DFCWD 38

Chapter 38

In my head, I imagined writing an elegant reply.

“Thank you for your letter, Kai. I hope you had a wonderful time in the beautiful Countdom of Pflugel.
Unfortunately, due to the upcoming festival, I don’t think I’ll be able to properly host you if you visit during that time.
Could you perhaps let me know your availability after the festival ends?
I’ll be looking forward to your reply.
— Sol Schleiger.”

But the actual sentences I wrote on the letter paper were…

Hello, this is Sol. Got your letter. Don’t come to the festival. Busy. Send another letter.

…Is this a letter or a battlefield challenge?

In the end, I sent out an SOS to Benen and Elber.

Both of them rushed to my room as soon as their classes ended.

“I don’t want to help you or anything! But if you’re going to be a proper lady of the Schleiger household, you have to learn how to do this!”

“Elber oppa, you’re here! I made some snacks!”

“Custard pudding! I don’t like it or anything, but… I actually do!”

I think he misunderstood the whole tsundere thing… But he’s cute, so it’s fine.

Then, someone not cute showed up.

“I’m here too, Sol. You’ve been waiting long, right? I’ve been waiting for a chance to come see you, too.”

“Oh, oppa, did you want snacks? I forgot. Should I mix you some sugar water?”

“…Are you discriminating against only me?”

Well, I mean, from a ten-year-old’s point of view, watching a fifteen-year-old oppa eat snacks is a bit hard to imagine. My brain is really syncing with being ten now.

In the end, I fed Benen a spoonful of my pudding. He pouted like he was sulking but still happily ate it.

Soon, with their help, I managed to write out the sentences I had originally planned. Of course, the two oppas took turns trying to mess with me.

“Here, this is how you write ‘I’ll be busy with festival preparations.’ Copy it.”

“Unless my eyes are playing tricks on me, didn’t you just write something like ‘The oppas say they’ll play with me all day, so I’ll be really busy’?”

“…Tch, I shouldn’t have taught you how to read.”

“You’re a really bad oppa if you regret something like that, you know?”

Yep, reading is essential.

Anyway, after some ups and downs, I finished the letter. It was shorter than Kai’s, but hopefully it didn’t seem insincere.

As I sealed the letter, I asked Benen and Elber something I’d been curious about.

“Do you remember that letter Kai sent before?”

“Yeah. That really long one.”

“Did it seem like a ten-year-old wrote it to you guys?”

Elber answered immediately.

“Yeah! Ten years old, same age as you, right? You can’t write well yet, but you could come up with sentences like that. Right?”

Ah, I’ve given them weird expectations of what ten-year-olds can do.

Benen, on the other hand, looked thoughtful. He seemed to get what I was really asking.

“…I could’ve written that kind of letter at ten. But the clear intent behind it… that bothers me.”

“I thought so too.”

“Does Alkaios have any other family?”

“He said he lives with just his grandfather.”

“Oh, that old man. Doesn’t seem like the type to help his grandson write a love letter.”

Love letter? That’s a bit much. I waved my hands dismissively.

“It’s fine. I was just curious. I mean, I get help from you guys too, so maybe he does too.”

“It’s okay for you. But not for him.”

“Excuse me…?”

“Haha, I bet they’ve teamed up to try and flirt with my innocent little sister. There’s gonna be a reckoning.”

“Don’t be so dramatic.”

“What?”

Benen blinked innocently.

“I’m always a kind oppa and a certified sister-fool, you know?”

…Let’s just not.

Anyway, thinking about it wouldn’t solve anything. After checking that there were no odd words in the letter, I slipped it into an envelope.

Just then, Elber suddenly looked up, as if remembering something.

“Benen hyung, doesn’t the Marquessate of Lafrande have a guardian dragon too?”

“Yeah. The red guardian dragon, the Cardinal Dragon.”

“Do you think maybe the Cardinal Dragon helped Kai write the letter? I once saw the Silver Dragon in my dream when I was struggling with something!”

“…Hmm, really?”

Oops. Benen’s smile disappeared instantly. With only one corner of his mouth lifting, he gave Elber a sharp look.

“I’m not an heir, and I don’t have any talent, so… I never even dreamed that kind of thing could happen.”

“Oh…”

“Maybe heirs just get special treatment. Good for you.”

Benen left the room before I could stop him. Just before closing the door, he smiled and said, “See you at dinner.”

Those two… I thought things were finally improving, but here we go again.

Elber, realizing what he’d just said, deflated. He hugged his knees on the chair and buried his head.

“…It’s not like I wanted the Silver Dragon’s power.”

“…”

“If I could, I’d give it to someone else… It’s not even useful right now…”

Elber waved his hand through the air.

The Duke could use that same gesture to summon ice swords and create blizzards. But from Elber’s fingertips, all that formed was a fingernail-sized snowflake that quickly vanished.

Ah, I wish I could spoil things for him.

You’re going to grow into someone who wields ice swords like a pro and marry a genuinely kind saint, not a shady adult like me.

But instead of spoiling, I changed the subject.

“You saw the Silver Dragon in a dream? Cool! What did he look like?”

“Oh, super handsome! His silver hair was long and tied back — looked just like a ribbonfish!”

“I-I see. What were you worried about back then? Did it get resolved?”

“Uh…”

He had no problem saying stuff that would make the Silver Dragon angry, but now he hesitated?

I wondered if the topic was sensitive, when suddenly he asked a completely unrelated question.

“Sol, what’s it like being the youngest in the Duke’s household?”

“Um, it’s great.”

That was an honest answer. The day I was adopted, I felt like I was heading to hell, but—

“The house is nice, the food is delicious, and the family is… good.”

Between “family” and “good,” you could add phrases like “surprisingly,” “more than I expected,” or “shockingly,” but I didn’t bother.

Before I could ask why he brought it up, Elber smiled and said:

“Then my biggest worry in life is solved!”

“Ah… you were worried about me?”

“The day you got adopted, I thought you’d be happy, but you yelled at me like ‘why are you like this!’ It really shocked me. I thought I made a huge mistake.”

“What did the Silver Dragon say?”

“He said you’d be the answer.”

Such a shamanic way of speaking. But if you stretch it a bit, it fits.

I proved my worth to the Duke and carved out a role in this household. Even Benen, who was always prickly, looked at me differently now.

Silver Dragon. Based on just the <99th Rank>, I thought you were just some crazy dragon with a love-hate relationship with the Schleigers… but you actually give decent advice sometimes? That’s a relief.

…But still.

“Elber oppa, what are you doing?”

“Getting ready to say thanks.”

He cupped his hands like someone gathering spring water. At first, the space between them was empty, but soon, his trembling hands began to fill with tiny snowflakes.

Compared to the Duke, it took him forever…

But it wasn’t boring — it was a wondrous wait.

Eventually, Elber created a small handful of snow and tossed it above our heads, saying:

“Thanks for saying it’s fun, ‘our youngest,’ Sol.”

Amid the snowflakes twinkling like starlight—

Elber smiled like a child who had just received a sibling as a gift for the first time.

After that, Elber puffed up and said, “I’m struggling too, but Benen hyung doesn’t understand! I’m not talking to him for a while!”

Sure, sure. I wanted to clutch my heart from the cuteness, but for him, it was probably painful.

Of course, I understood Benen too.

No matter how hard he tried or contributed to the family, he couldn’t become the heir.

He’d learn one day that there are paths outside the Duke’s house. But for now, Pflugel and the Duke’s estate were his whole world — that advice wouldn’t land.

Even the original saint couldn’t resolve this family drama.

I swore not to interfere in their brotherly fights! I’d just let things run their course!

…Or so I said.

But the habits from the orphanage — of playing peacemaker — refused to die.

“Benen oppa, they say the greenhouse is getting a new medicinal mushroom crop. Want to go check it out?”

“You’re interested in specialty crops?”

“Uh, just thought it might be fun!”

“Is it really for fun? Or are you trying to make me bump into Elber like yesterday?”

“…”

Sharp.

As I hesitated, Benen sighed.

“Forget it. This is just how Elber and I are.”

“But still… ignoring each other outside of mealtimes is too much.”

“Who says siblings have to get along? You don’t have siblings, so you wouldn’t—”

“…”

“Ahem. Anyway, don’t worry. We’ll handle it.”

Maybe he realized he slipped up, because Benen turned his slightly reddened face away and quickly walked off down the hallway.

Sigh… it’s not easy, really. Elber’s no better. He puts up walls the moment he senses I’m trying to make them reconcile.

Fine. I give up. You two figure it out!

My attempt failed again, but I had nothing else to do, so I headed to the greenhouse by myself.

The workers were busy moving logs with tiny mushrooms growing on them. In the meeting, they said these were medicinal mushrooms from another region. I wonder where they came from? Somewhere warm, probably?

Just then, I noticed a worker explaining something to the greenhouse manager across the room.

Thinking I might catch something interesting, I headed over—though I did feel a bit awkward when someone said, “Hey, isn’t that the young lady?”

But the voice that truly stopped me was a different one.

“Sol…?”

At first, I thought I was hearing things. I had been mulling over the letter to Kai for a while, after all.

But it wasn’t a hallucination.

“Whoa, it really is Sol! I wasn’t seeing things! I was starting to think I was seeing mirages from not seeing you for so long — guess not!”

There’s no way I could have imagined a sentence that long!

The boy approaching me with a smile bright as summer sunlight was definitely—

Kai.