”…!”

To Zoemi’s great surprise, the dark-blue-haired butler didn’t change his demeanor immediately after entering the mansion and instead asked in a soft, devoted voice.

”I… um… I don’t have anything that I particularly dislike or can’t eat… feel free to prepare anything that’s not too fancy.”

”!!!”

The black-haired boy shrugged his shoulders awkwardly, but for whatever reason Benevirau flinched and his chin trembled again.

”Wh-why are you doing that…? Have I said something offensive?”

If the young-looking butler was doing that to throw Zoemi off, he certainly was succeeding splendidly, as the black-haired boy had no idea how he should act around him.

Annoyingly enough it seemed that the dark-blue-haired thousand-years old servant was using the same tactic that Zoemi himself had employed against the higher nobles many times – it was the first time for the black-haired boy to be on the receiving end of it, and he certainly wasn’t enjoying it at all.

Quite the opposite really.

”N-no, it’s nothing, young master… it’s just… You really sound like your grandfather… not only in a matter of voice alone but your consideration for me…!”

”…”

Benevirau hurriedly shook his head, denying any ill intention with an expression of someone terrified of making their most important person angry… and that certainly didn’t sit well with Zoemi.

It really just felt as if he was doing exactly what Benevirau wanted of him.

The dark-blue-haired butler ended up leading both Reo and Zoemi to a fancy dining room, cleaned to perfection, and made them take a seat – insisting on Zoemi seating at the seat of honor with Reo on his left side.

”I will be right back with the meal, young master, young master’s friend!”

Benevirau bowed deeply and backed out of the room without raising his head.

”…”

”…”

The black-haired boy and the green-haired boy looked at each other with concern and sighed at the same time once the dark-blue-haired butler closed the door behind his back.

”Zoemi.. just what in the world is going on?! Is that the real Benevirau?! If so then did you actually manage to convince him that you are the heir to the Banemor family?! How?! Just what is going on?!”

Reo was the first one to speak after that – he put his elbows on the table and burrowed his face in his hands, asking question after question while peeking at the black-haired boy next to him from behind the spaces between his fingers.

Interestingly enough none of the things he asked about had anything to do with his older siblings- which was quite telling about the actual relationship they had.

”I don’t actually know… It will be best if I tell you everything from the beginning… shadow web connect…”

Zoemi breathed out and glanced at the door, simultaneously muttering the incantation and connecting himself with as many shadows as possible giving himself a good look at the mansion.

Even the kitchen.

It looked like, despite Zoemi’s attempt to be stealthy and not go straight for Benevirau, he still was noticed as the dark-blue-haired butler instantly turned his head towards the shadow that Zoemi chose as the best one to observe him from.

Instead of getting angry, the misty-gray-eyed man smiled and return to cooking without even trying to do anything about the black-haired boy’s spell.

While trying to figure out Benevirau’s real objective in acting in such a way, Zoemi recounted the events that happened after Reo and they separated – of course hiding the real Aspakeony’s identity, and just changing that part into the headmaster asking Benevirau for advice.

”I still don’t know what exactly made your siblings so angry, but anyway, after that Benevirau started acting as he is ow right after touching my face.”

Zoemi finished the recollection and looked over at the frowning Reo.

”About Aerea and Vianee… well, you were unlucky with your choice of words… You see, there is a very damaging rumor going around about them, suggesting that the two of them see each other as something more than just brother and sister – which is untrue as far as I know – but they must have misunderstood you telling Vianee to go to Aerea to cool down as telling him to… you know… blow off some steam with her… in, you know… an indecent way…”

The green-haired boy lowered his head and explained, getting redder and redder as his explanation went until he stared fidgetting and muttered the last part under his breath in a barely recognizable whisper so quiet that Zoemi had to activate his enchantments to make sure that he heard him properly.

”Well then… that explains an awful lot… Doesn’t excuse him for speaking ill about Espine family and my father, but now I start to think that they are just hot-headed and not complete scum…”

The black-haired boy breathed out, furrowing his brows, and leaned back on the chair, staring at the ceiling with a sour expression.

”If it makes you feel better, I actually am happy that I didn’t have to meet with them while they were conscious…”

”…”

Reo looked to the side and murmured with a grumpy expression, making Zoemi return to a proper way of sitting and look at him carefully.

”…we don’t like each other very much… they blame me for our mother’s death… just like our father does…”

The green-haired boy slouched more and more until he was hunched over the table with his head between his shoulders.

”…”

Zoemi furrowed his brows – this certainly sounded like the part of the conversation that the heroine was supposed to have in Reo after he got beaten up by Vianee and Aerea – it looked like there was something wrong with Reo’s route after all – it activated with Zoemi instead of the blond heroine!

The only good part was that Miriette was back in the Aspaekony Academy that got its defenses augmented by the members of the Royal Guard thanks to Horeo’s demand, so the dark-haired girl wasn’t in danger of being kidnapped and or sold into slavery.

…in the first place that ending was already impossible for her as the spell-sealing bracelets were gone…

|…now that I think about it, that was always a plothole in the endings… how come some kidnappers were supposed to get their hands on the precious artifact from the kingdom’s treasury…?|

The black-haired boy let his mind drift to a different subject for a moment before dismissing it as irrelevant and focusing back on the green-haired boy.

”No one is perfect and grief sometimes pushes people into doing things that they may regret later. Getting blamed for something you had no control over must be horrible, and it doesn’t feel right that your family can’t understand that they are in the wrong.”

With Benevirau happily cooking in a completely non-threatening manner, Zoemi decided to play along with the event-like situation for a little bit.

”…I can’t blame them… If only I wasn’t born first both my mother and twin brother would…”

”Huh…?”

Despite Zoemi’s attempt to be encouraging, Reo hung his head down in shame and sighed, sounding so full of self-loathing that the black-haired boy flinched and shook his head in confusion.

Although, the confusion part didn’t have as much to do with the tone of Reo’s voice as it did with the thing that he said.

This was the first thing to Zoemi’s knowledge that didn’t match with the game version of the green-haired capture target.

In the game, the death of Reo’s mother got explained as a complication during childbirth and that’s it, which sounded mostly the same – but there was nothing about a twin.

How much did that change in the story? Did it change anything at all?

Did it or did it not increase the chances of Miriette getting in danger…?

”Sorry. I shouldn’t have brought that up… We have more important things to worry about…”

Reo fidgeted in shame, raising his head a little bit only to bow to Zoemi the next moment with an apology.

”It’s okay. If you ever want to have a talk about it with someone, I am told to be quite a good listener, believe it or not.”

”!!!”

Zoemi smiled reassuringly and patted the green-haired boy’s shoulder making him flinch and blush.

”…th-thank you… I… I maybe will take you up on that offer someday…”

Reo nodded timidly and his expression brightened just a little bit with a tiny smile.

”…”

”…”

The two of them looked at each other in silence…

”Oh, um… Benevirau…! You did say that he started acting differently after touching your face? Wh-what could be the reason…?”

It seemed like the green-haired boy wasn’t quite ready for the prolonged eye contact and ended up looking to the side and asking in a flustered voice.

”Maybe it’s a coincident just like with my voice sounding like lord Banemor’s? There is a chance that I am similar to the missing daughter, right?”

Zoemi went along with the change of subject without a moment of hesitation and shrugged his shoulders giving the answer he had no possible way of being certain of.

”…Zoemi… but… what if we are looking at it from the wrong angle?”

”…?”

Reo suddenly straightened his back and asked, making Zoemi raise his brow.

”What do you mean by that? We are just trying to figure out Benevirau’s purpose in acting so friendly all of a sudden, aren’t we?”

The black-haired boy asked, shrugging his shoulders.

”Yeah, that’s what I’m talking about!”

But to his surprise, the green-haired boy nodded his head vigorously and pointed at him with his hand.

”What if there is no plan at all? What if you ARE the heir to the Banemor territory? Maybe your voice and looks – if those are the case – aren’t mere coincidences?”

Reo asked, nervously gulping down his saliva.