My Sister Picked up the Male Lead

Hans happily greeted.

“Long time no see. How long has it been, 2 months?”

“Yes, long time no see. How have you been doing?”

She was at a remote village situated near the Night Forest. Hans was the owner of a small grocery store here. He had been running this store for more than 20 years. There was no one he didn’t know in this village.

“I was surprised. I haven’t seen you in a while.”

“I didn’t come last month because I got sick.”

The grocery store did not only sell groceries, but it also sold useful daily necessities as well as hunting tools. Diana, who has been visiting his store for a decade, has now become his regular customer.

“You were sick? Are feeling better now?”

Diana pondered over her reply.

To be honest, Diana was extremely wary of people. Her distrust of people was a result of the loss of her parents due to a power struggle; causing her to raise her one and only younger sister all by herself.

She was particularly wary of middle-aged men who were of a similar age to her father. Because her father had been betrayed by his close friend.

However, it’s already been 10 years since she first stepped into the store. She knew that despite his coarse scars and messy appearance, he was a naïve and affectionate person.

Diana grinned.

“Actually, I wasn’t the one sick… It was my sister.”

“Sister? Did you just say your sister?”

Hans widened his eyes. But his eyes were so small that despite his surprise, his eyes still looked closed.

“Oh my, lest I was being forgetful, this is the first time I’ve ever heard of you having a sister.”

“Yes, I have a sister who is a lot younger than me.”

While smiling calmly, Diana explained.

“My sister’s body is weak. So, she never leaves the house and once in a while, she would get sick.”

“So that was why. I had no clue. No wonder you always buy more Arpim herbs that you need.”

Arpim herbs were used to treat the common cold or to reduce fevers. . Hans, who only had thick hair at the back of his head, *acceptedher explanation. The people visiting the remote village came for their ownreasons.

*T/N: Just in case y’all are confused, basically he has a very receding hairline so he only has hair at the back of his head haha.

Diana would only be 28 this year but she could handle the sword much better than most monster hunters. Monster hunters usually carry around leather made from the skin of the monsters they killed or the jewels embedded on the foreheads of monsters, but Diana didn’t. He didn’t know how she found her way deep into the forest.3

Hans also had a daughter whom he left behind to come to this remote village. Even he could not help but worry about her as he was a father.

“By the way, are you still hunting monsters these days?”

“Yes. Why do you ask?”

“It’s nothing much, just something that had been bothering me.”

“I only hunt when I see a monster. What do you mean something is bothering you?”

“I’m not very sure but lately I’ve been seeing dozens of people pass by here. I’m not trying to suggest anything, I’m just stating what I’m seeing. They call themselves mercenaries. This has been happening for some time now.”

Hans said, gesturing with his stubby hands that were as thick as pot lids.

“But they were knights. Knights! Can you believe it?”

“My word… Knights?”

Diana blinked her big eyes.

“Yes! I don’t know why they’re trying to hide their identities but it’s hard to ignore their shiny swords. You know the medal with a dragon on it that symbolises the Imperial Family, right?”

Hans quickly covered his mouth with one hand and whispered.

“And I’m sure I saw a red medal with a dragon on it!”

With a serious look on his face, Hans confessed his speculations.

“Maybe the Imperial Palace is planning on an expedition to exterminate monsters soon? I mean, the late Emperor did it once before. Anyways, I’m a little worried that after the knights get involved, the ecology of the monsters will change completely.”

The ecological system involving the monsters is not as simple as one might think. All the systems have been maintained by a delicate balance and clear boundaries between different systems. However, once a powerful external force, like these knights, disrupt the system the entire ecological structure of the monsters could be flipped over.

For example, a monster species that used to live deep within the forest could be chased out to the outskirts.

“Well, I guess that could happen.”

Looking worried, Diana nodded.

“That’s right. We don’t know when it will start so be careful. Okay? You can always come to the village.”

“I’d love to, but my sister would probably get tired from travelling before we can make it out of the forest. She’s really weak.”

Hans wanted to ask as to how she ended up living with such a weak sister in the forest in the first place, but instead of asking, he just handed her an envelope. It contained the items that Diana bought.

“Here, I put in a lot of Arpim herbs for you.”

He couldn’t ask about her situation. It was a rule here in the village. No one good ever came out of the Night Forest.

Afterwards, Diana walked alone, looking through the items she bought and making sure she didn’t miss out anything. Then, she unknowingly bumped into someone.

“Ack, what the heck!”

“Ah. Oh my, are you okay?”

When the man found out, that the person he bumped into was just a frail-looking woman he got angry.

“What’s this. Lady, why don’t you watch where you going? Huh?”

“I must have not been paying attention to where I was going. Sorry about that.”

Despite that it was both their faults, Diana was the one who made the apology gently.

Instead of ending the issue here, the man grabbed Diana’s shoulders and turned her around. Looking at her shoulder, which had been forcefully grabbed, Diana’s face hardened.

“Well, let’s see here. You’re quite pretty, aren’t you? Are you just going to apologise like this?”

After scanning her face, the man confirmed that Diana had a pretty face. No, she was a rare beauty.

He grinned.

“You should apologise compliantly. Huh? Unless you want to follow me obediently.”1

Young women were rare in these areas because of the Night Forest. Even if there were, they would be monster hunters or mercenaries who had been working on this ground for 10 years. But she was different.

Judging from her bright brown hair and prim appearance, the man thought of her as some convent woman who only knew how to embroider. When he grabbed her wrists, bung. His body was flipped over.

“Ack! What’s the meaning of this!”

The man had been a member of a famous mercenary group situated near here. Although it had not been long since their fame had infamously built up, their members still packed a punch and it was not easy for them to lose.

It was a disgrace for a member of such a mercenary squad to be sent flying in the hands of only one woman. Moreover, he could barely move because the place he fell on hurt.

“I’m sorry! I apologise! There you go, I gave you an apology. So, be nice from now on!”1

Diana smiled before leaving the confused man behind.

Hans, who had been watching from afar, clicked his tongue. Every once in a while, there would be people like him who would come to the village and act like bad bully in front of Diana. As anyone could see, it would all turn out like that.

After walking for a while, Diana raised her head and looked up at the blue sky.

“This is enough herbs, right?”

There was another member in the house.

As the number of mouths she had to feed grows she has to spend more money on supplies. Her savings haven’t been used up. To Diana, having more family members, was a joyous thing.

She hummed.

“I’ve got to get back quickly. Amy and Knox are waiting.”2

Diana clutched onto the envelope, already forgetting about the man from a while ago, before she thought of something that made her frown. It was something that Hans said earlier.

‘A red medal with a dragon on it.’

Having been a knight once before, this was not an item unfamiliar to her. The dragon was an animal that represented the Imperial Family. This meant that the person donning this medal must have been a knight working for someone close to the Imperial Family or a member of the Imperial Family itself.

The colour of the medal helps differentiate who the knight was under. Like how gold represents the Emperor, green represents the Empress and red…

‘Red.’

If it was a blood red, it would have been representing the Crown Prince.

There were many knights in the capital but only one group worked for the Crown Prince.

“So, the Imperial knights are here? This is a big deal.”

The young woman put on a serious expression.

***

The day flew by.

I was used to the fact that my sister would take a little longer than 3 days for her trip, but strangely this time around it felt as if she had been gone for a long time. This was probably because of Knox, right?

I looked over at the boy who was diligently reading his book. Today, I made him read a book by himself and told him that I would give him a test later. Ever since then, he had been eagerly reading.

I was joking about the test though…

It was too awkward to tell the truth now.

The Grand Duke Knox who was now in child form still had a fever. Well, the Tethes’ poison was infamous for being long-lasting, so the fever won’t go away so easily.

Even if he had gotten slightly better, if he just overworked himself slightly his fever will rise quickly again. Anyways, that was what was happening so far.

“Knox. Once it hurts, even if it hurts only a little, you must tell me, okay?”

He nodded.

I wanted him to just lie in bed today, but Knox didn’t want to be separated from me. So, I had to find a middle ground and made him sit still and read a book. While he reads, I was doing chores.

As he read diligently, I looked over to see the book. The book he was reading right now was the book we brought back from the abandoned house.

Yesterday, I was too busy taking care of Knox both during the day and at night, that I didn’t have time to take a look at the book. But today, I was determined to take a look before reading it to Knox tonight.

That’s right. It was good to prepare first…

But what the heck does all this mean?

I soon realised that the writing had been about studies on magic.

‘There was no way I could understand this. This wasn’t my area of expertise.’

I could read any language without exceptions. But just because I could read the words, doesn’t mean I understood it.

For example, the word ‘Cadmium’. I can read it but it refers to one of the elements in the periodic table. I would only know that it was actually a white metal only if I had knowledge in chemistry.

Hence, naturally, I couldn’t read all the jargon in this book. This book could only be understood by people who had magical expertise. The most I could understand was the introduction.

[All spells have an origin. From the beginning of the spell when you chant an incantation till the end when you release the magic.]

This was what the author, who claimed to be a wizard, wrote with great passion. Magic was something that made a desperate wish come true, and wizards were the ones with the special ability to wield magic in order to fulfil these wishes.

So, to create a fireball you’ll have to just think about creating one. And when dissipating the fireball, you’ll just need to think about making it disappear. Right?

The language used to direct magic towards fulfilling these wishes was known as formulas… Does this book have anything to do with Knox’s curse?

Knox’s curse was an ancient spell. It’d be strange if it was so easily lifted.

I gave up reading the book, and just stared at it from behind Knox. Should I just look at the drawings?

Then I found something that looked familiar.

“Wait, this is…”

“[Matari… It is ancient spell that has not been studied yet.] Couldn’t you elaborate a bit more here?”

Huh? It ended after one sentence?

It was the word I read out which caused the white light back at the abandoned house. The author went on and wrote ‘I can’t put this in the book.’ in the footnote. Well, that didn’t help.

An ancient spell. An ancient spell? Wasn’t the spell on Knox an ancient one too? Frowning, I clutched onto the necklace I was holding in my hand. If I just looked at the back of my hand, I couldn’t see the necklace.

Well… I don’t have a good feeling about this…

“Amy.”

At that moment, Knox grabbed me. I looked away from the necklace in my hand.

“Huh? What’s wrong, Knox?”

Quickly, he pointed at the pot. The pot was boiling

Why was I so distracted! I ran to turn off the stove and checked the inside of the pot. Luckily, the food wasn’t burnt and it looked fine. The savoury aroma filled the kitchen. My chin lifted to take a whiff. You can’t read a book like this, could you?

“Knox, do you want to stop reading and eat lunch?”

“Yes.”

Then, a peaceful afternoon passed us by.

It looked like all I did the entire afternoon was fold laundry, clean the house, prepare lunch and watch Knox read his book. Before I knew it, a star-lit evening had already arrived.

This was a strange sight to see. Time had been passing by as fast as the wind because for once, Knox was peaceful and wasn’t like a typhoon.

I had been only hanging the laundry for a while before Knox showed up in his Grand Duke form.

“I’ve been hanging the laundry only for a little while. When did you change?”

“How would I know? Why are you hanging the laundry at this time?”

“Ah, I finished doing the laundry quite late today and since the weather has been getting warmer, I was wondering if it would be okay to hang the laundry at this time.”

“I see.”

“Ah right, Knox. About the book.”

My routine had been behind time because I spent time this afternoon, sitting with Knox in the day and reading the book on magic. I think the whole time my brain was cramping.

Grumbling in the inside, I placed the book in front of Knox.

“I tried to read the book today… Uhm, I don’t have good news for you. I don’t know how to read this book.”

“You can’t read it?”

“Yes. To be specific, I don’t understand it. I was wondering whether I could help you, but I had no idea what the book was saying, let alone help you. I could barely read anything. I had been confident I could read it.”

I mumbled the last sentence sullenly. Then he raised his head and pointed at the book.

“I don’t understand the book and Knox, you can’t read it. For now, I’ll just read it to you based on the sounds of the words.”

“I don’t think I’ll be able to understand things you don’t understand though.”

“Well, you never know, right?”

Knox was definitely more knowledgeable than me. But that was before he lost his memories.

So, I read some sentences aloud to Knox but the result was just as Knox expected. He shook his head.

“Just as I thought, I don’t understand anything.”

“Ah… I thought I could help. If only I could understand the text.”

“I don’t blame you. It’s not your fault.”

“But still…”

With a heart filled with regret, I unknowingly jutted my lips out and gave a deep sigh in frustration.

My hand swept across the back of the book. Knox, who was looking at me, raised his hand.

And his hand, landed on my head.1

I blinked my eyes in surprise. His hand hovering over my head felt strange and Knox looked awkward doing it, but he didn’t remove his hand.

“… Ah, I didn’t ask for permission first. May I touch your hair?”

“You already did so isn’t it already too late now to ask for permission?”

“Then, I’ll ask again. Can I touch your hair?”

That’s what I was trying to say. You were already touching it.

But instead of saying that, I nodded my head.

“I think I remember someone patting my head like this before.”

“Who?”

“I don’t remember. But that person was quite old and… I think she was a woman.”

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Was he talking about his mother? But I shook my head. Knox’s mother, the Duchess had long gone mad and locked herself in the North Tower.

But was it possible that she had never met Knox?

His hand brushed down from the top of my head slowly. He reached the hair near my ear to tuck a few strands of my hair. It tickled as his hand brushed past my ear.1

“Hey, what else do you remember?”+