Chapter 2
Though she had said the young master was waiting, Manuela and the maids still refused to release Eleonore from their clutches.
They brushed and brushed her dry, fluffy golden hair until every strand was neatly in place.
They dressed her in a white blouse covered in fluttering lace and a long, high-waisted skirt in pale blue.
Only after they had slathered her damp face with a sticky, fragrant substance...
...was Eleonore finally able to escape the maids’ hands.
In truth, Eleonore herself had barely moved at all.
But for someone who had lived as a man for twenty-one years, even that was enough to leave her feeling utterly drained.
I have to do this every morning for the rest of my life?
Eleonore quietly sighed, hoping Manuela, walking ahead, wouldn’t hear her.
In the long corridor bathed in the warm late-spring sunlight, two pairs of shoes clicked side by side.
Following right behind Manuela, Eleonore did her best to take in every corner of the mansion, which still felt utterly unfamiliar.
She’d spent the entire first week lying in bed.
The next week, she’d walked around surrounded by Manuela and the maids.
Thanks to that, the enormous townhouse of House Béarn was still an unknown world to Eleonore.
She hadn’t even been upstairs from the second floor, where her room was.
Nor had she ever stepped onto the green lawn she saw through the large windows.
If only it were an Eastern-style building, she would’ve gotten used to it more easily.
This isn’t some French folk village. Seriously, what is this place?!
As she looked at the ornate objects arranged neatly along the corridor, Eleonore grumbled to herself.
After walking down one long corridor after another and circling down the grand staircase...
By the time Eleonore entered the dining room on the first floor, the rich smell of freshly baked bread filled the vast hall.
“Good morning, Eli.”
And a man seated at the table beamed at Eleonore with a smile as bright as the fragrant smell of bread.
Eleonore turned her head to look at him.
Hair a deeper shade of yellow than the girl’s in the mirror.
Eyes a deeper shade of blue than the girl’s in the mirror.
A man whose features resembled Eleonore’s, but were overall more striking.
With a refreshing smile that was pleasant just to look at, the man—her older brother and the heir of House Béarn, Albris Béarn—greeted her.
“… Good morning.”
That smile made her uncomfortable, but...
Eleonore replied, brushing the hair tickling her ear out of the way.
At his younger sister’s somewhat indifferent response, Albris nodded, his long golden eyebrows arching gracefully.
If she were an ordinary woman, his refreshing smile would probably have made her heart flutter.
The maids were whispering and watching from beyond the arched doorway to the dining room. Probably, anyway.
But Eleonore wasn’t an ordinary woman right now.
And even if Seo Juha had been a woman in her original world, she and the man before her were siblings.
Swallowing the dreaded title she was supposed to add at the end, as she always did, Eleonore spoke coldly.
“I’m sorry I’m late. You must have been waiting a long time.”
Passing by Albris at the head of the table, Eleonore went to the chair Manuela had pulled out for her and sat down.
Once Eleonore had taken her seat, Albris folded the newspaper he’d been reading in half and set it carefully on the table.
“No, it’s all right. Just being able to have breakfast together makes this big. bro. ther. happy.”
What was with that hideous accent?
For a moment, a harsh remark nearly slipped out, but...
Covering her mouth with the cup on the table, Eleonore looked at Albris through narrowed eyes.
Albris, after everything that’s happened over the past two weeks, you still don’t get it?
You think if you do that, I’ll just say the word without a fuss?
“That’s right. I’m happy to be with you, too.”
Her voice was laden with a coldness like the midwinter sea wind, but...
Albris just grinned at her words and picked up the silver cutlery in front of him.
But...
Aren’t siblings supposed to be mortal enemies? Like, shouldn’t they be trying to beat each other to death?
Why is he like this?
#.
Over the two weeks she’d spent at the Béarn mansion, the meals Eleonore had eaten had been lavish by Seo Juha’s standards—and every bit as delicious.
Putting everything else aside...
The fact that every meal included meat—beef, rich with its savory aroma—had won Eleonore over.
The Double Max lunchbox full of meat she’d never gotten to eat in her previous life was already a distant memory.
Of course, during the first week after she woke up, she only drank soup, but even that had been a gourmet experience in its own way.
Since she’d started eating regular meals in earnest, Eleonore’s quality of life had shot up dramatically.
Still, just because the food set before her was lavish and delicious didn’t mean Eleonore could wolf it all down.
Eleonore reluctantly lowered the fork in her hand.
The thing was, this young lady’s appetite wasn’t normal.
Compared to this young lady, even the portions of her female classmates who’d once put on airs and pretended to eat daintily would have counted as a binge.
Of course, this morning was no different.
Freshly baked, soft white bread still steaming, with savory butter. And ham and cheese.
Just a couple of slices of juicy roast beef had already brought Eleonore’s stomach to its limit.
Mentally, she was nowhere near satisfied.
If she were Seo Juha instead of Eleonore, she would have devoured every last piece of roast beef heaped on the plate, then gone back for seconds or thirds.
But her body couldn’t keep up.
So once again, Eleonore had to bid farewell to the plate piled high with roast beef, her face full of sorrow.
“Eli. Don’t you think it’s about time you decided?”
Just as Eleonore was sadly parting ways with the roast beef...
Albris elegantly dabbed his lips with the napkin in his hand and looked at Eleonore.
“Decided what?”
“Your partner. For the debutante ball.”
Albris gestured behind him, his expression now somehow displeased.
Then a servant, who had been clearing the table for some time, approached and held out a tray to Eleonore.
The jumble of perfume scents rising from the silver tray piled with colorful envelopes was enough to make her feel nauseated.
Eleonore frowned deeply and looked at Albris, her neat golden eyebrows drawn tight.
Her expression asked, What is this?
“They’re all letters for you. From men offering to escort you to the ball.”
Albris eyed the heaps of envelopes with disgust, as if they were bugs.
Then Albris picked up the newspaper he’d placed on the table.
Beneath the gray newspaper lay a single simple white envelope.
Albris pushed the white envelope toward her using only the tip of his finger, as if touching something filthy.
“And this one, too. Eli, the letter from the young duke of Vallatiere you’ve been longing for.”
Wait. What did he just say? Es...cort? Me?
Though her head was spinning, Eleonore held tightly onto her composure and asked Albris again.
“The young duke of Vallatiere?”
“Yes. That Julian de la Vallatiere. That filthy bastard son of the emperor—”
“Ahem.”
At Manuela’s cough, Albris swallowed the last word.
“Anyway, a letter came from that young duke of Vallatiere or whatever, the one you’ve been singing about so much. Read them carefully and choose.”
Eleonore stared at the letters on the table.
Right. Given the setting, she’d been prepared for a debutante ball or something.
Manuela had said as much just this morning.
But what? Escort?
Wasn’t she supposed to put on some embarrassing dress, take a man’s hand, and all that?
“Um...”
At Eleonore’s suddenly serious tone, Albris answered just as firmly.
“Big. Bro. Ther.”
“Young Master. I—”
“Tsk! Big! Bro! Ther!”
Drawing a deep breath, Albris cut Eleonore off.
Albris’s voice was filled with such force that it was clear he was determined to hear that word from her today, at least.
Eleonore let out a deep sigh.
Being called ‘milady’... well, that couldn’t be helped.
Big brother... Big brother, of all things. Sigh.
But Eleonore was the one who wanted something from him.
“Big.... bro.... ther.”
Only then did Albris smile broadly and nod.
“That’s right, Eli.”
Since she’d gone to the trouble of calling him big brother...
Eleonore looked at Albris, adding a hint of a nasal lilt to her voice and fluttering her large eyes.
“I haven’t been out of bed for very long. And I’m still not feeling all that well.... Could we just skip it this year?”
Despite her laying it on thick, Albris shook his head.
He answered Eleonore with an apologetic expression.
“Eli. To tell the truth, I’d like to do that, too. But there are so many eyes on you this year. And then there’s that old fox bitch in the Imperial Palace—”
“Ahem.”
“…Her Majesty the Empress is apparently looking forward to it quite a bit, too. Ha, seriously. Why is some ancient old hag so interested in young people dating—”
Eleonore cut Albris off mid-sentence as his pointless digression started to drag on.
“Then I can go in alone! By myself!”
The moment she finished speaking, Albris’s expression slowly began to harden.
The huge hall where the two of them sat began to freeze just as quickly as his expression hardened.
“Eleonore Ariena de Béarn. Are you serious about what you just said? Huh? The precious youngest daughter of House Béarn, guardian of the western empire, is going to enter all by herself, with no escort?”
Amid the sudden chill...
Albris’s low, deep, and intense voice began to fill the vast hall from the floor up.
Startled by Albris’s sudden change in attitude, Eleonore’s shoulders trembled.
The fluttering cuff of her blouse gently brushed against the cutlery on the napkin, and...
A sharp clatter rang out as the fork tumbled, cutting through the silence between Albris and Eleonore.
Still, they were family, so she’d spent the past two weeks constantly in Albris’s company.
During those two weeks, short or long as they might have been, Eleonore had thought she’d seen all kinds of sides to Albris.
His kind and cheerful personality...
That was why she hadn’t been able to bring herself to say that word, big brother.
But now Albris, who’d been so kind, was getting angry.
Confused, Eleonore could only dart her large sky-blue eyes around.
“Th-then...”
Amid the heavy atmosphere, Eleonore spoke, stealing a glance at her brother.
“Then?”
Beneath those intense blue eyes staring straight at her...
Eleonore squeezed her large eyes shut and finally forced the words out.
“Then I’ll go in with the young master. With you, big brother!”