On the stage of the packed theater, Cynthia is dancing to Ellis's song.

While the sprites are dancing around them, the commoners cheer on their performance. 

"This song, even though it doesn't explicitly say it, it's a song to praise you, isn't it?"

Sophia, who is standing next to me while grinning, said that as I looked down at the stage from the balcony, where the royal seat was located.

Please stop saying that, as I'm pretending not to notice it.

"Well, I guess they are just showing how grateful they are for what I've done."

After my fight with Grat, he was detained and imprisoned by the guards that Sophia called.

My uncle, the duke of Admisia, disinherited Grat. After that, he asked to be pardoned for the sins of his child, but because of his words and actions that distorted Grat's thinking, an investigation was carried out. That's why, as punishment, my uncle was stripped of his right to succeed the throne, and he was demoted to a count.

In reality, it was a really light punishment for a person who was supposed to plot a rebellion, but since he was my uncle, implications could not be applied in this case, so Sophia put her brain to full capacity, and that's why he was punished like that.

"It will be interesting to see how Grat, who looked down on the commoners, will live from now on."

I decided to make my uncle decide the punishment for what Grat did, and because of that, he was disinherited and expelled from their house. From now on, he will have to live a life as a commoner.

As a precaution, I'm going to put a spy on him for a while to make sure he doesn't make any suspicious moves. I'm sure from now on I'll be receiving reports from time to time on how his life is going downhill.

It was thanks to Cynthia that I noticed this problem.

On the day that I'm supposed to meet Ellis, Sophia felt suspicious about Ellis's school life, which is why she called upon Cynthia, who is considered to be the leader of the students bullying Ellis, to the royal castle.

When Cynthia arrived, he told us that Grat was trying to make Ellis his wife for the purpose of monopolizing Ellis's singing voice.

And the reason why Cynthia had been harsh with Ellis is that she thought that if she, a marquis, was harsh with Ellis, who was also from a commoner background, it would be difficult for others to get their hands on her.

To confirm this, we decided to visit the school and actually see what was happening with our own eyes.

Incidentally, what Cynthia did to Ellis was to simply reprimand her if she was doing something wrong, and according to our spies, most of the bullying that happened to her was the result of Grat's plan to isolate Ellis from her classmates.

So in short, match pump, huh?*

"Even so, there are so many problems in the school and our education system, huh?"

First was the incident with the hero, and now this time it's Grat. Are our schools really educating our students properly?

"I agree; maybe something happened after we graduated. I'll investigate about that."

Sophia then pulled out a notebook out of nowhere, then wrote something down; after writing, she tore the page and threw it at her back; the page then suddenly disappeared into the darkness without any trace.

Doing that, I felt that Sophia was becoming more mysterious as the days went by. Oh well, I'll just pretend that I didn't see anything.

"But even so, I'm sure you are glad about it."

"About what?"

"Both General Grecia and Chief Court Mage Listero were very grateful for what you have done. Not to mention those two were also very grateful to you. At this point, there's no problem if you marry either of them, right? Also, you're not that particular about sticking to keeping your bloodline pure, right?"

Hearing those words, I smiled and looked at Sophia.

"As expected of you, you're ignorant when it comes to love, huh."

Fufu, it looks like I'm correct.

"What's with that face? Also, your smile is really irritating. If you are so expert at love, why don't you tell me something I didn't know."

"Those two are lesbians."

"Huh?"

"Oh, is that concept not known yet in this world? Even two women can love each other, you know? Did you notice how Ellis calls Cynthia her onee-sama, and in response, in order to protect Ellis, Cynthia hugs her? I'm not the kind of person to break such a precious relationship."

I shook my head and shrugged my shoulders.

Sophia should stop working so hard and start looking at love a little. Then she would have noticed their relationship right away, just like I did.

Alright, next time I've got a chance, I'll introduce her to a good man. If I chose carefully, I'm sure Sophia would agree to go on a date with him.

"The face that you're making right now, you're not thinking something good, aren't you?"

"It's a secret."

I crossed my hands behind my head and looked away from Sophia.

Currently on the stage, Ellis's song has ended, and Cynthia, who has been dancing with her body spinning, is slowly stopping the rotation.

When the sprites disappeared, leaving behind residue, the audience gave them a standing ovation.

When I approached the railing and applauded, perhaps noticing me, Ellis and Cynthia held hands and bowed together, then waved their hands with big smiles while looking in my direction.

When suddenly both of their lips started moving as if they were trying to convey something to me.

"Hey, Sophia, what did they just say?"

When I asked Sophia who was next to me, she folded her arms and turned away from me.

"I'm ignorant about love, so I don't understand what they've just said."

Seriously, what did they just say?


Ellis's POV


"I'm pretty sure he didn't get what we were trying to say to him."

My sister, who is still holding my hands, says so with a wry smile while looking up at His Highness in the royal seat.

"In a way, that's fine, as the current me is still no match for Sophia-sama and onee-sama. So I'll try even harder to improve myself."

"I'm not going to give up either, but Sophia-sama is certainly a formidable opponent."

"I won't give up too."

"That's right, that person not only saved the slums, but he also saved our hearts. This time it's our turn to support him."

Onee-sama then went up and stood in front of me, and she extended her hand for a handshake.

"Let's both do our best. I'll be strict with you from now on. If you want to call me onee-sama then that means that you'll be able to follow me, right?"

"Yes! I'll be under your care from now on, onee-sama."

The applause directed at us still didn't stop, and the voice of encore resounded inside the theater.

"Onee-sama, I'm going to perform one more song. Is that alright with you?"

"Fufu, I was just about to say the same thing. Let's do this, Ellis."

"Yes!  Onee-sama!"

After I took a deep breath, I started singing again.

In this performance, we are putting our feelings into my song and onee-sama's dance.




Note:

1. I don't exactly know what's the English counterpart of this but in Japanese a match pump is someone who instigates others to do something then when the problem get serious the person will stop it to make that person looks like a savior or something.