Chapter 73

“Miss Sofia.”

“Yes.”

“Miss Sofia.”

“Yes…”

I don’t understand why he’s suddenly calling me so earnestly.

Did I make a mistake or something?

“Miss Sofia.”

“What is it?”

“Finally, you’re looking at me.”

“…”

As I turned my head, I saw Kyle looking at me with a smile.

I didn’t think that smile was bad.

Rather, I thought his smiling face looked good.

But it was a bit uncomfortable.

“You weren’t looking this way at all.”

“Young master…”

The reason I wasn’t looking at Kyle is simple.

No, I couldn’t look at him.

Right now, I’m sitting in a carriage running along with Kyle.

There was no special reason for sitting in the carriage.

Kyle just brought me along because he had a place to go for a while.

Anyway, the reason I wasn’t looking at Kyle was just…

“I’m processing documents right now…”

“I said I’d do it later when we get back to the castle.”

“If we return to the castle after finishing today’s schedule, it will be evening. When you arrive at the castle, you’ll have to have dinner, so if you process documents and then sleep, your sleep time will be reduced, so I…”

“I’ll be going to bed late after we get married anyway.”

“…”

“And even if I say it’s fine, you’re just doing it because it’s hard to talk to me.”

“Ugh…”

I was hit right on the mark.

I did have the thought of doing work for Kyle, but it was also to avoid Kyle’s strange words as much as possible.

I couldn’t help it.

Kyle has been saying strange things to me continuously lately.

“Hah… I’m just talking to you because I like you. And you keep trying to ignore my words.”

“I haven’t been ignoring you.”

“Really?”

“Yes.”

I didn’t ignore him.

I just hesitated to answer.

That really wasn’t my intention!

“Then why don’t you answer me?”

“Because you keep saying strange things.”

“Strange things? What do you mean?”

Strange things?

Are you pretending not to know?

How can you do that?

“You’ve been saying strange things to me continuously. ‘You look pretty today,’ ‘Your eyes are pretty,’ ‘Won’t you accept my confession,’ haven’t you been saying these kinds of things continuously?”

“Those aren’t strange things. They’re all sincere.”

“…”

“Your hair suits you today too. You tied it differently than usual?”

“I just did it because it was comfortable.”

“Well, Miss Sofia would look good in most hairstyles anyway.”

“…”

I just tied it because it was comfortable.

I tied my hair occasionally before too.

Really, I just tied my hair because it was comfortable.

There was no intention or anything like that.

“How about trying a braid next time? I think it would look pretty.”

“Hah…”

Kyle smiling at me.

It’s really hard because he’s been saying these things continuously since confessing.

Whenever he says something, he says things like it’s good, it’s pretty.

“Miss Sofia.”

“Yes…”

“Do you know where we’re going right now?”

“No.”

You told me to come out.

You said there was a place we needed to go and asked me to come with you, so I came out.

That’s why I’m processing documents and having this conversation right now.

“We’re going to a village within the domain.”

“Has something happened?”

Why are we suddenly going to a village?

I don’t know.

I haven’t heard any specific information.

Are we going for an inspection because something happened in the village?

“Yes.”

Really?

I was a bit worried.

There has never been an incident while I’ve been staying in Eristirol.

No, does that mean we’re not the only ones moving by carriage, but other carriages are moving together?

“Right now, the two carriages ahead and the two behind have knights riding in them, and another one has several household servants.”

“Um…”

Kyle with a somewhat serious expression.

It was slightly different from his joking appearance just a moment ago.

What on earth has happened that we’re bringing knights along?

“Is it monsters?”

That was the most likely explanation.

It was most plausible that monsters had appeared and we were going to defeat them.

Otherwise, there would be no need for knights to accompany us.

This wasn’t a place where barbarians lived nearby, so I thought it was probably monsters.

“Yes. There have been reports of monster sightings, so we’re on our way there.”

“Um… Do people like you usually go, young master? Don’t knight squads usually go separately for such matters?”

The typical nobles I know just slack off and order the knights.

Isn’t that usually how it’s done?

That’s how it was when I was an adventurer too.

Whenever something happened, they’d say monsters had appeared in some domain, and we’d rush there by carriage.

When we arrived, the lord or client would pay a lot, which was nice…

“Well, there wouldn’t be a problem doing that. But I’m a noble, and officially from the family ruling Eristirol, so I don’t think there’s a need to actively avoid it.”

“Ohh…”

But do I need to go too…?

It’s a monster hunting task anyway, so I wonder what I can do.

It’s not like I’m in good shape like before, and I’ve lost all my muscle from not exercising properly for years.

I don’t think I’ll be much help…

“Miss Sofia just needs to do a few tasks within the village. Monsters suddenly appeared, and we’re trying to provide support, so we need hands in that direction.”

“If that’s the case, there’s no problem.”

So it’s document processing.

The job will just be walking around the village, roughly checking any problems that have occurred, and writing them in documents.

To be honest, when I was suddenly told to get in the carriage and go somewhere, I thought we were going on a date or something.

Kyle had been constantly talking in that direction lately.

Of course, I thought that.

No, it’s not like I was expecting or hoping to go on a date with Kyle.

Lately, he’s been saying strange things to me all the time, so I just thought that’s what it was.

“I postponed the date.”

“…”

“Don’t worry. We’ll definitely have a date next time.”

*

“Hmm…”

Having arrived at the village by carriage, I was alone.

Despite being a noble, Kyle went with the knights to look for monsters.

To be honest, I wonder if he really needs to go.

The knights could handle it on their own without Kyle having to go, right?

“Wouldn’t it be better to just be with me…?”

I’m not having strange thoughts, but isn’t that really the case?

Rather than searching through the snow fields around the village to hunt monsters, wouldn’t it be better to just comfortably walk around the village, see broken buildings, looted granaries, etc., and roughly write in documents?

Do I just like comfort too much…?

And usually, people prefer to be by the side of the person they like.

So it would be better to stick by my side…

“Fuck.”

Why am I suddenly thinking like this?

My thoughts suddenly drifted in a strange direction.

Is my brain malfunctioning because I’m doing proper work after a long time?

“Hah…”

Well, it’s real work, different from just following Kyle every day.

Since it wasn’t an extremely large village, there were no problems walking around.

But it was tiring to walk around and write everything one by one in documents.

It would be easier compared to someone who is running around looking for monsters, unlike me.

Still, it was a bit tiring.

Normally, I would be walking behind or slightly beside Kyle, being with him.

Since I had spent so much time with Kyle, it was natural, but I was with him almost every hour during such afternoons.

“The granary next to the Mesuochi Inn was looted… The roof of the Ties General Store was broken, the owner of the flower shop named Backhab was injured.”

That seems to be about it.

A few others were doing the same work as me, so this much should be sufficient.

Even after walking around the village for about an hour, no further damage was visible.

Probably there wouldn’t be much difference whether I walked 10 more minutes or 20 more minutes.

“I should go back.”

There was no need to stay outside alone in the cold.

It seemed like I could just wait for Kyle in a building as he said.

I moved to the inn where the knights, Kyle, and I were temporarily staying and waited for Kyle in the lobby.

It’s been only an hour since I parted with Kyle, and it would still be a while before he returned.

It wasn’t evening yet, and the sun was still high, so there was no reason for him to return.

“What is he doing?”

The task Kyle assigned to me was now finished.

So there was nothing more to do.

And being alone, there was nothing to do.

There was just nothing to do.

I was bored.

If I had been at the castle as usual, I would have done something while helping Kyle, but now I can’t do that either.

Or I would have exercised with Louise and Elin, but they’re not here now either.

There was really nothing to do.

“I’ll just take a nap.”

If I sleep for a while and wake up, Kyle will wake me up properly.

He’s Kyle, who’s been following me around saying he likes me.

A guy who likes a woman will do well when she’s taking a short nap.

I would like him to wake me up before dinner time.

“I should go into the room and sleep…”

No matter how bored or tired I am, sleeping right in the lobby could be dangerous…

I entered a room at the inn.

Since Kyle might come in, I just left the door open.

After all, it’s an inn where the knights, Kyle, and I are staying, so nothing strange would come in.

The knights aren’t problematic people who would just enter my room.

The only person who would come into my room is Kyle, so there’s no problem.

“Yaaaawn…”

As soon as I opened my mouth, a yawn came out.

“Working after a long time makes me so damn tired…”

Let me sleep for just a bit…