After we finished breakfast, I headed out to the garden with Rachel still clinging to me. Mark approached us and asked me, “Master Leon, are you ready for today's sparring session?”

 Rachel looked at me with puffed cheeks and sulked a little but let go as I nodded to Mark’s question, replying, “I am.”

 Rachel is a bit…clingy. But I don’t mind it too much since she won't rely on anyone else. And…I have to be there for her.

  A while back. Her parents died for some unknown reason. And the reason wasn’t even revealed in the books. But at a very young age, she’d been considered a genius and practically governed the estate owned by her parents at the age of five. Which sounds ridiculous, but she’s already been doing that for more than a year.

 Whilst she’s now technically my little sister, she’s the same age, as she was born early winter, and I’m late, making me older.

 The thing is… The original Rachel didn’t have the Shellheart family name, as she was actually adopted by another family when she turned seven.

 There wasn’t much mention of that family except for the family name, which was Deeprose. I had to make sure it was the same Rachel and investigated the Deeprose family, and they didn’t have an adopted daughter. Which meant my parents adopted her before they could.

 And I’m relieved that’s the case because—perhaps, Rachel won’t become such a hideous villain.

*Sigh…*

 “What’s with the sigh, Master Leon?” Rose asked.

 Mark also looked at me with concern and said, “That’s quite uncharacteristic of you, Master Leon.”

 “I’m sorry about that. I just…have stuff on my mind,” I replied.

  Of course, I have. Not only have I personally changed the timeline on my own accord, but it was never really the same, to begin with…

 “Well then, shall we start?” I asked Mark.

 He nodded and threw me a dull practice sword. We took our stance, and Mark was the first to move. He cleaved the air, sending wind blades in a cone and dashed toward me.

 I electrocuted my blade and slashed through the wind blades, and Mark struck from the right side. I dodged by a few centimetres and distanced myself from him. But he was relentless and stomped the ground, creating a gust of wind to send dirt and debris in all directions.

 And while I was disarrayed, he appeared from a dust cloud, and our blades clashed, and instead of defending his attack head-on, I decided to run my blade along his and push it away, which resulted in a screeching high pitch sound. I then dashed to the side and waited for his next move.

 “Master Leon, you need to attack me too, you know?” Mark remarked.

 “Hey, servant! How insolent of you to taunt big brother like that!” Rachel retorts.

 ““……””

 Both Mark and I ignored her remark and kept eyeing one another.

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 But…

 Rachel still has the high and mighty young lady attitude—well, she is one. But, in the Shellheart family, we don’t really act arrogant, at least in a way that looked down on our own servants…

—ahh… I need to lecture her later…

 Still on my guard, I said, “If I attack, you’d probably counter me, and it would backlash. After, there's a disparity between your physical and magical capabilities in comparison to mine.”

 “It’s funny how you say that, Master Leon. Despite that, you still manage to trade pretty evenly. Isn’t that the case?”

 “You’re not even going all out,” I replied and later remarked, “Yet I find myself struggling quite a bit, no?”

 “Ha-haha-ha, I could say that about you as well, Master Leon. You’re not even at your top speed.”

 As he said that, he proceeded to increase his speed and sent a strong blast of wind my way. Contrary to the previous wind blades. This was like a wall, making it difficult for me to move forward or to the sides.

 And riding that wind current, Mark’s blade clashed with mine, and I was being pushed back. I did the same trick from before, but he’d expected me to do so and used that momentum, following it as he turned and spun around, aligning another strike.

—spark.

 This time, I used ‘spark’, and as our blades connected, I led them upwards towards the sky and used the back handle to strike Mark—he, unfortunately, coughed the hilt with his left hand as he’d partly let go of his sword when I led our blades.

 …and with my own blade directed at my throat and his raised above my head, I surrendered.

 “…I lost again,” I sulked.

 “Well, well, don’t sulk, Master Leon. You’ve improved quite a bit, and you won’t perhaps believe me, but you’re plenty strong as you are,” Mark tried to reassure.

—and yet I’ve never beaten you.

“Wow! Amazing!” I suddenly heard.

 It was a familiar voice, and I turned around and saw Vinz sitting beside Rachel with his eyes sparkled.

 …Vinz would usually visit a little later, but… How come he’s early today?

 Rachel nodded in agreement and happily smiled. “That’s my big brother! But it is unfair since Mark is an adult!” she exclaimed.

—well… I’ll become one at one point, too, you know?

 Rachel ran toward us and hugged me. “—hey, Rachel, I’m sweaty…thus, if you could refrain—”

 “No!” Rachel adamantly replied.

 I glanced at Vinz, looking for help, but that was a mistake on my part as he also launched a hug attack.

 ‘Come on, Vinz, not you too…’ I uttered.

 “Ahaha, why not? It seems like fun each time Rachel does it!” he replied.

 “P-Prince Vincent! You shouldn’t hug a lady all of a sudden!” Rachel complained.

 But in response, Vinz said, “Lady? You, Leon and I are but kids! So this is fine!”

“B-But…”

 Rachel flusteredly tried to say something. But stopped and sulked in silence.

—he’s not wrong. Until a certain age, that is. Ahh…I hope Rachel isn’t so clingy until that age. But at fifteen, she shouldn’t be this attached to me, would she?

 “Leon! Spar with me!” Vinz suddenly said.

 “—no,” I replied, briefly shooting him down.

 “Ehh~ why not!? You always reject me!”

 “…I do not,” I said while looking to the side. “But…how long are the two of you going to cling to me? I’m sweaty—”

 ““Until I feel satisfied!”” the two of them instantly replied.

—how did it end up like this…? Am I too lenient on them…? And Sylvester, is it really the time to brew and serve perfect tea to my parents…?