episode_0054

“Grand Duchess.”

“It’s okay to speak comfortably… … No.”

Amelia’s expression, which had been smiling as she spoke, became a little blurred.

“This is not up to me to decide. Normally, there are differences in status, but we all know that those things are not important. I don’t think it can happen just because I unilaterally allow it or ask to do it.”

Amelia’s eyes looked at Inna calmly.

In this world, most of the lighting was fire. In a room, the fire from the candle and the fire from the fireplace were all that could be considered lighting in the room.

It wasn’t bright enough to illuminate every corner of the room, but it was enough to illuminate Amelia’s face as she sat on the bed facing me.

Amelia’s eyes sparkled not with steady light like LEDs or fluorescent lights, but with flickering light from a burning fire.

Have I ever seen Amelia’s face this close?

Have you ever spoken openly to Amelia like this?

“… … Yes.”

When I answered with a slight nod, Amelia smiled brightly.

It was a smile that was completely different from the calm smile you usually see. A smile that was not made up and seemed truly happy.

I thought about how anxious Amelia must have been after she came to this world.

The character Elsie didn’t even appear in the novel I read, and she wasn’t really a villain. Although Brother Harvey had a connection with the main characters, I didn’t think it was something I should get involved in.

So I just lived comfortably. There was nothing to worry about. Of course, the barbarians would have invaded even if Amelia wasn’t there, but I knew and believed in how strong my family was.

But Amelia… … Amelia was a very important role in the novel she read.

Even as a villain.

I was the only one who knew that Amelia would not be destroyed but would rather connect with the heroine, and for Amelia, the future events were an ordeal that she would have to overcome entirely on her own strength.

The opponent was a swordsman from a family of the strongest people in the world, the crown prince of the country, the crown prince of the largest empire in the world, the legendary magic tower lord, and his own younger brother.

Amelia’s position as ‘Grand Duchess’ was by no means low, but looking at the positions of others, it was by no means a position that could be said to be advantageous.

The pressure of having to bear it alone, unable to tell others.

In such a situation, the country discovered its existence.

A person who has moved on from the world he used to live in, with whom he may be able to communicate. A person with whom he may be able to talk about all the pressure in his heart.

Now I fully understand why Amelia chose me over Brother Harvey.

Amelia needed someone who understood, not the male protagonist.

“Elsie.”

“Yes.”

“Elsie.”

“Yes… … Amelia.”

Amelia smiled as she called my name several times.

Amelia held my hand tightly and did not let me go for a while.

*

We both lay down in bed, but it didn’t seem like we would be able to fall asleep easily.

At first, I lay down looking at the ceiling, but I felt a tingling sensation on the side of my face, so I turned my head and saw Amelia lying facing me.

Although our faces weren’t as close as when we were sitting next to each other, that posture made me tremble more than before.

no!

The other person is twelve years old!

This is not a person worthy of the opposite sex!

Thinking that there was no reason to be so embarrassed, I eventually turned around and lay down facing Amelia.

And I became more embarrassed.

It’s strange in many ways that my thoughts keep going this way, but I’ve never been in the same room alone with a woman in my life.

We had never even been in the same room, but we were lying face to face in the same bed.

It’s not that I had dangerous thoughts. But I couldn’t calm down at all. Even though I tried hard to remember that the other person was twelve years old, at the same time, the fact that I was twelve years old also kept coming back to me.

“Elsie.”

“Yes, Amelia.”

It was a name that had been called several times before.

I was nervous that Amelia might even bring up the story about the main part of the novel, but she didn’t say much after that.

He just looked at me quietly, as if he was happy to have a friend.

“What do you think of me?”

“What do you think?”

My heart almost fell to the bed when I heard those words, but when I thought about it again, I realized that they weren’t really words of confession.

It was strange that the conversation suddenly dropped when we were talking about being friends, and more than anything, both of us looked like women—no, wait a minute. Even in the original, Amelia was with the female protagonist, right?

As I was blaming my brain for coming up with such a bad timing thought and making my heart break through the bed and fall further down, Amelia continued.

“So… … There’s something like that. An acquaintance or something… … Like a friend… … Employer or something like that. I consider you a friend, but I want you to tell me what you think of me.”

“… … A friend.”

I held back my shame and answered that way.

“How close are you?”

Amelia was not satisfied with my answer and asked more.

“… … My best friend in this world.”

In fact, it was like I had no choice. Apart from the closeness I felt to Amelia, I had almost no one I could call a friend. It was not that there were no children my age in Delki City, but my position as a commoner child and a baron’s daughter was not equal. Even in Delki City, which had a strong hostile atmosphere, it was not a wall that could be easily overcome.

Moreover, my ‘peer group’ is really young. Amelia has a woman in her mid or late twenties, so the difficulty of conversation is not that high, but when I think about my age five years ago, my way of thinking really changed as if I existed in another world.

But I’m not the type of person who enjoys things like playing house… … Does it make sense for adults to play house with children?

… … If, for Amelia, the country was the only being she could not let go of, then Amelia was that being for me as well in this situation.

Because it was the only link I could connect to the main story.

“… … .”

Amelia looked at me quietly for a while,

“Then, can you make me one promise?”

I asked that.

“What promise?”

“I will not betray you no matter what happens in the future.”

Amelia continued her story calmly.

“So, I hope you don’t betray me either.”

“… … .”

I looked at Amelia quietly and nodded.

“Good.”

Amelia smiled at my words and held out her hand towards me.

It was a hand with only the little finger raised and all the remaining fingers folded.

I looked at those hands and immediately knew what Amelia wanted.

Suppressing my embarrassment, I held out my hand made in the same way.

Our two little fingers overlapped and then bent against each other.

So tightly, our hands were connected.

“You promised?”

Amelia said with a smile.

This time, I also tried to put a smile on my face. Although my mouth trembled a little because I was nervous, I think I was able to do it.

“Yes, I promised.”

I don’t know which of the two fell asleep first.

But when we both woke up the next day, we both looked extremely refreshed.

*

“I’m a little disappointed that my younger brother didn’t challenge me to a duel in the end.”

“… … .”

The day the two princes passed away.

Prince Eban said so while riding on the back of a wolf, not on a carriage or horse.

Prince Allen, who was completely appalled by my antics over the past week, greeted Prince Grattonmount early and stayed in the carriage.

“I don’t think it’s something to say that’s such a regret. If the two of them had really sparred, Elsie would have won, and if that had happened, their feelings would have been hurt a lot in many ways.”

“Is that so?”

Prince Evan laughed when he saw Amelia take a step forward and say that.

“Good, then. Thanks to you, I was able to really enjoy this week. I’m looking forward to seeing you guys again soon.”

Amelia looked like she had a lot to say, but she slightly lifted the hem of her skirt with her fingertips and spoke in an aristocratic greeting.

“Please, I am looking forward to meeting you again, Prince.”

“We will meet someday. There is some sparring that is not over yet.”

I wish you could just forget that.

When I bowed down to express my intention to please leave quickly, Prince Evan looked at me quietly and slightly lowered his head.

And the two princes were finally about to leave the Grattonmount estate—

“Oh, yes!”

Prince Evan exclaimed as if he had remembered something late.

“Perhaps in a few years we will meet again properly! Make sure to invite both of you! I was trying to tell you this but forgot!”

“… … Haha.”

Amelia exhaled softly.

No, if you’re here to tell me the news, tell me the good news first. Don’t just say a few words on the way back. Rather, you said you were just going to wander around from the beginning, so there was a reason you came after all. I wonder if there really was something wrong with your head.

… … Yeah, well, that’s about it.

In the end, things will turn out as Prince Ban said.

Those two people will meet again eventually.

Because that’s what the ‘main part’ of the novel is about.

But still, well.

It might be fun as is. And Amelia won’t have as much trouble as she did in the main story.

Amelia glanced at me. I also glanced at Amelia.

Amelia and I smiled at the same time.

Amelia probably knows too.

In the ‘main story’, unlike Amelia in the original work, Amelia’s side has been increased by one.

Amelia’s side that will never betray her.