It was something that I learned later, but apparently, I was a pitiable child.

For as long as I can remember, my mother was busy playing with men other than my father, and my father was either in a gentleman’s club or drinking himself silly. At first, a nanny or babysitter would have been there, but unknowingly, I found myself alone in the nursery. A steward and his wife took care of me, but as their work increased due to the servants’ number dwindling, I remember becoming increasingly alone as the years passed.

I was not told by someone to do that, but I kept myself shut in the nursery. Whenever I came out of the room, I would either see my mother accompanied by her lover and doing unpleasant things in the room without even closing the door or hearing the loud sound of items broken by my drunk father, which scared me, so I didn’t dare to leave.

The garden I usually saw from the nursery window was bright green and looked very pleasant, but this holy place was an unknown land for me, and I was afraid of it. 

When I was six years old, my father passed away while my mother was preoccupied with my father’s cousin, His Excellency the Duke, who attended the funeral. The house was quiet, but I was absentmindedly in the nursery like before.

I was then taken out of there because my mother married His Excellency the Duke.

“Because he said to take you along with me… Apparently, he hopes you will be her playmate. Remember, be obedient, and don’t be a nuisance for me.”

I thought my mother, who said that with a beautiful smile and kind voice, wouldn’t want to take me along with her if His Excellency the Duke hadn’t said so. 

It was because I looked very much like my father. I was the proof that her marriage with my father was a failure.  

I didn’t even want to go with her. I had long since perished the desire to be loved by her because I felt disgusted with my mother, who just snuggled up next to a man all the time. 

I wanted to stay with the steward and his wife, but it seemed like this house would be sold, and they were going away somewhere.

Thus, I left my all-familiar room and headed for the castle-like Duke’s residence, to the place where I would meet the first person who gave me warmth, someone who was loving and kind to me.

After becoming Luca d’la Love, all my meals were alongside my elder sister.

Kids weren’t allowed to be in the dining room in the life of an aristocrat until they grew up to a certain extent, so they brought meals to the nursery. That was why my meal was always with my elder sister.

Occasionally, my elder sister would sometimes selfishly say, “I want to be with my father.” 

As Duke, my stepfather was a busy person, so he wouldn’t accompany children to their meal. However, there was a 10% chance that he would come when my sister requested. Although my father was a good-looking man to the point my mother and young maids were charmed by his looks, his endlessly smirking face when my elder sister requested him was really appalling.

Personally, just the two of us would have been fine, but she seemed happy, so I put up with it and had dinner with my father. 

After I was a bit older, I realized my elder sister apparently invited him for my sake.

There was a clear distinction between the lives of adults and children in the world of aristocrats, and if the timing was unfavorable, you might not see his face even for a whole month.

If it wasn’t for my elder sister’s selfishness, I thought my father, who wasn’t a cold person but was too attached to my elder sister to pay attention to anyone else, and I, who hadn’t any intention to get close with anyone, would have had a relationship that was more distant than that of a stranger without many conversations.

Although his clinginess to my elder sister was a nuisance in my eyes, he was a respectable person as an individual and as an aristocrat. He was a person who taught me the real meaning of a father, sometimes kindly, sometimes strictly.

Thanks to my elder sister, I had been like a father and a son since growing up. Actually, I was apologetic for getting along with my elder sister’s selfishness in my heart.

My sister was just like this, always caring about me.

At first, I didn’t care about her, but because my mother told me to be obedient and let my new father and elder sister take fancy to me, I didn’t go against the elder sister who came to me and bothered me frequently. I was afraid I would be driven out if my father and elder sister came to hate me.

But, she was always looking after me. She would immediately notice anything I liked or was curious about, teach me in detail and secretly give it to me. My elder sister also taught me how to play chess when I saw the sparkling and beautiful crystal chessboard. 

She noticed I liked the garden even more than inside the house and that I liked to lie on the grass. From then on, we had more picnics in the garden for lunch. She didn’t frown when my clothes got dirty with mud and grass stains and smiled delightfully, saying Luca was in high spirits.

In no time, I fell in love with her, the girl who took care of me in this way all the time. 

That day too, we were having a picnic like usual.

“Oh, Luca, there are still some cucumbers left.”

My elder sister, who was diligently making after-dinner tea since we didn’t ask any maid to accompany us, tilted her head at the sight of the cucumbers left on the plate. I had secretly taken them out of a sandwich. 

“I… hate vegetables.”

“Huh… come to think of it, you always eat less when you have a vegetable dish.”

My elder sister’s eyebrows lowered when she learned I hated vegetables and made a troubled face.

“But you should eat vegetables.”

I rolled my eyes, not expecting her to say that. Even before I came here, there was no one who told me what to eat. I was surprised that my elder sister, who was so kind to me, would tell me to eat something I didn’t like.

While I was stunned, she covered my cheeks with her hands. This was her habit whenever she wanted to persuade me. 

“You know, vegetables keep your body healthy and make you less prone to catch a cold. You will become ill if you don’t eat vegetables, and I don’t want my Luca to get sick.”

She smiled gently while caressing my cheeks. I nodded in obedience when she made such a face. But I still didn’t like vegetables.

There was a reason for that. 

In the previous house I was living in, my family’s fortune was diminishing even though we were aristocrats. The numbers of maids and manservants decreased, and only the steward husband and wife, who were around my grandfather’s age, and the drunkard chef were left. Since the steward husband and wife were busy managing the whole house, I ate my meals alone in the nursery as the chef brought them to me, grumbling.

I don’t think I had any likes or dislikes at that time. But once, I accidentally ate a rotten tomato that was mixed in the food. Since then, I couldn’t eat vegetables anymore. 

I don’t know whether my family was that poor or if the chef was slackening on his work. But I still remember that appalling green and sour taste, and just the smell of vegetables make me sick. 

My elder sister took her hands away from me as I kept silent. I couldn’t help but be disappointed when the warmth that had been gently caressing my cheek vanished. I thought she might hate me since I didn’t listen to her.

However, she didn’t get mad, and her eyes suddenly lit up.

“That’s right. I just remembered something nice.”

Saying that, she took out a small jar from the picnic tea set. She opened the lid, tilted it on a plate and a golden liquid spilled out. I dumbfoundedly stared at the high-quality honey put on the cucumber.

“Come, it’s done. Try to eat it, Luca.”

She handed me the plate, but there was no way I could eat what she had prepared. 

“Actually, when you eat cucumber with honey, it tastes like melon! You like melons, don’t you, Luca?”

She approached me with a wide smile. My elder sister’s smile was really pretty, but these were two different things. I thought it would only taste like honey and cucumber.

“Hey, Luca, if you think I’m deceiving you, why don’t you try to take a bite?”

I thought it was my elder sister who was being deceived, but at that time, I was unable to say that. 

Excusing her rudeness, she picked up the piece of honey-glazed cucumber and threw it in my mouth before I could say anything.

“How is it? It tastes like melon, right?”

My elder sister was confident, but I knew it; the taste was just a combination of cucumber and honey. 

I struggled to swallow the mixture of vegetables and honey’s intense sweetness. I could barely bear this taste in my mouth, but my elder sister was so exaggeratedly delighted she hugged me.

“You are a good child, Luca. You ate the vegetables!”

“Yes…”

“It’s all right, I’m sure. You will grow up quickly now that you are eating vegetables.”

When I thought about eating vegetables mixed with honey, I could have even eaten as many as I wanted.

As I washed the remaining taste out of my mouth with tea, my elder sister suddenly picked up a cucumber from the plate and put it in her mouth. 

“Ah…”

I was flustered when I saw her eating that, but contrary to my expectation, her cheeks slackened with an expression of bliss.

“Delicious! It’s just the taste of cheap green melon! The melon here is too high-grade, which hurts my throat.”

She was speaking differently than usual and saying something incomprehensible to me. My elder sister, who had been living an aristocratic lifestyle unlike me, shouldn’t have known the taste of cheap melons.

I thought it was strange, but I immediately put that doubt behind me. My gaze was nailed down at her, licking the honey from her fingertips.

Realizing I was staring at her, her cheeks dyed crimson from embarrassment.

“It’s so shameful to do it in front of you. Keep it a secret from the others, okay?”

I nodded like a chicken pecking at rice. However, my focus was completely on her wet fingertips and lips.

“Sister… one more.”

“Huh? A cucumber?”

“Yes… I will eat one more.”

“My my, so you also took fancy to this taste.”

She said something incomprehensible again like, “I wonder if I should spread this food combination habit in the world,” as she smilingly picked up a piece of cucumber and presented it to me.

When I opened my mouth, my elder sister offered me that unusual object, which I didn’t think of as food.

Although only slightly, my lips and her fingertips touched.

I felt like I ate something sweeter than honey. My heart suddenly began to beat fast. The incomprehensible taste of cucumber and honey, which I disliked that much, was filled with that something inside of me.

I was sure it was from that moment I first became aware that my elder sister was a girl. 

After that, she started throwing all kinds of vegetables into my mouth, knowing that I would eat them even if I didn’t like them if she fed them to me. I still didn’t like the green-smelling vegetables, and sometimes I almost teared up. Still, it was always sweet when my elder sister fed me, and my heart throbbed.

It wasn’t until I became a bit older that I understood its reason.

Also, it was much, much later, that I came to learn that my elder sister was unexpectedly a bully. She didn’t feed me personally because she wanted to cure my dislike for vegetables but because she wanted to see my teary eyes.

※※※

The day when I couldn’t see the face of my little brother, now my fiance, continued due to our differences. I heard Luca came back last night, and he apparently watched me sleeping in my room.

In the afternoon, when Luca’s schedule was empty for the first time in a long time, we prepared for a picnic and decided to have tea under a tree’s shade in the garden. Luca looked haggard after I hadn’t seen him for a long time. As a recognition for his hard work, I decided to relax outdoors, which Luca loved.  

The pleasant wind carried the scent of roses blossoming in full glory, which mixed with the scent of tea. Luca looked relaxed as he ate the snacks I prepared one after another.

It was a nice sight, and I let out a relieved sigh because I had heard that the chief maid was lamenting Luca wasn’t eating properly due to how busy he was these days.

But when I saw what was left on the edge of his plate, I couldn’t help but laugh.

“You are still avoiding the cucumbers, aren’t you, Luca?”

He was eating only bread while courteously removing the cucumbers from the sandwich. 

He averted his eyes awkwardly when I said that, apparently aware of his child-like behavior.

“I am eating enough vegetables… This part is unnecessary.”

“Geez, what a lame excuse.”

I smiled when I saw the appearance of the tall and qualified young nobleman Luca removing the pieces of cucumbers.

“But you really should eat vegetables. You are too busy lately, and it would be awful if you faced any health problems.”

I used to pay attention to him when we ate as kids, but we hadn’t seen each other much in recent years. Now we only had breakfast together.

“In that case… I’ll let you feed me.”

“Huh?”

“You used to feed me as kids, didn’t you?”

After averting his gaze like a child until now, Luca suddenly turned his expressive eyes towards me. 

I was startled and felt as if my heart would leap out of my throat. It wasn’t because the expression in Luca’s eyes was enchanting but because I was guilty of many things.

The sweet angelic young man looked so adorable with teary eyes when he was forcibly made to eat the vegetables he hated so much, and the one who did that while smiling was me. Since childhood, Luca wasn’t skilled at controlling his emotions, so seeing a squishy teary face was invaluable. I was aware I had done some quite mean things to him.

Although he ultimately didn’t come to hate me, it must have been considerably tough for him at that time, seeing how he hated vegetables even now.

“L-Luca, that was…”

Luca leaned his body toward me as my eyes darted around restlessly from a guilty conscience.

“You will feed me, right, sister?”

“Um… OK.”

I could never win against my little brother, who had begun to coerce me with his cold expression but also with an unnecessary amorous atmosphere.

Since I had only prepared finger food, I picked one up like back in the day and gingerly offered it to him.

Luca’s face, who had been waiting with his thin lips open, looked somewhat erotic, but I wondered why. I felt like I was offering to feed a beast. 

I gently inserted my fingers into the crevice of his lips, and he suddenly closed his mouth. Not only the cucumber, but my whole finger was still in his mouth.

“Hey.”

He grabbed my wrist, so I couldn’t even retract my hand. Luca nimbly bit the cucumber while still holding my fingers in his mouth.

“Lu-Luca, you should chew it properly.”

“Y-you’re ri-right. I-I will c-chew pr-properly.”

“I-I didn’t mean my fingers!”

Luca playfully bit on my fingers. Flustered, he said something irrelevant while licking my fingers with his tongue, sucking on them, and making sounds moist with passion.

“Sister…”

“D-don’t be so haste…. sudd— Ah!”

I suddenly had a dangerous premonition and was about to retreat when he hugged and pushed me down on the picnic sheet. 

“It was really delicious, sister.”

I didn’t think he was talking about his impression of a cucumber’s taste. 

“More. Feed me more…”

As he blew his sickly sweet voice in my ears that induced goosebumps, I comprehended one thing. That was—

I would never think about feeding Luca vegetables again. 

Thus, I received retribution for being so mean to my little brother. 

This was a good example of getting what you deserved.

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