Chapter 10: Second Episode: Chapter 1 (1/2)
Chapter 10: Second Episode: Chapter 1
Translator: EndlessFantasy TranslationEditor: EndlessFantasy Translation
Miss Sasha E. Nedgabel Andrew was the daughter of Duke Andrew’s sister, who through the family’s persistent arrangement, married one of the sons of the Nedgabel house. They were both very happily married but all this was shattered quickly after the war.
The Persian’s launched a large-scale assault on the Nedgabel family’s territory and in this intense battle, Sasha’s father heroically sacrificed himself. However not long after that, Sasha’s mother couldn’t bear the immense grief and decided to take her own life. At the age of four, Sasha E. Nedgabel became an orphan.
Duke Andrew brought his niece back to Narcissus County. From there onwards, he took over the Nedgabel family’s duties of bringing up and teaching of the young miss. Coincidentally at the same time, O’Neil Andrew Morisette’s mother had just passed away; both Sahsa and O’Neil became great companions for each other.
It was not known whether the Duke intended to do this, but if the answer was certain, then the Duke’s understanding of his son may well surpass anyone else’s. Oscar and Sasha’s encounter did not seem like it was by chance.
Oscar matured early – the first time he met Sasha, it was as if she was a crystal to him and he swore that he would never let anyone break her. It seemed to him that she was still too young, and was the sort that needed protection. At the age of five, he started taking care of this four-year-old girl. Oscar gave Sasha all his mother’s previous love and care for him. But that was not an act of playing ”happy family”, nor was it pure imitation. Giving away all the love and care he received during his childhood years entirely to the girl, was the teenager’s deepest emotional transfer.
Oscar’s mother, who loved him most dearly in the world had left him. Although he later became reclusive, he did not lose hope. The boy of Andrew’s house was a natural warrior. Instead, the youngster’s inner strength and stubbornness became more and more prominent. He would never accept others’ pity nor wanted their emotional support but his mother’s gentleness and kindness made it difficult for Oscar to forget.
His mother’s frail body and beautiful face activated the maturing young boy’s desire to protect since early in life. Unfortunately, his mother passed on before Oscar grew up but Sasha’s appearance made this protective desire of Oscar’s to flare up. Sasha, to a certain degree, became a symbol - a substitute of a princess. Oscar did not allow anyone to touch her. He transferred all his complicated and difficult emotions for his mother, onto Sasha. To outsiders, Sasha sometimes seemed more like Oscar’s exclusive property. They even suspected that Oscar was somewhat perverted.
After Sasha entered her elder brother’s room, she took one glance and instantly had her eyes on the enormous polar bear sofa. She exaggeratedly threw herself on it, shifting left and right continuously until she found a comfortable position and laid down. She even let out a happy snort.
”Little kitten! How does it feel? Oh, having a good eye on furniture is something your brother is extremely confident about,” Oscar looked at his younger sister and smiled.
”Well of course! Is this the legendary polar bear? This is so cute and the fur is so soft. I really want to see them live,” Sasha gently caressed the sofa, dissatisfied.
”No! Sasha, if you ever have the chance to see a real polar bear, the first thing you must do is run. The adult polar bears are about three meters tall and even they can even defeat a small army of soldiers alone,” Oscar once read an expedition record on a terrifying encounter of the Ice Overload.
”Oh! Then we could keep them in a large freezer! I will feed them carrots every day. This way, they will slowly turn as meek as rabbits. Not long after that, I would be able to play with them.” Sasha was clearly not giving up.
After hearing Sasha’s words, Oscar felt that he might go crazy. He remembered someone once told him that his younger sister had the intelligence that surpasses her age, but her question was obviously ridiculous.
”Sasha! You should know! Polar bears are a type of exceptionally fierce beast. They would never care about your carrots, and definitely would not play with you. I can’t explain to you why the polar bears are unable to accept your ‘good intentions’, but I know that nature has its laws and polar bears have their pride.” Oscar strictly corrected his younger sister. He knew that there were people in the underworld, whose specialty were business dealings of rare creatures. Not to mention that since they were young, this girl before him had a knack of causing trouble. Building a freezer and breeding a few polar bears, was definitely her kind of thing to do.
After listening to her elder brother’s words, Sasha became solemn. Her gaze lost that spark of innocence but a sudden arrival of intelligence startled Oscar.
”Brother! I’m glad you know these things so well. But what if His Majesty the Emperor wants to train a polar bear? Would the polar bear abandon his pride for the person offering the carrot if he was the head of a supreme monarch?
Oscar was surprised! He was completely astonished by his younger sister. Though Oscar’s thoughts were exceptionally quick, ”Freezer, His Majesty the Emperor, polar bear, training, carrot, pride!” These words were momentarily weaved into an exceptionally wide scene in his mind. He himself had been at the very center of a battle between the royal family and his own; he could practically guess the thoughts of Alfa III immediately. In this situation, Andrew was exactly the kind of guy who was comparative to the ice plains in a freezer. Oscar was that polar bear. The carrot was like the prince’s crown on his head. His Majesty the Emperor could eliminate the wild nature of the polar bear through training, to such a degree that the polar bear’s pride on the ice plains would be completely obliterated.
Sasha’s words enlightened Oscar. The young prince was never a stupid person, even the elite strategists of the underworld commended him endlessly. Oscar finally realized that his line of thought consisted of a fatal flaw. It was considering everything for his own interests – a habit he picked up in Damorga.
He had been separated from his family for too long!
Little Oscar’s selfishness was not wrong. If it weren’t for his selfishness, he would have already become a mound of dirt in Damorga. But Sasha was different. Being a member of Andrew Nedgabel’s, her habit was to prioritize her family’s interests. It was obvious that Oscar overlooked his family’s responses whenever he pondered on a problem. Presumably, his father would not be happy to have a member of his family emerge with qualities higher or even better than his because that would signify the loss of power.
Sasha used her handkerchief to gently wipe the traces of sweat off the young prince’s forehead. Oscar caught both her hands.
Sasha saw a firm light in her elder brother’s eyes.
”Sasha, you know, I would never betray you, and even more so betray the family. I was born in Narcissus County. No matter how fresh the carrots are, it can never beat the narcissus flower blossom in the four season.”
Sasha nodded her head furiously. She knew her elder brother would answer this way but still, she understood him.
”When I was leaving, father told me things about you. Brother, would you like to hear me out?”
Oscar was somewhat baffled. Why didn’t the Duke talk about these things with his wife but chose this young girl instead?
Sasha waved her hand and caught Oscar’s attention, who was about to sink deep into his thoughts. ”Please respect me a little, will you! That time, father pulled me into that huge study room of his and spoke to me for over an hour! Brother, you wouldn’t even know that he smoked! He completely didn’t realize that he was speaking to a young lady! And that was practically a torment to me! Good gracious! You do know how strong the smell of father’s cigar is...”
”Sasha!” Oscar interrupted his younger sister’s continuous jabber. He knew that his younger sister had not dropped her habit of deviating from the topic. This intelligent little one’s line of thought had a strong nature to leap. When Oscar was young, he could never tolerate it.
”Sasha, speak decently, will you? You know I have no interest in father’s cigars!”
The young miss, Sasha E. Nedgabel Andrew acted all rogue. When she heard her elder brother’s words, she swiftly sat up straight and spread her snowy white hands before Oscar.
”Foreseeing future events, now hand over the prize!” Sasha’s manner was extremely adorable.
Oscar shook his head and forced a smile. He could not remember when Sasha developed this habit. Back in the days, he would always reward Sasha with a small prize whenever she had successfully recited a short literary. Since then, after experiencing the sweet taste of rewards, this little girl started using all her ways to try and get rewards from him. On the other hand, Oscar would always have various bizarre little things on him, such as a snail without a shell or a colorful volcanic rock. He could always, with his sister’s longing gaze, bring pleasure and happiness. He had never disappointed Sasha; never before, and definitely not now.
When Oscar knew that he was going to reunite with his sister, he was well prepared to handle a situation like this. So this time, he performed a magic act before his younger sister. His original intention of learning this diversionary tactic from Ricky the Liar was exactly so that he could showcase this skill to her.
He placed his hand on his heart. Sasha’s eyes were wide opened, but she was immediately disappointed. There was nothing in Oscar’s hand. Sasha knew that her elder brother had never refused to give her a prize before. So she carefully inspected Oscar’s chubby hand. But again, there really was nothing on it.
Sasha’s expressions were over the top. Although Oscar wanted to enjoy this moment a little more, he knew that the little princess would be taken over by madness anytime, and that was not an amusing thing.
”Dear Sasha, don’t move! Don’t move okay?” Oscar stroked that fiery red hair of Sasha’s. ”Little princess! My little princess, why did you not look in the mirror? My prize is already on you!”
”Ah! Really?” With brother Oscar, Sasha would forever be the little girl that never grew up. Not noticing that her elder brother had played a trick on her hair, Sasha jumped down from the sofa and ran to her bedroom, shouting loudly, ”Mirror! Mirror! Mirror!”
”Wow...” Oscar was very satisfied with the exaggerated sound of praise that came from the bedroom. The girl returned to her brother’s side in a whirlwind, then proceeded to straighten her skirt and smoothed down her beautiful hair. Her face finally displayed the most beautiful smile.
”Brother! Am I pretty?” Sasha happily waited for a confirmation.
Oscar was dazed. His younger sister was no longer that little girl. She had tender skin, a waist as slim as silk, and she had matured very perfectly. Her fine curved body was not at all like any other fourteen-year-old girl.
Little miss Sasha E. Nedgabel Andrew was proud. She took pride in her breasts that were slowly enlarging, getting more and more perfect by day. When she looked at her naked body in the mirror, she was not the least bit shy of it. She treasured her own body even more so when her foster father told her that according to their family’s practice, she was to marry her brother Oscar when she was older. The second she met her brother, she could not wait to tie the knot with him.
At this point, Oscar was not aware of the great change in nature of his sister’s body. He stared at this beautiful girl that was as pure as the Narcissus, something close to devotion. A jade green dragonfly was perched between the girl’s hair and that was Oscar’s prize. The dragonfly was not real but a fake handiwork that could pass off as authentic.
The dragonfly complemented Sasha’s beautiful, fiery red hair with its pair of huge sapphire eyes. Oscar believed that no one in the West Land has seen such a huge jade green-colored dragonfly. This was a rare species from the far Eastern Lands, but this was not where the true value of the dragonfly’s lies. Its body was carved from a whole piece of precious stone to produce. The precious stone’s corrugation was perfectly combined with the dragonfly’s beautiful body. Even though this dragonfly was only as long as a finger, but in the history of the West Land, this insanely tiny and exquisite craftsmanship has never been seen before.
The Eastern people’s wisdom, as well as arts and crafts, were undoubtedly something the West land’s artists and expert craftsman are unable to compare with.
The fiery red color of the hair added a sense of grandeur to the girl. The elegantly perched dragonfly helped add a bit of dignity and peace to the girl too. Both of them were perfect as one.
”Beautiful; extremely beautiful and I can’t describe it! Really! Little princess, please do not make it hard for me anymore! I absolutely cannot find words from this world that can describe you! It seems like I’d have to pray to the God of Light. Only He can tell me how to praise your beauty.”
Sasha E. Nedgabel Andrew cheerfully accepted her brother’s praise. She realized her brother was better at talking than before. After she gave her brother a quick peck, she climbed back onto the ”polar bear”. She had never been this coy in front of her brother. When they were younger, her brother had once given her a bath before. But now her whole face unexpectedly turned red at her brother’s words. Sasha did not like this feeling. She had to hide the abrupt shyness that came. The little miss did realize that her feelings for her brother had changed since earlier on.
”Very well! The gift was received, father’s intent shall be revealed!” Sasha looked at Oscar with satisfaction, who was so engrossed in his own fantasy that when he suddenly heard those words, he became stunned.
Oscar was a little dumbfounded. He had not managed to react as his sister’s speed of straying off a topic was very fast, but since when did she become so fast in going off a topic?
Sasha’s gaze was again filled with that spark of intelligence. Oscar was certainly a little curious, what was this girl’s true self?
”Actually, what father spoke to me were only about these two matters - one, why should he use that insanely passive tactic towards His Majesty the Emperor; two, some of his guesses and views on your future.”