Reorganizing the Nightingale House

While walking back, Ellie happened to run into her imperial brother, who was heading this way.

It couldn’t really be called a coincidence. Since she had run into Firth, it was only natural that she would also encounter Solor heading in this direction.

To Ellie, their meeting was something inevitable.

“Brother.”

Seeing Solor approaching head-on, Ellie nodded in greeting. Solor also waved back at her, looking far more enthusiastic than Ellie.

Solor seemed to be gradually getting used to Ellie calling him “Brother.”

But in his heart, it was still something of a hurdle.

In the past, Ellie had always affectionately called him “Big Brother.”

Now, after being injured, she suddenly started using the distant-sounding “Brother.”

Had he done something wrong?

Was it because he had been too busy recently and hadn’t paid enough attention to her, so she was sulking?

But unfortunately, after asking Carle, who had a cousin, and Firth, who had a younger sister, neither of their answers satisfied Solor.

Carle and Firth, on the other hand, seemed to get along well when it came to sibling relationships…

After all, both of them advocated a “free-range” approach.

They claimed that a younger sister should be allowed to do whatever she wanted. She was already an adult and capable of taking responsibility for her actions.

Those words did sound reasonable.

But asking Solor to truly throw Ellie aside and leave her to her own devices was something he simply couldn’t do.

After all, their mother had died early, and their father was extremely busy.

Within the palace, only the two of them could rely on each other.

Even though this world did not have a struggle between two imperial princes, that did not mean the palace was absolutely safe.

Royal children were always in a dangerous position, no matter the era.

It was just that they were older now and no longer as fragile as before.

Solor was no longer someone without the strength to protect himself.

But in Solor’s eyes, Ellie still looked like a quiet little girl…

Perhaps the kind of refined lady who would be frightened even by seeing a chicken being slaughtered in the kitchen…

Sigh… how could such a worrying younger sister be “free-ranged” like Carle and Firth suggested?

What kind of older brothers were those two, anyway?

As for Ellie, the reason she didn’t call Solor “Big Brother” was, quite simply, because she never really had.

Well… not exactly never. To be precise, she hadn’t called him that after growing up.

In her world, before their relationship deteriorated due to the death of the crown princess, Eric would still call Solor “Big Brother.”

Later, as their relationship plummeted, Eric stopped calling him that.

In private, when speaking of Solor with those on his side, he would use titles like “the Crown Prince,” or simply call him “Solor” directly.

In public, however, when he needed to put on a show of harmony, Eric would say “Brother.”

Thinking about it, it made sense.

He had been a grown man, and a prince at that — how could he possibly bring himself to say something like “Big Brother”?

Just imagining those words coming out of his mouth made it feel awkward.

After becoming Ellie, even though her body had changed, her consciousness and soul had not.

So this slightly distant “Brother” became her fixed form of address for Solor.

As for calling him “Big Brother”…

Solor might have been able to accept hearing it, but Eric, who now resided within Ellie’s body, simply couldn’t bring himself to say it.

And besides… she wasn’t really the kind of lady who would be scared by watching a chicken get slaughtered.

Back when she seized the throne for that single month and slaughtered half the high-ranking officials and nobles in the palace, she hadn’t been afraid at all.

If anything, watching those old foxes — who spoke sweetly to people and differently to ghosts — actually go and meet ghosts for real had felt rather satisfying.

“Did you meet Miss Evelia?”

“Yes, I did.”

“Ah, that’s good. Since Firth was coming to see me today, I had Miss Evelia come along as well. Did you have a pleasant chat?”

“Yes. It was alright.”

“……”

After seeing Ellie, Solor clearly wanted to keep the conversation going, speaking one sentence after another.

Ellie’s attitude, however, remained lukewarm.

A few simple “mm” responses were enough to brush his words aside.

A few days ago, seeing Ellie clash with Agmad over Evelia, Solor had thought Ellie wanted to see Evelia.

So he discussed it with Agmad. Since Firth was also coming to give a routine report, Solor had him bring Evelia along.

He had assumed they were close friends, and hoped Ellie would cheer up a bit through this meeting.

But now… her reaction seemed rather mild.

Though perhaps it wasn’t entirely mild.

If Solor knew she had kicked Firth as well, he probably wouldn’t think she had no reaction at all.

Come to think of it, Evelia seemed to have escaped disaster? She was the only one who hadn’t been kicked by Ellie.

“Since you called Firth over, you must be busy, Brother. Don’t you need to handle work matters?”

“Huh? No, not really that busy. Firth was just here for a routine report.

Firth is also a very capable assistant of mine — loyal and strong. This time, he easily captured a group of roaming bandits.

He’s a knight worthy of trust.”

“……”

Solor was clearly trying to keep the topic going, so he casually brought Firth into the conversation.

But hearing Solor praise Firth’s loyalty made Ellie feel uncomfortable — so much so that she even wanted to kick Solor a couple of times too.

What do you mean, a loyal assistant…? That used to be my assistant!

Someone important to Agmad? That was my Scarlet Crow!

A loyal knight of the crown prince? That was also my Scarlet Crow!

Those were all my words…!

Splitting one Scarlet Crow into two was bad enough — but how come I didn’t get even one of them?! 😩

After venting internally, Ellie noticed another detail in Solor’s words.

—Roaming bandits?

Which group of bandits?

“Is that so? Bandits again? Is the outside world really that chaotic?”

In order to learn more, Ellie asked innocently.

This simple question gave Solor the chance to chat with her, and since it wasn’t classified information, he answered:

“It was a group of bandits on a hill near the northern settlements. They had formed a full-fledged bandit camp.

They were burning, killing, and looting along a major trade route, so I sent Firth to deal with them.

He did an excellent job, and even captured a few alive. We should be able to extract some useful information from them later.”

“I see…”

Ellie responded thoughtfully on the surface, but her mind drifted to her past.

Once, in order to present herself favorably to the people and raise public support, she, as the second prince, had also purged bandits.

If Solor’s description was accurate, it was the same place she had dealt with before.

After executing the bandit leader back then, she later learned through other sources that the man had been the one who killed the father of “Azure Eagle,” one of her assassins.

Eric at the time hadn’t cared much about it.

He had casually told Azure Eagle that his enemy had conveniently been killed by him.

After all, Azure Eagle had already chosen to pledge loyalty to him, and such matters wouldn’t affect their relationship.

But now, if this world overlapped with her past world in certain ways—

Perhaps this matter could still be connected to Azure Eagle.

If she could truly find Azure Eagle again…

Look — Scarlet Crow was here, and even held the very useful position of vice commander of the Knights.

If Azure Eagle could also be found, and turned out to be someone usable as well, then was it possible that she could once again rebuild the Nightingale House?

Only this time—

It would be built for the sake of helping Solor smoothly ascend the throne.