My Sister Picked up the Male Lead - Chapter 23

T/N: Surprise!5

Compared to when she brought home Knox, my sister’s expression didn’t look too good. The man with his furrowed eyebrows came forward.

“This man I found in the forest… said something strange.”

“Something strange?”

As I looked at my sister I understood that what she thought was strange may not be so strange after all.

“… That he was looking for a small child within the forest.”

“It’s true! I know that he’s somewhere within the forest!”

The man looked like he was misunderstood.

My sister had her lips tightly sealed like a clam, but even without her explaining anything I understood. Both she and I knew that the child he was looking for was Knox.

My eyes widened when I took another look at the man. If my memory didn’t fail me, that fluttering seaweed* hair and dark green eyes…

*T/N: The author trying to say his hair’s like wet and sticking to his skin in strands so it looks like seaweed. Not that his hair is actually seaweed coloured or anything.

I subconsciously grabbed onto Knox tighter. Looking at his grey hair, I swallowed my saliva. Soon, I realised who he was from my distant memories.

“Amy…?”

Before long, the eyes of the man who looked as if he had lost the world regained its strength. His eyes widened.

“C-commander…? Commander!”

From what I can remember, there was only one groups of people who would call Knox the ‘Commander’. The Grand Duke’s Knighthood, ‘Lux’.

The man who had his eyes widened was a supporting character in the novel.

***

“Commander…”

My sister grabbed the hilt of her sword nervously as the man shuffled towards us. Rather than me, he was looking straight at Knox.

I could only imagine how surprised he must be, judging by how he looked like he was possessed. Knox, on the other hand, had just woken up and looked only at me as he rubbed his lidded eyes with the back of his hand.

Knox usually falls asleep by now since he has to sleep before the sun sets. I was just about to put him to sleep since he looked sleepier than usual. If it weren’t for that man, he would’ve been asleep by now…

I looked at my sister and nodded my head. After I told her it was fine with my expression, she lowered her sword with a slight frown. But she still couldn’t completely let go of her sword.

‘He’s not someone who will hurt us. He’s even tied up.’

I didn’t think that the man who had been tied up so tightly could do anything but my sister didn’t seem to think so.

In the meantime, the man who had hurriedly approached us, dropped to his knees. I had been surprised thinking that he was kneeling for me but of course, his gaze was directed towards Knox.

“Commander. I-it’s me, Gray, Lux’s wings. Have you been living well? Have you been healthy?”

The man sobbed as furrowed his eyebrows.

“D-do you know how anxious I was, thinking that you ended up in some monster’s belly?”

‘If he was in a monster’s belly, he wouldn’t be alive.’

I thought as I watched the man quietly.

It’s only because I thought that the man whose arms had been tightly tied to his waist wasn’t able to do anything anyway.

If the man showed any signs of struggle against his restraints, my sister will come running first…

“Commander, I missed you so much. I’m being s-serious.”

His thick limbs as well as his large build made him the perfect image of a soldier. His hair was grey, covering some of his eyes. But his hair was now in a mess with leaves and dust covering it.

Gray.

One of the supporting characters in the novel, Gray Western, was an outstanding knight in the Grand Duke’s knighthood, Lux.

Although the male lead is, of course, the strongest, Gray was his successor. He also has a pivotal role in the upcoming battle with the Crown Prince.

Most importantly, this man played a very important role in letting the male and female leads confirm their love for each other. Even though now, he was just a man who kept crying and looking at Knox.

What hardship did he go through for not having any part of his clothes clean? At that moment, as I felt a little pity for him, I reached out my hand.

Crash.

I didn’t even manage to tell Gray to stand up. I lowered my head to find Knox who was hugging my waist tightly.1

“Knox? What’s wrong?”

Knox looked at me while shaking his head before snuggling his face into my waist.

“… Don’t.”

“Huh?”

“… Don’t touch him.”

Knox looked up from my waist with his big eyes before frowning. I’m not sure about other things but the way he smiled looked exactly like him at night.

“He’s dirty.”

“Huh?”

My gaze alternated between Gray and Knox. Gray widened his eyes. He looked so shocked as if someone told him that his mother was not actually his birth mother.

I smiled awkwardly at Gray. He opened his mouth hurriedly.

“Commander! I-I’m not dirty! I-if I wash up, I can be clean.”

I don’t think that’s the problem. Scratching my cheek, I raised my arm before awkwardly placing my hand on Knox’s head.

“Uhm, Knox. So, you were worried that I might get hurt, right? Because you had cut yourself before?”

… He nodded.

Hmm. So that was the reason.

I shifted my eyes as I patted his head awkwardly. The child frowned as he rubbed his head against my palm.

… In his child form, it feels like I was raising a cat.

As I patted the child, I smiled awkwardly at Gray. I felt like I was apologising to my neighbour for my child for breaking his windows.

“Uhm, I apologise. I taught him not to touch dirty things since there’s a lot of dust in this house. He must have been more sensitive after hurting his hand while I was making dinner.”

“H-he got hurt?”

“Ah, hahahaha.”

This man seemed to care more about Knox being hurt than being treated like a lump of germs.2

That’s right. I would’ve been surprised too if I had found my lost commander only to find him with some unknown woman saying that he got hurt.

“Uh…, so how are you related to Knox?”

“Knox?”

“It’s the child’s name. I didn’t know his name so I just named him this.”

Knox who heard his name, pulled my skirt.

“… Amy gave it to me.”

“Yes, Knox, that’s right. I gave it to you.”

Gray stared at us and could only blink with his green eyes. He was speechless.

It shouldn’t be ending like this. What should I do? I scratched my cheek.

In the meantime, I smiled calmly at Knox who was pulling at the hems of my dress before giving a worried look.

I can’t bring it up… After slightly shifting my eyes, I spoke carefully.

“Uhm. Don’t be shocked and just listen. When my sister and I found Knox, he had lacked common sense and couldn’t remember anything about himself. So uhm…”

“Just call me Gray.”

“Gray, Knox has no idea who he is and has no memories. Nothing at all.”

“… What?”

“He doesn’t remember anything at all.”

“…”

Even as a Grand Duke, he must have been used to his transformations during the day and at night. But he must have no idea what had happened to him here.

But wouldn’t he have been able to remember an aide like Gray? That was why this man looked at Knox so forlornly.

“That means I… You don’t remember me too. I…”

Gray tried to smile. Then, the complicated the feelings he couldn’t hide showed themselves.

“Are you alright? First, we should take care of your wounds.”

“Ah… Thank you for your kindness. It’s still a little shocking…”

The men of the Knighthood of Dawn followed the male lead loyally. They weren’t just willing to die for their Commander but they were men who were willing to throw themselves off a cliff.

In fact, when they became knights, they made an unusual pledge which allowed them to know the location of their commander even if they were miles away. That was how he made it all the way here.

However, since they only know his approximate location he must have personally scoured this area. You could see form his body alone how relentless he was in his search for Knox.

But his Commander who he had been searching for this whole time forgets his entire knighthood, loyal subordinates, and stared at him as if he was a stranger. I would’ve cried.

I reached out my hand and patted his shoulder to try to give him some comfort. As I retracted my hand, it was caught in mid-air.

“Knox?”

Knox held my hand tightly as he stared at it. Unlike the eyes he had when he looks at me, he sharply looked at my hand.

Immediately, something flew past me. It was a book which accurately hit Gray’s forehead before falling.

I gasped as I saw the picture book that Knox usually asks me to read to him. I looked at the two of them.

“I hate him.”1

His wide eyes turned towards Knox.

Uh, I think this man is going to cry.1

***

“I have introduced myself before, but my name’s Gray.”

After the ruckus, everyone gathered around in the house. It’s because my sister said that it was too hot outside to talk.

“I’m Diana and that’s my sister, Amy.”

“I’m Amy.”

While we introduced each other, my sister and I made eye contact.

My sister probably felt lost from this sudden situation. Well, I don’t think my sister was supposed to meet Gray in the first place.

Nothing in the novel had been written in detail so I had no idea how he was attacked and how he got himself out of it. I could only remember what happened during the attack.

‘… But isn’t this going too fast?’

Apparently, in the novel, my sister and Knox lived together for almost a year. Taking into account the possible margins of error, we should have lived together for at least half a year. But only 3 months have passed.

What happened? Apart from Gray’s arrival, is the attack set to happen 3 months from now?

I swallowed my uneasiness and spoke calmly.

“Well, it’s getting a little late now. Why don’t we eat dinner first?”

“Yes, that’d be good. We have a lot to talk about.”

My sister who slowly got up said that she was going to wash up first and left. She must have been very flustered by this situation. Because she was still wearing the clothes she wore to go out.

After she left, I got up and brought a small box over before sitting in front of Gray.

“I’ve only wiped off the blood. I’ll give you some medicine now.”

There was only simple medicine inside the box. It was made by drying the ingredients that my sister usually brings and converting them to powders or ointments for myself. But the medicine worked better than I expected.

“Ah. Thank you.”

“I scolded Knox for throwing books at people. Right, Knox?”

“… I won’t.”

Knox, who had been hiding behind my back, poked his face out.

“… Because Amy told me not to.”

His face was still full of discomfort, so I turned to look at Gray. But the look he gave him was enough to make Gray look like he just lost his country. No. I think it forced him back to reality.

“… s-scold…”

“… Should I change how I say it then?”

“… No, it’s fine.”

While I applied the medicine, Gray kept quiet. Apart from sullenly or blankly looking at Knox every now and then, he seemed lost in thought.

Knox, who had been nodding off as he grabbed onto me, couldn’t stand it anymore and dug into my arms.

It was no longer unusual to see him sleep kneeling down like that. So, as I looked at Knox who had his eyes closed, I smiled and stroked the boy’s head.

“Excuse me.”

After applying the medicine to his forehead, which had been hit by the book hard, Gray’s gaze turned to me.

“Can you give our Commander back?”

I flinched. After agonising over whether to refer to him formally as a Commander or informally like a child, I spoke as quietly as possible.

“Can I not?”

I didn’t know what kind of expression Gray had on his face because I myself was confused. But Gray hurriedly shook his head.

“What? No, no, no. I apologise if I’d made you uncomfortable. I had no intentions of doing so. But a Commander like him is the first for me.”

“The first?”

“Yup. You should have already seen it. You’ve seen him transform into a very big man at night, didn’t you Miss Amy?”

“Yes.”

“That’s what our Commander really looks like. To take care of such a big man must have been a difficult decision to make. I didn’t get to say thank you before. Thank you!”

Gray bowed before smiling at me. Like a big puppy, his eyes drooped at the ends. Now that I looked closer, he was quite good-looking.”

“Reynok Ilberk. That’s my Commander’s name.”

“Reynok.”

“Yes. The Grand Duke of Ilberk up north. Even though he has a troublesome curse placed on him, he’s a very strong person”

I felt relieved knowing my sister wasn’t here at the moment. No, it’s only a matter of time before she finds out.

Grays’s eyes glistened as soon as he brought up Knox.

He was handsome and in his mid-20s so it must have been difficult for his eyes to glisten like that talking about another man. He fervently nodded his head.

“I’m extremely thankful!”

“Uh…. Yes, I see.”

“As expected of Miss Amy, you know too! Have you ever seen the Commander use his sword?”

“Huh. Oh, yes I have. Actually, I have seen him wield a sword before. It was at night and he did it to help me.”

“Even after losing his memories, he never lost his skills. As expected of our Commander!”

Not only did Gray look like a giant puppy, he acted like one too. As I compared him to Knox who could both act like a beast and a dog, I really wondered if the only men who are working for him were like dogs.

Gray, who could not have noticed me having such a thought, continued bragging about Knox. I listened half-heartedly. When I thought it was about time, I raised my hand.

“Uhm, wait. I’ll bring Knox to his room first.”

“Ah, if that’s the case, I’ll do it!”

“But you’re hurt.”

“…”

I smiled at Gray who was groaning at his place and got up.

Three months have passed since Knox arrived. Although I was much older than him, he was still smaller and thinner than most people his age.

His stature showed years of abuse so whenever I looked at him , I could only feel sorry.

After laying Knox down, I returned and squatted in front of Gray.

“Sir Gray?”

“Yes? I mean, yes.”

As he blinked his eyes, he answered quickly.

“You’re honestly tired, aren’t you?”

“…”

He stayed quiet for a while before quickly saying no. But even while doing so, his green eyes looked drowsy.

He had probably been searching the forest without an inch of sleep.

“It’s natural to feel sleepy when you feel relieved.”

“Haha. You’re quite sharp.”

I got praised. I placed my chin on my hand before saying.

“Do you like Knox that much?”

“Huh? Oh, yes! Of course.”+

“In what way?”

“Huh? Uhm… I don’t know. I just do!”

Before I knew it, the bulky man’s eyes were glistening.

“I just know that he’s the best. The coolest person I’ve ever met in my life!”

I almost saw a tail wagging behind him. Come to think of it, Reynok was also much like a beast and a dog. Very much.

If I only I could say, Commander Wolf, do you only happen to have dogs and beasts under your command? I seriously pondered over it. So then, would he be considered a Siberian Husky?