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"W-why are you doing? Don't you have anything better to do?"

"Why am I doing this because everyone was doing it so!" The woman who seems to be the leader of the group of five, spoke with a ridiculing tone, "The rumor has spread. Do you think anyone wouldn't put their attention onto it?"

"No…" Lori shakes her head as she glares at the woman, "Before even the kidnapping happened, before everything that had happened, you keep pestering me. I had enough of it. What are you so jealous of? Money, fame, family position? Is it because I have everything but much higher than you, Alivia?"

"You…"

Alivia's face contorted as she moved forward, raised her hand, and was about to slap Lori when Noelle surprise them, doing a 'peek-a-boo' action.

"Hold your horses. Leave the lady alone," Noelle said and coughed once, "And slap yourself, please? I think you deserve that,"

"Wha— Pak!"

Amidst everyone's confusion, the noblewoman Alivia slapped herself. In just a few seconds, her cheek turned red and Noelle just smiled at her.

She grew confused that turned to embarrassment before she began to leave with all the other noble ladies on her back.

"B-brother? Shouldn't you be resting in your place?"

"Shouldn't you too?" Noelle asked back and said with a smile, "Even though I don't know what is happening in this school, aren't the students obliged not to attend for the time being? I mean, you know what happens,"

"I… I was just handling some matters," Lori answered while not committing to look directly at Noelle's face, only stealing glances.

"Finished?"

"S-sort of,"

Watching her with gentle eyes, Noelle smiled faintly as she retort, "All right, since you are done with your business, how about I invite you to have lunch? My treat,"

"Eh? W-why…"

"Because it's normal for siblings to have lunch together?" I said, tapping Lori's head, who was wearing a lot of confusion and a sense of wariness on her face.

…

"Good?"

With two gold coins, I brought different kinds of desserts such as a slice of cake, cookies, candies, and pastries. After an hour, I asked her opinion on the delicacies on her front she tried all of them, albeit hesitantly and doubtfully.

"Mhmm…"

"Did we ever get to do this back then?"

I asked. I was rather curious about the relationship between the two but it's not like I could ask directly if we actually did. Yet, as far as I knew, the moment Noelle began tormenting his sister is the moment their relationship deteriorate.

'Is senior a guy who would actually bully his sister? When we converse, it was unlikely that he had that kind of attitude… Ugh, besides, it's better to solve these kinds of matters in the early stages. And I'm not planning on neglecting the people with some connections with senior. Maybe… just maybe, he also wanted to correct his mistake,'

As I was in my thoughts, Lori replied.

"Actually, this is a first which is why I find it weird."

'Haha… thought so.' Musing that thought inwardly, I bite some biscuits before answering back, "Do you find me weird doing this?"

Lori nodded in silence as she began munching the food on the table while also maintaining noble-like manners, though, she was suspicious and her shaking hands were evident.

'Now… how do siblings normally talk…'

As I was thinking hard on the matter while eating biscuits, Lori suddenly spoke up which woke me up from my reverie.

"Brother, I don't know where this sense of unfamiliarity started, but you changed. No, you are starting to change, you know?" Lori said as her face changed into a frown, "I thought I would get the same curse from your mouth and get the same cold treatment when we meet every time but… you've become distant to me. I guess it's good for my side but I just what to know what changed… b-brother."

She suddenly jolted while shaking her hands at my front, "A-and, it's all right not to tell the reason. I'm sorry if my request sounds rude,"

"It's not rude at all,"

"Eh?"

Smiling gently, I said, "It's not rude at all and to answer your question… well, let's just say your brother matured quite a bit,"

"Oh…"

"Seriously, I know I can't turn back time—erm, no, let's rephrase that. I know I can't fix the things I've said or done in my life, and I'm also not asking for forgiveness or trying to mend all those things. I just grow up and live,"

Lori just stopped eating her snacks without me noticing that she already did. She just seated there and watch me silently before nodding her head.

I don't know what she understood by my words but all of it is my view on senior Noelle himself but not me. Of course, I'm not some dude who had insane observational skills, though I'm practicing to have one.

I just stated my opinion that's all.

After a while, we finished our snacks and we head out. We normally talked about a few things along the way and I felt the barrier between us is slowly breaking down.

It's not like this could solve the fight between the siblings but it's a start.

…

"T-then, I'll get going then. I'll have some matters to do when the resumption of class comes,"

"Sure," Answering her, I mused inwardly, 'What a very obedient kid. When I was your age, I just did everything in a nick of time. Heh, now that's a challenge,'

The moment Lori said goodbye and moved upstairs towards her room in the mansion, Klein, who was watching us from the sidelines, approached me and spoke with respect and calmness.

"A letter and a package are sent over here."

"Did you look into it?"

"No, I wouldn't dare to do that," Klein spoke as his eyes produce a gaze that is hard for people to maintain contact with, "And, would you like to keep this private to Duke Verl? I think it's a very, very advisable opinion,"

'You look into it, don't you…?'

My mouth twitched just hearing his reply. There's something with those eyes that is obviously telling me he did and he seemed not to dare hide it. Besides, with his series of actions, my conjecture became truer the moment he added the last sentence.

'If I told him it's disrespectful to look into your employer's things, will I have my head not connected to my body the next morning?'

With hesitation, I was about to open my mouth when Klein continued, seemingly reading what was on my mind.

"I put them all in your room, properly arranged,"

At this moment, I can't but slightly shiver.

…

"God, that old man…"

Muttering as much as possible, afraid that Klein would hear it, I plunged down to my bed and sighed. After a few seconds, I stand up and shifted my attention to the letter and the package properly arranged at my desk.

Moving to the chair available on the desk, I opened the letter.

"Noelle! It's me, Freya. As you can see, the moment I've written this down, my friends and I agreed to your proposal! Yehey! Are you smiling? Is that what you want, is it? Yes, I think you are smiling while reading this letter. Haha!"

My mouth can't stop curving up while reading the letter as pleasantries came from Freya. It was a lively one which I can't help but immersed myself into.

Halfway through the letter and the response coming from her was great and all but my eyes soon froze when she was deliberately saying something in her reply.

"…I mentioned earlier that 'my friends and I' didn't it? As you can see, those friends I mentioned are the ones I've trusted very much and I do not doubt that a bit. The thing is, this proposal we are having isn't known to The Justice itself. I can't even trust some of my men on relaying this message to you. Sucks, isn't it? But seriously, you didn't need to know the full story. This is not something you should put your attention to. Haha…"

"…Anyway, my friends and I indeed agreed on your proposal but we'd like to add some additional conditions. For an instance, you shouldn't use your powers to do evil deeds. Another thing is, we'd send you missions. If it's hard, we'd put our trusted subordinates to help you. Some others things will be discussed if we meet tomorrow at the institute. Oh, a reminder, our meeting will have to be private. I'll handle it so don't worry…"

'It's not bad added conditions.'

"…Also, there's a reward, of course! If you wanted to, you can earn merit points and you could become an official Ruiner just like us! You'll be able to join 'The Justice'. Hehe, how's that?"

Chuckling slightly, I proceed to read some more until the end. The other ones left are also important like 'if you disagree, we could talk about it tomorrow' or like 'If the missions given to you are deemed to be hard, you can request to back off' and any relation to that was said in the letter.

Then, I was finally on the last sentence.

"…One last thing! I've brought you a gift as some sort of 'for a long and beautiful cooperation' kind of thing. No, wait a minute, there's a word but I definitely forgot it! Anyway, inside the package is books that are related to Ruiners, ruins, and some information regarding Piece. I hope it helps you!

-Freya Pollow"

The last paragraph left me with me smile. Removing that expression on my face, I cut the letter into pieces to avoid any form of leak.

Landing my gaze at the package, for some reason, I excitedly opened the box, and my vision is drawn upon stacks of books placed in a neat manner.

"History of Ruins… Pieces Power Scales… Dangerous Results of Being a Ruiner… Types of Ruins… Rankings of Ruiners from The Justice…"

There are some books that I know but the majority of it is something that I knew could help me. Right now, I needed something that could help me grow, and information about them is needed.

'Thanks, Freya,'

I seriously thanked her from my mind.

"Let's see…"

With nothing to do, I picked up a book named /History of Ruins/ and began reading it as I lay down on my bed. For now, it's better to stay here in the mansion since I'm a hot topic on the outside.