The library was completely deserted except for a single hunched figure. She was sitting on the floor with a book in her hands, not reacting at all to my approach. She was either too immersed in the text to notice my arrival or was intentionally ignoring me.

“I thought I’d find you here.”

Christine didn’t respond. Ignoring me it is then. Not put off, I made my way over to her.

“Are you alright?” I asked her gently. My sister flipped to the next page with her typical ice princess nonchalance. “That woman’s behavior was unacceptable. If you want, you can talk to your big brother about it.”

The girl continued to ignore me.

“Well if you don’t want to talk yet, that’s fine. I’ll just read with you and keep you company.”

I finally got a reaction, but not the one I was hoping for. Her breath froze and the fingers holding on to the next page twitched.

Slowly, she looked up from the book.

I unconsciously gulped as I saw the smoldering embers of fury in her eyes. It was like all of the world’s hate was contained within those two azure orbs, so much like the ones I saw staring back at me in the mirror every morning.

Sis, you’re not going to kill me, are you?

Christine took a deep breath, then flung her book to the side. A few pages separated from its spine and scattered in the wind.

“...!”

The girl rose to her feet. She barely reached my shoulders, but right then I felt as if I was in front of Mount Vesuvius right before-

“ISN’T IT ENOUGH!?”

It erupted.

I stared at her in mute shock as she launched into a rage filled, teary rant.

“Even here? Do you have to take away the last place where I can feel at ease!? You already stole the only person who listens to me without expectations or judgement! What did I ever do to you!? Driving away Albert didn’t work, so you decided to just show him how much smarter you are without even trying, is that it!? So what if you’re better than me at everything, don’t you think I feel terrible enough about it!? Ugh!”

“Do you have to rub my nose in your freedom!? The fact that you can keep a pet or skip Ms. Perrins’ lessons using such a stupidly obvious lie without our parents giving you hell over it!? Leaving me alone with that woman when you know how she much she despises me, giving her more opportunities to…” The girl shivered and her clenched fists shook. “Every time I make a mistake she calls me a worthless excuse for a lady, but I never asked for any of this!!!”

“You, you’ve already, you have EVERYTHING! What did I ever do to deserve this? No matter what you do, our parents have never said… they don’t…! The way they look at you, the way they treat you, it’s completely different! Why? Aren’t we both their children? Aren’t we only a year apart? Why is there such a huge gulf between us!? TELL ME! All my life they’ve treated me like a chess piece or something to be traded off! The only thing they see when they look at me is a connection to the royal family! No matter how hard I work, that’s all I’m worth to them!”

Her last few words were barely intelligible. She was almost hysterical while screaming at me, and tears steadily flowed down her face.

“I HATE YOU!”

That, however, was said with perfect clarity.

She turned on her heel and I knew that she was about to run away again. If I let her go now that would be the end. No matter what I did in the future, I’d never be able to fix my relationship with her, and there would be no escaping our family’s destruction.

Time seemed to slow down as the gears turned rapidly in my head. This was terrible, she truly hated me down to her bones. At this rate, instead of being rehabilitated, Christine will end up even more twisted than her original self! There was only one chance to salvage this, I had to bet it all on one move, the most powerful attack in this genre!

With speed I didn’t know I was capable of, I reached out and grabbed her arm. She glared at me with a furious expression.

“Let go! I’ve had enough! Leave me-”

“I’m sorry.”

And I pulled her into a tight hug.

“I’m sorry. I’m really, really sorry.”

Her momentum disappeared. As if the wind had been taken out of her sails, Christine stopped thrashing around. She looked at me with a dumbfounded, but still mad expression.

“What… what do you think you’re doing? Let go of me.”

“I am so sorry Christine. That was never my intention. I’ve been a failure of a big brother, never realizing how much pain you were in or that you felt so alone.”

She shivered. The girl tried to push me away, but I didn’t let her go. Her hands frantically clawed and dug at me, causing pain to shoot up my arms, but I still held fast.

“You… stop lying! How could you not know, I asked you! Back then I went to you so many times! I knocked on your door, I cried outside your room, and you told me to go away! You never cared at all! Why now!?”

Her frustrated voice made it obvious that she was on the verge of tears again.

Fucking Alexander. Son of a… I heaped a million curses on the bastard’s soul, wherever it might be. No wonder this child became so twisted.

Why only now? A valid question sis, but I can’t exactly tell you truth.

It’s because your real brother was an irredeemable jackass who didn’t care about you, and I’m a blind idiot who somehow made things worse. I thought making up with her was just a matter of treating her more nicely than Alexander would have and time would do the rest, never realizing just how deep her wounds ran. While I was fooling around with maids without a care in the world, this poor girl was struggling under a mountain of pressure and unrealistic expectations. Tonight must have strained her past the breaking point.

“I’m sorry. You might never be able to forgive me for pushing you away, but I was a child back then too and I didn’t understand anything.” I hugged her tighter. “If I could turn back time I would. I’m so sorry.”

“...Stop. I don’t want to hear it, it’s too late for that!”

“I should have been there for you. Please forgive your foolish brother.”

“Why…no! Shut up, just let go…”

I loosened my hug. Instead, I grabbed her shoulders and looked her straight in the eyes.

“Christine. Sis. I let you down, but I promise that from now on, I’ll always be on your side. Whether you want help standing up to our parents, or just someone to vent to, I’ll always be here. And the first thing I’ll do is give that bitch Ms. Perrins a piece of my mind.”

How dare she bully my cute little sister. If I had known how bad it was earlier, I would have chased her out no matter what the cost.

“Stop. Stop lying.” Her voice was trembling uncontrollably. “You’re trying to hurt me. You can’t actually mean…”

“I mean it, and I love you. We’re family.”

...

Her body shook, and the dam finally burst.

Christine let out a loud wail and buried her face in my chest. The girl who had always put up a strong front was now crying like a helpless baby. With every sob her frail body seemed like it was letting out years of pent-up resentment, loneliness, and anger.

As I held the crying young lady in my arms, patting her on the back from time to time, a single thought ran through my head.

This was baaad.

No, don’t get me wrong, I’m glad that I’ve finally reconciled with my sister and most likely prevented her fall to darkness. But this was baaad.

Before this, I could have just left at any time I wanted. Even if saving House Halesworth didn’t work out or if it became too troublesome, there was always the option to drop everything and sail overseas. Wandering the world was a perfectly reasonable backup plan. Since I thought of all this as a ‘transaction’, with Alexander’s lifestyle as my payment, I was willing to cut my losses at any time. But now…

I’ve gotten attached. To the villainess of Lost in Love, no less.

I don’t know how much I meant those earlier words, spoken in my panicked, desperate haste to calm her down. I don’t know whether I’m even capable of understanding the weight of family, having been estranged from my own for most of my previous life. But I did know that Christine was definitely more than just a character in a game to me now.

How was I supposed to abandon everything after I promised to always be there for her?

Well. It’s not all bad, I suppose.

If the situation ever gets to the point that I have to run for my life, I just need bring this little sister with me. And Emma too if she’s willing to come along. How hard could it be?