Prologue
Lately, my little sister has been… off.
That’s what Nicola—second princess of the Kingdom of Lilac—kept thinking. Among the three sisters she was the one lauded for her [wit]. She also had a younger brother, which placed her squarely in the middle of the sibling ladder: close enough to understand both those above and those below.
Perhaps because of that, Nicola had grown a little quicker at noticing the faintest tremors in the family air.
One day, she walked the long carpeted corridor and stopped before a door flanked by two maids.
“Is Lilly inside?”
“Yes, Lady Nicola.”
At their answer Nicola knocked, waited.
Soon after, the words “Come in” came back.
She stepped into a room exploding with frilly furniture and fussy ornaments.
In the corner of the canopy bed sat a small girl. Nicola went over and lowered herself beside her.
Same pink hair as her own. A tiny, adorable face that—no matter how many times she saw it—forced the word cute out of her heart every single time.
“…You’ve seemed down lately. Is something wrong?”
What filled Nicola’s head wasn’t curiosity; it was worry.
Leaning in, she peered at her sister’s face. Lilly answered with a shadowed little smile.
“I’m fine, Big Sis.”
Nicola knew, after all these years, that the smile was pure bravado.
Part of her worry was the fear of “Am I even allowed to keep asking?”—of pushing too far, of being pushed away, of hurting her or cornering her.
And so, clumsy words began to tumble from the mouth of a girl famous for never choosing the wrong ones.
“R-really? Oh, speaking of which, a new cake shop just opened in the capital! If you’d like, shall we go together?”
“…Mm, let’s go.”
“…………”
No matter which words she picked, they all felt wrong.
The girl who prided herself on reading minds and steering talks like a gilded barge could deploy none of her skill against the small figure beside her.
Small wonder. If the root stays rotten, you’ll never find a clean place to cut.
“Big Sis, you’re amazing,”
Lilly said while Nicola flailed inside.
“In the last war you negotiated and grabbed tons of profit, didn’t you?”
“W-well… nothing worth bragging about.”
“And Sakuya Big Sis did all those heroic things in the war, too…”
Ah, there it was. The picture finally clicked.
Nicola excelled at moving pieces across the treaty table. In the recent North–South war she had found the thinnest ledge that would keep the Republic of Argaus from plummeting into ruin, then hauled home reparations that fattened Lilac’s purse.
Their eldest sister, by contrast, was hailed for her [martial prowess]: she had tilted the battlefield until two enemy generals’ heads rolled into her lap.
And the girl in front of her?
Exactly. That was the problem.
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“Lilly, you’re incredible too! You rally the people, stamp out riots before they spark—”
“But no one sees any of that, right?”
“—!?”
“Being looked up to… anyone can do that if they just sit still and look nice.”
That’s not true.
To be admired by others is far more difficult than gaining some short-sighted profit.
After all, using your head to read someone’s thoughts and outmaneuver them is something that can be done within the realm of calculation. But virtue—moral character—can only be earned by shaking someone to their very core and building it up from there.
No matter how deeply you read someone’s thoughts, you cannot move their heart.
Which is why—what that girl, who excels at such things, can do is… something not just anyone could possibly achieve.
Unless someone says it out loud, that is.
And so Nicola opens her mouth.
“That’s not it, Lily. That is—”
“Nicola-sama, His Majesty the King is calling for you.”
But just before she can finish, her name is called through the door.
She had wanted to clear up her misunderstanding a little more, but if her parent and superior summons her, she has no choice but to go at once.
Thus, Nicola reluctantly rises to her feet.
“…Well then, I’ll be back later.”
With that, Nicola leaves the fancily decorated room.
Left behind is a small, frail-looking young girl.
The moment she finds herself alone, she quietly opens the locket hanging from her neck.
Inside it is a photo of a young girl wearing an innocent, carefree smile… and a boy beside her giving the same peace sign.
“…Abi-onii-chan, what should I do…?”
The girl murmurs softly.
“Why did you have to disappear…? I’m so lonely without you…”
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