggested she didn't know where to begin explaining and continued.

"... Eliminating the Order is realistically impossible. First of all, the Fundamental Power that forms the Order is faith. When the Order is oppressed or faces a great crisis, it tends to survive tenaciously..."

Various stories were told, but to summarize them in one sentence, it was impossible to eliminate the Order because faith was not something that could be easily destroyed. At her words, I waved my hand rather nonchalantly and said,

"Eliminating the Order itself might be impossible. But isn't it possible to eliminate the ones at the top?"

"That's possible, right? Theoretically, if we just eliminate the Paladins...?"

"Moreover, from what I see, if we publicize all the things the Order has done, that 'faith' might just break."

An organization that never disappears because of faith, in other words, meant that if faith was damaged for any reason, they would have to bear the corresponding repercussions.

"So, if we subtly spread what the Order has done over the years... and then Internal Strife breaks out. Then we can devour them."

"... It's not as easy as it sounds, but it's certainly possible to drop hints."

"Then I'll leave it to you."

Since this kind of work was Liana's specialty, I decided to entrust it to her. While Liana was handling that, I decided to deal with the others.

*'First, those Dark Mages.'*

I sensed it was time to cut off their heads, and I began to ponder how to crush them.