Elise Elandia

"Elise… Elandia…," I reflexively murmured when I was contemplating.

"Yes, so you get where El-el comes from!"

No, actually, that wasn't what I was thinking about…

But I guess she'd think of my murmuring that way.

"…Elandia family… is a noble marquis family, right?" I decided to ask.

"Ah, you know? Yeah, I'm the daughter of Marquis Elandia."

"The main family?" I decided to ask, as I remembered that almost all members of the branch family that was under Phillip Elandia got stripped off their noble title and exiled. The main family was declared innocent.

The question is… whether it's true that they're really innocent… or not?

"Yep! Ah, but remember to not call anyone by title here. We have equality rule here!" Elise said while moving around her index finger, as if she was lecturing us.

"Okay!" Iris obeyed like a good girl. On the other hand, I didn't respond to it and instead…

"El-senpai, can I ask again?"

"Sure, sure, why not? Fufu, I feel like I'm having little sisters! How nice if it's true… Ah, you can call me [Big Sister] if you want!" Elise smiled happily.

"El-sen… I mean, El-neechan… don't you have siblings?"

"Ah, I have older siblings! I have one big sister and two big brothers! I'm the last child… but I've always wanted a little sister!" Elise began to answer my question honestly, without speculating anything. …I feel bad to probe for information from a child like her… But since it involves my family, I…

"Are you close to one another? Is your big sister like you?" I asked again.

Dad and the others managed to capture the mastermind and the other underlings, but Trouble-neechan managed to escape. Could it be that…?

"Yup! My big sister and big brothers are always kind to me! My big sister's the oldest, she's more like Mommy, though!"

"Oh, how does she look like?"

"Hmm… you see, unlike me, she kept her hair short. The color's also yellow, like Mommy's… This year, her age's twice my age! She's very kind and she's always there to help me whenever my big brothers are teasing me!"

…No, this doesn't tell anything. I can't tell if she is indeed the Trouble-neechan I'm looking for.

Wait a second. Dad and the other adults have examined them thoroughly, and if one of the Elandia was Trouble-neechan, they would have captured her already.

The main family's legal wife and daughter… they would stand out too much that Dad and the others wouldn't have missed interrogating them thoroughly.

I heaved a long sigh as I was running out of idea to fish something out from her. Therefore, I only responded normally.

"Seem like you're so close to one another, El-neechan?"

"Yup, I love my family so much! They're all nice! And the one that I like the most is…"

She paused at the right moment, and I reckoned she'd want to add such a dramatical pause to add our tension before finally announcing the one she liked the most.

Unexpectedly, her answer was…

"Ah, that's my secret, hehe! What about you two? Do you have any sibling?"

Aw, boo, that's not nice. She's got me all curious about who she preferred the most… ah, no, it doesn't even have anything to do with me!! It's not even important! What the heck, me?!

I think I was carried away with the atmosphere and the dramatic pause she added.

"I have one big brother, and he's nice!" I answered.

"Uhm… I… it's… complicated. But I have a sister around my age that's kind," Iris hesitated before finally answering.

Oh… Iris comes from a complicated family background?

A sister around her age… Is her background the same as my past background as Reinst?

If that's the case, I can imagine that it can be very complicated, indeed.

We talked on our way to our special class, and so far, I haven't sensed anything bad coming from Elise… Could it be true that her family—the main family of Elandia is truly innocent?

I want to probe something from her, but how do I do that?

To make sure she will spill anything she knows about the Chinosato incident, but the bait must be something harmless if she were to know of it… That would be…

As I turned my gaze to Iris… to… Iris?!

"Okay, then after finding Iris—no, after I have to mention that I am one of the Hartmann, then I will call off this disguise and stop postponing the trouble of explaining and so on!"

A flashback of my own voice resounded inside my mind.

Is this the right moment to do it…?

Well, Alt-nii said that my identity would be found out sooner or later. And it's not like I can hide the fact that I'm his little sister, so…

Okay, then!

"El-neechan… Actually… I feel bad for knowing El-neechan's full name and family when I keep hiding mine. I'm… Alrescha Lyra Hartmann."

I purposely put more emphasis on my last name—[Hartmann]. As I said it, I called off my disguise and revealed my heterochromia—my red and blue eyes.

Iris gasped in her surprise and Elise stopped her movements. I focused my gaze more on Elise's reaction and she…

Leaned her body forward with her sparkling eyes!

"Awesome, you're one of the Hartmann?! So, your big brother is the famous…?! Ooooh, look, look! Your odd eye color… it's cool!! It's my first time seeing it up close!"

"…"

Where did I go wrong?

If her family member had something against my family, then at least her reaction would be quite different… Ah, could it be that because she was a child, that the perpetrator concealed everything from her?

Yes, there's a possibility…

Ah, but the adults checked every member of Elandia family before, right?

"El-neechan, I heard that my dad has visited your house before, so do you happen to know him?"

Elise stopped examining my every nook and cranny. She put her right hand to her chin and began thinking.

"Hmmm, I think I have seen him before… He came in with many other adults…? Our entire family members and servants were called… I heard it was an inspection?"

This is it!

Time to fish more from her!

"Really? Inspection… for what?"

"Eeeh… I don't know, it's like they were looking for a bad guy or something? Nobody has ever told me anything…"

Her puzzled expression told me that she really knew nothing…

Guess there's no use questioning this to a child…

It's not like my probing would be better than the experts at the royal court. Why would I be doubting the adults in doing their jobs? I was merely a girl who reincarnated from another girl who lived only 13 years of her life—nothing special.

Which means that the Trouble-neesan… is an outsider to the Elandia family?

I was immersed too deep in my thoughts that I walked as I put my right hand over my chin, thinking—while Iris and Elise continued to talk.

"We're here~!"

Elise's cheery voice disturbed my thoughts and pulled me back to reality.

In front of us, there was a classroom's door with the writing of "S1" on it.

S1… Special class year 1?

I heard that there would be only one special class per year, so there's no doubt about it.

"Thank you, El-neechan!"

Iris and I slightly bowed to Elise to express our gratitude before she waved her hand and left.