Chapter 4

"Hello, Marquise Brennan." Kikyo greeted without letting any of her inner emotions out on her face.

"Princess don't have to be so polite around me when we aren't in public. Just 'Uncle Brennan' is fine." Marquise Brennan laughed with a hint of expectation in his eyes as he looked at her.

"Uncle Brennan." Kikyo smiled.

"Hello, Uncle Brennan! How have you been?" Jeref came towards them and greeted cheerfully.

"I've been well. Thank you for caring, young lord. How's the preparation going for your blessing ceremony?" Marquise Brennan replied with a bear-like smile.

"It's already done! I finally had free time so I could attend to the class today." Jeref grinned and said.

"Haha, that's great then." Marquise Brennan patted Jeref's shoulder twice which nearly made him stagger back from his spot.

Jeref secretly grimaced in pain but still kept a smile on his face.

Kikyo saw this from the side and held back her laughter.

Just when she was gloating at her brother, a hand reached out to her shoulder from her back.

Suddenly sensing someone's presence behind her, Kikyo sighed inwardly while her body reacted quickly. Her hand seized hold of the sneaky hand, shifting her body slightly, she exerted some force and gave a shoulder throw to the person behind her.

"Oww!" With a bang, the person landed on his back and yelped in pain. Kikyo still held him down with his hand bent behind his back without a hint of surprise in her expression after seeing who it was.

"Wow! That was an awesome move as always, Cherry!" Jeref exclaimed excitedly.

"Mm, mm! Princess has greatly improved in basic combat techniques. That was a smooth throw." Marquise Brennan also commented with appreciating nods.

Kikyo looked at them with imaginary black lines on her forehead.

Uncle Brennan, how can you even have the mood to praise me while it's your own son who was defeated?

"Haha...Princess, do you have eyes on your back too? I thought I was quiet enough for you to not notice me yet you caught me anyway." The boy spoke after the pain alleviated a bit. His voice held a half-joking tone with slight grievance in it.

The boy had the same fiery red hair and reddish yellow eyes like Marquise Brennan. He was wearing a red and black riding suit and was a head taller than Kikyo. Yet he was now pinned on the ground with his hands locked behind by her.

He was none other than the second son of Marquise Brennan, Elias Brennan.

"Sorry. It's already a reflex of me to throw you whenever you get near me suddenly." Kikyo threw an insincere apology and let go of him as she dusted off her hands.

Elias finally got up from the ground and dusted off his now dirty clothes. His back still hurt a bit from the throw as he tried to straighten up.

With the slight teasing smile, he said, "I feel happy to hear that Princess acknowledges my presence as something special than anyone else's."

Uninterested in replying to his shameless words, Kikyo just chose to ignore him. Just as she was wondering where the other troublemaker was, the bush near the training field rustled and a figure jumped out of it.

"Cherryyy!!" With a shout, the figure pounced on her but Kikyo calmly backed away which made it to land right upon the unprepared Elias who was standing besides her.

"Bang!" A loud thud sounded as their heads collided together. The poor Elias who had just gotten up, fell on his back again. And...quite painfully at that.

"Ouch!"

"Oww!"

The two shouted in pain and saw stars in the middle of a day.

"Oh dear, my Elly! Are you alright? Are you hurt?" Marquise Brennan, who hadn't even batted an eye when his son was beaten, suddenly panicked and went forward to pick up the little girl who was still seeing stars in her head.

The difference in treatment was too obvious....

The little girl was about the same height as Charlotte and had fiery red hair tied up into twin-tails. She was Elly Brennan, the only daughter of Marquise Brennan. And also one of the troublesome Brennan siblings.

Pressing her hand upon the big bump on her forehead, Elly got up with the help of her father and turned her head towards Kikyo with teary eyes.

"Cherry...why did you avoid me? Sniff." Her sweet voice was full of grievance.

"Ah, I thought it was an animal pouncing at me and didn't know that it was you so I backed away. I'm sorry." Was what Kikyo said but inside her heart: I'm not stupid enough to just stand still and wait for her to pounce on me.

Then she lit a candle for Elias, who was still lying on the ground with a big bump on his forehead, dizzy, and completely overlooked by everyone in her mind.

Sorry, Elias. Your selfless sacrifice will be remembered in the depth of my memory.

"Oh, I thought you didn't like me so you avoided me. Ahahaha." Elly believed her blatant lie and let out a cheerful laugh.

Kikyo sighed inside her heart again. This little girl was too easy to deceive. How was she able to become the right hand of the villainess Charlotte in the game with such an innocent personality?

"Tch! And here I was wondering what stupid creature was so daring enough to attack my Cherry. It was actually a stupid gorilla." With a mocking smirk on his face, Jeref looked at Elly with disdainful eyes.

Marquise Brennan shot an intense look at Jeref but he didn't notice it at all.

Elly turned her head furiously towards him and glared. Her previous image of a cheerful and innocent girl completely gone.

"I'm not a gorilla! I was only trying to give a surprise hug to Cherry, not attack her! You are speaking nonsense, stupid crow!" She retorted.

"I would really prefer to not get any surprise hug again though.." Kikyo murmured with a helpless sigh.

"Gorilla! Wild monkey! Bleh!" Jeref stuck out his tongue at Elly.

Elly had a short-temper so she stamped her feet in anger and got into a fight.

Elly: "You stupid crow! Die! Die!"

Jeref: "Ow! How dare you punch me! Take that! Wild gorilla!"

Elly: "Ouch! Why you! Take this!"

Marquise Brennan: "You can do it, Elly! Punch him, yes! Ahh! How dare he hit my Elly!"

Elias: "Stars, I see stars spinning around me."

Kikyo:.....*Facepalms the nth time*

"Hahaha, Young lord and young lady Brennan are at it again."

"Let's bet who wins the fight! I bet for young lord."

"I bet young lord too!"

"I bet for young lady Brennan!"

"Me too, me too!"

The knights who had finished running around the field, cheerfully spoke to each other while enjoying the fight.

Kikyo glanced at them and finally let out a long sigh then sat on a bench at the side.

Whatever, I will just let these kids be.

It wasn't a secret that the Duke Schneider's young heir and Marquise Brennan's little lady didn't get along. Every time they met, they would fight like cat and dog. Such fights were already a common sight to Kikyo and the others who knew them.

Even in the game, Elly didn't get along with Jeref that much. And as the right hand man of Charlotte, she also had a hand on some bullying done upon the heroine.

Both Elly and Charlotte had the same, arrogant and prideful personality with a short-temper so they were seen as a perfect malicious villainess duo by the players.

But right now, Elly was still just a little kid who was only 4 months older than Charlotte. Although arrogant and spoiled since birth, she was actually just a little girl with quite a bad temper and great strength unlike any other girls.

Even in a brawl against Jeref, who was 2 years older and bigger in stature than her, he had a hard time winning against her. And she also came from a military family which greatly respected knights and learnt sword fighting since kid so her natural great strength only complimented her.

And from what Kikyo could see, she felt that Elly wasn't so dislikable like in the game. She always liked to cling around her, just like her brother, which was slightly annoying yet she didn't particularly hate her either.

She was loud mouthed, tom-boyish and liked to pick a fight, completely different from other girls from noble families who were taught to be dignified and elegant and that was also something rare in this age where even though they weren't really restrained much, women still stayed reserved and bound by their own rules.

As for Elias, he was one of the love interests. The future most-trusted knight of the future head of the house of black rose, Jeref, her brother and Elias' lord.

He was very loyal to Jeref and was his close friend since childhood. They trained and grew up together. Their brotherhood was unbreakable.

It was just that, he was also named as the number one playboy in the capital. In the game, his route was mostly shown of him flirting with other girls then getting attracted to the MC, then flirting with her too, and then finally giving his true heart to her. After that, he no longer went around playing with flowers and devoted his love to the MC alone!

His character was really bizarre... and annoying.

But it was at least very reassuring that he had a loyal heart and was trustworthy. He could be of great help to her brother. Maybe...

....

After a few minutes, the fight between Jeref and Elly ended up with a draw. The same result as usual.

They were more of rivals than nemesis' in her eyes.

Their fights were childish, their reasons were childish but every child grew up through such fights and competition between their peers. It was proved to be the best way to maximise their potential in learning.

Seeing their tired and messy form, Kikyo let out a low chuckle. She picked up two bottles of water from the nearby bench and headed towards the two who were still glaring at each other even though they were too tired to even move a muscle.

Handing a bottle of water to each of them, Kikyo smiled helplessly as she sat down nearby.

Taking the bottle from her with sparkling eyes, Elly and Jeref gulped down the water like they hadn't drunk water for days. Even while drinking water, they were exchanging competitive glares between each other.

"The training hasn't even started yet you two are already like this." Kikyo shook her head slightly.

"It's not my fault. He started it!" Elly pushed the blame at Jeref with a 'humph'.

"Hey! You were the one who hit me first!" Jeref immediately retorted her.

"You deserved that! Who told you to be such a big mouth and provoke me?" Elly stuck out her tongue at him.

"I only stated the truth, when did I provoke you? It's true that you are a female gorilla!" Jeref didn't back down.

"You wanna fight again, blockhead?!"

"Come at me if you can! Who is scared of who?!"

Kikyo felt a headache coming as she listened to them arguing again. She felt very irritated.

Marquise Brennan had gone over to finally take care of his 'poor' son to the knight's quarter's infirmary, while the knights had gone out for their lunch break so there was no one other than the three of them left in the training ground.

With a cold voice, she said, "Both of you, stop."

Her voice was cold and her annoyance could clearly be felt from her tone. Although her face was as calm as usual, her slightly narrowed eyes showed her irritation.

The two who were just now quarreling like cats and dogs and about to start yet another brawl abruptly froze on their place at her seemingly low yet audible command.

They stiffly turned their heads towards her and quickly went back to their place, sitting down obediently without letting out another sound.

Elly: Wuu...Cherry looks so scary whenever she gets angry. What if she started to hate her? (panics inside)

Jeref: Cherry seems to be very annoyed right now. She becomes just like dad whenever she gets angry, it's too scary... (T-T). But I still love her~<3.