Chapter 22 is here, I hop you’ll enjoy it!
Chapter 22
Cornelia felt like something had changed in her ever since the day Kurats saved her from the earl’s son.
【”I’m back, sister.”】
【”Kyaaaah!”】
Hearing the greeting of Kurats who had appeared out of nowhere through his teleportation spell, Cornelia let out a strange shriek.
【”I’m sorry, did I surprise you?”】
【”I-it’s okay. Anyway, dinner is ready.”】
As Cornelia expected, she still was not being herself.
She couldn’t look straight at Kurats’ face.
And Cornelia was not innocent enough to not know what that meant.
(No, I can’t think that way. I am his elder sister――)
But she also knew that having such feelings was wrong.
(Forget it already. Kurats is your precious younger brother.) That thought was well established in her mind.
After pulling herself together, Cornelia sat at the dining table with Kurats.
【”Today’s dinner sure is fancy. It looks delicious.”】
【”Y-you think so? Ever since you became a baron, I’ve received lots of different ingredients, that’s probably why….”】
Indeed, the villagers had presented high-quality ingredients to Cornelia.
For them, that was an affordable way to curry favor with the feudal lord who had drastically reduced their taxes.
But that was not the only reason why the dinner was splendid.
It was like an instinct for a maiden in love to make a meal that the man in her heart would like.
Kurats couldn’t stop himself from smiling in front of his favorite meals, chicken stew and minced rabbit meat. That sight made Cornelia feel a warmth at the core of her heart.
【”Kurats, come on, you don’t have to eat so fast, the food isn’t going to disappear, you know?”】
【”Sorry, sorry, it’s just way too tasty to stop!”】
Cornelia wondered, was this what people called a woman’s happiness?
As Kurats demonstrated his strong appetite, Cornelia’s smile deepened more and more.
―― Until Kurats spoke again.
【”Oh, by the way, I’ve been ordered by her highness the princess to go search for her assailant starting tomorrow, so don’t worry if there are some days when I don’t return.”】
【”Haaaaaaaah?”】
(What the hell? I wasn’t told about this!)
【”W-w-w-why do you have to put yourself in danger, Kurats? After everything you went through to become a baron!”】
【”By becoming a baron, it seems like I also became part of princess Lunaria’s faction. And, I mean, even today, she was attacked by assassins while strolling outside, near the royal castle.”】
Cornelia was too astonished by Kurats’ words to ignore them.
【”You were in the castle town with the princess?”】
Cornelia was aware that there was a crack in her voice.
She was unable to suppress the persistent, dark feelings that were coming from the depths of her heart, despite knowing that those feelings were unreasonable.
(Why why why why why why why why why why?)
【”Even though she’s a princess, she’s actually a pretty tomboyish girl. So accompanying her is actually pretty difficult.”】
【”Oh, a girl, huh..”】
Kurats failed to notice that there was some type of great danger within Cornelia’s voice.
【”She ate a lot, she seemed to like small accessories, and her attention was very quick to be caught by new things, I’m pretty sure no one would be able to tell that she’s a princess just by looking at her in action.”】
【”Sounds like she’s quite the loose canon. But there was probably someone accompanying you guys so that’s fine.”】
【”No, there was only me actually.”】
―― ‘Clack’.
Cornelia clearly heard this sound in her head, it was like the sound of rubber that was stretched past its limit, to the point where the tension ripped it apart.
【”Come to think of it, she also went to a fortune-teller to ask about her future love life. She was in a very good mood afterwards, so the results were probably great.”】
【”O-oh~, shopping and fortune-telling, even though she’s the princess, she is still a girl after all huh…”】
In short, Kurats and the princess had been all alone together, enjoying themselves while buying food outside.
Normally speaking, this could only be called a date.
While Cornelia had been in anguish over her feelings, Kurats had been care-freely enjoying himself on a date with the princess.
Right now, Cornelia was suppressing a laugh of pure anger that was stuck in her throat.
Kurats was not personally responsible for this, however, the result was the same, he was going to have to pay the full price for playing with a girl’s feelings.
【”The princess must have been really pleased with you to have let that happen.”】
【”It’s probably because she’s not obligated to restrain herself in front of me since I used to be a commoner.”】
(That’s not how it works! No matter what, she’s still a princess, she’s supposed to restrain herself in front of everyone!)
Cornelia barely managed to keep those words to herself.
For a woman, going out with one man all alone was a special event.
Especially since her life had been targeted a few days before. Given her circumstances, the fact that she hand gone out all alone with Kurats and had ended up honestly enjoying it showed that her trust towards him was extraordinary.
(Even I was able to guess that, so why couldn’t this blockhead do as much even though he was with her?)
Without realizing it, Cornelia ended up sympathizing with the princess even though she should have considered her as her rival.
(This is all Kurats’ fault!)
That thought was driven by Cornelia’s complex feelings as a woman, so, how bad could she possibly be?
【”Since the princess likes you so much, you’re gonna have to become an adult soon, right?”】
At last, Kurats noticed that his sister looked different than usual.
Although her face was laughing, her eyes were not.
From his experience, Kurats knew that this expression meant Cornelia was enraged from the bottom of her heart.
【”W-what’s the matter, sister? ….You look a little scary right now….”】
【”I mean, you’re a noble who serves the princess now. With your status, I don’t think it would be good if you kept treasuring the undergarments of big sister Dorothea and the like forever.”】
【”Waaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!”】
Dorothea was a sensual and beautiful woman who lived nearby in the village, and who ended up getting married, which had made Kurats cry in secret.
Once, he coincidentally picked up an underwear of hers that was blown away by the wind, and he had been treating it like a treasure since, but he would never have thought that Cornelia knew about that.
『W-what? What is this feeling of both wanting to die and destroy everything?』
As he shared Kurats’ feelings, Bernst was astonished.
There was no way for a god-like being such as the magic king Bernst to know the despair that came from having one’s dark history revealed.
But, of course, the one who suffered the biggest impact was Kurats himself.
There was nothing that could be done against Cornelia when she was seriously angry.
Kurats knew that better than anyone else due to the long time he had spent with her back since he was a child.
One time, he broke her favorite toy, and in consequence, not only did she severely scold him and hang him from a tree, she also stuck a leech between his legs so that it would suck his blood.
Sometimes, he would peek at her while she was changing, and in turn she would smear his whole body with varnish, making him wonder if the goal was to make him develop a rash and die.
(―― Seriously, how the hell did I come to like someone like her?)
In spite of himself, Kurats was questioning the love he held towards Cornelia.
【”Which reminds me, back when big sister Merga got married, you went to peep on her and her husband’s ‘business’. Was that day the first time you ‘took care of yourself’? I was very worried that you’d become a criminal or something, you know?”】
【”Kill meeee! Just kill me already! I couldn’t help it, okay! This is just the sad nature of men!”】
(Why the hell does she know my secrets?! Was she stalking me or something?! There isn’t a single man who hasn’t experienced this, and everyone makes mistakes in their youth!)
『I want to hit something! I want to break something! What is this feeling?!』
(Just shut up! Like you’d understand what it feels like to have your dark history exposed!)
This was the first time Bernst regretted sharing Kurats’ feelings.
This irritating, painful feeling, so frustrating that he wanted to die, Bernst wished he would never had had to feel it in his entire lifetime.
【”…As for the time you ‘took care of yourself’ with my shorts, I’ve already forgiven you so it’s fine.”】
【”It’s over! My life is oveeeeeeer!”】
Cornelia’s ways were terrifying.
『Ugggggh! What is happening? I’m feeling irreparable despair, this goes way past simple irritation and embarrassment, even suicide is starting to seem like an option! Who would have thought that such terrible feelings existed in this world!』
(I’m done! Now I’m going to be branded as a pervert with a sister complex, and all I’ll know for the rest of my life will be the touch of my own fingers!)
『To think that one’s dark history can have this kind of effect….!』
Bernst lost his patience.
By nature, Bernst was far from being a patient man. So he could not possibly stay silent as he tasted this feeling of hopeless despair, this feeling akin to having lost everything in his life.
At this moment, Bernst forgot that his purpose was to share Kurats’ feelings in order to feel human emotions again.
Perhaps this was evidence that he was letting anger make him lose sight of his goals, or perhaps this only testified to the fact that he was regaining his human feelings.
As the magic king, he could easily take control of the body of his own alter ego, Kurats, if he wanted. And so he did.
【”You’re sure letting yourself get carried away. But you can put that to rest now.”】
【”Huh?”】
Believing that she had utterly humiliated Kurats, Cornelia was bewildered when he answered her with words that were full of cold anger.
It was her first time hearing him use such a blunt and cold tone of voice.
【”Kurats is 18 years old already. Being interested in having intercourse at this age is only natural, hell, even getting married at this age would not be strange.”】
【”Huh? What? Huh?”】
Cronelia was confused by Kurats’ abrupt words and attitude, there was something odd about him.
She did not know this Kurats.
My Kurats wouldn’t look at me with such scary eyes.
My Kurats doesn’t have such a cold and empty gaze.
My ――.
【”Besides, are you sure you are qualified to say bad things about other people, miss elder sister? You think I haven’t noticed the way that you look at your own younger brother?”】
Kurats’ remark made Cornelia’s face turn crimson red in a flash, but at the same time, she realized what was strange about him.
【”―― Who are you?”】
Cornelia was obviously asking someone other than Kurats.
The man in front of her undoubtedly looked like Kurats, but his tone, his presence and his facial expression were nothing like her brother.
Cornelia felt chills run down her spine.
She felt like her beloved Kurats had gone somewhere far away.
The truth was that Bernst’s overwhelmingly powerful soul had flicked away Kurats’ consciousness, which was now locked in a prison of darkness, but Cornelia had no way of knowing that.
【”Do you think I don’t know what’s going on? You’re jealous, aren’t you? You just don’t want the princess to take your little brother away from you, right?”】
【”Stop! Don’t say anything more!”】
If her feelings were brought to light and made clear, Cornelia was not confident that she would be able to hold them back anymore.
Therefore, she covered both of her ears and shouted.
However, after the humiliation he had just suffered, Kurats– or rather, Bernst, had no intention to let her off.
【”Did you get excited when you saw your own little brother ‘take care of himself’? The truth is that you lost your composure more than he did, isn’t that right?”】
【”No! That’s not true!”】
As Cornelia reflexively tried to hit him, Bernst caught her thin arm and then easily put her body in his embrace.
Since Bernst did not bother to go easy on her unlike Kurats, his action made Cornelia realize for the first time the unfathomable difference that existed between her and her brother.
Usually, Kurats was kind to her, but the truth was that there already was a massive gap between their strengths.
【”Let go of me! Wake up already, Kurats!”】
Cornelia could not move at all, it was like she was stuck between the jaws of a vise; the only method she had left was to bite the arms that were holding her body.
However, the arms did not move in the slightest.
That was only natural, because….
【”My name is not Kurats. I am Bernst George Von Almadianos. I am a man who is a few steps away from godhood.”】
…Because the man standing before Cornelia’s eyes was a true monster, one who could make the whole world yield to his power.
If you’d like to read Chapter 23, 24 and 25 right ahead, please do consider supporting the translations on my Patreon at https://www.patreon.com/defiring