"Dear An, I was wrong. Please, in your boundless mercy, let me go. This little body of mine can't take even one punch from you!"
Seeing that her old friend seemed genuinely angry, Avril hurriedly raised both hands in surrender. Yet inwardly, she couldn't help rolling her eyes, silently mocking An as a muscle-brained woman with violence maxed out. Just as the Sword Saint had said, she was a hopeless little-brother fanatic.
She had clearly only made an offhand joke, yet her friend of twelve years gave her such a terrifying expression over it.
Wasn't that basically saying that their twelve years of friendship meant less than nothing compared to the younger brother An hadn't even seen in nearly nineteen years?
At that thought, Avril couldn't help shooting her friend a resentful glance. She puffed up with annoyance.
"I'll say this one last time, Avril. I don't like people joking about my family, especially my little brother. Even if you're my friend, that doesn't make it okay."
Looking at Avril's resentful expression, An paused slightly, then closed the pocket watch in her hand. She carefully hung it around her neck, tucked it into a specially made recess beneath her armor, and only then added solemnly:
"More importantly, as John's older sister, I have a duty to find him a wife who truly suits him."
"Although you're a good woman, Avril, there's an eleven-year age gap between you and John. That gap is far too large. I don't want to see John forced to sacrifice more than ten years of happiness in the future because you grow old before him. So I will absolutely never agree to such an absurd request. You should give up on it!"
"Huh?!"
Although she had long known that her old friend was a muscle-headed idiot