Kingdom of Clover

Capital

Silva Residence

…11 years prior to the start of the Magic Knights Entrance Exams…

Nozel stared blankly into the room of his youngest sister where Noelle preoccupied herself with her teddy bear. At 18 years old, he was pulled from his very important Magic Knight training to come home. Apparently, all of the nannies gotten the flu and there was no one qualified on short notice to take care of the four-year-old girl. As the oldest child, he was reminded by his Silva Aunt (his father's sister; not his mother's) that it was his job to take care of his siblings. Why she couldn't just take Noelle until the nannies were better was a mystery to Nozel.

No one in the Silva Royal family wanted his father to marry his mother and they took it out on Nozel and his siblings.

"Come, Noelle, I have things to do," said Nozel. He didn't mean to sound dismissive, it just came out. It wasn't that he didn't love Noelle. He loved Noelle, of course, he did, just like he loved Nebra and Solid.

She reminded him too much of Mother. It hurt too much to look at her sometimes.

Noelle was a quiet, withdraw girl when he was near. Mereoleona joked it was Nozel's sparkling personality that deterred her from being more expressive. "Yes, Big Brother."

Dressed in a pretty little dress befitting a royal girl, she lugged her teddy bear with her. And then Nozel realized that she was too tiny to follow him about on his duties without getting lost, meaning that he was going to have to carry her. He honestly wished that Fuegoleon was there at the moment. He was better with children than Nozel.

With a sigh befitting a teenager tasked with babysitting, he picked her up easily. "Stay quiet and don't interrupt, Noelle. And we will get through this without fuss."

Noelle ignored him in favor of burying her face into his shoulder, actually snuggling him. Nozel's heart nearly leapt out of his chest. When is the last time someone gave her some form of affection? He was always so busy and he knew full well that Solid was a little dipshit and Nebra came off as haughty to the point of being mean. No Silva was naturally affectionate either.

The guilt filling his heart felt heavy.

The memory of his sweet and strong mother plagued him. "Nozel, you must always look after your little siblings! It's the duty of a big brother. I know you can do it."

If there was an afterlife like the church taught, then surely, Mother would be disappointed in him for ignoring Noelle so much and doing nothing to stop Solid or Nebra's bad behaviors.

Nozel really hoped the nannies will get better soon.

His heart wouldn't be able to take it.

Kingdom of Clover

Capital

Magic Knights' Headquarters

Captains' Meeting Room

…Several months after the battle against the elves…

It was a well-known fact that he did not like Yami Sukehiro. And Yami did not like him. They grated on each other's nerves, bickered and mocked each other, and Nozel regularly wanted to fight him over the stupidest things. However, Nozel had some level of respect of Yami as a wizard and a Magic Knight Captain, though he'd never admit it on the pain of death.

But these days, Nozel had been feeling another kind of irrational irritation when it came to Yami. And it concerned Noelle.

The Captains' Meeting just ended and everyone was lingering as there were no pressing matters to attend to since the other kingdoms have been quiet and there was no terrorist organization breathing down their necks anymore. And Yami was bragging to Jack and Rill about the Black Bulls' latest successful dungeon raid.

Well, Yami was specifically bragging about Noelle.

Nozel was increasingly fuming as Yami spoke.

"You shoulda seen that girl! I couldn't believe that she was able to use her Valkyrie armor in conjunction with her Sea Dragon's Roar spell. She getting leaps and bounds stronger all the time," laughed Yami. "Asta, Magna and Finral's faces were so stupid watching her kick all the bad guy's asses with ease."

"And what the hell were you doing while my sister was carrying your squad," snapped Nozel.

"Nozel," hissed Fuegoleon, "behave."

Nozel ignored his lifelong rival, instead choosing the petty route and glaring at Yami.

Yami smirked. "I was watching, of course. They didn't need me to intervene, especially Noelle, not anymore. I'm so glad you pawned her off on me, braid-boy."

Fuegoleon had to forcefully grabbed Nozel to sit back down and not lunge at the big brute of the Black Bulls Captain. "Relax, Nozel. What in heaven's name gotten into you?"

Nozel scowled. "He's antagonizing me on purpose."

Yami snorted and rolled his eyes. "I'm seriously not bragging about how awesome and super powerful Noelle is to piss you off…much."

"Yami," scolded Fuegoleon. "You two, honestly, are grown men."

Suddenly they heard giggling. It was coming from Dorothy, who actually woke up. "Nozel's jealous that Yami was able to help foster and mentor Noelle's skills and abilities as a wizard whereas Nozel failed to do so for his youngest sister."

Jack, Rill, and Kaiser burst out laughing. Charlotte hid giggles behind her hands. And William had an amused smile on his face, that other smug bastard that Nozel wanted to punch regularly.

Fuegoleon shook his head and looked at the sky for divine intervention. "Nozel, Yami, that's some pettiness not befitting Captains."

Neither Yami nor Nozel listened.

"I ain't stealing your sister, you bonehead," scoffed Yami.

Nozel glared.

"I mean, you are a big fuckin' idiot if you don't know how much Noelle adores your dumbass, for whatever reason I don't know. Maybe you wouldn't feel so threatened by my good mentorship, if you were less of a shitty older brother," replied Yami, cutting straight to the heart of the matter. "You know where the Black Bulls' hideout is, braid-boy. I'm out, I gotta fetch Finral from the Vice-Captain's meeting room."

With that Yami left the room, leaving Nozel mortified, Fuegoleon patting Nozel on the shoulder, and the rest of the captains completely amused at the situation.

Kingdom of Clover

Black Bulls' Hideout

"This is so ridiculous," murmured Nozel as he landed in front of the old building that was home to the Black Bulls. "What am I even doing here…?"

"Woah! It's Noelle's brother," said a startled Asta, shirtless and cutting firewood. Nozel did not like much that Asta was a young man who was so close to his sister, either. They had never be anything more than friends. He liked Asta as a magic knight too much to have to kill him. "NOELLE, YOUR BROTHER IS HERE!"

A shot of water came out of the windows knocking Asta over with Noelle sticking her out of the window. "Stupid, don't scream so much! Captain is napping!" Then, Noelle realized that Asta was yelling for a reason.

Much to Nozel's displeasure over whatever these commoners and ragamuffins were teaching his sister, she came climbing out of the window and rushed over with a bright smile on her face. "Big Brother, what brings you by?"

He was far too pleased that she was happy to see him. Nozel coughed lightly, not exactly looking his sister in her eyes. "Do you want to go out to lunch with me?"

Noelle blinked once and grinned. "Of course! Let me change into something better and grab my bag. I have so much to tell you." She sprinted back inside the dilapidated headquarters of the worst Magic Knight squad, leaving Nozel standing there awkwardly.

Nozel felt more than one pair of eyes on him. He turned to find Asta giving him an intense stare and that all the windows had every member of the Black Bulls, including Zora Ideale and Yami, giving him death stares. Nozel was not an easy man to intimidate. The fact was that the Black Bulls were a found family who burst into the Magic Parliament to rescue Asta, what would they do if he messed up his relationship with his sister again?

"Make sure she's home before dark," said Asta. The intense stare he was giving Nozel was starting to actual unsettle Nozel a bit. "And you had better not upset her."

Nozel didn't respond, because Noelle came rushing back out in a new, trendier outfit and her bag with her Black Bulls robe sticking out of it. And just like that the Black Bulls disappeared back into the house and Asta was smiling brightly at Noelle.

"Have fun you two!"

"Thanks, Asta! Later. Let's go, Big Brother."

And Nozel followed Noelle.

It was a good meal with his little sister, in the end.