Chapter 114

A few days earlier.

Before he knew it, life at the Kreutz ducal castle had become routine for Kyle.

Hup, hup.

In the morning, he woke up and did stretching exercises just as the knight commander had taught him, then ate breakfast.

“Good morning.”

“You’re getting good at speaking politely now.”

“Kyle, you’re early again today.”

“Yes.”

After finishing his meal, he went out to the training grounds.

At the knight commander’s command, he ran five laps with everyone else and began training.

Unlike the others, who practiced with real swords, Kyle was still striking a wooden dummy with a wooden sword.

Thwack.

“Kyle, quicker! And don’t let your stance fall apart!”

Thwack!

After working up a sweat like that and taking a shower, he attended etiquette lessons with Lucas.

“Now, you’ve been invited to a social banquet. After entering and beginning a conversation with someone, what would be a good topic?”

Lucas raised his hand at the tutor’s question.

“I’d talk about the atmosphere of the banquet, or compliment the other person’s clothes or accessories.”

“Good. Then, Kyle, what would you talk about?”

Kyle answered.

“I’d ask where Aisha is.”

“Wouldn’t mentioning Princess Aisha make the other person feel that you aren’t paying attention to them?”

“Yes.”

“Yes?”

“Yes. So?”

“...Kyle.”

The tutor’s eyebrows slowly rose.

He had only answered honestly, yet because his answer might offend someone, he was forced to sit through an extra thirty-minute lesson.

That day, Kyle learned just how dangerous honest answers could be.

People are so shallow.

Once he had finished learning how to adapt to human society, he would eat desserts with Aisha or play tag with her.

“Kyle. What did you learn today?”

Aisha took a great deal of interest in him.

She usually asked what he had learned that day and what he thought about it.

Kyle always brought his wooden sword in advance whenever they played together, precisely for moments like that. In fact, his favorite part of the entire day was showing Aisha what he had learned.

After all, the only reason he took both his knight training and etiquette lessons was because they made Aisha happy.

“Like this, and then like this. Hya!”

“Oh. You’ve gotten a lot better.”

Whenever Aisha said that with her ruby-like eyes sparkling, it felt as though all the effort he had put in throughout the day had been rewarded.

“Right?”

Kyle puffed out his chest.

He didn’t realize that the tips of his ears had turned red. Excited, he immediately stood up.

“I learned this too. How nobles talk to each other.”

“What’s that?”

“Um. You’re Lady Aisha, and I’m Lord Kyle. We met at a banquet.”

“Oho. I know this!”

Aisha stood up confidently, took hold of her skirt, and bowed.

“Good evening, Lord Kyle. I don’t believe we’ve met. I’m Aisha of House Kreutz.”

Oh. She really does seem like a noble.

She really was one, of course, but Kyle only seemed to realize it then. His hair practically stood on end as he placed one hand against his chest and bowed.

“Good evening, Princess Aisha. My name is Kyle. And...”

Hmm. What did the tutor say he was supposed to say after this?

“Princess Aisha.”

“Yes?”

“You look beautiful today. When I gaze upon you, my heart goes thump-thump.”

He recited it exactly as his tutor had taught him, in a stiff, flat voice.

Aisha burst out laughing.

“Hahaha! What was that?!”

“She said it was a way to make a lady feel good. I learned it from my tutor.”

“Hmm. It wasn’t bad, but it was way too awkward. If you want to make someone feel good, you should...”

Aisha suddenly rose and took a step closer to him.

Oh.

She was much closer than he expected.

Startled, Kyle was about to step back when—

“Your eyes are beautiful too, Kyle. They’re so mysterious.”

Her gentle voice caught his feet in place, and his entire body froze.

“......”

Perhaps it was because those jewel-like red eyes filled his entire field of vision.

For that brief moment, Kyle’s entire world consisted of nothing but Aisha.

“Kyle, aren’t you going to answer?”

“......”

“Kyle?”

Normally, whenever Aisha complimented him like this, he would be so pleased that he would eagerly show her even more of what he had learned that day.

But.

“...Uh, um.”

“Kyle? Where are you going?”

“Bathroom.”

Pat-pat-pat.

“Kyle?!”

He whipped around and bolted straight out of the playroom, then fled outside the castle.

It felt as though someone had suddenly started tickling his skin with a feather.

It was so unbearably ticklish that he couldn’t stand the sensation unless he ran.

Why?

He was supposed to feel good when Aisha praised him.

So why did it feel strange?

By the time he finally stopped running, he had reached the snowy forest.

Kyle crouched down and scrubbed his flushed face roughly with the back of his hand as though washing it.

His body had stopped running, but his heart was still pounding as violently as if it hadn’t.

“Your eyes are beautiful too, Kyle. They’re so mysterious.”

The moment he remembered Aisha’s words again, he hurriedly ducked his head and shuddered all over.

“...I don’t think I can play with Aisha today.”

No.

More precisely, he didn’t think he could look at Aisha’s face today.

Kyle muttered uneasily, wondering what this strange feeling he had never experienced before could possibly be.

But for some reason, he felt like he absolutely shouldn’t ask Aisha.

“I’ll ask my tutor later.”

Sniff.

Feeling awkward for no particular reason, Kyle rubbed beneath his nose and looked toward the ducal castle from where he sat.

He wanted to go back.

But if he did, he would run into Aisha.

If I see her...

Kyle’s face turned red again.

In the end, he sighed.

And until the sun set and night fell, until the lights in the ducal castle windows went out one by one and Aisha had fallen asleep, he did not move from that spot.

It had been a very, very long day.

***

The next day.

“It was because of Aisha’s breathing.”

Kyle sat on his bed with hollow eyes and muttered to himself.

He had waited until Aisha fell asleep before sneaking back into his room in the early hours of the morning.

Even then, he had been unable to sleep.

After spending the whole night agonizing over it, he had reached a single conclusion.

“Aisha breathes way too hard. I’ll tell her when I see her today.”

The reason he had gotten so hot was Aisha’s warm breath.

“Hmph.”

After making an excuse that barely qualified as one, Kyle went through his daily routine while waiting for the time when he could see Aisha.

“It was her breathing!”

While practicing swordsmanship with his wooden sword, he shouted about Aisha’s breath instead of giving a proper battle cry.

“It happened because of her breathing. I’m not weird.”

“Kyle. You need to concentrate during class.”

Even when his tutor scolded him, he kept muttering it so he wouldn’t forget what he planned to say to Aisha.

But then—

“Where’s Aisha?”

“Didn’t you hear? Starting today, Princess Aisha has magic lessons, so she’ll be coming back late.”

Boom!

Knox’s words struck Kyle like a bolt of lightning.

Aisha wasn’t here.

No, worse—Aisha was taking lessons!

Aisha’s got a glass brain. What if studying is so hard that she loses her memory?

Suddenly, anxiety seized him.

He had been so preoccupied with her breathing the night before that he hadn’t thought about it, but now that he did, leaving Aisha behind and running away bothered him.

“What do I do if Aisha loses her memory...?”

Kyle paced around the portal, whining like a puppy whose owner had disappeared.

Soon, the portal activated and Aisha appeared—

“Aisha!”

Startled, Kyle scampered toward her.

But he wasn’t the only one surprised.

“Huh? Kyle? Why are you here...? More importantly, why did you suddenly run away like that last night?”

Aisha, who had just stepped out of the portal, stared at him in surprise as well.

Then, apparently remembering the previous night, she asked him about it, but—

“Aisha. Are you okay? Your memory. Do you remember me?”

Kyle didn’t hear a word of it.

Without warning, he began kneading Aisha’s cheeks as he inspected her.

“Mmph.”

Her flour-soft cheeks stretched beneath his fingers.

Kyle examined her thoroughly with hawk-like eyes.

“Your cheeks are still the same. And your eyes are still pretty...”

That was when—

Smack!

A vicious little hamster-chop knocked Kyle’s hand away.

Coming back to his senses, he stared at Aisha.

At some point, she had crossed her arms and was glaring at him with terrifyingly narrowed eyes.

“What are you talking about all of a sudden? I asked why you ran away like that last night.”

Ah.

Only then did Kyle finally give her the answer he had spent all day preparing.

“You were breathing too hard. That’s why I ran away.”

“...My breathing?”

“You came really close to me yesterday. And your breath was too strong.”

“Mine?”

“Yeah.”

Aisha tilted her head.

“...That doesn’t sound right.”

But there was no chance Kyle, who had spent the entire day convincing himself of this, would back down.

“No. If it was enough to make me run away, it must’ve been really strong.”

“...Was it?”

“Yeah.”

“Uh... sorry.”

Apparently convinced in the end, Aisha awkwardly scratched the back of her neck.

Kyle spoke with even greater confidence.

“You need to breathe more carefully from now on, okay?”

“Uh... okay.”

Having unintentionally gaslit his friend, Kyle nodded with a pleased expression.

Aisha had promised not to breathe so hard anymore.

That meant his heart wouldn’t pound, and he wouldn’t get that strange feeling as though someone were tickling him with a feather.

Thank goodness.

That was what he thought, but—