My Sister Picked up the Male Lead

In the meantime, my sister finished preparing our meal and pointed towards the table with her hands while exclaiming “Tada!”. Then she pushed my back, pushing me towards the table, forcing me to sit in front of it.

“Let’s eat!”

My sister made all of my favourite foods: Kiwi and wildflower salad, smoked bacon, wild bird eggs and even tropical fruit porridge. Since it was my birthday, my sister made sure that the food was presented prettily and that there was a lot of food.

“Wow. As expected of my sister. You’re amazing! You’re the best chef in the family, aren’t you?”

“The kid is-Why are you saying such embarrassing things? Even if he is just a child, he is still listening to whatever you’re saying.”

“Ah…right.”

Well, I don’t think he is that interested in our conversation though.

“Amy, I’m just saying, don’t you think I’m getting better every year? I think the food’s better than last year.”

Sadly, my sister is not that great of a cook, but I decided to bury that fact.

“…Yeah of course.”

My sister smiled with a smug expression. She, then, scooped some porridge with a rice paddle and smudged my nose with it affectionately.

“My cute little sister, this is already your 16th birthday. Happy 16th birthday.”

“Thanks, Diana.”

I smiled back at my sister who sincerely congratulated me and turned my head.

“Uhm, Knox?”

“…”

I addressed Knox rather stiffly as he had been staring at me for a while.

Knox, please either congratulate me already or stop staring at me. If he wasn’t going to stop staring at my face, I think a hole will appear in my face soon.

Knox finally raised his head and looked at me. But as soon as I noticed he was still silent, I frowned.

“Diana, are you sure he knows how to speak?”

“Yeah. He spoke to me before. He told me he couldn’t remember anything…”

Tilting her head like a meerkat. my sister tapped the table with her index finger, to get Knox’s attention and asked him.

“Knox, do you know what a birthday is?”

“…”

Still, Knox did not answer. Looking at him being so silent, my sister’s expression turned stiff as well. Trying to release the tension, my sister smiled awkwardly and clapped her hands.

“Come on, the food’s going to get cold. Let’s quickly eat!”

Immediately after taking drinking some soup, I had to hold back what I wanted to say.

It’s a little salty.

While smacking my lips and tasting the flavour, I could hear my sister asking Knox about the soup.

“Knox, you can’t eat it if it’s salty? I would know if you could tell me. I won’t know whether you like it or not if you don’t tell me.”

“Taking care of him is good and all but Diana you should eat already.”

“Ah, you’re right, I should. My mind has been such a mess.”

Looking at my sister trying to take care of Knox, reminded me of the time when I was younger, and my sister was taking care of me.

She’s my older sister though. Even though I felt jealous for no reason, looking at the child, I felt a strange sense of victory.1

Yeah right. What am I doing competing with a child?

“Diana.”

“Yes. Yes yes. He’s going to eat. He’s eating!”

My sister may be saying all that, but she was the one guiding the spoon in Knox’s hand into his mouth. And it was at that moment.

The sound of the spoon falling on to the ground resonated throughout the room.

“…Don’t touch me.”

As the spoon fell onto the ground, a chilly atmosphere suddenly surrounded ou table.

“Uh…”

Puzzled, my sister drew her hands back, unsure of what to do. Knox, who was the one who threw the spoon, remained indifferent. It was a strange situation where the person who was trying to help was now at a loss.

At that moment, Knox’s violet eyes locked onto mine.

I gazed blankly at Knox, who had stood up and started running towards me. Seeing him quickly approach me, made me realise how small he was.

But why is he grabbing my clothes?

“…I don’t like her.”

….Huh?

He thought I was on his side, right? I was seized with an indescribable feeling.

“She’s my older sister though.”

“I don’t like her.”

My dear sister, what should I do? There was a mysterious look in his eyes as he looked down. He is really pretty. His eyes shine bright enough to light a dark cave all by itself.

No part of him was not pretty, he was a child who looked a lot like a doll.

I know that his appearance right now was because of the curse, but looking at him myself, he really is adorable.

‘So this is the power of magic.’

The ancient curse that fell upon Ilberk forces him to become a child for 15 days a month. The thing is that when he becomes a child, it’s not only his physical appearance that changes, his mental age also degenerates back into a child’s as well.

So now Knox is literally a 7-year-old.

“I don’t like her.”

(Diana) “Me? Is he talking about me? This is too much. I like you though?”

“Don’t come here! I don’t like this! I don’t like you!”

(Diana) “But I don’t don’t like you?”

“I don’t like you!”

(Diana) “I like you though?”

“Diana… Stop trying to match his intelligence level.”

Thanks to my sister, he was now warier. Look at how I’m going to do it.

I grasped my collar and looked at Knox with pitiful eyes.

“It’s all my fault.”

He flinched.

I gently removed his hands from my clothes and got up before calmly picking up the spoon from the ground. With long strides, I walked to the counter to pick up new utensils and placed them at Knox’s seat. I then brought him to his seat and tried to get him to sit down.

It may have just been a hunch but I had a feeling that Knox would listen to me well. What a strange feeling it is.

“The spoon is not meant for throwing.”

“…”

I forcefully grabbed his hand and folded his fingers around the spoon, one by one. This is how you use a spoon, male lead.

“Am I right, Diana?”

“Uh…Ah! Yes, yes, of course.”

“Look, in this house, I listen to my oldest sister.”

…For even his mind to become like that of a child’s. Could it be that this curse could lead to a dark reproduction of his past? Is it fine for me to just watch idly by?1

While I was just worried about my future, I am amazed by my sister who in the novel accepted the male lead for who he was. She was an angel.

I moved Knox’s hand.

“A spoon is not for throwing, it is used like this.”

“…”

Still unsure, while he was still looking at me, I grabbed the spoon, scooped up some soup and brought it in front of his mouth.

Is he still not going to eat it?

By the time I was going to give up and put his hand down, he opened his mouth. Not only that, but he also clenched my hand who was grabbing his spoon and slurped the soup up.

“Is it yummy?”

…He nodded.

(Diana) “Oh my god! He’s so cute! He’s so cute!”

“Diana, be quiet.”

Slurp.

The boy who was still staring at me stretched out his finger and pointed at the food.1

As if he wanted to show me that he was eating well so I should eat some too.

Seeing him fidgeting at his seat, a strange feeling overcame me.

“Amy! Give him this one, and that too! Yeah?”

Looking adoringly at Know, who was munching on the food I was feeding him, Diana grabbed my clothes and pleaded me while handing me a fork…

No wait, isn’t this the kiddie fork I used when I was younger? This sister of mine really wants the death flag badly.

“Wait, do you actually think he was going to eat with this…”

Well…

“…He is.”

To my surprise, using the fork my sister gave him, he ate the salad, the bacon and tropical fruits. I was stunned by this unexpected situation.

…You were not described to have this kind of character, right? I thought you were called the “Mad Great Duke” or something?

The cold-hearted man who was once nicknamed the Devil’s Reincarnation when fighting was now eating with a fork in his hand.

“My word, Knox really does listen to your words well. Amy, don’t you think you can become a mother?”

“Who’s going to be a mother? Diana, I’m only 16 years old.”

Besides, this guy’s not really a child anyways, he’s a handsome and fine young man, you know?

My sister only thinks he’s really a child because he doesn’t talk and can’t even hold a spoon. I guess I understand why she thinks he’s a child but she keeps asking me to do stuff for him…

While I caught off guard for a moment, my sister exclaimed.

“Amy! I found this in the storage before I was cooking. What do you think? Shall we try putting it on him?”

“No. No no, stop!”

A bib? Seriously, Diana, are you crazy? This woman is really going to be in big trouble later on.2

After a while, the long, awkward and stifling meal was finally over.

“Amy, I’ll go wash the pots down by the stream!”

While my sister left the house to wash the pots and I was cleaning the table, Know sat down calmly and continued staring at me.

…I’m very confused.

First the fork, then the bib… I was now very afraid of how the male lead was going to remember today in the future. We dared to make him use the kiddie fork to eat and made him wear a bib.

I hope this doesn’t make him order his knights to ruin the forest as revenge in the future.

Even if I managed to run away safely from the Crown Prince, I didn’t know what kind of revenge I might face from the male lead in the future. It was time to make a good impression.

Ruffle-

My head was forced down as my collar was pulled.

“…Huh?”

Knox, who grabbed my collar, was staring at me before I even knew what was going on.

“Amy.”

Only at this moment did I realise, I had not introduced myself to the male lead.

“Yes?”

The Knox in front of me looked to be about 7 or 8 years old. As I looked at his skinny arms and even skinnier frame, I felt sorry for the male lead. The Crown Prince’s raid had been a very elaborate and somatic tactic to break him down.

He might have been starving for days after he escaped from the raid into the deep forest.

The wounds that I see from him must have been from the raid too, right? I frowned as the slight feeling of pity stung me.

“Are you angry?”

“Huh? Why would I be angry?”

His fluttering eyelashes turned towards me.

“…”

“…Are you going to throw me away?”

I hesitated unconsciously. Flustered, I glanced at him pitifully.

“If I kneel down, you won’t abandon me right?”

“Why would you kneel down?”

“I don’t really remember it clearly, but someone… someone told me that if I knelt down and begged  while being hit, I could be forgiven.”

“…”

What kind of person would say that? But I knew that that person was none other than his father, the former Grand Duke of Iberk. His father abused and confined his young son when he was younger.

I felt sorry for Knox, who even though had no memories, instinctively felt the need to beg for forgiveness despite doing nothing wrong. I didn’t know what to say in this situation so I just groaned. I’m not good at comforting people. I carefully raised one of Knox’s hands above his head.

“…Should I?”

“No-No! You shouldn’t!”

Before I could notice, I shook my head vigorously. Knox said that so calmly that it made me speechless.

I tried my best to hide my flustered expression and spoke as if I kept my composure.

“Stop it.”

Knox’s gaze was fixed onto mine as I spoke firmly.

I needed to make him understand.

Squatting in front of Knox, who remained silent, I said with a hesitant look. Though I don’t know whether I should be saying this…

“From now on, no matter who asks you to kneel, you can choose not to.”

“…”

“Is it because I frowned? Was that why you thought I was angry?”

He nodded.

“I didn’t frown because of you. This…”

Before I could finish speaking, I stopped myself. I just realised how ragged the clothing he was wearing was. The clothes that would have been once very luxurious, have become torn and tattered after travelling through the forest and arriving here.

“Oh, let’s change your clothes first. Your clothes look as muddy. Do you know how to change your clothes?”

…He nodded.

I got up in a hurry and looked through the chest of clothes on the other side of the room and found some clothes that might fit him. These clothes were what I wore when I was younger but couldn’t wear now since I got bigger. I gave them to Knox and ushered him into one of our rooms to change. It wasn’t until he was gone that I released a huge sigh of relief.

‘What do you mean I was going to throw you away.’

Even though I couldn’t remember the story as clearly as I hoped, I still remembered Knox being unable to empathise with other people. He was cold and smart.

 He didn’t talk much but when he did, he terrified people.

It was inevitable for me to compare the boy currently in front of me to the ‘Mad Grand Duke’ in the novel. His character made that big and intense of an impression.

But without even realising it myself, I felt sorry for the boy. The man in the book only became the ‘Mad Grand Duke’ because he was not loved when he was a child.

If I could give Rejnok, who is now Knox, love, will he differ from what the book described him as? Will he become a saint when the curse is released?

Then, my sister who went to wash the pots came back?

“Amy, where’s Knox?”

“He’s changing his clothes. It just so happens that the shirts and pants I wore when I was 10 managed to fit him.”

“Ah, thank god we have pants.”

I nodded my head as my thoughts drifted.

Now we have no choice but to live with the male lead in the same house. Since she herself brought him in, my weak-hearted sister could never abandon him.

Or should I just show Knox’s form as a man?

…No, I shouldn’t. Let’s put that idea behind us. I thought of the image of the Grand Duke in the novel and shook my head.

The best plan moving forward is to love his child form as well. That way he wouldn’t hurt me if I ran away safely and met him again later on, right?

“Diana, are we letting Knox sleep in the storage?”

“Yeah. First, we’re going to tidy up your room so that from tomorrow onwards he can sleep there. You’ll be sleeping with me instead.”

“Okay. So today, you mean Knox is going to sleep in the storage room which has no windows…?

“Why? Is there a problem with that room?”

“No.”

I then started thinking. Both mentally and physically, Knox becomes a child during the day. So during the day, he is powerless, even the Crown Prince’s raid took place in the day when he was still in child form.

During the day, he takes the form of a child but… at night, he returns to his original form.

I mean the form of the Grand Duke.

So, in other words, at night when he returns to his original form, his mind also reverts back to being of that of an adult’s.

The moment I realised that I gulped in fear.

…So, tonight I might be able to see the Grand Duke.

***

I couldn’t sleep. I had been tossing and turning in bed, wondering whether I should get up and check.

Since Knox was the sole reason why I was still awake, maybe I should go see him? Or should I just stay in my room as if I didn’t know that he changed into a man?

‘No… I shouldn’t.’ I burrowed myself under my blanket and muttered. I can’t believe I’m worrying about this even on my birthday night.

With a slight grudge against the male lead, I raised the pink curtains in my room that had been neatly tied up at the side of the window.

Even if I do this, it’s not like I would fall asleep.

As my curtains slid, it slowly covered the pale moon.

Yeah, even if I covered the light, it’s not like I was going to sleep anyways. Let’s just go and check it out. I put away my fluffy pillow, got up and opened the door.

“Diana, you’re sleeping, right?”

Our house was located in a remote part of the forest so my sister’s room and my room were directly facing each other, separated only by a narrow corridor. From when I was 14 years old onwards, I decided to share a separate bedroom from my sister. Despite being disappointed, she still happily decorated my room. From tomorrow onwards, my room was to become Knox’s.

I stopped a few steps away from the storage. The storage was mostly empty since it only contained things that my sister did not use anymore. Worried, I could barely reach out my hand to open the door even though I was already in front of it.

The reason being that I would be seeing the adult version of Knox. I started doubting myself, and wondering whether whatever was happening to me right now was actually part of a novel. Whether the story I thought was written in the novel was really in the novel or not.

To be honest, I hoped that when I open the door, I would still see Knox in his child form. Because I didn’t want to believe in the unfortunate future written in the book. When I open the door, I wanted to see Knox in his child form so that I could say “See, I was wrong.” I wanted to dispel the truth that I know.

Even if all I was doing was denying reality.

“…Really.”

Usually, people would pray to see the truth. Even though I already knew the truth, I still wanted to confirm with my own eyes so that my heart can accept it.

‘Should I just try to check discreetly?”

Read latest Chapters at WuxiaWorld.Site Only

I’m not going to get into trouble right?

After brooding over it for some time, I swallowed nervously. I couldn’t even imagine seeing the ‘Mad Grand Duke’ in person. But I’ve already come this far, all I have to do is go inside.

Then, I placed my hand on the doorknob.

“Amy?”