Larisa often invited friends over after her first tea party. She enjoyed seeing Guinevere smile approvingly each time.

However, William rarely invited friends, which secretly worried Guinevere. Then one day, William brought a friend, looking awkward.

He was a boy with soft brown hair and a gentle smile.

“Hello, you must be Larisa.”

“Hello.”

Larisa curtsied as she had been taught, holding both ends of her skirt. Though she looked somewhat nervous, her posture was perfect. The boy, pretending to swoon at her cuteness, said,

“You’re so adorable. Will you marry me when you grow up?”

William then said,

“What nonsense are you talking?”

“Why so serious? She’s just cute.”

“…”

William pressed his lips shut. Hopefully, it didn’t look like he was jealous. William remained silent, thinking thoughts no one else would.

The boy offered his hand to Larisa and said,

“I’m James Dillon. I’m your brother’s friend.”

“Brother?”

“Huh?”

“William is not my brother.”

Confused by her firm attitude of not even accepting the handshake, James asked reflexively,

“Huh? Really?”

“Yes. I don’t have a brother. William is just William.”

“Oh, I see.”

James whispered to William, covering his mouth with one hand.

“Hey, you’re already nailing the not-really-siblings thing.”

‘What on earth are you talking about…’

Regardless of William’s expression, James extended his hand to Larisa again, this time with a rather gentlemanly attitude.

“Well then, Miss Larisa, may I have the honor of escorting you?”

Larisa blushed, flustered by the princely line straight out of a picture book. How was she supposed to respond to this?

“Yes, gladly.”

Answering like a fairy tale princess, Larisa carefully took James’s hand. James, who had no siblings, found every single one of Larisa’s actions adorable.

“Wow, she’s really cute!”

James exclaimed in admiration.

“Hey, you never invited me over because you didn’t want to show me such a cute little sister?”

“Why should I invite you…?”

“Right. That’s why I barged in.”

James hadn’t been invited. He had simply followed William home for the weekend. If he hadn’t done so, he would never have had the chance to enter the Rodante mansion.

‘This guy might look like a brick wall, but he’s surprisingly soft inside.’

Thinking this, James began to charm Larisa.

“Larisa, what’s your nickname? Lisa?”

“It’s Lala.”

“Ah, even your nickname is cute. What do you want to play, Lala? How does William usually play with you?”

“We have tea time together, and he helps me with my homework.”

“Wow, he’s really boring, isn’t he? Brother will play something fun with you today.”

Saying this, James suddenly lifted Larisa up. In an instant, he had Larisa on his shoulders and started running through the garden.

“Here we go! Giddyup!”

“Kyaaah!”

William reached out in surprise to stop them, but they were already too far. William lowered his outstretched hand awkwardly. Larisa was giggling with delight.

After running around for a while, James set Larisa down on the garden table and said,

“How was that? The best, right?”

Larisa nodded, as she had truly enjoyed it.

“Then will you marry me when you grow up?”

“No way!”

As the two laughed together, William briefly denied reality.

“Jimmy, are you close with William?”

Larisa, who had already become friendly enough to speak casually, asked.

“Yes, we’re best friends. Because William doesn’t have any other friends at the academy.”

“Why?”

“This guy is ostracizing himself at the academy, so I have no choice but to hang out with him.”

“I don’t need it.”

William’s response was smoothly ignored.

“Wow, thank you, Jimmy!”

“Indeed, only Lala appreciates me. *sniff*”

“You’ll keep being friends with our William, right?”

“Of course, he’s making such a cute little sister worry about him.”

William felt like disappearing from the world as he watched the two getting along so well. Or maybe make this bastard disappear.

“William’s friend is here?”

Finally, the inevitable arrived. Guinevere had come. William sighed as he saw Guinevere approaching quickly, her hair fluttering as if she had forgotten to use magic.

“Ah, hello! I’m James Dillon.”

Guinevere looked James over with a suspicious expression before making an effort to manage her face and said,

“I see. Thank you for coming. But are you really William’s friend?”

“He says we’re best friends!”

Larisa chimed in.

“Best friends?”

“Haha, it just happened that way somehow.”

‘What do you mean it just happened that way.’

William only sighed inwardly. The truth was, he hadn’t been able to shake off James who wanted to follow him today, partly because of Guinevere.

Every weekend, Guinevere would ask with a gloomy face if any friends were coming over this week.

Now she wouldn’t ask anymore if he had no friends or tell him to bring friends over. Sure enough, Guinevere finally seemed to have a relieved expression.

“James is the first friend William has brought home. Please get along well.”

Seeing the Grand Witch’s smile for the first time, James stared at her blankly for a moment before saying,

“Ah, yes. Of course. More importantly, you’re beautiful, Mother!”

Guinevere chuckled and brushed her hair back. Guinevere was secretly weak to compliments. No one easily complimented her because they were too afraid of her.

“Are you perhaps interested in younger men?”

“I wondered what kind of person William’s friend would be, but you’re an interesting one.”

Guinevere laughed heartily. She was in a very good mood. Until she heard what Larisa said next.

“Ah, Jimmy, you asked me to marry you earlier!”

“What? Lala is off-limits. Lala already has a mat… mmph!”

William covered Guinevere’s mouth. William had already caught up to his mother’s height.

Easily muffling Guinevere, William said with a smile,

“Haha, Mother is very fond of Larisa.”

“It’s the first time I’ve seen you smile like that, William.”

“Anyway.”

William quickly whispered in Guinevere’s ear.

“Don’t say strange things and please leave now.”

“Alright.”

Guinevere turned away with a regretful look, but stopped and emphasized once more.

“Lala is off-limits.”

Her expression was so frightening it seemed to reveal the true face of a witch. James unconsciously broke out in a cold sweat.

“Wow, your mother is quite scary.”

“She is a scary person, so don’t act too frivolous.”

“Was I too frivolous?”

“Yes.”

William was more upset about James hitting on Lala, but he kept his mouth shut. In case it might seem like he was jealous. Even though he’d probably just be called a doting brother, somehow he didn’t want to hear that.

“Anyway, is Lala coming to the academy festival too?”

“Academy festival?”

Larisa’s eyes widened.

“I knew it. William didn’t tell you, right? If I hadn’t come, no one would have known. There’s a festival every spring. The knight department wears the academy knight uniform during the festival.”

“Wow, really?”

“Yes. And we patrol around, maintain order, and help ladies.”

“How do you help them?”

“When they say, ‘Sir Knight, please help me!’ we go and help with anything.”

“Wow, that’s so cool!”

Larisa imagined becoming a splendid knight.

“If Lala comes and says, ‘Sir Knight, please help me!’ everyone will rush over because you’re so cute.”

“Don’t come. It’s nothing special.”

William interjected grumpily. Larisa pouted at William and said,

“How do you know when it’s your first festival too, William?”

“I just know. It’ll be boring. It’s predictable.”

“I want to go. I really want to!”

As Larisa threw a tantrum, James chimed in with a smile.

“That’s right, come and boss William around as much as you want. When else will you get the chance?”

Larisa thought to herself,

‘I’m always bossing him around though?’

But Larisa was a precocious girl who knew better than to say such things out loud. In any case, Larisa was excited and determined to go to the festival.

‘Since William keeps telling me not to come, I’ll ask Mother for permission first!’

If she brought Guinevere to the festival, William would probably pretend not to like it while actually being happy. Thinking about this, Larisa became full of anticipation.

*

On Monday, after William left for the academy, Larisa was heading to Guinevere’s laboratory with excited steps.

‘She should be having tea around now.’

Larisa deliberately knocked on the laboratory door during the afternoon tea time. She didn’t want to disturb Guinevere’s research. Larisa knew very well that Guinevere was extremely busy.

‘But since Lady Guinevere is a mother, she’ll surely want to see William’s cool side!’

How fun would it be to go to the festival with both of them? Larisa knocked on the unresponsive laboratory door once more, full of expectations.

‘They’ll both be embarrassed but happy, right?’

But something was strange. She had already knocked twice, but there was no response from Guinevere. Larisa tilted her head and knocked once more.

“Mother? It’s me. It’s Lala!”

By now, she should have opened the door. Larisa was filled with an odd sense of unease.

“Mother?”

Should I open this door? Larisa grabbed the doorknob with her heart pounding. She had heard rumors that if you opened this door without permission, you’d be thrown out the window. But…

‘It’ll be fine. Mother won’t be angry with me.’

Recalling Guinevere’s behavior so far, Larisa closed her eyes tightly. Unlike the terrifying rumors, Guinevere had always been kind and warm to her.

And when she opened the door

“Mother!”

Guinevere had collapsed on the floor.