My Sister Picked up the Male Lead - Chapter 25

Gray ran with his heart afluttering. He felt as if he had the whole world in his hands as he lightly took one step after another.

‘I finally found the Commander.’

He and the knights had looked anxiously for their master. The Grand Duke Reynok disappeared after leaving for the capital in order to free himself from his curse. The dogs who had lost their owner had been frantically crying and looking for him.

The knights might have a special ability to help them find Reynok, but that ability has its limits. They could not pinpoint his exact location and thus had to search the entire forest. It was a situation where they were worried if the child had been burnt or had even melted from the heat.

‘I have to let the rest of the Lux know.’

Luckily, he hadn’t hurt his leg so he could run just fine. He couldn’t run as fast as Reynok. But as a brilliant knight, he was able to use his legs and execute advanced techniques to help him achieve a speed several times that of an average human.

At the rate he was going, it wouldn’t be long till he meets his colleagues.

‘I was faster than them…!’

But Gray didn’t even have the chance to be glad. He was anxious. Because currently in the forest, there were not only their knights, but the Crown Prince’s knights as well.

No matter how hard they tried to keep Reynok’s disappearance a secret; the prince used his elite knights to locate Reynok’s position.

He knew that the knights from the Imperial family could not be trusted, since they launched a surprise attack on Lux on their way to the capital.

Subconsciously, Gray’s face hardened and his lips drew into a thin line before he kicked off with his feet.

***

“He left.”

Meanwhile, there was a group of people chasing after Gray. Gray was one of the best knights from Lux. He was a well-skilled knight. So rather than chase after him, they could only watch him.1

They had used a special magic tool to allow them to watch Gray without alerting his sharp senses.

One of the men turned his head to look at his captain. Like everyone else, the captain was donning a black and silver cape. A red medal shone on his chest with an embossed dragon roaring within it.

“Based on his expression, it looks like he found him.”

“I’m sure he did. These stupid dogs don’t know how to hide their expressions.”

The captain pulled his lips back and laughed, while at the same time thinking of his master, the Crown Prince. If Reynok was alive, the Crown Prince ordered them to kill him.

If there was anyone who stood in the way, they had to cut them down. This may even include the Grand Duke’s cherished knights.

Then, the captain who had been grinning this whole time, lowered his chin.

“Oh, by the way…”

“What is it?”

The subordinate hesitated before saying.

“According to the man who gave us the information, Hans, there’s a house deep within the forest.”

“Is that so?”

“Yes. There’s a woman living there. Since she’s innocent, he asked that we spare her life if possible.”

Usually, they wouldn’t spout such stories.

“Please, I’m begging you, Sir. I treat that child just as I would my daughter.”

But Hans, a merchant, had provided detailed information on the Night Forest. In return for refusing the pay for the information, instead Hans hesitated before explaining his request.

But after hearing the whole explanation, the captain replied firmly.

“What useless talk.”

“What should we do then?”

The red medals hanging on their chests tinkledin the wind. Their numbers are more than what meets the eye. In fact, they had outnumbered the Grand Duke’s knights in the forest.

“Proceed with our original plan.”

“Yes sir!”

Along with his subordinates, they came out from the dark and moved.

“Kill them all.”4

4. The Escape

After Gray left, everyone in the house remained still.

The savoury smell of cooking rice wafted in from the kitchen as it spewed out of a boiling pot. Today, my sister decided not to go on her daily hunt. Instead, she sat at the table and stared at me.

“Do you have something to say?”

“Yes?”

I could tell even without looking. We’ve known each other for years. I had been cooking, but I couldn’t ignore the gaze on me any longer so I turned my head.

“You keep looking at me. You think I don’t know you, Diana?”

My sister just tilted her head and smiled.

“It’s because my little sister is too pretty.”

“Pft. You’re the pretty one. Compared to me at least.”

“Nope. How could that be when you’re so lovely?”

My sister slowly rose from the table, before running over to grab my hand.

“Look at this. Your nose is pretty. Your eyes are pretty. Oh my god, your nostrils are cute too!”1

“… You’re going too far with the nostrils.”

My sister’s bright hair swayed while she gave a big smile. Her hands that grazed my eyes, nose, and lips tickled.

“So, you’ve been staring at me all this time. What did you want to say to me?”

“Huh?”

“Diana, you’re not Knox, but you keep staring at me without saying anything. Anyone could tell you were.”

My sister paused for a moment. She continued staring at me before shortly smiling at me.

“Was it obvious?”

My sister is pretty. I’m not just saying it because she’s my sister, but objectively speaking, she is.

Her face glistened like glass reflecting sunlight. With her hair up in a ponytail, she looked so cute and innocent, no one could ever imagine she would be able to wield a sword while exuding this elegance.

So, from the moment I found out that I was in a novel, I realised that the male lead would fall head over heels for her with just one look at her.

“If you’re not going to say anything first, Diana, can I start? I’ve always been curious. Why did you bring Knox to our home?”

I breathed quietly, before saying it all that in a quick succession.

“Ever since our parents died, you’ve never trusted a male, even more so, an adult one. That’s why you always left me here to go off into the village on your own.”

“Yup, you’re right.”

“When you saw Knox in his young adult form, I thought for sure that you would kick him out.”

“This child. How can a person be so cold-hearted?”

My sister is a good person. She had all it takes to be the female lead in both the novel and our current situation. She was good-natured, friendly, sympathetic, and even affectionate.

She was also fierce at times. But I heard that people who loved more babies and animals can never be bad people. And that’s exactly my sister.

She may not have been the female lead but she had suited the role of the male lead’s first love very well.

“Hm, well.”

She easily allowed Knox, who was still a stranger whose circumstances she had no clue about, to get close to her younger sister. I was curious as of why she did that. Compared to how she dealt with the intruders before, she let him pass too easily.

“His eyes looked good.”

Where? I wondered which part of his gaze she considered good. I shook my head when I recalled the first encounter between my sister and the Knox in his Grand Duke form. I don’t think I should trust my sister’s eyes when it comes to judging people.

As I looked at my sister who seemed to have a very different standard of how a good person looked like, I was worried that this was maybe a special way the first love was treated in the novel.

Come to think of it, the fact that my sister is able to remain calm in all this is strange.

“What? Don’t you think so too? The fact that the gaze of the Knox in the day and the Knox at night is exactly the same!”

“… Looks like you really like Knox, Diana.”

She has a filter in her eyes that makes her only see Knox as the Knox in the day. Perhaps that was why she could not judge his form at night clearly. I see this was all because of her otaku lens*.

*T/N: I think the author’s trying to say that Diana is like an otaku for little Knox or something. It’s probably korean slang.

My sister pouted.

“What’s this? Why are you acting like you don’t think so too?!”
“… Yeah.”

It was an answer that did not answer her question. While groaning and rolling her eyes at me, she shook my shoulders.

“You also feel the same right? Yeah? Right?”

What do you want me to say? I kept my lips shut. My sister seemed to take my silence as a positive sign.

“Gosh. At times like this, it’s better to be honest. Why are you hiding your feelings? Your sister raised you to be an honest child. But what did you expect me to do when you say you were alright with him? I think Knox can be trusted.”

“…”

“You’ve never met people other than me before… For that I was always sorry.”

“What do you mean? It’s not your fault.”

“Yeah, that may be true. But still.”1

My sister grabbed my fidgeting fingers. As I looked at my sister who was patting my head, I saw her smile bitterly.

My sister has always looked at me proudly while she raised me. She then smiled.

“I’m glad that you met a good person. No, maybe calling him a good kid will be better?”

I guess Knox is a ‘good person’ to my sister.

As my sister stroked my head, I felt refreshed.

In the novel, Knox and my sister were the male lead and the male lead’s first love respectively. Unlike how it was in the novel, a new relationship emerged between them.

I think that it’s quite an amazing thing to see that my sister still thinks that Knox is a good person even in this new relationship.

We had breakfast together before my sister went out to hunt later than usual.

I had actually wanted her to stay home and have a good rest but since she was busy bringing Gray over yesterday, we were short on ingredients. My sister, who knew this, said that she would come back quickly. So, there was no way I could stop her.

“I’ll be back early today.”2

“Yup. Always take care of yourself, okay?”

“This child. Of course, I will. I’ve always been doing well on my own, you know? Knox, I’ll be back soon.”

“Okay.”

When she saw the little boy waving his hand, which he rarely did, my sister smiled.

“Cute! He’s so cute! Knox, can you do that one more time? Huh?”2

“Diana, aren’t you going?”

“This child. Is that important right now?”

“… Diana. Knox doesn’t like it.”

My sister continued on and said “How cute! He’s so lovely! Should I just not go?” before smacking my shoulder hard once and leaving for the forest. After some time passed, I rubbed my shoulders.1

I mean, she always never listens when I tell her to take it easy on the hitting.

“Shall we go back in?”

He nodded.

As I held Knox’s hand, I turned my head and entered the house.

I carried out my daily routine without any changes. The sun quickly rose over my head and it was already the afternoon.

“Amy. Amy.”

“Yes?”

Knox, who was a little more restless than usual, showed me one of the books we bought.1

“This is a mansion, right?”

“Yeah? Yup. It’s a mansion. It’s a place my sister and I will never be able to live probably forever. It’s very expensive.”

“Expensive…”

That’s right. It’s expensive. Knox nodded gently. Then he looked at me before hesitating a bit before pointing his small fingers towards the drawing.

Why does he look so sad?

“If we live in a place like this, can I stay with Amy?”2

T/N: KNOOOOOOOOOOX COME HERE INTO MY ARMS RN.

“… Huh?”

“…”

I froze.

“Knox. Don’t tell me you remember something?”

“Can I not live here with Amy?”

If I wasn’t mistaken, his reaction has changed.

What do I do? What was he thinking of? His Grand Duke self? Or maybe his form at night?

I smiled as calmly as I could, just like how my sister does. I tried to gloss over the question that was hard to answer. But before I could, Knox grabbed my hands first, as if he noticed.

“If I remember something, does that mean I can’t live together with Amy?”

I couldn’t lie in front of Knox who had such a discerning eye. Whether I could live with him or not I did not know, but what I do know is that the boy is gazing at me sincerely.

I swallowed nervously. This tension I was feeling is the same as whenever I met eyes with the Knox at night.

The sinking sun outside the window indicated that there was not much time until the sun set. After looking at Knox for a while, I spoke.

“Knox, do you want to live with me?”

He nodded.

“I see.”

He closed then opened his eyes. There was no way I could avoid them. I closed my lips shut. Why do I feel like I had nowhere to escape to?

“Are you avoiding me?”

“… No.”

I tried to smile as naturally as possible.

At that moment, why did I feel as if I was taking a little dog’s house away and leaving him to live in the yard? Maybe because his eyes were looking straight at me?

“Don’t leave.”

“Where would I go?”

“I don’t know. But it feels like Amy is definitely going to leave.”

I was surprised. I could tell that the way his eyes were tearing up and the way he grabbed my hands felt different.

They say that children are more sensitive to their surroundings than adults, but did he notice my hesitation? Why was I being confused between his gaze at night and during the day?

Like how he is at night, I knew he wouldn’t let go of my hand until I told him what he wants to hear. I lowered my head for a moment and smiled before raising my head and holding Knox’s hands.

“Alright. I’ll answer you.”

“…”

I wet my lips before speaking.

“Then, let’s do it like this. I don’t know your exact age but… I’m 16 and Knox, you’re about 7, right? By the time Knox is as old as I am—no, older than me, there will be someone you love.”

“Someone I love…?”

“Yeah. By then, maybe you’ll change your mind.”

“… What if even then, I still like Amy?”

“That’s… let’s think about it when the time comes. People change easily.”

I don’t know if he will still look at me like he does now.

I asked myself, do I enjoy being here with Knox? I have been lying to myself, but honestly I did enjoy it. I even thought that I might have become attached to him.

Honestly, I wasn’t good-looking so when a boy with looks that should be considered a national treasure chased after me, how could I refuse him?1

Even if I tried to pass it off as a joke, I still arrived at the same answer. Recalling his age in the novel, I answered slowly.

“Hmm…Then until you’re 23. If you still don’t have anyone you love when you turn 23… Shall we just live together like this? Me, you and my sister…”

But can I release him from his curse? I can’t do anything for the male lead. So, it probably won’t happen.

“… Really?”

“It’s okay if you want to continue living with me. I mean only if even then you want to.”

23. That was his age when his love with the female lead came into fruition. Does that mean I will not be able to see child Knox anymore since his magic has been released? No, that’s not it. I’ll probably never see Knox again.

Ironically, as my hesitating heart leaned towards one side, I made my decision after making that promise that I know he won’t keep. Let’s leave. This was something that I had already decided. It’s an established plan that has never changed.

It’ll probably be the same no matter what answer I give him. I waited for the frowning boy to give me his answer.

I quickly turned my head.

“Knox. Did you hear that?”

Kung.2

T/N: URGHH IM SCARED

I didn’t hear it wrong. I’m pretty sure the ground shook. My body tensed with anxiety as I heard a sound that I would not normally hear. I quickly looked down at Knox who was in my arms.

What is it? A variety of thoughts rushed through my head. Whatever danger that may be outside, Knox in this form is in the most danger.

‘How much time do we have left till it’s evening?’

The sky was still bright. The sun hasn’t even set yet. If we could wait a little longer, he could turn into his Grand Duke form but that’ll take at least another hour. Hurriedly, I lifted Knox up. As I looked outside the window, I froze.

… What’s that?

Outside the window, I saw many men dressed in black. They were all wearing hooded cloaks, so I couldn’t see their faces clearly. Goosebumps rose on my body as I saw a red medal on a man not too far away.

A red medal. The Crown Prince’s knights?

Instinctively, my arms around Knox tightened. They must be the Crown Prince’s knights. And there could only be one reason why they came all the way down here. My hands turned clammy with cold sweat.

They can’t come now. Before they reach the house…

“K-Knox. We’re going to hide somewhere in this house from now on. It’s going to be a little stuffy but you can handle it right?”

“Amy?”

“W-we don’t have time.”

I took the long sword that my sister usually keeps in the living room before I grabbed Knox’s hands. To get to the hiding place, I had to go through the door leading to the backyard.

Since they’ll have to pass through the front entrance to get here, they won’t be at the back door. Once we go out we’ll have to quickly go underground…

But soon, I realised I was completely mistaken.+

Creak.

As soon as I opened the door, I met a man who coldly looked down at me.

“I found them!”