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“Hey, Millicia. It’s been a while. How have you been?”
It turned out they were able to meet him easily. So easily, in fact, that it was almost anticlimactic. When Millicia had revealed her identity to the guard at the castle gate, she was immediately escorted to the lord’s mansion, where Lance resided.
“L-Lance...?” Millicia was so surprised by the lack of complication that she couldn’t even rejoice at her reunion with her brother. Because of how harsh their journey had been, Millicia had assumed something would happen to prevent her from meeting her brother so readily.
“I went through the trouble of helping you to abscond to another country, but you just came right back. Oh well, I suppose there’s nothing I can do about it now. You’re a worrywart after all, so of course you wouldn’t abandon your homeland when a civil war is brewing.”
Lance was a tall, handsome young man with silver hair. While he had well-defined facial features, he didn’t resemble his siblings at all. He looked intelligent and kind, but his affability made him come off as unreliable.
“I’m busy preparing for my fight against Arthur, so I won’t be able to spend much time with you, but don’t mind me and make yourself at home,” Lance said, greeting Millicia at the entrance of the mansion, and with a “Well then,” he turned back and headed back inside.
Millicia stared at his back for an instant, dumbfounded, but she quickly came to herself and called out to him. “P-Please wait!”
“Yes?”
“Th-This is it? Even though we haven’t met for so long...?”
“Um... Is there anything else to talk about?” Lance cocked his head. “It hasn’t even been a year since we last met, no? Compared to when you were at the abbey, I wouldn’t say enough time has passed for us to have a moving reunion.”
While Millicia could understand Lance’s point, for her it had been a long and grand adventure to make it here from the Jade Kingdom. She had been kidnapped by bandits and almost raped before being saved by Caim. After the two of them had become lovers, they had crossed the Flumen River, marking her return to the Garnet Empire. When they’d arrived in the capital, they had fought Arthur and been forced to flee from their pursuers. Finally, after dealing with all the assassins targeting Millicia, they arrived here.
In short, while her reunion with her brother was a moving event for Millicia, to Lance, it was nothing special—thus the difference in their enthusiasm.
While Millicia was speechless, Lance continued. “Thanks for protecting my sister, Lenka.” He gazed at Caim and the girls. “Still, there’s plenty of people I don’t know here. Are you Millicia’s boyfriend? I guess she’s at that age now. I still remember when she was toddling along behind me all the time. Anyway, please take care of my sister.”
“...Sure.” Caim nodded with a complex expression, glancing at Millicia next to him. Her face was red and her clenched fists were trembling.
“Lance, you are so...!” Millicia was angry, pouting like a child.
Well, yeah, of course she would be angry at her brother reacting like that after all she’s been through... After her confrontation with Arthur, Millicia had resolved to fight alongside Lance. And yet, he was acting so nonchalantly, completely unaware of the hardship his sister had endured. She must feel like it cheapens her resolve...
“Why are you so angry?” Lance asked, tilting his head. “You don’t need to worry—I’m not against your relationship with him. In fact, I support it, and I’ll even think of names for your children. We shall hold a grand wedding to celebrate the start of your new life.”
“...Do you realize how dire the situation is?”
“You mean how Arthur’s punitive force is going to attack this town in around a week?”
Millicia’s eyes widened in shock. She had known this was going to happen, but it was different to be given an actual time frame. The battle against Arthur was about to begin.
“With only a week, we’ll have to arrange a wedding venue in a hurry. As for the officiant, it’d be great if your guardian, Mother Ariessa, could do it. I want to invite as many guests as possible, but I suppose Arthur won’t come, huh?”
“You...”
“Ah, wait. Maybe if we had the ceremony right when he attacks, then we’d be able to spend some time as siblings privately and... Huh? Why is your face so red, Millicia? Do you have a fever?”
Millicia was reaching her limit—the decisive battle was only a week away, and yet her brother was acting so casually. Caim and the others covered their ears and stepped back.
“You are such an idioooooot!” Millicia shouted angrily.