Chapter 54

“?”

“Did you sleep well?”

“Eh?”

I had just closed my eyes for a moment, but suddenly Kyle was beside me.

And sunlight was coming through the curtains, indicating it was morning.

“Huh….”

I was just sitting on the bed following Kyle’s words yesterday, but why am I in the same bed as Kyle….

“Miss Sofia?”

“…. Yes?”

“I asked if you slept well.”

“Uh…. I did…?”

Could it be that I fell asleep while sitting?

No, no matter what, as a woman, there’s no way I would have slept in some man’s bed….

No way….

“You must have been very tired yesterday. When I came, you were sleeping very comfortably.”

“……”

So it happened.

So that’s why I’m waking up in Kyle’s bed now.

I feel my face getting hot.

It’s not just a feeling; my face must have actually turned red.

No matter how tired I was, I stupidly fell asleep in Kyle’s bed.

Normally, I tell Kyle I’m fine, don’t worry, really, and then I fell asleep because I was tired.

That one fact made me extremely embarrassed.

And it was even more embarrassing because Kyle was looking at me now.

“Please don’t look at me like that…. It’s embarrassing.”

“Is that so? For something like that, you were sleeping well yesterday.”

“That’s….”

I have nothing to say.

I really slept extremely well.

Maybe because this bed was so good, I fell into a deep sleep.

As Kyle said, I really slept well.

“Miss Sofia?”

“Yes….”

“It’s okay. I told you to rest. If you liked the bed, you can lie on my bed occasionally.”

“……”

This guy has started teasing me now.

I was keeping my mouth shut because I had nothing to say, but I knew well that Kyle was teasing me.

I could see the corners of his mouth turning up as I looked at Kyle’s face.

“Let’s get up now. After all, you have work to do, right?”

“Yes.”

As Kyle said, I got up from the bed.

I felt a bit gross since I had fallen asleep in Kyle’s bed yesterday without even washing.

My shirt was still the same as yesterday too.

After parting with Kyle, I ran to my room to get clothes, then immediately ran to the bath.

Come to think of it, I slept next to Kyle without properly washing.

And in the same bed!

That fact coming back to me made me really embarrassed.

I wondered if I smelled bad.

When I woke up, the distance between Kyle and me was closer than I expected.

That means he was within smelling distance of my sweat.

“Gasp….”

I was really a nuisance.

Although I’m a tutor, I’m in the position of a servant, and I dared to occupy Kyle’s bed.

And I slept next to him, emitting sweat smell.

Kyle is kind, but if it had been someone else, I would surely have been severely scolded.

*

“You eunuch bastard!”

“Haha….”

“A woman was sleeping defenseless next to you, and you didn’t touch her? Are you really a eunuch?!”

“That’s not the case, but….”

“If not, then why didn’t you touch her!!”

Magic lessons with Miss Louise, actually at this point, rather than lessons, it’s just time to keep our touch.

Just a time to chat and occasionally use magic.

After talking about Miss Sofia before, we started to have many conversations along those lines.

Since she’s such good friends with Miss Sofia, it was convenient to share stories related to Miss Sofia.

She was a better person than Miss Sofia initially described.

“No, you said you like Sofia! So why didn’t you just do it?”

“Because it would be forced.”

She was a person who said many things similar to Father.

She said so many times that I should just pounce on her once.

I don’t understand why everyone likes the idea of pouncing so much.

No matter how much I like Miss Sofia, that wasn’t right.

“Anyway, there’s plenty of time, so I think it’s fine to go slowly.”

After Miss Sofia got injured, I decided to change my approach.

To slowly change her perception of me.

When I think about what happened when I made Miss Sofia go on a date with me, I still feel sorry.

I asked Miss Sofia on a date, and she got hurt because of me.

“Rather than Miss Sofia getting hurt like last time, I think it’s better to go slowly.”

“Haah…. I really don’t understand. If I were a man and a woman with such breasts was sleeping in my bed, I would have done it right away.”

“Haha….”

Anyway, I continued to talk with Miss Louise about what happened yesterday.

Plus, I got a bit of dating advice.

It was slightly concerning that Miss Louise said she had never dated before, but she would be better than me.

I had never felt my heart flutter for any woman other than Miss Sofia, let alone dated.

Only Miss Sofia came to mind.

“By the way, what did you do about that thing?”

“What are you referring to?”

“That, you know. That thing. That.”

“Pardon?”

I couldn’t understand what she was talking about for a moment.

How could I immediately know what she meant when she wasn’t using proper nouns but just pronouns?

“That, the boarding school.”

“Ah.”

“You asked about the boarding school Sofia attended, and I answered, right? What did you use that for?”

“Haha….”

Recently, after hearing about Miss Sofia’s boarding school, I had a conversation with Miss Louise about it too.

Since she’s close to Miss Sofia, I thought she would know to some extent where Miss Sofia had attended.

There were also other reasons to get more information.

To conclude, I handled it well.

“That’s a bit difficult to answer.”

“…. Did you kill them?”

“That’s not the case, but….”

I didn’t kill them.

I just didn’t kill them, that’s all.

I did punish those who messed with Miss Sofia, but I didn’t kill them.

Miss Sofia wouldn’t have done that.

That’s the only reason.

It was just a small punishment for doing such things to Miss Sofia.

“…You’re a bit scary.”

“Is that so?”

Scary….

Yes, it made sense that she might feel that way.

In the eyes of others, a noble took revenge for a servant.

And for something that happened so long ago that it could be said to have been 10 years ago.

“Well, I got angry every time I heard about them too. You did it legally, right?”

“Please don’t ask such obvious questions. I am the heir to a ducal family, after all.”

“True, but Sofia still seems to see you as a kid.”

“Haha….”

She hit the mark.

I couldn’t refute it.

I’ve been trying to get closer to Miss Sofia somehow, but nothing has changed yet.

Actually, I could have done it if I wanted to.

When she was injured, I could have just done it and she wouldn’t have been able to resist.

With her leg in that condition, she couldn’t have easily resisted.

But I held back as much as possible even then.

Liking Miss Sofia and wanting to pounce on her are different things.

If I did that, our relationship would surely worsen, but everyone seemed to have lost their minds.

I don’t understand why they all keep saying to pounce on her.

“Still, today her face turned red in front of me.”

“That’s natural. If a woman sleeps in a man’s bed and isn’t embarrassed, she’d be crazy.”

“…”

That wasn’t wrong.

It’s true that her face turned red because of me, but it wasn’t because she felt love and her heart fluttered.

She was probably just embarrassed.

“Yes, as you say, there’s plenty of time. But do you think Sofia will really stay?”

“Of course, why wouldn’t she?”

“You still don’t know Sofia well…. She’ll probably resign and go somewhere else once you become an adult.”

“What do you mean….”

“She was hired as a tutor in the first place, right? Even now, she barely works as a tutor and essentially just does servant duties.”

“……”

“In that situation, if you become an adult? She’ll obviously think her job is done and go somewhere else.”

“…”

It was a reasonable point.

It could actually happen with Miss Sofia.

But for now, I erased such possibilities from my mind.

Getting impatient led to what happened back then.

Since then, I decided to be as careful as possible in decisions related to Miss Sofia.

“It will be fine.”

“Sure, do as you wish….”

*

“Eeeeeek….”

“Uwaaaaaa…”

“Sigh….”

“Elin, I’m so tired….”

“Me too, Sofia….”

At least on weekends, we could skip work.

Even though it was just today, Sunday, being able to skip was important.

“Haah….”

“Haah….”

Elin and I sighed together.

Unlike someone who plays in her room and just occasionally attends lessons, we had to work hard for the coming-of-age ceremony event.

If I had known it would be like this, maybe it would have been better to ask Kyle to take me off duty.

Then at least I wouldn’t have had to help the noble bastards who were drinking from the morning.

“Sofia, just one more week to endure….”

“One week…?”

There’s still one week left…?

That can’t be right.

How hard have I worked this week?

To think there’s still one week left.

This couldn’t be.

“That can’t be… How on earth did I already endure one week….”

Every morning I got up, went down to the domain, and barely worked at the hotel….

And I have to do this for one more week?

It didn’t make sense.

And the number of guests coming didn’t make sense either.

At this rate, we would have to rent another hotel next door.

“But… after the coming-of-age ceremony, we’ll be able to rest, right…? Get some vacation, reduce training…”

“I suppose so, right?”

Well, I’ll probably naturally get fired or leave after Kyle’s coming-of-age ceremony.

I was hired as a tutor, so it seemed likely.

Even if I don’t get fired, it would be strange for me, who can’t even do servant work properly, to remain as a servant.

When Kyle was young, he was a child, so an unskilled servant was enough.

Soon, Kyle will become a duke.

Not a young lord, but a duke.

He should have a proper servant attached to him rather than someone like me who doesn’t even do my job well.