The Villainous Older Sister Who Loves Her Younger Sister Aims for the Guillotine 95

95. A Hearty Soup

I fell in love with the heroine of [Moonlight Liberium].

With the girl named [Leticia], who never once bowed to injustice, who strived tirelessly, who fought bravely, who faced even overwhelming calamities with all the knowledge at her disposal… and found love at the end of her journey.

I wanted to support her with all my might.

From the moment I first witnessed her story, I became my sister’s fan.

Every route was good.

Prince Konrad’s route was… complicated.

But to be loved like that… perhaps it was a kind of happiness.

Though I hadn’t expected such doting affection.

Knight Commander Felix’s route was also unexpected.

I hadn’t expected to see such unguarded joy on his face.

Teaching her to ride, riding together… his happiness was genuine.

Chief Physician Louis’s route made me want to cheer them on.

Both of them a little awkward, their sincerity making their slow-burn romance all the more agonizing.

And that made their small words of love all the more precious.

In every route, I was in the grave.

But that was better.

Better than being a girl confined to a luxurious bedroom, with no knowledge, no education, no skills, no means to fight, pampered and coddled, bound by invisible chains, trapped in an invisible cage.

I’d rather be on the guillotine than become that kind of older sister.

Currently, my sister… seemed to admire me.

However, that was because she didn’t know the desires hidden within my heart.

“Here you go, Lady Adelheid.”

The red-haired, freckled food server, her freckles now faded and her appearance more refined, offered me a bowl of soup.

Plenty of potatoes, lots of vegetables, and, thankfully, a good amount of meat. Judging by the aroma, it was pork. Considering the number of people they had to feed and its practicality, it was probably salt pork.

“Thank…”

I was probably more tired than I realized.

While the sword practice had been more of a diversion, my schedule was packed, I had a lot on my mind, and I had walked a long distance.

My stomach growled.

Silence fell, a silence that felt eternal.

A familiar scenario.

I was supposed to be unaware of the food server’s story earlier…

Ciel might have guessed, but I had pretended to arrive only after hearing Leticia’s voice.

Should I act like nothing happened, or tell her to forget about it?

If I acted like nothing happened, should I simply ignore it, or should I say something serious? But after my stomach growled?

The required acting was too subtle for me to grasp, and I froze.

The food server took the bowl back.

She ladled more soup from the pot, adding another piece of meat.

And then, she smiled kindly.

“…I’ll give you an extra-large portion.”

How kind.

“I want to feed her forever.”

“Good job.”

“Give her my share too.”

The surrounding soldiers chimed in.

Such casualness towards the head of the ducal family, the lord, and the supreme commander of the Territorial Army.

However, since this was an opportunity to foster camaraderie across ranks and affiliations, perhaps this was the right approach.

Though perhaps they were getting a little too comfortable.

Speechless, I returned to my seat, a long wooden box Ciel had offered me as a makeshift chair.

Holding the warm bowl of steaming soup in both hands, I looked up at the sky, where the sun had already set.

While the snow-capped peaks of the Berghorn Mountains were still illuminated, the stars were already visible.

I was glad I hadn’t hugged my sister when we first met.

There had been times when I wanted to deviate from the path.

I had thought this path would be filled with nothing but hardship.

That the year and a bit between meeting my sister and the guillotine would be a bleak, hopeless journey, spent suppressing my emotions.

I still wasn’t sure if I truly understood what it meant to be a villainous sister, but playing the role… wasn’t so bad.

However, was I being mean enough to my sister?

While I had followed the scenario’s mean-spirited events, perhaps I needed to be colder to her on a daily basis.

After all, my destination was the guillotine.

…No, surely no one would be sent to the guillotine simply for ‘being mean to their sister.’

It was probably a matter of how it appeared to the ‘audience.’ A matter of… narrative satisfaction.

I had plenty of sins to be judged for. Countless, in fact.

There was one even within the [Scenario] of [Moonlight Liberium]… and I had no intention of avoiding it.

Not because I was the villain, but because I was the head of the ducal family.

Duty and loyalty.

Peace for Eustasia.

――I would fulfill my role.

“Elder Sister, could you scoot over a little?”

“Huh?”

“Oh, never mind. I think I can manage.”

Manage what?

Before I could ask, my sister smoothed her skirt and sat down neatly next to me on the wooden box, where there was plenty of space.

And then she moved closer.

“Let’s eat, Elder Sister… Were you… waiting for me, perhaps?”

“Don’t be absurd…”

I sighed at my sister’s cheerful demeanor.

“Ahaha… of course not.”

My sister laughed, trying to cover up her embarrassment.

…She seemed a little… lonely, her usual cheerfulness slightly dimmed.

“…Well, perhaps.”

“Huh?”

I murmured,

“Perhaps I was waiting for you.”

I had been waiting.

It had been almost four years since I ‘knew’ of my sister’s existence.

I had waited for the game to start, replaying the story of [Moonlight Liberium], etched in my mind with an almost unsettling clarity, over and over again through the [Text Log].

I had been beheaded countless times, in a single sentence, in that story where my sister’s existence, and everything else, might have been just a delusion, a story that made me want to become a romance novelist.

Even so, even if the guillotine awaited me, I wanted my sister to exist.

And now, she was here, beside me.

――What more could I ask for?

“…………”

My sister, next to me, seemed to have… zoned out.

Her eyes were closed, her lips pursed, as if she were looking at something far away, her hands frozen around her bowl of soup.

“…Leticia?”

“…Nothing! It’s nothing, Elder Sister Adelheid! I was just… lagging!”

Worried, I spoke to her, and her eyes snapped open, her response not exactly reassuring.

If this were “Tailor,” I wouldn’t be concerned.

“Let’s eat, Leticia.”

“Yes, Elder Sister.”

I picked up a metal spoon and took a sip from the bowl.

While proper etiquette dictated that you scooped the soup with the spoon without lifting the bowl, there were no tables here, so this was proper etiquette.

――It was a nostalgic taste.

The quality of the ingredients and the cooking wasn’t as good as the food served at the mansion.

But a hearty, salty soup was good when you were tired.

Especially outdoors, surrounded by my fellow soldiers.

With my sister by my side.

After finishing the soup, I smiled and thanked the red-haired food server who had given me the extra portion.

“Thank you. It was delicious.”

Leticia also expressed her appreciation.

“It was so delicious it almost made me cry.”

The food server looked concerned.

“…Lady Adelheid, forgive my impertinence, but… please make sure Lady Leticia eats properly…?”

She was apparently worried about what kind of food I usually gave my sister.

For some reason, this seemed more effective at damaging my reputation than my deliberate acts of meanness.