Chapter 21 (2/2)

To rely on, to trust.

So I can rely on them.

Even if I do, it’ll be okay.

Something inside me smoothly faded away. Something like a curse.

A curse that was born inside me in the distant past.

Of course, I didn’t think that all of it had been resolved.

But, just a little.

I felt that just a little, it grew lighter.

“That’s right, really… yeah, I’m sorry. Then, could I ask you to listen to something, just for a bit?”

A slight pause, then I asked them.

They nodded happily.

–

–

“Yeah, so that’s what happened.”

From the very beginning, I’d never gotten used to relying on others.

Yesterday, I was keeping my promise as was only just, but today was different. I didn’t have much faith in whether I could convey things well.

But, for now, I said everything I could.

And I thought I might as well tell them about finding Leon in my room almost every morning. It would be hard to explain things without it.

“This is really blunt, but isn’t Lord Leon fairly seriously concerned about you, Big Sister?”

I took Aira’s sudden observation like a sucker punch to the face.

On reflex, I turned to her with an expression of disbelief. She looked perfectly serious.

“After all, he has never come to either of our rooms, and, um, even if you leave that aside, I feel like he’s been giving you special treatment pretty much from the beginning, you know?”

When I turned to Palmira, she nodded silently.

Eh–? Are you serious?

…I said, while I fumbled around for any knowledge I might have. I mean, sure, even when we met, I sensed that he kept glancing over at me even though Aira was the one talking to him.

Plus, Leon almost always had a smile on, but I did feel like he tended to show a wider variety of expressions when he was facing me.

“Furthermore, Big Sister, when you said you were a man yesterday, wasn’t he quite fl.u.s.tered? That seals it, don’t you think?”

“No, but this morning he showed up in my room like usual, you know?”

“As for that, couldn’t it be that Lord Leon ultimately decided that even if you used to be a man, it isn’t a problem?”

Aira said such terrifying things. And to make things worse, I couldn’t come up with any clear-cut reb.u.t.tal.

There are no words.

I might never be able to face Leon directly again.

I mean, now that I think about it, Aira’s information isn’t wrong — and does nothing in particular to resolve my worries. If anything, she’s simply added another headache to the pile.

Well, what about it?

In this case, should I take it as a sort of warning?

For my chast.i.ty or something?

“I think Lord Leon knows something.”

While I was working through the shock of my new worry, Palmira, who had been silent thus far, opened her mouth.

G.o.d, what in the world is it going to be next? I was instinctively concerned.

“I can’t really put it into words. But it’s because he knew something that he panicked yesterday, and today, he had that strange conversation with Chris in order to verify something… That’s what I think.”

Palmira chose her words carefully, speaking with a rare ambiguity.

Then, she seemed to be thinking very hard about something. Wordlessly, I waited for her to continue.

Even Aira, who’d been acting however she pleased until just now, was keeping quiet.

“…For example, today Lord Leon showed you a woman that matched the person in your dreams. I think that’s too much to be a coincidence.”

“…In other words?”

“Lord Leon realized there was some connection between you and that woman, and he tried to verify it… I think… Though I don’t know what his intention is.”

Even Palmira didn’t seem to have much confidence in her ambiguous comment, but when she put it that way, it did have a ring of truth to it.

I didn’t notice at all this morning when he opened with the marriage talk and segued into discussing the request.

But, through the lens of Palmira’s observations, the marriage business and the request were actually groundwork, arranged solely for the purpose of showing me that picture. Yeah, I can buy that.

And that might be exactly why, after he showed me the picture, he immediately retracted his request.

That certainly was unnatural.

But even so, I didn’t have the slightest clue about what Leon was after.

“Intention… aim, huh…”

“Later… if, for example, it isn’t Big Sister but the subst.i.tuted Miss Chris that has what he needs, or something — ”

“So he actually needs her for the marriage interview?”

Sensing Aira’s discomfort as she began to talk about something mysterious, I prodded her to clarify.

“Not the marriage interview, something else.”

“Something else… like what?”

“That I don’t know, but…”

What was Aira thinking, saying something like that? I found it difficult to understand, but I could sense that the information so far had tipped off her intuition.

Something else, huh?

I pondered Aira’s words.

As a result, we ended up heading to the capital. Our secondary objective was to collect our compensation.

But thinking about rationally, something wasn’t right.

One and a half million was definitely big money. But that was from our point of view. Based on how easily Guibenague offered that same sum, it wasn’t that much for a n.o.ble, was it?

Though it was on the smaller side, Leon was a n.o.ble that in command of a military force. Was it possible that he’d be unable to produce even that amount of money?

Long story short, Leon wanted to take us — no, me — to the capital, one way or another. Why?

For the marriage interview?

Was that it?

Had I fully trusted him, that would’ve been my conclusion.

But was it really like that?

I couldn’t put my finger on it, but something was definitely fishy.

…I should probably remain vigilant.

“Anyway, good talk, guys.”

I had a feeling.

“Was it helpful?”

If I were to answer honestly, I couldn’t really tell.

But sure, I was able to hear views I might not have been able to think of myself, and in that respect, it was pretty productive.

And… I felt a little more at ease.

I’ll take what help I can get.

In this case, it might be for the best.

“Yeah, thanks.”

I gave them my honest grat.i.tude.

The two of them smiled, looking happy.

<script>