Chapter 37 (1/2)

End of that Night.

The morning sun rises, the town begins to move.

「nu…, fua……a」

Slowly, I wake up from my sleep.

What is this between my arms? It’s a firm, large and warm object.

It feels comfortable for some reason, I unconsciously strengthened the power of my arms and clung on more.1

As I s.h.i.+fted to rub my face, a man’s voice descended from overhead.

「Good morning, Sakura. Since you’ve gotten up, isn’t it about time to let me go?」

When I lifted my head, Sedrim’s face was there with an exhausted appearance.

As I slowly lowered my eyes, the Prince’s neck, shoulder, chest…

That’s what I had clung to.

It appears what I was clinging onto just now, was the Prince’s body.

「Hya! S-Sorry!」

Pus.h.i.+ng aside the thin blanket, I get up while moving towards the end of the bed, and instinctively sit in seiza.

Huh? But why is the Prince here…?

This is the room where I stay in right?

As the Prince gets up, he looks in my direction, then turns away with a red face.

While tilting my head to the side, a ? floats above my head,

「You should put something on. I’m troubled about where I should look.」

While being confused at those words, I look at my own body.

Eh…?

「！！！！！N-Naked!? Why? Why am I naked!?」

In a hurry, I wrap up my body with the blanket I pushed aside a moment ago, and surveyed my surroundings.

Clothes, my clothes are…?

Clothes, pants, lingerie, underwear… The clothes I had worn yesterday, were scattered around the floor besides the bed.

Although the Prince has his chest exposed, his appearance isn’t very dishevelled.

However, it can’t be…, no, such a thing…. But in the unlikely event….

Various things are spinning round and round in my head, when the Prince saw my bright red and crying-like face, the Prince let out a huge breath.

「Haa~~~~. Sakura, yesterday’s events, do you remember?」

Suddenly being questioned, I franticly try to remember while becoming a little panicked.

Umm, yesterday when I returned to the inn, I was told a visitor had came for me, it turned out it was the Prince so then we had a meal while I listened to his story, afterwards I drank some alcohol…

I slowly recall yesterday’s shameful behaviour.

Most likely, my face has turned red.

「Umm, yes. I, remember… I’m sorry.」

「I see…」

The Prince only said those brief words.

「Umm, But I, I only remember up until I entered the toilet, the things after that…」

Right, I only remember up until the part I entered the toilet to do my business.

The Prince glanced at me for an instant, then spoke while facing away.

「Aa, since it didn’t seem like you were coming out, I took a peek inside and saw you sleeping. Of course, I called out to you before entering. I thought you might’ve collapsed inside you see. Maa, in the end, you were just sleeping. And then I took you out from the toilet, and returned you to your room.」

「Umm, sorry for causing trouble… Ah, by the way, as far as my memory goes, my condition when I fell asleep on the toilet was…」

The Prince’s face turns red, which makes me uneasy.

「Eh, could it be…」

「Aー, I was careful to not look as much as possible you know?」

With those few words, my fear

had come into realization.

I’m burning with shame, I’m sure that I’ve turned bright red.

「Umm…, right! That’s right! I recall the toilet was dim, it was so dark you couldn’t see ne! ne!」

「Eh? No, it wasn’t dim, and the darkness was also… If I had to say then there was nothing growiー「N O O O O O O O ! ! ! !」」

「What are you saying! You did see it after all! Besides, it is growing! Although it’s faint, it’s growing! It’s just hard to tell!! I can’t take this anymore! I can’t become a bride…!」

I turn my back towards the Prince and scream.

The Prince desperately retorts.

「That. Was. Because! It couldn’t be helped that it came into view! Sleeping in that situation was also you’re fault! Also I didn’t lie! I didn’t look ‘as much as possible’!」

‘Besides, even if you can’t become a bride…’, the Prince grumbles and mutters, but I pretended I didn’t hear. I was only watching at this point.

Although my face was emitting flames with that alone, I couldn’t hear the words after that.2

「Well then, why were you sleeping here, Prince? Also, why was I naked?」

This, is important.

「Could it be… I, and the Prince, in the end…?」

「I didn’t do such a thing! Youー!」

Saying up until there, the Prince took a large deep breath and corrected himself.

「I carried Sakura to the room and laid you on your bed. Then suddenly, Sakura grabbed my arm and dragged me onto the bed. Afterwards, my body was clung onto, you would cling even more excessively when I tried moving my body… Since Sakura wouldn’t get up even when I tried waking you up, I had to helplessly stayed where I was. As for your clothes, you said『hot』in the middle of the night and took them off. I don’t understand how you did it but, I couldn’t slip out while you were in the middle of taking off your clothes either. I stayed like that until morning.」

The Prince talks in an indifferent tone.

When I turned around to have a better look of the Prince’s face, there were shadows under the Prince’s eyes.

「Prince, could it be, you didn’t sleep…?」

When I timidly asked,

「There’s no way I could sleep in that situation right?」

he returned with an angry tone.

Although I intently observed, it doesn’t seem like he’s telling a lie.

「Ah, then really, I’m still…」

While muttering, I unconsciously place my hands between my legs.

It’s dry, the feeling of my skin.

There wasn’t any traces of ‘that thing’.

「You! Don’t do that sort of thing in front of a man!」

He seems to know the actions I’m doing under the blanket.

「Because it’s like that! There’s no reason to be ashamed of me! If you understand then put on some clothes, I’m leaving the room.」

The Prince stands up, then heads towards the door.

Just as his hand was about to arrive at the door.

konkonkon

「Good morning, Sakura-san. Are you here?」

Len-san’s voice? (for those who forgot, Len is the court mage, changed from Ren)

「「Eh?」」

My voice and the Prince’s overlap.

It seems our voices could be heard from the hallway.

「Aa, so you’re here. Excuse me.」

gacha

The door was opened without any time to prevent it, and Len-san’s face peeked through.

And then, the Prince’s bare chest, myself naked on top of the bed with a blanket wrapped around me, the removed clothes scattered around. He looks at those in order.