Chapter – 41 ….
“But you and I are family. I can’t force you to spill everything in your heart, but if you ever want to talk, just remember—your big brother is always here to listen.”
Facing the same blue eyes as hers, Asili opened her mouth as if bewitched.
“I… don’t think I should get used to being at home.”
“Shouldn’t get used to it?”
Heidel tilted his head, having expected anything but that answer.
“I have to leave eventually. I have to go back. If I get used to it here… leaving will be hard.”
If she were someone who could brazenly walk into the Bolshake estate, enjoy everything without restraint, and then leave without a second thought—what would there be to worry about?
But Asili knew better than anyone that she wasn’t that kind of person.
Bolshake. And a home.
She would grow attached—deeply.
Even leaving the Caliente ducal household where she was staying now already felt daunting. And adding Bolshake to that….
Heidel finally understood what she meant.
Going back.
She meant the day she would return to the world she originally came from.
“It’s stupid not to start something just because you’re scared of the end… isn’t it?”
Her voice grew smaller and smaller until the last part was barely audible, but Heidel, whose attention was entirely on her, heard every word clearly.
He reached out and gently lifted her lowered face by her cheeks.
“It’s not stupid. Why would that be stupid? Being afraid of the end just means you already know parting will hurt. Who likes being hurt?”
And worrying about that much meant she had already grown attached.
Awkwardly fidgeting, claiming she disliked it yet refusing to push him away—his little sister must already like Bolshake quite a lot.
And as if she could read his thoughts, Asili mumbled,
“And if we’re together all day, I might… do something wrong to you, oppa.”
Heidel pressed her cheeks together, turning her lips into a duckbill, and replied,
“If you don’t want to come, you don’t have to. But Asili.”
He looked at duck-mouthed Asili with exaggerated sternness and declared firmly,
“Whatever you do, whatever you want—it doesn’t matter.”
He grinned confidently as her eyes widened.
“Because I’m your one and only brother in this entire world.”
The word “brother” felt especially emphasized, making Asili burst into laughter.
“Anyway, if you’re going to stay at the ducal estate, you should take an entire annex building!”
“What would I do with a place that big all by myself?”
“Why not! You could run from the top floor to the bottom and—”
“Stop talking nonsense!”
The warm atmosphere from earlier vanished, and the two immediately went back to bickering.
Asili yelled,
“Don’t you have anything to do? Go work!”
“My work exists when I decide to do it. If I don’t, then it doesn’t.”
“Where does that confidence come from?!”
“Confidence? As expected of my sister. You flatter your big brother so easily.”
“That wasn’t praise! It’s not confidence—it’s negligence! You’re the head of the Bolshake family, aren’t you? The one responsible for the entire household?!”
“Hey now, ‘you’? Call me oppa.”
“Do you have some sort of trauma about not being called oppa?!”
So the joy of having a “family” for the first time in her life… did not last long.
In fact, it shattered within two days.
Whenever she was with Heidel, Asili found herself laughing loudly like a child, or blushing and snapping in embarrassment.
The heart she thought was already torn beyond repair would never return to what it was.
And there would still be days when tears welled up without warning.
But that was fine.
“The day even one tear falls from your eyes—this entire empire will burn to the ground!”
“What kind of nonsense is that?!”
Nonsense or not, she now had family who would give her anything, no matter how absurd, if it was for her.
After forcefully shoving Heidel out—practically kicking him—and barely managing to send him back to the Bolshake estate, Asili collapsed weakly in Ludwig’s arms.
“I barely got rid of him.”
“He said he’d blow off the emperor’s summons just to stay by your side. So he was stuck to you the whole time?”
“Not stuck—glued! Let me ask you something.”
“You can ask me as many things as you want.”
“No, just one for now.”
For some reason, Asili lowered her voice. With a serious face and hushed tone, she asked something he never expected.
“Does the head of House Bolshake… not have any work to do?”
Silence fell after she finished.
But she felt Ludwig’s body trembling faintly as he held her, and she shook his hand vigorously.
“Don’t laugh! I know! I know it’s a stupid question!”
He was a family head. And not just any—Bolshake’s.
There was no way Heidel wouldn’t have work.
But he always dodged her questions so vaguely that she’d eventually wondered, …Could it be? and ended up asking.
“Judging by how you’re laughing, I know the answer already. He’s drowning in work, isn’t he? Then why is he—!”
Ludwig simply listened while tidying the strands of hair brushing her cheek.
“I thought Heidel would chase you around endlessly demanding stories about the other world.”
“I thought so too… Ha… honestly, that would’ve been better.”
With a drained face, Asili recited what Heidel had said.
‘Stories about that world? Not really interested. People live there just like here.
And if you talk about some object I’ve never seen in my life—could you really explain its mechanisms or details if I asked?’
After spitting all that out in one breath, she let out another weary sigh.
“Of course my answer was ‘no.’ There are plenty of things in my world that don’t exist here, but that doesn’t mean I know how they’re made.”
She couldn’t even properly explain how a pen works, let alone airplanes or rockets.
She pressed her forehead and muttered,
“A hot-air balloon, though… maybe I could.”
Hot air rises because it’s less dense than colder surrounding air, creating lift—
And then she frowned.
She wasn’t confident she could explain density.
“Hot-air balloon?”
“No. Don’t ask. I’ll just feel dumb.”
Ludwig took her hands away from her face and pressed a soft kiss on her overheated forehead.
“So what else did Heidel say?”
At that, Asili—who had been melting helplessly in his arms—snapped awake.
“Oh right, he said he’d give me a villa. And asked where I want it—!”
Ludwig listened silently, a faint smile on his lips.
She insisted she disliked Heidel, yet every time she mentioned him, warmth filled her eyes.
She said she had no family.
She said she lived alone under the sky.
And suddenly, she’d gained an older brother.
He hadn’t originally intended to attach the name Bolshake to her expecting something like this.
Her red hair and blue eyes—it simply reminded him too much of Bolshake.
“You know, him calling himself my oppa over and over makes it even more awkward. My tongue keeps tripping…”
She grimaced, though she continued calling him oppa every time.
It was probably instinct—her heart leaning toward him, though she wasn’t yet used to it.
Just like Heidel sensed, Ludwig understood her confusion but didn’t point it out.
He simply stroked her cheek as she grumbled.
“Why is he so excessive about everything?”
“Excessive?”
Hearing his puzzled tone, Asili brought his hand to hers and compared their sizes.
His fingers were a whole joint longer—completely dwarfing hers.
“I don’t mean the size of his hands… I mean he does everything on too big a scale. When someone cooks way more food than needed, we say they have ‘big hands.’”
“Ah, so that’s why you specifically call it ‘hands.’”
“Well, it’s an old saying, so I don’t know the exact origin. But anyway—he’s needlessly extravagant.”
As her delicate fingers ran along his knuckles, Ludwig intertwined their hands.
“That tickles.”
“Hm? Ah.”
Still fingering the back of his clasped hand, Asili shook her head.
“Seriously, people who were enemies in their past lives must reincarnate as siblings…”
Before she could finish, she abruptly shut her mouth.
Siblings. Brother and little sister.
Yes—she and Heidel had decided to be siblings.
She had claimed the role of his sister, and he had willingly accepted it.
People who didn’t even know each other’s faces just days ago had become family under one name.
But that didn’t mean they were actually related by blood.
I’m your one and only oppa.
Hearing Heidel’s voice echoing in her ear, her heart thumped—
“Today.”
Ludwig’s voice pulled her back to the present.
“Huh?”
“You said you’d be going out.”
“Yeah. I found a breadcrumb trail that opp— my brother left behind.”
“A trail?”
