Betrothed to My Sister's Ex

From this chapter onward, the main story begins.

I could hear the waltz performed by the ensemble and the voices of the people. It wasn’t exactly noisy. Since it was the royal palace’s own orchestra, and a gathering of nobles and aristocrats, the sound was supposed to be refined and elegant.

Yet, to me, it only sounded like noise. Even with the doors and windows closed tight, it still bothered me so much that I finally resorted to putting in earplugs.

“...Yeah. With this, I should be able to focus on my work somehow.”

I muttered this as I dipped my pen in ink. I began writing on the mountain of documents piled on my desk.

As I worked, my glasses gradually started slipping down. The thick glass lenses made my glasses heavy, so when I looked down like this, they would easily fall off.

After finishing each sheet, I would pinch my glasses and push them back up, immersing myself in my work.

Then, suddenly, I heard a voice.

“—Hey! Ruifeng!”

Startled by my name being called, I jumped. Ink splattered onto the desk. While wiping it off with a cloth, I turned around.

“What is it, Brother Ricky? When you enter someone’s room, you should knock first.”

Maybe I didn’t hear well because of the earplugs, but I said it anyway. Knowing this guy, he probably wouldn’t have knocked even if I hadn’t been wearing earplugs.

As expected, Ricky—the Second in line to the throne, Richard Nielsen Dilz—just snorted with a laugh. If he had knocked, he would have pounced on me like he’d caught a demon’s neck.

In front of my older brother, who was four years my senior, I tried to remove the earplugs, but—

“You idiot, what are you doing in a place like this!? Are you stupid!?”

—I gave up. Rather than his words, I was annoyed by his loud voice that made my eardrums vibrate even through the earplugs.

In fact, my older brother’s natural voice was always loud, so even with earplugs in, it didn’t interfere with conversation at all. I didn’t change my tone at all, I crossed my legs and rested my cheek on my hand.

“I told you, I have a lot of work as the knight commander today, so I’m not attending the evening ball.”

“That’s just because you’re slow at your usual work, you lazybones!”

“It’s the one day a year when I have to compile the evaluation of two thousand knights for the whole year. The law prohibits starting early. Since you’re the second son and never held a knight’s sword, you wouldn’t know, brother.”

“Who cares about that! You’re noisy!”

“Ha ha ha, no need for introductions, brother. We’ve known each other a long time, haven’t we?”

Ricky was really just a noisy man. He was actually shorter than me, not handsome by any means, but his face wasn’t unpleasant either—in fact, he looked like a badger and had a certain charm. Maybe this loud voice was a psychological trick to make himself seem bigger. But really, it wasn’t intimidating at all.

I looked down on my older brother decisively. I wasn’t even hiding it. But it was mutual, after all.

“Tonight is our sister’s debut at society. The selection of suitors will be handled by Brother Lionel. I have no need to attend. Please play the role of wallflower, Brother Ricky.”

I said that and turned my back. The truth was, I really was busy with work.

As knight commander—a position I was almost automatically given since I was a boy in the royal family with a low succession right—it wasn’t just a title. I was the commander of a large military unit and the manager of a big facility. There was plenty to do.

But my older brother still didn’t give up. He rested his square chin on my shoulder and whispered in a loud voice right next to my ear.

“Just come. The Princess of Flaria said she wants to meet you.”

My eyebrows twitched. Maybe finding my stiffened expression amusing, Ricky grinned crudely.

Then suddenly, he grabbed my glasses with a firm grip. He yanked them off forcefully and tossed them behind him.

“Ah—”

The scream I was about to raise was cut off by Ricky’s loud voice.