Translated by: ShinigamiTori

Chapter 53 ─ The Fun Time Passes by Quickly

After that, time passed quickly as the three of us, including Yoshida’s sister, had tea together and explored the mansion.

As Yoshida seemed tired of playing the tsukkomi^[1], I was thinking of heading home when an elderly man, likely the butler, approached us.

“Wainwright-sama, it seems that your ride has arrived.”

“Ah, thank you.”

I had previously heard that staying too long at a friend’s house could create a bad impression with their family, so I arranged for a carriage to pick me up early.

They graciously escorted me outside, and I couldn’t resist accepting their kind offer. I was delighted when they asked me to come back and visit them again.

“Huh?”

Then, for some reason, I saw my brother in front of a familiar carriage parked in front of the gate of Yoshida’s residence. As soon as he saw me, he smiled happily and enthusiastically waved his hand.

“I’m here to pick you up.”

“T-Thank you.”

I had very little experience of having someone come to pick me up, so I was happy that Julius came to get me, but…

“J-Julius Wainwright….?!”

Upon hearing a bewildered voice from Yoshida’s sister from behind, I turned around to find her once again staggering backward.

On the other hand, Yoshida greets him with a polite “Hello,” maintaining his usual demeanor.

“Yoshida-kun, hello. Oh, Alexia-senpai is here too.”

“I had a bad feeling about the name ‘Wainwright’, but I convinced myself it must be different because there was no resemblance at all…”

Apparently, the two are acquainted. Certainly, Julius was a first-year student when Yoshida’s sister was in her third year at the academy.

“I’m sorry, Max. I absolutely refuse to become relatives with this man, it’s impossible for me.”

“What do you mean?”

“This guy is the reason the third-year girls’ group fell apart.”

“That’s not my fault, you know. They just caused a fuss on their own.”

“You were enjoying the whole thing, I know it!”

To my horror, it seems that my brother’s excessive popularity has caused trouble even with students from other grades. Even though he’s family, he’s so sinful that it’s frightening.

“Hey, what’s this talk about being relatives?”

“You two are lovers, so of course I’m talking about the future.”

“What?”

“Eh?”

The voices of all three people, excluding Yoshida’s sister, perfectly overlap. When did Yoshida and I become a couple? Hearing this, Julius displayed clear dissatisfaction and scrutinized Yoshida and me.

“Yoshida-kun, do you really have those feelings? I’ll get angry if that’s true.”

“It’s a misunderstanding.”

“Who’s this Yoshida?”

“Um, please calm down.”

It’s starting to get kind of chaotic. I opened my mouth to try to clear up Yoshida’s sister’s ridiculous misunderstanding.

“Um, I’m sorry. Yoshida and I, or rather Maximilian-kun, are not a couple, we’re just good friends…”

“What?”

While Yoshida’s sister looked extremely confused by my words, Yoshida sighed heavily and said, “I’m sorry.”

“You were way too happy, and there were too many things to point out, I forgot to point out the strangest part.”

Indeed, I sensed Yoshida’s tsukkomi was losing its sharpness along the way^[2]. The fatigue on his otherwise flawless face became apparent, and I couldn’t help but feel sorry.

“I’m sorry for jumping to conclusions.”

“I’m the one who should apologize, things got a bit out of hand.”

“But I really like Rene myself, so please come visit me anytime. Also, if you ever fall in love with Max, you can always ask me for advice.”

“Don’t bother yourself with unnecessary concerns.”

Anyway, I’m glad the misunderstanding was cleared up. As for the nickname “Yoshida,” I’m relieved to hear that Yoshida’s sister seems to like it as well, saying, “Yoshida… it sounds kind of nice.”

I promised the two of them that I would come visit again, and then I got into the carriage with Julius.

◇◇◇

“Did you have fun today?”

“Yeah, it was a lot of fun.”

“That’s good. Anyway, why did you and Yoshida-kun get mistaken for being lovers?”

Seated next to Julius as usual, we headed home while being rocked by the carriage. When I told him about what happened at Yoshida’s place, my brother burst out laughing, clutching his stomach.

“Hahaha, no matter how you think about it, it’s hilarious. I can understand why Yoshida-kun would go crazy in such a situation.”

“Even though Aleksia-senpai is a bit unusual, how did you end up fighting with your friend’s sister at his house?” he burst into laughter, with tears lightly forming at the corners of his eyes from laughing too much.

“But really, Julius is quite popular, huh?”

“Well, I’m pretty cool, you know. But I realized once again that there’s no point in being liked by a lot of other people.”

“….?”

What does he mean by “other people”? Julius patted my head and continued, “Ah, that’s right.”

“By the way, a letter arrived for Rene. From the royal palace.”

“What?”

Curious as to what it was, I received the letter as soon as I arrived home and opened it, to my surprise, the sender was Prince Theodore.

I opened the letter with a sense of excitement and inside was an invitation to a garden party hosted by the royal family.

Translator Notes:

1. The usage of the word ‘tsukkomi’ in the sentence is derived from a particular style of traditional Japanese comedy, where there are two roles, the ‘boke’ (who is the buffoon; the jokester; the funny guy) and the ‘tsukkomi’ whose job is to react to the boke‘s jokes (often critically). So, in short, the meaning of ‘tsukkomi’ can be described as the act of pointing out that something is ridiculous or silly. ↵

2. His retorts were losing their bite. ↵

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