“Someday, he’ll suffer the consequences!”

While I muttered such, the carriage arrived at a particularly large mansion in a corner of the royal capital. It was my house.

“Hmm, it looks like you couldn’t meet Lord Alfred again today.”

When I returned to the mansion, my stepbrother, Kyle Gessel, giggled while greeting me.

He was 17, a year younger than me. He had cool eyes, and a high, delicate, nose bridge. He had a straightforward yet outstandingly gorgeous face.

His fluffy, light, golden hair, along with his mysteriously beaming purple eyes—they were the opposite of his actual personality. Inside, he was both conniving and vile. Just looking at him agitated me.

“You must regret spending so much money on dressing up.”

Kyle leaned against the wall of the hallway, his mocking laughter echoed clearly in my ears.

“Shut up, it’s a million years too early for an adopted child like you to speak to me like that.”

I tried to pass him and enter the living room. However, Kyle muttered with a laugh. “Do you want to hear something good?”

He continued. “There’s a rumor that Lord Alfred wants to break off his engagement with you, stepsister.”

I doubted my ears. No way—! I glared at Kyle, while regretting the fact that my lips were quivering.

“Don’t you dare—!”

“It seems that there was a person asking around in the royal palace, ‘What kind of present should I give to please a lady?’ To which the prince replied, ‘All I need to do is send a card and a bouquet every year, and my fiancée is already pleased with them.’”

Kyle crooked his index finger slightly against his chin, and his mouth formed a grin.

“Poor Lord Alfred. He was forced to be engaged with a lady who’s only rich in terms of wealth due to a foolish and dull king, and a queen who desires a lavish life. He must finally be getting sick of his fiancée who is lacking in both appearance and skill.”

“Huuuh?” I raised my chin.  With my teeth clenched, I stuck out my head as if I were ready to murder Kyle.

At the same time, a door could be heard opening. A lady who gave off a clean glow appeared. She was my younger sister, Sasha.

She was both beauty and delicateness combined into one adorable being. She solidified like a statue the moment she saw us.

“Sasha, I already told you to not show your pathetic and dark face whenever I’m present, right?”

I stared sharply at Sasha, and uttered those words.

A small voice, “Forgive me, older sister…” Reached my ears. Intense discomfort swayed from the bottom of my belly.

“I wish I could do as the royal family wishes. That way, Lord Alfred would’ve never treated me so poorly.”

While gazing at Sasha, who had a fleeting but cheerful atmosphere, Kyle snorted.

“Well, I think you can take my words for it. Thanks to my stepfamily hating me, the Duke of Ruston and Alridge hate the Gessel family like a snake. I have a connection with the duke. Gathering information while my sister-in-law and her sister are busy turned out to be a good idea, after all.”

Kyle showed a cheeky expression, so I showed an unimpressed face.

“Well, thanks for the information—did you think I would say that? I don’t care about the trivial words and deeds of morons.”

“—and that, everyone, is our future crown princess!”

Kyle whistled. After giggling, he ran his mouth once again.

“It’s also rumored that Lady Amalia, the Duchess of Ruston, frequently enters and leaves the royal palace. She’s beautiful, knowledgeable, and praised by the royal palace for possessing natural talent for being a queen. Oh, that reminds me, the Duke of Alridge, who’s in charge of foreign affairs, has invited the princess of another kingdom, one who is as graceful as fairy—”

“—I said shut up!!”

I grabbed the vase by my side and poured the contain on Kyle. Almost at the same time, Sasha and the servants who were watching me from a distance screamed.

“…Lastly, it seems that in some other kingdom, a prince’s fiancée was convicted for the heinous things she did. As a result, her entire family was purged. Please do your best so that my Gessel family doesn’t end up the same way, my stepsister.”

Kyle let out a low laugh as water dripped from his hair.

“I feel sorry for a baron’s son like you. Even though you were adopted by the marquis family, you retained both your stupidity and lack of insight.”

I turned around and left him. I also threw away the vase.

Perhaps because it was ridiculously expensive, it rolled down the corridor without breaking.

“There’s nothing wrong with the property of the Gessel family. There is nothing to fear. There are endless resources in our territory, so don’t waste your breath.”

To me, who said that, Kyle, with a clouded expression, spoke as if he was about to spat.

“Actually, resources aren’t infinite. The tax we’re imposing on the lords is too heavy. At best, be careful to not be beheaded.”

“What did you say!?!?”

Kyle’s attitude was both overwhelming and had effectively provoked me. Anger shook my entire body. When I thought that I had to slap him at least once, my vision suddenly tilted.

“Stepsister!?”

I had lost my footing. It was only then that I realized, I had slipped on the water from the vase. The moment I laughed in irony, the back of my head slammed against the floor.

---

***T/N: It’s not truck-san, but vase-san…

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