episode_0068

I lay in the carriage, my head resting on Johanna’s lap.

Johanna, seemingly not tired of it, stroked my hair again.

The first time I lay on Johanna’s lap, I didn’t know what to do.

But now, as if I’d already gotten used to it, I just lay there comfortably.

“What kind of restaurant are we going to later?”

Johanna asked, stroking my hair.

Just as I had adapted to lying on Johanna’s lap, Johanna seemed to have gotten used to stroking me, as her touch was more natural than before.

Earlier, when I suggested we have dinner.

Johanna had asked various things about the restaurant, but I told her it was a secret and didn’t tell her.

“Senior-nim will definitely like it too. The chef there used to be a royal chef.”

Of course, I hadn’t been there myself; I’d only seen it on the monitor.

But it was described as being so delicious that even Lucas, a member of the imperial family, was surprised after eating it, so it must be good.

“What’s the name of the place?”

“I don’t know either.”

Johanna seemed to think I was teasing her and gently pinched my cheek.

But it wasn’t a joke; I really didn’t know the name of the place.

The location of the shop was described in Croaca, but its name was never mentioned once.

“Are there many people?”

“No, we’ll probably be the only two inside the shop.”

Later, it will become famous enough for people to line up to eat there. But for now, there won’t be a single customer.

“………Just the two of us.”

“Huh? What did you say?”

“Nothing.”

There was still a lot of time until we arrived at the academy.

During that time, I had various conversations with Johanna.

I asked Johanna about her first-year days.

Johanna mostly asked what I was doing in the special class.

“So there are two girls in the special class?”

“Yes, Clara-ssi and Sepia-ssi. Exactly two.”

“……Are you close?”

“Of course, I’m close with everyone. Don’t I have amazing social skills? I talk to those two every day.”

“………………”

Pinch.

“Seeeenior-niiim?”

For some reason, Johanna pinched my cheek a little harder than before.

“……..Which one are you closer to?”

Johanna said, not letting go of my cheek.

I thought, not realizing Johanna’s voice had turned cold.

“It seems I’m still closer with Sepia-ssi, I guess.”

I had quite a few conversations with Sepia while going to the special class a few times.

But I didn’t have the opportunity to talk much with Clara.

“More than me?”

Johanna pulled my cheek and caressed my mouth with her other hand.

As if telling me to answer well.

“Of course, I’m closer with Senior-nim.”

“………….”

Johanna, hearing my answer, finally let go of my cheek.

I rubbed my cheek with my palm and said.

“I haven’t met them outside the academy yet.”

“Yet?”

Johanna put her hand on my cheek again.

“Does that mean you’ll meet them outside someday?”

Huh? Is that how it works?

Feeling the air around me grow colder, I quickly opened my mouth.

“More importantly, I’m curious about many things regarding Senior-nim!”

“……..About me?”

“Yes! I’m so interested in Senior-nim.”

“Really?”

“Of course!”

Fortunately, I managed to steer the conversation to Johanna’s past.

Johanna gently stroked my hair again.

Was it because the tension had eased, or because Johanna’s touch was soft?

‘I’m sleepy.’

There certainly had been a lot of things happening yesterday and today.

Just yesterday, I killed Mordor, and today I sparred with Ascal.

Although I rested briefly after fainting earlier, I couldn’t rest for long.

It was just a very short nap.

Perhaps that’s why my eyes kept closing. My vision kept alternating between dark and bright.

The dark periods grew longer, and the bright periods grew shorter.

And so, I fell asleep on Johanna’s lap, being stroked.

***

“Loki, are you sleeping?”

“…………….”

Johanna looked at the sleeping Loki and said.

The sleeping Loki naturally couldn’t answer, and his breathing told her he was deeply asleep.

Johanna carefully turned Loki’s head to look at his face directly, not just his side.

“……..Gulp.”

The sound of Johanna swallowing echoed within the quiet carriage.

Because the carriage was quiet, Johanna felt her own swallowing sound was loud.

Johanna carefully traced Loki’s face, making sure not to wake him.

‘He’s handsome.’

It was a simple expression, but there was no other way to describe Loki’s face.

He was so handsome it felt as if that word was created just for Loki.

As the Duchess’s daughter, Johanna had attended quite a few different banquets.

She had also seen nobles whom other young ladies called handsome.

But she had never really felt they were handsome.

However, after seeing Loki’s face, she understood why other young ladies would follow nobles around, calling them handsome.

Of course, compared to Loki, their faces were trivial.

What would happen if the young ladies who followed around trivial faces saw Loki’s face?

Imagining that, Johanna clenched her fist tightly.

She might be selfish, but she didn’t want to show Loki’s face to anyone else.

Especially to women.

Fortunately, Loki didn’t seem to have shown his face to others yet, but she couldn’t be sure.

She especially had to be careful of the girls in Loki’s class.

Since they were in the same class, Loki probably talked to them ‘unavoidably,’ but she didn’t like it.

Does he really need to talk to girls?

If it’s not absolutely necessary, he doesn’t have to, right?

She recalled Loki talking to a pink-haired girl that morning.

Surely that bitch initiated the conversation, and good Loki just had no choice but to respond.

‘I don’t like it.’

She didn’t like them talking to Loki just because they were in the same class.

Could she use her position as head of the disciplinary committee to make Loki a second-year?

It was clearly a ridiculous thought, but Johanna seriously considered it.

“Earlier, when you changed the subject. I’m only letting it slide this time.”

Johanna said in a chilling voice, caressing Loki’s neck.

Loki might have thought it was natural, but Johanna knew he had changed the subject earlier.

***

When I opened my eyes again.

The carriage was still, not moving.

“Are you awake?”

“…..Senior-nim?”

“Mm.”

“How long did I sleep?”

My body felt stiff, as if I had been lying down for quite a while, but my head felt refreshed.

“About 30 minutes have passed since we arrived at the academy, so……….”

Startled by Johanna’s words, I lifted my head from her lap, but Johanna gently pressed my head back down onto her lap.

“Then Senior-nim, you’ve been waiting for me to wake up all this time?”

It’s 30 minutes since we arrived at the academy, but I definitely fell asleep somewhere in the middle, so Johanna must have waited for hours with me lying on her lap.

“Doesn’t Senior-nim’s lap hurt?”

“Not at all.”

Johanna stroked me once, then said.

I felt something strange.

But before I could realize what that strange feeling was, Johanna opened her mouth.

“Shall we go now?”

“Yes. I know the way to the restaurant perfectly.”

We talked about various things as we walked.

Considering the academy was in the center of the capital, the restaurant was in quite a secluded spot.

Naturally, when we got out of the carriage, I put on my mask again.

“Here it is.”

Where I stopped, there was a house that was hard to imagine as a shop.

Its exterior was neither clean nor old, just middling.

To call it a shop, there were no sounds of people or smells of food coming from inside.

I also understood why the shop’s name wasn’t mentioned in the game.

There was no sign that could be called a shop sign.

For a moment, I wondered if it was just a normal house, but it looked exactly like the place I’d seen on the monitor screen.

“Shall we go in then?”

Creak…

The old door opened with a sound as if it might fall off at any moment.

Inside the shop, there were several tables, but no people.

Indeed, who would think this place without a sign was a restaurant and come in?

An old man with an unusual physique stared intently at Johanna and me as we entered the shop.

“Are you open for business?”

The old man pointed at a table with his finger and then went into the kitchen.

“Senior-nim, let’s sit.”

Johanna looked at the old man entering the kitchen with skeptical eyes, but when I sat down, Johanna also sat down without a word.

As we sat at the table, chatting with Johanna, after a little while, the old man came out with delicious-looking food on several plates.

“………………..”

The old man placed the food on the table and went back into the kitchen without saying a word.

The old man wouldn’t come out of the kitchen until we finished our meal.

“Senior-nim, let’s eat.”

“Mm.”

Before eating, I took off my mask.

“….Huh?”

“Only Senior-nim is here, so it’s okay if I take it off, right?”

“……..Yeah. It’s fine since it’s just me.”

I first ate the meat that looked most appetizing.

“………!”

Apologies to the chef of the Freya household, but the food the old man made was more delicious than what I ate at the Ducal household.

Johanna also seemed surprised after tasting the soup, her eyes widened.

“Senior-nim, how is it? It’s delicious, right?”

I said with a smile.

“…….Ugh!”

Johanna made a strange sound and nodded her head emphatically.

She kept glancing.

Johanna kept glancing at me, then eating a spoonful of soup. Glancing at me again, then eating another spoonful of soup.

What is this? Is it a new kind of miser?

Johanna did that not only with the soup but with all the food, and though I was bothered, I enjoyed the delicious meal.

Creak—

“…………..!”

Johanna suddenly picked up the mask from the table and forcefully put it on my face.

And at the same time, someone entered the shop.

“Huh?”

The person who entered the shop made a sound, seemingly surprised to see me.

Hearing the voice, I couldn’t help but be surprised myself.

Sepia Levidan, a student from the same special class, opened her mouth after seeing me.

“Hogu! Why are you here?”

That’s what I should be saying?

“……………..”

But for some reason, Johanna’s gaze as she looked at Sepia was chilling.