"Good morning, big brother!"

"Good morning, Mercedes. You look very cute today."

"Hehehe, thanks."

Two weeks has passed since my brother had requested me, to paint a portrait of his crush, Alisha Laymin, for her birthday today. And even though I already know what she looks like, after pretty much painting her with only the information given by my brother, I still wanted to meet her in person, as she may be my future sister-in-law, who looks younger than her actual age due to her long lifespan as an elf... A dark elf, to be precise.

That is why, dressed up in my best dress with my hair combed beautifully straight, I am now about to head off to Duke Laymin's estate to attend his daughter's birthday party, as my brother's plus one.

Additionally, because today isn't my holiday, Miss Angelica permitted me to take a day off for today, in exchange of doubling my homework amount for a week. Which, considering the ones I have not finish yet, my next week is going to be hell.

And also, this will be my first social gathering that I'll be attending in this life. So I'm pretty excited about it.

Riding the carriage to the party venue, I notice my brother seemingly acting excited and nervous at the same time, banging his knees together repeatedly.

"Don't worry, big brother. I'm sure she'll love it."

"Ah, no. I'm not worry about that. Your art is first class after all. I'm worry about what the other two will be giving her."

"O-other two?"

"Huh, didn't I tell you already?"

"No, you did not! This is the first I've heard of it!"

"Oh."

Apparently, my brother has love rivals. They are the same age as him and Lady Alisha, who have fallen for her when they first met her as children.

The first rival, is Vali Lekrona, the first son of Duke Lekrona, the third and final ducal family besides, Lodengrimm and Laymin, who are famous for their intelligence like the Terracord family, but greater than them in terms of that.

The second rival, is the Second Prince of the country, Sion F. Ferashide, a half-elf like Adrian and Aria, who is rumored to be the future Sage Brave, for learning numerous types of magic without suffering any consequences from doing so.

However, that doesn't mean that big brother is inferior to them. For he is not only one of the few people in the country who can fly using magic, but is also one of the greatest swordsmen in the country, next to father who is the Commander in Chief of the Kingdom's Army.

Nonetheless, the competition would be difficult for big brother, since his opponents are as good as him.

 "By the way, Mercedes. How are lessons with Miss Angelica? Learn any other magic types yet?"

"It's alright, I guess. The lesson are still hard, but a week ago, I've started learning illusion magic, so that are some fun in studying that."

Especially for playing pranks on others, by turning myself invisible.

"Hahaha! That's good. Anyways, seems like we're here."

Our carriage stops in front of the main gates of the Laymin estate, where the land is about the same size as or family's.

Just as we arrived at our destination, two more carriages arrived at the same time. One of which possesses the crest of the royal family, whereas the other possesses the crest of the Lekrona ducal family. In other words...

"They're here."

Big brother steps out of the carriage first, but before he could present his hand to escort me out of the carriage next, one of his rivals approaches him.

"It's been a while, Fred. How have you been?"

"I'm fine, Vali. How 'bout you? What have you been up to these days?"

"Nothing much. Just prepping for today's party, that's all."

So that's Vali Lekrona, huh?

He seems to be a dignified man, with about the same height as big brother, but has less muscles compared to him. He has grey hair and sharp amber eyes, which are sharper than my father's and mine, wearing a frameless eye glasses as well. He is wearing a fancy dark purple suit for the party, with a noticeable pin of his family crest, on the left side of his chest.

Just then, the other rival, the Second Prince Sion approaches.

"Vali. If you're going to greet Fred, shouldn't you greet his sister as well?"

"Sister? Ah."

Seems like he has only noticed me now, most likely due to me still in the carriage. 

"And Fred, why aren't you escorting her off the carriage yet?"

"Well, I was-"

The second prince presents his hand to me in the carriage.

"My Lady."

I took it and walk out of the carriage, taking a glance at the second prince.

Sion F. Ferashide. Compared to my brother and Vali, he is relatively shorter than them by a bit. Possessing golden blond hair, whereas the colour of his eyes are unknown, due to them being so narrow that they are closed. For the party, he wears a neat white suit which seems to be really expensive, compared to my brother's and Sir Vali's. Hopefully, it doesn't get any stain on it.

Sir Vali and Prince Sion make a bow to me and introduced themselves, which I return the greetings by doing the same. As the two of them continue their conversation with big brother.

Umm... shouldn't we enter like... now?

"By the way, what did you two get for Alisha's birthday? Mine is a portrait of her, painted by my cute little sister here."

"Hoh~ That's cool."

"Indeed. I've heard that Lady Mercedes taught Adrian and Aria to draw brilliant artworks. Seems like that is true. Maybe I should invite you to the palace, so you can draw a portrait of every royal family member. what do say, Lady Mercedes?"

"No thanks."

"Alright then, I'll respect your wish."

Turning back to big brother, Prince Sion is the first to answer his question.

"I've brought some flower seeds for her, as she has recently started growing her own flower garden now. Those seeds I have bought will grow into beautiful flowers, fitting of her image."

"Hmm, so none of you brought her books? That's rare. I got her seven rare books I bought from different bookstores. They are wrapped properly and, umm... why are you staring at me like that?"

Me, big brother, and Prince Sion look at Sir Vali with our eyes opened in surprise.

"So you were the culprit!" All three of us yelled.

ChocolateLover030

Thanks for reading. Here's the chocolate as per usual. 

Have a nice day, people!

Remember to click on the heart, if you like the chapter.