The Male Lead’s Younger Sister is Still Sad Today

Episode 1

“Oh, are you two brothers?”

“Yes.”

In response to Raiden Akaruth’s words, my older brother answered in a noticeably tense voice.

“You don’t look alike at all?”

In case the Duke took any interest in my older brother, I replied on his behalf.

“I’ve heard that kind of talk a lot.”

As I said that, the gaze that had been fixed on my older brother from earlier now shifted to me.

Raiden observed me and leaned comfortably against the backrest. Then, he started twirling his revolver with his right hand.

I desperately wanted to shout at him to put that fancy gun down and calm down, but I smiled with a friendly face.

“Is that rascal your brother by any chance?”

Raiden flicked his chin towards Abel and asked. Of course, our older brother wasn’t a rascal, but if someone had to be called that, it was us.

In agreement with his question, I nodded slightly. Upon my response, Raiden immediately started laughing.

If the devil were to laugh, would it laugh like that?

No matter how loud the Duke’s laughter was, it resonated in the ears as if tingling.

Whatever was so funny, Raiden didn’t stop laughing for a while.

It went on like that for quite some time. Raiden wiped the tears from the corners of his eyes, which had formed from his laughter.

Then, he raised the revolver he had been unable to keep still all this time toward us. It was as if he could easily shoot us in the head with just a pull of the trigger.

Despite this situation, he still had a smiling face.

My older brother grabbed my hand in terror at that sight.

After glancing at us briefly, Duke Akaruth asked us with a sneer,

“To shoot or not to shoot?”

Abel swallowed hard. In the air filled with stillness, the sound of Abel gulping down saliva was quite loud.

Raiden toyed with the trigger and quickly wiped away his grin. Then, he tilted his head slightly.

And in that moment, a gunshot rang out.

With a loud crash, the window shattered completely. I was so surprised that I didn’t even think to turn around; I just stared at Raiden with a dumbfounded expression.

Raiden smirked and opened his mouth.

“Your reactions are quite dull. I was expecting one of you to flinch.”

“…You two can leave now. The usher outside will guide you,” said the butler, Grandfather Ben, shaking his head as if he had experienced such things many times before.

The tension had loosened, and it felt like I could faint any moment. I struggled to steady my trembling legs and quickly started walking to leave the room.

And then, at that moment, Raiden, who had been staring at us intently, opened his mouth.

“There.”

Not knowing whom he was calling, both Abel and I abruptly stopped walking. Then, Raiden turned his head towards me and asked,

“Hey, what’s your name?”

It seemed like he was calling me.

“Chase.”

“Will we see each other often?”

At Raiden’s smiling question, a shiver ran down my spine. But I couldn’t show it.

With what seemed like pleasure in him frequently calling me, I followed along and nodded while smiling. Then, I quickly wiped my sweat-soaked hands on my pants and hurriedly left the room.

This was my first encounter with the craziest guy in the kingdom, Raiden Akaruth.

* * *

The day my life turned 180 degrees different, to be honest, wasn’t much different from usual. The only difference was that on that day, as if I had been enchanted, I suddenly found myself in a strange world.

I was extremely afraid of this fact. I was in a new body, breathing and living, without even thinking about whether I had died or not.

Furthermore, magic was used in this world. Of course, it wasn’t the dazzling magic you see in movies. The magic in this world was like a faint glow.

The reason magic began to wane was none other than the decline of wizards as the era changed.

Due to that, there was a shortage of people to modify or manage the artifacts that were previously circulated only within the Magic Tower. As a result, magic naturally declined, and easily manageable science developed.

Although it was a world where the power of magic had greatly weakened, everything felt unfamiliar to me. I just wanted to go back home as soon as possible.

However, as time passed, the world that had felt entirely strange began to grow on me.

It was all thanks to my family whispering words of unconditional love to me every day. To someone like me, who had lived without a family, they were a tremendous gift.

The affection of a family I had only dreamed of in my dreams, a world that seemed like it could come from a fantasy novel or a movie. All of these things were the perfect and ideal world I had wished for.

However, there was an incident that made me think that falling into this world was unfortunate.

“Cherish, you have to hide in the closet without a doubt. You must never come out. Got it?”

The sudden outbreak of war took everything away from me. Abel, who had returned home late, burst into tears upon seeing me hiding in the closet.

After our parents had passed away, Abel, worried that something unfortunate might happen to me as a girl, had advised me to dress as a boy. Thanks to that, I gained another name, Chase.

In this way, we struggled to survive by using the meager magical abilities we could muster for begging.

Until now, I hadn’t had any doubts about this world.

However, as if compensating for everything we had experienced, unbelievable events began to unfold.

People who wanted to become sponsors started appearing one by one, and a stunningly beautiful girl even said that she wanted to take us with her.

But that wasn’t all. This girl turned out to be the daughter of the famous magical aristocratic family, the Seville Marquises.

She was probably intrigued by the sight of us using magic for begging. Perhaps, being a lady of the Seville family, she could recognize Abel’s magical talent at a glance.

Abel nodded his head with a deeply blushing face, in response to the girl extending her hand towards us while smiling brightly. It was like a scene from a painting.

“Wouldn’t you like to come with me, street magician?”

In response to her words, Abel hurriedly hid his burned hands behind his back, as if trying to conceal them.

Watching his actions, a seed of doubt began to sprout in the corner of my mind.

“Is this really just a coincidence?”

It felt strange that two people who could become millionaires just by selling their faces were standing in front of me.

Even though this world might be as fantastical as a fantasy, not everyone’s faces were fantasy-like.

From that perspective, this scene could be considered truly unique.

What’s more, one of them was a war orphan with no background, while the other was an incredibly noble young lady.

The fact that these two, who had no connection before, became entangled like this felt almost like destiny.

Even if these two handsome faces were considered the sole protagonists of this world, it wouldn’t be an exaggeration. After all, the protagonists in fantasy novels were all pretty and handsome.

“My name is Isis. Can I ask what your name is?”

“… Abel, it’s Abel.”

With great effort, Abel managed to open his mouth. Hearing his words, she smiled sweetly.

“You’re cute.”

At that moment, Abel’s face turned as red as if it were burning.

“But when will you hold my hand?”

Taken aback by Isis’s words, Abel hesitated for a moment, then mustered up his courage and placed his hand on top of hers that she had extended in front of him.

Watching this scene, I thought that these two resembled the protagonists of a novel. And in that moment, the puzzle pieces began to fit together one by one.

How were we, who were so young, surviving without a scratch during the war? How did such coincidences align to bring us this stroke of luck?

The hazy memories that had been shrouded in mist flowed into my mind like water.

So, this world was a novel where I couldn’t even remember the title. And those two were the protagonists of this world.

For a brief moment, I thought that even if I followed her, I needed to continue disguising myself as a boy. More precisely, even though I didn’t remember exactly, Abel was known to have a ‘younger brother,’ not a younger sister.

Protagonists eventually reach a happy ending. I thought it would be best not to interfere too much with the plot, in case my involvement could twist their endings, even if those two had the only happy ending in this world.

Into our world, which had been filled with darkness, came Isis all of a sudden. Isis became our sponsor and our sole savior.

Isis often called me and treated us to rides.

“Chase, your birthday is coming up. Is there something you want? Um… how about a brooch?”

“I’d be grateful for anything Miss wants to give.”

I was just telling the truth, but Isis burst into laughter, telling me not to joke around.

“I’ll buy you a birthday present tomorrow. Let’s go out together.”

Isis held my hand and subtly made a suggestion. While it seemed like she was focusing on me, in reality, she had been glancing outside at Abel for a while.

Watching her like that, I cautiously spoke.

“Tomorrow, my older brother and I are planning to go on a picnic together…”

When Abel’s name came up, Isis noticeably tensed.

“Miss, if it’s not too forward… Could you, as my birthday gift, go on a picnic with us tomorrow?”

Isis’s eyes on me gradually widened. But even that caused her cheeks to turn slightly red.

After hesitating for a while, Isis eventually nodded.

If we looked at it objectively, even without my effort, Isis and Abel would have reached a happy ending.

Of course, in a typical novel’s progression, there would inevitably be conflicts between the male and female leads before reaching a happy ending.

But I had never expected a plot like this.

So, a few months ago from now, Isis had an unfortunate accident and collapsed. When she woke up again, she had completely lost her memories of Abel. And me, too.