Ch.832Brother and Brother

While riding back to the Wall on a unicorn, Imara sat demurely in front of me, asking various trivial questions.

According to Hersella, for the past few years, Imara wouldn’t even engage in proper conversation, instead glaring at her with sharp eyes or spitting out sarcastic remarks before turning away. This was completely different from what I was experiencing.

Perhaps she understood that her life was in my hands?

Her attitude was so accommodating that I wondered if Hersella, who lacked any sense of tact, had simply misunderstood something.

“That flame from earlier, was it the power of sorcery?”

“Yes. I acquired it by chance while exploring dungeons… that is, the strange ruins scattered throughout the west.”

How strange that a typical Ka’har who hated sorcery enough to flee immediately upon learning her mother was a sorceress would show nothing but curiosity, without a trace of hostility, toward the fire seal I used.

“I heard you established Hestella and became Khan. What happened during that time?”

“Well, it’s quite a long story—”

When I summarized and embellished my experiences, she listened attentively with sparkling eyes like a child hearing a hero’s tale.

“What’s that in your mouth…? An herb…?”

“It’s called Mana Herb, one of the western specialties that clears the mind. Would you like to try one if you’re curious?”

“Um… yes, I’d like that.”

She showed interest in the cigarette I was smoking and tried to follow my example.

“Here. Draw the smoke in deeply, then mix it with your exhale.”

“Hmmm—kack! Kuhack! Cough! Hack! Keh…! What is this?! Is it poison?”

She coughed like an asthmatic, with tears welling in her eyes from the harsh smoke filling her lungs, making me burst into laughter.

“What… what about the matter of a consort?”

“Consort? There is none. And I have no intention of taking one. If the lack of an heir becomes an issue, I can always adopt.”

She even asked personal questions like who my husband might be.

“I see. So there’s no one…!”

The corners of her mouth curled up slightly when I said I had no intention of taking a consort. It seemed she was hoping to use our blood relation as justification to aim for the position of future queen or queen mother.

Well, considering that Aishan-Gioro bloodline was nothing but a liability in a western kingdom, it was safe to say her ambitions had no chance of success.

—-

When I returned to the Wall, I was greeted by the worried complaints of a pink-haired girl who should have been volunteering at the infirmary at this hour.

“Sister Haschal!”

Lena rushed up to me as soon as she saw me. Having heard that I went out scouting alone, she seemed to have been waiting for my return near the gate.

She worries too much. I wasn’t going to war—I was just briefly scouting the plains. There was no reason for me to get hurt or be in danger.

“I heard everything! Going off alone doing dangerous things… again…?”

Lena sighed with relief at seeing me perfectly fine and was about to give her usual advice about avoiding dangerous activities, but…

The moment her eyes met Imara’s, who was sitting leaning against me, she stopped mid-sentence and stared blankly, looking back and forth between our faces.

“Um… sister? Who’s the Ka’har riding in front? A captured prisoner? It must be a prisoner, right? If so, we should hand her over to the interrogators—”

She must have mistaken Imara for an enemy prisoner. There was a strange hostility in her eyes as she looked at her.

“Ah, this is my half-sister Imara. She said she wanted to defect from Aishan and seek asylum in Hestella, so I brought her along.”

“Whaaaat? Your sister?! You had a sister, unnie?!”

Lena pointed at Imara in shock.

“A half-sister, yes.”

Come to think of it, I don’t think I ever mentioned having a half-sister. Since I’d never even seen her face before, I hadn’t felt the need to explain.

Hersella might have known, but to me, Hersella’s sister was like an NPC who never actually appears in a game—just a background character in the setting. I hadn’t given her any thought at all.

So how could I have explained? Even I barely remembered Imara’s existence unless Hersella mentioned her sister.

“A sister… a real sister…!”

So it was only natural that Lena was surprised. She probably never imagined I had a sibling.

Still, her shock seemed excessive. Her finger trembled as she pointed, her mouth opening and closing like a goldfish. Her reaction was even more intense than when I’d returned with serious injuries.

“Sister? Who is this rude child?”

In elegant eastern language, Imara turned to look at me with a slightly sharpened tone. Perhaps annoyed by Lena’s pointing, she had slightly furrowed her previously smooth brow.

Come to think of it, I hadn’t told her about Lena either.

During our return to the Wall, I had summarized my experiences, but even just covering my public activities was a long story, so I’d omitted personal details like adopting a sister.

Well, I could explain now.

“Imara, this is Lena Median, a healing practitioner who worships the sun. She’s a girl who has formed a sisterly bond with me. She’s about your age, so I’d like you two to get along if possible.”

“…What? A sisterly bond?”

Imara’s face twisted strangely.

She looked like someone whose father had promised a sibling as a birthday gift, only to bring home an illegitimate child of unknown origin.

“When you already have me, why would you need another sister…? Were you trying to cut ties with me completely?”

“What…?”

What a bizarre accusation.

Wasn’t she the one who tried to cut ties with me? Though circumstances have strangely twisted to make her cling to me now, until two years ago, we were in a relationship where she sent assassins after me.

If I hadn’t possessed Hersella’s body and if Imara hadn’t discovered Meiharin’s identity, we probably would have remained enemies until she was eventually eliminated by Hersella’s hand.

“Cut ties or not, if you hadn’t run away from Ordos, we wouldn’t have met again in the first place—”

“Sister, was I just a replacement…? No, that can’t be…”

Just as I was about to answer Imara’s absurd question, Lena’s query interrupted me.

I stopped mid-sentence and turned toward Lena. Even just from her voice, I could clearly feel her shock and dismay.

“A replacement? What are you talking about? Of course not. If I had considered you a replacement for my sister rather than a sister in your own right, I wouldn’t have given you the Median name.”

So I bent down to stroke Lena’s head and comforted her in a warm tone.

“Sister…!”

Lena smiled as if deeply moved and clung to my leg.

Since clinging to the leg of someone on horseback was extremely dangerous, even though we were stationary, I lifted her up and placed her on the saddle behind me.

Cascador, suddenly burdened with three people, raised his head slightly and snorted.

Still, being a mystical creature, he easily bore the weight of three people. He even seemed to enjoy it a little. How irritating.

“I’ll tell you the details later. Let’s head back for now. We shouldn’t linger in front of the gate.”

“Yes!”

Lena nodded and wrapped her arms around my waist.

And so I rode toward Berengaria’s command barracks with my two sisters, one in front and one behind.

A twin-tailed girl leaning against my back. A pink-haired girl embracing my waist and pressing her upper body against me.

It might have looked like I was flanked by flowers, but I just found the stares of others embarrassing.

After all, how would three people on one horse appear to others? Far from elegant or graceful—literally like a clown show.

The gazes of knights and soldiers looking at me with complex expressions, as if they’d encountered someone with a fetish for pink ponies, provided a clearer answer than a hundred words could.

—-

After enduring the embarrassment and finally arriving at the command barracks, I briefly explained to the commanders who asked about the Ka’har girl I’d brought that she was my sister seeking asylum.

Then I took my two sisters, both clutching my hands tightly, to the commander-in-chief’s room—that is, my room—and collapsed onto the sofa.

“Haah…”

Feeling ten times more tired than when I’d fought twenty sorcerers, I tilted my head back against the headrest, stared at the ceiling, and smoked a cigarette.

I told Lena and Imara that I needed to rest and would talk to them later.

While I smoked, Lena and Imara silently glared at each other.

Imara stared at Lena with a vicious expression as if she wanted to devour her, and Lena returned the look, regarding Imara as if she were a monster.

They quickly adjusted their expressions whenever they caught my eye, perhaps trying not to show their hostility to me…

But the cold animosity between them was so palpable that it was impossible not to notice they viewed each other as enemies.

‘…It seems getting along is out of the question.’

Is it really such a hateful thing?

I couldn’t understand why they would harbor such resentment over the existence of another sister. Having had no siblings myself, it was incomprehensible to me.

Well, since they couldn’t even communicate with each other, all they could do was glare at one another.