Ch.274Side Story: Big Sister, Little Sister, Sister

“Why is that person your ‘unnie’?”

Despite my question, Kang Yuna, who would normally have pounced on me for my disrespectful way of speaking to her, remained silent. Instead, she was cautiously watching my reaction.

‘Was the shock too much for her?’

From the perspective of Kang Yuna, who had lived her entire life on Earth and was an A-rank hunter of the Eternal Guild, it was understandable.

Coming to another world that she’d only heard about, she was immediately overwhelmed by the scale of a birthday celebration that took up a quarter of the imperial capital. And though she hadn’t seen them up close, she’d met people with supposedly tremendous status.

As if that wasn’t enough, the guild masters of Eternal Guild, her superiors, were clinging to me and openly flaunting their relationship. Then she discovered that Kang Rahye, whom she called “unnie” and was close with, was actually someone of such high status that even the Emperor would defer to her.

To top it all off, Nika, her superior, had taken me away and returned with meaningful words. Looking back at everything that had happened, it was enough to make me seem intimidating.

‘…But that doesn’t seem to be the kind of look she’s giving me.’

However, the reason Diana was addressing her as “unnie” and being so friendly seemed different. It didn’t feel like they were simply bonding over having me as a sibling; there seemed to be something else.

‘Did she tell them?’

The only thing that might pique their curiosity would be Kang Yuna revealing that she came from another world. Otherwise, there was no explanation for the two of them pretending to be close and using the term “Yuna unnie.”

Trisha might be different, but Diana was far from being naturally friendly. She was just used to hiding her emotions and forcing them as part of living as a merchant.

“Hmm, similar tastes?”

But Diana’s answer was completely different from what I expected.

“After chatting a bit, I discovered that Yuna unnie also has very refined and excellent taste. I found out by chance, but after our spiritual exchange, I couldn’t help but acknowledge it.”

“…What’s so refined and excellent?”

My brow furrowed involuntarily. Diana and Kang Yuna having similar tastes?

One was a person who, before even reaching double digits in age, had become obsessed with erotic novels she’d stumbled upon and filled an entire bookshelf with adult literature. The other was someone who attached dildos to her bedroom wall—

“……”

Suddenly it made sense. Come to think of it, Kang Yuna did read a lot of adult novels.

“…I guess that’s not entirely wrong. Tastes can be similar, I suppose.”

I said this while staring intently at Kang Yuna. She averted her gaze, as if feeling guilty. In contrast, Diana was completely unembarrassed, as if the emotion didn’t exist for her.

Trisha had a half-resigned look on her face. Thankfully, at least her tastes were normal. Oddly, her behavior and preferences were complete opposites.

“Right? Taste should always be refined and appreciated.”

“Pfft! *cough*!”

Elisier, who had been quiet, suddenly spat out her coffee. As brown droplets flew everywhere, Rosaria dodged in alarm.

“S-sorry… *cough, cough*! I’m sorry…”

Elisier hurriedly grabbed tissues and wiped the nearby table and seats. Diana used magic to clean what couldn’t be wiped. The white tablecloth, stained with brown spots, instantly became clean again.

“What’s wrong, Miss Ciel? Is there a problem?”

“*cough* Nothing… *hack* it’s nothing.”

Judging by her reaction, she seemed to know the true nature of Diana’s “refined taste.” To behave like that in front of someone who knew—Diana was truly shameless.

“So running a merchant company requires such shamelessness? I’m impressed, Diana noona.”

“Shameless? I don’t understand what you mean.”

“Oh, you don’t understand words so you’re showing me through actions? You should have said so earlier.”

Despite looking frail enough to be bedridden with tuberculosis like a tragic heroine, her words revealed a thick-skinned, brazen personality.

Shaking my head, I sat between Rosaria and Elisier. Rosaria was patting the seat, as if she had saved it for me.

“Um, so… Saint?”

“Yes, Mira Crate.”

Her voice was less formal than when she acted like a saint at the academy, but still much more formal than her usual self.

“What happened?”

“I wouldn’t know. It’s their relationship, not ours. All I know is that the three of them have become quite close.”

“Kuhh…”

I heard Elisier covering her mouth, trembling as she tried to suppress her laughter. The image of Saint Rosaria did have a large gap with the image of her vessel, Yu Chaewon.

Rosaria’s mouth twitched briefly, and she reached behind me to poke Elisier’s side repeatedly. Not that it would hurt much given their basic strength difference.

“So what else did you talk about?”

I deliberately looked at Kang Yuna as I asked. She visibly flinched and answered with a mortified expression.

“Well, just… life stories and how people get by…”

“Your face looks too grim for that. Didn’t you discuss your ‘refined tastes’ like Diana noona said?”

“……”

She glared at me sharply. At least she hadn’t completely lost her spirit. If she had, I would have felt bad for bringing her here.

“Can we talk privately for a moment, Yuna noona?”

I deliberately emphasized “Yuna noona.” Kang Yuna cautiously nodded. Her glare from moments ago had completely disappeared.

Rosaria and Elisier didn’t react, probably because they knew she was my real sister. They were busy bickering under the table.

I moved further into the back garden, away from Diana who was watching us with curious eyes.

“Your social skills are impressive, noona.”

As soon as we turned the corner, I smirked.

“Not only the Sword Saint, but you’ve already become ‘unnie-dongsaeng’ with the women of this world too. I didn’t know you were such an amazing person. I’m impressed, Kang Yuna.”

“Hey, that’s what I want to say! What exactly have you been doing here? What did you do to make your birthday party like this?!”

“I told you before you came. This is my first real birthday celebration, so they prepared a lot of things, and not to be surprised. From next year, it won’t be on such a grand scale.”

“This isn’t just ‘a lot,’ you crazy bastard! You should have been more specific!”

Kang Yuna grabbed my collar and shook me. Even so, her grip wasn’t as strong as usual, suggesting she hadn’t fully recovered from the shock.

“Are the guild masters all from here too? Is that why they’re so strong?”

“No, it’s mixed. Four are from Earth, three are from here. You can try to figure out who’s from where on your own. But you know not to let this leak out—”

“I won’t! I won’t do it!”

She shouted loudly, looking completely shocked, as if she hadn’t expected it to be true.

“So, now I want to ask something. What happened between the three of you? I really didn’t expect you to become so close.”

“N-nothing much…”

Normally, Kang Yuna would have growled that it was none of my business, but she seemed tense from everything that had happened in the past day and answered obediently.

“I was just asking why you call me noona, and somehow the conversation turned to our tastes. And we found we had a lot in common…”

“You were asking why I call you noona and that led to discussing tastes? That’s quite the leap.”

“R-really, that’s all! There’s nothing more to say! I was so nervous I don’t even remember what I answered!”

Unlike me, who blatantly lied about what happened with the Succubus Queen, there wasn’t much chance she was lying.

Unlike Diana, who led an independent merchant company and had experienced all sorts of people, or Trisha, who became the owner of the empire’s largest gambling den, Kang Yuna wasn’t the type to lie in such a nervous state.

“Okay, okay. I won’t ask anymore. I think I can guess what tastes you share. Dildos on the wall—”

Kang Yuna clamped her hand over my mouth. Then she growled with an expression full of shame.

“Do you really need to say such things here, Kang Yuseong…?”

“I just guessed you might have similar tastes. I’m not trying to tease you, so don’t worry.”

I smiled and removed her hand. Her face turned slightly pale as she easily lost the physical struggle. It had always been like this, so why was she surprised now?

“I can guess even without you saying it. The noona from here also has a hobby of reading erotic novels. She’s been buying and collecting them with her own money since she was very young, and got caught and scolded by her parents more than once.”

Her method of collecting erotic novels was as extraordinary as befitting the eldest daughter of the Crate family. She would buy an entire section of books that included adult novels.

She would purchase several bookshelves worth of books, take all the adult novels hidden among them, keep a reasonable number of all-ages novels as cover, and donate the rest claiming they weren’t interesting. That was her method.

She was caught after donating over fifteen thousand books while doing this. She was definitely different from the start.

“Fine. Thanks, you jerk.”

“You’re welcome.”

“Does that sound like a compliment to you?”

“Did it sound like a compliment to you?”

“……”

I smiled as she glared at me fiercely.

Anyway, I roughly understood the situation. She was brought along out of curiosity, and they unexpectedly got along well. It was a surprising situation, but given their similar tastes, it wasn’t completely incomprehensible.

“…Hey. Can I ask you one thing too?”

“Sure. Why are you setting the mood like that?”

“You… don’t tell me you’re… with all the guild masters…?”

That was quite the direct question.

I took a moment to choose my next answer. But just the fact that I, who had been smirking until now, was considering my response seemed to be enough of an answer for her.

“So it’s true.”

“I won’t deny it.”

I actually wanted to openly confirm it, but her face looked like the shock might be too much, so I answered indirectly.

“I thought something seemed off… they wouldn’t interfere with another guild just as colleagues. Right, that makes sense.”

Kang Yuna continued to ramble for a while. I had nothing to say since I would have reacted the same way.

If I had a younger sister who was possessed in another world and came back with seven men, I would have been shocked too. Purely from surprise.

“Ha, shit… are you that good?”

“Well… it just happened.”

With the four vessels, we healed each other’s past traumas; Erestica developed maternal instincts after I dealt with Mahbat; and Nika was a Succubus Queen who had never experienced proper feeding.

As for Leona, our friendship was part of Aria’s plan from the beginning. But now our relationship had moved beyond that, so it didn’t matter.

“…Well. If you’re in that kind of relationship with the guild masters, I guess it’s okay to tell you.”

After rambling for a while, Kang Yuna cautiously began.

“Tell me what?”

“I, I overheard something. I’m not exactly sure, but they said there was succubus pheromone in the alcohol you drank yesterday.”

“Pheromone?”

“They were asking if it was well-hidden so you wouldn’t notice. They said using healing magic might make you suspicious. I just overheard it in passing, so I’m not sure…”

But it was probably accurate. The puzzle pieces in my head fit together.

The reason my memory blacked out despite not drinking much, why I did those things while blacked out, and why everyone allowed Nika to kidnap me during the birthday celebration.

“…I see.”

So that’s what it was all about.

“Thanks, noona. That’s good information.”

“P-please don’t tell the guild masters that I told you—”

“I won’t, I won’t. Even if they found out, I wouldn’t let them touch a hair on your head, so don’t worry.”

I smiled lightly. Of course, I had no intention of telling them.

Separately from that, it seemed I needed to have a little chat with them.