Well, they say we can see a situation objectively if we see it as the third party. And that’s what happened to Lily. Enjoy the chapter!
TL: clover
ED: clover
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A bit more time passed since I talked to Al.
As I declared to him, while changing my attitude until now, I was examining Victor-niisama’s situation.
I wanted to appeal fiercely and say 「Look, Nii-sama! I have corrected my conduct! I have become a good girl, so there’s no need to hate me!」
But, I know that if I do that it will mess up everything, and actually when I spilled it to Luke, he was terribly shocked.
“Milady, are you stupid?”
Luke’s face and voice at that time cannot be forgotten. Luke ridiculed me who was earnest about it.
I was deeply hurt because I thought that wasn’t true.
At any rate, I cannot make a direct appeal. I have to make my eldest brother judges that I have changed indirectly.
However, this is quite difficult.
The biggest problem is that there are few opportunities to talk with Victor-niisama.
If I, the one who is hated by him, talk to him many times, I might become more hated. Thinking hard up to that point, I feel completely helpless.
Although it would be great if I can talk to Nii-sama, there is no sign of him.
Luke said that my eldest brother might talk to me if he realizes that I have become a good girl, but if there is no point of contact in the first place, he won’t be able to know that I have become a good girl.
As a result, I peek at my eldest brother from a little distance away and do nonsensical actions everyday.
“……Milady. I think you look like a suspicious person within the residence.”
“……I know, but I have no choice. Nii-sama doesn’t approach me.”
“Well, that’s true, but……”
Today as well, I was heading to a place where he frequently appears to peek at my eldest brother from a place a little distance away. If there is a chance to talk naturally, I will use that opportunity to start the long-awaited conversation. Just in case, each time I go, I also prepared the conversation topics……I’ve never been able to use it though.
“Victor-niisama is……what. He’s not here today.”
The place I was heading to is the library. That is the most probable location in the mansion to meet my eldest brother.
Unfortunately, I don’t see my eldest brother.
“What……”
I am disappointed because I’ve put in some fighting spirit today. I thought my eldest brother would want to get to know his wonderful little sister after a period of time, but since he’s not here, we couldn’t talk.
“……if I wait, I wonder if Nii-sama will come.”
Asking Luke who was following behind me, he answered seriously.
“Well. How surprising, perhaps he is avoiding Milady on purpose.”
“……”
When being told so without hesitation, my expression became complicated.
I’ve never thought of that possibility. My eldest brother, who doesn’t want to meet me face-to-face, avoided heading to the library……yup, that’s enough thinking about it.
“Stop that. My motivation is dampened straight away.”
“I apologize for my rudeness.”
Luke spun words of apology with a tone of voice that shows he didn’t think it was entirely rude.
However, if my eldest brother is not here, there is no use for me to be in the library. I’m fine with reading books, but I have my own book to read in my room. If possible, I want to avoid neglecting that book by reading a new book.
Now then, I should leave the library while thinking what to do. As I walked down the corridor, several laughs were heard from the courtyard.
I looked in that direction.
Yugo-niisama and his followers.
“Hahaha, that’s delightful.”
“Yes, at that time, he said such a thing.”
“Right, right.”
My older brother and his followers were talking happily around a table placed on the courtyard and had a tea party which could be said as an established event.
My brother who was laughing at the center is undoubtedly beautiful even from my point of view as his sister.
The graceful and androgynous beauty is a sight for sore eyes. Both men and women surrounding my older brother are there and everyone is beautiful without exception. I guess they are the 「chosen」 people who surpassed my older brother’s sense of beauty.
“Oh my……that clothes.”
I looked at the clothes my older brother is wearing.
My brother’s jacket and trousers cost as much as the ones the previous me would buy.
Looking at them, I frowned.
My older brother’s principle of 「not acknowledging anything but beautiful things」 seems to apply not only to 「people」 but also to 「objects」, not only his clothes, the confectionery arranged on the table are those from the popular shops in the royal capital, and the teaware is also the work of a famous workshop that has the royal warrant.
—This is……
Since I did something similar to what my older brother was doing, I could look at the situation with discerning eyes.
I roughly calculated the amount of money they cost, which both my older brother and the previous me never noticed anything unusual about it.
“Luke, you, I wonder if you know the saying 「one man’s fault is another’s lesson」. Or the phrase 「good example of what not to do」.”
“Milady?”
When I suddenly asked him, Luke nodded while furrowing his eyebrows.
“Yes. I know about them……but what about it?”
“Just now, it crossed my mind when I looked at Yugo-niisama. Nii-sama wears incredibly expensive clothes, eats confectionery from high-end shops, and drinks tea with a teaware made by a famous workshop. And I have no doubt that teaware is the workshop’s latest work. But, I thought about it. Are those really necessary?”
“Milady……?”
Luke gave me a questioning look. I nodded.
“As a son of the Ducal House, it is natural to dress accordingly. But, I recalled that Yugo-niisama was supposed to have made clothes provided with every luxury imaginable last month. Moreover, it was not made to meet royalty. Only for the tea party held in the mansion. Also, even though the confectionery is fine, the teaware is an overkill. If he wanted a teaware from that workshop, I’m certain there is one in the kitchen. I’m sure I have drunk tea using that aforementioned teaware several times.”
“Haah……”
“Only after seeing it from the outside, I realized how irrational I was. No wonder Victor-niisama hates us.”
His younger brother and sister spend money like hot water without thinking about the important property of our Ducal House. I wonder how my eldest brother sees it.
When I thought about it, the area around my heart aches.
This chapter may have shed some light on some things for you guys. Which is: the bad thing about her and Yugo is not that they like beautiful and extravagant things, but how they spend the money, which is from the people’s tax, recklessly and unnecessarily.
Starry Night Translation 
I just hate Victor for him not trying to mend his brother and sister, but just looking at them with disgust. I am sure he could have done something before it got to that way. Or he might have been the same, but after choosing his career he became a new man and now thinks he is better than others. And their parents… There are many ways to show to children that they should not waste so much money. Or to stop spoiling them. I guess they are happy that the oldest is okay, so they have to whom to give the title and property/ies.
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Thank you for the chapter o/
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Totally agreeing with you. Given how many chance he had to teach them what they were doing is wrong and not doing so is not the way to go. I mean, Liz is a young girl and she would do what others around her does and since you were disgusted with her and only Yugo is close to her, it only makes sense that she would copy what Yugo does. *sigh* Not to mention how quickly Liz was willing to change her ways after learning that what she was doing is bad, he could have helped her before she heard Prince Willfred’s conversation.
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In truth, I don’t blame Victor as much as the rest of you. While it is certainly true that Lily is turning over a whole new leaf, the thing that motivates her to change is her bottomless pride and resulting desire to rise above the second prince’s impression of her (just so she can stick it to him). And Victor would have to fight against rather terrifying odds to reform his younger siblings if their parents encouraged their behavior with their indulgent attitudes. If your brother told you to stop doing something because he thinks it’s wrong, but your parents said it isn’t, who would you listen to? And Victor’s definitely not gonna be able to convince his parent to straighten up their parenting. Giving up seems like a perfectly understandable choice.
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true, I have given up much like the brother, and after so, I could see my hypocrisy, truly I do believe I am worthless after giving up.
The story hits straight home, but unlike them with high pride and greed, I was lazy and prideful, and reading the story makes me feel somewhat complicated.
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giving up on fixing the situation I can understand, but hating someone who does not have malicious intent is not something I can accept. Disapproval is not the same as dislike. Regardless of his thoughts on money, he should have made an effort to stay close to his siblings. The are not being cruel to him; he is the one who burnt the bridge between them. No matter of how much I hate what my sibling does, I will not hate him.
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I still feel that while not knowing is their ignorance and carelessness, the fault also lies in the eldest brother who despite knowing this didn’t stop them. That is no way to solve a problem..by ignoring and avoiding. The eldest brother is kind of pissing me off with his high off perfectionist attitude
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Thanks for the new chapter!
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Thank you very much for this lovely chapter~! ٩꒰ ˘ ³˘꒱۶ⒽⓤⒼ♥♡̷♡̷
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Oh hey, it finally became that needlessly wasting money was bad, not the the ideology of like only beautiful things. (Cause lets face it, if that was evil, everyone in the world might as well be the devil). A better chapter.
But so far, Victor(?) is still seen as a self-absorbed and self righteous failure of a big brother that doesn’t deserve Lily’s attempts at reconciliation. Maybe the end of this current big bro arc will show Victor as good character instead of just being told that he is.
I still see some hope for this series.
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The poor oldest… Gotta make up for the extravagant spending of the siblings. The one to take over the title.
Many thanks
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I feel like people are being too harsh on Brother #1. He didn’t start out cold and distant, he became that way. And with his personality, it’s almost guaranteed he made attempts to fix or reconcile things with his family before giving up.
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*sighs* Accidentally posted before I meant to: Perhaps it’s because I’m older, but I side with Brother #1 If I lived in that Duke’s territory, you know how angry I’d be? A bunch of spoiled rotten aristocrats spend MY hard money on “tea dresses” and needlessly expensive tea sets rather than using it on governing the land better? I mean, really?! Only accepting the beautiful and rejecting the ugly is even worse. Something that’s plain still has value. Just because it isn’t beautiful doesn’t make it ugly. But the siblings view the world that way. Lily literally hired a butler based on appearance alone, rather than merit. It worked out for him, so I’m not complaining, but imagine an entire dutchy run that way! Because those two siblings didn’t get that way accidentally, it came from their parents. Their parents encouraged it. I would put all my hope in the sensible oldest son who will eventually take over. He will hire on merit, he won’t allow wasteful spending, he’ll properly reward people’s hardwork and seek improvements for me and the land. So, LONG LIVE VICTOR!
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He didn’t. He made no effort – this is basically established at this point clearly enough that if some later chapter claims otherwise, it’s going to be a big, gaping plot hole.
You see, what damns the first brother is the fact that Lily had no idea whatsoever WHY he treats her like sh*t. If he tried “fixing” her at any point but failed, she would be very clear on what parts of her he might dislike. IT would be her who distanced herself due to his annoying nagging – but instead she ended up very surprised when someone pointed out within earshot that her personality is bad AND even after that she didn’t have a clue about the reasons for her older brother’s coldness. All she knew was that he hadn’t always been that way. This clearly shows that he NEVER confronted her on her behavior.
So no. His personality as described by the prince suggests that he SHOULD have made attempts to fix things – but seeing how his sister doesn’t have a clue, it’s clear that no such attempts took place, at least directed at her. The only possible alternative is bad writing and/or very selective amnesia.
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Thank you for the chapter!
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Well maybe the problem is, did victor ever tried to lecture his sibling?, if he even tried to do it once, it is still okay, however if doesn’t even really try to do it, it is still wrong, because they are FAMILY. However the story is not telling us about it because there is’nt victor pov. Sorry for the bad grammar
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If he tried, Lilia wouldn’t have such a problem figuring out why he dislikes her.
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I know a way to make Yuugo stop his habits and improve, just ask “what are you going to do in the future?” after all he is the 2º son, which means that he is not the one to inherit the territory and most of the family business, which means that he won’t have money to spend like now, so he’d better start working asap to accumulate riches~
Thanks for the chapter!
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Thanks so much for the translation ❤️
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I’m on Victor’s side. Maybe he saw his siblings as lost cause. I don’t think they’ll listen even if he lectures them.
‘It’s normal to buy dresses every week. There’s nothing wrong about that.’ is what the mc believes (until recently) and was even encouraged by her parents.
He seems like the kind of guy who refuse to do unnecessary things, and lecturing his siblings is such things.
Thanks for the chapter!
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When you give up on interfering without eve trying, you have literally no right to blame the other side for following the “bad path”. And if he tried, Lilia would’ve known what he dislikes about her – so it’s clear he didn’t. Oh, and when it comes to “I believe nobles should be …” then not trying also makes you a hypocrite. Even as a duke’s son, your control over who’s an aristocrat is extremely limited. Your ability to interact with your own family and try to fix their ways, especially when they are your younger siblings – now that is something you can do. That is, assuming your purpose to be “better nobles” rather than “reason to feel superior”.
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The issue with victor is that the entire plots setting contradicts any sense that he ever bothered to talk to them, or at least Lily.
Again, the entire catalyst for her change is her overhearing some random prince whom she is indifferent to as a person call her a villainess and use some specific examples.
If she reacts like that to some rando saying that, then her brother could’ve been the same catalyst YEARS ago. As it is, she needed a third party like Alan to tell her why her brother hates her
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Everyone is posting long comment and here I am still in awe how amazing Liz is. I mean, not everyone is willing to change over a ‘simple rude remarks’. Not only she able to apologize for her behaviour, she also strictly push her hardest to fix her mess. If I were her, with her personality, I wouldn’t be able to say in confidence that I would change myself like she did. Props to Liz for sure! Gosh this novel is amazing!
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God my comment is as long as everyone’s comment as well! Ahhh I love this novel! Definitely going to recommend this gem to my reader when I post my next updates !
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Thanks for the chapter!
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Oh, I wonder what Yugo would say if asked if people who wasted other people’s money was beautiful or not.
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Well, he cares about the outward beauty, that’s for one. And secondly: the idea that it’s “other people’s money” is extremely exotic in the setting, unless you mean it as his parents’ money.
The taxes there aren’t really “money paid to the government to fix people’s problems” as we tend to understand them nowadays. They are more like revenue from a big company that goes to the owner. The owner might invest a lot of this money back into infrastructure and people to make the company run smoother – and he’s in fact expected to do so – but that’s still his money, not theirs. Commoners are an existence that’s a mix between employees, tenants, business partners and sometimes even just livestock. The taxes they pay? It’s the money they owe him for living and working/doing business on his land, basically.
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Thank you!
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I really do like reading the comments on this novel xD almost always there is and interesting debate
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I really dislike Victor , does he think he’s better than others ?
Didn’t even bother correcting his younger siblings
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I know this is like 2 years old but I think a lot of people are also forgetting that she’s 15, what children think about the moral implications of spending their parents money? Especially when their entire lives it was presented as not even an issue. Like the very second someone told her it was wrong she was immediately backtracking on spending so much, you can’t blame her for not realizing.
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