At my mutter, Elhardt hesitated for a moment.
But soon, he looked straight into my eyes and said,
“Yes, my body healed quickly.”
Even he seemed to have nothing to say about that part.
He tightened his grip around my hands.
“But you were worried about me.”
“What’s wrong with that?”
Anyone would worry after seeing someone get beaten that badly.
“It was the first time.”
…What?
“The first time someone had ever worried about me or tried to protect me.”
No one had ever done that before?
Of course, Elhardt had a body capable of withstanding such things.
But still, wasn’t that a little too much?
Just because you healed quickly didn’t mean it didn’t hurt.
“I felt reassured.”
A faint smile spread across Elhardt’s lips.
“Iserna, your presence became a source of comfort to me.”
“……”
Comfort.
Yes, I understood what he meant.
I had someone like that in my life, too.
The one person I could show weakness to and even act spoiled around without having to be someone I wasn’t.
Someone I could rely on.
“If you don’t dislike it, could you just stay by my side?”
His voice was soft, almost a whisper, yet clear enough that there could be no misunderstanding.
“I’ll do my best so you won’t regret it.”
His unwavering feelings seemed to seep through the hands holding mine and spread throughout my entire body.
“If the time you spend with me turns out to be unpleasant… leave me on the day our fake marriage ends.”
His desperation, his earnest plea, seized my heart.
“I won’t stop you then. Even if my feelings have grown deeper, I won’t bind you to me. So please, give me a chance until then.”
If I rejected him even now… it really would be the end between Elhardt and me.
I… don’t want that.
I still needed time.
Time to figure out what to call these complicated feelings.
My fingertips trembled slightly where they were enclosed by both his hands.
“…All right.”
Elhardt’s proposal was reasonable.
Either way, whether it was a fake marriage or something else, it was necessary if we were going to cooperate while concealing my identity.
So there was no reason to refuse.
When we no longer need the fake marriage, I’ll think about it again.
Rather than rushing to answer something I didn’t understand, I felt that I needed time to become accustomed to it.
Besides, not every relationship succeeds.
It probably wasn’t unusual for something to begin based solely on one person’s certainty.
“I’m counting on you, Elhardt.”
My answer brightened his face.
“All right.”
Watching him smile so brightly made the lingering anxiety inside me seem to melt away.
Afraid I might end up smiling along with him, I quickly changed the subject.
“Everyone kept telling me that I have a lot to learn from you.”
I had no idea what I was supposedly so ignorant about.
But this kind of state probably proved just how woefully inexperienced I was, so I decided to approach this with an open mind and actively learn.
“What should I learn first?”
“Hmm…”
After thinking for a moment, Elhardt said,
“First, shall we decide how we’re going to address each other?”
That made sense. Things would have to be different now that I was no longer merely his maid.
“Okay.”
“We need to pretend to be a married couple who fell in love at first sight and eventually married, not a couple in a political marriage. So it might be good to have pet names that lovers would use.”
When they’re in love…
I recalled the things people around me had called each other when they were newlyweds.
“Sweetheart? Honey? Baby? Darling?”
With each word I uttered, a flush spread across Elhardt’s face until he was completely red.
“Y-you’re going to call me those?”
“Pick whichever one you like.”
Apparently, he wasn’t used to this sort of thing at all. His eyelashes trembled.
“They’re all perfect. I can’t choose.”
His words, accompanied by a soft groan, made it clear that every single example I had given was apparently the correct answer.
“Fine, then. I’ll call you whatever I feel like depending on the situation.”
Elhardt suddenly buried his face in his hands.
“This… This can’t be good…”
His hot breath and trembling breathing reached my hands.
I wondered if he had forgotten that my hands were still trapped in his.
“It feels like I’m committing a sin, but I like it so much that I can’t stop.”
“……?”
I had no idea what he meant.
Was this exactly why I needed to learn?
“What else do we have to do?”
“Now that we’ve decided how to address each other… we should practice behaving naturally like a married couple.”
That was definitely true.
If our awkwardness showed whenever we interacted with each other, we would be exposed immediately.
“When other people are watching, should we hold hands or link arms as much as possible?”
“Like at the banquet?”
“Yes.”
Holding hands no longer felt particularly awkward to me.
“That should be easy.”
I stood up and slipped my arm around his.
The powerful heartbeat I immediately felt—whose was it?
“I think we need to be close without it feeling awkward.”
Elhardt met my gaze as I stared up at him, then slowly lowered his head.
His lips gently touched my forehead.
“Something like this should feel natural, as though we always do it…”
“Hmm… I think we have a problem.”
“What?”
“Your face is extremely red.”
Wouldn’t we be found out immediately like this? Married couples usually wouldn’t get embarrassed over something like this.
“……”
He slowly straightened up and turned his head away.
Even then, he left the arm I was holding in place and covered his face with his other hand.
His hand was large enough to hide most of his face, but there was no way to conceal his bright-red ears and the back of his neck.
“Elhardt, look at me.”
“…Just a moment.”
“Sweetheart. Honey?”
He turned toward me in surprise.
His golden eyes, visible through the gaps between his fingers, were wavering helplessly.
“You’re really in trouble.”
If his feelings were this obvious, I thought we were going to fail before we even started.
And not just as a fake married couple. Wouldn’t everything we did end up the same way?
With his thoughts so plainly written across his face, it was practically like exposing his weakness.
After thinking it over carefully, I decided to take the straightforward approach.
“I guess the only way is to do it often until you get used to it.”
Repeated practice and training through actual experience.
That was the surest solution in any situation.
I pulled down the hand covering his face.
Then I interlaced our fingers so he couldn’t escape and tilted my head back.
“Come on. You can kiss me. Let’s practice until your face stops turning red.”
“Are you serious?”
His usually low voice sounded strangely dangerous.
“Yes.”
“You won’t regret it?”
Even hearing him say that didn’t make me want to back away.
If anything, I wanted to move one step closer.
I released the arm I had wrapped around him and stood facing him.
We stood so close that our bodies were almost touching as I looked up at him.
“If we’re going to do this, do it properly. I can’t accept failing because we didn’t put in enough effort.”
“…Yes. You’re right.”
Elhardt’s arm wrapped around my waist.
“I’m sorry for being so clumsy. If you’re offering to help me, I can’t refuse.”
It happened in an instant.
“……!”
His lips touched mine as he lowered his head.
I meant the forehead…
Wasn’t he the one who had turned bright red just from kissing my forehead?
Was it really okay to skip a step like this?
Hmm… Well, the faster we get used to it, the better.
If kissing on the lips became natural, something like a kiss on the forehead would obviously be no problem.
Of course, there was another reason, too.
Kissing… feels good.
He didn’t close his eyes, and neither did I.
Since this is practice, I need to carefully observe how it progresses.
That was what I had intended.
But thanks to his previous experience, Elhardt had become skilled enough to part my lips without hesitation.
The sensation of his tongue sliding against mine was dizzyingly intense.
“……!”
I felt his arm around my waist tighten.
His body kept pulling me closer, while my head was tilted back as far as it could go, making it increasingly difficult to keep my balance.
I could feel our breaths growing hotter and hotter.
Elhardt’s, and mine as well.
Can this really be called… practice?
Comments (0)