“Live freely for my sake, remember to be happy.”

These were the dying words of my last remaining family member, Saya. So, when I was reincarnated into another world, I tried to live happily for her.

However, I was severely limited in my new life after being born into a n.o.ble family. So I struggled for quite a long time, but I still desperately strived for happiness.

One day, I met Alice a high-elf girl with cherry blossom-colored hair. She also has heterochromatic eyes — her right eye is golden while her left is blue.

I faced various difficulties with Alice, but I finally managed to gain my freedom. Then Alice confessed to me and it was supposed to be a happy ending —

But, Alice was the reincarnation of my sister from my previous life — Saya.

My younger sister who was my only family in the past. Honestly, it was nice to have reunited with Saya. I was truly happy.

However……Would it be okay to say that the girl who came to like me — was my sister from my previous life?

I was concerned about that, but Alice said she was happy about this. It is true that in our previous life we were brother and sister, but in this world there is no blood connection between us, so there should be no problem.

“Now, after the kiss, we can go even further — what shall we do?”

Wa-wait, Saya! Calm down! Saya, please show some self-respect! Saya!?

“— Ha!?……That dream again….”

I sat up in bed and inadvertently let out a sigh. It’s been close to a month since I found out that Alice was my sister from my previous life. Ever since then, I’ve had this dream almost every night.

The reason for this is obvious. It’s because I’m still trying to figure out how to deal with Alice.

Saya was my only family in my previous life, she’s very important to me, but that’s just as my sister. I’ve never thought of her as a love interest.

And Alice has a gentle heart and is very cute. She is a girl I want to spend the rest of my life with, to say it clearly, I’m attracted to her.

When I thought the two of them were different people, there was no issue……Now that I know the truth, I can’t see Alice without thinking of Saya.

To be with Alice means going out with the reincarnation of my sister. It’s fine if I only think of her as Alice, but it’s definitely wrong if I consider my previous life.

So, I’m confused and don’t know what to do.

“I know I can’t leave things as they are, but…….”

I got off the bed and look out the window. The courtyard of the Sfir mansion spread out before me.

It’s been one month since that incident, and we still remain here.

There are a few reasons for this. The main reason being we still had yet to decide how the Sfir family would take responsibility for Carlos’ actions.

However, that discussion ended yesterday.

We don’t have to stay in this residence, but…..

“Ah~, stop thinking about it. I need to get breakfast.”

I push back the dark thoughts forming in my mind and finish changing clothes. Then I went to grab the water jug and washed my face.

By the way, there is no water supply anywhere in this world, not just in the Sfir home. It is very troublesome to get water. The most common way of getting water is drawing it from a well.

So in a n.o.bleman’s house, a water jug filled with well water exists in some rooms. It seems the servants fill it with water twice a day.

If you use spirit magic, you can make water appear out of thin air, but….you need to
have somewhere to store the water as you create it. So, it’s not much use.

As I was standing in the room with the water jug, I encountered Alice.

“A-Alice…..G-Good morning!”

“Good morning, Leon. It’s a nice day today, isn’t it?”

Kuu, she’s smiling brightly. I’m so worried that the girl I like is a reincarnation of my sister, but Alice doesn’t seem to care.

……No, I already knew she didn’t care. She knew I was Yuya and she kissed me…..or rather, I kissed Alice.

I kissed my sister from my previous life…..

When I think about kissing Alice, my heart feels warmer, but then I feel uncomfortable knowing I kissed my sister from the past. I feel complicated when thinking about the person I kissed.

“…Leon, what’s wrong?”

“Ah, no. It’s nothing. Everything’s fine.”

Just stop already. I need to stop thinking about this in front of Alice. Alice always acts naturally, but the way I’m acting is just creating an uncomfortable atmosphere.

I just have to talk casually with her.

“Now that I think about it, the weather is rather nice today.”

“…..Eh, oh, that’s true…..”

H-huh….That was supposed to be the ultimate topic of conversation if you have nothing else to talk about. Yet, the atmosphere suddenly feels so delicate. Why!?

“He-hey, did I say something strange?”

“N-not anything in particular.”

“Really?”

“Ye-yeah.”

What is with this awkward atmosphere? I don’t understand why it’s so uncomfortable, but this is bad. What do I do, what can I do? Right, let’s try to force a subject change!

“B-by the way, Alice. I was going to eat breakfast now.”

“Is that so? Then —”

“Yep, I’ll be going now!”

“Eh? Ri-right, see you.”

“Ah, see you later.”

And like this, I went to the dining room alone. Why did I just run away and not invite her!? Am I stupid!? I should just die!

Reflect on my mistakes, I need to have a serious reflection on my actions.

Alice always interacted with me regularly, but things have changed recently. In my previous life, I had almost no romantic experience, this is just too much for me.

“Hmm, otouto-kun? What are you doing in a place like this?”

As I reached the dining hall, I was approached by Claire.

“….Claire, good morning.”

“Uh, are you okay? You seem somewhat exhausted.”

“Don’t mind me, I’m just a little depressed because I’m an idiot.”

“Otouto-kun? You’re acting strange, are you sure you’re okay?”

Claire scratches her small head. Ah, it’s pointless. I need to act normally or I’m going to worry Claire.

“Don’t worry about it, it isn’t a big deal. Claire you were going to breakfast, right? How about we go together?”

“Of course, I’d be happy to.”

We asked the maid to prepare breakfast for us and then we sat down facing each other.

“Finally, winter seems like it’s coming to an end.”

“I guess so….”

By the way, the seasons of this world are almost identical to that of j.a.pan.

Since it’s impossible to know if one second is the same in this world it’s hard to be sure about how time works here. But, from what I can tell one month is thirty days. A year is 360 days and can be broken down into twelve months. There are also four seasons that are similar to j.a.pan.

So, currently it’s February in the middle of winter — this area of the world seems similar to that of southern j.a.pan — so the climate is rather warm even in winter.

Night time can be rather chilly, but, considering it’s mid winter, the weather doesn’t feel much like it. I grew up in a region with a much cooler temperature, so this weather is nice for what I was used to.

“…Fuwaa — Sorry.”

Claire let out a yawn, and quickly hid her face in a panic.

“You seem pretty tired.”

I got worried about her and asked this, but she just stared at me with resentful eyes.

“….That’s because you’ve forced work on me, right?”

“Ahaha…..but, thanks to that I was able to break off your engagement.”

The head and eldest son of the Grances family died, so I took over the position of Earl.

So, originally I was going to do my job as Earl, but…….because I am only ten years old, Claire had taken over the duties of Earl for the time being.

Of course Claire is still a child as well, but she has a lot of a.s.sistance from Mich.e.l.le when it comes to accounting and Alice has been a great help as well.

What is important is the fact that Claire became necessary for the Grances family to operate properly. For that reason, I requested that the Marquis of Gramp cancel the engagement.

This way, some good came out of the Sfir family’s attack on the Grances mansion. It was a terrible thing, but as long it’s never repeated, it should be fine.

So, Claire is now completely free…..Well, I’m not sure if I can call all the work she now has to do for the Grances family freedom.

“The engagement was cancelled…..I thought it was impossible, I still can’t believe it.”

“You’re still saying that? It’s been over a week since the engagement was formally cancelled.”

“Yes, but…..Otouto-kun, I won’t be forced into a political marriage anymore, right?”

“Of course you won’t be. You won’t have to worry about political marriages anymore, you can marry the person you love.

“The person I love…..”

Claire casts a meaningful look to me, but I pretend not to notice. Honestly, I can’t have that conversation with Claire right now.

My sense of values is currently shaken by Alice. So, I feel like if Claire wanted to, she could take advantage of me.

That’s why, I’m sorry – I apologize to Claire in my mind. I try to find another topic to change the conversation.

“Anyway, Claire, did yesterday’s talks go well?”

“Muuuuu”

“….Claire?”

“Everything’s progressing fine. The punishment for Elyse has been decided, she will be imprisoned. Eric-san will become the head of the Sfir family, and it was decided they will pay the Grances family compensation over the next five years.”

“I see. That’s good then.”

As for the members involved in the attack on the Grances mansion, there will be no punishment as they were just following the orders of Carlos. I also decided not to reveal the crime the Sfir family committed.

If it were to be revealed, the Sfir family would be destroyed. That’s something I don’t want for Sophia or Eric, considering they knew nothing of the attack.

Of course, Carlos is dead, so not everything can be covered up.

So, the story told to the public, is that the extremists that attacked the Grances family also raided the Sfir mansion. Although Carlos was killed, Alice and I rushed to the aid of the rest of the family.

“And, on the matter of the engagement to Sophia, I talked to Eric and officially dissolved it…but I’m not sure if that was the right thing to do.”

“Ah, it’s no longer necessary for me to marry for political reasons. So, the marriage should’ve been dissolved a while ago.”

“That’s true, but……Otouto-kun, have you met with Sophia-chan since that day?”

“No, I haven’t seen her.”

“Why —”

“Thank you for waiting. Here’s today’s breakfast.”

Bad timing. The maid returned to us with breakfast. Breakfast was arranged out on the table for us, I exchange looks with Claire and decide we can continue this conversation later.

Today’s breakfast was fried eggs and bacon, with some bread in a basket. The fried eggs and the bacon taste okay, but the bread is hard and stiff.

This doesn’t mean that the Sfir family is poor, I’m not trying to insult the Sfir family, but this is commonplace in this world – rather this is considered to be a luxurious breakfast.

There’s no use trying to make something of higher quality because there is no refrigerator in this world. Still, I hope to find a way to make improvements once I return to the Grances territory.

“So, about Sophia-chan.”

“Is there something wrong with Sophia?”

“What are you saying? You know she has been secluding herself for quite some time now.”

“I know that, but….”

She has closed herself in her room ever since that day she killed her father, Regis, and tried to kill her mother.

“If you know, then why haven’t you tried to check on her?”

“That is….I’ve already ended our engagement. There’s no reason for me to worry about her anymore……”

“Stop lying.”

Her deep green eyes looked disgusted as she stared at me.

“That wasn’t exactly a lie…..”

“I don’t believe you at all. Isn’t that the reason we’re still staying with the Sfir family, because you’re worried about her.”

“No, because I wanted to make sure that the discussion with the Sfir family would go well. I also had to force the work onto you due to my circ.u.mstances, so I was worried about you.”

“…… It’s not a lie that you were worried about me, but you’re just using that as a pretext…..First off, the discussion ended yesterday, yet you haven’t made any preparations to leave.”

“That’s….”

“Hey, otouto-kun, I’ll ask again. Why haven’t you gone to see her?”

Claire looks straight at me. Apparently, there’s no way of getting away from this question. I let out a small sigh and decided to answer her.

“…..Well, because I rejected Sophia, she was hurt and has locked herself away, right? How am I supposed to see her now?’

“…..You were terrified, right, that’s the reason you never went to see her.”

“That’s right…I’m seriously worried about her.”

Sophia’s parents were killed due to the crimes they committed.

But that’s why Sophia didn’t need to kill her parents. If I hadn’t gotten involved so carelessly, Sophia wouldn’t have killed her parents.

“Well, otouto-kun, Sophia-chan was definitely hurt, but she thought you rejected her. But, you really don’t hate her, right?”

“Of course not. After all, Sophia did those — things for me.”

Only a few people know the crime the Sfir family committed. So, naturally only a few people know what Sophia did that day. That’s why I was purposefully ambiguous when talking about it.

I make sure that n.o.body is listening to our talk and begin to speak more quietly.

“….It would be impossible for me to hate Sophia.”

Those are my honest feelings. That’s why I truly regret rejecting her out of reflex that day.

Of course, even going by the rules of this world, I think what Sophia did was going too far. But still, I think I should’ve accepted her that day.

“Then go see her. You’re worried about her, right?”

“That’s……but what if by seeing her, I hurt her more?”

“It will be fine, otouto-kun. Sophia-chan is waiting for you to come see her. If you go see her and tell her your feelings properly, your onee-chan guarantees everything will be fine.”

Claire leans forward a little and gently shakes her wavy hair. She shows a gentle smile that would calm anyone that sees it.

She is just a child that isn’t even twelve years old yet, but at that time Claire seemed much older.

I was pushed forward by Claire’s words and went to see Sophia.