After playing with the Baby Dragon to my heart's content, I was resting when Yohrn knocked on the door.

Even though it was still quite a while before dinner.

When I asked what had brought him here, the young attendant replied cheerfully,

"Today's the day you'll be introducing your Familiar to the family, isn't it? I thought it'd be nice if you looked your best, so I came to help you get ready~!"

I had absolutely no desire to introduce Yor to the members of the Austri family.

But the thought of introducing Yor while looking shabby was even more unpleasant.

So I happily accepted Yohrn's help.

With a little acting mixed in.

"I never expected you to be thoughtful about something like this... Th-Thank... you..."

As I spoke in a fading voice, unnecessarily fiddling with my hair and avoiding eye contact, the young attendant's face immediately filled with pride and delight.

"I'm only doing what's natural! I'm Young Master Karvaldr's attendant, after all!"

"That's right. Yohrn, you are my attendant."

"Hehe. Then let's start by changing your clothes!"

Under Yohrn's devoted care, I changed into attire that leaned more toward formal wear than casual clothing.

Afterward, I sat before a mirror and entrusted my hair to his hands while casually asking a question.

"Come to think of it, since there's a family dinner tonight, does that mean my older brother is here as well?"

"Yes, that's right. The Second Young Master arrived around last night."

Not only did Yohrn answer my question, he even provided the exact timeframe of Valtraus's arrival at the ducal castle.

Thanks to that, I didn't have to ask any follow-up questions.

"Weren't both my older sister and older brother staying at the townhouse in the capital before coming here? Then why did they arrive separately?"

"Well...? The Princess of a Ducal House had some business to attend to in the capital this morning, so perhaps the Eldest Young Master returned ahead of her?"

"Even then, they could have waited and traveled together. Could it be... that the two of them don't get along very well?"

Among the materials the family had provided, there was almost no information about the members of the Austri family.

Names, ages, and current positions.

That was all.

Then again, the person who compiled those materials was the Duke's closest aide among the vassals.

Things like the personalities of the Duke's children and how they treated one another...

Nobody would dare commit those kinds of evaluations to paper.

Since I didn't need to hide Karvaldr's memory loss from them, there was no reason to pretend my memories were intact in front of the older siblings.

Besides, the original novel barely explained anything about Karvaldr's siblings.

Which was only natural.

Karvaldr's lonely upbringing and lack of affection were already sufficiently conveyed through Hárðr's treatment of him.

Spending page count on every family member of a villainous supporting character would have been pointless.

As a result, I knew absolutely nothing about the first and second children of this family.

That was why I had brought up the topic before attending dinner.

I wanted at least a minimal amount of information.

Unfortunately, Yohrn's answer remained vague.

"Well... I don't think their relationship is bad enough to put it that way...? Since you'll be meeting them soon anyway, wouldn't it be more accurate to see them yourself and decide?"

He was still young, but it seemed he'd been properly trained not to speak carelessly about the people he served.

His attempt to dodge the question was obvious.

And while he hadn't technically said anything wrong, I hadn't asked just to receive an answer like that.

"But still... I need at least some basic information so I can prepare myself mentally, don't I?"

"Mental preparation?"

"While riding in the carriage together, I could clearly see how indifferent my older sister was toward me. But if she gets along well with my older brother, then my feelings would be a little... how should I put it? Ah, it's not that I'm hoping their relationship is bad. That would be awkward in its own way..."

I lowered my eyes and muttered quietly, deliberately tinging my words with bitterness.

The effect was immediate.

"You don't need to worry about that! Since they're competing for the position of successor, their relationship isn't exactly close. But it's not bad enough for them to be mortal enemies, either, so you won't have to walk on eggshells between them, Young Master."

As though he had never been reluctant to speak, everything I wanted to know immediately spilled out of Yohrn's mouth.

Pretending to feel relieved, I murmured, "That's fortunate," before asking another question.

"What was their attitude toward me? And what was my attitude toward them?"

"Well, first, regarding the Princess of a Ducal House... since you traveled with her in the carriage, you probably already noticed. She's very... cold? No, 'distant' would probably be a better word. But you, Young Master, followed after her quite faithfully."

"Even though my older sister was indifferent to me?"

"Ah... yes......"

"Come to think of it, my older sister resembles Father quite a lot. Was that the reason?"

"Rather than that... I think you may have viewed her as a substitute for the late Duchess."

"Hearing that, I think you're right."

I nodded in agreement.

Since Karvaldr's mother had died giving birth to him, he had no memories of her whatsoever.

Whether Ragfrid's appearance and personality resembled Hárðr's to an extreme degree or not was irrelevant.

Simply being a female sibling ten years older than him made it plausible that he would have projected a maternal role onto her.

Especially because Hárðr had failed to fulfill that role himself.

"And what about my relationship with my older brother?"

"Well... the Eldest Young Master is a little..."

"A little...?"

"...Since it seems you'd like to prepare yourself mentally, I'll be honest."

Yohrn hesitated, but when our eyes met through the mirror, he steeled himself.

"He openly disliked you, Young Master. That's why you avoided him."

"The reason?"

"I don't really know... Even before I came to the ducal castle, the relationship between the two of you was already like that..."

"Even so, you must have overheard things while working here, right? Surely, as my personal attendant, you weren't completely uninterested in why my older brother disliked me?"

The pitiful act worked astonishingly well on this young attendant.

Just like before.

The moment I looked disappointed and dejected, Yohrn hurriedly opened his mouth.

"No, no! That's not it...! What I'm about to tell you is only something I've heard. It's not certain, so please keep that in mind. I was only trying to make that clear first. And... if possible, I'd appreciate it if you kept it a secret that I told you."

"Don't worry. There's no benefit in letting family matters become known outside the household. And within the ducal castle, you're the only person I'm close to. Who would I even tell?"

"Ah......"

Yohrn let out an involuntary sigh.

His hand, which had been arranging my hair, stopped completely.

Perhaps my pitiful act had been a little excessive.

Still, I got the explanation I wanted.

"The Duchess passed away while giving birth to you, Young Master, didn't she? Some people said that was the reason."

It was such a stereotypical answer—no, such an obvious answer—that I felt momentarily bewildered.

Perhaps he'd been reluctant to mention it because it was such a cliché.

Come to think of it, wasn't Valtraus supposed to be seven years older than Karvaldr?

If the novel's setting had been modern rather than fantasy, Valtraus would've lost his mother around the time he first entered elementary school.

From a child's perspective, resenting the younger brother connected to that loss was understandable.

But for him to still be carrying that resentment into adulthood?

That was another matter entirely.

"That's not my fault, is it?"

"Exactly! You were simply born, Young Master!"

"If anyone deserves blame, shouldn't it be Father for failing to use proper contraception?"

"Th-That would be difficult to say... wouldn't it...?"

Yohrn instinctively agreed with me before realizing who my criticism was directed at.

He immediately tried to backtrack.

Even though the only ones in the room were Yor, Yohrn, and me.

I'd already known this, but Yohrn couldn't truly be considered completely on my side.

"Anyway, thank you, Yohrn. Thanks to you, I think I'll be able to stay calm no matter what my older brother says to me."

"I'm so glad I could be of help, Young Master. Hehe."

A few minutes after our conversation ended, my hair was finally finished.

After selecting several accessories and dressing me up with them, the young attendant picked up a boar-bristle paddle brush and approached Yor.

I brush Yor's mane every day too, but...

For some reason, after the attendant's hands passed over it, Yor's fur became incomparably smoother and shinier.

Despite using the exact same brush.

As expected, a professional was different.

I'd have to learn exactly what he was doing before I returned to the Academy.

Even after finishing Yor's grooming, the expert's hands continued moving.

He tied a luxurious silk scarf bearing an elaborate crest around Yor's neck and fastened it in place using one of Karvaldr's brooches.

The scarf had to be uncomfortable.

Yet instead of tearing it off, Yor fluttered over to me and proudly showed off her decorated appearance.

How can something this cute, cool, and lovable possibly exist...?

The fact that I wasn't holding a smartphone right now was a source of immense regret.

Praying for the rapid invention of personal cameras, I left the room with Yor.

By the time we arrived at the dining hall, all the seats were still empty.

Following the guidance of the old butler waiting there, I took the seat one position away from the head of the table.

According to seniority, the family's first and second children would occupy the seats to the left and right of the head seat.

The familiars' seats are over there?

Along one side of the dining hall, three plush rugs had been arranged at even intervals.

They practically proclaimed:

"This is where the familiars sit."

But as one might infer from the phrase three rugs, there wasn't a place prepared for Yor.

At the moment, Yor sat beside me.

More specifically, she occupied the seat two places away from the head of the table.

A full set of cutlery, a water glass, and a folded napkin had even been prepared in front of her.

Something like this could never have happened without Hárðr's approval.

Did he hear that Yor can use utensils and want to verify it himself? Or is he trying to see up close whether her eyes are truly sky blue?

He might have no interest in his youngest child, but he certainly seemed interested in the Familiar.

Whatever his intentions were, I only hoped he wouldn't say anything unpleasant to Yor.

I was absentmindedly stroking the Baby Dragon's head when—

the Second Child of the Austri family entered the dining hall alongside a pure white cheetah.