episode_0194

I never really thought of Amelia as a ‘character in a novel’.

A novel is made up of letters. And those letters cannot be said to be any ‘dimension’. If I were to enter the world of a movie, a cartoon, or an animation, and what I see was completely the same as what I had seen, I would think, ‘This is a world within the medium.’ You may think so, but a novel, no matter how detailed it is, is ultimately nothing more than an ‘explanation’ of a certain world.

No matter how carefully and in detail you explain a scene or a person in a novel, it is not easy for everyone who reads the novel to imagine the same person after hearing the explanation. Usually, when making a movie, you use actors who look exactly like the description; Otherwise, after looking at the illustration, you just say, ‘Oh, it definitely looks like this.’

That is the strength of the novel, but at the same time, I was never convinced that this world was ‘the world in the novel.’ More precisely, I thought it was ‘the world described in the novel.’

To put it bluntly, wouldn’t it be possible to say that in a certain world, even my country is a character in a novel?

If this world were really a world in a novel, the world would disappear after a certain ending, but well, I don’t think so.

So what did Amelia think about being ‘in a novel’?

We were able to solve his problem through conversation at the inn we visited first.

Since we left a little earlier than the group we were planning to leave with, we naturally arrived in the next city first.

By the time we arrived, the sun had almost set and the sky was turning red. We took a room in the most well-appointed inn in town—it looked more like a hotel on the outside.

Perhaps the people following us will know and come this way. This is where we stayed when we came to the royal road.

Although we weren’t hungry yet, we decided to kill some time by having a drink before the meal, so we sat down in the restaurant on the first floor of the inn.

There weren’t that many guests. The spacing between tables was quite far apart. Maybe it was because it was a place where nobles, like us, coming from the royal capital or, on the contrary, heading to the royal capital, often stayed.

We ordered a cup of tea from the friendly waiter and asked him to bring us the menu of the day in 30 minutes. The waiter seemed to have sensed that we were planning to spend some time talking and said yes and left.

“Have we ever talked about clichés?”

Amelia responded to my question by asking the same question.

“I said it was a cliche, but that was because I thought this world was the same as the world in the novels I read. Of course, the materials that were placed to progress the story would remain the same in this world, so I thought the story would proceed that way.◦ #◦

Amelia said, lifting the teacup and enjoying the scent.

“If this was a game world with so much freedom that even the NPC settings were all planned out one by one, I might have heard your story and wondered, ‘Am I not human?’ But what I read and what you read The entire content was a novel. If only that part was really a novel, wouldn’t the world have been torn apart the moment we did something unexpected?”

“That’s true too.”

When I admitted it, Amelia shrugged.

“And there’s no point in continuing to think about a topic that doesn’t have an answer. If I were to be a character, what about you? There might be a novel with you as the main character.”

If you think about being reborn as a character in a novel or being possessed by the body of a character, it was also a cliché of the novel.

Often in a novel, the main character wakes up and thinks, ‘Ah, this is what happened in the end.’ In fact, there are so many novels of that type that there is no need to explain, so it is expressed that way.

“Well, you just think it’s a parallel world, well. So, you don’t like me?”

Amelia committed a foul.

“Then that’s it.”

Seeing my expression, Amelia smiled.

*

Usually, the better the inn is, the tastier the meal is. This was the same at this inn. In fact, I had already eaten there once on the way to the Royal Road, so I knew it well.

Perhaps reflecting the fact that the setting was ‘Western’, the meal started slowly 30 minutes later, as we requested, and proceeded as a course meal. Appetizers were served, followed by the main dish, and finally dessert.

Thanks to this, we had a lot of time to relax and enjoy conversation.

Even after revealing that we liked each other, our daily lives did not change. No, in fact, we still needed some time to make changes.

Not even a day has passed since I revealed my feelings.

There are many mountains to overcome in the future.

In order for the two of us to spend our lives together, we first had to get permission from the Archduke.

Diane and Adele are missing at this point. Of course, we were planning on contacting Adele’s father, but the timing was left up to Adele and Diane.

In a sense, the two of us who are still maintaining our positions are in a slightly more difficult situation than the two who gave up all their rights.

Although the Grand Duke loved his daughter Amelia very much, his way of thinking was that of a person from this world.

My father was generous, but I don’t know whether he would agree with me saying that I would spend my life with a woman.

This was a very important thing. As Amelia said, we didn’t just see the people of this world as ‘characters’, and because of that, we loved each of our families in our own way.

And for a somewhat more materialistic reason, the fact that it would be difficult for us to maintain our lives without the manor that Amelia had prepared separately also played a part.

Saying, ‘I will just live as a single person’ and saying, ‘I will live there with a homosexual person’ are two different things.

During the meal, we organized the things we had to solve one by one and came up with ideas about what to do in the future.

“… … I don’t know if I’m dependent on you too much.”

And after summarizing the story, Amelia lamented like this.

In the end, the best way for both of us to get permission was through ‘my ability.’

“I live with people I like, so what’s the point of living with someone I like? If you look at it that way, I’ve been living with you all this time.”

It was like that.

The reason I was able to stay with Amelia instead of just staying in the North was because Amelia convinced my father.

Also, the fact that he appointed me as his bodyguard and kept accompanying me also played a role.

When I think about it, Amelia used to secretly cling to me while letting me sleep in her room.

Since I’ve never had a woman like me first in my life, it was great to see Amelia come forward in that way.

“When we live together, I will try to be helpful.”

But Amelia said that, as if she didn’t remember anything she did for me.

I didn’t say anything more because it was obvious that Amelia wouldn’t admit it.

I just try to return that favor with happiness.

*

I realized it only after I came up to the room with Amelia, that I was much more familiar with her than I thought.

Familiarity does not simply mean that you do not feel awkward being together.

It is said that they have become completely accustomed to sharing the same room, changing clothes together, washing up together and covering their bodies with only a towel, and sleeping in the same bed.

If you were to ask me to take Amelia out of my life, I probably wouldn’t be able to do it. Even if I could, it would take me a long time to get used to it.

It’s much more empty and uncomfortable to have something missing than to have something appear where it wasn’t before.

But, um, what can I say.

That familiarity made me feel embarrassed today.

It seems the same was true for Amelia.

We were sitting side by side on the bed, our bodies pressed together, which was no different from usual, but we were looking in different directions.

I washed it. I washed it.

I got dressed again.

But now it’s such a shame.

Maybe it’s because we went one step further.

“… … Let’s sleep slowly.”

“Yes.”

Amelia said that, and I answered.

We both lay down on the bed.

Looking at each other.

No, we weren’t looking at each other because we couldn’t make eye contact.

Amelia snuggled into my arms. I hugged her tightly. Just enough to not put any strain on Amelia’s body, but enough to prevent her from running away.

Amelia snuggled into my arms and lowered her head for a while, then slowly raised her head.

My eyes were closed.

I guess this is just waiting for Sikis, right?

I closed my eyes and slowly brought my lips to his lips.

I was looking for soft, warm, slightly open lips. I heard a clicking sound and a slight scraping sound.

When I parted my lips a moment later, Amelia’s face turned red and she looked up at me with slightly glaring eyes.

“… … Do you remember your first kiss?”

“Huh?”

“When you were sleeping, I approached you.”

“… … .”

uh.

“At that time, you… … ”

Amelia smiled at the corner of her mouth.

A mischievous expression. His eyes were still a little open.

Could it be that Amelia was awake at that time?

“Huh!?”

When I suddenly ran up to her and touched her lips, Amelia made that sound.

I tightened my arms and held Amelia’s body tightly against mine.

I can’t just ignore the fact that you played such a prank on me.

At least for tonight, I will definitely pay you back.

That’s what I thought as I felt Amelia squirming with her lips tightly pressed against mine.