Ch.93[Chapter 93] Misunderstanding

Kunoichi Hime looked at the woman standing beside Sir Dominic.

Hair like silk woven from ice.

Skin so transparent it seemed almost see-through.

A youthful face with a rosy complexion.

An overwhelming sense of weight felt through armor that medieval knights would wear.

“Um, Sir Dominic? Who is this woman…?”

Hime pointed at the woman standing closely beside Sir Dominic as she asked him.

But the answer didn’t come from Sir Dominic.

Instead, the woman, who looked too young in the face but was taller than Sir Dominic, spoke.

“Alice belongs to Master!”

What Alice meant was that she had become Sir Dominic’s disciple and, whether it was a bug or not, she was being treated as Sir Dominic’s bound equipment and couldn’t be separated from him. However, Hime interpreted those words differently.

“Sir Dominic’s… woman?”

Goodness. Until now, Hime had thought Sir Dominic lived alone.

Come to think of it, this was just Hime’s imagination, and the possibility that Sir Dominic had a woman was entirely open.

Did I make another mistake by fantasizing on my own again?

Hime let out a short laugh that sounded almost hollow.

“This child is my disciple, and I was on my way to report an issue that arose when I took her in.”

Sir Dominic hastily added an explanation after hearing Alice’s words.

Alice was still young and blurted out whatever came to mind, and her words were certainly open to misinterpretation.

However, Hime, who had already begun to misunderstand, fell into an even greater misunderstanding upon hearing Sir Dominic’s words.

What? Disciple? Seed?

There’s a problem?

Report? What kind of report?

In the fraction of a moment, thousands of thoughts flashed through Hime’s mind, dividing and recombining until she finally reached her conclusion.

He got her pregnant before marriage and they’re going to register their marriage!

A perfect misunderstanding!

Being from an Eastern-style world, Hime wasn’t familiar with the Western concept of disciples, so her first misjudgment was thinking about seeds.

Her second misjudgment was interpreting a system issue as a problem between two people.

And her third misjudgment was thinking of a bug report as a different kind of report.

The wrong answer piled upon wrong answer resulted in a conclusion completely detached from the truth.

Another reason for this conclusion was that Hime mistook Alice for an adult woman.

If she had looked carefully, she would have noticed that Alice was still a child, but Hime, already confused, was completely deceived by the optical illusion created by Alice’s height, chain mail armor, and badges.

Alice’s childlike figure was hidden by the chain mail, and the badges that filled her tunic below protruded to create the illusion of a woman with a good figure.

A physique that appeared stronger due to being slightly taller than Sir Dominic.

A beautiful woman who seemed cold and dignified, yet with clear, large eyes on a youthful face that suggested a warm contrast.

Everything was made up of Hime’s optical illusions and misunderstandings, but Hime had already fallen for the illusion she herself had created.

“…So you had a woman by your side.”

“She’s, well, a bit peculiar but a good child. Probably.”

Hime’s heart ached.

Child? They even had pet names for each other?

In fact, this too was a nonsensical pet name, but Hime, who knew Sir Dominic’s personality to some extent, convinced herself that he might very well use such a title.

Hime wanted to continue saying something, but perhaps because she had witnessed such a shocking scene, the cry in her heart couldn’t make it past her throat.

The two knights before her looked like a well-matched pair.

Something hot tried to burst out but got stuck in her throat like a thorn, making it painful as if she was choking.

Why was that?

Hime already knew the answer.

“…I should have spoken up sooner.”

Finally, after careful selection, a single sentence escaped Hime’s lips.

However, that sentence was quite different from what she had initially wanted to say.

Hime felt complicated emotions.

Why? She had only wanted to confirm her feelings for Sir Dominic. To confirm where his heart was directed. Why did she feel this wistfulness?

In fact, you all know this emotion well.

Embarrassment.

The kind of embarrassment that hits you when a misunderstanding you’ve fully embraced is revealed.

However, Hime, already brainwashed into believing this emotion was love, thought that this stifling and gloomy feeling toward Sir Dominic was the lingering sentiment of unrequited love.

“Speak up sooner? What do you mean?”

But Sir Dominic was completely unaware of Hime’s psychological state.

He didn’t understand what Hime’s words meant.

Sir Dominic, who had lived on the battlefield, was clumsy at everything except fighting.

“No, it’s nothing.”

Hime felt tears welling up, but she didn’t want to show them in front of Sir Dominic.

Of course, these were tears of embarrassment, but Hime mistook them for tears of sadness.

Carefully closing her eyes and turning around, Hime wiped her eyes without Sir Dominic noticing and greeted him.

“When we meet again… could we be friends?”

Hime, whose romantic feelings for Sir Dominic had ended but whose interest in him remained, proposed.

Sir Dominic blinked his one remaining eye as if he didn’t understand the words, but then nodded.

“We are already friends.”

Hime quietly smiled at those words.

Then, with a burst of thick smoke that enveloped her.

When the wind blew and the smoke dispersed, Hime had already disappeared.

“Master! There’s cotton candy over there!”

“Ah. Right. I need to give you this week’s allowance.”

But Hime had made a mistake.

If she hadn’t turned away so hastily and had stayed a little longer, if she had heard Alice’s exclamation, her misunderstanding might have been somewhat cleared up.

If her logic had been cracked by the title “Master,” she could have at least gotten closer to the truth.

If she had known the truth, she would have realized how nonsensical her misunderstanding was.

If that had happened, she might have had another chance.

But unaware of this fact, Alice innocently exercised her right to receive cotton candy as specified in the contract, and Sir Dominic was simply faithfully fulfilling that right.

…

Himetotzsaigo Castle.

A kunoichi stood in its deep secret training ground.

This kunoichi, who threw kunai and swung chain sickles without rest as if trying to forget something, was deeply immersed in training, seemingly tireless.

But stamina is not infinite. Such stamina can only be seen in cheats or indestructible objects.

“Ah.”

As if to show that she too was human, one of the kunai she threw completely missed the target.

“…Haa.”

The kunoichi finally stopped moving.

As she calmed her rough breathing from excessive training and looked at the target already densely packed with kunai, she suddenly gazed at the kunai that had gone far astray.

In fact, that kunai didn’t miss because she was tired.

She was a kunoichi who had received elite training as the next head of the clan.

No matter how tired she was, her attacks never missed.

Then why did she make such a mistake?

It was because a stone had flown into her mind, which had been as clear as a mirror, causing ripples.

As you all know, this kunoichi is Hime.

After parting with Sir Dominic, she immediately returned to Himetotzsaigo Castle and sought out the training ground.

And as if trying to forget something, she began to train by moving her body.

She knew well from past training experiences and knowledge from ancient books that physical exhaustion is best for soothing a complicated mind.

At first, she hit the edges of the target. Even the direction of flight was inconsistent.

But as the training progressed and she began to push herself to the limit, Hime’s kunai throwing accuracy began to rise dramatically.

Until just now, the kunai had been embedded like flowers blooming at a single point.

But as soon as the thought ‘it would be difficult to continue training’ created a gap, the thoughts and emotions she had been blocking began to flood in.

The emotions she had blocked with grueling training grew like a hole in a dam, eventually engulfing Hime.

Looking at the kunai that had gone far astray, Hime slowly walked toward it.

And picked up the kunai that had fallen to the ground.

Suddenly, Hime felt that this kunai was similar to herself.

Like the kunai that had been doing well until now but missed at the end, had she also gone astray?

Holding the kunai in her hand, Hime suddenly began to cry.

Was her feeling toward Sir Dominic really love?

Was this emotion she had really the feeling of unrequited love?

Such thoughts briefly crossed Hime’s mind, but now it didn’t matter anymore.

Droplets began to seep into the packed earth beneath Hime’s feet.

And those marks were hidden beneath Hime as she sat down.

Why? Why does her heart ache so much?

Hime just bowed her head and silently shook her shoulders.

While tightly gripping the kunai that had gone astray.