I Don't Trust My Twin Sister

Ersia, who was standing behind me as I climbed into the carriage, said in a stern voice.

“Sister.”

Why was she calling again? As I looked down at Ersia, who was dressed up to the fullest while climbing the carriage stairs, I thought for a second that I looked like this. She licked her chin without opening her mouth. Ersia took a small step back and swept my face. What was she doing? Did she want to fight? Or was she arguing with me?

“Are we going to take that man with us?”

Ersia extended her finger and pointed at the carefree man who yawned at the subject standing behind the escort. When I slightly raised my gaze and made eye contact with the man, he bowed and greeted me. Benson was more respectful and modest than before, and less unnecessarily open-mouthed. I looked at Ersia again.

“Is that so?”

“Why?”

“It’s your escort.”

“I don’t think there is a need for a personal escort for this outing. There are more than 10 knights accompanying you, so why?

“That’s that and this is this. I paid that person to hire him. Then that person has an obligation to provide labor for the amount I paid. Do I really need to explain it to you?”

Ersia bit her lip.

“Then I will take the penalty…”

“Unfortunately, it’s a contract I signed, so you don’t have to pay the penalty. Besides, there’s no reason to terminate the contract. Has he done anything strange to you? Did he do anything that would violate the contract, be rude, or he didn’t faithfully fulfill his duties.”

As I spoke, he slightly rolled his eyes. Benson shook his head, as if claiming he never did. He was a very faithful contract mercenary who never took my word for granted. That’s why Ersia couldn’t respond to my words. Ersia looked at me and Benson alternately with a face full of dissatisfaction, then passed me and got into the carriage. With temperamental hair.

If possible, I wanted to take two wagons and go quietly, but I had no choice but to give it a step in the end because of the eyes of the people around me and above all, fear of causing unnecessary worry to my grandfather. I sighed and waved my hand at Benson.

“What do you need?

“You’ve never done anything that could be misunderstood, right?”

“I have never done anything rude.”

He grinned and added, “I didn’t open my mouth. I didn’t move.” That’s right, if he didn’t speak or act, there’s nothing to be blamed for. But wasn’t that too harsh on oneself? As I stared at him, he nodded his head as if he was okay. He said that he had no problem, but since there was no need to worry, I said the next thing.

“There won’t be anything special. As I said before, you need to work hard to get Ersia’s favor and get closer. You know?”

“I am working on it.”

“But there is no answer as of now, so I will help.”

“Help?”

I glanced back and looked at Ersia and whispered quietly.

“You’ll find out about that later. She’ll be quick-witted, so please respond appropriately without saying anything. Is that possible?”

He looked at me with his mouth closed, then smiled.

“I don’t know what it is, but give me a signal later. Then I will definitely respond.”

“Okay. I look forward to seeing you in a great way.”

After sending him away, I signaled to the escort driver to depart. The ranks began to move his feet. Since it was an official outing after a long time, people flocked to see our wagon. They waved lightly and were greeted by the locals. After leaving the Viscounty of Ajstain and entering the long road, only the sound of horse hooves and the sound of carriages could be heard in the silence. The smooth start of the trip made me feel better, but it was uncomfortable to see Ersia in front of me even with a slight roll of my eyes.

I sat in the carriage and looked out bored.

Benson caught my eye beside him, riding along at a leisurely pace.

“…”

The reason for attaching Benson to Ercia was simple. Surveillance was the main purpose. It was because I judged that if it was Benson, he would be able to monitor who Ercia met, where she went, and what she was doing without having to directly check. I couldn’t confirm exactly how much ability an S-class mercenary had, but at least if the rumors circulating in the world were not exaggerated and true, it was my judgment that the ability would have exceeded the level of a criminal. In fact, based on his superhuman patience and stamina, Benson was faithfully carrying out his work without being caught by Ersia. He wasn’t bad but this was not enough. If the purpose was just surveillance, I’d rather hire a member of the information guild to spy on Ercia’s surroundings. But the reason I didn’t do that was because I was aiming for a subtle relationship between Ercia and Benson. It didn’t matter if Benson had a crush on Ersia or if he was just nice to her. The point was, I was taking care of Benson’s brother, so he’s already mine. He would not go over to Ersia.

It didn’t matter if Ersia believed in him and talked about it to gain favor, and it didn’t matter if she kept her mouth shut because she didn’t trust him. It was a strategy to catch even a small mistake caused by a moment’s carelessness. It’s not easy to predict how Benson would work on Ercia, but one thing is certain. It was that I had nothing to lose. I don’t particularly like scheming an event to visit my deceased parents, but what could I do? The important thing was to break Ersia’s will and remove the family threat.

* * *

It was already evening. After running for a while, the wagon got off the highway and settled down near the road. I felt like my socks and shoes were sore from running until late in the evening.

Each of the knights and servants moved quickly and hurriedly prepared for dinner. With the end of winter, long nights were a problem, and the temperature kept dropping, so we had to light a fire and finish our meal on time.

Ersia and I could sleep in the wagon, but the rest of us had to prepare sleeping bags and tents because we had to face our fates. Because of this, it is possible for people who are moving quite busy to come into sight, but now I could see them. It was only Ersia that was recognized. Ersia and I sat in the wagon and watched them in a daze. I stared blankly at the cooking process by pouring water over the blazing fire, then rolled my eyes. Ersia, like me, was just sitting there with no expression.

“…ter.”

She called me several times.

“Why are you calling?”

“I have a question.”

“What?”

Ersia turned her body towards me with the sound of her clothes rubbing against each other. I likewise turned her gaze to her brother. Ersia looked at me blankly and slowly opened her mouth.

“…Are you really getting married?”

In the meantime, was she curious about that? There was really no solution.

“Um. I’ll do it. I’ve made up my mind to do so.”

“When would you?”

“…Next spring at the earliest, the engagement announcement will be made as soon as we return. We’re going to have a party too.” I spoke plainly. Ercia quietly listened to my words. “But why did you ask?”

“…sister.” calling me again when I was so tired I wanted to erase the word ‘sister’. Did she claim that she was my little sister when she was born only a few minutes late?

“Huh.”

I returned her gaze to her window and replied curtly. By doing that I expected that Ercia would stop talking. Because I wanted to stop talking with her. But contrary to my wishes, Ersia opened her mouth again.

“What?”

“Can you not get married?”

What was she saying now? There was no laughter at her absurdity.

“Don’t get married? What do you mean, Ersia?”

A cold wind brushed my cheeks. Squinting my eyes, I stared at Ersia. My sister was looking at me with a very resolute expression, not a fragile face that looked like it would collapse at the slightest breeze.

“It’s literally. I don’t want my sister to get married.”

“Why do you think so?”

“…I heard from grandfather.”

The brow furrowed. I had no idea what she was listening to when she said this to me. A conversation I had with Ian not long ago flashed through my head. I doubted it, but I struggled to deny it. I never told the story to grandfather, and even if he had heard of it, there was no way he would have told Ersia her words.

“What do you mean?”

However, I didn’t need to throw out irrational conclusions, so I asked cautiously. Ersia teased me by biting her lips.

“If my sister marries, he will no longer have an heir to the Ajstain family, so I will naturally take my sister’s place.”

“Ah…”

If so, the story was simple.

“Is that a burden?”

“No, it’s not a burden. But I don’t want my sister to disappear.”

She didn’t want to? Wasn’t it that you longed for me to disappear? I burst out laughing at the obvious lies. But I couldn’t show my sneer, so I forced the corners of my mouth to show a slight smile.

“It’s okay. There’s no way I’ll disappear. And there’s no way the successor’s seat will go back to you.”

“Yes?”

“I know what grandfather is worried about. But even if Ian and I get married right now, the heir position won’t pass to you right away, Ersia, unless grandfather steps down in an unexpected accident right away…”

If that happened, of course, all rights would go back to her, and I continued to talk, swallowing back inside.

“So it’s safe to say that there’s no possibility of you inheriting the family line. Got it. Now, can you answer me why you don’t want me to disappear?”

Greed? Or because she didn’t like hearing what’s planned? I didn’t know what she wanted. All I knew was that Ersia was selling my family’s business at a bargain price as a joint venture with Beralt while imitating me. I didn’t know exactly what Ersia wanted. I only vaguely guessed that my downfall, jealousy, or something related to Beralt was at work. It was clear that he would turn around in great anger if he passed indifferently even a trivial act that he could think of, which was not yet a big deal. That’s why the best plan for me was to attach Beralt to Ersia and then destroy the two of them. To do so, I had to know the current value of Ersia. Indeed, I had to figure out how much Beralt was valuing Ersia, and how much trust Ersia was gaining. That meant it needed a little more time.