I Don't Trust My Twin Sister

It was said to be dust, but in fact, it was quite a burden to spend 100,000 gold coins at once. Of course, hers was not a family that would stumble like this, and considering the accumulated wealth, it deserved to be called ‘only’. Still, I had to hope for good results as I had poured the entire budget of the empire for a year. Even if there is a business I am working on, an investment without any results would eventually trap my feet. That’s why I tried to proceed with the businesses I knew step by step.

“Roa.”

I looked up as my grandfather entered the room and called me affectionately. After thanking my grandfather for handing out the letter, I tore off the end of the letter with a paper knife.

Dear Lady Laurencia.

It had nice handwriting. The recipient did not have to look closely. Ian was the only one who informed me of the situation in the form of a letter rather than a report. About a week ago, she decided to meet him again. In the meantime, they went to the bank together and issued 100,000 gold coins and put them in front of Ian. I did not stop there, but sent several people from the upper ranks with whom I was personally acquainted and instructed them to help with the work.

I remembered the simple Ian, biting his lip at my treatment and saying thank you over and over again. But I was grateful. I didn’t know if the people I put on to help with my work were actually monitoring so that I didn’t think anything stupid. Still, it was true that the people I sent to the Duchy of Berdian had pretty good skills, so Ian felt much more at ease. That’s why he could send me a letter every day with the things that happened in the past like this.

“It looks like a letter with good things.”

“What?”

When I raised my head, my grandfather smiled.

“You smile every time you read a letter from Grand Duke Berdian.”

“Is that so? Well, I…”

I smiled and put the letter back in.

“Actually, I was worried a lot. If you, who hates parties, said you were going to the party of Grand Duke Berdian, something would happen, or you would get lost in an unfamiliar place.”

“Ah, I’m not a child, and next month is my coming-of-age ceremony. I’ll be an adult soon.”

When I smiled, my grandfather laughed loudly and stroked my hair gently. I glanced up at my grandfather.

“Yeah, that’s right. You’re all grown up. To think that you’ve grown up so much that you dated and met your partner in person.”

“…what?”

I looked at my grandfather, who was deeply moved, with a puzzled look.

“Isn’t it? Aren’t love letters flying in every day?”

“It can’t be. It’s just like a report.”

“No one laughs like that when they see a report, Roa.”

Was it wrong to laugh? It was natural to smile whenever things went well. I just laughed at the thought that the things going on gradually would change the future wonderfully, but he saw it as a relationship and…

“But no. You know him.”

“Om… definitely not.”

“Of course, you are the guy I like the most.”

It was an openly known fact that the Grand Duke of Verdian was a sodomy. If it was a rumor, the principality would have stepped forward, no, Ian would have put the rumor to rest. But he was quiet, and in a world where silence speaks for itself, that has long since become a truth.

“Dating with a sodomy… I’m going to go get the clothes. Isn’t that right, Nar?”

The large German Shepherd who had been sleeping next to me pricked up his ears and looked up at me. He stroked the head of the guard dog, who looked ferocious but acted cutely, and his tail moved gently. cute thing.

“But don’t believe such rumors too much.”

“Ah, Grandpa. I just think that’s true…”

“Remember when I said that what you thought was true might be a lie?”

In terms of education, he was a strict grandfather. It was the teaching of one who did his best to play to pass on all his own experience and knowledge.

“The best lies are hidden in the best truths, isn’t it?”

“I’m glad you remember.”

With a smile, I approached the desk and looked away from my grandfather who was sitting down, staring at the envelope lying on the desk. It’s the best lie… Among business people, it was a word that sounded like faith. If you want to hide a certain truth, you can tell the most plausible lie and then make the lie seem true.

If so, I didn’t understand why they spread rumors about Ian being sodomy. No matter how much religious values were falling, sodomy was definitely a factor that could be considered a problem. There’s no reason to carry it around. So, there was only one conclusion. Ian liked men.

“That’s all.”

“What did you say?”

“No, I didn’t say anything.”

After turning around with a smile, I was about to go back to work when my grandfather’s voice came flying through.

“As Roa said before, I bought an abandoned mine and explored it a little more. It’s definitely too early to call it an abandoned mine. A little more ore has still been discovered underground.”

A story circulated before I returned to the past. It was said that the iron mine in the Knox Mountains, which was said to have dried up 40 years ago, was not actually an iron mine. However, the mine was not actually an iron mine, but a mine rich in diamonds. Given that there are only two diamond mines in the empire, the value of diamond mines skyrockets. The conflict between the two factions, the owner of the imperial mine and the newly discovered one, caused a bloody catastrophe and became a very big topic. And at this point, when the mine had not yet been discovered to be a diamond mine, it could make huge profits if it was purchased and investigated in advance.

100,000 gold coins? It’s not even a funny number. A million or even two million diamond mines were enough. So I was able to hand over 100,000 gold coins to the man without hesitation. When Ian and I went to the bank and returned to the mansion, my grandfather asked me what the blank check was for. It was an important issue because the scale of the amount was definitely enormous.

The Ajstein family made frugality a top priority. The ancestors’ theory was that if money was given at random without doing so, it would not last long because many people would be jealous and envious. So it was only natural for him to ask where I used the 100,000 gold coins. As I prepared in advance, ‘The Principality of Berdian has been in charge of the country’s defense, but it has not received support from the imperial family, so it has piled up debt. That’s why I invested for my social vocation.’ The word ‘vocation’ that I put into my mouth was my grandfather’s favorite word. Sure enough, Grandpa didn’t talk about this any more. Growing up under a grandfather who was sure to make ends meet, why couldn’t I do that? He lamented and sighed again.

“Come to think of it, are the preparations going well? The party to be held next week in Ajstein’s main castle.”

“No, so suddenly… What kind of party?”

“Not suddenly. Didn’t you tell me before?”

That guy had parties every day, how much does it cost to have one! Grandpa smiled and looked at me. What?

“Yours and Ersia’s coming-of-age party.”

“Oh…”

Oops, I see, the coming-of-age party was around this time. Things I thought were trivial remained dim in my memory. It may be an important ceremony for others, but for me, the date of signing a business contract was more deeply embedded than this.

“So we’re going to go to the main castle within this week. We’re going back for a while, but Roa is the main character, so shouldn’t we prepare clothes?” The coming-of-age ceremony outfit was a little different from other dresses.”

If I remember correctly it was a one-piece dress in plain yellow and black. Ordinary clothes that couldn’t be sober. However, I absolutely hated that dress.

“People can’t tell the difference between Roa and Ersia, so we prepared separate outfits. Ersia is yellow, and Loa is black.”

Most of the time when we went to important parties, Ersia and I wore clothes of the same design only in different colors. Contrasted dark and light colors to make the difference stand out.

I used to choose a lot of slightly dark clothes for my weaker sister. Usually, in the past, it didn’t matter. But at the coming-of-age ceremony, the story was a little different. Unlike the usual voluminous, ankle-length dresses, first-year dresses were usually not wide and long. As a result, matching a black dress made her look like a clergyman or a funeral suit. In fact, after wearing a black dress at my coming-of-age ceremony, I heard a lot of comments that my personality looked gloomy and sullen. On the contrary, Ersia was called a beautiful girl in a hospital bed. She didn’t like it at that time. It was no big deal, she thought, to give up her yellow dress for her sick, bedridden sister. Besides, although I’ve been told that she looks sullen and gloomy, she has a fucking Beralt next to me telling me he loved me.

I was stupid. I was really stupid. Once my stomach turned around, I thought maybe from the day Beralt visited the mansion, he had been meeting Ersia from behind. Of course, nothing was confirmed.

Maybe if it was me before, she would have laughed and said it was okay. She would have made concessions for her sister. For that reason, she was born only 3 minutes early. But not now.

“Grandfather.”

“Yes, Roa.”

I had done it before, so he must have thought that I would accept it this time as well. But I couldn’t help but spit out. What I didn’t like was what I didn’t like.

“I’m sorry, but I want to wear bright clothes this time too.”

“…”

I’m sorry, Grandpa, as embarrassing as it may be, I didn’t want to give up the day. I didn’t want to hear that it looks like an infringement because of my sister who pretended to be for me.

“So.”

My grandfather answered in a heavy voice and then tilted his head. He would have a lot of trouble. Normally, I would have yielded, but not this time.

“Okay. Then I’ll instruct Ercia to prepare a design with yellow and Roa a mix of yellow and black with a bit more yellow in them. Is that okay?”

I smiled at my grandfather’s foresight, who quickly reached a compromise, and nodded his head. From the look of my grandfather who let out a shallow sigh, he seemed to have a lot of thoughts. I wondered if I was being stubborn for no reason… but I couldn’t help it. I didn’t want to look worse than Ersia.

* * *

“A coming-of-age ceremony?”

Ian, who received the report, twitched his eyebrows. Ian frowned in displeasure as he caught the allusive remarks made by the person Laurencia had sent him.

“When is it?”

“Next week, it will be held at the Ajstein Territory’s main castle. Didn’t you get an invitation?”

It must be piled up somewhere. All party invitations were collected by the butler. It was a consideration for the owner, who was not particularly interested in attending. The butler made a report every few days, but Ian didn’t remember because he didn’t listen unless he judged it was necessary for some reason. Perhaps it was the result of the butler, who did not yet know his relationship with Laurencia, so he did not take Laurencia’s invitation lightly like other invitations.

“I didn’t get it.”

“Yeah, that’s right. It’s strange. She should have sent it.”

The man Laurencia had sent scratched his cheek and slipped away.

Ian turned his head and looked out his window. Not long ago, he remembered a dark-haired woman in this room talking boldly with him. It was hard to see her as a girl of her age, no, an ordinary aristocratic girl, who would change her eyes in an instant and press on him with a single smile. Somehow, she made a strange contract, but now he considered it fortunate. Because he thought he could erase the rumors that had only raised doubts.

But even so, she went through her coming-of-age ceremony without even asking him, her prospective fiancé, to be her partner, right? The coming-of-age ceremony was a very important event even though it seemed insignificant. To be in a place like that and leave out the one who would marry her.

Ian grinned. In the meantime, he sent more than five letters, but there was no reply, and this time, he heard about the coming-of-age ceremony from someone else. Instead of replying, she sent a substitute to convey her opinion, but it would have been better if it had been written by herself. You may have missed the invitation to the party this time too, but if you handed it over to the deputy.

He laughed lightly as he called the butler to attend the coming-of-age ceremony. His eyes flashed.