Jake Podebrat.
He is a silent, stealthy sniper assigned to the imperial family’s "assassination squad." It would not be an exaggeration to say that most of those who opposed the imperial family and died under mysterious circumstances were eliminated by Jake's own hands.
Despite his young age of 17—though 16 is considered an adult in this world—he has already made a name for himself, recognized for the empire's best marksmanship and an inherently brilliant ability to control mana. Yet, for some reason, he never shows his face in society. Even at official events where attendance is mandatory, he is never seen wearing anything other than a black robe that completely covers his body. He is extremely reluctant to reveal his face.
On top of that, he rarely even sets foot in this house.
Even as his own flesh and blood, it took me a whole week after transmigrating here just to finally catch a glimpse of his face today. While reading the original novel, I used to complain constantly, wondering why he was hiding his face like it was made of gold—but seeing it in person, I have to admit his looks make it understandable.
'There is a limit to hogging all the good genes...'
Melissa has practically zero mana, let alone any marksmanship skills. How can her younger brother's face be five thousand times prettier and more beautiful too? Who on earth would ever think he and I are siblings?
God... I mean, the author is incredibly unfair. Not that I didn't already know.
Anyway, because he hates revealing his voice as much as he hates showing his face, he was a character with a quiet and serious trait. I actually used to quite like Jake because of the way he silently and dutifully protected the female lead from behind.
Or so I thought.
"—So, Father, do you even know what you've done right now? What on earth is up with these dangling, childish ribbons? Even a five-year-old would be horrified by them. And what is this tea? It smells absolutely terrible, so it must be some cheap market trash. Father, please remember that you are the current Duke of Podebrat. Such cheap garbage does not suit our family. You always seem to stir up absurd things like this. Is it any wonder I don't come home? Did you really think there was any other reason?"
I pressed a hand to my forehead.
What on earth? Who is this guy rattling off this storm of nagging with such crisp, pinpoint accuracy, like he's rapping?
"—Forget it. You’re always like this anyway, Father. If I say something, you’ll just listen to me again, but that’s exactly what I hate. I’m honestly exhausted by the fact that you unconditionally give in to whatever I say. No, actually, the fact that you only listen to me unconditionally is probably why things like this happen in the first place. I bet you just remembered me saying a really long time ago that Melissa is basically a child, so you’d need to decorate the room prettily for her to not throw a tantrum during a conversation, didn't you?"
What, you little punk? You actually said crap like that? Melissa happens to be a year older than you, you know!
I let out a low, pained groan and clutched my head.
This guy is even worse than the Crown Prince. Where on earth did the cold, handsome guy I imagined go? I already knew about his character setting—the one where he despises his useless older sister—and I also knew he wasn't particularly fond of his father either.
But even so, this is way too different. The disconnect between my expectations and reality felt like it was violently hammering against my brain.
'My Jake isn't like this...'
'I'm telling you, my Jake isn't like this!'
Completely oblivious to my mental agony, the doting father of a Duke was quietly taking Jake’s nagging with the face of a scolded child.
No, wait. Let’s look on the bright side. No matter how taciturn Jake is, he might just be talkative around his family.
Because he feels comfortable. Yeah, couldn't that be considered a sort of gap moe in its own right?
T/N - 갭모에 (Gap Moe): A loanword from Japanese anime culture (ギャップ萌え). It refers to the immense charm a character possesses when there is a huge, unexpected contradiction between their usual demeanor and how they act in specific situations (e.g., a cold assassin turning into a fast-talking nagger around family).
"Um, Jake."
"What."
What?
As if the fact that he was rattling off words like a machine gun just moments ago was a complete lie, the second I spoke to him, Jake’s expression turned dead serious and he gave a blunt, one-word reply.
Let's calm down.
Even in my past life, I had a younger brother, and we used to fight a lot. But unlike back then, this brother is literally a romance novel protagonist. We should be able to communicate without tearing each other's hair out.
"So... what brings you here?"
The moment I spoke as kindly as possible, curving the corners of my eyes into a warm smile, Jake looked like he was about to throw up. Then, dead silence.
This punk suddenly went mute. Looking at him now, it’s not that he has a quiet personality—he just refuses to speak to anyone he doesn't want to talk to. It's just that there happened to be way too many people like that around him.
"I asked why you're here. If it's nothing important, could you please get out? I have something to discuss with the Duke."
Only after I gently nudged him once more, finally losing my patience, did Jake open his mouth.
"You."
"Can't you call me 'Sister'?"
"You."
Right. I guess it's totally normal for siblings to drop formal titles and just speak casually like this.
I barely managed to hold back my urge to kick him right in the shins.
"Ian."
……………Ian?
No, what the f—… I mean, why is he being brought up right now?
Blinking blankly, I quickly scrambled to search my memory. Right, there was a mention of him in the original novel.
Ian and Jake were childhood friends who had been close since they were young. That was part of the reason why Jake joined the imperial force. I distinctly remember how deeply impressive it was to see the two men torn between friendship and love over Yuri.
That was all well and good, but.
"Ian. ……………Whining to me. You’re. Not. Marrying. Him."
However, as Jake sloppily spit out his next words, the life completely drained from my eyes.
That means that bastard Ian had nowhere else to vent, so he ran straight to his best friend and my younger brother, Jake, to tattle on me. No doubt he said something like, "Your sister is acting weird out of nowhere, she must have lost her mind, please stop her from breaking off the engagement." That obnoxious, smiling face of his appeared and vanished right before my eyes.
And in the very next moment, a sudden realization hit me.
Fine, let’s assume Jake crawled back home because of Ian's request.
However, Jake didn't come looking for me—the person directly involved— to grant that favor.
He had gone to find the Duke.
The moment he walked into the drawing room, he looked at the Duke first, while giving me a look that basically said, "Why are you even here? Drop dead." No doubt the servants had informed him that the Duke was currently doing something strange in the drawing room—namely, having a conversation with me.
In other words, Jake didn't come here to persuade me. He came to speak to the person of authority who could hand down orders to me. He wanted to say, "Make that thing shut up about breaking off the engagement."
Because Melissa cannot disobey her father's orders, and the Duke cannot refuse his son's requests. Since I happened to be right here by chance, he just decided to spit it out directly to me instead.
This guy...
"You're a much bigger jerk than I thought, aren't you?"
"?"
At my honest thoughts that accidentally slipped out loud, both the Duke and Jake widened their eyes in shock.
But I had no intention of stopping. I had completely snapped.
"Hey, Jake. Who do you think you are, telling me whether to call off the engagement or not? Stay out of what’s between Ian and me. What right do you even have?"
My voice was incredibly warm and calm, but the words carried within it were something Jake had never heard from his older sister in his entire life. After all, to Jake, Melissa had always been nothing more than an object of criticism—pathetic, slow-witted, and immature.
"Knock it off before I rip out every single hair on your head. Did Ian tell you to fix your sister's attitude? And you were happy to crawl right back into this house—the house you always sing about hating so much—just to do him a favor? If you hate it so much, pack up and leave for good. Stop blaming others when you’re really just throwing a teenage tantrum and want to wander around outside."
"I had a feeling, but you really have lost your mind."
Jake spoke arrogantly, his expression growing even more disgusted.
However, seeing the way his blue eyes wavered, it was clear that he was thoroughly rattled.
Narrowing my eyes, I blatantly crossed my legs.
"I know you hate me. But guess what? I hate you too. Did you honestly think I kept my mouth shut all this time because I adored you? I let things slide because we’re blood, but you don't know where to draw the line and keep pushing your luck. Hey, you don't treat me like your older sister anyway. From now on, I'm not treating you like my younger brother either. At the very least, a coward who acts this dirty isn't my brother."
Flinch.
As I glared at him, Jake trembled.
So he did know that running to tattle to the Duke was a cowardly move.
"And, Your Grace."
I whipped my head around to look at the Duke. Because the arrow had suddenly spun around to target him, the startled Duke spilled his coffee all over his tailcoat. It was a pity, but since he was trying so desperately to maintain a poker face, I decided to ignore it.
"This is exactly what I wanted to say today. I want to break off my engagement with Crown Prince Ian. I cannot endure it any longer. You do not have to help me, but if you get in my way, I will not sit back and do nothing."
Curving my lips into a smile, I stood up from my seat.
The Duke and Jake, who still viewed me as someone with the mental age of a five-year-old, could only stare at me with blank eyes.
"If you have a problem, say it in a rap."
Judging by earlier, it seemed like Jake was pretty good at rapping anyway.
Winking at them once, I walked out of the drawing room without a single shred of hesitation. It felt strongly like an impulsive move driven by the heat of the moment, but I figured it couldn't be helped. However, I would end up regretting this action the very next day.
If I had known what was going to happen to me, I would have at least splashed that magenta tea right in Jake's face before leaving.
I completely underestimated the sheer madness of the Podebrat family.