Ch.183Chapter 183. Maybe I…

A few days later.

Irene was busy preparing for a long outing.

‘Come to think of it, we decided to divide the occupation forces and dispatch them to various parts of the continent.’

As the vice commander, Irene was no exception, and she was getting ready to depart in earnest as soon as the training duties were roughly completed.

Would I not be able to see her face for a while?

Irene first greeted the head maid, whose face had become quite familiar by now.

“Well then, I’ll be going. I’m counting on you to take care of the mansion.”

“Don’t worry, my lady.”

“Miss Reika. I’d appreciate it if you could stay comfortable even without me around.”

“Have a safe trip…!! I’ll be waiting. When you return, I’ll make lots of… delicious food for you…!”

“And…”

Seeing her hesitate strangely, I naturally realized it was my turn and approached her.

Irene’s eyes trembled subtly as she looked up at me.

“Swen. I’ll be back safely… so take care of yourself while I’m gone.”

“…”

The subtle feeling in her tone of voice.

Hoping I wasn’t doing something foolish, I approached her closely and—

“…!!!”

I spread my arms wide and embraced her.

Quite surprised, Irene flinched slightly… but soon rested her head against my chest without rejecting my embrace.

“Have a safe trip, Lady Irene. I’ll miss you a lot, but I’ll be waiting.”

“Yes… Swen, I’ll do well and come back. I’ll… I’ll miss you too…”

“Please take care of yourself. Don’t overdo it at all. If anything seems even slightly dangerous, you must step back. Understood?”

“I won’t overdo it. I won’t do anything you tell me not to do…”

I thought I might be overreacting since she was just going on patrol…

But even when she was in the Aeshus army, she was a woman serious enough to risk her life for me.

If I didn’t prepare her with these words, I clearly wouldn’t be able to breathe from anxiety.

I slowly stroked her red hair with my hand.

Though she always showed strength and was indeed a person of firm resolve… at times like this, it was clear that Lady Irene wasn’t always as hard as steel.

After seeing Irene off.

“…?”

“Ah, uh, th-that is…!!!”

I relaxed my expression and spoke to Reika, who was blushing and sweating profusely while looking at me.

“Do you have anything to do today?”

“What? No, um… n-nothing…”

The way she fidgeted with her fingers in confusion seemed strangely cute.

“Then shall we meditate together after a long time?”

“What…?”

“Don’t you want to?”

“Ah, no, that’s not… I-I don’t dislike it… I’d love to! I’d love to…!!”

Going to the library together to read books wouldn’t have been bad either, but she seemed happiest when meditating with me.

It wouldn’t be bad to spend some light time with her today.

And so, Reika and I immediately headed outside the mansion.

* * *

Thump, thump.

Despite having come out to meditate with Swen, Reika’s heart was in a state where it simply couldn’t calm down.

‘That was really amazing…’

Lady Irene saying she would be back, and Swen embracing her tightly.

The sight of a perfectly matched couple, as if painted in a picture, made her feel a tickling sensation deep in her heart.

Even at a glance, the relationship between the two seemed very solid—

What was surprising was that the two of them still weren’t officially in any relationship.

And Reika felt a strange sense of relief in that fact of “not being in a relationship.”

‘If someday I have to leave far away… would Swen embrace me like that too…?’

Both Lady Irene and herself had similar starting points.

Moreover, considering that marriage talks had been exchanged, she might even be ahead in some ways.

So there was no need to feel discouraged, she thought, and at that moment—

‘…Huh?’

A realization struck Reika’s mind like lightning.

Wait.

Did I just… think of myself as being “ahead”…?

‘…Ahead in what?’

If I’m ahead, in what?

In marriage talks?

If I’m ahead in marriage talks, what does that mean? What am I ahead in?

As her thoughts continued to connect, they finally reached a conclusion.

So, I might possibly…

‘Do I… like Swen…?????’

‘Wait, wait, wait.’

With wide eyes and a reddened face, waves of thoughts began to crash relentlessly in Reika’s mind.

‘Actually, I didn’t particularly want to get married… but still, becoming Swen’s wife… I thought it would be fine. I didn’t dislike it from the beginning. I was doing it because Father wanted it, but that’s how women’s marriages usually were… But at some point… something, something, something…!’

It would be a lie to say she hadn’t felt excited when Swen introduced her as “my wife” in the library.

‘But… Swen said that if I didn’t want to get married, if I wanted to live freely, I could choose that path. It was a very grateful statement to me, but… there was always that subtle sense of distance that seemed to exist?’

“Miss Reika?”

‘I didn’t know what that distance was, but thinking about it now… maybe I wanted to hear something else…??’

“Excuse me? Miss Reika?”

‘Rather than Swen giving me a choice, if he had firmly asked me to become his wife…!!!’

“Miss Reika!”

“Kyaaah…!”

Startled, Reika finally turned to look at Swen.

“S-Swen…?”

“Is something wrong?”

“No, that, um… I, I-I’m fine…!!”

“You don’t look fine at all.”

At Swen’s words, Reika asked in confusion.

“Why…?”

“You’ve been making all sorts of faces and seeming unable to control yourself. Usually when you meditate, you close your eyes and look very peaceful. But not today…”

“…Was I… doing that?”

“Yes. Like this.”

Watching Swen lightly mimic her behavior, Reika hung her head in despair.

“I’m sorry… I don’t think I need to live anymore. I’ll just end this life…”

“No, no! Why are you… that’s too extreme!”

“But I showed such an unsightly appearance…”

“It’s okay. More importantly, do you have something troubling you?”

“Troubling…”

Reika looked into Swen’s gray eyes.

When she first met him, the impression that “he’s very handsome but seems cold somehow” was largely influenced by those sharp gray eyes.

But somehow, now those eyes looked so warm.

She felt as if the unique warmth of a kind and gentle person was enveloping her heart.

‘Troubling…’

I’m thinking that maybe marrying Swen.

Getting married, serving Lady Irene, and living cozily together, might be better than living freely without any attachments—

—she didn’t have the courage to say such things, unfortunately.

“It’s nothing…”

At Reika’s words, Swen was silent for a moment, then nodded and replied.

“Is that so? Alright. I won’t pry. But if you ever want to talk about it, feel free to tell me anytime. Okay?”

“Yes, yes…!”

Her heart felt warm again at his words that she could talk to him anytime.

——The reason my heart is wavering must be because Swen is such a kind person.

She thought it was quite fortunate for her that Swen was her unexpected marriage partner.

“Shall we continue then?”

“Yes…!”

Reika finally shook off the distracting thoughts in her mind and felt the mana flowing in the air.

This place was quite rich in mana.

It wasn’t “overflowing” like a mountain full of trees, but she could feel that there was much more mana floating in the air than in the central continent.

‘With this amount of mana… the new formula I failed before might succeed…!’

Reika recalled a dying rabbit she had found by chance in the garden of the mansion during her time at Valhart Castle.

Back then, she had failed due to insufficient mana in the air, but now she thought she might succeed.

This was how she had always acquired new magic.

An image would come to mind, and she would formalize and implement it.

Despite no one teaching her, it was as simple as breathing for Reika.

Her growth over the past few days was noticeable even to herself, making mana manipulation quite enjoyable.

The extremely complex problem of constructing formulas seemed like issues that could be solved with just a little time from Reika’s perspective, and indeed they were.

Reika had no idea that this was simply because she was a born genius…

‘Since meeting Swen… I’ve been able to understand better…! Someday, I must repay the kindness he’s shown me…!’

Firmly believing it was thanks to Swen who had taught her various practices, she continued to grow her admiration for him.

That day was spent meditating with Swen.

For Reika, this time was nothing short of precious.

* * *

Several days had passed since Irene’s departure.

Upon hearing that the head maid was urgently looking for me, I quickly dressed and headed to where she was waiting.

As soon as she saw me, she bowed her head respectfully and said:

“Ah, Master Swen. You’ve arrived. I should greet you with ‘good morning,’ but…”

“It’s fine. What’s the matter?”

“Someone has come from the royal palace. Lady Serpina has requested that you come immediately…”

“Did you hear what it’s about?”

I asked, but I already had some idea.

The head maid’s expression, more troubled than usual.

The urgent message to find me.

And this situation where only one thing was likely to happen…

“Well… I don’t know the details, but it seems rebels have risen up on the continent.”

As expected.

News of rebels, just as I anticipated.

But that means…

‘Lady Serpina’s prediction was correct.’

A rebellion would occur. The basis for this was just my single “advice.”

How could she have asserted with such certainty that a rebellion would happen?

Well, whatever the case, this is a matter that will be resolved once I meet with my lord and talk.

“I’ll depart immediately.”

“Yes. Please travel safely…”

After exchanging greetings with the head maid, I quickly put on my uniform and headed straight for the royal palace.