Oh my, we're finally at chapter 50! ;__;/
Since it's a chapter milestone, I have something (not that much) to give! It's... a simple sketch! XD
Thank you to all patrons and readers for reading and supporting this novel so that it can reach 50th chapter milestone! Hopefully we can experience the next milestones together, too!
Happy reading and don't hesitate to comment :3
âElise⦠Elandiaâ¦,â I reflexively murmured when I was contemplating.
âYes, so you get where El-el comes from!â
ââ¦Elandia family⦠is a noble marquis family, right?â I decided to ask.
âAh, you know? Yeah, Iâm the daughter of Marquis Elandia.â
âThe main family?â I decided to ask, as I remembered that almost all members of the branch family that was under Phillip Elandia got stripped off their noble title and exiled. The main family was declared innocent.
The question is⦠whether itâs true that theyâre really innocent⦠or not?
âYep! Ah, but remember to not call anyone by title here. We have equality rule here!â Elise said while moving around her index finger, as if she was lecturing us.
âOkay!â Iris obeyed like a good girl. On the other hand, I didnât respond to it and insteadâ¦
âEl-senpai, can I ask again?â
âSure, sure, why not? Fufu, I feel like Iâm having little sisters! How nice if itâs true⦠Ah, you can call me [Big Sister] if you want!â Elise smiled happily.
âEl-sen⦠I mean, El-neechan⦠donât you have siblings?â
âAh, I have older siblings! I have one big sister and two big brothers! Iâm the last child⦠but Iâve always wanted a little sister!â Elise began to answer my question honestly, without speculating anything. â¦I feel bad to probe for information from a child like her⦠But since it involves my family, Iâ¦
âAre you close to one another? Is your big sister like you?â I asked again.
Dad and the others managed to capture the mastermind and the other underlings, but Trouble-neechan managed to escape.
âYup! My big sister and big brothers are always kind to me! My big sisterâs the oldest, sheâs more like Mommy, though!â
âOh, how does she look like?â
âHmm⦠you see, unlike me, she kept her hair short. The colorâs also yellow, like Mommyâs⦠This year, her ageâs twice my age! Sheâs very kind and sheâs always there to help me whenever my big brothers are teasing me!â
â¦No, this doesnât tell anything. I canât tell if she is indeed the Trouble-neechan Iâm looking for.
Wait a second. Dad and the other adults have examined them thoroughly, and if one of the Elandia was Trouble-neechan, they would have captured her already.
The main familyâs legal wife and daughter⦠they would stand out too much that Dad and the others wouldnât have missed interrogating them thoroughly.
I heaved a long sigh as I was running out of idea to fish something out from her. Therefore, I only responded normally.
âSeem like youâre so close to one another, El-neechan?â
âYup, I love my family so much! Theyâre all nice! And the one that I like the most isâ¦â
She paused at the right moment, and I reckoned sheâd want to add such a dramatical pause to add our tension before finally announcing the one she liked the most.
Unexpectedly, her answer wasâ¦
âAh, thatâs my secret, hehe! What about you two? Do you have any sibling?â
Aw, boo, thatâs not nice. Sheâs got me all curious about who she preferred the most⦠ah, no, it doesnât even have anything to do with me!! Itâs not even important! What the heck, me?!
I think I was carried away with the atmosphere and the dramatic pause she added.
âI have one big brother, and heâs nice!â I answered.
âUhm⦠I⦠itâs⦠complicated. But I have a sister around my age thatâs kind,â Iris hesitated before finally answering.
We talked on our way to our special class, and so far, I havenât sensed anything bad coming from Elise⦠Could it be true that her familyâthe main family of Elandia is truly innocent?
I want to probe something from her, but how do I do that?
To make sure she will spill anything she knows about the Chinosato incident, but the bait must be something harmless if she were to know of it⦠That would beâ¦
As I turned my gaze to Iris⦠to⦠Iris?!
A flashback of my own voice resounded inside my mind.
Is this the right moment to do it�
Well, Alt-nii said that my identity would be found out sooner or later. And itâs not like I can hide the fact that Iâm his little sister, soâ¦
Okay, then!
âEl-neechan⦠Actually⦠I feel bad for knowing El-neechanâs full name and family when I keep hiding mine. Iâm⦠Alrescha Lyra Hartmann.â
I purposely put more emphasis on my last nameâ[Hartmann]. As I said it, I called off my disguise and revealed my heterochromiaâmy red and blue eyes.
Iris gasped in her surprise and Elise stopped her movements.
I focused my gaze more on Eliseâs reaction and sheâ¦
Leaned her body forward with her sparkling eyes!
âAwesome, youâre one of the Hartmann?! So, your big brother is the famousâ¦?! Ooooh, look, look! Your odd eye color⦠itâs cool!! Itâs my first time seeing it up close!â
ââ¦â
If her family member had something against my family, then at least her reaction would be quite different⦠Ah, could it be that because she was a child, that the perpetrator concealed everything from her?
Yes, thereâs a possibilityâ¦
Ah, but the adults checked every member of Elandia family before, right?
âEl-neechan, I heard that my dad has visited your house before, so do you happen to know him?â
Elise stopped examining my every nook and cranny. She put her right hand to her chin and began thinking.
âHmmm, I think I have seen him before⦠He came in with many other adultsâ¦? Our entire family members and servants were called⦠I heard it was an inspection?â
Time to fish more from her!
âReally? Inspection⦠for what?â
âEeeh⦠I donât know, itâs like they were looking for a bad guy or something? Nobody has ever told me anythingâ¦â
Her puzzled expression told me that she really knew nothingâ¦
Guess thereâs no use questioning this to a childâ¦
Itâs not like my probing would be better than the experts at the royal court. Why would I be doubting the adults in doing their jobs? I was merely a girl who reincarnated from another girl who lived only 13 years of her lifeânothing special.
Which means that the Trouble-neesan⦠is an outsider to the Elandia family?
I was immersed too deep in my thoughts that I walked as I put my right hand over my chin, thinkingâwhile Iris and Elise continued to talk.
âWeâre here~!â
Eliseâs cheery voice disturbed my thoughts and pulled me back to reality.
In front of us, there was a classroomâs door with the writing of âS1â on it.
S1⦠Special class year 1?
I heard that there would be only one special class per year, so thereâs no doubt about it.
âThank you, El-neechan!â
Iris and I slightly bowed to Elise to express our gratitude before she waved her hand and left.
We opened the classroomâs door and saw that there were other students present, including Luca and Kiri. We became the center of the attention only for a while before the others continued their own business.
I observed the whole room before moving any further. In front of the class, there were a whiteboard, a small cupboard, and a teacherâs desk. Then, facing the opposite side were 16 seats that were linked to their own desks. They formed 4 rows and 4 columns. At the back of the class, there were several lockers and shoe racks.
Ahâhow could I not mention the comfy and huge carpet the room has? And at the corner of the room, there was a temperature controller. It can be operated by infusing manaâand it can perform 2 functions: heater and cooler. Will the teacher be operating it, or will another school staff be responsible for it?
Anyway, I also noticed how there were only 2 vacant seats beside Luca and Kiri. The other seats were pretty much occupied. Luca and Kiri must have booked those seats for me and Iris! Oh, so these boys can be quite considerate!
However, they picked the first row⦠can I say that itâs so Luca-like?
âWhat took you so long?â Luca protested.
Ahâreally, if the competitive Luca knew I got us lost, he would be able to have something he could use against me!! Heâd finally have something heâs better at doing, compared to me!
âAh, sorry, we took a slight detourâ,â before I could finish my sentence, Luca cut me off.
âDid you take a dump?â
--this brat, donât you know delicacy?!
Ah, I forgot. He was a normal 6-year-old boy, haha!
âNo, you dummy! We only got lost,â I tried to calm myself down and answered.
âSee? Kiri, I won the bet. Lyraâs directionally challenged.â
ââ¦â
â¦Did I slip out there?!
â¦Wait a second, what bet?!
âHey, what was that? A bet?!â
âU-uhm, donât be angry, Lyra⦠Luca told me that you guys took so long because you lost your way but I didnât believe it could happen with you around, so weâ¦â
âWhy would she take a detour if the first lesson is going to start soon? That doesnât make any sense. If sheâs not lost, then that means she got a stomachache or bumped into some trouble.â
ââ¦â
Butâ¦
âObjection!! Objection, please!! Indeed, I got lost, but just because I got lost once, that doesnât mean that I am directionally challenged!!â
ââ¦You got lost the other day when we went to the side of the castle that you rarely visited. You couldnât even remember the way backâ¦â
âT-thatâs because the interior of the castle was confusing!â
âFine, fine, we will know the truth in the future,â Luca said and shrugged.
I decided to just calm down, pick up a seat, and sleepâno, organizing my stuff at the desk!
Ah, during our quarrel earlier, Irisâ constant,
could be heard, but we were so fired up that I forgot to reply to her.
Anyway, there are only two vacant seatsâone next to Luca, and the other one is situated next to the first vacant seat.
â¦Naturally, I will be taking a seat next to Luca, as it wonât be good to shove Iris to sit next to the person she just met. But I guess this is the right order of seat for usâfrom left (window) to right (door): Iris, me, Luca, Kiri.
âIf I had known that you would get lost on your own, I would have told you to just come here and go to the toilet nearby,â Luca said after I took my seat.
â¦Right. To make sure the students could study optimally in the special classes, the classesâwhich are S1 to S4âare located at a âseparateâ area, dubbed as the âSpecial Cluster.â Obviously, there would be a nearby toilet.
âAh, I was afraid Iris couldnât hold it until we reached the class.â
âS-sorry, but that was indeed the caseâ¦â
âIris, itâs not your fault, itâs fine~!â
âOkay, noted. For next time, we will be going together then. Thatâd be faster than having to wait for you to wander off first,â Luca has decided without even consulting anything to us.
But truth to be told, I kinda agree⦠At least, until I can get used and familiar with the school area!
âAh, hey, you guys forgot to close the door!â
The kid who sat behind me tapped my shoulders and reminded me.
âEh? Ah, youâre right. Iâll close it, then. Thanks!â
I already stood before Iris could even react and then went towards the door. I was just about to close the sliding door when I bumped into someoneâno,
bumped into me!
âOh, sorry, do you want to come in? I forgot to close the door just nowââ
I looked up and saw a youthful boy standing in front of me. He looked like a boy who just finished his coming-of-age ceremony. His magenta eyes were so bold and his yellow hair was quite untidy⦠He put his yellow hair on a short ponytail, but that didnât stop his hair from covering his ears. I guess thatâs just his styleâ¦? The ponytail wasnât intended to keep his hair from falling over so untidily, then.
The building complexes for each level have clear divisions, soâ¦
âAre you looking for your little brother or sister, Senpai?â
ââ¦Senpai?â
His eyebrows twitched as he questioned me with an odd expression.
âUhmmâ¦?â
I stepped back to observe this boy from head-to-toe.
Ah, no uniform⦠He is not wearing Harmonia Academyâs student uniformâ¦
âWho did you just call Senpai? Me?â
ââ¦â
Before I could even react, the bell rang, signaling that classes should be starting soon.
As the bell rang, my mind went blank even more.
âAh, class is starting, can you go back to your seat first?â
Because my mind was blank, I didnât even remember how I managed to come back to my seat. I stared blankly at the teacherâs desk as the earlier âSenpaiâ walked leisurely to the teacherâs desk and positioned himself there.
Yes, Lyra, itâs exactly that
!
He is not a Senpai, but⦠Eeeh?! This young⦠boy?!!
Congratulations, Lyra, for getting yourself into another trouble!!
Iâm amazed at my ability to stir troubles.
Could it be that I was reincarnated with the cheat of attracting troubles?
I tried to keep my composure awkwardly and gulped. My mind quickly imagined countless possibilities of the bleak future that might happen if this trouble took a bad direction⦠If this homeroom teacher of mine doesnât possess a heart as wide as the worldâ¦