Side Story 4 – Rafaella Gets a Younger Sibling

The precious jewel of the Blumhart and Goldscheider families, Rafaella.  

She was about to turn nine, and there was something she wanted.

“Mom, Mom!”  

As soon as Rafaella, who had just met the Imperial Princess, got out of the carriage, she looked for Alicia.

“His Grace the Duke is in the third floor study, Miss.”  

Allen, the butler employed at the newly renovated Goldscheider mansion this year, pointed Rafaella upstairs.

For her mother, the three of them had decided to live at the Goldscheider mansion for a few years.

“Thank you, Allen.”  

Rafaella shouted as she bounded up the stairs two at a time.

“Mom!”  

She was so eager that she burst into the study without even knocking.

“…Mom, are you bothering Dad?”  

Rafaella’s eyes widened in surprise as she saw her father lying on the sofa being smothered by her mother.

“Ah, no! Raffy.”  

“R-Raffy. What’s going on?”  

The two of them jumped up in shock when they saw their daughter.

“Johann, didn’t you lock the door?”  

“I thought I did, but maybe not.”  

Her parents, faces flushed, whispered to each other.

The sudden awkward atmosphere calmed Rafaella’s excitement a little.

“You seem to have come running for something. What is it, Raffy?”  

Alicia, having straightened her disheveled appearance, spoke first.

“I have something I want for my birthday!”  

“Something you want?”  

“What could our daughter want so badly that she came running?”  

Her father’s eyes sparkled with curiosity, too.

“I want a younger sibling!”  

Rafaella announced her wish confidently.

“A sibling?”  

“Didn’t you say before that you didn’t need a sibling?”  

Alicia and Johann asked their daughter, puzzled.

“Well, that was then and this is now.”  

“Is it because Her Highness the Imperial Princess got a sibling?”  

“…Hehe, yes. How did you know?”  

Embarrassed, Rafaella scratched her cheek.

She had definitely not wanted a sibling before.  

She had her mom, dad, Penelope, Lucia, and new friends—she didn’t want anything more.

But two months ago, after Lucia got a sibling, she started thinking about the idea of a “sibling”.

“Miss Lucia!”  

“Raffy, look at Tiana. Isn’t she so cute, wriggling like that?”  

A cute baby princess, born with the Empress’s blonde hair and the Emperor’s green eyes.  

Everything in Lucia’s world now revolved around her sibling.

“Miss Lucia, let’s go for a walk in the garden!”  

“Let’s take Tiana with us, too.”  

No matter where they went or what they did, Lucia always included her sibling, and Rafaella found herself left out.

No matter what Rafaella said or suggested, it was always, “Let’s do it with my sibling, too.”  

At first, she felt left out, then she was sulky, and now she was just jealous.  

To have someone closer than even parents or friends!

“I’m already excited thinking about Tiana growing up a bit more so we can play and talk together.”  

“Is having a sibling that great?”  

Rafaella, who didn’t have a sibling, was really curious about that.  

Could there really be someone who makes you happy just by being there?

“Of course! Sorry to my parents, but Tiana is my favorite in the world.”  

Lucia whispered quietly in her ear.

“Really?”  

“Yeah, you’ll understand how I feel if you get a sibling, too.”  

Rafaella began to wonder what it would be like to have such a precious person.

That’s why she had come running to tell her parents.

“We’ve been waiting for your sibling, too, so we’ll have to try harder.”  

“Mom, if you and Dad try, will a baby come?”  

“Um, maybe?”  

“Dad, then try really hard every day.”  

“Alright, Dad will try really hard every day.”  

“Every day is a bit much, Johann.”  

Alicia, her earlobes red, gently scolded Johann.

Maybe because her parents tried really hard?

On Rafaella’s birthday, Alicia announced that she was pregnant.

“I’ve been feeling queasy lately, so I had a check-up this morning, and they say the baby came about a month ago.”  

“Oh my, really? Congratulations, Lia.”  

Isabella patted Alicia’s shoulder with delight.

Johann burst into tears as soon as he heard the news.

“Dad, why are you crying when it’s a good thing?”  

“I’m crying because I’m happy, Raffy.”  

Johann wiped his tears as he answered.

“Your dad was just like this when I was pregnant with you.”  

Alicia smiled as she gently stroked Johann’s back.

“Raffy, are you happy to have a sibling?”  

Penelope, sitting beside her, asked.

“Yes, I’m really happy!”  

Rafaella waited for her sibling, making lists of things they would do together.

‘Hehe. We’ll do puzzles, play with dolls, practice swordsmanship, go to the Festival of Rest, go to the Foundation Day festival—it’ll all be so much fun.’

And then, the following January, at last, the long-awaited sibling was born.

“Raffy, come here.”  

Alicia, looking pale, called Rafaella over with the baby in her arms.

She approached her mother, heart fluttering.

“This is your sibling, Raffy.”  

It was a baby with light brown hair, just like her mother.

“…Hmm.”  

The baby was red and wrinkled, not at all what she had imagined.

“Mom, the baby’s kind of ugly.”  

“Pfft, Raffy. You were like this when you were born, too.”  

Alicia burst out laughing at Rafaella’s honest words.

“Really?”  

“Really, I bet I was, too.”  

She couldn’t believe she had once been such an ugly creature.

“Your sibling will soon become a beautiful baby, just like you.”  

Her mother’s eyes were filled with love as she looked at the wrinkled baby.

“Raffy, do you want to hold your sibling?”  

“What if I drop the baby?”  

“That won’t happen, don’t worry, Raffy.”  

Encouraged by her mother’s words, Rafaella carefully took the baby in her arms.

Her heart pounded, worried she might drop him by mistake.  

Up close, her sibling was still ugly, but also cute.  

Red eyes stared right at her.  

For some reason, her heart felt all warm and fuzzy.

“Yvonne, hello? I’m your big sister.”  

Rafaella greeted her sibling.

“Huh? Raffy, it’s not ‘Yvonne’, it’s ‘Luca’.”  

“You said if it was a girl, you’d name her ‘Yvonne’.”  

Rafaella tilted her head.

“‘Luca’ is a boy.”  

“…What?”  

Rafaella’s jaw dropped in shock.

What she had wanted was a baby princess, a little sister.  

Not a little brother who would grow up to be disobedient and mischievous!

“Raffy?”  

Alicia called to Rafaella in puzzlement.

“To think it’s not a little sister…”  

All the affection she’d just felt vanished.

Not long after Rafaella stiffened in shock, Johann, who had spent the winter subjugating monsters, arrived.  

He had nearly wiped out the northern monsters to make it in time for the due date.

He cried because he wasn’t there when the baby was born, cried because Alicia suffered, cried because the baby was adorable—he just kept crying.  

Isabella shook her head, saying she never imagined her own son would be so hopeless.

From that day, Johann never left his wife and children’s side for a moment, but Rafaella kept her distance from her sibling.

‘There were so many things I wanted to do if I got a little sister, but this is what I get!’  

All the noble girls around her said little brothers were noisy and annoying, and she felt only gloom for her future.

“Not all little brothers are like that. I have a little brother, and we get along well.”  

Helen tried to comfort Rafaella.

“Really?”  

“Yes, and Master Luca is very gentle, so I’m sure you and he will get along well.”  

Helen, tasked by both her masters, subtly praised Luca.

“And not all sisters get along, either.”  

“Why? Don’t all sisters get along?”  

“My mom and my aunt aren’t even as close as strangers. She always borrows money and never pays it back, so they cut ties ages ago.”  

Oh dear, Rafaella had never considered that sisters might not get along.

“Miss Rafaella, every relationship depends on the people involved.”  

Helen said gently to Rafaella.

“Even you, Miss Rafaella, used to be on bad terms with Miss Hessel, but now you call each other by name and get along, right?”  

“That’s true.”  

Rafaella nodded.

“I wonder if the baby—no, Luca—is sleeping now?”  

Before she knew it, her negative feelings toward her sibling had softened.

“I’m not sure, shall we go see?”  

“Can we?”  

“Of course, you’re going to see your sibling.”  

Rafaella took Helen’s hand and went to her sibling’s room.

Luca was sleeping peacefully, making soft breathing sounds.  

He was even cuter and prettier than a few days ago.

“…Waaah.”  

Her sibling, who had been sleeping well, woke up whining, and Rafaella was startled.  

Helen and the nanny were out—what should she do!

Flustered, Rafaella remembered what Lucia had done and gently patted her sibling’s belly.  

Feeling comforted, Luca stopped whining and gripped her thumb tightly.

“……”  

Luca, meeting his sister’s eyes, smiled sweetly.

In that moment, Rafaella’s lips relaxed into a smile.

‘That’s right. What does it matter if it’s a little brother? All those things on the list, I can do them with him, too.’

With such a cute little brother, even swapping dresses might be fun.

“Luca, I’m sorry for calling you ugly at first. You’re the most beautiful baby in the world. Let’s have lots of fun together from now on, okay?”

From the crack in the open door, Alicia and Johann watched their children’s affectionate moment with warm smiles.

“I’m glad Raffy has opened her heart to Luca.”  

“Me too. I was worried she’d keep disliking him.”  

Lia leaned her head on Johann’s shoulder and let out a sigh of relief.

“When Luca grows up, they’ll bicker and then play together as if nothing happened, right?”  

“Yes, he’ll go to the academy, grow up so quickly, debut in society—so many things will happen.”  

“Thinking that I’ll see all of it with you, Lia, makes me so excited.”  

“Me too, Johann.”  

She smiled and hugged her husband’s waist.

“I love you always, Lia.”  

Johann lowered his head and kissed Lia’s lips.

〈Side Story End〉