The atmosphere in the office became much brighter after the pending problems cleared up.
"It's delicious."
Forli finally had a taste of Ekaterina's cooking and squinted his eyes at the meal. Then he looked at Alexei and Ekaterina.
"I was kind of surprised that My Lady cooked for her brother. But more than that, I'm happy that both of you have good relationships."
Forli had the dignified air of an ancient warrior, but when his eyes were extremely gentle when he looked at the pair of siblings.
"Lord Forli, you're calling Brother 'Young Lord', right?"
"Yeah. It's my willfulness as an elder. I'll call him that until he graduates from this academy."
Alexei bitterly smiled. "I can't win against Mister Forli. Ekaterina, he was our grandfather's classmate in this academy."
"That's right. He was an awe-inspiring person, but I called him Sergei, and we made some mischief together. Looking back, we had a good time… I wish Young Lord could be a teenager a little longer."
Did mischief together, huh… In a serial drama, that will be a flashback episode of the friendship between older people.
I see. Lord Forli wasn't treating Brother as a child. He wanted to have Brother experience how it felt to be a child, even if it's just for a little while. After all, the environments forced Brother to grow up faster.
He sounds to be a close friend of Grandfather, and he worries a lot about the great-grandson of his friend.
"But the friendship between women is beautiful. My Lady, is she your cooking friend?"
Ekaterina gratefully took the chance given from Forli and spoke, "Everyone, I would like to introduce her to you. She's Flora Czerny. She's my classmate and my teacher in cooking."
Flora politely bowed under the focus of the older men, then she shook her head, her cherry-blossom-colored hair fluttering.
"Teacher… No, Miss Yurinova is so good that I wonder if you have learned how to cook before. I didn't teach you anything."
"No need to be humble. You are very skillful at cooking and good at teaching. His Highness also told us that today's dishes are delicious, right?"
"His Highness?" Alexei asked.
"His Highness stopped us in the corridor earlier. He was interested in our cooking, so we gave him one. He told us that it's delicious. Right, Miss Flora?"
Ekaterina intended to insinuate the flag between Flora and the prince, but the executives of Yurinova's territory exchanged glances at once.
"Brother, do you have a friendly relationship with His Highness? He knows my name."
"You're in the same age as His Highness. I'm sure he also pays attention to you."
"By the way, Brother, do you know someone who's called Vladimir? He seems to be His Highness' acquaintance. He has pale purple hair."
Immediately, Alexei's expression turned grim. "Vladimir Yurimagna. He's from one of the Three Great Dukes family, the heir of the Yurimagna family… Did he talk to you?"
"Eh? No… He didn't."
Yeah, he didn't talk to us. It's more like he was scaring us a little.
I see. He's from the Yurimagna family, huh.
Did the Three Great Duke families hate each other because of their rivalry? How childish.
"So that person is the heir. He's different from Brother, but he acts like he's going to be important in the future," I couldn't stop myself from dissing him with a bright smile.
To be fair, his attitude toward the prince was unbecoming. He couldn't be compared with Brother too.
What a shame. Vladimir had the same name as the dog-loving leader of Russia who governed for an extended period in my previous life, but he wasted his chance. Do your best, really.
Alexei smiled. "Vladimir is outstanding, but he has some bad habits. That includes getting involved with the opposite sex, so don't be too close to him."
"Yes, Brother. I'll do as you say."
So he's a philanderer! Brother, he's a philanderer, right?
Or maybe he's the kind of guy who misunderstood that all women fell in love with him even if they just called him out?
When I was a student in my previous life, I had a terrible experience with that kind of person. Please don't worry since I would refuse to get involved with him no matter what.
"By the way, Miss Czerny is the daughter of Baron Czerny family, right? If I remember right, your family's territory is on the eastern side of the Angar region, right?" Forli asked.
Flora slightly widened her eyes and smiled. "We have no territory. It seems like they sold it a long time ago. The Czerny family is now living in a small rented house in the imperial city. It's a nice house with lots of flowers in the garden."
"...Ho."
Forli only nodded, but everyone else had complicated faces.
"We still have some money from selling the territory, but Lady Czerny does embroidery, her hobby, as a side job. My mother was a seamstress, and she became close to Lady Czerny through her profession. They both love cooking, so they exchanged recipes and so on… When my mother passed away, Lady Czerny said that I was like a grandson for her, so she adopted me. That's why, even though I'm a lady of a Baron family, I was born of a commoner."
Flora, who straightened her back and spoke calmly, was clean and dignified. Soft laughter spilled from her lips. "I'm sorry to make you listen to something unpleasant. But Miss Yurinova, we are too unbalanced. You have been treating me kindly. It's fun cooking with you. However, even if you're the same age as me, I realize that we live in completely different worlds. That's my impression when I see you openly expressing your opinions on Duke Yurinova's territory's major problems. Miss Yurinova, staying with me will bring ridicule from those living in the same world with you."
"Eh?" Ekaterina said, her eyes widened.
Wait, what are you talking about? As soon as she thought so, she recalled. That Flora also heard Vladimir's mocking when he called her "shameless."
"Miss Yurinova is a kind person. I'm sure you will tell me that you don't mind. That's why, Your Excellency… I'd like you to make a decision. Please tell me whether I'm worthy of being her friend or not."
Upon hearing Flora's words, Alexei raised his eyebrows. Then he nodded. "I appreciate it that you bring this up. My sister has been away from social affairs until now, so she doesn't know much about the world… Sorry, but I want her to learn how she should behave."
"Brother!"
Ekaterina stood up at once. Flora gently pulled her sleeve and whispered, "Miss Yurinova, we might trouble His Excellency as well."
"......"
Ekaterina swallowed the words at the tip of her tongue. Instead, she said, "Brother… Please talk with me later."
"I understand."
Alexei nodded, and Ekaterina sat back on the chair.
XxxX
After the lunch was over, Ekaterina confronted Alexei at the corner of the office.
"Ekaterina…" Alexei had a troubled face. He said in a soft voice, "I'm sorry if I act like I'm dismissing your kindness. But your status and your world are very different from hers. And you'll have to face a constant struggle with your classmates. Learning the appropriate behaviors and ways of thinking is necessary to protect you. Please understand me, Ekaterina."
How should I reply? I had too much to say that no words came out of my mouth.
"Ekaterina…!" Alexei suddenly gasped. "I'm sorry, I… please, please don't cry. Ekaterina…"
I'm not crying, though… as soon as I thought so, I realized that my vision was blurred. Drops of tears spilled out of my eyes.
I shook my head as Alexei reached out to me. This was the first time I refused to be touched by Alexei since I regained my previous life's memory.
"Brother, you're disrespecting her because her social standing is different from us... Just like Grandmother, who oppressed Mother because she's born as a princess…"
Alexei turned rigid.
Oh no. I said something cruel. How could I compare him with that damned old woman?
Why did everything become this messy?
At that time, the bell rang.
"I'm sorry, Brother."
Let's withdraw and make another plan.
Ekaterina turned her heels and ran away from that place with short steps.
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