Love You, Big Brother. See You Tomorrow

Now then… this really was hard to explain, this feeling.

It was just a single smile from Ellie, yet it effortlessly made Solor take a deep breath to steady his emotions.

When did it start…?

No, that wasn’t right.

He had always cared about her, because she was his most beloved younger sister.

It had been like that since childhood.

They had once been very close, but later, as he became busy with political affairs, he ended up neglecting Ellie’s feelings.

Solor knew it himself—he was always busy.

He also knew that the time he spent with Ellie had been steadily decreasing.

From childhood, when they talked about everything,

to their early teens, when it became nothing more than a simple daily “good morning,”

and later, in their mid-teens, they barely spoke at all.

It was as if their bond had been worn away by time,

as if familial affection meant nothing in the face of endless work.

After all, he was a future monarch.

Caring for the world wasn’t wrong.

People often said that if you wanted to achieve great things, you had to put aside personal attachments.

But… she was my sister.

When did talking with my own sister become something that could be called “special”?

It should have been the most ordinary thing.

It should have been part of every day of my life…

…It should have…

Solor blinked and looked at Ellie in front of him.

Ellie looked much better now.

She was already enjoying the slice of cream cake Furse had brought.

Everything seemed normal.

Time flowed as it should, everything moved as it should.

Birds flew by and chirped.

Cake placed on a plate would naturally be eaten.

But his heart… ah—this was strange.

That fleeting emotion from earlier…

Mm… it must be familial affection.

After all, she was his most beloved sister.

Two slices of cake, one for each of them.

Evelia’s craftsmanship was indeed excellent.

It was so good that Solor wanted the palace chefs to study it and learn from it—

yet by the time he came back to himself, the cake on his plate was already gone.

That was definitely because it tasted too good, which was why he ate it so fast.

Definitely not because he was distracted by his thoughts and mechanically eating.

“…Ellie, are you feeling better?”

Solor set down his fork and looked at Ellie, who was still savoring the dessert.

In the past, for the sake of image management, Ellie rarely ate sweets.

Eric loved them, but to avoid damaging his persona,

she took small bites, savoring the cream cake little by little,

looking like a small bird tasting refined feed.

“Mm.”

Ellie nodded.

“I’m very happy that you see me this way, big brother.”

“But… if I could be just a little more greedy…”

“Big brother—could you care about me a bit more?”

“A little more.

Even being slightly biased toward me would be fine.”

Ellie tilted her head.

The smile on her face was pure,

like that of an innocent little sister voicing her wish to her older brother.

“Ah… mm.”

But the one acting as the older brother responded awkwardly.

He hesitated, stammering slightly, looking strange.

It wasn’t quite discomfort—just something indescribably odd.

“Ah, Your Highnesses, pardon the interruption.”

Just as Solor was at a loss for how to answer,

a servant approaching from the side broke his train of thought,

also making the fingers he had been unconsciously circling under the table finally stop.

He turned his attention to the servant.

“His Majesty requests your presence.

He wishes to discuss matters from this period…”

The servant came to their table, bowed to both Ellie and Solor,

then stepped closer to Solor.

When mentioning “His Majesty,” he spoke aloud,

but when relaying the details, he lowered his voice again.

Ellie was very familiar with this routine.

First, it made clear that this was an order from the Emperor, establishing priority.

Then the specifics were conveyed quietly, serving as a form of confidentiality.

In her previous life, Ellie might have cared.

After all, back then the two of them were locked in fierce conflict,

and no piece of information could be ignored.

But now, they were in a period of peace.

As a younger sister, she posed no threat to her brother at all.

So Ellie didn’t care what they were discussing or what needed to be done.

She didn’t even care what her father was arranging this time.

As long as she lived with the mindset of “worst case, I’ll just die,”

nothing really felt troublesome anymore.

“Mm, alright.

I understand.

I’ll go see Father now.”

The message wasn’t long.

Solor’s expression didn’t change much.

It didn’t seem like anything particularly important—

unless he was deliberately maintaining composure in front of his sister.

“Ellie, sorry, I’ll have to excuse myself for a bit.

Father called me over.

It’s nothing major, just some routine meetings among the nobles…”

Seeing Ellie looking in his direction,

Solor thought she might be bothered,

so he hurriedly apologized and explained what he was going to do,

as if afraid she might be unhappy because of it.

“Ah, that’s fine, big brother.

We see each other often—every day, really.

You can come find me anytime, and I’ll always be here waiting.

So don’t worry.

Political matters are more important.

You don’t need to mind me.”

Ellie remained considerate, speaking clearly and obediently.

They were perfect words—“you don’t need to worry about me.”

Yet to Solor’s ears, they sounded strangely lonely.

“Then… alright.

When I’m done, I’ll come chat with you… maybe tomorrow?

Tomorrow I’ll have them prepare something you like to eat.

I heard the head chef say you’ve stopped eating only vegetables and fruit lately—

Did this cake suit your taste?

I’ll have them make some for you tomorrow as well, as a regular dessert.”

“Mm, thank you, big brother.

This cake is very good.

Eating only vegetables and fruit all the time, I’ve started wanting to eat other things too…

But I haven’t tried much, so I don’t know what’s good…

I wonder how cream soup would be?”

“Cream soup?

Cream soup is quite good—rich and smooth.

The cooks here are exceptional at it.

I’ll have them prepare it for you.”

Once cream soup came up, Solor could probably write a thousand words of tasting notes.

It was his favorite dish—cream soup of all kinds.

This was actually one of Eric’s pieces of “intelligence.”

What his brother liked to eat, drink,

what kinds of fabrics he preferred,

what styles of clothing he liked,

his little habits,

even his preferred sleeping posture—

she knew them all clearly.

Knowing the enemy and knowing oneself was the key to victory, after all.

“Alright then, see you tomorrow, big brother.”

“Mm, see you tomorrow.”

Ending things with favorite foods really did lift one’s mood.

Watching Solor leave cheerfully, Ellie relaxed a little as well.

Phew…

It seemed big brother was still big brother.

His preferences and tastes hadn’t changed.

It was just…

the way he treated her that had.