Meanwhile, Paul and Geralt’s faces twitched upon sensing a powerful pulsation of mana coming from Roel. It made them conscious of the terrifying consequences should a man dare to covet the sister of a sis-con.
“Umm, chief. Should we bring Miss Alicia in here?”
“Y-yeah! Hahaha! Big brother Roel, you don’t have to get involved in something as trivial as this. You can leave it to us!”
Worried that Roel would accidentally cripple the other students in a fit of anger, Geralt quickly suggested taking Alicia away from the grass field, and Paul hurriedly voiced his support for that. Roel’s frown loosened a little upon hearing the proposal, realizing that he was reacting excessively.
But before he could come to a decision, someone had already jumped out of the crowd to run up to Alicia. Both Geralt and Paul were horrified to see that. They could only murmur a prayer for the foolish freshman who had unknowingly crossed the devil.
As expected, Roel’s complexion darkened at that sight.
Is that the insolent guy who popped up in the game too? I remember he’s the prince of some country, but it doesn’t matter since, unlike in the game, the Ascart House didn’t fall from grace. No one can save him today, not even if his father is here!
Without any hesitation, Roel leaped out of the tower’s window, ready to teach that little crook a lesson on propriety. To his surprise, before he could make a move, a few other people suddenly rushed out and grabbed the limbs of that flamboyantly-dressed prince, pulling him back.
Hm? What’s going on? Are they from Alicia’s fan club?
No, that can’t be. I remember that the fan club was founded after the entrance ceremony. They wouldn’t appear at this juncture.
“Y-Your Highness!! You mustn’t!”
“Please calm down a little! She’s the young miss of the Ascarts! You can’t treat her in such a manner!”
“What Ascarts? Do you think that… Hold on. The Ascarts? You mean the champion who won the Challenger Cup?”
The prince initially struggled against the hold of his retainers, only to freeze up when the family name, Ascart, finally registered in his head. His face paled, and he quickly turned around and dove back into the crowd.
Their conversation was overheard by many in the surroundings. The other noble scions who were harboring the same intention as the prince revealed horrified expressions and quickly turned their heads away.
In contrast, the eyes of the nearby female students lit up upon hearing that she was Roel Ascart’s younger sister. They began devising ways to get close to her.
This works too?
Roel’s eyes widened in surprise, not expecting such a twist in the situation.
Meanwhile, Alicia stood with an impassive look on her face, unbothered by the commotion around her. All of a sudden, she sensed a presence that broke her nonchalance. She quickly turned her head to where Roel was standing.
“Lord Brother!”
“!”
As soon as Roel entered her line of sight, her glacier expression melted into a radiant smile. The sudden outburst of gentleness from her left the crowd taken aback. Even Roel, who was about to take his leave, halted his footsteps.
With a flicker of her silhouette, she suddenly appeared right in front of Roel. In front of countless eyes, she leaped into his chest and embraced him tightly. Then, before the astonished Roel could say a word at all, she tiptoed upward and lightly planted a kiss on his cheek.
“!”
The sudden assault left Roel flabbergasted. Alicia’s eyes curled up as she revealed a triumphant smile that indicated that everything was in her grasp.
There was a brief moment of silence before the crowd broke out in an uproar.
…
“Lord Brother, wait for me! Lord Brother!”
“…”
In the assembly hall, after the conclusion of the entrance ceremony, Roel began making his way toward the staff exit. Chasing behind him was Alicia, who kept calling out to him.
After brisk walking a distance down the staff corridor of the assembly hall, Roel let out a sigh before turning around to face Alicia.
It was already agreed on in the Ascart House that Alicia would be enrolling in Saint Freya Academy this year. She might be younger than her peers, but Saint Freya Academy had special tests that allowed students to enroll early as long as they could pass them. Naturally, the tests didn’t pose a problem to the exceptionally gifted Alicia.
Roel thought that it was good too since he would be able to take care of Alicia, sparing her from much of the trouble she would otherwise encounter during her academy life.
But to his surprise, after those fools were scared off by Roel’s reputation, Alicia actually took the initiative to stir trouble, embracing and kissing him before the student populace as if she was trying ot make a statement.
Such behavior was obviously unacceptable between siblings and defied propriety, especially the blissful smile Alicia showed after Roel walked away. That clearly relayed to the crowd what Alicia thought of Roel.
Fortunately, the students were ushered into the assembly hall for the entrance ceremony shortly after that. Principal Antonio was absent as he had to attend the International Crisis Management Symposium, so another teacher replaced him for the welcome speech. Roel took Lilian’s place as the student representative this year, but during his speech, he couldn’t help but think that the eyes centered on him felt a little gossipy.
Due to that, he decided to leave alone after the entrance ceremony, but who could have thought that Alicia would actually chase after him? Now that they were finally alone, he couldn’t hold back the urge to question her anymore.
“Miss Alicia, can you explain to me the rationale behind what you did earlier? I don’t believe that this is how our Ascart House has taught you.”
Putting on the attitude of an elder in the family, Roel solemnly asked Alicia. Unfortunately, his role play couldn’t intimidate her. With a smile, she pointed to her lips and spoke an answer that was beyond his expectations.
“Lord Brother, I’m doing this for your sake.”
“What?”
“If I didn’t do that, annoying men might just cling onto me. Lord Brother, do you wish to see me getting pestered by men every single day?”
“…”
Roel was put at a loss upon hearing Alicia’s answer.
While his resounding reputation could keep those who bore malicious intentions at bay, those who were earnest about courting Alicia wouldn’t care about that. Instead, they might just view it as a trial they had to overcome in order to bring fruition to their love.
Judging by the commotion that Alicia had caused earlier in the grass field, it did seem likely that she would have quite a few pursuers.
“I can see how that could be annoying, but even so, your behavior is…”
“Is it just annoying?”
“Pardon me?”
Alicia suddenly interjected into Roel’s lecture with narrowed eyes. Roel was stunned by her sudden question, not knowing what she was getting at. Seeing that, Alicia took a step forward and asked with a reddened face.
“Do you just find it annoying? Or could there be other reasons at play here? Such as… jealousy?”
“Jealousy? Why would I be jealous? Alicia, what are you talking about…”
“You were angry when everyone’s eyes were on me earlier, Lord Brother. Touch your heart. The truth is that you wish that I’d be yours alone, right?” Alicia said as she took a step forward and leaned against Roel’s heart.
“…”
Roel was left at a loss for words.
He had to admit that he had a strong feeling of possessiveness when it came to Alicia. After all, he had raised her from a young age, protecting her and taking care of her needs. He wondered if that was how fathers felt when a rascal took their daughter away. However, he knew that the feelings he harbored weren’t healthy, which was why he had been suppressing them thus far.
Even parental love could become toxic if parents thought that they could control their children’s life.
One of the reasons why Carter and Roel wanted Alicia to enroll in Saint Freya Academy was so that she could make more friends, but it would be contrary to their goals if Alicia continued sticking to him here.
While he was in a dilemma, Alicia suddenly tiptoed and whispered into his ear with a tinge of tenderness and embarrassment to her voice.
“It’s alright, Lord Brother. I can become yours if you wish for it.”
“A-Alicia?”
Alicia tightened her arms around Roel, but before she could make her next move, one of the doors along the corridor suddenly slammed open. A familiar voice followed right after.
“That’s enough.”
Speaking in her usual cold tone, Lilian Ackermann stepped into the staff corridor and gazed down on Alicia.
“Stay away from him, Alicia Ascart.”