MWLCP 30

                                                            Chapter 37

8. Isaac’s Circumstances

Isaac Valentine’s mornings always began at the same time. As his magical alarm clock rang, he rubbed his eyes and looked up at the portrait of Ciel affixed to his ceiling.

“Still cute today, my little sister.”

There was only one reason he had put up a portrait of Ciel there—to wake up faster, just to see her face a second sooner.

Unlike his fellow knights who stayed in the dormitory, Isaac chose to commute from home so he could live with his adorable little sister.

This meant waking up an hour earlier and getting home an hour later than everyone else. But he didn’t mind.

Being able to spend every morning with his beloved sister—just that made all the trouble melt away like snow.

As he finished breakfast, Ciel came down to the dining room, having just woken up.

“Oppa, you’re already up?”

Her emerald eyes sparkled, her golden hair flowed like waves, and her angelic smile completed the look. Among the siblings, Isaac and Ciel especially resembled their mother, the Duchess Eve.

“Isaac oppa, don’t get hurt. Don’t fight with your friends, okay?”

Though it was the same old nag, Ciel’s voice was as melodious as a nightingale’s song. Isaac smiled warmly as he patted his cheerful sister’s head.

“Yeah, I won’t.”

“What a joke. Clinging all morning, it’s gross.”

The next youngest, Lewis, once again got himself smacked in the head. Isaac gave him a solid whack before heading out, his expression clearly annoyed.

Isaac had begun learning the sword when he was five. His mentor and current superior, Sir Cromwell, head of the Azure Dragon Knights, instantly recognized the potential in young Isaac’s physique.

“Please entrust this child to me. I will raise him into a fine knight.”

Their parents always respected their children’s wishes. Isaac had wanted to become a knight simply because he thought shining armor looked cool.

A little after Lewis was born, a girl with black hair arrived at the Valentine estate.

Her name was Clara. She was Isaac’s age and had tragically lost her family in an accident.

“From today, Clara will be part of our family. Everyone, please be kind to her.”

She was a fairly pretty girl, but Isaac wasn’t particularly impressed. Since they were the same age, calling each other “oppa” or “unnie” felt weird, so they simply treated each other like friends.

His parents probably wanted a daughter, but Isaac didn’t understand their feelings at all.

At least, not until Ciel was born.

Ciel Valentine was the first daughter to be born into the family in a hundred years. While the entire house buzzed in celebration, Isaac noticed a strange atmosphere brewing.

The servants began to ostracize Clara. They whispered that now that the real daughter had been born, Clara, the stand-in, was no longer needed.

He wondered what kind of child Ciel was to make everyone react like that.

A few weeks after her birth, Isaac was finally allowed to see his baby sister.

“Her name is Ciel.”

When Lewis was a baby, he had been all wrinkled and not the least bit cute. But this baby girl was different. She blinked and made little mouth movements.

Her bright eyes, her fluffy golden hair—it was like seeing a tiny copy of himself.

“Ciel really takes after you, Isaac.”

He blushed at his father’s words. Until now, he had been the only one to inherit their mother’s blonde hair, but now his precious baby sister looked just like him.

“You’re right. If they stood side by side, anyone would know they’re siblings.”

It was like looking into a mirror. He wondered if he had looked like this as a baby. When Isaac cautiously extended his hand, baby Ciel gripped his finger with her tiny hand.

“Oh my, how cute. Our Ciel must really like Isaac.”

His mother’s words barely registered. The image of the baby’s dazzling smile became etched in his mind.

Until then, he thought little siblings were just annoying like Lewis. But after seeing baby Ciel, who had just turned 100 days old, Isaac couldn’t calm himself.

It was around that time that Sir Cromwell summoned the young Isaac to teach him the spirit of a knight.

“Humans become strong only when they have something they want to protect. Isaac, what do you want to protect?”

The first thing that came to his mind was Ciel’s smile. Just looking into those clear eyes made him happy for no reason.

“Women in the Valentine family tend to have short lives. She’s the first daughter born in a hundred years. You and your brothers must protect her.”

Around Ciel’s first birthday, their father told them about the tragic history of the Valentine family.

Every girl born into the Valentine family before Ciel had died before reaching the age of three, succumbing to illness.

No one knew why. Perhaps it was because of his father’s warning, but Isaac couldn’t even bring himself to touch his tiny, delicate sister.

She seemed so fragile that he was afraid she would break if he got too close. So little Isaac chose to admire her from a distance.

Thankfully, after one serious illness, Ciel grew up healthy. Remembering all this, Isaac arrived early as usual at the Azure Dragon Knight’s training ground.

“Hey, Isaac. Long time no see.”

“Sir Wilhelm, you’ve returned from the border.”

His fellow knight, who had been dispatched to the Crown Prince’s campaign, greeted him warmly.

“I heard you applied for a post at the Crown Prince’s Palace?”

When he received Isaac’s transfer request, Sir Cromwell had sighed in disappointment, clearly upset. He asked if it was because Isaac was worried about his sister.

Upon hearing Clara and Ciel had entered the palace, Cromwell reluctantly approved it.

It wasn’t because he liked the Crown Prince. In fact, if Isaac were being honest, he harbored more resentment than fondness for the man.

What was so special about the Crown Prince, anyway? At Ciel’s birthday party, and again when the neutral Duke Valentine began siding with him—it all rubbed Isaac the wrong way.

He had already noticed the Crown Prince’s gaze toward Ciel was not ordinary. The strange atmosphere between the two irritated Isaac to no end.

At first, he thought he was just overthinking it. But after the incident with Grand Duke Stan, his eldest brother Theo told him something shocking.

“Isaac, calm down and listen. I think His Highness Alex has serious intentions of making Ciel the Crown Princess.”

It felt like getting punched in the back of the head. What hurt more than Alex’s feelings was that Theo had figured it out first.

Why hadn’t Ciel told him? A sense of betrayal crept in. The reason was obvious—his work with the Knights kept him away from home, and he could only see her at mealtimes.

Even living in the same house, he felt like they were growing apart. The sister he had sworn to protect for life had started keeping secrets from him.

“Sigh…”

His chest felt heavy. That Ciel would keep a secret from him… And after the recent drug case, the two had appeared unusually close.

He had come to terms with being second to Clara. After all, Clara had always been the one at Ciel’s side.

But he couldn’t tolerate the sudden appearance of the Crown Prince threatening his place.

“Hey, I heard something. Your little sister’s supposed to be insanely pretty, huh?”

No matter how prestigious the Valentine name, within the Knight Order, they were all equals. Isaac frowned at the casual question from his comrades.

“Where did you hear that?”

“My buddy’s in the department handling the drug case. Said he saw a ridiculously pretty girl—turns out she’s your youngest sister.”

Rumors about his sister’s beauty had spread throughout the entire Knight Order in less than a day.

By the time he returned home that evening, all his comrades were pestering him.

“She must be something else. You gotta bring her to the next tournament!”

Even though the tournament before reassignment was coming up, Isaac had never once brought his family. He always declined, wanting to protect his young sister.

“That won’t be possible.”

“Come on, seriously?”

No matter how firmly he refused, their persistence was unrelenting. As Isaac kept declining, the rumors began to twist in strange directions.

“Maybe she’s actually hideous.”

“Right? Maybe he’s worried we’ll be disappointed if we see her.”

Some of those jeering were clearly envious of Isaac’s swift rise at such a young age.

Already troubled, Isaac found his worries only growing now that even the Knight Order was acting this way.