"Yo, Lidi. How did you go back that day?"

Few days have pa.s.sed since I ran away from Freed.
After dinner Brother paid a visit to my room and asked that.

By the way, this time I took care to report this matter to Father and Mother.
I obtained Freed"s consent. As I informed that I properly sent a letter that I returned home, I was released surprisingly easily.
I thought I"d be told more, so it was quite anticlimactic.

I seem to have been acquitted of returning itself.
Considering the previous incident, I was relieved.

"How, you ask… Well, normally?"

As I finally thought of relaxing, Brother visited me.
Deep down I was nervous of what I"d be told.
If it didn"t feel embarra.s.sing, I could face the investigation with calmness, but in my case it"s too embarra.s.sing.
While I couldn"t answer honestly and tried being ambiguous, Brother kept a watchful eye on my.

"Hmph. There was that security net. n.o.body saw you leave the room, what does it mean?"
"… Trade secret. Wouldn"t it be leaked to Freed if I told Older Brother. I won"t say things that"d adversely affect me in the future"

When I said that, my head was whacked.
… It hurts.

"I won"t tell him. Rather, I was seriously surprised. That guy went all out setting the security net. I"d never expect you to escape"
"Yeah, it was amazing…"

Pressing down on my whacked head I nodded.
While Cain took me out, I took fleeting glimpses at the strict security and broke in cold sweat.
As I agreed Brother sighed in amazement, but the power in his eyes didn"t change.

"I know that. Won"t you feel like telling me how you escaped?"
"As I said, it"s a trade secret. I won"t reveal it. However, I didn"t really use our agency"

Predicting Brother"s worries, I said just to be sure.
If I used the ducal agency I could probably escape.
I thought Brother was anxious I took this approach, so I denied it.
Without trying to conceal his amazed appearance, Brother peered in my face.

"Idiot. I ain"t worried about that. In the first place you can"t move our agency. They only listen to my and old man"s orders"
"Ah, yup, you"re right. Sorry"

Brother went away for a year for that reason.
The direct control over the ducal intelligence agency. There"s no way people of the agency who have been with the ducal house from the old times would accept orders from anybody other than their master.

"… That"s exactly why how you ran away is on my mind. You didn"t use our agency. But n.o.body saw the door open. The door had 24/7 security. You couldn"t slip by without being accidentally seen"
"…"

So he went that far. Then I think escaping through the door was impossible no matter what.
When it comes to my own strength, I could only escape through a window, but Freed"s room is on the third floor. I can only say it"d be difficult with my skills.
After all it seems it was impossible for me to win without Cain.

When I sank into silence, Brother gently narrowed his eyes.
That gesture is just like Father"s, so I reflexively froze.

"… You, you aren"t involved in strange things, right?"
"Eh? I"m not I"m not. There"s no way"

As Brother seriously inquired I shook my head.
I only had my ninja, Cain, take me out.
I haven"t done anything strange.
After I shook my head Older Brother fixedly looked at my face, and telling me not to worry him too much he once again struck my head.
The nervous aura from a while ago dispersed in an instant.

"Well, I think it"s plenty amazing you escaped from that Freed. It"s the proof you have the power to escape when push comes to shove. If you become the Crown Princess, who knows who might target you. I think it"s good you have even one means of resisting. As expected of my little sister"
"Older Brother"

Like that my hair was ruffled.
When I looked at Brother"s face, he laughed with interest.

"Freed was also surprised. He didn"t expect you to escape. It seems he"ll stay quiet until the next evening party, so take it easy"
"After all it"s until the evening party. Yup, I understand"

The period was what I expected, so I nodded.
In spite of his obsession with me, Freed kept his promise and properly let me go.
And when I show there, well, it can"t be helped I"ll be restrained a little, I had such strange thoughts.

"Hey, how was Freed?"

How he felt was on my mind, so I tried asking Older Brother.
Older Brother turned far away and vaguely let out "Ah".

"… Well, let"s see, if I had to say you had a troublesome man fall in love with you"
"Eh? What do you mean?"
"Being outwitted and having you escape made him fall in love again. He was smiling with an incredible face"
"… I see"

I wonder why, it"s extremely troublesome to comment on that story. And that smiling face, I"m sure he was smiling with black-hearted smile.
s.h.i.+ver ran through my spine, and I hugged my body.
For some reason Brother was looking at such me with a faint smile.

"Perhaps if you"re caught the next time, you won"t return home? Well, good luck"

The lukewarm cheer that didn"t come from heart at all irritated me.

"Kh… Acting like it"s somebody else"s problem"
"Well, it actually is somebody else"s problem. Sorry for interfering with other people"s love?"
"s.h.i.+tty brother. If you have free time to laugh at other people, bring your own bride along"

As I scowled at him, Brother shrugged his shoulders with a grin.

"Oops, my turn came. I can"t win with you at that topic. Well, in short what I wanted to say is, it"s amazing you won the bet against Fred"
"… Considering that, isn"t the conversation too excessive?"

He absolutely just wants to tease me. I silently appealed for him to understand, but Brother doesn"t care at all.
He truly got a nerve to be so shameless.

"It"s a heartwarming conversation between siblings. You will be royalty before long, I think we"ll have little opportunity to talk like this afterwards, so think about communicating with your bro even a little"
"Suspicious. Your face is smiling"

I can a.s.sert. There"s no way Brother has such admirable thoughts.

"Haha, it got exposed. I only came to tease you"
"… s.h.i.+tty brother, go to h.e.l.l"
"… Ouch"

Hearing the expected words, I drove my elbow into Brother"s solar plexus with all my strength.

After driving Brother away, I had been summoned by Father. Per command I had headed for his study, but now that the talk ended and I returned to my room, I was in a state of complete shock.

Although I had my maid bring me tea, I still couldn"t bring myself to drink it.

The reason of my shock.
It"s very simple. Just now Father taught me about the "Etiquette of men and women".
The "Etiquette of men and women" that prevails among the upper cla.s.s of this country.
It was a bolt from the blue for me.

The "Etiquette of men and women" that I"ve heard of somewhere before, seems to be the common sense of socializing and s.e.xual intercourse that"s been pa.s.sed down to sons and daughters of the upper cla.s.s for generations.

It"s the first time I"ve heard of that, but what surprised me was its content.

I received a fair shock from the common sense of socializing, but in the end,  s.e.x was the most shocking.
Women leave everything to men and don"t do any unnecessary things. Dead lay is how you"d call it.
I"m surprised "gracefulness" and "shyness" is demanded of n.o.ble women. It seems displaying a.s.sertiveness and the like is considered immodest.
Oioi, is this real. What should I do.

I couldn"t believe my ear when I heard of the insertion method either.
It"s natural I"d be surprised being told the only option is the missionary position.

I barely managed to feign my calm in front of Father, but in my mind a storm was violently raging.

Of course, it would.
In this world I naturally experienced it only with Freed, but… I don"t remember having such s.e.x even once.
As I was semi-dumbfounded being told everything by Father, he concluded the story saying I suppose it"s unnecessary this late.

It"s absolutely none of his business.
Then I noticed.
Father absolutely kept silent about it on purpose.

He concealed the information that under usual circ.u.mstances I should"ve probably learned far earlier.
Let"s consider the real intention of concealing the knowledge I should at least have at the time of my high society debut.

"It was a precaution against me a.s.sociating with men…"

In other words, it"s like this.

Father understood early on there"s a possibility I would take radical measures not wanting to marry Freed, so he didn"t teach me that on purpose.

Certainly, no matter how perfect the etiquette, it"s pointless if the essential part is missing.
n.o.body would think of going after a woman with no common sense.
Father had the edge over me.

"I was tricked…"

While grinding teeth in my room, I finally lifted the teacup.
It"s become a little lukewarm, but it can"t be helped.
I drank my favorite tea to calm my heart.
Recently I"ve been addicted to jasmine tea. The particular taste gently spread in my hardened heart.

"… Phew"

I put down the cup and breathed out.
It seems I"ve managed to considerably collect myself.

I was surprised by Father"s talk, but after all what I"m more concerned is Freed"s behavior until now.
In light of the "Etiquette of men and women" I"ve heard about, my behavior at the masquerade ball was considerably odd.

And yet, why did he, who could pick and choose any woman expressly slept with a woman with no common sense, is what"s on my mind.
I didn"t pay it much attention since it let me have the one-night easily, but I think it"d be impossible normally.

Furthermore, the acts with him.
From the time at the masquerade ball, doggy style and cowgirl positions are the norm.
Even our last night together, there were things such as face-to-face sitting position… Well, there were all sorts of them.

Of course, Freed shouldn"t be unaware of the "Etiquette of men and women".
Thinking back on it, certainly his words and actions reflected that at every turn. Every time I asked about something, he evaded it saying it"s fine if I don"t know.

"I was silent, unaware of anything…"

That"s right. He told me my reactions were unusual.
I recalled him smiling happily each time I reacted.

I can"t help but feel his obsession with me was in part caused by that.

The next time we meet I"ll absolutely question him.
But.

"On the other hand, switching to such boring s.e.x is a little…"

I"m angry that taking advantage of my lack of knowledge he did as he pleased, but it doesn"t mean s.e.x with him was disagreeable.

That"s why I can"t blame him for the s.e.x that runs against the ordinary common sense. Like him, in my opinion this way is better.

I have only one complaint about s.e.x with him.
The number of times is high. That"s how I"d sum it up.

Two-digit number in one night is the usual. And I come even more.
I think I"d gladly go along with it for at most three times, but unfortunately there"s no hope of it coming true.

What"s frightening is I"ve never seen his thing wither.
I hate to imagine just what it"d take to make him seriously satisfied.

Yes, the number of times aside, after all I like s.e.x with him now.
I just want to complain a little.

Having said that, I like the current s.e.x with Freed and don"t want to change it, but it"s definitely too embarra.s.sing to say.

"… I wonder if I should keep quiet about my circ.u.mstances…"

I can"t deny I"m irritated by not being told anything, but like this I can escape the shame of having to expressly tell him I like s.e.x that deviates from the common sense.

I feel there"s obviously benefit for him in it, but for my sake I decided to stay silent and keep things as they are.

The actual talk between Lidi and her father is in .