Chapter 27: "Nii-san seems to have been quite…excited…"

Seeing her younger sister looking at her with amusement and eyes that seemed to say “Aren’t you guys being too lovey-dovey? How shameless~” Maru’s mind stopped for a few seconds.

"Uh, uh, uh....huh? Lily!?"

And finally she reacted, stuttering, as she began to writhe in Thadeus's arms as if to free herself while her whole face turned red, as if she were boiling.

“Cute” Maru, at that moment, looked so adorable that both Lily and Thadeus were captivated by her lovelorn girlish cuteness, and the latter in particular whispered those words without being able to help himself.

“Oh no! It’s too much! My crush Onee-chan is too adorable!” 

Lily even cupped her cheeks in excitement, completely charmed by her older sister's tenderness. She thought to herself, a girl in love was truly charming, and she was even more excited because the normally clueless Thadeus was now being so assertive (?).

That look….! It’s like the handsome male protagonists in those picture novels Kaya-san gave me! Obsessive, amorous, like letting you go isn’t even an option in his mind! Maru-Onee-chan is so lucky to win the heart of a handsome boy in full bloom! Kyaa…I want to be his wife too~! 

What kind of things was this little girl reading...? Who contaminated her, this innocent little girl, by filling her with such strange thoughts!?

Unfortunately, no one but Kaya knew about this unacceptable mentality for a six-year-old girl… She also seemed to be thinking about sharing a man with her sister…?

Scary.

“Who was in love with whom!?”

Maru immediately bristled at those words, like an angry kitten as she replied angrily. 

However, such behavior was only seen as excessively tender by the other two, who felt as if their hearts had been hit hard by a severe blow of adorableness that left them completely breathless.

M-Maru-Oneechan is terrifying… Lily trembled, trying to hold back a squeal that would surely be poorly received by her older sister…a squeal of excitement, that is.

This six-year-old girl was also terrifying, in her own way…

“Oh, you! Let me go already!” Maru mustered all the strength her small body could muster and pushed as hard as she could against the persistent Thadeus, using her embarrassment and anger as motivation to escape his arms.

Clearly stunned and somewhat amused judging by his expression, though also embarrassed, Thadeus obeyed; evidently without much desire to do so as he nodded, finally releasing the adorable angry kitten who, without hesitation, immediately moved three steps away from him while he, on the other hand, looked at her with a bit of disappointment in his eyes.

I really wanted to keep holding her…

Seeing that tearful expression, her thin, small, fragile body trembling in his arms, looking at him with shyness and even anger, was so intoxicating that Thadeus felt something was awakening inside him, something he couldn't quite identify, but which he felt had been a part of him from the very beginning.

Somehow, I felt the morbid need to intimidate Maru a little to see more of those adorable expressions he had never shown me before.

He wanted to feel her body against his always, like it was a little while ago, enjoying the subtle heat radiating from her body, smelling the sweet scent emanating from her hair and hearing her faint but sweet voice in his ears. 

Her heart pounded, the weight of these feelings she barely understood weighing on her chest, as she stared intently at the childhood friend who was so familiar yet strangely different and…more charming than ever.

Something inside him said strongly: I want to make her mine.

Perhaps it was his own heart speaking, which confused him and, honestly, horrified him a little. How could he even think of making a person his own, like an object? Was that what it meant to want a woman as a wife?

He didn't understand it! 

His thoughts were confusing and strange, strongly affected by the attraction that existed between them without his knowing it, and he felt a little disoriented.

But more than anything...he had to contain the urge to take her in his arms again and play with her, even though he didn't know exactly what he wanted to play!

It was frustrating to feel all those things and not know what to do with it, or at least understand why I felt half of them.

Maru, oblivious to Thadeus's confusion and desire for her, was instead busy placing a hand on her chest in relief as she took a breath, as if she had had some difficulty breathing in her previous agitation.

Her face had regained some of its original pale white color; though her cheeks were still covered with a lovely deep pink hue that tempted Thadeus to play with them and see if they were as warm as they looked, making the boy struggle to contain those strange desires that wanted to dominate his mind.

Then, Maru opened her eyes, looked at Thadeus with a fierce look that was honestly not at all scary, and finally turned her gaze towards her younger sister, Liliy, who was enjoying the romantic spectacle between them with a hand on her blushed cheek and a soft smile.

“Look, Lily, this isn’t what you think…”

“Let me guess…” Lily stopped her older sister’s (unnecessary in her opinion) explanation and put a finger to her lips as she narrowed her eyes, her gaze almost cat-like, like that of a mocking cat. “Onee-chan saw the strange creature that Mom killed and threw away this morning and got so scared that she clung to Thadeus-nii-san, who immediately began to comfort her of her fear with care and love?”

“Ah—” Maru’s face, who was about to open her mouth, was filled with utter disbelief at Lily’s words, as if she couldn’t believe it. Leaving aside some troubling parts, wasn’t that exactly what happened?

Maru and even Thadeus thought, incredulous, and something clicked in Maru's mind.

“You…you…you!” Maru pointed at her, something Lily wanted to remind her older sister was a rude thing that Mom would punish harshly, while she strongly accused her, “Were you watching us from the beginning!?”

Lily shook her head, amused. “I don’t know, who knows~”

“You were supposed to be studying!”

“But Mom asked me to call you… What can I do, ignore her? That’s bad,” Lily commented with feigned innocence, her two hands clasped in front of her, displaying an attitude that makes you wonder: Where did the pure girl who jumped happily before the majestic Wyrvens of the sky go!?

“Mom again…”

Maru trembled with anger, wondering why her mother would do such a thing if she wanted her daughter to study. As for Thadeus, who was looking at Lily with a strange expression...

What's this? I don't know, she's scary. 

He was more than a little shocked by her behavior. The Lily he knew, at least, didn't seem like the type to lie blatantly to his face, playing with his naive older sister like that.

Still, seeing Maru grumbling was so adorable…

“Oh…?” Lily’s bewildered voice caught Thadeus’ attention again, and he noticed that she was staring at him…or rather, looking down at him, in a disconcerting direction, while blushing a little, smiling shyly “Thadeus-nii-san seems to have been quite…excited…”

Maru, hearing those words, unconsciously let go of her anger and turned around curiously to see what she meant, looking at where Lily was looking and freezing on the spot, before blushing furiously, unconsciously whispering "B-big!?"

“?“

Towards Thadeus, who was puzzled and looked down to see what a bulge there was in his pants….

“P-pervert…..!!!“

Maru's sudden, powerful slap sent him straight into unconsciousness.