Hooray! Become a Noble Young Lady! Hooray! 4

“It’s not a good place to talk in the classroom. Shall we move somewhere else? My treat.”

“…I’m not the type to refuse something like that.”

The two moved their location.

It was lunchtime.

Ruincrest Academy had all sorts of facilities modernized for the children of the upper class, and of course, there was not only a buffet-like, extravagant cafeteria but also an elegant Victorian-style café that couldn’t be found on other layers.

Taylor ordered coffee and refreshments from the AI robot at the counter and was guided to a private room on the terrace.

Perhaps because she was from the Arbentaine Family, the AI robot automatically guided her to a good room, making her realize once again how great the status of high-ranking noble families was here.

Taylor lifted her coffee cup and took a sip.

Every gesture, every posture, was elegant, as if to show that she was a young lady from a distinguished family.

Alice couldn’t be outdone, so she copied Taylor’s posture and took a sip of her coffee.

“Oh my, were you perhaps a noble? I thought you were far from this kind of thing because of your casual way of walking and attitude earlier.”

“I can do it, I just don’t.”

“I see. I’m curious about what you used to do.”

Taylor paused for a moment, taking a breath, and put down her coffee cup.

“Where should I start…

For people, memories and recollections are like fuel.

They provide the motivation to live a better life than yesterday, to endure the hardships of reality while reminiscing about the past. The driving force that allows me to be me.

Unfortunately, Alice only has complete memories from after she fell into this Ark as a tin-can android, but considering that, she’s surprisingly doing well.

Anyway, the reason this suddenly came up is that the meaning of memories was a little different for Taylor Arbentaine than for others.

“First of all, I want to say thank you.”

“Thank you? I’m the one who killed your own brother?”

No matter how much the Duel Trial is a tradition and unique culture of this layer, there’s no way she wouldn’t have any personal feelings towards the person who killed her family member.

In Perdain’s case, he seemed to have less empathy than a psychopath, proposing a deal to Alice to fill the void even though his son had died, but in Taylor’s case, it was a little hard to figure out.

It’s one thing to be indifferent because she has few emotions, but to be thankful that her brother died?

“Ah, you don’t understand, do you? Then this one sentence will make it clear.”

Taylor still remembers.

That disgusting memory.

“Um, my brother left me with the most memorable words of my life, do you know what they were?”

The remark that her own brother had made a few years ago still seemed to be polluting Taylor’s brain cells.

“It was such an intense sentence that I even forgot that that brother of mine had barged into my personal shower.”

“What did he say… No, your brother went into your shower?”

“Then he told me, ‘Even if it’s my sister, as long as she tastes good, that’s all that matters, right?’”

“What…”

What the hell.

What an unbelievably terrible bastard?

Taylor’s hand, holding the coffee cup, trembled slightly as she recalled the memory.

“The Arbentaine Family, where I was born and raised, basically lives for the sake of the family’s cause. Everything else is generally unimportant. Family relationships and affection are the same.”

Brotherly love?

Affection or sentiment between relatives?

At least between Taylor and Dehite of the Arbentaine Family, those words didn’t exist.

“In essential ideology classes, people praise the Arbentaine Family for valuing the cause, right?”

“At least not to me. That damned piece of garbage who should be thrown into hell was not unimportant to me.”

Although the Arbentaine Family is basically a thoroughly prestige-oriented, rebellious thinker with no family affection, Taylor called her brother Dehite a hell-bound piece of garbage, with the expression “demon bastard” automatically coming to her lips.

“My brother Dehite, who is now the Christmas tree in the central garden, had been acting like a complete maniac since he became the official successor.”

“He did that to me too. He asked me to become his lover if he won the Duel Trial? It was so disgusting that I just agreed to kill him.”

“Ha, a lover? He usually tells others to become his sex toy or slave, but it seems he was quite taken with you.”

“That’s even more unpleasant.”

“I understand. If you thought someone like that was infatuated with you, you’d want to throw up.”

Dehite would commit rape, something that could only be done in fantasies or creations, to any woman he liked, whether at the Academy or on the layer. Occasionally, when he assaulted the daughter of a high-ranking official, he would use the Arbentaine Family as his backing to cover up the situation.

That maniac, who didn’t discriminate against pretty women, even underage girls and married maids with children, tried to lay his hands on his own sister and the mother who gave birth to him.

Of course, Taylor resisted, and thanks to that, Taylor and her mother were not assaulted.

Although Taylor was not as good as Dehite, the official successor of the family, Taylor also had Arbentaine blood and was capable enough to be enrolled in the A-1 class of Ruincrest Academy.

Above all, even Perdain, the head of the family and her biological father, would not tolerate his successor causing a commotion by trying to rape his sister and mother.

However, Dehite constantly made sexual harassment and disgusting glances during his daily life. If she was unlucky, Taylor could have become one of the many female students Dehite had touched.

The strong were always Dehite, and even though it was less so at the Academy, where there were many pretty students, that pervert was always targeting her and her mother.

“Maybe that bastard… if it wasn’t for the Academy, he would have definitely assaulted me or my mother at home someday.”

“……Oh, um.”

“So, don’t apologize for killing my brother. I was just frustrated that that trash scum died so meaninglessly.”

“Ah, um… oh. I see.”

“That damn bastard was virtually devoid of the ability to feel responsible for his actions. I wish he had suffered a little more…!

It was quite a brutal statement for a sister to make.

Originally, it is an immutable truth that brothers and sisters are born with an absolute murder code programmed to kill each other, but in Taylor’s case, it was something that went beyond the joke that siblings should kill each other.

Hearing such uncomfortable stories from lunchtime was already making her hungry.

“I showed you a bad side. Sorry… But if possible, I wanted to, with my own hands. That trash that should be torn to pieces, I wanted to torture him myself and make him neither dead nor alive. It’s a shame I can’t do that anymore….”

“……You’ve been through a lot too.”

Perhaps that’s why Taylor smiled at Alice.

She couldn’t bring herself to shrug and say, ‘Actually, I just killed your brother because I didn’t like him hitting on me, but if it helped you, I’m glad,’ because it wouldn’t console Taylor for all the hardships she had gone through.

Besides, she had to protect not only herself but also her weak mother from Dehite’s clutches. Her father was a bystander, and her brother was a maniac who tried to eat even his own family.

Wow. They say it’s a distinguished family, the greatest family in Ruincrest, but the family is a complete mess.

“Still, I’ll express my gratitude. Thank you so much. I don’t know about anything else… but at least you’ve given me and my mother a little breathing room.”

“It’s rare to be thanked for killing someone, let alone resented.”

“Does it make you uncomfortable?”

“Of course not. It’s always welcome to receive kindness from a cute girl like you.”

“Thank you for the empty words. It feels like a mockery because the person saying it is much prettier than me.”

“I’m serious?”

Alice smiled brightly and smiled back at Taylor.

Basically, Alice likes pretty things.

It’s a story from a long time ago, but she was originally a man, so it’s natural. Wouldn’t any intelligent being naturally like beautiful and pretty things?

So, she was much more fond of Taylor, who reminded her of Fira, than of that man Dehite.

No, before men and women, Dehite was the one who tried to rape her as soon as they met, so it was natural that Taylor felt much better in comparison.

“But I was a little surprised. I was actually planning to meet you today, get to know you, and invite you to my house…”

“Ah, that my name is Alice Arbentaine? I was surprised too.”

Alice Arbentaine.

At first, Taylor wondered if she had a half-sister she didn’t know about, but considering Perdain, the head of the family, he wouldn’t have left behind any illegitimate children.

Above all, Alice had none of the genetic traits of the Taylor Family.

If she wasn’t a half-sister or a direct blood relative, then the only thing left was adoption.

“Did my father perhaps visit you?”

“That’s right. He told me to become his adopted daughter since I killed Dehite.”

“In that short amount of time? To lend you the family name and propose adoption to you on your first day of enrollment at the Academy…”

Taylor sighed as Alice nodded in agreement.

She thought that her own father, Perdain, was capable of doing that.

It was frustrating for Taylor, but Dehite’s talent and ability were certainly at a level that matched the status of a successor to a distinguished family.

And if it was Alice who overwhelmingly crushed such Dehite, it was likely that Perdain would drool and immediately come running to adopt her as his daughter.

“…Ha, I see. It was a chaotic day for me too, but it must have been an even more hectic day for you.”

“For the record, my original name is Alice.”

“Yes, Alice… No, are we family and sisters from now on then? You took Dehite’s place, so should I call you older sister?”

“Do as you please. We’re in the same grade and class, so you can speak comfortably.”

“……”

“Please treat me comfortably if possible. I’ll treat you comfortably too.”

Taylor’s eyes seemed to well up at those words.

“Did I make a mistake?”

“No… sob, ahem. No, sorry. I never dreamed that I could get such a comfortable person as a sister instead of that maniac trash brother.”

Well, considering how much she must have suffered, it was understandable.

Alice approached Taylor and put her hand on her shoulder.

She didn’t say anything, but it seemed that the meaning that it was okay now was conveyed.

Of course, Alice was secretly determined to ‘This girl might be a traitor too, so I might have to suck her dry and execute her.’

“Marlang!”

“What, where did the maid go and come back from?”

“Marlang!”

“Oh my, who is this cute child?”

At that moment, Marlang suddenly intruded between Alice and Taylor like a ninja.

Marlang held Alice’s arm tightly with a grinning, foolish, yet bright smile.

It was as if she was saying, ‘Teacher is mine!’

“If there was such a pretty child at the Academy, there’s no way I wouldn’t have known…!”

Taylor exclaimed, making a fuss as she looked at Marlang.

“This is Marlang. She’s been with me since before I came to this layer, she’s like, um, a companion.”

“Like a companion? You mean she’s not a servant? Ah, I heard you’re a summoner, so is she perhaps a familiar or something?”

“Well, something like that.”

“Marlang!”

For the record, Marlang had been wandering around the Academy, taking a walk after losing interest in watching the Duel Trial after Alice tore Dehite apart.

Since butlers and maids are common at Ruincrest Academy to serve young masters and young ladies, it wasn’t that strange for Marlang to be walking around alone.

Still, today would definitely be a good day for Taylor.

Her maniac trash brother, who threatened her purity, was gone, and she had a sister who she could treat comfortably.

On top of that, she also had Marlang, who was so cute that she had never seen such a cute child in her life.

The name Marlang was a little unusual, though.

“Then, sister. No, Alice. Shall we go back together?”

“Perdain said he would send someone, right?”

“It’s more certain if I go with you than my father’s people. Above all, it was my dream to attend the Academy with a blood relative.”

“We’re not real blood relatives, though.”

“We’re family. A family that we just met about 10 minutes ago. But a much better family than my own brother was.”

Alice looked at her watch.

It was still lunchtime.

The essential ideology education class was over, so all that was left were optional liberal arts classes or field practice, but these were only optional, so students who wanted to go home or return to the dormitory were free to do so.

Of course, if they did that, the astronomical Academy registration fee, which would make even noble families groan, would be wasted, and at the same time, the student’s grades and skills would be ruined, but that wasn’t the case for Alice or Taylor.

And Alice couldn’t possibly be indifferent to Taylor, who looked so excited.

In her heart, she was assuming the possibility of her being a traitor and had to treat her coldly, but who could throw stones at a beautiful girl smiling brightly in front of her?

“Well, if you want to.”

So Alice decided to indulge Taylor for now.

Well, Taylor had been humiliated just by the fact that Dehite was alive and breathing, and that she was related to such a thing.

It was also terrible to attend the Academy with such a brother and show their classmates that they were going to and from school together. There were more than a few people who had been harmed by Dehite and his gang within the Academy, so she couldn’t possibly show that they were siblings.

But it wasn’t like that anymore.

Alice.

First of all, she’s pretty.

And she turned Dehite into a Christmas tree in a Duel Trial on her first day of enrollment at the Academy!

Taylor wanted to proudly advertise, ‘This is my sister and new family member, who I am so proud of.’

So Taylor headed to the Arbentaine residence with a joyful and exciting heart, for the first time in her life, with her sister.

And…

-Slap!

“Mother…?!”

As soon as she entered the Arbentaine residence, Alice was slapped in the face by a woman.