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T/N: Today I’d like to thank my Cookie Donor, Kristin!! Thanks so much for the sweets! 🙂
“Gilles~”
“Alicia? What’s up?”
“Can I come in?”“Sure.”
I slowly open the door to Gilles’s room and then I walk in with Henry-Oniisama following right behind. Upon seeing my brother enter the room as well, Gilles stiffens a bit and stares hard at me.
“Ali, who is that?” he asks, his eyes darting back and forth between Henry-Oniisama and I.
“This is my older brother.”
“Older brother?”
“Yup. He told me that he wanted the chance to talk with you.”
Hearing this, the look in Gilles’s eyes suddenly change. All traces of surprise are whisked away and are replaced with a cold, calculating glare.Hm, not bad Gilles. That’s a pretty scary look. I’m certainly glad you’re not looking at me like that.
“Yeah, well I don’t have a thing to say to him,” Gilles says icily.
Looks like his guard is completely up now. I wonder how Oniisama is planning to deal with this sort of reaction. Since he’s pretty calm usually, he shouldn’t be mad just cause of something like….
Woah there, Henry-Oniisama. What’s with that look? That’s quite the threatening stare you’ve got there.
That’s definitely not the approach that I imagined he’d take. I thought he’d react like the heroine: smile no matter what happens and forgive Gilles regardless of what he says or does…. But it seems that I was wrong. Rather than acting like the heroine, isn’t he actually acting pretty similarly to how I would?
“What?” Gilles asks challengingly, still staring Henry-Oniisama down with a death glare.
“You. Aren’t you Ali’s assistant?”
“Yeah. So?”
“Then shouldn’t you be a little more aware of your actions?”
“Hah? You think I should just throw on some idiotic grin and try to curry favor with you or something?”
Oh wow, the atmosphere in here is becoming pretty charged.
This is so unlike Henry-Oniisama. I’ve never seen him act so aggressively before.
“An idiotic grin? No, there’s no need for that.”
“Then what the hell are you getting at?” Gilles demands, raising one eyebrow.
“Do you know what characteristic makes a person the most frightening?”
“Hah? Just spit it out. What are you even trying to say?”
“The people who manage to keep their emotions from showing on their face are the most terrifying. You let your emotions leak way too easily to be intimidating, kid. Did you know that when I came into the room earlier, for a moment you looked frightened?”
“Was not.”
“You might not have realized it yourself. Maybe you were momentarily wary and afraid of the unknown man who had come into your room. You had no idea whether I was an ally or an enemy. I don’t know. The point is, that fear showed plain on your face.”
“But I wasn’t afraid,” Gilles claims, though his now wide eyes make it seem like he might not be as sure about that anymore.
Somehow, Henry-Oniisama seems like a completely different person. And Gilles, with those wide, hesitant eyes, is finally acting his age.
“Scared, not scared…. that’s irrelevant, and frankly, I don’t care either way. I’m just saying don’t let it show on your face. If you’re supposed to be Ali’s assistant, then you should be smart enough to manage at least this much, don’t you think?”
“I still don’t know what point you’re trying to make.”
“The moment someone reads your expression, you’ll be put at a disadvantage. Ali will be put at a disadvantage.”
At that, Gilles sinks into silence. Without saying anything, he just continues to stare at Henry-Oniisama. There’s no longer any traces of the hostility he had only moments before.
I’ve never seen Henry-Oniisama act like this. He’s always had such a friendly smile on his face, but I’m starting to think that might have just been a front to hide the dark thoughts he has deep inside.
I’ve always known that Albert-Oniisama’s smile was hiding bad things, but up until now I’ve never thought that Henry-Oniisama’s smile would be the same. I thought it was a pure, happy look.
“I don’t know what sort of life you’ve lead up until now, but from now on aren’t you going to be staying by Ali’s side? You need to learn how to conceal your thoughts. Only someone who’s skilled enough to manage that will be able to survive until the end.”
I had been looking at Henry-Oniisama, but I take this moment to bring my attention back to Gilles.
His wariness is completely gone and his glare has vanished. In its place is a look that almost seems to have a hint of admiration in it.
What Henry-Oniisama said is right though. You need to be skilled if you are going to survive in this world.
And showing emotions, especially fear, is a definite no-no for a villainess. Going forward, I need to be careful of that as well.
“My name’s Gilles.”
Gilles took the initiative to introduce himself first. This sort of turn of events…. means that it’s my brother’s victory.
As soon as I think this, a light smile returns to Henry-Oniisama’s face.
“I’m Henry. Nice to meet you, Gilles.”
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T/N: If this Henry’s true personality, I’m curious to see what Alan is actually like XD I was definitely not expecting Henry to be black-bellied like this haha. Though, I guess it’s still possible that he’s not. Maybe he’s also just a tsundere like Alicia lol. What do you guys think?
