Silence No More

35. Allies, Plans and Cute Bobble Hats

Choosing her own happiness or her brother's?

I thought about it seriously for a long moment and finally came to a conclusion.

"Adaira...there is only one thing you can do when you have a problem you don't know how to solve."

"And...and that is?"

Giving her a serious look full of wisdom, I said: "Get your friends to solve it for you."

She stared at me expressionlessly for a long moment before her eyebrows started twitching. "Is this the famous Ambrose work ethic you learned at my brother's office?"

"Naturally!" I beamed. "After all, if you get your friends to do something for free, you don't have to pay anyone else to do it!"

"You know...I'm starting to think you and my brother were really meant for each other."

Marching over, I patted her shoulder. "You only realise that now? Who do you think approved your domestic expenses last year?"

Her eyes went wide. "You mean last year, when I wanted that brocade dress and got that letter back from my brother that said 'unnecessary expenses'..."

I grinned. "Yep. That was me."

Her eyebrows twitched again. "Lilly, dear...you're taking a rather strange approach to cheering a girl up."

"Indeed. It's working, though, isn't it?"

In response to that, her face softened for the first time since I'd entered the room. "Yes. Yes, it is."

"There you go." I patted her shoulder. "Should I cut your pocket money some more to improve your mood?"

"Don't you dare! Can't you see I'm suffering from a moral dilemma here? You...you beastly, unfeeling—!"

"—best friend ever?"

That made her mouth twitch just a little. When more tears appeared in the corners of her eyes, I didn't think they were all unhappy ones. When she noticed me looking, she immediately turned her head away. "Don't look at me like that! It's just hay fever."

"Hay fever. Of course it is." Without hesitation, I wrapped her in my arms and hugged her close. "Come here. I know the best cure for hay fever. It's called 'friendly hug'. Ever heard of it?"

"You...you..."

Her words trailed off and, for a while, that was the last thing I heard from her. During the next few minutes, I simply stood there, my arms tightly wrapped around Adaire while she indulged in her fit of hay fever. And if my dress got a little wet in the process, that was probably because it had suddenly started raining indoors.

When the "rain" finally subsided, I reached out and patted my sister-in-law's head. "There, there. Better now?"

"Y–sniff, yes." Pulling out a handkerchief, she wiped her eyes and blew her nose. "Now that my hay fever seems to have passed—" She stopped and threw me a glare. "Stop snickering!"

"S-s-sorryhihihi...ehem." I cleared my throat, doing my best to look serious. "Hay fever. Right you are."

"As I was saying," Adaira stated and pinned me to the spot with a glare worthy of her brother, "if your suggestion is to ask other people for help, my question is: who? It's not like we have a whole battalion of helpers at our disposal."

I smirked. "That's where you're wrong."

In a blink, I had the girl by the hand and was towing her behind me like a particularly feminine barge.

"Oy! Where do you think you're going, Lilly?"

"Wait and see."

It didn't take me long to reach my destination. Adaira had been right, in a way. Apart from Mr Ambrose's bodyguards, there were no men here I could trust, and they were needed for their job. I didn't have a battalion. But I did have something better.