Outaishihi ni Nante Naritakunai!! Commemoration Story 4

Older Brother and Getting Dragged Into Trouble

It’s getting late at night.
Usually it would be the time to head back home and jump into bed.
And yet, I wonder why I am still in the Royal Palace, moreover in the office.

“Ah damn it. Why do I have to go through this…”

Before I noticed, I put it into words. Freed, who’s on the seat next to mine, scowled at me upon hearing my voice.

“Be quiet, Alex. If you have time to complain, move your hands”
“You…! Look, I only got dragged into it, that’s all! Why do I have to stay up all night working with you?”
“Because you’re my close aide? You couldn’t possibly say you’ll go home when your lord is working”
“…. Daaaaamn it”

As Freed once again scowled at me, I fell prostate on the desk.
Regretfully, what he’s saying is completely correct. The reality is I can’t return as long as Freed is working like this.
However, really, how did this happen.
I sat upright, and while reaching my hand for the unprocessed documents I recalled what happened today in the evening.

◇◇◇

When I heard from Moore from the stable that Freed went with Lidi on a long ride, I held my head.
Certainly, it’s as Freed said, there are no matters that can’t be done without him.
But, that doesn’t change the reality that there’s a lot of work.

“That guy… He forced everything on me”

Speaking of the culprit who easily forced work on me, he’s at the height of the honeymoon period with his fiancée who he’ll shortly marry, and seems to have went on a romantic date.
… Really, he’s messing around.
The previous Freed would absolutely never do that, but ever since getting engaged with my little sister it’s become a frequent thing.
Because Freed had been too serious, his surroundings find it preferable.
Although he’s become overcome by love, he doesn’t neglect his work, you just need to turn a blind eye to him during breaks, it’s the shared opinion of the majority… no, of everybody.
That’s why nobody stopped him, and so in reality I’m the only one troubled… Dammit, I really can’t forgive him!

When I thought that around now he’s indulging in my little sister, murderous impulse welled up.
Even though I’m buried under the mountain of documents.
While I was cleaning documents while getting irritated, I heard knocking on the door, and Glenn showed up.

“Alex, I’m coming in”
“… Tch, it’s you”

When I spoke mostly to vent my anger, Glenn knit his brows a little.

“It’s not the person you want to see, is it. I’ve heard Freed went for a long ride with Princess. He wouldn’t be back yet”

As Glenn didn’t hide amazement in his voice like he was pointing out the obvious, this time I frowned.

“… So you’ve heard about it too”
“Because there were a lot of subordinates seeing Freed riding Ventisca through the main gate”
“So why did nobody stop him!”

Whack, I kicked the desk with all my strength.
Good grief, Glenn shrugged his shoulders seeing me like this.

“Isn’t it because they didn’t want to get kicked by the horse. Literally kicked, okay? They would like to refrain from disturbing their date”

I think that my subordinates’ judgement was correct.
When Glenn added that, there was nothing I could reply.
Stopping those love birds going on a date? Certainly, even I would look the other way.

“Tch… And? What business do you have”

I pulled myself together and asked. Glenn spoke of the important matter apologetically.

“It’s an unfortunate subject when you have it rough, but the work has increased. Please place maximum priority on this”
“Yeah?”

Hearing about the work, my voice lowered.
But when I looked over the documents I was handed, I became convinced by their contents.

“… I wonder if those security measures are alright”
“Probably. We don’t know what the other party will do, but officially it’s a concert. If they’re too strict, His Majesty… and he too will be on guard”
“That’s right. Got it. I’ll talk about that with Freed when he comes back”
“Please do… It’ll be alright. Since it’s Freed, he’ll come back on time”
“He said he’d return by evening. That time had already passed”

When I pointed that out while pointing at the clock, Glenn became lost for words.

“T, that’s… Well. When Princess is involved Freed loses his restraint… So to some extent it can’t be helped…”
“Ha…”

I returned a sigh to Glenn’s words and stood up.
I won’t be able to settle down if I don’t go out to greet them and say few words of complaint.
I thought so.
Wryly smiling, Glenn, who understood what I’m going to do, didn’t stop me.

◇◇◇

Many things happened, but when in the end my little sister left for home while roughly breathing, I and Freed saw her off dumbfounded.
It was Freed who came to his senses first.
Without trying to chase after her, for some reason he turned on his heel and began walking to the office with a fast pace.
I followed such Freed worriedly.

“Hey! Oi, Freed. Are you fine letting Lidi go home!”
“There’s no way I am. But even if I said that, Lidi wouldn’t listen. It’s better to obediently let her go home for now and pick her up tomorrow”

Indeed, I could agree with Freed who said that without relaxing his pace.
My little sister is considerably stubborn. If she says she’s going home, she’ll absolutely go home.
Freed’s judgement is sound.
And even if she doesn’t admit it, my little sister for the most part loves this man.
Even if he doesn’t expressly pick her up, it’s easy to predict she’ll come back tomorrow morning anyway.

“Then why are you in such a hurry”

When I asked about the meaning behind Freed’s behavior, he easily returned an outrageous answer.

“I’ll finish the work now. See, I want to be free tomorrow. We’ll do tomorrow’s part too all at once… Alex, you’re coming too”
“Haa…?”
“Lidi stole your carriage anyway, right? It’s a rare chance. As Lidi said, why not spend a night of overtime with me”
“No no no, wait a minute!”

What does he mean.
Confused by what Freed brought up, I darted my eyes about.

“Why even tomorrow’s part!”

Won’t we be doing today’s remaining work!
Freed indifferently talked about his plans.

“I’ll go pick Lidi up tomorrow first thing in the morning. I don’t want to have plans afterwards. That’s all”
“… Listen, you”

This guy.
He really did snap awfully from Lidi going back home.
An unpleasant aura I don’t want to experience overflowed from Freed.
I don’t want to get involved from the bottom of my heart.

“… What happened this time is your fault”

I don’t mean to defend my little sister, but unintentionally this came out of my mouth.
Based on their talk, I can imagine that what happened was that apparently Freed forced her into an outdoors play. It’s natural my little sister is angry.
But, why does Freed do as he pleases like this.
You wouldn’t think he’ll be the next person to stand at the top of the country that attaches importance to the etiquette of men and women.
He’s on good terms with the Crown Prince of Irvine, so perhaps he gets information from there, thinking that I felt a little fed up.
Freed shamelessly said.

“Lidi didn’t hate it either”
“No, she got angry no matter how you look at it”

Of course, because my little sister loves him, she must’ve accepted in the end.
But, getting angry is another matter.

“You, control yourself a little more. If you don’t stop overdoing things, Lidi will escape, okay?”

Although I think it won’t happen, I warned him just in case, and when I did he sent me a line of sight that felt like it’d shoot me to death.
Scary, seriously scary.
In an instant Freed’s gaze returned to normal, and he quickened the pace.

“Never mind that, hurry up, Alex. If we start now, we’ll be finished by tomorrow morning. Then you can go home and take a day off to relax. If there’s no carriage, I’ll lend you mine”
“… It would be discourteous to use it”

While following Freed who didn’t look back anymore, I heaved a large sigh.

◇◇◇

… And that’s the flow of things until now.

Since then we’d returned to the office, and spreading an aura of a demon, Freed was concentrating on his work.
From the start he’s been a terribly excellent guy. And getting serious, Freed worked at triple the usual speed.
The problem is, I have to go along with that speed.

“Alex, the documents I requested before”
“… I prepared them, here”
“The submitted security plan is inadequate here. Correct it and resubmit it within an hour”
“… You’re lying”
“This one is okay. Please bring it to the relevant department later”
“Heey…”

Why the hell do us two men have to zealously work late at night.
I’d like to put that effort to something else.
Still, it’s the fact I have to go along with Freed’s processing speed that doesn’t slow at all.
Suddenly I asked about what was on my mind.

“Hey, what will you do on your day off tomorrow?”

I didn’t expect him to reply.
I expected him to ignore it, and yet.
Freed stopped moving his quill pen, raised his face and without showing exhaustion declared.

“I’ll go pick Lidi up first thing in the morning. Since I won’t have work, we’ll be able to spend the whole day together, right? I don’t want anybody to disturb us after we reconcile”
“…”

Unexpectedly he returned an answer, but I turned pale hearing its contests.
… This guy feels like crushing my little sister in his embrace after bringing her back.
And all day long at that.
I felt like crying from how he clearly declared that’s his purpose in finishing his work.

“Can I go home?”

My real thoughts leaked, but of course he wouldn’t allow that.

“When the work is over. Then you can even sleep all day long”
“… Of course”
“Your hand stopped. There’s only few hours until dawn. Increase your pace”
“Yes yes…”

When I had it pointed out by Freed who once again began moving his quill, I obediently resumed work.
Aa… Really, how did I get caught up in this?
I’m completely unrelated, right?
And yet, for some reason I have to go along with Freed working all night, and will have my prized collection exposed by my little sister for all too see… Misfortunes never come alone, do they?
Incidentally, I caught sight of Freed’s nape of the neck. Understanding what the red mark means, I felt fed up.
Even if I didn’t want to, at the same time I recalled Glenn’s words from daytime.

“Isn’t it because they didn’t want to get kicked by the horse”

… Aah, that’s right. He was completely right.
I wish I hadn’t complained. I should’ve left the love birds alone and gone home.
Had I done so, I wouldn’t be heartlessly stuck here.
Feeling like Ventisca kicked me flying with his hind legs with all his strength, I once again breathed a heavy sigh.

‘Let sleeping love birds lie’

An unpleasant proverb crossed my head.
I shook my head to erase it, and reluctantly immersed myself in work.
If it’s like this, I want to finish soon.

―――― In the end, when we finished the whole work, the sun had risen and it was the time we normally begin work in the morning.
Having received a report that Lidi came back, with my eyes I saw off my childhood friend, who rushed out of the office, and from the bottom of my heart thought that I’ll stop teasing them for a while.

---

I apologize to those who can’t wait for the continuation of the main story, but before I get to it I will translate a short, five chapter prequel to Outaishihi ni Nante Naritakunai!!, First Love × First Love. I will be releasing it from tomorrow at the usual time, I hope you will read it.

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