I’m Just a Counselor Chapter 46

Jeremiah’s thoughts naturally drifted to her.

 

‘What is Vanessa doing now?’

 

‘Since Estella couldn’t have gone out and played by herself, could Vanessa have come in from playing with the snow?’

 

Jeremiah’s thoughts were interrupted by Estella’s voice.

 

“Come over here and sit down.”

 

Sure enough, Estella was sitting down and he was still at his desk.

 

Jeremiah quickly walked over to Estella and sat down. Up close, his sister’s face looked a little annoyed at what was going on.

 

Jeremiah asked cautiously.

 

“Do you want me to make you some tea?”

 

“No.”

 

Estella rejected his suggestion with a frown.

 

“Mr. Shane, you hired him, didn’t you?”

 

“Shane?”

 

Estella didn’t know about the Winter Crown, so of course she must not know about Shane.

 

Jeremiah searched her face to see what she had noticed that would cause her to ask such a question, but she didn’t seem to have noticed anything about Shane.

 

Jeremiah asked nonchalantly.

 

“Why do you think that?”

 

“I just think that his demeanor toward me is different from the other staff, and I wonder if he has you behind him, and you already knows that he can do magic.”

 

“…You’re right, that’s right.”

 

“You’re not going to tell me… exactly what your relationship with him, are you?”

 

When Jeremiah just laughed wordlessly, Estella recognized the unspoken affirmation and let out a small sigh. But that wasn’t what mattered to her now.

 

Estella’s face grew serious, and Jeremiah’s expression hardened at the sight of his sister’s face.

 

“Brother, I have something serious to tell you.”

 

“What is it, you’re trying to scare me.”

 

“…Do you have a crush on anyone right now?”

 

“Cool.”

 

Jeremiah coughed loudly, the shock of the last “You’re a virgin” coming back to him.

 

Like it or not, Estella was staring straight at him. Her eyes were burning with passion.

 

Jeremiah glanced away from his sister’s gaze and muttered.

 

“…No.”

 

“Oh, right, right, right, just in case.”

 

“What’s obvious, and what’s just in case?”

 

“Oh, nothing. Uh, good! Vanessa says she doesn’t hate you either.”

 

“…Really?”

 

Jeremiah stared at Estella, feeling a little weird that Vanessa had said that, though he’d have to hear more to find out how she’d come to that conclusion.

 

“That’s no time to be so casual!”

 

Estella balled her fists, indignant at Jeremiah’s tepid response.

 

“Since it’s come to this, I’m going to have to do something about it.”

 

“What…”

 

“My brother’s relationship coaching!”

 

“Kulk!”

 

Jeremiah coughed loudly again. But Estella was completely unperturbed by his reaction and continued.

 

“It was my mistake to tell you to get married first, when you don’t even know who you’re in love with.”

 

“…….”

 

“Vanessa, she’s a sensitive person. Okay?”

 

“Well, is that the same… you said the other day about wanting to make Miss Vanessa your step-sister?”

 

“Exactly, I was just going to leave it to you, but someone else wanted her!”

 

Estella huffed indignantly and sat back down on the couch, Jeremiah’s brow narrowing at the same time.

 

That sound must mean that someone at the castle is playing tricks on Vanessa, and that’s why Estella is suddenly coming at him.

 

Jeremiah opened his mouth, feeling a little offended.

 

“…Who is targeting Miss Vanessa?”

 

“Mr. Shane!”

 

“…….”

 

Jeremiah gritted his teeth.

 

“So it is.”

 

He flashed back to the image of Vanessa’s face in front of him, innocently confessing to being friends with Shane.

 

Jeremiah had thought it was ridiculous from the start.

 

‘I was a little jealous, actually.’

 

Jeremiah knew Shane very well. Much better than Vanessa.

 

So he knew that Shane wasn’t the kind of guy to say that easily, and… he also found it odd that Shane hadn’t cheated on Vanessa until the end.

 

‘I mean, I had a feeling he never saw her as more than a friend. But I didn’t think he’d be so obvious that Estella would notice.’

 

So Vanessa didn’t realize that Estella had noticed? That was just as strange.

 

Estella, her arms tightly crossed, spoke up while Jeremiah was still wordlessly wiping his face.

 

“Vanessa says she’s not stirring.”

 

“…….”

 

“It’s a romance cliché to say things like that.”

 

“Cliché…”

 

Jeremiah stopped short of asking where else Estella had learned to say that.

 

Anyway, from the sound of it, Vanessa still firmly believes that Shane thinks of her as a friend.

 

“Isn’t that kind of obtuse?”

 

‘I’m surprised, because I thought she was quick enough to pick up on my moods.’

 

‘Or maybe she’s the kind of person who doesn’t change her mind easily.’

 

He realized that she had clearly defined her relationship with Shane as a friend from the beginning, so no matter what Shane did, it didn’t change that.

 

Come to think of it, that was probably true of him, too. Jeremiah clenched his jaw and slowly looked back at Estella.

 

But Estella didn’t wait for him to linger.

 

“I’ve been thinking of a way to protect her.”

 

“…….”

 

“What can I do to make sure she never has to go through something dangerous again…”

 

“Yeah.”

 

“No matter how much I think about it, I can’t do it alone.”

 

Estella said, sounding upset. Jeremiah looked at his sister’s face in disbelief.

 

The thought of his little sister, so young and innocent, now grown up and telling him that she would protect someone, was both gratifying and heartbreaking.

 

What was clear was that as her only family, he wanted to listen to anything she had to say.

 

“If you become a duchess,” he said, “it won’t happen again, and I think that’s the only way to be sure.”

 

“…….”

 

“You’re going to have to help me.”

 

“…….”

 

“Of course, if you don’t want to… tell me if you really, really don’t want to. I promise I’ll never talk to you about it again.”

 

Jeremiah mulled over his sister’s words in his mouth.

 

If he’d thought of Vanessa that way, he wouldn’t have done the crazy thing of giving her a room he’d spent a fortune on.

 

As he’d said then, he’d done it because he really wanted her to stay, and that was a feeling that could have grown into something more.

 

“Those eyes…”

 

Jeremiah rubbed his lips as he remembered the light blue eyes of the horse, then looked at Estella in front of him.

 

Finally, he spoke hesitantly.

 

“…What do you think your brother should do?”

 

Estella’s face lit up at Jeremiah’s words. She exclaimed with excitement.

 

“Big Brother, I think you should definitely give it to Vanessa!”

 

“What do you mean?”

 

“I mean, you have to cater to Vanessa’s taste.”

 

Jeremiah let out a small groan at Estella’s words.

 

All his life, he’s been expecting other people to cater to him, not him to cater to someone else. He doesn’t even know what kind of tastes he’s supposed to cater to, but…

 

“Hmmm, you can be an angel or a devil, depending on what you do.”

 

Jeremiah sighed lightly and nodded, “For now, I’ll listen to you.”

 

* * *

 

A few days after a violent snowball fight.

 

The snow had melted and fallen again, and the window was still white.

 

The only difference is that the camellias, which were only buds a few days ago, are now in full bloom.

 

The red camellias in full bloom against the white snow were just as beautiful as I had expected, and I found myself staring at them, mesmerized.

 

“Ah, it’s snowing.”

 

I looked down and saw three snow ducks huddled together under the camellia.

 

The biggest was Dad, then Mom, and the smallest was a baby duck.

 

It was the snow duck family that Shane sometimes made me watch.