episode_0214

“How was it?”

“Huh?”

Amelia, who didn’t say much until she returned home, washed up, and lay down on the bed, asked me that as she lay down on the bed facing me.

“What… … ?”

“When we danced earlier.”

Amelia said, slowly coming closer to me.

It’s not the distance we face each other when we normally talk. The distance is such that even if we breathe a little harder, our breath can reach the other person.

No, actually, every time Amelia spoke, her warm breath tickled the area around my neck.

Amelia was looking up at me with her eyes slightly raised.

I almost put my hand on his waist without realizing it.

If I hug Amelia now, she won’t be able to resist me. If I cover her mouth like that – if I cover her lips with my lips, she won’t be able to scream.

—And, our relationship will just be broken. That fact alone made me worry about touching Amelia.

Amelia trusted me completely. So, of course, we ended up going into bed alone like this.

I didn’t want to break that trust.

“How was it when you danced with me?”

I swallowed dry saliva.

It was good. There was no way I wouldn’t like dancing with Amelia.

I liked the slender waist that my hand went up to, and the clear curve that continued underneath. I liked the way the legs brushed each time he kept pace, and I also liked the way his stomach and chest were pressed together.

But how can I say that? I made Amelia… … It means that you are looking at it with those eyes.

“It was fun.”

So I gave such an ambiguous answer.

It’s not a lie. It was really fun. But it also left out some facts.

“Me too.”

Amelia whispered softly.

My heart was beating like crazy. Not even when I was running through the dense forest of Delki City or running around the nearby mountains, which were rugged for a mountain behind, my heart had never beaten this much.

Maybe it’s because of this mansion. Amelia’s place in Grattenmount was Amelia’s room, but now this mansion is all Amelia’s in a way.

Naturally, I could always reach Amelia when I was in this mansion.

I was worried that Amelia might ask about dancing with Evan, but she didn’t.

“Like this.”

Amelia whispered softly and stretched out her hand.

Amelia’s supple hand moved under the blanket we were covered with. The hand that had been on my shoulder slowly went down to touch my arm, then moved little by little to flow under my armpit.

And, from the side, to the waist.

The hand stops at the back of the waist, where the lower back and buttocks are separated.

Amelia gave strength to her arms and pulled me.

I could have resisted, but there was no reason to resist.

Amelia said, her body pressed together as if dancing.

“Because it was attached, I felt a little relieved.”

“… … .”

Amelia whispered into Gana’s neck.

My fingertips were itching. Is it okay for me to hug Amelia too?

Slowly, gently, and carefully, I placed my hand on Amelia’s back. And just like Amelia did, I hugged her tightly.

Just like when we danced earlier.

“Sure.”

I spoke to Amelia’s head.

“I feel safe.”

Amelia chuckled.

And after some time had passed, he let out a quiet sigh.

I also fell asleep listening to the sound of his breathing.

*

Elsie fell asleep to the sound of my breathing.

But the hand holding my body was still full of strength. It would probably be almost impossible for me to escape from this embrace without waking Elsie up.

Of course, there was no reason to leave.

The strange feeling of stuffiness felt good. It was warm, but not too hot, and the kind of coziness that I didn’t want to escape.

“Elsie.”

I whispered softly, just in case. Elsie didn’t react. She just closed her eyes and sighed comfortably.

“Elsie.”

Still the sound of breathing is not disturbed.

One of the things I learned from spending a long time with Elsie is that she is not good at acting.

Especially when it comes to acting that has to do with me, I was so bad at acting that it was honestly even strange that I didn’t even notice.

So, the way he sleeps isn’t acting either.

“… … .”

In fact, I would have been happy if the relationship could last just like this.

I was prepared to live alone if I couldn’t get married.

I thought that if Elsie could be by my side, I wouldn’t mind marrying another of my relatives.

If you can still be my escort even after I get married, I will be able to keep looking at that bright smiling face next to you.

But now the story has changed.

No matter how you look at it, the number of people targeting Elsie has increased by one.

… … A person who is different in many ways from the original.

I know he’s not a bad person, but even so.

I looked up at Elsie’s face.

She is a straight-faced beauty. When you look at her sleeping face like this, she looks a little cold.

Smiling so lively with such an impressive face was Elsie’s unique strength. I couldn’t do that.

I raised my head and slowly walked closer to Elsie.

Softly overlapping lips.

When it fell, I heard a soft sound.

If Elsie finds out, will she hate me?

But while I was thinking that, I also slightly hoped that Elsie would open her eyes during that time.

*

What I felt while living as a baron’s daughter was that being an aristocrat was not a convenient position.

Oh, of course, I’m not saying that commoners are better or anything like that.

That’s why ‘as if’ is added. Basically, you can just stay comfortably, but it feels like the human part of the relationship between people is a little excluded.

What if someone acts friendly towards me and claims to be my friend?

If it had been when I was in high school, I wouldn’t have suspected it too much.

It would have been like that when I was a college student, and I would have doubted it if I were an adult, but if I was someone from the same workplace or club as me, I might just think that he was a guy with a good personality.

But in aristocratic society… … Is there any other word that is as difficult to fully accept as the word friend?

They exchanged letters, chatted at dances, and held tea parties. In fact, the stories exchanged were about politics and hereditary succession, and the stories they shared at that time even influenced actual politics.

Then how can it be a friend society? It’s just a workplace.

“… … So, are you saying you want to learn swordsmanship from me?”

I asked Evan with a serious expression.

It’s been about seven days since I went to the Magic Tower to take classes with Amelia and Adele.

During this time, I became very close to Amelia. Although we were always close at a psychological distance, it was only recently that we started to sleep in that way.

And I really liked that street.

It’s so nice to feel the warmth of a human being when you open your eyes in the morning—no, that’s over with now.

This is probably the important thing now.

Adele is the daughter of a knightly family. Now that there is no war, it is a difficult time for the knightly profession in many ways, but because she is the daughter of a knightly family, she has great admiration for knights.

And most of those knights admired Delkisi.

So, I came to the conclusion that I asked Adelina if I could study swordsmanship.

At first I was going to refuse, but the look on his face was so pitiful that I was about to change my mind—

“Can I join in that training?”

—Then Evan intervened.

“… … Isn’t the Crown Princess already a sword master?”

I asked with a serious expression.

He must have used an Auror, since he came up to me at the dance without any sign and came right behind me.

“But the Sword Master’s auror cannot cut down a Delkish person. I heard that if you use swordsmanship using an auror, you may actually regress in the basic aspects.”

This is a story I also heard. Because the Aurors themselves make it too easy to beat their opponents, they neglect training in the basics.

However, if you are a sword master, you will be able to regain your memory by practicing for a few days.

“Sword Master… … !”

However, there was one person who reacted to the word sword master.

It was Adele, an aspiring knight.

Right, yeah.

If being a knight is a dream, then a sword master can also be a dream. As the name suggests, a sword master refers to a person who has reached the pinnacle of swordsmanship.

“… … .”

I turned my head and looked at Amelia. Amelia let out a small breath and took a step forward for me, who didn’t know what to do.

“The Crown Princess, if you say that, how many people would be able to reject what you say?”

Amelia spoke calmly.

“… … Ah.”

The crown prince’s expression darkened slightly at Amelia’s words.

“It’s not possible, is it?”

… … No, really.

I feel like I’m a bad person because someone who is normally so cheerful only appears this pitiful in certain situations.