A Fake Sister’s Burden

I met Brother Li Tianming on a chat app…

After making a mistake, Xie Shenai immediately tried to salvage the situation.

But it was futile. Her brother had already noticed, yet he pretended to know nothing, just so her efforts wouldn’t be in vain.

After a short while, she realized Li Tianming’s cheerfulness was also an act.

In truth, Li Tianming was consumed by guilt toward her brother and filled with disgust for her.

But that was hardly surprising.

She was, after all, the culprit who had started it all.

Even though Li Tianming had been eager to help her back then, it was impossible for him to maintain a friendly attitude now. But that was fine. She wouldn’t harbor any resentment or dissatisfaction.

Ultimately, this was just retribution for her own past indifference.

Besides, she couldn’t do anything that would worry her brother.

She had no right to show any sorrow or sadness over this.

And so, dinner that day was spent in “blissful joy.”

Everyone was so happy, their faces wreathed in smiles… or not.

It was all fake.

It was all her fault.

It was all her fault.

She had ruined her brother’s plan to repay Reinhardt.

She had forced her brother and Li Tianming to put on a brave face.

She was so useless.

Five years had passed, and she still couldn’t even handle something so simple.

But she couldn’t show any trace of dejection or sorrow now.

Her brother had just begun his recovery, and Li Tianming had most likely been invited by Duanmu Yun and Dongfang Qinglong to help him. She couldn’t cause them any more trouble.

Fortunately, all she had to do was continue pretending she knew nothing.

“Shenai, what’s wrong?”

But then, her brother came to see her as a sister.

According to the “setup,” she wasn’t supposed to know her brother could transform into a woman.

Because of this, she foolishly misjudged the situation, thinking her sister had finally… or at least, had recovered enough to remember her.

Later, when she excitedly told Duanmu Yun about it, she learned that her brother had been deceiving her.

No, she couldn’t call it that.

Even if it was a deception, his goal was to comfort her, not simply to lie.

Her brother had always been that gentle and considerate; even losing his memories hadn’t changed that. How could she possibly feel any discontent toward him?

“Shenai.”

Perhaps to stay true to his lie, her brother came again the next day as a sister.

And every day after that, he would transform into his female form to visit her.

He pretended things were getting better.

He did this even though Duanmu Yun and the others were waiting for their sister to return.

He did this even though his sister was incredibly busy every day.

Despite it all, he still made time to think of her, to care for her.

He did so much for her, his fake sister.

Xie Shenai felt like she was suffocating.

She didn’t think she deserved to be treated this way by him.

But she couldn’t tell him that she wasn’t his real sister.

There was nothing she could do.

She was powerless.

All she could do was watch in silence.

Soon, however, she discovered that even doing nothing would only make things worse.

“Did you hear? There was an incident recently. They say it was the remnants of the Sakura Nation!”

She heard the news when she arrived at school that day.

After confirming it wasn’t just a rumor, she was completely stunned.

At this point, the only things that could possibly stir the Sakura Nation remnants to action after five years were support from the Empire… or her.

Fear began to creep in.

She found Li Tianming.

“Yes, you are their target. But as long as you don’t wander off, we will protect you.”

Li Tianming wore a mask of kindness, speaking words that even he didn’t believe.

Based on past experience, once the people from the Sakura Nation found her, they would stop at nothing to get to her.

Last time, ninety percent of her brother’s subordinates had died.

What about this time?

Even without considering her brother, the mere thought that Sebastian, who had always driven her, and all the bodyguard uncles could die because of her was almost too much to bear.

“You must remain calm. Even if you don’t trust us, you must believe in Lord Shenhong.”

Though Li Tianming was only offering superficial comfort, his words managed to persuade her.

She couldn’t panic. She couldn’t make her brother worry about her any more than he already did.

What she needed to do was ask Duanmu Yun and the others for better protection. If they had no one to spare, then she would just have to be more vigilant herself. Whatever happened, she must not disturb her brother.

This was the Vermillion Bird Kingdom.

And in the Vermillion Bird Kingdom, the Saintess Haizhu was heaven itself.

As long as her brother was safe, as long as he was getting better, there would be no problems.

Clinging to this thought, she forced herself to endure, attending school as usual and living each day normally. Until—

“Are you the real one, or a fake?”

In truth, Duanmu Yun and Nangong Yan had put multiple layers of protection in place for her, creating numerous decoys. In the eyes of the Sakura Nation remnants, there were over twenty potential descendants of the Heavenly King. All of them, like her, had sakura-colored hair and were confined to wheelchairs.

She certainly wasn’t the best-hidden one, but being somewhere in the middle actually made it easier to conceal her identity. Her close ties to the Duanmu family could be explained away as their attempt to win over the “Crimson Eagle.”

And to any “intelligent” observer, the “resourceful” Crimson Eagle would never be foolish enough to adopt the Heavenly King’s descendant he brought back as his sworn sister.

So, she was truly inconspicuous.

This time, it genuinely seemed like a probing attack from the Sakura Nation remnants, or perhaps a direct visit, intended to read the truth from her expression.

Xie Shenai thought she had performed rather well.

She wasn’t overly calm, nor was she overly panicked.

Going to the hospital to make her act more convincing and notifying her brother were both reasonable actions.

She thought her sister would come for her.

But her brother, agitated, transformed into his sister and came for her himself.

He even engaged the ambushing enemy in battle.

She was exposed.

“Not necessarily,” Li Tianming had said.

Soon, she understood what he meant.

“Is Lord Haizhu fighting someone?”

“Lord Haizhu seems to be using fire magic, and her opponent looks like just a stunt double?”

“So you’re saying it’s Lord Haizhu’s body double who’s fighting?”

Her sister had not recovered her strength and was even being mistaken for an imposter.

But her sister didn’t care in the slightest.

All she cared about was her.

Because she believed she was saving her real sister.

Xie Shenai could no longer bear it.

“Go back, Brother! Don’t worry about me anymore!”

She wasn’t blaming him for being weak, nor was she blaming him for deepening the suspicion on her.

She simply understood that in his current state, even as a sister, he couldn’t fend off those remnants from the Sakura Nation.

She didn’t want to see him get hurt for her sake.

She didn’t want him to sacrifice so much for a fake sister like her.

“Stop pretending to be my brother… I’m not your sister!”

Moreover, she had always known he was only playing the part of a brother. In his heart, he saw himself as someone else and saw her as that person’s sister.

Striving so hard for a stranger… She truly didn’t want to see Xie Shenhong repeat the mistakes he made before losing his memory.

And so, she left the Xie family.

Under Li Tianming’s protection, she continued to pretend she was an ordinary person, living a normal life, but one now devoid of any expectations.

Finally—

“Your Highness Mizuki, we have come to welcome you.”

On the condition that her bodyguards would not be harmed, Xie… no.

Mizuki Aoi left the royal capital with these detestable people.