Ikemen ni Tenseishita kedo, Cheat ha Dekimasenshita

90 My Hobby is Fortune Telling
 

“Take a look, dear brother! A splendidly made ornament, right?!” Carol showed her handmade ornament to me proudly.

I saw that she had fixed lace, ribbon, spangle, beads, and flowers on the ready-made hexagram made from wood with glue. The middle of the wood hexagram was decorated gaudily with red and pink roses.

Still, even though it was something that was made during lunch, everyone’s ornament was simply too perfect.

“Yeah, it’s really splendid.”

I, on the other hand, used white clover and lotus for my hexagram since I prefer them over roses. To decorate it even further, I tried to make a lace that would connect them with a tiny rape blossom-like flower.

“The one that Big Brother Theo makes is so adorable. Meanwhile, I somehow end up making do with my favorite design,” Carol said as she looked at my ornament. Then, she tried to pluck the rose she had fixed onto her hexagram charm.

Of course, I stopped her. “What are you trying to do? It’s something that Carol made with her best effort, right? It’s such a waste to destroy it.”

“But, Big Brother Theo hates rose, right?”

“Well, I like the rose you made, though. It’s made by Carol, after all. You’re going to look really adorable when you wear this outside. Besides, there’s no need to force yourself to match your preference with mine.”

“Yes, Carol. Your handmade ornament is really cute. It’s such a waste to destroy it,” Wendy said, hugging Carol to comfort our little sister.

“I mean, Big Brother Theo….”

“Big Brother Theo had said he likes your design, right? There’s no need to force yourself to like the same thing as dear big brother. Besides, you won’t have enough time to make a new one too, right? Anyhow, if you really want to make the same thing as dear big brother, I happen to be making similar decoration on my ornament like his. Why don’t we make it together?”

“… Eh! You’re absolutely right, dear big sister. Let’s decorate the room with the one that’s already been made.”

Carol, who was initially crying, finally smiled sweetly after she heard Wendy’s suggestion. What a relief, it seemed that her mood got better. Fortunately the ornament that Wendy made was similar. Although, hers was using yellow, pink, and red colored flowers in the middle of white flower. It was a casual but smart decoration complete with flower, lace, and ribbon.

The ornament really showed Wendy’s image, though. I love it.

“Carol really love dear big brother, huh. Mine is done too,” Chester said with a dumbfounded expression.

I agree with him, but though I’m pleased that my sister loves me, I still didn’t understand why girls like to match up with someone. I never had and could never understand this.

“Yours is well made too, Chester. It’s quite elaborate.”

He didn’t use that many flowers. Unlike us, the center of his ornament was decorated with ribbon and lace that formed a geometrical pattern. In short, he created an elaborate hexagram within the hexagram with his limited materials.

It was truly a fine piece of art.

I meant, he wasn’t as zealous as this last year.

“The one who was zealous about lace work is you, dear brother. I mean, you even attached your lacework on your sleeve or the collar of your uniform. Truthfully, I think you’ve become even more zealous about lacework than last year.”

“Well, the thing is, I got many inspiration from the design book I bought a while ago. Hence, I ended up trying to make various things. Does it make me too gaudy?”

“It’s fine. The girls love it too…. The problem is, when it’s made by dear big sister, other girls still mistook it for something that you made.”

“I see. I guess you’re right. However, Luke and the others became rather distant whenever I talk about lacework… should I tell them it’s made by Wendy next time?”

“I don’t think you can do that. After all, I’m still not as skilled as you, dear brother. I mean, everyone ended up having some sort of overexpectation whenever I did lacework with them,” Wendy suddenly said, interrupting the conversation.

“But still, is my lacework really that popular? I mean, I just follow the instruction in the book, and I don’t think I make such a great arrangement either.”

“My knitting skill isn’t as beautiful as yours, dear big brother. I can’t make complex patterns yet. What you may say is quite simple is actually really difficult and high-level one,” Wendy said, voicing out her complaints with a pout evident on her face.

Was that truly the case? All I did was follow the instructions, though. [TL: Remember, this is the guy who allocated all his skill point on laceworks.]

While I was tilting my head in confusion due to hearing Wendy’s complaints, Chester patted Wendy’s back in consolation. “Big Sister, you can’t try to make Big Brother understand if the person himself doesn’t realize anything.”

After that, he suddenly played with a deck of cards, picked a few of them and lined them up on the table.

“Yeah, it’s a mystery how he doesn’t understand that he just accomplished such an awesome feat.”

Wait a minute, what do you mean, Sister? I’m just your normal average boy. What I did isn’t special at all.

“Well, it’s Theodore after all. I guess it really can’t be helped.”

Wait, not you too, Mama.

“Yes, Big Brother Theodore is so amazhing.”

Carol, why are you joining the band too? And looking so proud on top of that!

Everyone suddenly couldn’t stop laughing together, making me sigh inwardly. I honestly had no idea what they’re laughing for, but I suppose that was that.

A while later, Wendy and my mother took Carol for her afternoon nap when they saw her starting to doze off. So, I planned to go look for Kevin and the others for a light workout. However, when I stood up from my chair, Chester called out to me.

“Big Brother. Are you, by chance, in the middle of a quarrel with Big Sister Muriel?”

“Nope. We get along like usual. In fact, according to everyone else, we get along far too well to the point that they are annoyed by us,” I assured as I turned around and looked at Chester.

But he was staring at the card lined up on the table silently. The cards had portrait picture just like playing card. The difference was the fact it had no number. It was just a card with portrait. And currently, there was a card that was depicting thunder and tower in Chester’s hands.

“That’s a relief then. I mean, I had drawn a really ominous card for some reason.”

“Are you doing fortune-telling? Well, I won’t say anything, but make sure you do not do it within our parent’s vicinity. They hate fortune-telling, remember?”

Chester seemed to love fortune-telling and was really skilled with it. However, since he also knew that our parents hate fortune-telling, he never did this in front of them. He only did it when he was with me.

At first, his accuracy was really poor. However, as of late, his accuracy had become better and better.

“I understand. But, I still have this feeling that I had to do something about your situation no matter what. Big Brother, please be careful during the festival. I got a really bad feeling about this.”

Chester’s eyes as he looked at me was very serious. His gaze was so intense that it felt as if I’m being drawn in. Thus, I knew that his fortune-telling this time would come true for sure.

“I understand. I’ll be very careful— Am I going to have a quarrel with Muriel?”

“I don’t know. But the result say that you two are going to part wa— ouch, Big Brother.”

I unintentionally grabbed Chester’s arm before he managed to finish his words. Fortunately I snapped out of it immediately and released my grip on his arms.

“Sorry, but please don’t joke around like that.”

“I’m not joking, Big Brother. Look, the ‘Moon’ card is out too. It mean that your enemy might be hiding somewhere.”

Chester’s eyes were dead serious when he revealed the result of his divination to me. That gaze sent chills running down my spine, so I said, “I understand. I’ll be very careful. Sorry, did I hurt your arms?”

“Don’t worry, it’s okay. I’m sorry for saying something ominous too, Big Brother. I just get this feeling that I have to tell you about this no matter what.”

The moment I heard that, I hugged him and patted his head. I couldn’t not do so since he looked so dejected. I also felt bad for letting my emotion get the better of me since he was just worrying about me.

“Thanks, I’ll be very careful this time. That’s why, donn’t worry about me.”

“Yeah.”

“Well, you just finished your training a while ago, but want to have a light workout with me after this?”

""

“Sure! Big Brother, I can finally finish a form properly. Even Kevin praised my skill.”

“Wow, that’s amazing. Well, I have to see that for sure,” I said as we headed toward the training ground. All the while, chatting happily.

But… parting, and enemy, huh… Dammit, I have no idea what that was about, but I wish that Chester’s divination this time is wrong.

After a light workout, drenched in sweat, I headed toward the shower room along with Chester. By the time we finished, Father had also returned for dinner. Thus, for the first time in a long time, we gathered to have dinner together as a family.

Yeah, the most enjoyable meal was when everyone was able to eat together.

After dinner was over, I then gave a compilation of reports about various things that happened in the academy to my father. I had already notified him about that pink-head in my letter, but even Father told me that it was close to impossible to find out if that pink-head was truly the mad dog from long time ago.

However, that aside, the most worrying thing about her was the fact that the report about her during elementary and middle division was completely different from the reality.

“It seems she has no problem during the elementary and middle division. That’s why I’m really surprised to hear your opinion about her. If I have to say, your opinion is almost the same as the temple’s opinion about her— that’s why it makes the matter even more complicated.”

“Well, the report come from the academy in the baron’s territory after all. Isn’t it only natural for the staff to care about the baron’s daughter’s reputation?”

There was also that possibility. Father also nodded his head at this, as if he agreed with my opinion.

“But we still lack the definitive proof. The report from the baron territory and the report from the temple might simply be because the people reporting have different opinion. That’s why things become confusing since the temple’s opinion is the only different one.”

“… There must be a reason for that, right?”

“There might be, there might not be. I really can’t say anything in this regard right now. Anyway, another investigator is just dispatched, so we should wait,” Father said as he looked at me.

“― But you have to pay attention too, alright? It’s to prevent her from going too far and harming other people, understood?”

“Are you telling me to protect THAT?”

Please don’t say such a bad joke, Papa.

“I know that you hate her, but look, she has yet to do anything right now. She merely has no manner to speak of when it comes to people with higher status than her. Just… treat her like a grown up child…. I mean, seriously, why in the world did the Baron Plum couple let her be this uneducated? I mean, this is a severe breach of etiquette, one that is even worse than Bates.”

Even if you ask me that question, I have no answer for it, Papa.

“Understood. I’ll pay attention to her action, but I’ll stop her if she’s going to harm her surroundings.”

“That’s enough. Sorry about this, Theo. I’ll send a reminder to Baron Plum about this matter and told them to tell their granddaughter to behave. Albeit, we really can’t do anything about her as long as she isn’t harming the academy or her fellow students.”

“I see… understood.”

In short, we couldn’t kick her out from the academy just because of her lack of common sense in regard to the nobility’s norm. What a pity. Anyway, after that matter was done, I talked with my father about this year’s Saint Festival before I end my report and left his office.