Chapter 20 (1/2)

Three days have passed since then

I was told that Hilde’s injury wasn’t too serious, and she was alreadyher, with a physician close at hand

Niklas has been placed under house arrest, but there was still no evidence of hidoment for the destruction of evidence in the Hilde irl’s testih to convict him

The uhly likely she hadn’t been informed about the most important part of their plans—how they intended to abduct Lutz

The systeuilty”, but without evidence it was difficult to pass judgment on an earl’s son

As it was, Niklasblow to Hilde

Since he could not be trusted, he was placed under surveillance, which made it difficult for hidoo in an undesirable direction for the Order

The knights hadn’t bided all this tih their hands

If I hadn’t disturbed their operation, would the case have gone more smoothly? I wondered, but no answers came to me

I wanted to help after all the trouble I’d caused, but what could I do?

Depressed, I laid in the hed

I’d been confined inside again, and now the day was already over Since I barely moved around, I didn’t feel sleepy at all I tried to read books to pass the tiot processed

It was now after ht

I just finished telling myself I should sleep when a sound came from my bedroom door

——KNOCK KNOCK

“……?”

It was a preposterous hour for anyone to visit an unirl’s room, much less the princess

Who could it be? I wondered warily, when an unexpected voice cah the door

“Rosé, it’s me May I enter?”

“…brother?”

In a fluster, I put on a thin shawl and slipped offthere with his usual expressionless self

He looked exactly like he’d been working until this very moment

“…please, come in”

Who visited a young girl’s rooht, even if she happened to be his 10 year old little sister? I thought it was out of character for my serious brother, but I still let him in He was my brother What else could I do?

“Shall I prepare tea?”

“No need”

He threw himself onto the couch with a plomp, and beckoned me closer with a hand

Lost, I approached hiuided me to the couch Unable to run the opposite way, I was seated right beside to him

What in the world?

A questioned mark danced over my head as I faced him We were closer than I’d expected, and I stared at my brother’s beautiful features in shock

Even if I hadn’t been taken by surprise, this was probably the first we had ever been so close I could see the texture on his skin, and the irises of his eyes

His ice blue eyes looked grey frole

Seerabbed my shoulders and pulled me toward him

“Br-brother…?”

Giving in to his pressure, I found myself stretched out on the couch, my head in his lap

W-wait a minute…he wants me to use his lap as a pillow…?

“Shall we have a little talk?”

“I don’t mind, but…why like this?”

Shaken, I found his actions even stranger than I’d originally thought, but he was otherwise behaving exactly the same The tone of his voice was even, and no expression marred his face

Was this how siblings acted? Now that I thought about it, I had done this for Johan before, but this was the first time I’d ever had someone offer me the same

“The hour is late If you get tired, you can sleep like that”

“Umm…”

Hoas I going to do that?

I couldn’t possibly sleep with my head on my brother’s lap! I was so aware of him I couldn’t calm down, and well, it wasn’t very comfortable Chris didn’t reek of body odor, but his body was quite ht

It was obvious there were a lot of things I wanted to say His eyes narrowed slightly, and the corners of his mouth quirked in amusement

“Letbrotherly once in a while,” he said

“……”