The boy entered the room and looked around with much curiosity, taking in all the interior. After all, it was said that the way a person lives and their environment tells you a lot more about them than you’d find out from a conversation. 

Rosette’s room was overly large and extravagant, following the taste of previous Rosette before transmigration. The red patterned silk curtains adorning the big glass panel windows, the luxurious balcony overlooking the mansion decorated with rose plants in big pots, the over-abundance of down-filled cushion pillows on the leathery sofa set, the large neatly polished mahogany study desk… Everything screamed of elegance and ‘ojou-sama’.

Issac could swear taking down that one sheet of silk curtain and selling it would give him more money than selling the previous 1-bedroom house he and his mother had lived in.

A bitter taste spread in his mouth. 

‘If I had even a small chunk of the luxury she had, my mother wouldn’t have suffered the fate she did.’

Sensing the silence, Rosette peeked at the boy’s expressions, judging his favourability.

“Issac? Are you not comfortable?”

“No, it’s not that. Rosette’s room is so big, I can’t help but feel overwhelmed. Hehe”

“Ahh- that, yeah I get you.”

‘No, you don’t. You had these privileges from birth, don’t even bother pretending to understand my circumstances when you know nothing of it.’

However, she wasn’t exactly lying. Rosette’s previous life as a university student had a bedroom smaller than the size of her current bed, where you could touch the opposite walls if you tried to straighten both your arms in a T-pose. Not to mention, even that size was on the expensive end of what she could afford with her measly student budget.

‘Ahhh those horrible days.’

Rosette jumped on the lavish bed and patted the spot next to her.

“Well your room is going to be just as big, so you’ll have to get used to it.”

“Okay.”

When Rosette finished dinner, she immediately returned to her room to scribble more notes on Issac. This was before he came to visit her room.

The isekai tropes are not something to be taken lightly of - especially when it comes to triggering flags.

For example, it’s typical for the villainess to have a brother pop out of nowhere. Rosette too had thought of such possibilities and had them written down when she was planning for her future. 

It's common in isekai novels to have a character with a horrible upbringing - for example, having stepmother/step-siblings who bully the child, being orphaned and abused in the orphanage, growing up in the streets with tough living conditions, etc.

This is all for the sake of the main character to 'heal' the person and turn them over a new leaf.

'The capture targets sure got it hard...'

If god blesses, you’ll thwart away the heavy emotions he’s carrying and he’ll grow up to be an extremely doing and supportive older brother. However tilt the scale too far and there are such cases where the brother turns out to be an obsessive yandere who can’t let go of the sister.

After all, we don’t know what the original game is like. Was it a light-hearted run-off-the-mill romantic otome game or… was it a delusional yandere obsessive game where rape and R18 cases occur all the time?

Rosette didn’t want to become a potential love interest, nor a villainess who gets offed with her head, so the best option was to tread carefully and not cross a line with every capture target she'll meet from now on. 

While having a half-brother and half-sister romance would be incest, she wasn’t sure if such things mattered in this world based in fantasy medieval Europe - after all, it was common for European royal families and nobles in the 1700s to marry within the family.

However, Rosette had no such tastes. [A/N: I repeat, Rosette has no such tastes.]

She turned to face Issac, an 8-year-old boy. His pink hair and eyes were beautiful, but the childish fat on his face has yet to disappear with the small limbs and tiny hands.

‘Yeah, that’d be straight up grooming. I’d start questioning my own conscience if I did- nonono let’s not even tread that line of thought.’

“Issac, let’s exchange stories before we sleep.”

“What stories?”

“Let’s see… How about tell me more about you before you came here? Since I’ve not been outside, it’s going to be interesting to hear about how everything works. And in return, I’ll tell you more about me. It’ll help us get closer too!”

“Okay! Ummmm— Let’s talk about mother. She’s my most favourite person.”

><><><><><><

‘What the hell, expressionless my ass’

'Reserved Fairy Princess of Yttrea Duchy my backside'

Issac looked towards the ugly-crying Rosette when he told her his story about his mother. She hideously wiped her snot on his clothes while hugging him.

'Don't casually wipe your snot on my arms!'

While it felt a bit disgruntled he had to use the event of his mother’s death in such lowly manners, he felt it was effective at gathering pity.

And pity is an easy way to get what you want.

Manipulation is a strategy; it requires a person to “know your enemy” and constructing a tactic plan to follow so you can influence their actions. While ethics may consider manipulation an inherently bad thing, everyone does it - on a small or large scale.

“Rosette don’t cry. I have a good family now, I have Rosette now, so all is okay…”

‘That’s why you have to pamper me more. Protect me in this house.’

“I’m sorry.”

‘Why would you be sorry?’

“You must have been so scared.”

‘No, I was more angry than sca-.’

Her hands reached his hair and slowly patted his head.

“It wasn’t your fault.”

‘……’

“You’ll be okay now. You’re okay now… Issac.”

‘…….’

"You've done good so far. Good job."

'......'