My Brothers Are Not Villains - Chapter 4

Chapter 4

 Maiches, who had been sitting in a chair skimming through the documents in one hand, suddenly looked up.

“Aiel, you’re here?”

The expressionless face that I briefly glimpsed on  Maiches as he was reading the documents bothered me more than usual today.

His downcast eyes, indifferent ash-gray pupils, and the sharp something-or-other that flowed from them…

It was too much like the original description.

With trembling legs, I approached  Maiches’s  desk.

As I walked,  Maiches  watched me with a worried expression, as if I might stumble, and when I finally reached the front of his desk, he beamed and lifted me up.

“Well done, my Aiel.”

 Maiches carefully placed me on the desk. I looked down at him as he patted my head.

“Stay still for a moment, oppa.”

“Hm? Okay, sure.”

I began to scrutinize  Maiches’s  face.

Glossy ash-gray hair, pale white skin, deep eyes with dark shadows, slightly reddened eyelids from fatigue, dry and red lips like a withered rose.

Oh my God, he’s really a pretty boy.

As his sister, the thought of telling  Maiches he’s handsome would give me hives, but if I were looking at him as a stranger, I couldn’t help but admit it.

“How can you look like this?”

 Maiches  widened his eyes and stammered in confusion, “What… how do I look?”

“You look like you’d make every passerby fall in love with you.”

I said it sincerely, genuinely upset (I swear, at the time I didn’t realize how gross my words were).

But clueless  Maiches  just blinked, then covered his mouth with his hand and let out a silly laugh, “Really? Do I look like that to you, Aiel?”

He must have thought I was just as doting as he was.

It really upset me. He doesn’t even understand…

“Haha.”

“…”

But when I saw  Maiches’s  goofy smile, my heart calmed down a little.

It was a safe smile, one that wouldn’t look sexy to any woman.

It was a relief. He didn’t seem to show any signs of becoming the notorious criminal mastermind he was in the original story.

But I couldn’t relax just yet.

 Maiches  must continue to have no interest in women in the future.

…But how?

Even worse, he’s about to enter puberty soon. Can I really manage to take care of a healthy boy going through the stormy and tumultuous teenage years…?

I crumpled up the paper, but then my wrist started to hurt, so I stopped. I lay down on the sofa, massaging my sore fingers with the opposite hand after writing just a few words.

Doria, the maid who takes care of me most closely, picked up the paper that I hadn’t managed to crumple and asked, “Shall I crumple it for you?”

“No… there’s no need to go that far…”

It was just a performance to release my anger, so having someone else do it for me was pointless.

Doria placed the paper back on the table and sat down beside the sofa, starting to massage my hand.

“Miss, is something bothering you? Lately, everyone’s been worried because your beautiful face seems to be weighed down by worries.”

I flinched. I thought I was hiding it well, but it must have been obvious to everyone.

Does that mean  Maiches knows too?

No wonder he’s been trying so hard to stay by my side, just like when I used to faint all the time.

Doria carefully massaged up to my wrist, making sure not to apply too much pressure.

“Doria, you know…”

“Yes, Miss. Please, tell me.”

“What kind of hobbies do teenage boys usually enjoy…?”

This was the result of all my worrying.

At first, I considered lecturing  Maiches  about the moral pitfalls of womanizing.

But then I thought that might just spark a curiosity he didn’t have before.

After all, human nature is to want to do what you’re told not to and to pay more attention to what you’re told to ignore.

In fact, telling  Maiches  such things when he’s never been interested might be like making him breathe or blink consciously or suddenly become aware of where his tongue rests in his mouth.

So instead, I decided to find him something else that was fun.

I was going to give  Maiches  a new hobby so that he wouldn’t even think about anything else.

It was a shallow plan, but I had no other options right now.

“Oh my…”

Doria’s eyes and mouth widened, as if she’d heard something unexpected.

She glanced sideways at the paper lying on the table.

It had a few words written on it: exercise, collecting, crafting, cultural activities…

When I saw her chuckle as if she had finally figured it out, I suddenly felt a bit embarrassed.

“Oh my, oh my. You were worried about the Count not having any proper hobbies and just working all the time.”

“No, it’s not exactly that… Anyway.”

“Let’s see~ In my opinion~.”

Doria hummed a little tune as she smoothed out the paper I had only half-crumpled on the table.

She checked each of the words I had written and nodded.

“Everything except exercise seems good.”

“Why not exercise?”

To be honest, I didn’t think exercise was a good idea either.

 Maiches  was already learning basic swordsmanship, so I felt bad about pushing his stamina any further. Besides, most sports as a pastime usually required multiple participants.

But Doria’s reason, which she shared with a bright smile, was different.

“Because then he wouldn’t be able to do it with you, Miss.”

With Doria’s unhesitating words, I suddenly thought that maybe I should be more concerned about  Maiches’s  sister complex than any invisible seeds of destruction.

What if his level of obsession is exactly as it was in the original? Is it okay for things to continue like this? Shouldn’t we maybe have a little fight and create some distance between us?

While I was lost in these thoughts, Doria, cupping her cheek with one hand, shifted to a worried tone and said something else entirely.

“My husband should have picked up a healthy hobby like this, too. But that silly bird-brained man just goes off gambling… hoho.”

“Gambling?”

I absentmindedly repeated her words.

Doria quickly corrected herself, “No, no, I meant games,” and then quickly changed the subject.

“In any case, the Count will enjoy anything as long as he’s doing it with you, Miss.”

But I finally felt like I had found a clue.

That’s right! Back when I was in school on Earth, the boys in my class were obsessed with games. How could I not have thought of that sooner?

It’s a shame there are no online games in this world.

Those are the kind of things that people say are so addictive that the game screen lingers before your eyes even when you close them, like it’s engraved on your corneas…

But for now, the important thing was that I had found something fun and engaging.

I picked up my pen again and, despite Doria saying, “Oh, Miss, you should use a new piece of paper…” I started writing down different types of board games that could be played in this world on the back of the paper she had smoothed out.

 Maiches, , who had been called a genius since he was a child, was indeed very smart.

He could now handle work on his own without the help of the butler, and it no longer took him as long as it used to.

Today,  Maiches finished his work early and came out to walk in the hallway. He paused when he saw the deck of cards I pulled out, suggesting we do something other than our usual walk.

“You came up with this?”

“…Yes!”

Of course, that was a lie. I had just roughly recreated a version of the card game Uno that I used to play on Earth.

Doria, who had helped me make the cards, stood behind me with a proud expression, saying, “As expected of our Miss.”

 Maiches glanced over the composition of the cards and then patted my head.

“Oh, our little Aiel, so smart, just like her brother.”

“…Yeah, I’m your sister…”

Meiches, probably because he was a genius, didn’t doubt at all that his eleven-year-old sister had come up with something like this.

Well, Doria was no different.

Even though I sometimes spoke in a way that didn’t match my age, revealing my 19-year-old self, people just assumed it was because my brother was a genius.

The siblings of the Ruedeliz  family are known for being exceptionally bright, they would say.

I knew my fake intelligence would be exposed once I turned 20.

Anyway, I sat  Maiches and Doria down and began explaining the rules of Uno.

When I sneaked a glance at  Maiches, he was smiling, seemingly interested, which was a relief.

After finishing a demonstration round, we played a proper game.

“Uno!”

I shouted, showing everyone the single card left in my hand.

Doria squinted, trying to guess what card I had, but in the end, she couldn’t figure it out and ended her turn by drawing a card.

 Maiches also smiled as he glanced at the card in my hand.

“Be careful with your move! This is my last card.”

“…Alright, I will.”

 Maiches  hesitated, then finally played a card with the same number but a different suit.

The play shifted to the heart suit I needed. I gleefully laid down my final card, the Heart 7.

“Done! I win! See, I told you to be careful.”

“Oh my, this really is fun.”

“Indeed, it is fun, Aiel.”

 Maiches had three cards left, while Doria had seven.

 Maiches came in second. Not bad for his first time playing.

If we keep this up, everything should be fine, right?

“Okay, let’s play another round. One more round.”

The makeshift cards were already looking a bit worn after just one game, but they were still good enough to keep playing.

Feeling pleased that I had found a good solution, I gathered the cards together and shuffled them.

Little did I know how this would later affect  Maiches’s social life…