165 - Side Story: Leonardo's Perspective - My Little Sister 10
Tina, who had been thrashing about while spitting curses like "go bald," had calmed down by the time we reached the residence. Whether she had grown tired of yanking out my hair strand by strand, or simply worn herself out from fighting, I could hear her sleeping breaths from behind me. If she was tired, I wanted to let her sleep like this, but I knew it would be bad for her to sleep in clothes still wet from the river. After ordering Bart and Tabitha to prepare a bath, I set Tina down and shook her awake.
"Tina, we're home. First, let's get in the bath and warm up."
"Nnnh?"
Tina, set down on the carpet, opened her eyes slightly. Her face clearly showed she was trying to fall asleep for real. The anger from earlier was nowhere to be seen. She blinked her eyes sleepily.
"...Oscar, come here."
Tina, starting to walk toward the bathroom while being led by the hand by Kalisa, stopped once and looked back behind her. The black dog (Oscar), who had been following steadily behind, perked up his tail and closed the distance when Tina called him. When the black dog stood at Tina's side as called, Tina patted his head.
...How unusual. For Tina to call Oscar of her own accord.
Tina, who usually either ignored the black dog or acted as if he was not there, was calling him by name and patting his head today. The black dog had jumped in to save her when she was about to drown, so she must have had some feelings about that.
...Hm?
Tina glanced up, her blue eyes looking at my face. I waited a moment, thinking she might want to say something, but Tina immediately lowered her head and stroked Oscar's neck.
"Oscar is on my side, so I'll wash him."
He helped me, she said, and led the black dog into the bathroom. It was nothing special. She just took the form of thanking and showing gratitude to the black dog, and used it to spite her brother.
...Am I lower than a dog!?
She looked half-asleep, but Tina was thinking clearly. She was definitely still holding a grudge about the fight before she fell asleep.
The large bath on the first floor had been taken by Tina and the black dog, so today I used the small bath in my own room. It felt small because of my own build, but Tina usually used the same-sized bath in her room, so it should be plenty spacious by normal standards.
After warming my body and getting out of the bath, I looked over documents while drying my hair. The conversation with Tina was not over yet, so I wanted to go continue it, but it was better not to go near her until she finished her bath. I had that much sense.
"Leonardo, I'm coming in."
I had started reading documents to kill some time, but before I knew it, I was absorbed in them. I lost track of time for a moment, unable to tell how long had passed. But I could tell from the sunlight through the window that it was starting to get a little later in the day.
"That's rare, for you to leave your post."
"My job right now is guarding the Fortress Lord's residence. If there is an anomaly in the residence, I come to report it to the master of the residence."
When I turned my gaze from the window, Siegwald was standing in front of the desk. Siegwald had short legs, but he walked fast for that.
"...Did something happen?"
If there was an anomaly and he left his post to report it, that meant something had happened at the residence. I straightened my posture, waiting for the report to hear what kind of anomaly it was, but the report that came out of Siegwald's mouth was not significant enough for the Silver-White Knight to move over.
"Your little sister took a dog up to the third floor."
Apparently Tina had taken a dog, which was normally not allowed past the first floor, up to the third floor. Now that I heard it, it was a trivial report. But I could easily guess why Tina had taken such an action.
"...It's rebellion against me. I'll go warn her."
I could not help the roughness in my words toward my former superior as I stood up. I had planned to go to Tina after she got out of the bath anyway, so the timing was perfect. As I thanked him for the report and tried to leave the room, Siegwald called out for me to wait a moment.
"Do you have any idea why she would rebel against you?"
In front of Siegwald, Tina was a well-behaved child. Maybe Siegwald could not quite connect the idea of that Tina rebelling. With Siegwald grabbing me by the scruff of the neck and telling me to explain what happened, there was no escape. Since he had known me from boyhood to the present, he felt like a guardian in a way, bringing both a sense of reliability and guilt. There had even been talk of adopting me at one point, so perhaps he watched over me like a son as an extension of that. I had no memory of being cared for by my real parents the way Siegwald cared for me, so his paternal concern felt a little awkward. But it was never unpleasant.
"...Just hearing your side, Leo, is not fair."
After I told him the whole sequence of events from the river play, these were the words that came from Siegwald's mouth at the end. Crossing his thick arms and tilting his head, he said my story alone lacked fairness.
"But I do understand clearly that it was you, Leo, who made the little miss angry, not that kid Teo."
He said he would go hear Tina's side herself, and after driving home the point that I should absolutely not go near her room until he was done, Siegwald went up to the third floor. To the third floor, which he normally would not set foot on because it was the family's space. He usually maintained a certain boundary, saying his family and my family were separate, but perhaps this time he could not stay silent about my inadequacy.
It was around a late dinner time when Siegwald returned. When I asked about Tina's condition, he said she had fallen asleep while they were talking, so he came back without waking her.
...With Oscar too?
I wanted to warn him about not letting dogs onto the third floor, but Siegwald seemed to have forgotten about that. It could not be helped that Tina had fallen asleep, but I wished he had at least taken the black dog out of the room.
"Oscar is babysitting the little miss."
Siegwald began with this as an explanation to Bertrand, who had come to pick up the black dog today as well. It was not that Tina had pulled the black dog into her bed to sleep together, but rather that the black dog was watching over Tina.
"Not only letting him onto the third floor, but even into her bed..."
She had not even let the puppy she doted on into her bed, so this was quite a change. If I thought about whether she had grown that fond of the black dog, or whether her rebellious feelings toward me were that strong, it was probably the latter.
"...If she is being comforted by a dog, that is fine. Her brother seems to be useless."
"Did something happen?"
"At that young age, she is considering running away from home. It seems the brother is not functioning as a brother."
Saying that her heart seemed to be comforted by the dog, Siegwald started getting permission from Bertrand to loan out Oscar. Along with the helpful advice that I, as Tina's brother, should have been the first to make such a request.
"I do not mind lending Oscar out for a while, but will he be useful? I gave him an order to search for something... but he comes to that young lady's place every day and is not doing his work at all."
"At the very least, he is more useful than her brother."
Far from "at the very least," the black dog was actually properly carrying out the task he had been given. He had already found the owner of the ring Bertrand was searching for. More precisely, that person's keepsake.
"...So, with your sister taken by a dog, you are calmly having a meal?"
Alf asked what had happened, and I repeated the same explanation I had given Siegwald in the evening. That I had scolded Tina and she was sulking in her room.
"A report should include everything accurately, concealing nothing that puts you at a disadvantage, Leonardo."
"I am not hiding anything, Siegwald-dono."
"At the very least, the impression I get is quite different from the story I heard from the young lady."
After stating that, Siegwald told me the story from Tina's perspective, supplemented by Tina and Kalisa. The broad outline was indeed the same, but in that version, I was made out to be the one-sided villain. After hearing both stories, Alf closed his eyes and appeared to think for a moment, then stated clearly and decisively.
"Leonardo is at fault."
"Were you even listening to my story?"
"I was listening. I am judging based on what I heard."
As if confirming that his understanding was correct, Alf began organizing and explaining the story he had just heard. That I had gone to the river with the children to cool off. That when it was about time to go home, Tina had climbed onto the diving platform and was looking down at the water. That Teo had come over, grabbed Tina's arm, and jumped into the river with her. Up to that point, there was no difference between my story and Tina's. Teo surfaced immediately, but Tina did not come up for a while. I panicked and went into the river, but the black dog started pulling Tina before I could get to her.
"When you lifted Tina out of the river, she said to Teo, 'Die, you bastard.' That part is Tina's fault. She went too far."
"I also think she went too far, but Tina is a smart girl. When it was pointed out that she went too far, she admitted it. ...Tina must have been confused by you ignoring the proper order."
Whether it was going too far or not, the one who should have been scolded first was Teo, Alf said. The cause of Tina going too far was Teo's actions, and Teo's actions were dangerous behavior that anyone would say deserved scolding. Making someone jump from a diving platform by surprise was nothing but dangerous behavior in an adult's eyes. It was being overlooked because Tina was unharmed and safe, but even if he were not Tina's guardian, as an adult who witnessed the scene, he should have scolded Teo first.
"You should have admonished Tina for going too far after scolding Teo."
If the instigator, Teo, was blameless while only she was scolded, it was only natural for Tina to be unhappy. And on top of that, the one scolding her was her own brother. He was supposed to be the person who should have been most worried about Tina, the one who should have scolded Teo.
"...Do you understand that Teo is also your victim?"
"Teo?"
I had not done anything to Teo in particular. What kind of harm could Teo possibly have suffered from me? I had no idea what Alf was getting at, and when I urged him to continue, Alf let out a sympathetic sigh toward Teo.
"Teo had various issues at first, but lately he and Tina should have been getting along well."
Their seats were close at the Menhishumi Church, and they went out together to festivals and such, inviting each other along. They seemed to have occasional fights, but by the next class they would be acting together again as if nothing had happened, so they must have made up quickly. Lately, Teo should have been capable of apologizing to Tina.
"By getting in the middle and making Tina angry, did you not make Teo lose the chance to apologize to her?"
"...That way of thinking never occurred to me."
"Good for you. You learned something today."
Alf's voice as he said "You have gotten a little smarter, huh" was terrifyingly cold. When it was explained step by step, I truly was the worst offender, so perhaps it could not be helped.
"When Tina wakes up, apologize with all your heart."
"I am the one who apologizes first?"
"You are the one most at fault, and you got the order wrong. It is only natural that you apologize first."
"...I suppose so."
Suddenly, Tina's face when she had said "I'm running away from home" came to mind. Her usually expressive face had gone blank. I had seen that face of Tina's twice before. Once when she was burying Saromon's remains, and once right before she started crying at the memorial service. That was the face Tina made when she completely suppressed her emotions.
...Back then, Tina lost her brother this time too.
I myself was still alive and well, too energetic to die even if killed, but it must be different in Tina's heart. Her brother himself had betrayed Tina, who had finally started calling me her brother.
When I realized the meaning behind Tina's expression, the world before my eyes seemed to go dark. The blood drained from my face. I understood that I had shattered with my own hands the trust Tina had built in me over the course of a year. Tina had been trying to tell me properly that she was not just being stubborn as usual, or being contrary.
"...It has been a long time since Tina called me 'Leonardo-san.'"
"You spent a year getting her used to you, and then you yourself betrayed Tina. So this time, prepare yourself to take three years to regain her trust."
When I said three years was a bit too long, Siegwald, who had been silently listening until then, interjected with a strangely heartfelt remark. "Three years is short for calming a woman's anger." According to Siegwald, who was married, women were vengeful creatures, and underestimating them because they were young would lead to painful consequences. Since anger accumulated and swelled over time, it was absolutely best to avoid just leaving it alone, thinking it would eventually subside. Raising the white flag and surrendering early was the shortcut to minimizing damage. However, even then, if you could not convey sincere apology and reflection, there remained the danger of arousing even more anger.
"Observe carefully. Even if at first glance she looks like she is letting it go with an 'I'm over it, I don't care' face, the anger is still ongoing. It will absolutely not just go away on its own if you wait."
"That sounds like it comes from experience."
"My goddess of a wife gets jealous easily, you see."
Well, that just means she loves me that much, Siegwald said, ending with a boast. From the sound of it, she was a frightening wife, but he did not seem entirely displeased with her jealousy. Their marriage seemed to be going well, and their son was growing up properly and honestly.
"...Children really are difficult."
I planned to raise Tina until she became an adult, but could she grow up healthy under my care? I had only vaguely thought that I would raise my little sister to adulthood, but taking in and raising a child was not that simple or easy. Looking at just today's events, because I got a single order wrong, Teo and Tina remained on bad terms. If I had not gotten in the middle, they might have made up on the spot and that would have been the end of it.
"Of course raising children is difficult. There is no such thing as perfection in raising children."
The right answer was different for every child. And Tina, on top of being a child, was also a girl. Muttering words that were hardly comforting, that of course it was difficult, Siegwald gave a wry smile.
Come to think of it, Siegwald-sama, who should be a proper experienced parent, was staying at the residence, right? So Siegwald-sama handled about half of Alf's thunder. Next time, the women will not be this soft (not really).
I will fix typos and errors another day. I have corrected the typos and errors I found.