Give Me Back My Romance Fantasy Brother

“Then, in exchange for forgiving you, will you grant me just one favor?”

“A favor, you say……”

“Before that, I have a few questions.”

Cecilia cleared her throat and brought out “that question” she had been curious about all night.

“Are you unmarried?”

“……Excuse me?”

He repeated the words as if doubting his own hearing. Yet when Cecilia offered no correction and only urged him on with her eyes, he hastily nodded.

“Y-yes!”

“Then do you by any chance have a secret lover your parents oppose?”

“What? No!”

“Or a fiancée arranged between families?”

“N-not at all.”

“A childhood friend you’ve held in your heart since you were little?”

“I don’t have one, but……”

Oh, pass.

“W-why are you asking all that……?”

“Just curious.”

Having finished her questions at last, Cecilia gave a satisfied little nod. No matter how urgent the situation, one could hardly go around coveting someone else’s property.

Her heart considerably lighter, she revealed her desire without further hesitation.

“What I’d like to ask of you, young master, is……”

“Just Rien is fine.”

“Yes, Rien. While you’re staying in the territory, I’d like it if you could hang out with me like this every now and then. I never got to attend the academy, so I don’t have a single friend.”

I was a graduate student, and here I’m not even an elementary-school graduate.

Anger flared again at the thought of her drastically shortened academic career—more than at the fact that she had ended up friendless—but the moment she saw his blank, dazed face, the irritation vanished as if it had never been.

“I-I really…… is it all right for someone like me to?”

“Of course.”

Fortunately, he seemed to take the request that would serve as the foundation for Plan D rather positively. Cecilia answered his hesitation with firm enthusiasm and quickly added,

“Ah, and Rien, you can call me by my name too.”

“……Lady Cecilia.”

She had expected him to look a little awkward at the rather forward suggestion. Instead he seemed even more moved than before—as if making a friend or calling someone by name were entirely new experiences.

Does this man not have any friends?

With that fragile personality of his, he had probably never managed to hold his own among the high-nosed nobles of the capital. She cast him a pitying glance.

Whether or not he realized he had just earned her sympathy, Rien murmured the name Cecilia once more and then, ever so slightly, lifted the corners of his mouth. Just as she had expected, it was a smile every bit as beautiful as she had imagined.

The morning of this other world was still brilliantly clear. Unlike the previous days when she had dragged herself out of bed while brooding over failed plans, Cecilia rose with a light heart—thanks to Plan D, which was currently sailing along smoothly.

We’ve at least become something like friends. The weather’s nice today, so maybe I should suggest a picnic?

If she framed it as thanks for treating her hand, it would be hard for him to refuse.

After a quick bit of grooming, Cecilia scooped up the ball of fur from under the bed and cradled it in her arms.

“Charles, you’re coming with me today too, right?”

For reference, the name “Charles” she had given the cat was taken from a scientist she respected. Whether Charles possessed intelligence as evolved as that of his namesake, he answered with a short “Nya~” as if he understood every word.

“Then first we’ll stop by the kitchen and……”

“Are you planning to go next door again?”

“Ack! You scared me!”

A gloomy voice suddenly cut in. Startled, Cecilia whirled around. Beyond the half-open door, Melanie stood like a ghost; after a silent bow she strode forward.

“Young lady, as I’ve told you before, getting close to a man of completely unknown identity is dangerous!”

“Rien isn’t dangerous.”

“Good heavens, you’ve already exchanged names? Really, you never used to be like this.”

“That’s because of the fever……”

Feeling a twinge of guilt, Cecilia let the sentence trail off.

When Melanie—who had watched over her more closely than anyone—had noticed something odd and asked about it, Cecilia had offered this excuse:

Actually, ever since I was sick, my memories have felt a little hazy.

What? Then we shouldn’t be standing around—we must call a priest at once!

No! I don’t want to worry Father any more. The memories will come back gradually, all right?

Her earnest plea must have worked well enough; Melanie had been unable to refuse the request to keep the secret. Even so, she still seemed utterly unable to adjust to her mistress’s complete change in behavior. Unable to hide her distress and worry, Melanie soon shook her head.

“Still, you can’t go today.”

“……Why?”

At the bolt-from-the-blue declaration, Cecilia dropped Charles onto the bed with a soft thump.

“This morning the young master returned. The Marquis has ordered you to attend the luncheon, so you must begin preparing at once.”

“……The young master?”

There was only one person Melanie would call “young master”: Nox Weberdin, Cecilia’s only brother and the heir to the Weberdin family. In other words, her older brother.

Cecilia’s face crumpled for an entirely different reason than before.

An older brother, of all things.

Fortunately the basic language patch that came with possession was already in place, but her memories were not. Moreover, when she had first possessed this body, Nox had already left for the capital, so she had never once met him. Which meant she had absolutely no idea how to behave in a way that would be “Cecilia-like” toward her own brother.

It doesn’t seem as if they have a bad relationship, at least.

Cecilia pulled out the letter she had abandoned in the bottom of the desk drawer. Her only point of contact with him was the single letter he had sent from the capital.

She had been told that the original Cecilia had fallen seriously ill just before the possession. The fact that he had bothered to send a letter and a gift from so far away meant he must care for his little sister a great deal. After all, didn’t they appear often enough in romance fantasies—the handsome, capable older brother who doted on his younger sister?

Unfortunately, the painkillers that came with the letter tasted as if every foul medicinal herb in existence had been mixed together. At the unforgettable, catastrophic flavor, Cecilia’s shoulders gave a violent shudder.

Still, the news might not be as bad as she first thought.

He might even become an ally like Melanie.

Of course, that was provided she never let him discover she was not the real Cecilia.

“We’re going to be late at this rate! Hurry and change clothes.”

After checking the time, Melanie promptly rolled up both sleeves. In the end Cecilia was stripped of her comfortable dress and forced into a formal gown; she dragged the long skirt behind her as she headed for the dining room. She had not even finished settling the uneasy mix of worry and expectation in her heart when she ran straight into the other party the moment she reached the entrance.

“Cici!”

A man whose appearance was as noble as a creature beloved by the gods of myth gently curved eyes the color of deep forest green and waved. His golden hair, warm as spring sunlight, sparkled so brightly one felt one could recognize him from a hundred leagues away.

After a quick once-over, Cecilia carefully offered a greeting.

“Hello. ……Brother.”

It was an exceedingly difficult form of address for someone who had lived her previous life as a confirmed eldest daughter. Wrapping her arms around the goosebumps rising on her skin, she forced a gentle smile.

This should be close enough to the usual Cecilia.

Contrary to her expectations, however, the man’s beautiful face hardened with grave seriousness. Closing the distance in a single stride of his long legs, Nox seized her cheek and lifted it.

“You—don’t tell me you’re still sick?”

His expression was so full of worry that Cecilia reflexively waved both hands.

“No! Thanks to Brother’s concern, I’ve made a full recovery.”

“But……”

The man’s brow, trailing off mid-sentence, showed no sign of smoothing out.

As I thought, he really is a sister-fool.

An older brother who doted on his little sister to that degree—wasn’t that a legendary creature rarer than a unicorn?

She had no trouble recalling conversations with her real little sister.

Hey! Big trouble! Get to my room right now!

Stop lying and get lost. You’re just going to ask me to turn the lights off again.

I’m serious, it’s a real emergency!

Ugh, what now!

Close the window for me.

Please just die and leave me alone.

That’s what reality looks like.

Just as the “possessed-into-a-book” theory was gaining even more credibility—

“No matter how I look at it, your head still doesn’t seem fully recovered.”

“What?”

At the low mutter right beside her ear, she jerked her head up.

What was that? Did I mishear?

She could have sworn he had even clicked his tongue.

“Sorry, Cici. It’s all my fault.”

“……What?”

“I prayed regularly to the gods to take away that empty head of yours. But I never wished for you to become this strange.”

“……”

“Ah, maybe the medicine I sent back then had gone bad?”

“……The medicine you sent with the letter?”

“Yeah. I deliberately picked the one with the worst taste, but it wasn’t poison.”

What the hell—give me back my romance-fantasy brother.

Cecilia stared up at him with the hollow expression of a raccoon that had just lost its cotton candy. Nox, still wearing that sweet smile, continued to hold her head and examine it from every angle.

“Um, Brother? My head hurts……”

“That’s unfortunate.”

“So I’d like you to let go of my head now.”

“Mm. Looking for wounds first.”

“I told you I’m completely better.”

“No. That creepy form of address, and the way you talk—there’s no way you’re in your right mind.”

The way he tilted his head was still beautiful, but to her eyes—now fully awake to reality—it no longer registered as such. Cecilia’s expression cooled completely; she twisted her trembling mouth into a nervous scowl.

“Take your hand off, you lunatic.”