“Ah, don’t you worry. I oil them everyday.”

“You don’t need to oil them everyday. It’s enough to do it occasionally.”

No wonder they were shining so excessively.

Grabbing the glossy rake, he began to level the ground again.

Surprisingly, he doesn’t look that strange.

I, who became used to this mansion at some point, was reflected on him.

“Are you going to plant the new seedlings?”

“Since you’ve seen the spring garden in this mansion, once you see the garden of summer, autumn, and winter, I want to show you a new garden next year.”

“. . .”

“At that time, I can plant more of the kinds you want to plant.”

He seemed to remember my words when I said I wanted to buy some land and live normally while tending a beautiful garden.

Honestly, until recently, he wasn’t in the future I pictured.

Wouldn’t it be strange to naturally imagine the ‘us’ who would be together in this mansion in the next season, next year?

“Marianne?”

When I plopped down, relaxing my knees, he hurriedly threw the shovel and approached me.

A truth bounced out of the drying heart.

“It would be good if Orion was my real brother.”

Orion smiled brightly at my muttering where my true feeling was hidden.

“What are you talking about? I’m your brother now.”

To me, who was threatened to shut my mouth and pretend to not know by a man who was likely my relative, the words spoken by Orion— who shared no blood with me— soothed my heart somehow.

“Orion.”

“Yes. Did something happen?”

His face turned serious.

“Actually . . .”

Looking at me began to talk but unable to continue, Orion tilted his head.

“Actually, there will be career counseling in the academy in a few days.”

“Career counseling?”

“Since it’s a setting to think about the future and consult about it seriously, we’re told to bring in our ‘guardian’. . .”

His eyes glowed.

“Then there’s no one else but me. I am the guardian, who dreams of the future with you.”

“Will it be okay when there’s Lord Duke and Mom as well?”

“Think about this, Marianne.”

Orion softly grabbed my shoulder and began to promote himself.

“Even when they were on their newlywed trip, and when they went to our main territory, I was by your side. When you fell into a dangerous situation at your previous academy, didn’t the dependable me immediately save you?”

“Is that so?”

“Of cooourse.”

“Then can you come to the consultation, Orion?”

“Yeah!”

This was just in case.

Considering the signature event last time, there was a possibility that an accident would occur if the three of them came to the academy.

For now, I didn’t want to face Mom and Lord Duke as long as I could.

They were people with keen senses, so my complicated state of mind might be exposed if we spoke much.

“Don’t worry. Father can do his work that was postponed because he went on trips. And I’ll recommend good plays and salons to Lady. I think musical plays are good too.”

If a person with good ability was being proactive, the result was certain.

“You are dependable, Orion.”

Please do so.

* * *

After the career counseling issue was solved, I was absorbed in interpreting the founding myth.

Since it was a really mythical story, the content was not long, but there were many ambiguous sentences.

In addition, there was ancient language mixed in between, so it increased the interpreting difficulty.

“This is not a friendly book.”

“That person wasn’t a friendly human himself.”

“Really?”

Professor Grein harshly criticized the author, whom he called his ‘teacher’.

“He was someone who believed he was the best and the most corrected as a scholar. Besides, it was a daily event for him to disregard other people because they lacked education.”

He didn’t look that way, though.

“Of course, he was so arrogant that he wanted to reveal what he believed in, but he met disaster in the process.”

It was obvious for a scholar to pursue what they believe.

Though he spoke harshly, there was a possibility he gave a harsher evaluation because he was tormented by his teacher who disappeared like that.

“Furthermore, he was someone who utilized everything he could. Let alone guiding his only pupil, he constantly ordered me to do this and that using the assistant professor seat as bait.”

“. . .”

Then was the reason his personality was bad because he was tormented so much under his teacher?

I pretended to not hear his growling, and changed the topic.

“About this part.”

[Only the blood of each family could touch the family treasure. The moment outsiders touch it, they will be seized by the cursed spirit.]

“This really sounds like a fairy-tale. He said he witnessed it himself, right?”

“I heard so. Even though that old man has a very nasty personality, he wasn’t someone to tell lies, so I’m sure this is not wrong.”

“Only the blood, can touch . . .”

“There is even a story that the Dukes’ descendants are precious from generation to generation, so they are concerned about the succession battle over the heirloom.”

Duke Bolton would show the family treasure on the empire founding day, but it meant I had to wait until autumn.

I had no intentions to wait until then.