TFCF 10

Chapter 10 …

Paracel Solalune returned to the estate as soon as the academy term ended.

Normally, he would linger after the term to enjoy the social scene before coming back, so this was clearly unusual.

Hearing of his arrival, Aila went out to greet him, her heart tense.

She had never once gone so far as to welcome her brother at the front entrance before.

No one had ever asked her to, either.

But since I don’t know much about Helen, or about Paracel either…

She would only know if she faced it head-on.

Before Aila could even greet him, Paracel stepped down from the carriage, spotted her standing nervously at the entrance, and blurted out:

“Wow, you really did cut your hair!”

“Huh? Uh… yes.”

“What happened? Why’d you cut it? You actually met other nobles like this?”

The way he pressed her with questions made Aila clench her hands tightly.

“Well, that’s….”

“Do you know how many letters Mother sent me in a frenzy because of you? Thanks to that, I couldn’t even spend time with my friends—I had to rush back here like this—”

“Paracel Solalune.”

At that moment, Helen appeared behind them.

Aila instinctively turned to look at her sister.

Helen frowned.

“Could you think before you speak? Come here for a moment.”

“But, sis, I was just—”

“There’s no ‘just.’ Hmm?”

Paracel flinched, his shoulders shrinking.

He never stood a chance against his older sister, only two years his senior.

“…Fine.”

Slumping his shoulders, Paracel walked inside.

Helen gently patted Aila’s head.

“It’s alright, Aila. Seems like there was some misunderstanding.”

“Yes.”

Seeing Aila answer so meekly tugged painfully at Helen’s heart.

Paracel, that brat, honestly…

Leaving Aila in Madame Poppy’s care, Helen stormed off to her brother’s room.

She flung the door open, and Paracel yelled:

“Ah, sis! At least knock!”

“Knock, my foot. Then lock your door if you care so much.”

“I’m not some moody teenager who has to keep his door locked at home.”

At that, Helen’s eyes narrowed dangerously.

“How dare you speak so rudely to your sister?”

“I’m just asking you to show some manners too.”

“You’re the one who needs manners. Your one and only little sister came all the way to the entrance to greet you, and the first thing you did was spit insults at her?”

Paracel faltered at that.

Helen was right.

He opened his mouth to defend himself, then shut it and sighed.

“Well, it’s just that she really—”

“Paracel Solalune.”

Hearing his full name spoken made him tense up.

When he looked at Helen, she stood with arms crossed.

“Do you really think Aila is like some stray mongrel? That she ruins the Solalune family’s image?”

“What? Hold on.”

Paracel frowned, but Helen didn’t let him interrupt.

“So that’s why you’ve never once taken her to any family gatherings? Because she’ll never be able to marry anyway, so you should just slap a flaw label on her and get rid of her quickly?”

“……”

Paracel sank into a chair, running a hand through his golden hair with a sigh.

The siblings weren’t on bad terms—if anything, Paracel thought they were close.

With parents as self-indulgent as theirs, children naturally had to band together.

And as the eldest, Helen was flawless—so much so that Paracel never really had the heart, or reason, to rebel against her.

He only worried about their mother’s constant complaints because, as her son, it felt like his duty.

But still…

“Mother said the girl has gone completely mad, causing trouble everywhere, while you’ve gone blind with favoritism and keep taking her side.”

Helen gave a bitter smile.

“Gone mad? You mean just because she cut her hair?”

“Well, yeah. That’s not exactly normal behavior.”

At his words, Helen’s face darkened.

“Until Aila cut her hair, I was angry at myself. Angry that I’d been irritated by Mother’s behavior but never cared enough to do anything. My little sister would look up at me with sparkling eyes, and I… had never spared even a fingernail’s worth of thought for her life.”

“Sis…”

“Paracel, do you remember? The time we left Aila behind at the lake?”

“Left behind—?”

“We did it on purpose. You remember it too.”

Helen crossed her arms.

“In winter, when we went skating on the lake, we deliberately excluded Aila. Afterward, when we all climbed into the sleigh, Mother made her fetch something from across the way. Then she laughed and told Father to start driving the sleigh right away.”

“…It was just a joke.”

Helen lifted one brow.

“Aila had to sprint after us in a panic. She couldn’t even call out while chasing the sleigh. Do you remember what Mother said when she saw that?”

“…Not really.”

“She said, Who are you? You’re not one of our children, are you? And Aila froze right where she stood.”

“……”

Helen let out a long sigh.

“Then Mother said Aila was creepy for not even crying, and told Father to go faster—let’s see what happens if we really leave her. Father just laughed and drove on. By the time we got back to the estate, Madame Poppy was horrified and rushed out to search for Aila.”

Helen pressed her fingers to her brow.

“I knew it was cruel even then, but I didn’t really care about Aila. And just recently, she asked me—am I really a Solalune?”

Helen bit her lip.

“Of course she’d be hurt. Of course she’d bear scars. And yet, when she looked at me… she said she wanted to be like me, her eyes shining.”

Letting out a shaky breath, Helen whispered:

“She’s never once gotten angry at me. Never blamed me.”

Paracel raised a hand.

“Alright. I get it.”

“Then that’s enough. So what if she cut her hair? Honestly, that’s nothing compared to the way we’ve all excluded her, Paracel.”

“…Yeah.”

“Yeah?”

“…Yeah, you’re right.”

Paracel groaned.

He had never really thought that deeply about his little sister.

Helen shot back sharply:

“What makes me the angriest, Paracel, is that I assumed she’d be fine. I told myself—would she really have it harder than me?”

Her smile twisted.

“Even though we’re both children of the same mother.”

Helen Solalune could have believed it if someone told her that the very first word she spoke at birth had been perfect.

Her mother always stroked her hair and said:

“You must become the perfect head of House Solalune. I gave birth to you for that purpose. Helen, you are beautiful and clever.”

In the mirror, her mother’s smiling face stood beside her own.

“So never, ever disappoint us.”

Perfect.

Perfect.

But is there such a thing as a truly perfect person?

That constant sense of inadequacy left Helen perpetually anxious.

By comparison, hadn’t Aila, with no expectations placed on her, been freer? Helen had once thought so.

Paracel raised his hand.

“I understand what you’re saying, sis. And you’re right. Honestly, I only came rushing back because of Mother’s endless letters.”

He looked weary.

“She wrote nearly every day. Do you want to read them? No, never mind—it’s not worth it.”

He waved a hand dismissively.

“Starts with: Your sister scorns me, disrespects me, is trying to cast me out. Your younger sister will ruin her future, ruin the family’s future, drag our honor through the mud, cut her hair like a lunatic—”

“I can imagine.”

“So I thought—what on earth is happening? I rush back here, and there’s Aila standing there with her hair chopped off. I guess I snapped without thinking. That’s all.”

He shrugged.

“Alright, I was wrong.”

Helen smirked faintly and pointed a finger at him.

“Your little sister is adorable.”

“…Mm.”

Paracel rubbed his chin.

Was Aila really adorable just now?

Honestly, all he’d noticed was her short hair—he couldn’t tell.

“Anyway, I’ll apologize to her properly later. By the way, what’s this about Aila joining the Sage’s classes?”

“Oh, that. Well, whenever the Sage holds a class, it’s only natural to inform the Solalunes. But this time we didn’t get any notice.”

“Well, that’s because…”

It was common knowledge that Aila Solalune was too frail for social life.

Sending her an invitation to an outdoor class in the forest would seem like mockery.

“She told me she wanted to make friends. This was the perfect opportunity, so I petitioned the Imperial Family to make room for her.”

“…I see.”

For anyone else, asking the Imperial Family to squeeze someone into a class like that would have been outrageous.

But to a Solalune, it wasn’t strange at all.

“Then Mother really was exaggerating.”

Paracel nodded—just as a gentle knock sounded.

“Um, it’s Aila. I brought something to drink.”

The siblings exchanged a glance, instantly softening their expressions.

“Come in, Aila,” Paracel said warmly, his voice bright and gentle.