Side Story 1: Back to the Hot Spring (Rutherford’s Perspective)
“HOT springs are delightful in the daytime too, aren’t they?”
Big Brother sounded cheerful as he sank into the warm waters. His ears and tail would’ve probably been perked up if he still had them, but Lady Cynthia had exchanged them for the wings on her back. Now that most of the enemies were apprehended, we could finally take a day off to relax, and Big Brother had chosen this as his very first activity.
Big Brother could bathe during the daytime now, and he was thoroughly enjoying the combination of sunlight and hot water. Siraiya and I joined him, too. The stress of that night on the cliffs melted away in the refreshing hot spring.
“I’m glad we get to try the hot spring together again…”
I was happy about it, but for some reason, my voice sounded somber. Big Brother, Elder Sister, Lady Cynthia, and even Siraiya had forgiven me, but I didn’t know if I could ever forgive myself. I felt like I’d carry the guilt with me for the rest of my life.
“Me too. I really thought I’d never get to experience luxuries like this ever again.”
“…!”
I shuddered. Maybe Big Brother really was going to unleash his wrath on me now that Elder Sister and Lady Cynthia weren’t around. If he did, I needed to accept whatever he said. It was natural for him to be angry after all of my horrible mistakes.
“Estellise said she’d come with me if I were expelled from the country. She would have been forced into a life of poverty, too,” he continued.
“I-I know. I really made things difficult for both of—”
“But as long as she was with me, I know I would’ve lived an absolutely splendid life, even without a penny to my name!”
“…Come again?”
What came out of his mouth was the complete opposite of what I expected.
“I wonder what that would have looked like?” he mused. “I would have had to harvest crops and pick fruit from the trees. Maybe I could’ve even hunted, since I had the strength of an animal. Estellise and I would live all alone in the middle of the woods, where no one could find us… We’d huddle close every evening and watch the sunset… Ah, how lovely…”
Big Brother only ever looked like that—with almost a silly expression—when he talked about Elder Sister.
I squinted at Big Brother, who was still lost in his fantasies, when Siraiya spoke up for the first time.
“I’ll be leaving with Cynthia if anyone finds out about her wings, so I humbly ask that you look after my territory for me. Mother and Father will probably come with us, too. The Rhuddlan family does a lot of traveling, so perhaps I’ll learn from them and become a traveling merchant myself. I know it will be difficult, but I think the four of us could share both the ups and the downs together, going from country to country in a horse-drawn carriage. Doesn’t that sound like a wonderful journey?”
Siraiya also smiled like a pure-hearted maiden when he talked about Lady Cynthia.
I was the one who’d done wrong… So I really had no business thinking poorly of either of them…
I know that, but still…
Now that I knew I’d worried for nothing, I just couldn’t keep those thoughts out of my mind.
“…You two will be fine because you have fiancées.”
“As long as I have Estellise.”
“As long as Cynthia is with me.”
“……”
I suddenly felt just how alone I was compared to them, even though that shouldn’t exactly have come as news to me. Maybe it was time I started thinking seriously about who I wanted to marry. Still, I couldn’t picture myself wiping that red hair of hers from my memory anytime soon.
“Now that I think about it, it was stupid of me to challenge you for Lady Cynthia’s heart. She only has eyes for you, and you, well… You were willing to jump off a cliff for her. I don’t know what to call it, but you just…have a love that’s far beyond the norm.”
I couldn’t find the right words to describe it. But then Big Brother piped up.
“That’s called a ‘yandere.’”
“Yandere? I’ve never heard that word before.”
“I’m told it’s a foreign word used to describe a deeply loving person. Isn’t that right, Siraiya?”
“That’s right. Cynthia taught it to me.”
“I see… ‘Yandere…’”
Lady Cynthia truly knew everything. Big Brother had studied plenty of foreign languages, but she was still teaching him new words.
“Lady Cynthia is out of my reach. You told me you see me as a threat, Siraiya, but I don’t think I have any chance with her.”
I put myself down a little, knowing that Lady Cynthia still wouldn’t look my way, even once I was an adult. I had no chance of winning her heart unless I was a yandere on Siraiya’s level.
“That’s not true,” he said. “At the very least, her last fiancé wasn’t anything close to the threat that you pose.”
“Right, I heard about how her prior engagement fell apart,” I said. “What kind of guy was he?”
“A total idiot. He definitely wasn’t a threat, but I still can’t shake my anger toward him.”
A menacing look came over Siraiya’s face—one I’d never seen from him before. I didn’t think he took much interest in anything but Lady Cynthia, but if he hated this man so much, it could only mean he’d done something really horrible.
“He described Cynthia’s love as a chain that tied him down,” he told me. “She doted on that man, but he called himself her captive slave. He saw Mother and Father’s support for his lifestyle as extortion. I’ve never met a man who pisses me off as badly as he does…!”
“He what?! He had Lady Cynthia’s love and still tried to play the victim?!”
I can’t believe what I’m hearing! He got an unbelievable chance at happiness, but he thought he was some sort of prisoner?! People like that really exist?!
“That’s right. He said all those terrible things, and then he had the nerve to believe he and Cynthia were still engaged. I have no idea what goes on in that pathetic man’s head.”
“Me neither! But don’t even bother trying to understand a guy like that, Siraiya!”
Siraiya was cradling his head in his hands, so I quickly tried to console him. That man really was horrible, but devoting any brainpower to someone like him was a waste of energy.
“I’m pissed off just hearing about it! I hate that he was Lady Cynthia’s fiancé, even if it was only temporary! Siraiya! Never let a man like him set foot near her again!” With a splash, I rose to my feet, enraged.
“Of course. I won’t ever let another man take my place at Cynthia’s side! Especially not someone like him!”
Siraiya stood up too. For whatever reason, we clasped hands firmly—it just felt like the natural thing to do.
We’d started out as rivals over Lady Cynthia, but now, we’d grown to be like-minded friends.
I felt the wind on my bare skin as I stood there holding Siraiya’s hand. Big Brother closed his eyes, shutting us out of his world entirely and speaking under his breath.
“…What a delightful bath.”