Chapter 9. Borders and Barriers (6)

“W-well, you bought me this and that, took me here and there, and bought me delicious food like this…”

“Yes, yes.”

Ria spoke as if she was about to add “You’re doing great” after that.

“But still, I just followed you around and grumbled…”

“No, that’s not it. I don’t care about that. If I felt bad about those things, would I have brought you all the way here?”

“Is that so?”

“That’s right. No, even if you have no friends, were you thinking that? Would you wear a swimsuit chosen by someone you dislike? You’re wearing a swimsuit I picked even though you dislike me?”

“Ah, no, it’s not like that.”

But still, being told I have no friends hurts a little. Of course, in this world, the only people I can call friends are Ria, and the others I met after Ria.

…And even in my previous life, I didn’t have that many friends.

“…Ah, no, I mean, that’s not what I meant.”

Seeing that look on my face, Ria also flustered a bit. But she didn’t take her hands off my face.

“Hmph, it’s okay to not have friends. You had a lot of nasty people around you, didn’t you?”

“…Is that so?”

As I asked with a hint of suspicion, Ria nodded with a determined expression.

“Uh, yes. Except for a few who revered you, they were all people who hated you. That’s all jealousy.”

“…”

As I stared blankly at Ria, Ria stammered, as if trying to make an excuse for something, and continued her words. The story she was telling just moments ago was completely forgotten.

Without removing her hands from my cheeks, she brought her flushed face incredibly close… well, not quite that close, but still uncomfortably close, and spoke with great excitement.

It felt like a look Ria wouldn’t show to anyone else.

Because, even in the novel, such an expression never appeared.

All day today, the knot I had been struggling with alone seemed to be loosening a little with that clumsy expression. I don’t know why.

Just as I thought that Ria was showing me a face that she had never shown anyone else, perhaps even in her entire life, the thought of showing my swimsuit to others became irrelevant.

“See, I told you you have talent, right? In hand-to-hand combat, or marksmanship.”

“You did.”

I replied calmly, but Ria seemed impatient.

“So, well, of course, I’m not saying you’re the best in the world? You’re not a genius or anything, but you’re much more talented than ordinary people.”

Her words were incredibly clumsy.

She looked like someone who was terrible at lying, trying their best to exaggerate the other person’s good points.

That appearance was like a child’s. Even though Ria was taller than me and more mature in many ways.

“But… you already have something you’re the best at. So, I was jealous. You’re not ordinary at all. In fact, you’re in a special position if anything. And since you’re refusing that position, you seemed even more special, yes.”

“So, are you saying that those people were jealous of me and teased me with what they were better at?”

As I said with a slight smile, Ria quickly nodded.

“Yes, that’s right. That’s what I mean. Where is there a genius who is the best at everything in the world? I’m not particularly good at marksmanship, and I can’t use holy power like you. No, in the first place, you’re the only one who can completely save someone on the verge of death in the world. If not, I would have heard about it.”

“…”

“So, what I’m saying is, you don’t have to listen to those guys. I’m saying this as someone who was considered talented in swordsmanship-“

“Ria.”

“-so don’t dwell on those guys too much.”

“Ria. It’s okay.”

“What I wanted to say was.”

“Ria.”

I gently placed my hands over Ria’s hands on my face.

I slowly removed Ria’s right hand from my face.

Ria had a slightly dazed expression.

It was as if she didn’t know what I was thinking with that action.

I gently held that right hand with both of my hands.

“I understand. I know what you wanted to tell me.”

It was a little clumsy. But it was okay. In fact, because it was so clumsy, I was able to fully grasp what you wanted to say and how sincere it was.

Rather, I am the one who is more clumsy.

Even after receiving so much help, I only thought of it as a debt in my heart and only thought about how to repay it.

I expressed my feelings by grumbling instead of fully accepting the help, and I apologized for my actions before acknowledging the help I received.

All of this happened because I couldn’t fully accept Ria’s feelings.

“Thank you.”

I said to Ria with a gentle smile.

I gently touched her hand.

On Ria’s right hand, the friendship ring I had given her that day was still worn. She could have put it back on her necklace after swimming, but Ria was still wearing it on her hand.

The ring still emitted a faint light. The ring infused with my holy power.

Actually, putting the ring on her hand like this was intentional.

I was probably jealous of Ria’s friends. The friends she dated before meeting me, who might have been much better than me.

Ria became friends with me simply because she was forced to enter the convent.

“…”

Ria had become silent at some point.

Her face was flushed red, and she was just staring at me endlessly.

I thought hard about how to express this gratitude.

Suddenly, a method came to mind. There was a way to express gratitude officially within the church.

Of course, it’s not a way that ordinary nuns express themselves. In fact, if nuns acted like that, they would easily be misunderstood.

That would be crossing the line, perhaps crossing the boundary I had set.

I put on a slightly playful expression.

I don’t intend to repay Ria’s debt with this. Perhaps, Ria, being a woman, might find it a little creepy.

But still, I felt like there was no other way to fully express my feelings other than this method.

I slowly lowered my head.

At the same time, I pulled Ria’s hand, which I was holding, towards my face.

Gently, I kissed the back of Ria’s hand.

Ria’s hand, though her palm and fingers had a little calluses and were soft, the back of her hand was soft, perhaps due to the protection of her armor.

With my lips lightly touching it, I stayed still for a moment. Warmth from Ria’s hand reached my lips.

I lifted my lips and looked at Ria again.

Ria seemed unaware that her left hand, which had been on my face, had been removed from my face, and was just staring at me with a dazed expression.

“Today, thank you, really.”

“…Huh?”

Only after I said that did Ria blink and reply.

Her voice was filled with confusion, so much so that the number of question marks behind her words seemed insufficient.

“Uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, yes.”

After making strange noises for a while, as if her language center had malfunctioned, she finally replied like that.

…

Ah, but I’m starting to feel a little flustered too.

This hand, when should I let go?

It’s fine that I held her hand, saw the ring, and kissed the back of her hand, but I really don’t know what to do after this.

Well, I don’t regret saying thank you or kissing the back of her hand.

I did cross the boundary a little.

But it wasn’t a fatal crossing. Ria didn’t recoil in horror either.

As we stood there staring blankly at each other-

Slowly, light fell upon my face.

Not the lighting of the fancy restaurant we were in, but a clearly different kind of light.

Ria and I simultaneously waved our hands towards the light. The light that had been shining brightly on my face instantly turned into smoke and disappeared.

Uh, um.

This might be a bit too much.

“…Ha.”

After chasing away the light, Ria, who had been staring blankly for a moment,

“Hahaha!”

Laughed out loud.

“…Hoo.”

And I also let out a laugh as I watched Ria.

Ria stood up from her seat and said.

“Okay, then, you have no complaints about this steak, right?”

“Of course, I have no complaints about the steak. Food is not to blame. Rather, we who eat it are to blame.”

“You, who can’t even come close to being vegetarian, saying that doesn’t sound convincing at all.”

“I wasn’t trying to be convincing.”

I replied primly and picked up my fork and knife again.

The steak I ate with a much lighter heart-

-was truly, truly incredibly delicious.

*

As I chewed the tender meat, Chae-eun’s heart felt incredibly light.

How should I put it?

It felt like the icy barrier that appeared when I stood before Anna had melted a little.

As I cut the steak, I kept glancing at my right hand.

At that time, I hadn’t felt it properly, but the sensation Chae-eun felt with her lips that day was probably very similar to the sensation I felt with the back of my hand today-

…

What am I thinking?

Chae-eun quickly shook her head to clear her mind and decided to focus on the meal.

The two of them then ate the steak, leaving almost no sauce behind, and then ate the dessert that followed without leaving anything behind.

They drank only a little of the dessert wine that came with it, as per Anna’s request.

Chae-eun felt a bit disappointed about that.