Happy Friday!
With all the excitement over AS this week, here is a soothing chapter of Swain Hakushaku. This one is one of my favorite chapters. There’s a lot of love and it really soothes the heart after a long week at work or school, if school has started for you.
So do enjoy this extra fluffy chapter and I’ll see you again on Monday.
「…aneue. …Mirabell-aneue.」
I felt someone pulling on the hem of my skirt.
Yurii-sama gave two or three light tugs while pointing towards the shadow of the staircase. Turning towards the direction where he was pointing at, there was my cousin, who had gotten more strong-willed over recent years, beckoning me over.
I hugged Yurii-sama, and when I entered that corner area, Al, who had folded his arms, looked up at the ceiling.
「As expected, I'm a bother. It's quite the effective blow on my heart to be ignored when calling out to someone in a public place, aneue.」
「I'm sorry. But if you were ostracized, then I would cry right away…or perhaps I'm just worried…」
「That's a harsh way of putting it, but…it's misplaced kindness. I won't use aneue as a stepping stone even if I die.」
「Stop it, I'm going to cry.」
He's become so strong-willed.
「Like I said, why are you crying…!」
「Oi! Don't bully Mira.」
Oh dear, he's so adorable that my tears were coming out.
「I'm fine, Yurii-sama. These are happy tears. Al, this is His Royal Highness Prince Yuriel. It has been decided that our House will be taking care of him for a year.」
As I recounted the situation to my level-headed cousin, he gave a nod and a simple greeting to Yurii-sama.
Not only that, but he quickly took out a handkerchief and dried my tears. If he's such a gentleman, then he would probably be extremely popular with the female students. In his grade, there are a lot of gorgeous beauties, so he might not stand out.
「Your Highness Prince Yuriel is a year above me. Then, should I call you senpai?」
Yurii-sama didn't look too annoyed, no, he looked extremely delighted. Maybe it's because he has a younger sibling, but he's so skilled in dealing with those younger than him, that I can't even find any faults with him. Although we're relatives, he's a splendid man.
「So, did you have some business with me? I asked Melissa to help me return the uniform, but…」
It would be hard for me to call out to Al, so I asked her. If it was Matilda or Erika, they would probably say 「Ah, I forgot about it」, so I asked Melissa. She demanded that as thanks, I would study together with her, but I felt a little bad, so I treated her to a cake set.
「Yes, it's about that.」
「Did it not get back to you?」
「No. I've received it.」
「Then was it because you didn't like the smell of the soap?」
「No. It had a different scent than normal, but it was a nice scent.」
Closing his eyes and furrowing his brows, he pushed an envelope towards me.
「This is the problem.」
「That, is around the amount that you treated those girls to…」
When I returned it, I had put an envelope with some money in it in the uniform's inner pocket. I didn't have that much money on me, so I had only put in the amount that Al had paid for the food the other day.
At a later time, I was going to make sweets or something and give it to him as thanks.
「Was it too little?」
「That's not it. I can make do. You should know what Mother is like. I'm not troubled to the point that aneue needs to worry about me, and I can help you, if it's only this much. There's no need for you to be reserved with me. We're family, aren't we?」
「Mira, is your cousin entering your family?」
「Ehh? U–…m…, he is my relative, but u–…m…」
Sometimes, children would ask unexpectedly difficult questions. Like where do babies come from, or why is the sky blue. Was it somehow different?
Thinking about it together, Al cleared his throat and brought us back to our senses.
「The way I said it was wrong. I love aneue like my family. I want you to be unreserved with me, just like my older brother and younger brother.」
「Your older brother is a little too unrestrained, and your younger brother is reserved though.」
「I would like it if you were half as reserved as both of my siblings.」
「I see.」
Did he think about his older brother or his younger brother, because Al was a little downhearted. His older brother was too uninhibited and Al was not able to get him to become more levelheaded, and his younger brother watched and learned from Al and did not act like a child, so he had mixed feelings about that.
Al's older brother likes Dia and his younger brother also respects Dia, so he might hate Dia all the more.
「I'm returning this. I'll accept aneue's normal gratitude, so please let me take care of it this time.」
「Something like normal, I'm grateful to you.」
「No, ever since I was young, just how grateful I am to aneue…. Aniue just barely staying within the country was thanks to aneue too.」
I wonder if it was something that I said, but according to Al, his older brother not going on a trip outside the country was because of me, which was something I'm told often. I have completely no idea what happened, but it seems that it was something I did. Even if he said 'within the country', the country was extremely vast, so people still did not know where he was though.
「In the first place, please think about it. I treat them, and then afterwards, the money was returned, something like that, as a man, it would not look good. I'm returning this to aneue.」
「But…」
「Senpai, would you help me give this back to her later?」
How mean, to use Yurii-sama.
Senpai, to be called something like that, Yurii-sama proudly puffed out his chest and accepted it. No way, how adorable.
「If you can not agree to it no matter what, then on the next holiday, please come visit my house. Everyone wants to see aneue.」
It wasn't 'see aneue' but 'see aneue'. That meant that they don't want to see Father.
TN: In the first sentence, Mira specifies that 'には' was used and not 'に'. には puts more stress on the topic, which is aneue in this case, but we don't really see this in English, other than words being bolded or italicized to emphasize stress. For those who are interested in the difference in the two particles, you can follow this link:
「Senpai too, by all means.」
「Will I be with Mira?」
「Yes–」
「Ok!」
「I'm going to cough up blood.」
It was more than just a nosebleed.
「Then, I might come visit. I haven't seen ojisama and obasama in a while.」
「Yes. We'll be waiting.」
Smiling a little, Al gave Yurii-sama and I a kiss on the forehead.
「I love you too.」
「I know.」
「How rare, for you to be embarrassed」
「I'm not embarrassed.」
Staring at Al who gave a slight bow and walked away, Yurii-sama tilted his head in confusion.
「Even your cousin is similar to you.」
「Really? I don't have such a pretty face though?」
「No, Mira is a demure beauty.」
「This makes me happier than any of the flattery that I have gotten until now.」
"It's not flattery!,' Yurii-sama hugged me tightly. Bitter tears seem to be coming out of his eyes.
「But his presence is similar to yours.」
「Is that so?」
I don't really understand. It might just be that the color of our hair was the same.
「Even though he kissed me, I didn't hate it. But I wasn't happy about it either.」
「By the way, what about when Dia did it?」
「I felt nauseous.」
That person's struggle was relatively earnest and amusing.
「If you like Al, then you might be able to get along with Al's younger brother as well.」
He was able to get along with the Mayford twins, so he should be fine. Also, let's increase the interactions he has with children close to his age.
Maa, still, he's eight years older than Yurii-sama.
「I'm looking forward to the long holiday.」
「If I'm with Mira, even if it's not a holiday, every day is fun.」
「Ara, what to do, it's the same for me as well.」
Humming a tune, I rounded two corners.
As I did so, Al, who was busy talking with someone and was still standing there, looked up. We were a distance away, but it seems that Yurii-sama noticed it as well.
「…those two…do they know each other?」
「No…it's my first time seeing them together.」
Those two people had nothing in common.
「Are they friends?」
Al, with Cain.