CH 41

[Hated Hero, Supporting His Sister]

Preparations for the school ball were progressing steadily.

The atmosphere was kind of like a cultural festival.

But of course, it was a more prestigious event than a cultural festival. However, seeing students making preparations joyfully making it seemed that way to me.

As such, to help prepare the venue, I headed to the dance hall after classes.

With Tayte, of course.

“Wow…” Tayte let out a voice of admiration upon seeing the venue, which was about 60% complete. I asked her about how it was last year—or at least, I was about to, but I stopped myself.

The reason being, a brief look at Barrett’s memories told me how the last year’s ball went.

From beginning to end, Barrett was chatting up with many different girls.

He practically didn’t spare a glance at his fiancée, Tayte.

Even if you came from a well-renowned house, that was an audacious move, if you asked me. Then again, he’d always been that way. It only got worse after he obtained the Holy Sword; he became out of control.

Hence why I wanted to do my best to make this year’s ball most memorable for Tayte.

To that end… I had to hold an emergency meeting with Marina and my other maids.

――As I was making up plans, I found my sister.

“Sister.”

“Oh, you came, Barrett.”

As the student council president, my sister Reina was also in charge of the executive committee. She was giving instructions to other students for preparing the venue. Thanks to her precise instructions, the preparation of the venue was going smoothly.

At that moment, however, she received a new visitor.

“Hi there, Reina.”

“! M-Mr. Abel!?” The always composed Reina yelped in surprise.

It was a robust young man dressed in the order of knights’ uniform—Mr. Abel, who would later become my Reina’s fiancée.

“Hello, Mr. Abel.”

“Hello.”

Tayte and I also greeted him.

I mean, he was an alumnus of the academy, and if all went well, he’d be my brother-in-law.

In the original storyline, (former)Barrett dived into a dungeon with the hero party. However, inside he made a blunder, causing them to get swarmed by a great number of monsters. To save the Hero, Mr. Abel acted as a decoy, letting the others escape… As a result, he died in the dungeon.

From the description in the novel, I imagined that he was, like, a mass of muscle and military-ish, but it turned out he was more of a cool guy and he had well-ordered features. A good husband material, I’d say. It was no wonder Reina fell for him.

“W-what brings you here?!”

“Well, I’m planning to participate in the ball this year.”

“Whaaat?!” Again, un-Reina-like scream.

The surrounding students looked over in surprise, too.

At that time, I suddenly turned my gaze to Tayte.

Her lips were tightly pressed together, her hands clenched in front of her chest, and her eyes—filled with encouragement—were directed at Reina.

Could it be that… Tayte knew that Reina was interested in Mr. Abel? That explained the ‘This is your chance!’ pose.

Was Tayte’s encouragement conveyed?

“M-Mr. Abel!”

“Yes?”

“It’s fine weather, today, isn’t it!”

“True that. I hope it will be the same on the day of the ball.”

“I completely agree!”

Nope, I couldn’t watch this anymore.

Reina was hopeless when it came to love affairs, huh.

…I see.

That was why Father ended up having to arrange a marriage meeting to bring the two together. She was nineteen at that time, if I wasn’t mistaken. It was still too young of an age to get married in my opinion, but was it not so in this world?

…There was no helping it.

Let’s throw her a lifeboat.

“Mr. Abel, you said you will be participating in the ball… Have you already had a partner?”

“?! B-Barrett?! What are you asking?!”

My sister, you were too agitated.

“No, I haven’t… I wonder if there is a girl who hasn’t got a partner yet, either …” With that, Mr. Abel glanced at Reina.

Oh?

Could it be that… Mr. Abel was also interested in Reina?

“I-I still haven’t had a partner yet myself! If you’d like, we could… go together…”

“For real? That’ll be great!”

And so, Reina would be having Mr. Abel as her dance partner.

Still… did Mr. Abel come to invite Reina from the start?

As I was thinking, my eyes met Mr. Abel—and he gave me a wink.

So, he did come to invite Reina from the start.

――Please make my sister happy.

The now I would never do anything to put her in a dilemma like Barrett did in the original storyline.