Older and Younger Sister

Emilia Idira is the second daughter of the Idira family and the sister of Monette. She is also the fiancee of Alexis. Currently, with Alexis’s evaluation falling, the voices are rising to have the second prince succeed, so it may be more apt to say that she is Alexis’s fiancee for now.
She is an adorable girl who gives off a feeling of childishness and innocence with her jade color eyes and navy blue hair. Innocent and naive, yet she was so weak and fragile when we were young. No matter how hard you look, you would never find anyone with a grudge against Emilia.
Alexis who would be the perfect king and the innocent Emilia at his side … … Two years ago everyone was praising how well they suited each other and dreamed of the happy times in the kingdom’s future.

“Emilia, why are you here?”
“When I heard that my sister was here, I ran as fast as I could. You normally visit the city in the early morning, and I can’t see you ……….”

Emilia shyly tells how she has trouble getting up in the morning. Before such an adorable appearance, Monette narrowed her eyes in her helmet.
Emilia is a kind child. Even when Monette concealed her face and cared for the fact, even when she wrapped her entire body with armor and retreated to the old castle, Emilia still persistently appealed. She always did everything she could to try and heal the wounds of Monette’s heart.
However, Monette could not respond to this kindness from such a sister. Emilia, who realized that she was only putting more of a burden on her sister, forced herself to take a distance.

“Emilia, have you not fixed your habit of staying up late at night?”
“Oh yeah. I do a fortune every night, count sheep, and pray, and……then it’s morning and I’m sleepy.”

Monette smiled at the embarrassed Emilia. If you were to tell Monette that people don’t change, then she would definitely believe it right now while hearing Emilia’s nostalgic words and seeing her smile.
Emilia was an adorable girl with a smile that just shined. Fine jewel hair ornaments shined along with her smile, and a fine dress with lots of gorgeous lace shook with her every time she moved. It was said that the second prince and his majesty tailored them specially after hearing the rumors about how Alexis treated her.
A breathtaking cloth dress special ordered from a foreign country and hair ornaments decorated with beautifully cut fine jewels. They were both set aside for only special parties, but when she heard that Monette was in the city, she immediately put them on.
When Monette heard that, she told Emilia that she was stretching a bit wearing such clothing to a downtown area, but Emilia returned that there was no more special event than her being able to see her sister.

That story, those clothes, Emilia was a picturesque sparkling princess. How vivid and adorable. Before such a dazzling light, Monette had to narrow her eyes inside her helmet, and she softly placed her hand on Emilia’s shoulder. The iron fingers hang on the expensive lace.

“Emilia, thank you for coming to see me, but I have to leave now. I will be gone for awhile, so you shouldn’t send me any letters.”
“But Oneesan……”¹

Emilia’s voice was sorrowful, and I know in my heart what she is worried about. A pure girl, even when her older sister had become a lump of iron, she still always sent letters while not receiving any replies. She would always use pretty pink paper for her letters along with pressed flowers. From about a year ago, she sent one written on  gold leaf paper, so beautiful it looked like a piece of artwork.
She had written how she would avoid the family because of the nostalgia it would bring about for the sister who had decided to live alone in an old castle. Emilia knew that if she was hurting from something like this, then all the letters she was sending to her sister were probably doing the same. That’s why, in order to not be a burden, she sent that one last letter to have a positive farewell.
The letter, once I read it, I could tell just how much you thought and agonized over it. ….. That’s why I only read it once.

“Oneesan, please at least take this with you just in case …”

Emilia reached up to her neck, and she gently removed a necklace with a red stone she was wearing. The stone shined in the bright light, and the color tone changed depending on the angle. At times, it was dark enough to draw you in, and it was light enough to reflect your image off of it at others. You could see that the necklace was expensive just at a glance.
In the first place, Emilia was the royal fiancee and a daughter to the Idira family. It makes sense that her belongings would have a difference of three to four zeroes compared to that of the common citizen. At the very least, it certainly wasn’t the toy accessories we played with when we were kids.
Surely a normal family could live a lifetime of luxury off of this one necklace. I thought about such a thing as I gazed at it. Perhaps it was because I have spent too much time in that old castle, but I immediately started wondering how many bottles of wine I’d have to sell to match the price of the necklace.

“I cannot accept such a thing.”
“Please keep it as an amulet. I will always pray for Oneesan’s safety.”
“Emilia…..”

Monette could only shrug her shoulders with a bitter smile. Good luck charms and prayers, Emilia had believed in such things since long ago. And embracing your dreams. She was born weak, and she tended to incline herself into the hope of chasing one’s dreams.
And surely such prayers and good luck charms suit a sparkling princess. Even if I know I am from a witch’s line, “I do not want to be a witch. I want to be a magical princess,” I appealed such to myself, and it was enough to satisfy my childish prayers and dreams.
Nothing has changed from that time. No, it is not that I miss my favorite childish prayers, it is that my prayers have grown into a wish for a safe and stable life.
Thinking so with a small smile, Monette graciously took the necklace and put it in her pouch.

“Thank you, Emilia. I will treasure it.”
“I am not giving it to you. I am lending it out, so please return it properly …”

I just might end up being dazzled to death before my journey even starts, but I nodded my affirmation to Emilia because I don’t think she’d ever let me go if I didn’t.
Originally, I would immediately return to the old castle once this trip was over. There are no other places as cozy, I still have some magic books left there, and most importantly, Robertson is there. Of course, I will return this necklace neatly.
….. However, although it is not certain whether I really will return, I cannot tell a lie, so I just nod.

“Well then, I will go.”
“Sister Monette, please take care. If it seems possible, I don’t mind even a single word, so please send a letter.”

I vaguely replied to Emilia who seemed to be unhappy and quickly walked away.
Emilia’s gaze is focused squarely on my back … I can feel it through the armor, so i will not turn around. My pouch feels heavy. It seems I am dazzled by my own ineptitude.

As I headed to the meeting place, I noticed that Alexis and Percival were already there.
It was a good horse-drawn carriage. I wonder if it will be possible to leave immediately if this is the case, but as soon as I approach the carriage, the horse suddenly starts acting up. It starts whinnying with a loud voice and stamping the ground with its feet.

“….well, what is it?”
“Isn’t it because you look heavy, so it doesn’t want to take you?”

To the Percival who can carelessly talk about the weight of a lady, Monette gave a cold glare. Of course she knew he meant her armor when he said, “heavy.”
However, this armor is under the effect of lightening magic, and it actually weighs the same as a feather contrary to its appearance. The only weight there was to be had was the original weight of Monette. If it is a horse that is used to carrying packs on its back, should it not be able to carry a light girl such as Monette?
As she appealed so, Alexis and Percival actually looked impressed, and the rampaging horse calmed down with one last snort from its nostrils. Apparently it seemed convinced, but Monette went ahead to stroke its back to show there were no hard feelings.

“I am terribly sorry. I will make an inspection to ensure that nothing was broken during the horse’s rampage, and loading will be finished after I have confirmed that everything is in order.”

To the employee who apologized for the delayed departure, Percival and Alexis both lightly nodded while Monette said,

“I guess we will never be safe as long as we have a bad luck fellow.”

And shot a blow to Alexis. It is a stance where she will needle him as much as possible.
Alexis unexpectedly sighed to such a Monette, and Percival slowly pulled out a small bag from within his traveler’s bag.
It was shaken in front of me, and my armor rattles about as I tilt my head to the side. It was a cute pink bag tied off with a simple white ribbon. It was a bag that was usually used for small sugar confections, and it looked really out of place in the hand of Percival, who is apparently a knight.

“What is that?”
“It’s a sweet. I bought it for you.”
“Why?”
“………that is.”

Percival doesn’t say “to eat.”
His expression twists about instead. He would occasionally make that expression while I was packing in the old castle, and he would mumble some things to himself. If you ask for something to remove the numbness, you will notice that it is gone when there is nothing.²
I observed him and the sweets alternately before fixing my gaze on him through my helmet, and
“I do not need it.”
clearly telling him my refusal.

“I intend to make you both buy various things for me. That is my selfishness, my malice. Receiving a gift from you is nothing more than a bad joke.”

Spitting that out to them, Monette turned away and quickly got into the carriage.
The men could not find the motivation to say anything back. Not Alexis who stared after me with a gloomy expression, nor Percival who could only silently put the confection bag back into his traveler’s bag. Gazing at each other, they both felt their moods get even worse, so they both sighed and stared off into the day after tomorrow.

The appearance of Emilia wearing that gorgeous dress crosses my mind. As you can see, the people watching us from the shadows are annoying.
My pouch is heavy.

Then the horse-drawn carriage started off, and they began making plans for the future.
While carrying a somewhat daunting air around it, the horse-drawn carriage swayed, the surroundings gradually darkened, and Monette decided to sleep as there was nothing to see in the world that spread out outside her window.

1. I’m avoiding using Oneesan just because it would look a little weird to suddenly put in some Japanese words when I don’t use any other honorifics or words or lingo anywhere else, but since Oneesan is being used as a name, I ended up giving in. So sorry if any of this feels awkward.

2. First of all, this idiom took me way too long to translate. I just didn’t get what she meant and assumed I was reading it wrong. But yeah, the idiom is pretty much saying that you can’t fix a relationship when there is no relationship there.