I Became the Childhood Friend of the Northern Duchess – Chapter 175

Ariel almost fell off her chair and rolled onto the floor, but thankfully, Edgar’s quick action prevented any mishap.

Of course, that didn’t calm her racing heart, so she turned her head away from him in a rather huffy manner.

“I’m sorry, okay? I didn’t think you’d be that startled.”

“Hmph! You always end with just saying sorry, thinking that makes me look stupid, huh? This time, I won’t just let it go.”

With her arms crossed and a snort escaping her, it seemed negotiations were off the table.

Seeing Edgar scratching his head in embarrassment, Sonia, who was watching from the side, cautiously tugged at his sleeve.

“Oppa… Is Ariel angry?”

Even little Sonia could read the atmosphere.

And the fact that pouting Ariel was completely ignoring them meant something was seriously wrong.

With a worried heart, when Edgar asked about the current situation, he awkwardly scratched his cheek and nodded.

For Sonia, it was like being hit by a bolt from the blue.

“So it seems. We might have taken the joke a bit too far.”

“Eugh…”

Suddenly deflated, Sonia tightly clenched the little pouch in her tiny hand and made whimpering sounds.

She had come to see her pretty sister who had shown her fish before, and she wanted to give her this gift, but instead, she ended up causing trouble.

In the grand scheme of things, the fault lay mostly with Edgar, but Sonia felt her own share of guilt for participating.

In this regard, one could say she had a more mature personality compared to her peers.

Meanwhile, from a distance, Shuri decided to step in to offer help.

Edgar often ended up on Ariel’s bad side, so that wasn’t new. But seeing Sonia sulking was too painful to bear silently.

Carefully making her way around the sofa, Shuri approached Ariel and spoke in a soft voice.

“Miss, I understand you’re upset, but could you perhaps be gracious and forgive just for today…?”

“This is just for one day? I won’t let it slide this time!”

“Then at least could you hold off on the scolding for today? After all, we have guests…”

“…Guests?”

With the shock from earlier too strong, Ariel had completely forgotten about Sonia’s presence and jerked her head around, startled.

From her angle, she couldn’t see Sonia’s new model behind Edgar, who was sitting beside her.

So, stretching her neck cautiously to check on Sonia, she gasped.

“Ugh…!”

“Oh.”

There was her little sister, tears like chick droppings falling down her cheeks.

Seeing the unexpected seriousness of the situation, Ariel quickly stood up and rushed towards Sonia.

“S-Sonia, why are you crying? Were you scared because your sister was angry?”

It was true Sonia had been startled, but Ariel didn’t mean to direct any anger at her, thinking she had been swept up in Edgar’s prank.

Yet still, seeing her innocent sister cry left even the mighty Ariel Robeheim flustered.

Frantically wiping Sonia’s tears away with a handkerchief Shuri had passed her, Ariel soothed her, but the little girl continued to sob harder while confessing her true feelings.

“Ugh…! I wasn’t scared… But what if you end up disliking me because I scared you… Ugh!”

While Sonia paused to catch her breath, she did manage to convey her meaning to Ariel clearly.

In other words, it wasn’t that she was scared of Ariel being angry, but rather she was afraid that this incident would make Ariel hate her.

Feeling both the cuteness in Sonia’s worry and a twinge of guilt, Ariel couldn’t help but give her a tight hug.

How could there exist such a cute creature in this world?

It was a completely different kind of adorableness from a puppy or kitten—something much more precious and dear.

“Is that so? No way. Your sister could never dislike you.”

“Really…? Do you like me too, Onee?”

“Of course. I like you a lot. Now, no more tears, okay?”

Successfully calming Sonia with her unusually skilled touch and soothing words, she caught Edgar, who was watching the scene, letting out a small noise of admiration while lightly whistling.

Apparently, he figured that he’d have little to worry about when handling children after marriage.

“Now then, Miss Sonia. I brought some delicious snacks, so please eat this and stop your tears, alright?”

“Okay! Pretty Onee!”

“Oh my, you have quite the way with words.”

Caught off guard by the unexpected counterattack, Shuri gracefully smiled as she covered her mouth, but Ariel, watching the scene, pouted.

“Sonia, why is Shuri the pretty Onee?”

“Eh?”

Sonia, who was chomping on the snacks, responded in a mumble due to her mouth being full.

To her, of course, Ariel was her pretty Onee, but the reason she used that title for Shuri was none other than—

“Oppa called that lady pretty Onee!”

It turned out Edgar had just referred to Shuri as “pretty Onee” a while ago.

The problem was that this could easily lead to misunderstandings if overheard in a different light.

“……”

“…Sonia?”

As Ariel’s gaze turned icy, she fixed her eyes on Edgar, who hastily called out to Sonia.

He never expected that he’d suddenly be caught in the crossfire like this.

“Sonia, do you want to play with that pretty Onee? I need to chat with your brother for a bit.”

“Okay! I’ll wait!”

“Thanks. I’ll take care of the rest while your brother goes and flatters another lady.”

Gently patting Sonia on the head, Ariel stood up from her chair and silently shot a look at Edgar.

Then, she nodded toward the door, as if to say ‘hurry up and follow me.’

‘I’m done for.’

Seeing that, Edgar knew.

He couldn’t survive with just some awkward excuses.

Today’s sun might be the last one he ever sees.

* * * * * * *

Yet thankfully, there were no incidents of sword fights or anyone’s head rolling.

After all, Ariel was generally soft on Edgar, and while the size of her rage varied, she mostly let things slide.

“If you do that again, you’ll seriously regret it.”

“Yes.”

Though with the way she was threatening him, it seemed she still cared.

In any case, after leaving one small fiasco behind, the two of them, now accompanied by Sonia, stepped outside.

Sonia, who obviously was fond of Ariel, held her hand tight and walked along cheerfully, enough to bring smiles to the faces of passersby.

“By the way, what has Sonia been up to lately?”

On their way to see the fish they had released into the pond at the garden previously, Ariel, curious about Sonia’s recent affairs, threw out a question. Sonia raised her free hand high in response.

“I played with Muli!”

“Muli?”

Ariel cocked her head at the unfamiliar name.

Wondering if it might be the name of a friend, she asked whether it was a boy or a girl, and Edgar, who had been silent beside them, subtly answered for her.

“That’s the name of the puppy we have at home.”

“Oh… right, I remember now.”

Ariel sighed softly as she recalled having seen the fluffy white-haired puppy once when they visited Ardenum, having completely forgotten its name.

She remembered Muli being quite a sizable dog, even though right now, she’d probably call it a dog instead of a puppy.

“Has Muli grown much, Sonia?”

“Yup! A ton!”

With Ariel’s follow-up question, Sonia stretched out her arms to show Muli’s size.

It was too adorable, and Ariel almost felt the urge to pinch her cheeks right there, but decided to hold back until they found a place to sit.

“How big?”

“Umm… a little bit bigger than me!”

It might not just be a little bigger, but quite some size considering Muli was a breed that tended to grow relatively large.

Though her pride might make Sonia express it as just a little bigger, children often had their own brand of pride and competition regarding size or amounts.

Doesn’t matter if it’s just a dog—such things hold true across the board.

“Really? If it’s as big as you, that’s pretty massive.”

“Hehe, that’s right!”

Of course, Ariel wasn’t completely oblivious to Sonia’s inner feelings; she played along to earn herself some brownie points.

She never guessed she would end up using her earlier lessons in social skills learned in the Robeheim family in this way.

“But where are we going, Onee?”

“We’re going to see the fish you saw before.”

“Fish?”

Considering how she had previously mispronounced the word and called it “Mulkogi,” this was quite the improvement.

The slight mumble was something expected from a child.

“Yep, fish. Why? Don’t you like it?”

“Of course, it’s all good as long as I’m with you, Onee!”

“……”

Where on earth did she learn to say such sweet things?

Ariel ultimately couldn’t hold back any longer and squeezed Sonia tightly in her arms before she found somewhere to sit.

At this point, one could nearly believe that the blood of the Billhark family had a habit of striking the hearts of everyone around with every little action.

“O-Onee… I can’t breathe…”

“It’s all because you’re so cute, Sonia.”

“Am I cute?”

With an innocent face perfectly harmless but dangerously cute, Sonia tilted her head, which made Ariel completely flustered, playfully squeezing her cheeks.

“Of course, you’re cute. It’s hard to believe you’re the sister of that fool.”

“Why can’t you eat me if I’m just sitting still?”

The offhand comment fired a harmless shot back at Edgar, but it was something easily brushed aside as mere daily occurrences.

“Sonia, speaking of which, how about that present you were going to give me?”

“Present…? Oh! I totally forgot!”

Though it was funny that she had forgotten even with it in hand, thanks to Edgar, Sonia promptly remembered and swiftly presented it to Ariel.

“Onee! This is a gift from Sonia!”

“A gift? Is it only for me?”

“Yup, I didn’t give anything to Opa!”

“Wow….”

For Ariel, who understood fully just how much Sonia adored her brother, it was truly touching.

As for the content, it being a child’s gift was nearly a none-issue; it was the sentiment that warmed Ariel’s heart.

Carefully, she took the small pouch into her hands and gently tugged at the string to see what was inside.

Inside were small, round bead-like objects, but it was hard to tell just from the outside what they were.

“Sonia, what is this?”

“They were stones I found when I went to the beach with Dad. Aren’t they pretty?”

“Yes, very pretty.”

Not empty flattery, Ariel thought they were genuinely beautiful, as they could have easily been mistaken for polished jade or gemstones.

“I wanted to give you the prettiest stone I found! Hehe.”

“Really? You found the prettiest one and you’re okay giving it to me?”

Ariel figured Sonia must have wandered around the beach, bending down to pick these pieces, realizing the effort behind the item made it seem far more precious.

However, surprised that she would give it away so easily, Ariel asked, to which Sonia smiled innocently and confidently replied.

“It’s the prettiest one, so I’m giving it to you! Because you are the prettiest Onee with both face and heart that I’ve ever seen!”

“A….”

Ariel let out a soft gasp at Sonia’s words as she clutched the pouch with care.

Then she patted Sonia’s back to express her gratitude, creating a heartwarming scene which led Edgar to smile just as he was about to speak up.

“Thank you, Sonia. Next time, I’ll get you a present too. What do you want? A castle? A gem? A mountain?”

“Seriously, what are you trying to buy for a kid?”

Once again, Ariel’s genuine sentiment was dashed by her intention to give an outlandish gift.

“Hehe… I only want you to be the gift for Sonia!”

“Oh dear, why are you speaking like that? Alright, be it a castle or a gem, I’ll buy you anything! Just trust me!”

“……”

Even in the midst of it all, Sonia innocently interrupted again, causing Ariel to lose her mind completely.

Edgar could only give a bemused smile, watching as the wonderful bond between the two sisters unfolded before him.