Ice Princess's Colourful Feelings

Chapter 4: The Distant Older Brother

The bell rang, singling that break time was over and all went rather well amongst the three's first lunch together. Of course their appearances together caused quite a ruckus in the cafeteria. Two handsome gods and a beautiful goddess sitting together eating happily in the cafeteria? It was too much for an average person to witness!

Naturally, everyone immediately started to gossip about it.

"Hey hey. Which pairing is better? C(Caspian) x C (Charlotte) or K (Kit) x C (Charlotte)?"

"C (Caspian) x C (Charlotte) of course! Look at how gorgeous they look together!"

"No way! K (Kit) x C (Charlotte) all the way! Sir Kit's bashful nature and Lady Charlotte's cold personality are the perfect gap moe and no one can tell me otherwise"

"Pfft. Stop everyone! It's obviously C (Caspian) x K (Kit)! It's totally the perfect top bottom combination!"

Everyone had apparently forgotten that Charlotte was in fact already engaged to the second prince.

If the three main subjects of the widespread gossips had heard of the student population pairing them up, they probably would have a fit. However, oblivious to the rumours of the grapevine, they went back to their classrooms together in peace.

"Sister!" a familiar voice called out towards Charlotte as she was walking in the hallways with the other two. She had stopped mid-conversation with Kit and Caspian to see that her older brother was approaching them rapidly.

"Please go on ahead without me" she waved the other two off as she stepped to the side to talk with River Bellarose.

"Good afternoon, older brother. To what do I owe the pleasure?" she clasped her hands on top of one another and bowed politely.

Her brother was only a year older than her but, she held a lot more respect for him compared to other adults. She idolised his hardworking personality and ability to create connections while still maintaining the right amount of distance. To Charlotte, his brother was the perfect example of what a Bellarose should be. 

『  Ah! What a lucky day it is for me to meet my admirable elder brother today  』

River started to tremble, his eyes not really believing what he was seeing. What on earth was this strange text bubble next to his younger sister? Should he mention it to her?

'But before that, let's use this for a bit...'

"Charlotte... "

"What is it, older brother?"

"... Remember when we were younger... "

"?"

"... And our maid prepared our absolute favourite caramelised pudding... "

"Uh-huh?"

"... And then you smacked my pudding to the floor without a warning and never told me why?" his eyes looked into his sister's similar ocean blue orbs seriously.

"... Yes? What about it?" she blinked innocently.

『  Oh you mean the time when our so-called maid tried to poison the both of us in an attempt to take our life? If I didn't try it first and tasted the poison, you would have been poisoned as well, older brother. I knew how much you adored her because she was your first love, so we decided not tell you about it  』

River's face shook even more. Was that what really happened? He had never knew since no one, not even his parents told him about it.

"Ha... Hahaha... " he shook as he laughed. 

'This whole time I thought you hated me out of nowhere that's why you smacked the pudding to the ground and fired the maid I liked. That's why I gave you the silent treatment for 6 years' he gritted his teeth.

For someone who was supposed to be the responsible future heir to the Duke Bellarose household, River was surprisingly the type of person who was petty enough to hold a long grudge. 

Although Charlotte had no idea her brother was giving her the silent treatment for all those years, she still admired her brother from afar and only thought that his sudden distance was due to him growing up and didn't think it was "cool" to be playing with his younger sister anymore. Never did the thought cross her mind that her brother was waiting for an apology and explanation this whole time.

Meanwhile, Charlotte was bewildered at her older brother's sudden maniacal laughter and wondered what had led to him asking her this sudden question. Unknown to her that he could see her thoughts, she pretended not to know about the incident and hoped he would brush it off.

River patted his sister's shoulder and smiled warmly at her.

"I apologise, sister. I had a misunderstanding about the situation before so, I actually gave you the silent treatment all these years. As an apology, I will stick by your side for life and never let you out of my sight. Just like before! Isn't that great?" River gave her thumbs up.

『  Wait what? Silent treatment? I thought that was him being himself. Does that mean older brother would be clingy to me from now on like when we were kids? I don't want that! I was content with our previous distance. What if I fell in love? Brother would surely get in the way!  』

Charlotte had after all grown up to become her own independent person so naturally, she was truly alright with how things were before. Also it seems she also had forgotten about the prince's engagement to her too.

River felt like a lightning bolt had struck him.

"Charlotte... " he glowered dangerously, a murderous aura had appeared from behind him.

"Y- yes, brother?"

"There's no way you will have a boyfriend without my approval" his face came super close to Charlotte's face who was already sweating buckets under his glare.

The overprotective brother whom had not appeared for 6 years had suddenly reared his head out of the blue!

It also seems like her older brother had forgotten his sister was already engaged to the prince.