I will do so

I will do so

After receiving a bouquet and letter that seemed to be a date request, Sien had been endlessly waiting for Deren’s contact.

… Whether it was because he was busy or for some other reason, I didn’t know.

Several days had passed, and he hadn’t even come to visit, let alone contact her, leaving her quite dejected.

‘At first, I thought about going to find Sir Deren myself.’

But the maid said that men feel burdened by women who are too clingy.

So I suppressed my desire to go find him and anxiously waited day after day.

‘I thought I was used to waiting… but strangely, this wait is particularly difficult.’

I wonder why.

Waiting is a basic quality of a knight, and something I’ve done for a long time, so I was more confident than anyone else.

Not understanding why my heart was so restless, I paced around the training ground, and when I couldn’t bear it any longer, I sought advice from the maid.

“… What? He still hasn’t contacted you?”

Upon hearing that there was still no contact, the maid’s expression stiffened as she looked at me.

Then, falling into contemplation, she spoke to me.

“Even so, it’s normal to hear back within 3 days. Perhaps I was mistaken…”

The maid seemed to recall something and was about to say something.

But then she hurriedly hit her own mouth and changed her words.

“No, no, that’s not it. Ugh…! Miss Sien, how about we change our strategy?”

“Strategy…?”

“Yes, yes. For now, let’s forget everything I said before and start anew!”

I couldn’t understand why she wanted to start over.

Thinking it would be best to listen to the experienced person, I nodded glumly.

The maid smiled awkwardly and said to me.

“Ah, just in case, let’s wait a little longer for a response. If there’s still no contact after that, we’ll change our strategy and try visiting in person.”

Didn’t she clearly say before that a clingy woman is unattractive and not to do it?

I was puzzled by the sudden change in her words.

But for now, I had something more important to ask, so I brushed it off and opened my mouth.

“… Um.”

“Yes?”

“Can you tell me how long I should wait…? It feels like my heart is tightening day by day, making it hard to wait.”

“… Oh, well, that.”

At those words, the maid pondered again and, unlike usual, came to a conclusion a bit slower.

“O-One day? Two days? Wouldn’t that be enough?”

“… One day.”

“Oh, it could be two days, but shall we say one day?”

I nodded vigorously, and the maid smiled awkwardly and continued.

“Then I think it’s best to calm down and take care of yourself first. We can’t show young master Deren this dejected appearance, can we?”

Certainly, my emotions have been so up and down lately that I haven’t been able to sleep properly.

Looking at my somewhat disheveled hair, I reflected for a moment, then quickly asked the maid to take care of it and closed my eyes.

*

That’s when I decided to wait for about a day while handling my duties as student council president and training as a knight.

I heard one thing from the secretary.

“Um, Student Council President… Have you heard about what happened in the auditorium today?”

I responded with a puzzled expression to her unusually cautious tone.

“I think I heard that someone cheated and there was going to be an investigation about it. I don’t know much more than that.”

Normally, I would have immediately intervened upon hearing about such an issue.

But because I hadn’t heard from Deren, my emotions were too unstable, and on top of that, I was feeling depressed.

I had completely forgotten about it as I didn’t have the capacity to care about such things.

So, I looked at the secretary with concern, wondering what had happened.

The secretary seemed unsure whether to speak, but after a moment’s hesitation, she slowly opened her mouth.

“Well… you know the incident that happened in the auditorium? There’s a rumor that the person accused is your fiancé… Have you heard about it?”

At the mention of fiancé, my whole body and mind froze for a moment.

It was a completely unexpected statement.

“Are you talking about Sir Deren?”

The secretary nodded in response to my question.

At that moment,

As I watched the secretary nodding, I blinked several times, then quickly stood up to go find Deren, but.

“… Ah, no! Please finish this work first before you go!”

Because the secretary clung to me and prevented me from leaving, I had no choice but to sit back down.

“I’m really sorry. I’d like to let you go, but the deadline is today, so…”

“……”

I know. I was in charge from the beginning.

So, trying to calm my restless body that kept fidgeting, I forcibly sat down and stared at the documents in front of me.

After all, I couldn’t let personal feelings interfere with the work.

‘So once this is over…’

I strengthened my resolve, deciding to approach and check on them without holding back any longer.

*

The work that I thought would end by evening unexpectedly stretched until dawn.

It’s an awkward time to visit Deren’s house directly.

Rationally thinking, it would be right to rest at home and meet after going to school.

But I’ve already endured as much as I could.

Unable to hold back any longer, I headed towards Deren’s house as if in a trance.

“……”

As soon as I arrived in front of the house, my dulled reason finally returned to my mind.

“Ah.”

What on earth am I doing?

As I regained my senses, I was about to quickly return home, suffering from doubt and guilt.

Then I hear a ‘woof woof’ sound from far away.

It seems to be made by a person, given how awkward it sounds for a dog’s bark.

Unable to understand why someone would make such a sound at dawn, I slowly approached.

An unbelievable sight unfolded before my eyes.

‘… Lord Deren?’

Deren and a woman in a robe running away as if escaping.

Anyone could see it was a suspicious scene, and I was strangely upset, revealing my true feelings.

“… I came to talk to Sir Deren, but I see you have a guest. A guest who makes puppy sounds in the early morning.”

I didn’t come here to say such things, but why am I blurting them out?

I feel so foolish that I want to slap my own mouth, but I’m holding back.

Deren speaks to me with an expressionless face.

“What brings you here so early in the morning?”

What brings me here? Of course, it’s to talk about our date and check on his well-being.

Stunned by Deren’s cold words, I felt so hurt that I said something I wouldn’t have normally said.

“… Sir Deren. I am your fiancée.”

Deren looks at me without much interest, crossing his arms as if to say, “So what?”

It’s clearly an insignificant action, but I don’t know why each of his actions feels so disappointing.

With trembling hands pressing against my chest, I conveyed my honest feelings.

“Whenever Sir Deren treats me so coldly, it… it hurts here so much.”

I’m not sure if it’s because of the anxiety that’s been building up for days, or because I’m tired from working until dawn.

One thing is certain: it’s the emotion I’ve been feeling constantly whenever Deren has been unkind to me since that day.

‘Normally, I wouldn’t have said this to avoid burdening you.’

Seeing Sir Deren with a girl who barks like a dog until dawn, I feel I can no longer hold back.

As if unloading everything that had been piling up, I spoke one by one.

“I could endure the difficult and grueling knight training, even the pressure from the family that gives me tremendous burden. But whenever Sir Deren acts like this, it hurts so much. It’s too hard to bear.”

Strangely, with every word I speak, I feel like I’m about to cry.

But as a knight, I couldn’t shed tears, so I held them back and brought up the last thing I wanted to say.

“… So, Lord Deren. Just once, even if it’s just once… couldn’t you look at me? If you give me just one chance, I’ll bark like the woman you saw earlier, I’ll kneel if you tell me to. Please, just once, just this one time, I beg you.”

Hearing those words, Deren thought for a moment.

Then, slowly looking into my face, he spoke.

“Very well, let it be so.”

“… Pardon?”

“I said I’ll do it.”

Unable to believe Deren’s answer, I just stared at him with a foolish expression.

He grabbed my wrist and slowly began to lead me into the mansion.

* * * * *

I couldn’t hide my bewilderment as I watched Sien, who was about to cry right in front of me.

I couldn’t understand why he was acting this way when it wasn’t his usual character.

‘Wasn’t he originally a rational and resolute character?’

But looking at his current behavior, it seemed completely opposite to that.

Seeing Sien on the verge of tears, I sighed and decided to first take him inside the mansion to calm him down.

‘After all, there are too many eyes outside.’

Whether it was carriages or people, they were slowly starting to appear one by one.

If we stayed like this, it was clear that some troublesome rumors would spread, so I had no choice but to decide to take Sien into the house.

As soon as I brought him inside, Sien spoke to me with a face that was barely holding back tears.

“I’ll do my best from now on… If you tell me to bark, I’ll bark, so Lord Deren can tell me to bark whenever he wants.”

“….…”

That darned woof-woof.

I sighed deeply, thinking that I seemed to be followed by the sound of barking all day long.