Chapter 90
It seemed the Enerysis family line was about to die out,
“I only swelled up a little from the impact. I'm fine.”
“Phew….”
Still, thanks to Juan quickly wrapping himself in defensive magic, he hadn't been blown apart.
After being helped out by a priest from the healing center, Juan was drenched in cold sweat.
“H-haha. Behold, little brother. This is the power of an eighth-tier mage…!”
“Wow, as expected of you, Big Brother.”
But seeing him boastfully congratulate himself on putting up a decent defense,
the evil Akki-Chan in Akion's heart poked his head out.
“I clearly saw you desperately wrapping yourself in defensive magic so you wouldn't turn back into a eunuch from the aura punch of the woman you discarded, bro.”
“You damned brat.”
“Our father was a damned bastard, though.”
“Gnnngh…!!”
No matter how much he blustered, he was merely Akion's prey.
Seeing Juan tremble, Akion snickered.
“On that note, Miss Scarlett.”
Quite apart from that, Scarlett's punch had actually been an extremely rude thing to do.
“Yes….”
“No matter how angry you were, how could you hit him there instead of the cheek…?”
Although Akion was the power behind the throne, Juan was officially the next Count of Enerysis.
That fellow had finally become capable of carrying on the family line again, hadn't he?
Yet he had nearly destroyed that opportunity….
“I-I beg your forgiveness. I… because of what I heard from Young Master Akion….”
“I understand.”
“Why are you accepting her apology when I'm the one who got hit?!!”
Still, considering that Scarlett hadn't known Juan had recovered,
and had immediately asked for forgiveness, Akion thought it might be best to forgive her.
“Big Brother.”
“What!!”
“Wouldn't this never have happened if you'd kept it in your pants from the start, Big Brother?”
“Urk…!”
In the meantime, Akion's brutal truth left Juan speechless. Anyway.
“Honestly, this seems like mutual fault, so wouldn't it be better to let bygones be bygones?”
“Ugh.”
From Juan's perspective, he couldn't reject Akion's words.
He couldn't casually oppose the family's power behind the scenes,
and, more than anything, the brutal truth Akion had just pointed out had struck a nerve.
“……Haaah! Fine. If I really think about it, I might as well have created this situation myself.”
“Oh?”
And the Juan of now was not the Juan of old.
During the period he had spent living as Big Sis Egen after both sides had been destroyed,
how much soul-searching had he done within the warm, cozy family Akion had been creating?
“Scarlett.”
“Juan….”
“I'm sorry.”
Even when they traded mean-spirited jokes, Akion at least never expressed hatred over the past,
and had instead embraced everyone, including Juan's biological mother.
Even now, Juan believed that Akion's stepping in to mediate on his own was a generous favor meant to help things work out.
“Is that really Big Brother Juan? Where did that trash go—the one who picked flowers when they were pretty and threw them away once they wilted?”
“Young Master's wording is rather violent, but there really isn't a more accurate way to put it….”
Akion, for his part, merely didn't want such an outstanding materials-engineering talent to be put in a difficult position.
Despite all sorts of misunderstandings, Juan decided to become a man capable of admitting his mistakes.
“I wish to apologize for treating you like a woman to be enjoyed for a single night.”
“Eek.”
“The wound in your heart from that day must still remain. And probably forever…. So you need not forgive me. I will atone for it as much as you wish.”
Juan, the golden-boy playboy, had turned into a proper gentleman.
The Enerysis family, watching this, blinked in disbelief.
“Is that really our Big Brother?”
“I don't think so.”
“Th-that isn't our big brother.”
Akion asked, and both sisters shook their heads.
That gentle man could never be Juan Enerysis.
“Black magic…? No, if that were the case, the Tower Master would have noticed first….”
“M-maybe, like me, it's an illusion spell…?”
Thanks to his siblings mercilessly teasing him from behind, Juan continued to feel needled, but….
Even so, he did not raise his bowed head.
At least, he didn't want to be a pathetic big brother in front of Akion.
“Juan, please raise your head.”
Perhaps that humility had finally borne fruit.
Scarlett personally helped Juan to his feet with a gentle smile.
“I never thought a shameless and brazen man like you… would know how to ask forgiveness yourself.”
“Scarlett….”
“I can more or less guess whose influence changed you like this….”
Scarlett's gaze flicked briefly back and forth toward Akion.
She had wondered whether it was possible to reform a golden-boy playboy who had been little better than trash to this extent, but he had indeed been reformed.
Scarlett had clearly realized that Akion was deeply involved.
“Very well. I, too, have received Young Master Akion's help, and above all, your apology appears sincere… so I suppose I must forgive you.”
“Scarlett…!”
“However, I have one condition.”
Was she planning to use this as an opportunity?
Scarlett immediately took Juan's hand and lifted it.
“Would you grant me another chance?”
“Scarlett…?”
She was asking him to see her again.
Akion wondered if he had heard wrong.
She was pathetically asking to get back together with the man who had abandoned her?
He knew such relationships existed in reality… but seeing one firsthand made him a little dizzy.
“Please give me one more chance for us to get to know each other again. I… haven't given up on you yet.”
“Scarlett… To be forgiven for something as minor as that is far too generous of you.”
“Oh my God.”
And why was Big Brother accepting that?
Just as Akion was growing even more confused by the sudden romantic atmosphere,
- Squeeze.
the two even embraced passionately in front of everyone watching.
“Uh.”
And by chance, Akion alone happened to be standing at an angle where he could see Scarlett's face.
Scarlett's face as she held Juan tightly was—
“Haaah, I won't let Juan go again….”
“Eeeek.”
Even the oblivious Akion could see that her face was twisted by greed and obsession!
Who could have known?
That a knight-class noblewoman who could throw aura punches might be a possessive yandere…!
It seemed Juan would not be allowed to die a peaceful death, even if he died.
“Young Master, what's wrong?”
“Nothing.”
But since this wasn't Akion's own problem,
he resolved only to help Juan avoid actually dying.
*
“I am truly grateful to you, Professor Akion.”
After passing along the Montblanche bread Goldie, Aysirel, and Flare had given him,
Akion faced Scarlett once more.
“Well, rather than that form of address… I think ‘Young Master’ would be better.”
“Oh-ho-ho-ho! Professor Akion, you really are too much!”
Akion knew all too well this woman's ferocious and obsessive side.
Would a woman like that really give up on Big Brother Juan so easily?
“This is the carriage Goldie rode in.”
“Thank you, Miss Goldie. Ahem, actually, I came to ask Professor Akion for advice… but thanks to Professor Akion, I have received an even greater gift instead.”
“I'm glad you were pleased, Miss Scarlett. If it isn't too impertinent, may I ask what favor you came to request?”
It would be better to give her something, anyway.
Besides, hadn't Juan been hitting on Flare just moments ago while bragging that he'd recovered half his manhood?
Someone needed to keep him on a tight leash, or he might cause serious damage to the Enerysis family.
And who was Scarlett Montblanche?
“I am grateful enough for the espresso machine and ice cream machine, but actually, there is a new type of bread Montblanche is trying to make….”
“Please, go on.”
The business genius who had personally taken charge of Bakery Café Montblanche from a young age and directed it from the front,
building it into what would be a massive chain by modern standards!
On top of that, since her conduct was generally proper, she had only one scandalous bit of gossip attached to her name.
“Actually, you see….”
But that one scandal was being abandoned by Big Brother Juan!!!
A young lady like her becoming the next count's wife?
From Akion and the Enerysis family's perspective, that would be tremendously reassuring.
“I want to put ice cream inside bread, but the problem is that it melts while the bread is baking. I was aiming for something warm on the outside and sweet and cool on the inside, but, sigh….”
“Oh.”
“If I use magic, the cost per unit won't be viable.”
If she married Juan and became part of the family,
she would surely support Akion's smooth path to success in business.
Even now, the Enerysis family was swimming in money thanks to Akion—but a countess who knew how to manage and use it well?
Wouldn't she be the absolute GOAT of accounting and planning!
“So I came to ask, thinking that perhaps Professor Akion might have a solution.”
That was why Akion intended to grant Scarlett's request whenever reasonably possible.
He considered it a kind of investment.
And the idea of putting ice cream inside bread gave Akion an idea of his own.
“I think deep-fried ice cream might work.”
“You mean… frying ice cream?”
A dish made by wrapping rock-solid frozen ice cream in insulating bread, such as sliced bread, then quickly deep-frying it.
Something that could be replicated surprisingly easily even at home in the modern day, using breadcrumbs and batter and the like….
“D-d-d-d, Young Master! You can fry ice cream?!”
“Akion?!! You can actually eat ice cream after frying it?!”
“Yeah. As long as there's an outer batter to serve as insulation.”
It was deep-fried ice cream.