Matchmaking Baby Sister - Chapter 35

TL: Zimmings

Tessa was an illegitimate child. An illegitimate child born out of wedlock.

To be honest, there was nothing special about it.

But it was unusual in that his father was the emperor of the empire, but the emperor already had numerous mistresses and children.

Other than that, Tessa has been able to wield a familiar since he was born.

At first, his mother tried to use Tessa to lift her status. But she gave up not long after.

“Take this kid with you! He’s not a kid I can raise!”

It was all because of Langrisser.

“He’s a monster! He’s not normal!”

His mother could not stand Langrisser, who burns anything and attacks people without hesitation.

Of course, both sides didn’t want him.

“Didn’t you say that you would use contraception? How could this child be born?!”

“But this kid can handle a familiar!”

“I already have a successor, so what good would that bring me!”

The emperor, who already named Lloyd as his successor, did not like Tessa’s sudden appearance.

However, being able to deal with a familiar was such an important thing, so the emperor eventually accepted Tessa into the imperial family.

Of course, he was left to live in the most isolated palace, with no one to look after him.

Tessa couldn’t get along well with anyone as a result.

“Whoa! fire again!”

“I don’t want to die! I want to work elsewhere!”

The child must be in a stable state in order for the familiar to calm down.

How could a child who suddenly moved away and live alone in an unfamiliar place be so stable?

Langrisser’s flame was so intense that it seemed to burn Tessa himself. Tessa has always struggled with extreme pain.

It was then, a man came to visit Tessa.

“You are the prince.”

A man who is as big as a mountain.

It was General Raphael, who ruled the nobles.

The man who looked as plump as a bear or a tiger whispered a voice as cunning as a snake.

“Do you not hate the Emperor? Do you not want revenge?”

“What?”

Tessa’s eyebrows furrowed.

The child who grew up not eating properly was much smaller than his peers and skinny, but his eyes were blazing.

Tessa growled softly.

“I have nothing. Go away.”

General Raphael tapped his chin with his finger.

“Usually, I wouldn’t deal with a child like you. But, I have a favor to ask of you.”

General Raphael strode towards Tessa.

He strode smoothly, as if unaffected by Tessa’s heat.

When Tessa tensed and stepped back against the wall, General Raphael asked.

“Don’t you want to become emperor?”

“……!!”

“Lloyd is not the right person to be emperor. He had no choice as the only heir to the country.”

General Raphael grinned.

“Isn’t there one more qualified person now? It is you.”

For a child abandoned by their parents, it was too much to think about it.

Being an emperor.

‘Why did he tell me this?’

There were a lot of stories around him, and Tessa heard them all.

Both of them are the only people in the imperial family that have a familiar.

However, unlike Lloyd, Tessa is an illegitimate child, and he couldn’t control his familiar.

“He’s from the imperial family and can deal with a familiar. Shouldn’t we be nice to him?”

“Wouldn’t His Highness Lloyd leave him alone? He’ll disappear soon anyway.”

“Well, that’s right.”

They all treated Tessa like an object.

‘And now this man.’

Tessa, noticing the cold gaze, glared at General Raphael with ferocious eyes.

“Don’t be silly, get out of the way!”

“Oh my.”

General Raphael faced Tessa with a smile on his face. The growling is quite terrifying, but he’s still a child.

“You must think that people are afraid of you. Everyone screamed and ran away.”

Langrisser’s flames are certainly threatening, but if Tessa was not able to handle it, it was not scary to General Raphael. General Raphael beckoned behind his back.

“Alexander.”

“Yes, father.”

A boy, much larger than Tessa, stepped forward from behind. General Raphael didn’t even look back and spoke in a cold tone.

“I want to show you this. It is clear that the familiar is powerful, but there are some things it cannot do.”

“Yes.”

What does that mean? The moment he blinked, Tessa was suddenly on the ground.

‘When did he arrive?’

Alexander, who got closer in an instant, threw Tessa’s back on the floor and grabbed his arm.

“Ah!”

He couldn’t eat properly, so his underdeveloped body could not escape the grasp of a boy who was two years older than him and taller than his age.

He struggled, but he couldn’t even move.

‘Langrisser!’

[Whoa!]

In response to Tessa’s call, Langrisser moved towards Alexander. However, when Alexander faced Langrisser with his aura, he disappeared like smoke in an instant.

‘What?!’

A familiar is a creature made of mana, it can be destroyed by a magic attack from a sword master or a mage. Tessa, experiencing this for the first time in his life, hardened his eyes in amazement.

Looking down at Tessa like that, General Raphael said in a cold voice.

“I can kill you, Prince. I am showing generosity to you only because I have something I want to ask of you.”

General Raphael’s words were not false.

Tessa could instinctively recognize that, in this situation, Alexander could break his neck with some force.

‘But I don’t live like a dog!’

Tessa clenched his teeth. At that moment, flames surged around Tessa’s body.

General Raphael, who had been hovering around Tessa, as well as Alexander reflexively released his hands and took a step back.

“Hey, do we need to tame him?”

Unlike Lloyd, who is upright and calm, the prince of the detached palace seems like a ferocious wild dog.

‘Should I hit them, or should I just step back today?’

After contemplating for a while, he finally chose the latter. After all, he was the abandoned prince no one cared about, so there was no need to garner any more attention.

“Yes, you will have no choice but to hold my hand. You will only make everyone around you unhappy.”

General Raphael’s words pierced Tessa’s heart like an arrow. General Raphael politely bowed to Tessa, who had turned pale with clenched fists.

“See you next time.”

The blue-haired boy who had crushed Tessa just before nodded his head. Tessa clenched his teeth. His small fist clenched and hit the wall.

‘Why the hell am I living?’

His whole body trembled at the feeling of humiliation for the first time in his life.

Even more upsetting was that there was no one who could help and listen to him.

‘Everyone hates me. They hate me.’

As his emotions became chaotic, the fireballs began to swirl around the room again. Langrisser, who had disappeared, reappeared and wrapped Tessa around like a blanket.

‘I make everyone unhappy.’

General Raphael was right. His mother, his father, and the maids who cared for him all became unhappy because of it.

There were also those who suffered severe burns and left for their hometowns.

‘But I…….’

He wants to be loved.

It was a word he couldn’t get out of his mouth. Tessa suppressed the sad longing as he cried.

His life was miserable.

On the day Tessa set fire to the palace at the provocation of General Raphael, no one would have expected that the Crown Prince, who was curious, would find his half-brother.

Lloyd came to Tessa with a smile like bright sunlight and held out his hand to Tessa.

“Tessa, it’s a strong name. I like it.”

The moment he saw him, he knew that the emotion he was giving towards him was a radiant love that he couldn’t deny.

So he pushed him away. Because he thought it would make him unhappy.

“Don’t pay any attention to me.”

“Huh? You’re my cute little brother though.”

However, despite the rejection, Lloyd strode into Tessa’s heart.

“Look, our eyes are the same color. It means you can’t fool anyone.”

That was the first taste of familial love he experienced.

***

‘But it ended up like this.’

Lloyd is dead. Right before he died, he smiled at Tessa and said,

“How nice it is to have someone to give and receive love, it would be nice if you knew too. Just imagining that a child who resembles her and me makes my heart race.”

He didn’t want to have something like that. But he didn’t say anything because he just likes his older brother who was smiling happily.

‘But this is his outcome.’

Tessa was convinced in the corner of his heart that Lloyd’s death was not an accident. The upright Lloyd had many enemies.

If there was no one to inherit the throne after killing them, many will have a chance.

Meanwhile, they didn’t touch him because they thought he wasn’t their opponent.

‘So in the end it’s all because of me.’

The urge to destroy everything was creeping in. There was only one reason for him not implementing the action.

‘Ariel.’

As long as Lloyd’s child was there, he couldn’t break everything. Because he had to give everything to the child.

‘When I’m with Ariel, I feel like I’m normal.’

Despite having the same familiar, Amelia didn’t cause devastating problems like Tessa. It may be thanks to the existence of Lucinda, who has cared for the child with love since childhood.

‘I’m not going to make an assumption. But I can’t help but think that Ariel is lucky to have an aunt like that.’

Seeing two people who care and love each other, it feels like medicine is applied to his wounds, so peace comes to Tessa’s heart.

‘If only we could stay like this…’

When he had such a feeble hope, as if ridiculing him who had become too soft, a situation similar to the past suddenly fell in front of him.

Sika Ricardo. A boy who lived in a separate palace, abandoned by his mother and left alone.

‘There is no way that a child with that kind of environment will be nice.’

He becomes a person who will greedily bite the fingers that give him affection. Tessa knew that better than anyone.

‘Madame Ricardo’s son will surely make Ariel unhappy.’

Even more so when he thinks of how Madame Ricardo used the child to try to get involved with the imperial family.

“Kill him.”

It seemed that that was the only way to completely keep Ariel from unhappiness.

“Based on my opinion, I think his situation is similar to His Majesty’s past.”

“……!!”

At Alexander’s words, Tessa’s eyes were blazing.

‘Yes. Even then, you always treated me like that before.’

Memories of them treating him like a dog that doesn’t listen to them came to mind.

“Yes. You were one of the things I wanted to erase.”

However, he wasn’t that helpless little kid now.

‘I have endured a lot.’

Because he didn’t have enough strength before, but now he didn’t want to endanger Amelia.

He hesitated for various reasons, but the hesitation disappeared without a trace in anger.

‘I will not let it go.’

It was at that moment when Tessa and Alexander looked at each other with bitter eyes.

“Papa, I hate you!!”

A loud sound separated the two of them.

‘Her Highness?’

Alexander’s eyes widened. Tessa also flinched. Huh?

Like someone born with the fire attribute, Tessa’s anger did not stop once it boiled. Alexander knew it well enough and provoked him.

‘So how?’

Alexander looked at Tessa in disbelief and followed Tessa’s gaze.

There sat a baby with golden hair, with tears welling up.

‘Only because of that child?’

It was when Alexander opened his lips.  Light green eyes looked at Alexander and shouted in a shrill voice.

“I hate you too!!”

How did this happen?

Alexander’s body, who had been looking at Tessa in an awkward way, also stumbled.

It’s like some kind of magic, his anger disappeared in an instant.

‘What the hell is this… ….’

Alexander looked at Amelia with puzzled eyes.