Chapter 49 – Twin Sisters
Marill, who barely calmed her startled heart, opened the door of her inn with her sister, and she ate her usual dinner and took the room she usually stayed in and went upstairs.
The room her twin sisters occupied is simple. The furnishings were a small chest of drawers, a chair, and a bed on each side, but it was neat and tidy with no obtrusive dust, so this was enough space to soothe a tired body.
Her twin sister, seated side by side on the bed to one side of her, continued the conversation from earlier.
“…Did it show a lot?”
“At least when I saw it, it was very simple, and it gave off an atmosphere of liking. Actually, Mr. Roden himself was focused on teaching you, so he didn’t seem to know it well yet.”
After hearing her sister’s words, her sister’s face turned red like a ripe tomato. Wet saliva and barely spoke.
“I just nodded my head a little while ago… To be honest, I don’t even know if I like Roden right now. I’ve never thought of someone this way before…”
“Then I will ask you three questions as a test, so answer honestly.”
“Yea, I got it.”
Crossing her arms, Merim pondered which question to ask first, and stretched out her slender index finger in front of her sister’s eyes.
“First, what do you normally think of Mr. Roden?”
“He’s hard on words and actions, but he’s always honest, and he’s a kind person who always takes good care of her family, Roxia.”
Merim, who nodded her head as if appreciating her brother’s answer, asked the next question.
“Secondly, that old man started to care about you in earnest after he got help when he was attacked while on vacation, right?”
“Yeah… I think that time was the biggest. I was even awestruck by seeing him appear at the moment of crisis and solve the situation with just a single sword, like a hero or hero who would appear in a book.”
Merim, who nodded her head this time, recalled her memory of the time she saw Loden wearing an old helmet in the dungeon.
“Come to think of it, when I saw the unknown swordsman named Lust, who didn’t know the identity of the old man in the old helmet, I vaguely imagined that he might be from the Knights Order. Marill, do you remember that stupid guy in the dungeon?”
“It’s rather hard to forget.”
It’s already been more than half a year, but at that time, I thought that her twin sister would really die here, so it’s still vivid like it was yesterday.
In particular, in the case of Marill, she lost her life and death by being hit in the abdomen by her punches from her enhanced human. I groped my stomach.
“I’m sorry. I said something useless…”
Seeing her like that, Merim felt her heart sink at the thought of reminding her sister of painful memories.
“Oh, no. Then she passed out right away, so I didn’t even have time to think about how painful it was. Anyway, what is that monster?”
“Uncle Roden slashed the head of a monster that couldn’t be defeated even if we and another party of adventurers attacked at once, and sliced his body like tofu.”
“So you defeated the white monster like that. Come to think of it, Mr. Roden saved me twice… Ehehe.”
Marill, who had a romantic feeling of being the heroine in her book, had a bashish smile blooming involuntarily in her shy heart.
“Kuhmm, the conversation has gone the other way. I’ll ask you one last question. How did you feel when you talked to that old man or touched him lightly during training?”
“Unbeknownst to me, my heart was trembling and pounding… I felt like I wanted to be alone like this… Sometimes I felt like I wanted to hold hands…”
I got an answer.
“In the world, it’s like expressing that you like that feeling as a member of the opposite sex. In other words, it’s your first love.”
I know that very well because I feel exactly the same way. From the old days, Marill and I have mostly had similar tastes, but now that I look at it, even my taste in men seems to be similar.
“This is your first love… So.”
Merim felt a sense of sympathy for her younger brother, who had come to have the same man in her heart, but she agonized over how to explain her relationship with the man, and then decided to look around.
“Do you remember how, when Uncle Roden started running the potion shop not long ago, she used to frequent the red light district?”
“Ah, come to think of it, there were people who said they saw her wandering around the red light district. These days there are no sightings at all…”
“Anyway, that man is a second-hand man with a lot of experience with women, and you’re new with no experience with men at all… No, you’re a pure virgin. Doesn’t it matter?”
“It’s a bit disappointing to think that I’m not the first, but that’s okay. Rather, considering Mr. Roden’s age, it’s rather unnatural that he doesn’t have any experience with women.”
That’s right,” Said Merim, who made up her mind and looked into her younger sister’s eyes.
“What if you already dated someone, for example… A lover who was born on the same day as you?”
The current relationship between Roden and Merim feels a little closer to a sex partner who has a physical relationship with each other continuously while keeping it a secret, rather than a complete lover, but she wanted to use the expression lover.
With her thunderstruck expression on her face, Marill wasn’t dull enough to notice the meaning of her sister’s outspoken remarks.
“Merim… You, Mr. Roden…”
“To be exact, it was after I found out that Roden’s brother was the same person as Rust.”
“Brother?”
“It’s a title I use only when I’m alone with my older brother. Now that I know exactly how you feel and how you feel about Roden, I don’t want to hide or lie anymore.”
As soon as she heard her sister’s words, what dominated Marill’s mind was surprise, and then, as her surprise faded, her feelings filled her with a sense of emptiness.
She felt as if she had seen someone licking and licking the only candy left in the corner store in front of her eyes. In this case, that someone was her twin sister, Merim.
Roden, the first man she fell in love with as a member of the opposite sex, and her older sister, who had had a relationship between a man and a woman before, couldn’t understand what to say.
“…It would have been better if I had known this earlier, but thank you for being honest with me even now. Did you enjoy being alone with Mr. Roden?”
“Yeah. I’m happier than ever. Every time I spend alone time with that oppa, I feel like I’m glad I got out of the house with you.”
“That’s great. You said it like a habit when you just became an adventurer. If you become successful later and get a decent man, you’ll eat well and live happily as if you were proud of your family.”
It can’t be helped because I’m late… ．
Marill decided to put aside her first love, which she couldn’t even confess to her partner, and she tried hard to show her bright expression.
Even though she could become the heir to the wizarding family if she obeyed her mother’s words, her older sister, who chose to abandon her family name and live as a mere adventurer, for the sole reason that she would protect her younger sister, could no longer live with her. You can’t make something give up.
… Roughly, she’s the kind of person who thinks that way.
On the other hand, Merim is carrying a guilt she will never be able to erase from Marill, which she usually hides thoroughly by wearing her merry wizard’s mask.
From the moment she learned the truth that she was born without leaving even a single piece of her wizarding talent from her younger brother who was born on the same day, she always harbors a sense of guilt and responsibility toward her younger brother that she always harbors in her heart. It resides deep in her heart.
Whoa-! Taking a deep breath from her, Merim softly holds her sister’s hands and closes her lips.
“Remember what I said when we decided to be adventurers on the same day, just like we were born on the same day?”
“…From now on, whether it be fun, sad, or painful, I said let’s do it together.”
“So, if you say you don’t care even if I and Roden are already in a relationship like that… I want to share the happiness I feel as a woman with Marill.”
“Ah…”
Marill couldn’t answer right away. The object her sister asked to share this time was not money or food, but a man she was dating. Though she thought that she still had a chance, she had mixed feelings about whether it would be okay as it was. ．
“It’s not unreasonable to be confused. It’s okay if you don’t answer right away, so think about it slowly. For now, let’s go to sleep. I’ll wake up early tomorrow too.”
Marill, who looked up at Merim, who spoke in a soft tone as if comforting her child, got up from her seat just as she was, did not raise her voice to her sister, and she just nodded her head.
“Good night.”
Eventually, Merim turned off the light and lay down on the bed opposite her.
* * *
The night, five days after Marill found out about Roden’s secret relationship with her sister, her brother took her mind to heart that had been troubling her all that time.
“If it’s okay with Merim, then I also want to have a deeper relationship with Mr. Roden than now.”
“You answer like that in the end. Wasn’t it very difficult to worry alone until now? I tried. My brother.”
Marill, who brought out her courageous answer in a room with only the two of them, lightly hugged her body and her sister patted her on the back.
“Thank you in many ways and I’m sorry… Unnie.”
“Huh, it’s been a long time since I’ve heard her older sister’s voice from her mouth. If possible, I hope that she will continue to call me that without being shy in the future.”
“… Forget it because it came out by accident. Anyway, I don’t know how to express my feelings to Mr. Roden. Above all, I’m so anxious that he might not accept me.”
That’s right. In fact, until now, the twin sisters have only gone through the process of confirming and deciding each other’s feelings, and they have not been able to confirm the feelings of Roden, the person who will give them the rice cake. It is completely unknown.
“It’s okay, it’s okay. That oppa has a bit of a cheeky temperament, so if you confess, he’ll swallow it with a gulp. Be confident.”
Immediately after she spoke her words, she awkwardly scratched her cheek.
“I want to tell you, but to be honest, I’m not quite sure. It’s because the situation is very different from the me I confessed to when I didn’t meet anyone.”
“Yeah… It’s not like that.”
“But don’t worry! There’s something I’ve prepared in advance for a moment like this~!!”
Bang your brother’s back! Merim jumped up from her seat and rummaged through her rucksack that was placed in the corner of her seat.
Merim grinned and looked back and forth between the scissors and her Maril’s long hair.
