My Brothers Are Not Villains

Chapter 6

With a clear gaze, Maiches turned his eyes toward the door.

He thought that one day, if his younger sister grew healthy and mature enough to knock on the door, he might feel a bit wistful.

“Aiel.”

With her ash-colored hair loosely braided, she was pale and thin, but unlike before, her jewel-like gray eyes sparkled with life.

Due to health issues, Aiel rarely dressed formally.

Instead of wearing constrictive dresses, she wore a loose, soft-textured dress custom-made for her comfort.

The light sky-blue dress she wore today paired perfectly with her fluffy white slippers. As always, she looked angelic yet ever so delicate.

Maiches looked at Aiel’s slender ankles, smaller than those of other children her age. He was determined to make her healthier than anyone.

“Brother, let’s play a game.”

Aiel said this while holding a notebook in her hands.

After struggling to walk over to the desk, she handed over a page from the notebook, claiming she had developed a new game.

A grid of horizontal and vertical lines was neatly drawn on the paper.

“This game is called Omok.”

“Ah, I see.”

Maiches chuckled softly, pushed aside the documents on the desk, and lifted Aiel to sit on it.

Meanwhile, Doria quickly whispered the situation to Grengie.

“He said, ‘We should try a brain game instead of a luck-based one,’ and then dashed out.”

Maiches and Grengie exchanged glances. Grengie nodded.

“Got it?”

There was a sense of determination in Aiel’s eyes as she explained the rules. Maiches could only laugh again.

A few black and white circles were drawn alternately on the paper.

Aiel carefully drew a white circle, which looked more like a squashed pebble, and then passed the turn. Maiches, holding the pen, paused and thought for a moment.

Then, as soon as Maiches drew a line of four black stones in a row without any blocks, Aiel exclaimed,

“Brother, you’re pretty good! I’m not someone who loses easily, but it seems you have a talent for games!”

Aiel was so happy she could barely contain her excitement.

Realizing she might have shown too much enthusiasm, she tried to compose herself before patting Maiches on the shoulder and saying,

“They say winning is a habit, but what if you end up winning everything from now on? I guess I’ll have to practice hard too~.”

Aiel thought to herself with a bright smile.

How does it feel, that thrill of your first victory? Every journey begins with a single step! Now, Maiches is going to be completely hooked on the joy of winning!

Ah, but what if he gets too into this game? Well, I suppose game addiction is better than family ruin!

…But even as she thought this, Aiel, who often worried about Ruedeliz’s future, felt a twinge of unease.

As she rolled her eyes, Aiel added cautiously,

“But brother, no gambling. Gambling is a fast track to losing everything… got it?”

Grengie skillfully suppressed a smile by thinking of something sad. The maids, who hadn’t yet mastered such skills, bowed their heads to hide the twitching corners of their mouths.

And Maiches, once again just an ordinary fifteen-year-old boy, burst into a pure, unguarded smile that made his eyes crinkle.

It was the smile that had earned a reputation among the maids for disarming anyone who saw it.

There were already rumors that some noblewoman had accidentally glimpsed that innocent smile and lost her heart.

Some young ladies were said to be driven almost made by the contrast between the Earl’s usual cynical demeanor and the warmth when he talked about his sister.

Aiel was the only one who didn’t realize that the smile she found so goofy was, in fact, in high demand.

The butler and maids of the Ruedeliz household once again held back their tears. There was a time when they thought this house might truly fall… How could there be such an adorable pair of siblings in the world?

“But what’s that?”

However, the seemingly endless peace was suddenly shattered by something Aiel noticed in the next moment.

“Miss, sniff… Please, just have a cookie… Whether it’s three or thirty, just please eat some…”

I had to eat a strictly balanced, healthy diet. If I didn’t, my health would shatter like a fragile glass, breaking with a sharp clang.

But after I was able to walk on my own, I started eating snacks little by little.

It wasn’t by my choice—my short appetite and tendency to vomit if I ate too much meant I consumed far too few calories in a day. So Maiches and the head chef had come up with a solution to get me to eat a bit more.

Even though these bland cookies had no sugar or artificial sweeteners, they were somewhat nutty and enjoyable. I grew to like eating snacks.

But there was a downside: after eating the cookies, my appetite would completely disappear, causing me to eat less at dinner. Even if I forced myself, I couldn’t manage more than four bites.

As a result, my snacks were strictly limited, and I was only allowed three cookies a day.

It felt a bit like they were giving me something just to take it away again, but I knew they were doing it for my own good, to help me get healthier, so I didn’t complain much. Though I did feel a bit disappointed…

But now, I wasn’t even interested in three cookies, let alone food. Lunchtime had passed, and dinner time was approaching, but I remained steadfast.

When Maiches heard that I had skipped lunch, he knocked on my door, but I ignored him, pulling the blanket over my head.

“Aiel… Please eat. No matter what, you can’t skip meals. You’ll hurt yourself…”

“Have you changed your mind?”

“…”

“Let me know if you do. Until then, please don’t come into my room.”

Maiches left, looking like the sky had fallen.

I felt guilty for using my health as leverage, but I knew I had to push through.

Doria offered me a plate piled high with cookies. The rich, nutty aroma wafted toward me, tempting my nose.

To make up for the calories I hadn’t gotten at lunch, they’d added jam, unsalted butter, and even a small sugar candy to the usually plain cookies.

Honestly, after getting into the habit of eating regularly since my reincarnation, the sight of the glistening red strawberry jam made my mouth water.

After just one missed meal, my stomach felt like it was sticking to my spine. But I forced myself to appear uninterested.

“So, is my brother going to the academy?”

“Sniff, sniff…”

Doria pretended to cry instead of answering. I pulled the blanket over my head again.

The reason I was staging this hunger strike was none other than to get Maiches to attend the academy.

After experiencing a thrilling loss in Omok in Maiches’s study, I had noticed some familiar letters on a letter Grengie was holding.

“Lepitelips Academy.”

There was no issue in getting the letter from Grengie. Neither Maiches nor Grengie had any reason to hide it from me.

Lepitelips Academy was an elite educational institution for royals, nobles, and a select few wealthy or talented commoners who had reached school age.

It was also a place where one of the six villains in the novel had once attended before dropping out.

Of course, that person wasn’t Maiches.

In the original story, Maiches was too obsessed with his love-hate relationship with his bloodline to do something as wholesome and bothersome as attending the academy.

…Didn’t attend? That’s it!

As I sat on the desk, reading the letter intently, my eyes sparkling with interest, Maiches must have sensed something unsettling.

He quickly took the letter back from me, and Grengie, ever perceptive, received it from him and promptly tucked it into his inside pocket.

Despite this, I grabbed Maiches’s wrist with both of my hands to keep him from escaping and said with a feigned innocence, “So my brother is going to the academy!”

It was my way of telling him to go.

Naturally, Maiches shook his head vigorously.

“Where would I go, leaving you behind, Aiel?”

Grengie and Doria might have found his words heartwarming (they smiled warmly), but to me, it only fueled the anxiety I had been secretly nurturing.

Yes, that was the problem.

He was too attached to me—or, to be precise, he had no one else to rely on but me!

In this way, it was no different from the original story, just with a slightly different direction. A cold chill ran through my chest.

Of course, I was going to try my best to change the future. I would be vigilant to ensure nothing happened that could lead Maiches to fall into darkness.

But… what if, like when the former Earl and Countess of Ruedeliz—our parents—died despite my efforts, I couldn’t change things?

Maiches needed someone else to rely on besides me, someone who could steady him when his mental state wavered.

The people of Ruedeliz’s household were warm and kind, but they were still servants. If Maiches ever found them bothersome, he could dismiss them, and they’d have to leave.

So Maiches needed someone who could care for him as an equal.

“Wouldn’t it be great? You’ll make lots of new friends there!”

There’s no relationship as universal, wholesome, and fitting as “friends” for that purpose.

Most importantly, if Maiches, who hadn’t attended the academy in the original story, were to enroll, the future might change even more.

But this stubborn Maiches, unaware of my deeper intentions, just smiled and refused.

“I don’t need friends.”

“…”

He must be out of his mind… My brother’s the type who thinks he can live all alone in this world…