Chapter 71 – Wh-What Are You Saying, Milea!

Letaria could not, for the life of her, process what Milea had just said.

Her cognitive circuits had shorted entirely. Her hands flew out ahead of her words, flapping through the air in a helpless, uncoordinated flutter. Every trace of her usual poise had abandoned her; she was in a state of complete and unqualified panic.

"L-Little sister...!? Wh-What are you saying, Milea! I am the firstborn daughter of the noble house of Adeniam! And above all -- I already have... a real little sister! Her name is Rutiru!?"

Milea watched Letaria's incoherent, flailing protest with an expression of neither anger nor exasperation -- only quiet warmth. Then, unable to quite hold back against the sheer spectacular degree of Letaria's discomposure, she laughed softly.

"Hehe. I'm not asking you to be my blood relative. I mean a formal procedure -- entering you into my 'family registry' as a younger sister."

"Family... registry...?"

Letaria echoed the unfamiliar term back to her, and the frantic movement of her hands stopped dead at last. She stared intently at Milea's face, and asked with tentative care.

"That is to say... you and I would become family? Something like... what one might call a 'sisterly vow'...? Something of that... sort...?"

She trailed off -- then, seeming to register how those words had sounded coming out of her own mouth, began to turn gradually, helplessly red.

"Becoming family is, well -- that part isn't wrong. A sisterly vow, though, I'm not entirely sure what that would entail..."

Milea's entirely matter-of-fact delivery earned her a faintly sulky look from Letaria. Milea's expression settled into something more measured then, and she began to explain in a steady, serious voice.

"Letaria -- your position in this world, as things stand, is essentially that of a refugee. You have no officially verifiable identity here; it is an extremely precarious situation. If I were to put it in terms of your original world... you might say you are a 'rootless wanderer,' someone who belongs to no country."

Letaria couldn't say whether Milea's analogy was precisely accurate -- but what she was trying to convey came through with painful clarity.

That she was no longer the illustrious Adeniam ducal daughter in this world -- that she carried none of that radiant status here -- she had known from the beginning. But somewhere in the midst of living alongside the corps as naturally as breathing, she had very nearly forgotten it. The reality of how low, and how fragile, her position actually was.

"I am, for whatever it's worth, the head researcher of Syn-Fibra's Seldia branch. My standing in this city isn't bad. If anything troublesome were to happen to you going forward... with you formally registered as my family, I can extend legal protection -- and I may be able to shield you from the worst of it."

And also, Milea added, softening her voice a fraction, a glint of something mischievous appearing.

"I've already decided I'm going to support you personally -- so having you as a family member gives me a legitimate reason to direct my own private funds toward you. My salary, not to put too fine a point on it, is rather good. But I've had no one to spend it on, so it's simply been accumulating in my account. This would solve that rather neatly."

The frank, breezy delivery left Letaria staring at her with an expression of complete blankness.

A long silence followed.

The sound of artificial rain against the window was, suddenly, the loudest thing in the room.

Milea seemed to read something into Letaria's silence. She dropped her gaze slightly, and added in a quiet murmur:

"...That's what I wanted to say. I know it's sudden, and I won't push you. Even if you say no, I won't treat you any differently, I promise. As for your answer, take as long as you--"

"I understand."

Letaria cut across the words before Milea could finish -- but her voice, when it came, was calm. Startlingly, simply, directly calm.

"Milea. I will become your little sister."

The decision had come so fast that this time, it was Milea whose eyes went wide with faint surprise.