Being Loved for the First Time Chapter 30

Although early October was a little chilly, the afternoons were pleasantly warm and perfect for playing outside.

My older sister, who was naturally sociable, no longer became frightened simply because Mikhail was around.

Well, he wasn’t actually a completely cold and rigid person.

‘Although he still doesn’t talk much to Sister.’

At least my sister seemed to have realized that he didn’t dislike her.

He was simply uninterested.

Actually, isn’t being uninterested even worse?

‘No, no. I already decided not to judge Mikhail so negatively for no reason.’

That’s right.

How could I force someone to show interest or affection toward others?

It wasn’t as though I liked everyone either.

In any case, the four of us had begun going outside to play together quite often in the afternoons.

Today’s game had been prepared by the knights.

“We’ve hidden treasures throughout the ducal mansion’s gardens.”

“Treasuuures?!”

My sister’s eyes sparkled.

“You will divide into teams of two, and whichever team finds more treasures will win.”

“What do we get if we win?”

Mikhail asked, looking slightly uninterested.

“If you win, Young Lord, His Grace has promised to spar with you.”

At the knight’s words, Mikhail’s eyes immediately lit up, despite how bored he’d looked moments earlier.

Then he turned toward me.

“Baby, if I manage to land three successful attacks on His Grace this time, will you call me impressive?”

Seriously, you still haven’t given up?

‘What kind of daughter would be happy about someone hitting her father…?’

I was dumbfounded for a moment, but then I immediately reconsidered.

‘It’s only a six-year-old child’s wish. I should grant it.’

Normally, I would have pretended not to hear him.

But because I still felt guilty about how I’d treated him, I nodded.

“Uh-huh.”

“…Really?”

I knew he’d be happy, but…

Why do you look so shocked?

You’re making me feel even guiltier.

‘Have I really been that harsh toward Mikhail?’

My cheeks puffed out unconsciously.

Mikhail hurriedly checked again.

“You’re really promising?”

“Uh-huh.”

When I answered firmly once more, he gave me an unusually rare smile.

It wasn’t his typical slightly crooked, arrogant smile.

It was an innocent smile that suited an ordinary six-year-old child.

As though it had been arranged beforehand, Mikhail and I ended up on the same team.

My sister puffed out her cheeks slightly at having to be separated from me.

“Don’t you want to be on a team with Brother, Laurencia?”

“No! Lara loves Brother! But Lara loves Shasha too!”

“You want all of us to play together?”

“Uh-huh! I don’t, really don’t dislike being with Brother! I just wanted to go around with Shasha because she’s my little sister!”

“Then are you okay with being on Brother’s team?”

My sister nodded vigorously.

Actually, she couldn’t have been on my team from the beginning.

If Brother and Mikhail ended up on the same team, the outcome of the treasure hunt would be decided far too easily.

“Baby, let’s do our best together.”

Mikhail approached after seeing the color of the ball I’d selected.

“Uh-huh.”

“I’ll make sure we win. For your sake and mine.”

He held out his hand to me with a confident smile.

Fortunately or unfortunately, he’d become much less awkward at holding my hand while walking.

When I took it, his eyes curved into a smile.

He seems to be in an especially good mood.

‘All I did was give him an answer.’

There was no need to look as though I’d given him some tremendous present.

It made me realize all over again just how severe his desire for a younger sibling was.

“Shall we start over there?”

Mikhail lowered himself slightly and whispered to me.

“Actually, during morning training, I saw the knights doing something over there.”

When I nodded, Mikhail began walking with an expression of complete innocence.

It was understandable that he’d happened to see the knights.

But wasn’t pretending he didn’t know anything a little sly?

Feeling strangely as though we were cheating, I walked along holding his hand.

‘I’d expected him to hurry.’

Sparring with Father was at stake, and I’d even made him a promise.

I’d thought he’d be impatient.

But Mikhail carefully adjusted his walking pace so I could keep up comfortably.

‘He really has become a little more like a big brother.’

Of course, I had absolutely no intention of saying that aloud.

“Baby, look at this. Isn’t this flower pretty?”

He didn’t even head straight toward our destination.

Whenever he noticed flowers blooming in the garden or a line of insects passing by, he stopped to show them to me.

“Is it okay…?”

You really want to win, don’t you?

Sparring with Father and hearing me call him impressive were both things Mikhail desperately wanted.

Yet when I looked up at him worriedly and asked, his face brightened again.

Was he always this expressive?

“Of course.”

As he spoke, Mikhail caught a beautiful fallen leaf fluttering down in the breeze and placed it in my hand.

“It’s not often I get to play alone with the little princess.”

“Uh-huh…”

“Do you want to find the treasures quickly?”

How should I answer?

It wasn’t that I particularly wanted to find them quickly.

But I didn’t want to become an obstacle to him either.

While I hesitated, Mikhail spoke first.

“Damian told me something a while ago.”

He scratched his cheek a little awkwardly.

“When Laurencia was little, it sometimes took him two hours just to get to the training grounds to see His Grace.”

“Huuuh?”

“Why? She’s your sister, isn’t she?”

Ah.

That single sentence made everything perfectly clear.

Mikhail smiled at my expression as I held the fallen leaf dangling in one hand.

“Whenever she saw a flower, she’d stop and point it out. And whenever she saw a butterfly, she’d run around chasing it.”

I could picture it perfectly.

How excited my sister must have been when she was even smaller.

‘Look! Look at thiiis! It’s the same color as Mommy’s eyes!’

‘Brother! Lara wants to see the butterfly! Butterfly!’

‘Waaah! Snow is falling from the trees!’

I could almost hear her delighted cries.

Such happy, joyful sounds.

Brother Damian must have worked desperately to avoid losing hold of her hand.

Even while thinking that they needed to hurry to the training grounds.

It had happened before I was born, yet imagining it made me feel as though I were witnessing something terribly adorable.

Perhaps Mikhail noticed that my thoughts had wandered, because he gently tapped the back of my hand with his thumb while still holding it.

“So Damian made me promise something.”

“Whaaat?”

“About you, baby.”

As he spoke, Mikhail carefully adjusted the cape that was slipping from my shoulders.

His knot wasn’t quite as neat as the one the maids would have tied, but he secured it tightly enough that it wouldn’t come undone.

“He said you hardly ever say anything, even when there’s something you want to see or do.”

Mikhail inspected my cape as though wondering whether it was properly fixed.

Then he took my hand again.

“So he told me to look after you when we play together. Since Damian and Laurencia got to see those things, he wants you to see them too.”

“Damian Brotheeer.”

As expected of my brother…

My heart filled with a warm, overwhelming emotion.

When I glanced toward the direction my brother and sister had gone and called my brother’s name, Mikhail squeezed my hand and spoke as though making a promise.

“I’ll probably need a lot more practice before I can become as good an older brother as Damian.”

“Hm?”

“But couldn’t you call my name like that too?”

His expression suggested he felt a little lonely because I’d immediately started looking for my brother.

You’re already a kind and wonderful person, Mikhail.

I couldn’t deny it any longer.

Just because someone was a small child, or because they wanted a younger sibling, didn’t mean they were obliged to accept being constantly pushed away by someone they treated kindly.

Of course, Mikhail had decided to like me entirely on his own.

But even though he was still a child, he’d never tried to force his way past the boundaries I’d established.

It almost made me wonder whether he was actually living his second life.

‘Although I doubt I’ll ever stop finding him irritating.’

That’s at least half your personality’s fault.

Still, apparently I wasn’t so terrible a person that I could continue ignoring all his good qualities just to focus on his bad ones.

“Mi-yai.”

“Hm?”

“I…”

“Yes?”

It was a little embarrassing to say aloud.

But people should take responsibility for their own behavior.

Besides, whenever Mikhail made a mistake, he acknowledged it quickly and tried to do better.

I couldn’t allow myself to behave worse than a little child.

“Don’ dislike.”

“You don’t dislike me?”

“Uh-huh, Mi-yai.”

Just in case he misunderstood whom I was talking about, I said his name once more.

‘…Unbelievable.’

And the smile the six-year-old boy showed me in the next moment—

It was something I probably wouldn’t forget for another thousand years.

The boy, who’d seemed happy all day, smiled as though he’d just been given the entire world.

His golden hair glowed beneath the late-afternoon sunlight, before the sky had begun turning the colors of sunset.

His violet eyes shone even more brightly than usual, like polished amethysts.

And his lips curved into a perfectly smooth smile.

With an expression more beautiful than ever on his youthful face, he made an earnest request.

“Then will you be my little sister too?”

For some reason, those words made me feel shy, so I turned my head away.

I was your little sister from the beginning, you idiot.