Yeah, that seemed too much like work. Maybe the travel to his napping spots could count?
As Tanaka finished his milk, Edward watched his younger brother carefully to make sure the large glass made it safely back on the table before reaching over to clean the white-mustache above the child's lip.
The surrounding servants: "......." Were they this close before?
Clarisse, on the other hand, had this flowery, bright aura glowing around her head like a halo. Though her face had a dead-like expression, she was looking upon the brothers with glittering eyes. She didn't seem offended by how Edward had naturally taken her job. She would be happy with anything that would prompt good feelings between the previously estranged siblings.
"When do you plan on heading out? While the academy is not far from the estate, its best not to tarry and be late for classes," Edward then asked as soon as Tanaka's face was milk-free and the blond tried not to sigh when his younger brother gave him a shrug in return.
Tanaka had long surpassed his classroom curriculum and was at the level where he could graduate from the academy as an independent scholar. Of course, as a person who only did things by the bare minimum, he had no intention of graduating early. His near-perfect grades and his attendance to his classes were done just to make Clarisse happy.
"As soon as I'm finished with breakfast," Tanaka answered without thinking too much as to why Edward had asked in the first place. It seemed that the eldest Rosetta had been asking a lot of questions today honestly.
"Then if you are done, we should proceed to the carriage," Edward then prompted as he gestured for a nearby maid to take Tanaka's plate, which the person himself couldn't really complain about since he had practically cleaned his plate like a vacuum, not even sparing a single crumb. "Mr. Hughes took the liberty to prepare our journey to Evadne Academy in advance."
After a brief conversation with his Zafarian butler, Amir, he was given a concise description of his younger brother's morning schedule. Edward couldn't say he was surprised by how late the other had slept, but nonetheless made accommodations to accompany Thomas during the morning while making sure they would arrive to their classes in a timely manner. Considering how sluggish the child was, he thought he would have to encourage the youngest to finish his breakfast. Who knew that three eggs, two toast, a pile of mini-sausages, and two glasses of milk would all be consumed under 10 minutes...
Tanaka: "......" In advance... so his morning was already planned out by his (Thomas') older brother then?
While someone took away Tanaka's empty plate, Clarisse moved forward to take the napkin off of her young master and straightened his collar. In a timely manner, Sven then came forward to pull out his chair, revealing the youngest sock-covered feet.
Out of habit, Tanaka would take his shoes off at the entrance of the manor every time he came back from his classes and leave them next to the door. While it made it easier for the maids to clean his shoes since they always came back dirty with mud, twigs, and leaves, the routine baffled Clarisse. She felt conflicted because it was cute seeing her young master moving around (well, being carried around) without shoes, but she felt it was also inappropriate as well. Though it was not common for the Rosetta's to entertain visitors, they all prepared themselves and the estate as if they would receive guests at any time. If the madam ever saw the illegitimate child in such a state around the manor, her perfect, coldly beautiful face would be awash with anger.
Once again, Edward expression turned helpless. "Where are your shoes, Thomas?"
"Ms. Herring has them, Young Master Edward," Clarisse answered for her young master as a maid almost as tall as Edward with copper-colored hair and tanned skin stepped forward. She had a pair of small, black dress shoes in her wide palms and kneeled down to slip them on the child's dainty-looking feet-- well, in comparison to her rough, adult-size hands, they seemed almost fragile and Johanna Herring took great care not to use too much of her notoriously monstrous strength with the little one.
Johanna was one of the few maids that could do hard labor as well as the men. Most of the maids sought her out whenever they needed help with something heavy. In fact, especially compared to scrawny Sven, there weren't many butlers that were as strong as her. Even some of the estate guards found it difficult to push back against her natural strength.
Once both shoes were in place, Tanaka automatically held his arms up as he had always done whenever it was time to move to the carriage, but then belatedly remembered that the person in front of him wasn't Clarisse but Edward, who stared blankly at the gesture.
By the time Johanna moved away from the youngest master, Edward had already stood up from his seat, waiting for Thomas to get out from his seat and join him. Though it shouldn't surprise the eldest Rosetta considering how the New Thomas was, he still found himself pausing at the uncharacteristic dependency.
Tanaka was a little bit embarrassed by what he had done. Though he was still carried around even as an adult, unless he was really tired or really lazy (more than his usual lazy), he wouldn't ask just anyone to carry him, especially when he had never been carried by said person before. He didn't think the relationship between him and Thomas' brother was friendly enough to ask such a thing.
Just as he was about to put his arms down and slide out his seat, a pair of hands suddenly grabbed him from under his armpits and before Tanaka could comprehend the situation, Edward's face was suddenly closer to his. Due to the blond nobleman's ridiculous good-looks, the adult-turned-child was stunned.
Since he was often carried by Amir, therefore giving him front-seat exclusive to the Zafarian's attractive features, Tanaka developed a type of resistance against handsome and beautiful faces. To be fair, almost everyone on the estate -the guards, the maids, the butlers- were naturally good-looking, so it was more like he had gotten used to it, but maybe due to Edward's position as one of the capture targets, he seemed to be more eye-catching than most people.
Edward's skin was nearly flawless and even up close, it seemed very smooth to touch. Tanaka almost wanted to reach up and poke to check whether it was flesh or marble. His ice-blue eyes, which were framed by thin, blond eyelashes, reminded the transmigrator of naturally formed crystals and his golden wheat hair seemed to glow under the sunlight from the large french windows of the dining room.
Tanaka then remembered a particular scene on The Noblest of Love where the heroine first stumbled upon Edward. The 'Prime Minister's Son' route was known among players to be the most difficult route. Not only because of the underlying threat of Edward's younger brother, the sinister Thomas, or subtle obstructions caused by his sister Katherine but because the chance of meeting Edward in comparison to the other capture targets was very low.
Like Xander, Edward had graduated from Evadne academy and wouldn't normally be found at the academy like the rest of the other capture targets. Also, during the very beginning of the game, the player was restricted from areas outside of the student dorms and the academy itself, so the places where Edward frequent, the Royal Palace and the Rosetta Estate, were off-limits.
When Tanaka was playing the game, he didn't really care much about meeting with any of the capture targets and instead directed the heroine to focus on building up her stats and to explore the available surroundings. It was only coincidental that he happened to find one of Edward's so-called secret spots in the surrounding greenery that buffered the academy from the rest of the main city. Once he did, the game instantly switched into a cutscene that highlighted the blond nobleman's handsome features through light shadows and the flittering sunlight, creating a heavenly glow on the older man.
Like a God that descended from the higher realms, was the cheesy comparison the heroine had made at the time and Tanaka nearly cringed at the thought of it. Though he could see the reason why the female protagonist became so smitten of Edward, he couldn't really see what made his (Thomas') older brother so 'God'-like. Maybe because Edward was still an awkward teenager and was still growing out his awkward limbs and height. Maybe because he was not looking at artistic game-graphics, but at an actual person with more wrinkles on the other's clothes than the developers would allow and realistic, out-of-place stands from his combed hair.
Sometimes Tanaka would forget that Edward was supposed to be one of the most popular capture targets of an otome game and would probably bring more problems and complications in his life than he would have liked.
But right now, Tanaka was too lazy to care about the future because Edward felt very cool and very comfortable to touch.
Lately, probably because of the warmer weather, the sloth-like teen had been feeling irritably hot, which increased the number of times the maids found him vulnerably plastered against the marble floors of the hallways, and Tanaka had been trying to find ways to cool himself off.
It completely escaped Tanaka's usually bright mind that Edward was an ice-elemental magician, therefore his 'magical aura' would give off a cold feeling to his surrounding body. Therefore, regardless of the relationship between the original owner and the eldest son of the Rosetta's, the transmigrator shamelessly attached himself to the older teen like a koala with its mother, wrapping his thin arms around the blond's neck while rubbing his heated cheeks against the other's cool jaw.
While Edward stiffened at the unexpected affections, Tanaka secretly resolved himself to create an AC unit. Or at least somehow make ice without the need to find a rare ice-elemental magic user-- whichever was the easiest.
"...Thomas, don't be so willful. You can't expect people to cater to your whims like this," Edward said tersely, though he made no effort to put the youngest down and rigidly made his way towards the foyer and the front doors of the manor. He gestured with his head to the guard near the entrance, a new recruit by the surname of Smith if he recalled the hard-faced man's application correctly as he was familiarizing himself with the new employees under his family's care, to open the doors to the front terrace.
Tanaka hummed absent-mindedly in response, blissfully unaware of the complicated expressions given to him by both Edward and the surrounding servants watching the scene. Inwardly, as he closed his eyes, the adult-turned-child wondered how he could convince the blond-haired teen to become his temporary ice-pack for the next few days, oblivious to the fact that his mornings were already planned out by a certain someone for the next few days.
...--------...
Author's Note:
It occurs to me, due to a casual comment made by one of my readers, that this book is already over 100 pages worth of reading. Chapter 9 alone is already more than 50 pages and assuming that each chapter is about at least 5-10 pages, we got ourselves a nice small novel.
To be fair, I didn't think I would make it past 10 pages with this book, but here we are, months later °˖✧◝(⁰▿⁰)◜✧˖°
I know some of you are complaining about the slow updates, but think of it this way-- it's because my updates are so slow that you all are reading this for free. (￣▽￣)ノ
No, I'm kidding! I'm kidding! Just know that I wrote this out of a whim and it turned into a big project for me and Editor-chan lol. When I wrote the first few chapters, everything was supposed to be light-hearted and slice-of-life-ish and angst-free, but then the story developed a conscious and a plot. ╮(╯▽╰)╭ What can this powerless author do?
You are reading the story above: TeenFic.Net