Chapter 180: Maybe I Should Become Stronger

"Alright, stop talking about this..."

Albert blurted the words out hastily, desperate to shut down the topic before Mio could hit him with another question.

He added, forcing his tone to sound firm

"Just forget it, okay? Forget it as if we never talked about it in the first place. It’s not important... not important... not important."

He repeated the phrase like a mantra, as though saying it enough times would magically transform it into reality.

Little Mio couldn’t suppress her smile. She observed her brother in silence; it was painfully obvious to her that his desperate attempt to end the conversation had accomplished only one thing: making him look vastly more compromised.

Had it truly been a matter of no consequence to him, he could have dismissed it with a single word and moved on. Instead, he kept repeating "it’s not important" like a man attempting to convince an audience.

Or rather... attempting to convince himself.

Mio’s smile widened as she watched her brother sink deeper into a web of self-contradiction without even realizing it. He could have simply ignored her, but he was actively defending himself against a question Mio hadn’t even needed to ask yet.

So, the little girl decided to show no mercy.

"So... have you confessed to her?"

she asked suddenly.

Albert froze mid-motion. He raised his eyes to her slowly.

Mio pressed on, her tone as casual as if she were discussing the weather:

"They say if you love a girl, as a man, you ought to take the first step."

Albert’s eyes widened in sheer disbelief. He had never anticipated his sister pushing the envelope this far. He had assumed his repeated denials would silence her, only to discover that Mio had been hanging onto every word—perhaps deriving far more entertainment from his sheer panic than from the food on her plate.

"What?!"

The word slipped out involuntarily.

He scowled, adding hurriedly,

"Like I told you, it’s nothing! I don’t harbor those kinds of feelings at all!"

Yet Mio didn’t back down. Instead, she scrutinized him thoroughly, as though measuring him against a fictional archetype she had read about before.

After a few seconds, her eyes lit up as she reached a conclusion that sent her grin stretching even wider. She remembered. There was indeed a character remarkably similar to her brother in one of the romance novels her nanny read to her—the classic archetype who spends the entire story madly in love with the heroine, yet vehemently refuses to acknowledge his own feelings. A man who endlessly rationalizes to himself that his emotions aren’t love, that he merely desires to protect the heroine or remain by her side.

And then... he ends up being too late.

"Brother,"

Mio said suddenly with absolute gravity,

"do you know who you are?"

Albert blinked in confusion.

"What?"

Mio held up a confident finger.

"You are the textbook example of a Second ML."

Albert froze.

Mio forged ahead, completely unbothered by her brother’s shell-shocked expression. "The guy who loves the heroine dearly, yet refuses to admit his feelings. He keeps telling himself he only wants to protect her, and that he’s happy as long as she’s happy."

Albert began to feel a strange, suffocating tightness in his chest.

Mio didn’t stop.

"And in the end, the heroine ends up with the man who actually decides to speak his heart and take the first step."

She paused dramatically before adding in a lower, theatrical voice:

"And then..."

She leaned in closer.

"The Second Lead regrets it."

Mio swallowed her final words slowly before delivering the killing blow: "When it’s already too late."

The food in Albert’s mouth turned to ash. He couldn’t even bring himself to chew. He stared blankly at his sister as her words echoed endlessly inside his head.

The man who decides to speak his heart... Amelia ends up with him... When it’s too late...

Albert slowly set his spoon down. He desperately wanted to brush it off, to declare that Mio was talking utter nonsense pulled straight from her silly books.

The problem... was that he was far too intelligent not to grasp the brutal truth behind her words.

He had believed all along that the dynamic was simple: if Amelia was happy, that was enough. If she was safe, that was enough. If she found someone else in the future, he would be happy for her. Isn’t that what friends do? Isn’t it natural to desire the happiness of someone you care for as a friend?

Yet when Albert tried to visualize that future... everything shattered.

He pictured Amelia years from now. No longer the young girl he knew today, but grown, radiant, breathtaking, and unimaginably powerful.

Then he pictured her standing beside another man. A man who wasn’t him.

He pictured her smiling at that man the way she used to smile at him. He pictured her talking to him, sharing her days, holding his hand... and eventually marrying him.

A sharp, suffocating pressure seized Albert’s chest. It wasn’t physical pain, but a heavy, agonizing ache that set his heart pounding against his ribs.

It’s fine... he whispered inwardly, attempting to soothe himself. If Lady Amelia is happy, that’s enough.

It was logical. It should have been logical.

Yet when he pictured the scenario again... he felt zero happiness. Quite the opposite. Every fiber of his being recoiled in violent rejection of that thought.

He didn’t want to admit why. But for the very first time, he couldn’t lie to himself.

He loved Amelia.

It was never just respect, gratitude, or a sense of obligation as he had spent all this time claiming.

The thought of her belonging to someone else was utterly unacceptable to him.

And for the first time since this conversation began, he found himself stripped of any excuses to deny it.

Fine... he was indeed in love with her. He could no longer hide behind rationalizations, no matter how hard he tried.

Yet one daunting question lingered unanswered in his mind:

What about her?

Did Amelia feel the same way about him? Or was he carrying these emotions entirely on his own?

Perhaps she didn’t view him in that light at all. To her, he might be nothing more than a little friend—a child she had once saved and graciously offered shelter.

The more Albert pondered it, the deeper a cold anxiety crept into his heart.

He knew Amelia well. She was fundamentally different from him, from Mio, and from almost anyone else he had ever encountered. She was vastly more intelligent, infinitely more capable, and possessed a future whose boundaries he couldn’t even begin to fathom.

As for him... he saw nothing remarkable about himself that could ever entice someone like Amelia to look at him the way he looked at her.

Albert lowered his head, whispering in a barely audible voice, "I don’t think I stand a chance, Mio..."

Mio watched him attentively.

"Lady Amelia is leagues above us..."

Albert continued, his words dragging out as if he were speaking to his own soul rather than to her.

"How could someone like her ever fall for someone like me?"

He paused briefly before adding:

"Besides, her talent and potential are so terrifying that any young man in the future will feel nothing but burning jealousy toward her."

Albert wasn’t merely putting himself down; he genuinely believed it. He had seen firsthand how otherworldly Amelia was. Even at her current age, she possessed an aura that made her feel infinitely distant from him—in power, in wisdom, and in the very way she perceived the world.

As the years passed, she would only grow more formidable. Countless individuals of supreme status, immense power, and terrifying talent would cluster around her—people capable of standing on equal footing with her. People who were superior to him in every conceivable metric.

With that realization, Albert visualized the future once more.

Amelia growing older... becoming ever more majestic and powerful... surrounded by throngs of suitors seeking her favor. And in the end, she would inevitably find someone far better than him.

Albert’s chest tightened painfully.

Yet before he could sink any deeper into despair, Mio cut through his thoughts.

"But Brother..."

Albert raised his head to look at her.

Mio was beaming at him, her eyes completely devoid of doubt or hesitation.

"I think you have a chance,"

she said with absolute confidence.

Albert blinked several times.

"A chance?"

Mio nodded enthusiastically.

"Yes!"

She studied her brother’s features for a moment, as if envisioning his future self.

"I’m certain my brother will grow up to be extraordinarily handsome."

Albert’s eyes widened slightly.

"No one will be able to compete with you," Mio declared in all seriousness.

Albert remained silent. He didn’t know whether to laugh or take his sister’s bold declaration seriously. Mio was his little sister, after all; it was only natural for her to see him as the most remarkable person in the world, just as he viewed her as the dearest girl he knew.

Yet despite that... her words managed to spark a tiny ember of confidence within him.

Swallowing hard, Albert turned to look at his sister sitting beside him. He stared at her for a long moment, mulling over her words. Though the seed of doubt hadn’t completely vanished from his mind, his sister’s unwavering belief had lifted a portion of that suffocating weight from his shoulders.

Perhaps... just perhaps, he truly stood a chance.

But before anything else, he had to become stronger.

Vastly stronger.

Until the day arrived when he could stand side by side with Amelia without ever asking himself if he was worthy to be by her side.