Ch.60Love (2)

I’m often told that I’m blunt. I half agree with that. There have been many incidents lately, but whether due to my past life’s influence or not, I have a fairly level-headed personality.

Lately, though, I’ve been smiling more often, probably because I’m filled with happiness. The corners of my mouth turn up slightly, and occasionally I grin like a madman.

Especially when I’m with Marie, the corners of my mouth refuse to come down. Just seeing her face makes me unable to hide my twitching lips.

“Hehehe.”

“Why are you laughing?”

“Well, why is Issac laughing?”

“I just feel like smiling.”

“Me too. Me too.”

Marie doesn’t hide her feelings either, beaming brightly. I also stare at Marie’s face and respond with a wide smile. On our first day as a couple, I refrained from showing affection out of caution, but as time passed, those concerns disappeared.

Whether people whispered around us, whether Cecilly and Rina looked at us suspiciously, whether others gazed at us with complicated or warm expressions.

We were too busy enjoying the sweetness of our first love to pay attention to anything else. Sometimes we even got scolded by professors for not focusing during lectures, but those were just minor incidents.

Anyway, some time has passed since Marie and I confessed our feelings to each other. With all exams and assignments finished, we had more free time and spent more of it together.

Perhaps because of this, people’s gazes toward us changed from suspicion to certainty. Even the most oblivious person would guess, “Ah, they’re dating.”

And the result of this appeared at the training ground we visited on the weekend. We had agreed to spend weekends having our own personal time.

“Hey. Are you dating someone these days?”

“What?”

Adelia, who had returned to the spectator area to take a short break after sparring, suddenly asked me this. I looked at her with a rather surprised expression.

During that time, Adelia, apparently feeling hot, had taken off her outer shirt. She was wearing a tank top underneath so it was fine, but I almost found my gaze wandering to inappropriate places.

“Whew. It’s hot, so hot. So when are you going to answer me?”

Adelia spoke to me in her distinctive husky voice while fluttering her tank top. Her beauty, drenched in sweat, caught my eye.

I hurriedly collected myself and opened my mouth. In my mind, I tried to picture Marie’s face as much as possible, suppressing any strange thoughts that might arise.

“…How did you know?”

“I happened to see you hugging some white-haired girl. You were practically advertising ‘We’re dating’ to everyone.”

She giggled mischievously and poked my cheek repeatedly with her index finger. I gently pushed her finger away with my palm.

“So? Is that all?”

“What do you mean ‘is that all’? Who wouldn’t be curious when their close friend’s brother starts dating? Who confessed first? No, wait. What’s her name? Judging by her white hair, I think I know who she is.”

My, she’s quite curious. I stared at Adelia as she asked questions one after another, her sky-blue eyes twinkling.

If it were someone else, I might have told them it was none of their business, but Adelia is fine. She’s playful and curious in a different way from Cecilly, but her nature is good.

If her nature wasn’t good, Nicole wouldn’t look after her. Besides, Adelia’s teasing somehow felt like she was craving attention, making it impossible to dislike her.

“Hmm… Your sister probably knows who she is. Her name is Marie, from the Reckyless ducal family.”

“Wow~ Our cutie has good skills? The Reckyless ducal family, no less. Who confessed first?”

“Marie kind of confessed first, but we basically started dating because we both had feelings for each other.”

“Ooh~”

After that, Adelia asked various questions with an excited expression. I don’t know why she’s so interested in other people’s love lives, but seeing her eyes sparkling so brightly, I couldn’t help but answer.

“Youth indeed, youth. Nothing can match the freshness of teenagers. Are you thinking about marriage too?”

“…I think that’s going too far.”

In this world, you’re considered an adult at 17, so you can marry from that age. But despite being called 17, most people marry around 22 due to academy studies.

However, due to my past life’s influence, even that age seemed extremely early to me. But since I couldn’t apply my past life’s common sense here, I could only give an ambiguous answer.

Adelia seemed a bit embarrassed by her own question and scratched her head.

“…I guess that was a bit much? Sorry. I’ve just seen a lot of kids who make mistakes while dating.”

“By mistakes, you mean getting pregnant? Not just having relations.”

“You know well.”

“What happens if someone makes a mistake?”

It’s impossible to say nothing happens between men and women. The same applies to Marie and me.

Of course, both of us would be careful, but no one can predict the future. By coincidence upon coincidence, we might end up alone in a room together.

If such a situation arises, I wonder if I could resist. Given that I couldn’t even resist Cecilly’s temptation, the possibility of me enduring such a situation approaches zero.

Or Marie might provoke me first.

“Hmm~ Well?”

Adelia stared at my face intently after hearing my question, then curled up the corners of her mouth. It was a smile full of slyness.

“I wonder what would happen? I’m not from the Empire of Minerva, so I don’t know?”

“Then I’ll ask my sister.”

“You’re no fun. Between nobles, there’s no problem. Even if there’s a class difference, they’ll reluctantly arrange a marriage. The problem is between nobles and commoners. If the man is a noble, he can take the woman as a concubine or throw her out, but if it’s the reverse, the story changes. Not only will she be expelled from her family, but what comes after is even more problematic.”

“What comes after is more problematic?”

“Yes. Do you think you could live as a commoner after living well as a noble all your life? Those young ladies raised like hothouse flowers?”

After hearing her explanation, I couldn’t help but nod. As I’ve always said, there’s an enormous gap between nobles and commoners. Whether in power or wealth.

Some might think it’s harsh, but this is reality.

“Of course, there are exceptions. It’s like something out of a novel, but cases where the man works desperately hard. In such cases, he goes to the woman’s parents with her to get permission. Well, reality isn’t so smooth.”

“You know surprisingly well.”

“I have to know. I’ve seen such cases many times. So if you really want to make your girlfriend happy, be careful.”

“Isn’t that obvious?”

Even if by some chance we had an accident, I’m confident I could take responsibility for Marie. Of course, her parents might look at me unfavorably, but the story changes the moment I reveal my identity.

It’s embarrassing to say it myself, but I have a status far beyond a simple cultural bomb. Marie might not care about such things, but her parents would be different.

“By the way, do you have a boyfriend, Adel?”

As we talked about relationships, the topic naturally shifted in that direction. Adelia had been focusing solely on my love life without mentioning anything related to herself.

And when she heard my question, Adelia’s expression went beyond surprise to shock. It was an unexpected reaction from my perspective.

“Um… Do I look like someone who’s been in a relationship?”

“Yes. Adel, you’re objectively pretty. And you’re exceptionally skilled in martial arts.”

Adelia’s personality might be a bit unique, but her charm is outstanding. It was a bit awkward to say this as someone with a girlfriend, but it was the truth.

A straight nose, clear sky-blue eyes with long eyelashes, and finally, short brown hair.

Overall, she gives off an image closer to handsome, but her red lips also exude feminine charm.

Honestly, Adelia’s beauty is so remarkable that it’s hard to believe she’s a commoner. It makes me wonder if she’s hiding her identity or if she might be an illegitimate child.

While I was thinking this, Adelia seemed embarrassed and gently rubbed the back of her neck. Then she snickered and muttered softly with a bitter smile.

“What am I thinking… You’d be better off asking your sister? You don’t know how popular Nicole was…”

“What are you two talking about?”

Just as she was trying to shift the topic to Nicole’s love life, a familiar voice entered my ears. When I turned my head, I saw Nicole approaching, wiping her face, which was dotted with sweat, with a towel.

It seemed she had just finished sparring. As soon as Nicole returned, Adelia jumped up in surprise. She didn’t forget to pick up the outer shirt she had taken off earlier.

“I-I’ll be going now! Work hard!”

Is this what they mean by “a thief is nervous about his own footprints”? Adelia fled to the sparring area before Nicole could even ask a question.

As I was staring blankly at her retreating figure, Nicole, who had already approached my side, asked in a puzzled voice.

“Why is she acting like that? Did she say something?”

“Uh… no? She didn’t say much.”

“Hmm… really?”

It’s a look of disbelief. Given how many sins Adelia has committed, it’s a natural reaction.

“Whew. It’s hot.”

Then, just like Adelia had done earlier, Nicole took off her outer shirt to dry her sweat. She was also wearing a tank top underneath, but since she’s my sister, my eyes didn’t wander like they had with Adelia.

Instead, my gaze was captured by the lean muscles embedded here and there. I’ve heard that women have a hard time developing muscles due to their nature, but looking at Nicole, that thought seems wrong.

“Oh right, Issac. You said you’re dating that girl, right? The white-haired girl I saw last time. Marie, was it?”

Nicole, who was fluttering her tank top to cool down, asked me. I had told her all the details last week.

So Nicole knows that Marie knows my secret. I didn’t feel the need to hide it.

But I couldn’t avoid receiving her concerns. No matter how good a person Marie is, from Nicole’s perspective, they’re all the same.

“Yes. Why?”

“Just wondering if you’re doing well. No problems?”

“We’re doing fine.”

“That’s good then. Oof.”

Nicole said just that and sat down next to me.

“You don’t regret it? Telling her.”

“Regret what? Oh, I do regret one thing: why didn’t I tell her sooner?”

“You’re really something. Well, it’s that age.”

Nicole chuckled at my answer and made an expression that seemed to say she couldn’t help it. Then, as if she remembered something, she spoke with a slightly expectant voice.

“By the way, are you writing well?”

“Yes. It should be done in about two weeks.”

“That’s fast. Well, I guess you have more free time now that exams are over. Volume 10 will have the story of the Elf Queen and Xenon’s master, right?”

“Yes.”

“Oh~ I’m looking forward to that. Love between an elf and a human, it might be another hit? Even the elves will be talking about it.”

Nicole giggled and teased. Seeing this, I could only laugh inwardly.

Yes. On the surface, it might seem like a touching love story between an elf and a human. But as the story progresses, people will feel that something is wrong.

Because the Elf Queen and Xenon’s master will not end up together. It’s not a mess where one of them looks at another person.

Both are certain about each other, but the Elf Queen hesitates due to the lifespan issue.

‘It has to end in tragedy to be imprinted in their minds.’

In the future, Xenon’s master dies. And at the hands of ‘Jealousy,’ who was once his disciple.

And the Elf Queen will wail and shed tears upon learning of the master’s death. Originally, this scene was a device to awaken Xenon, but thinking about it, it seems interesting enough to write in detail.

I glanced at Nicole, who was looking expectant without knowing anything, then looked ahead again and opened my mouth.

“Yes. It will be very interesting.”

Only to me.