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Sir Rune opened his mouth and broke the awkward silence.
“My Lady, are you perhaps very angry with me for what I did last time?”
“What?”
“Or do you hold a grudge to the point of wanting to kill me?”
“Not even an ounce.”
I was perplexed and a bit uncomfortable, but I’m not a narrow-minded person to hold a grudge just because of that kind of joke.
He burst into disheartened laughter as he looked at the distant mountain.
“Alright, so you’re saying you pushed someone to hell without any grudge, huh . . .”
I tilted my head at those hard to understand words.
He murmured as if he were feeling dejected.
“I think there’s a serious crack in my friendship with Orion that we’ve built up for years.”
“Did you two have an appointment?”
Did I cluelessly break that appointment?
Although I couldn’t understand how that made a serious crack in their friendship, the other one was a Young Duke.
He could have a different perspective from me.
Because Orion was a busy person, he might be a person who considered time as gold.
“Seems like I did something wrong. I’m sorry.”
Oh well. I have no other choice but to ask Rany to hire the actor.
Not only because he was profound in adapting with any situation, but when I heard the setup that the brother had enough money and a kind older brother, although there were some distance as siblings, the one I thought of was Sir Rune.
And looking at his joke last time, he seemed like he could act.
It is a bummer but I’ll give up.
I had no intention to ask him a troubling request.
The moment I completely gave up and was about to rise up, he opened his mouth along with a sigh.
“For now, I’ll hear the background of your request for me to be your older brother.”
“Isn’t that difficult for you?”
“It would be more difficult if I didn’t hear your explanation and close this situation just like this.”
Ah, does he have to explain the situation since Orion has run away?
Well, I didn’t want Orion to know the agenda of my visit today, but he already found me.
Also, since the situation had become like this, whether Sir Rune would do my request or not, I had to explain to him.
“I entered the academy while hiding my family name.”
I explained about the possibility of a home visit because of the complicated accident in the academy, and that I needed someone to play as my family according to my fabricated identity to him.
Of course, I took out the part about how I related to the accident victim, and how he was a victim but he was also the culprit.
After hearing my explanation, Sir Rune looked at me with an odd expression.
“Surely, after hearing the situation, I could understand why you thought of me.”
“Right? I also think that I did a good job.”
“Leaving behind your belief that I would do a great job as a brother who became a sister’s fool because of his love for his sister not blood related,”
Does the story sound like that?
Come to think of it, saying that he would do this role nicely could be seen as rude.
“I thought you were someone who didn’t like to burden others. On top of that, My Lady also knew that I wasn’t really interested in you.”
I simply replied to his questioning words as to why I chose him rather than Orion, who would do whatever kind of requests I asked.
“Because Sir Rune has no interest in me, I feel more comfortable asking you.”
I prefer to give and take what we want perfectly and clearly, then end it at that.
A neat transaction, whether we liked it or not.
He hummed, then touched his chin as he replied.
“I think it wouldn’t be difficult for me to help you.”
“Really?”
“Yes. Although I never tried to act, I could at least satisfy your expectations.”
I was relieved by the relatively cool answer.
No matter if I hurriedly went out to find an actor, it was obvious that it would be difficult to find someone who met the condition.
I also wasn’t confident in matching the actor to play the act, so I prefer to do it with someone I know.
“Well, since I’m from another nation, I rarely receive public attention, and my face is also unknown. I could help that much.”
“Ah.”
“If I were to accept your request, would you also accept my request, My Lady?”
“Surely if it’s inside my capability.”
Transactions were originally possible only when the exchange values of each other match.
He straightened up his leaning body, then spoke slowly.
“Don’t think of Orion as very burdensome. That is my request.”
“Pardon . . . ?”
The lightly spoken out request was completely out of my prediction that it made me puzzled.
“Because I thought My Lady wouldn’t accept it if I ask you to take a stroll with Orion, or have a meal together, or take interest in him for now.”
Well, that is true, still . . .
As I gave him a bitter look, he spoke while flashing a faint smile again.
“I admit that Orion’s behavior could be burdening, but please don’t feel too burdened by him.”
“. . .”
“If that’s hard, just think of it as he acts like that because his personality is like that.”
“. . .”
I stared intently at Sir Rune, who was asking me to not avoid his master and friend and just treat him as that kind of person, and replied short.
“Your friendship is very brilliant, but don’t you think there’s something wrong with your behavior toward your only master?”
He laughed.
“Well, after all I would be harassed by Orion for a while, so it’s fine for me to treat him cruelly in advance.”
I couldn’t understand even a single word of his riddle-like answer.