When I had to go to work by the weekend, I couldn’t take care of my only younger brother at the door.
“… Sister.”
Even that day, as soon as I got off work, I sat in front of my computer to write a PPT whether my brother ate dinner alone or not.
My brother came up to me and talked to me. He said he needed money in a small voice.
“What’s wrong? You ran out of pocket money again? Yeah, I gave you some already.”
“… .”
“You’ve been spending your pocket money fast lately. What do you use it for?”
The younger brother wriggled his fingers and said nothing with his head down. Every time my brother did that, I got annoyed. His appearance was unkempt.
“Why don’t you wear the clothes that your sister bought you then?”
At first glance, I could see a mottled thing on the back of his exceptionally hand, but he did not know.
I’m going to wash him. Feeling my eyes on him, my brother hurriedly lowered his sleeves and hid his wrist.
“Because you can’t go around neatly, you keep hearing that you’re a child without parents. You know how hard I trie to stop hearing it.”
Seeing my brother, who couldn’t say anything, I sighed.
I can’t waste time with something like this now. I had to complete the proposal by tomorrow and give a presentation in front of the boss.
I turned the chair and looked at the monitor again. But my younger brother hadn’t left my room yet.
“Sister… you know.”
The voice hesitated and was getting slightly wet.
“Can I take the GED?”
Now what is the guy who is in the 3rd grade of middle school talking about? Upset with anger, I turned and stared at my brother.
“You don’t want to go to school again? You’ll graduate if you hang in there for another half a year.”
What kind of face did my brother have at the time? I don’t know because I don’t want to bend my head and close my eyes.
No, the truth is I didn’t want to see my brother’s face properly.
“Do you know why school is so important at your age? It’s not about studying. It’s where you learn about social life!”
I yelled at my brother. Something like patter, water droplets fell to the floor. The water started to rise from the bottom of my feet, then gradually it rose till it covered all of me.
“…!”
Thud! Surprised by the strong heartbeat, I opened my eyes.
A canopy draped with lace curtains came into view. The tears on cheeks drenched my pillowcase and my pajamas were soaked with cold sweat.
“Wow….”
I wiped the tears off my checked with both my hands, but it was strange. They kept coming out. I couldn’t stop sobbing. My heart aches like it’s going to burst.
***
I had no appetite. I didn’t think I could have a proper breakfast, so I asked the chef to only prepare some boiled peaches for me.
No matter how bad your condition is and how little of an appetite you have, you don’t starve in the morning. This has been my philosophical rule since my previous life.
But it was hard to swallow even the mellow peach stew today. Maybe it’s because I couldn’t sleep well at dawn.
“Sister, are you not feeling well again?”, asked me Franz, who was cutting the deer meat while moving his plump cheeks.
Franz knew that when I wasn’t feeling well, I ate boiled peaches instead of other meals. He has a good eye.
“I can’t eat anything else because I’m a little upset.”
Actually, I wanted to eat canned dried pollack.
There is magic in this world, so there is no development of stored foods such as canned food need. This is because you only have to stop the spoilage of food for a certain amount of time with magic.
So, in the kitchen of a wealthy class like the nobles, there was a separate storage room that served as a refrigerator.
In common people’s homes, they say they make ‘bottled’ foods, but it was not what I want.
How should I describe its unique cheap taste?
“Kyla, what happened to Sir Ritaus?”
I was stirring around my food with a fork for a while.
The Marquis of Vesta asked with anxious face whether he saw me like that.
“Yes, Sir Ritaus sent me a letter saying he wanted to visit, and he stopped it, too.”
The marquis of Vesta also helped. As my gaze turned to Franz, he hurriedly looked away.