A pinch of Esine leaves (2)

"Greetings, young master Williams, young master Arison. I'm Adelaide Winford. I hope my appearance isn't lacking. Please enjoy your stay at Winford."

With each of her hands holding onto the hem of her dress, Adelaide performed her greeting etiquette flawlessly. She then raised her eyes and gave her brother's friends a bright, warm smile.

The energetic red-haired young man took a sharp breath in when their eyes met. Even the other serious-looking man with a monocle froze.

'Hhm…? I had people looked at me in fascination before, not this. This one is new. I'm still pretty, right? Those maids did not mess anything up, did they?'

Their reactions were different from what she expected. Sure, people freeze when meeting a someone extremely beautiful, but the ones before her weren't normal people. They were all from wealthy families whose beauty standards remained ridiculously high.

'I might be prettier than the ones they met, but this reaction? It's like I'm scaring them.'

Even though multiple thoughts went past Adelaide's head at the speed of light, her expression remained elegant and obedient, like how a good kid should be. With her head tilted slightly to the right, the little girl looked genuinely confused.

Just when Adelaide was about to ask her brother an innocent question to break the awkward silence that she had no idea why and how it happened, she heard the familiar voice of the only person in the room that she didn't greet.

"What about me, my lady?"

"Good morning, Anthony. Congratulations on your graduation." Adelaide replied, then added cheerfully. "Will you give me a gift in celebration of this important milestone?"

"Oh but of course." Anthony laughed, "though I don't think I have the ability to buy something truly valuable to my lady yet."

"The amount of money you spent isn't important – what's important is that Anthony buys it just for me."

"D-Don't…look at me like that. I don't think I can endure it." Anthony grabbed his left chest dramatically while talking with difficulty as if he couldn't take it anymore.

'I nailed it. Again. See? This is how things should be.'

Adelaide knew full well how much "damage" her pretty face could cause. Long eyelashes, bright blue eyes, exquisite features, naturally pink lips, and white porcelain skin. Winford's genes had been fortified through generations, and now there were elven genes included in the mix?

It was no exaggeration to say that the Winford siblings possessed the best of two kinds. Even Alfred looked proud at Anthony slightly dramatic, but genuine expression.

"Really familiar…"

"Yes, but still different…"

"But those eyes! They're like two, no, four drops of water."

'…what? Ah…don't tell me…'

"Young master Williams? Young master Arison? Was my behavior lacking in any way?"

Adelaide smiled weakly. She was quite sure about the reason why the two strange men behaved that way, but the thought of pushing them a bit further was quite fun.

"No, no, don't be, my lady." The red-hair, red-eye man shook his head and regained his energetic self as if he had just woken up from a dream. "In fact, it was me who was being rude. You just look bizarrely similar to Alfred, so I ended up-"

"It's just that you two looks similar, so we were surprised. I never knew siblings of different genders could look that alike. Please pardon my rudeness."

Before red-haired Kinsley could finish his sentence, monocle-Sebastian cut in with a more cautious choice of words.

'Wow, what did you do, brother?' Adelaide gave them an innocent and curious look before turning her attention to Alfred, who was also giving off a warm and friendly young master vibe.

"Brother, is it okay if I join everyone?" the girl pulled her brother's sleeve down lightly and asked in a small voice even though she knew that everyone presented was able to hear clearly what she said.

"It's fine." Alfred replied in a relaxed tone, his eyes shining with a knowing gaze. "my friends won't mind, right?"

"It would be a pleasure."

"Of course, it's been forever since I last saw my lady. You grew so much since then."

"Can you sit beside me, milady? I need to purify my eyes and forget about all those bad times."

"Thank you, everyone."

Adelaide smiled and sat down obediently. She even thanked when Kinsley poured her tea and Sebastian fed her carrot cakes. She did not say anything, nor did she participate much in the "adults' conversation", but the girl felt utmost satisfaction from the bottom of her heart.

'It's not every day that you get surrounded and served by four rich, handsome young men.'

Both Kinsley and Sebastian had gotten over their initial shock now, but in her mind, Adelaide was still both confused and amazed about what her brother had done.

'I mean, what did he do with that smile and eyes that gave them such an impression?'

Alfred always had a warm and kind smile. Coupled with his bright blue eyes that exerted both elegance and humbleness, he appeared approachable at first glance. Even his way of talking was different – no arrogance or superiority, even subconsciously, could be detected from him.

As Alfred's young sister who possessed the same genes as him, Adelaide also got those mesmerising blue eyes that almost looked identical and the signature warm smile.

People liked her smile. Who would hate a nice and approachable person? And a beautiful and approachable person at that? Though rarely due to his studies, when the siblings stood together, no one could even complain a thing. Them standing together was like the perfect picture itself.

'As long as people have eyes, then the world is one that judges based on appearance.'

'The first duke Winford, the original Charles, looked all warm and nice too. Why is our current one behaving like a block of despicable ice?'

'Anyways, it seems like brother is one of those people who smiles even if they were up to no good. You know, when the words you spew have more intentions than the surface meaning.'

Being his closest friends, it was no doubt that Kinsley, Sebastian, and Anthony were no strangers to what Alfred's unusually warm smile meant. Of course, they would be surprised when another person with faint similar features looks like that.

'Maybe someone picked on our heir? You know, 'cause he's young, and arrogant brats may want to experience what being superior to a duchy's heir feels like.'

Little did Adelaide know, her random guess hit right at the spot. Even though it was called the Imperial Academy for the privileged, competitions were fierce. A three-year difference in age might not be an issue amongst adults, but that gap between teenagers was different. Ten and thirteen, thirteen and sixteen – they weren't the same.

"Don't eat too many sweets, Adelaide. You'll lose your appetite for dinner."

"Ah, yes, brother," Adelaide replied obediently while putting the last piece of what used to be a macaron into her mouth. "Will everyone join me for dinner as well?"

"You want us to join?"

"Of course." The girl replied, seemingly oblivious to Sebastian's slightly surprised tone. "I want to eat with everyone."

"Then we'll do exactly that. Joseph, show the guests to their resting quarters."

"This way please, young masters."

Alfred nodded lightly while reaching out to help his little sister get down from the chair.

"Are you going right after dinner, brother? Traveling at night isn't safe."

"You have nothing to worry for – this isn't three hundred years ago. That's how hunting trips are supposed to be."

Adelaide's brows arched. 'You're supposed to grope around in the dark to be considered proper hunting?'

"Anyhow, we won't hunt in the dark. It's the travel time." Alfred continued.

Abuse the use of teleport stations was strictly prohibited, so most of the time, even nobles have to travel the "normal" way.

Not that the "normal" way was applicable to Adelaide, though.

"Then, have a good time, brother."

"Tell me that after dinner, when we're about to go." Alfred smiled helplessly at his sister's early remarks. Other people might take her words as being offensive since it sounded like she was telling him to go, but the heir did not feel that way.

Contrary to his thoughts that his sister would just continue to live her daily life like she had been doing for the past four years, a drastic chance was actually waiting for him.

'Now that the possible number one suspect is out of the picture, no one would be able to doubt him anymore.'

Adelaide was both excited and anxious. She couldn't wait for tomorrow night to come.