Chapter 114
At that moment, Edwin stared straight at me.
Since Summer had joined, his attendance rate had improved remarkably, and he looked like he had something to say.
“What is it? Why are you acting like that?”
My nape prickled, prompting the question, and Edwin hesitated.
“It’s nothing.”
“It doesn’t seem like nothing, so spill it while I’m asking nicely.”
At my threat, Edwin fidgeted with the back of his head.
“It’s about your brother.”
Ah. So that’s it.
By now, it was about time he noticed that Summer and Adrian were flirting.
The joy of reuniting with his first love was short-lived.
Once he realized there was already an excellent man by her side, jealousy would creep in slowly.
I placed a hand on his shoulder with a pitying heart.
“Yeah, what about our brother?”
I’d resolved to be as kind as possible to him.
“Does he have anything he dislikes or fears?”
But at Edwin’s meaningful follow-up question, my resolve vanished.
I narrowed my eyes at him, as if looking at a villain trying to torment our brother.
“…Why do you ask?”
“Just curious all of a sudden.”
Edwin feigned innocence and whistled.
Trying to get information from the little sister without the effort of finding out himself!
This guy is outright declaring he’s going to harass our brother?
His intention in asking such a question was obvious.
He must be plotting to humiliate Adrian in front of Summer.
‘It’s cuter than in the original, though.’
But blood is thicker than water.
I couldn’t just cheer on someone trying to sabotage my brother’s romance.
There was already no room for Edwin between the two of them.
To prevent Edwin’s darkening, at least, I’d take responsibility and block any interference in their relationship.
‘Popular Summer belongs to our brother, and Edwin should meet someone nice separately.’
Since it’s come to this, I need to make Edwin give up quickly.
I stroked my chin as if pondering and threw out the opener.
“Our brother doesn’t have anything like that. But he does have something he likes.”
“I’m not curious about that kind of—”
“Summer Clopen. Our brother likes Summer. Seems like he’s about to confess soon?”
“…What?”
Edwin wore a shocked expression. He must have intuitively known that Summer liked him already, so no further explanation was needed.
Lottie reacted to my bombshell declaration.
“Come to think of it, they were together at the last banquet too.”
“She came to our house last time as well.”
As my words piled on, Edwin’s face grew increasingly dark.
Unlike the original, Adrian and Summer had grown close quickly, leaving no gap for him to squeeze into—that was the look on his face.
If there was even a sliver of hope, he wouldn’t give up, but as things stood, the chances of Summer liking Edwin were low.
I patted Edwin’s shoulder.
“There are plenty of good women in the world.”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
Edwin replied roughly, trying not to reveal his feelings, then leaped out the window.
As we watched his familiar exit, Lottie murmured.
“Huh. It looked like Edwin’s eyes were moist just now. He couldn’t be crying, right?”
At her worried words, Sierra’s eyes widened.
“Huh? Really? Did I miss such a rare sight?”
She dashed to the window, placed her hands on the sill, and shouted.
“Hey! Are you crying?!”
Right after, Edwin stumbled and turned back to Sierra.
“A man doesn’t cry!”
With a face that anyone could see was on the verge of tears.
Seeing Edwin’s reddened eyes, Sierra covered her mouth with her hand and giggled.
“Yeah, he’s crying. Crying, that guy.”
In the face of that tearful camaraderie, I quietly averted my gaze as my response.
It seemed everyone had already noticed that Edwin liked Summer.
Well, when a delinquent student’s attendance suddenly improves, how could they not?
I clasped my hands toward Edwin, who was already out of sight.
‘Sorry, Edwin! But it’s better to get the heartache over with quickly!’
Honestly, meeting a woman like Summer wouldn’t be easy, but even straw sandals have their pairs, right?
Having already found my pair, I wore a thoroughly relaxed expression.
Then Lottie spoke up.
“Delly, um…”
Her utterly crestfallen face resembled a puppy whining after doing something wrong.
“What’s wrong?”
“Well…”
Lottie rolled her eyes around, then pulled me into a corner.
Once we’d created enough distance that no one could hear, she whispered softly.
“I think I made a slip of the tongue.”
“Huh?”
“About Lady Summer’s dress.”
“What’s with the dress?”
“I assumed she knew you’d gifted it, so I mentioned it, but Lady Summer seemed quite surprised.”
“Ah.”
At Lottie’s uncertain murmur, I thought, oh no.
I’d been so focused on my own rumors that I’d forgotten to caution Lottie about keeping quiet.
Summer’s dress was a gift from me as the tall lady.
I’d planned to reveal it at an appropriate time.
Now that I’d caught my impersonator, was it my turn to get caught for impersonating my brother?
I hadn’t told my brother yet that I was the tall lady.
What if, before that, Summer confronted Adrian about why he’d lied?
Things would get complicated.
I frowned without realizing it, and Lottie made a tearful face.
“I didn’t cause trouble, did I?”
“Oh, no. Thanks for telling me.”
I hurriedly packed my things.
“I’ll head out now!”
I absolutely refused to let the main male and female leads clash because of me.
I rushed toward the Magic Tower.
* * *
Meanwhile, Summer was quietly waiting for Adrian in the interview room of the Imperial Knights.
This was the first time she’d sought him out.
It had always been him coming to the Magic Tower.
She already knew he came to the Magic Tower deliberately to see her.
At first, she’d thought it was to observe her as the tall lady, but now she could vaguely sense his feelings.
She felt a deep affection for him too, but she’d been hesitating due to the difference in status.
‘What do you mean? That Rodellia commissioned this dress?’
‘You didn’t know? You wear it so often, I thought you already knew.’
At Lottie’s shocking words, Summer froze on the spot.
‘The tall lady was Rodellia. Then Adrian…’
He’d said yes when she asked if he was the tall lady.
Having easily opened her heart because of that, she even felt betrayed.
Thinking back, it was full of oddities.
Like mixing up the place they used for exchanging letters with the tall lady, or asking Winter’s name upon first seeing him.
At the time, she’d thought he was pretending not to know to hide being the tall lady, but it was the opposite.
He truly didn’t know.
Because he wasn’t the tall lady.
Summer didn’t know what to do now.
She’d come to see him, but she didn’t know what to confront him with.
If she asked why he’d lied, what would he say?
Moreover, learning that the tall lady was Rodellia made going to Magia awkward.
The person she’d wanted to meet so badly was as wonderful as expected.
She’d never imagined it was a lady, so Summer felt excited yet anxious.
She didn’t know why Rodellia had stubbornly hidden her identity.
‘Maybe she had no interest in befriending me. What if I’ve been pestering her and making her uncomfortable?’
From their first meeting, she’d subtly drawn lines.
Though they’d grown a bit closer since joining Magia recently, even that was just to let her meet Edwin.
At that moment, Adrian entered the interview room.
“Lady Summer.”
He was in training attire, as if he’d run over from practice.
Worried about smelling of sweat, he sat a good distance away.
“What brings you here?”
Seeing him smile so warmly, Summer clenched her fists for no reason.
“It just seemed like you were always the one coming to see me.”
“Was I? I had a lot of business at the Magic Tower anyway. But I’m so happy that Lady Summer came to me first like this.”
Seeing Adrian’s pure joy, Summer’s heart grew complicated.
She’d come to confront him.
But seeing how happy he was, her mouth wouldn’t open.
Come to think of it, he’d always been the one approaching.
Realizing her feelings for him were not small, Summer smiled bitterly.
She decided to give him a chance to explain.
“Don’t you have something to say to me?”
