CH 9

I wasn’t a fool. Although I was slower than others to notice it, it wasn’t that there was none at all, and once I noticed, more things tended to catch my eye.

In that sense, I think it would have been better not to notice Dante’s heart from the beginning. No, I shouldn’t have noticed.

If that was the case, I wouldn’t have realized how hard it was to pretend not to know.

Even after I came to know Dante’s heart, nothing changed between us. I decided to pretend I didn’t notice Dante’s mind, as he didn’t know that I did.

But just as there is an unfilled gap between people who really don’t know and people who just pretend they don’t, treating Dante like before… was a very difficult thing to do.

Whenever Dante acted so-called ‘obvious’’, he deliberately stiffened his face to put on a grave expression. When he couldn’t manage his expression, I changed the topic altogether, and very occasionally I pretended not to see or hear.

At first, I thought it was nothing special, but this was all about losing my mind. Besides, whether it was a side effect or not, I was dying because I kept trying to pay attention to each and every one of Dante’s actions.

Dante keeps popping in at unexpected moments, and I try to pretend I didn’t notice each time. As I kept going like this, there was a tension between Dante and me that only I felt.

It’s a relief that I’m a bit of a bland personality, if there were people here who couldn’t care less, I would definitely have jumped out of the seat. While saying, just say it and finish it!

Of course, it’s not like I didn’t think it would be better for me to deliberately mention it and cut it off rather than going through this tired life. But every time that happened, I came to the conclusion that I didn’t have to.

Because Dante was the one who would leave this place someday.

The reason Dante is staying at my house is because he isn’t feeling well, and he has a record of saying with his own mouth, “I will leave as soon as I feel better”. In fact, at first he acted impatient because he couldn’t leave.

It seems that the time is a bit delayed since he is recovering naturally without any medicine, but anyway, Dante will return to where he was in order to deal with the people who are targeting him.

In short, it is a matter of time before Dante clears his mind. What am I going to do if I can’t organize things before you leave? It’ll cool off on its own if he gets farther away.

It was a problem that could be solved smoothly if I pretended not to know until the end. No, at least I thought so.

…I thought so, but.

“Is it okay if you sleep on the sofa?”

“Yeah, I’m used to it now.”

“Alright. Even if it’s uncomfortable, bear with it a little longer, you’ll leave when you feel better, anyway.”

“…”

To explain for a moment, I didn’t mean to say that. Dante seemed really uncomfortable, and there was nothing I could do for him, so I just told him to be patient.

Since Dante didn’t react much, I thought Dante’s silence was an affirmation. So I bid him good night as usual, went to my room and slept.

The next morning after sleeping like that, I found another room in my house. Dante created another room with magic.

He’s expressing that he doesn’t want to leave, right?

The person who came up with the idea to renovate a house that was in good shape and put it into action seemed completely unconcerned. To the point of asking if I would like to open the door that suddenly appeared and take a look around the room.

But how surprised must I, the homeowner, be? No matter how hard it is, is it okay to show the will to live here so strongly?

Dante looked at me when I was taken aback, but the room didn’t disappear in the end.

***

“I’m going to bed early today, so I’m going to read a book now.”

The day I thought that this couldn’t be done, I picked up a book I randomly picked up and said.

In fact, the book was an excuse, and I meant to talk about it after all. Dante was uncharacteristically nervous, as if he understood that, and soon took a seat next to me.

It was nice to sit quietly next to him, but somehow I felt that the distance was ambiguous. Why does it feel like I’m sitting so far away?

I pondered and realized that at night, I always sat close to the light of the lamps. Yeah, it’s daytime, so there’s no need for that. It must be only a feeling that the empty seats felt empty.

I don’t even intend to read the book anyway, so I started with the main topic without even pretending to open the book.

“Are you feeling any better?”

“…Why, all of a sudden?”

“There’s a room in my house that I haven’t seen before, but it doesn’t look like it was made by someone who says he can’t even use magic because he’s sick.”

Don’t laugh as if you’re embarrassed Because your worldwide beauty doesn’t work.

“Dante. I was the one who asked you to stay until you were healed, and I have no intention of kicking anyone who is still sick out of my house.”

The more I spoke, the more the smile disappeared from Dante’s face. It was like someone who had a hunch, and, at the same time, wanted to reject that hunch.

“But I’m asking because I feel like I have to. How are you feeling? Do you still have any discomfort?”

“…”

“Why aren’t you answering?”

Like a person who doesn’t want to talk about his body condition.

Just as I was thinking that, Dante suddenly stood up.

“I’ll go get some water.”

It was obvious that he intended to change the topic, but I decided to let it go. It didn’t matter whether we talked about it now or later anyway.

It was a small house anyway, he had nowhere to go, so it was a pity that he was trying to avoid a seat like that. He didn’t know that he showed a more definitive answer than his words.

I knew for sure this time. He doesn’t want to lie to me. And I don’t see any intention of him leaving here.

There was a time when I thought he was walking around vividly for a person whose body wasn’t fully recovered.. But I also thought that there was no reason for Dante to deceive me.

In fact, it was closer to not telling the truth that he had recovered rather than deliberately deceiving me, but judging by the way he avoided answering, it was there. Even though I believed in his words that he would leave as soon as he got better.

Dante was pouring water into a cup, pretending to be calm. Even so, the uneasiness was not hidden, and it was evident that he was really ‘pretending to be calm’.

Can I really just say it? I recalled the moments I had desperately turned away from, and let out a sigh.

“Dante.”

“Hm.”

I heard the answer with a slightly muffled pronunciation, perhaps because he was drinking water. I looked at Dante and sighed once again.

“Are you going to keep showing that you like me that much? Even a rabbit in the forest knows that.”

Crack. There was the sound of a cup breaking.

***

D3.

Dante wanted to stay in this house as long as possible.

Rather than wanting to stay like this forever, he just didn’t want to leave her side. He didn’t want to go back to his normal life without her, and he wished he could enjoy this peace a little longer.

The plan to quickly return to his place once his body was completely healed had long since disappeared. He always wondered how much longer it would be natural to say that he was better, and how much longer he could stay here if he said so.

It was for this reason that he made a room rather impulsively. It sounds like he’s going out soon, so be patient if he’s uncomfortable, knowing well that he wants to stay longer and uses the bed to kick him out.

She didn’t seem to mean it, seeing as she was dumbfounded by the addition of another room, but Dante wanted to get rid of anything that would give him a reason to leave, no matter what.

And the thing Dante had to hide most thoroughly from her was the fact that he liked her.

He promised to leave when he was well, but if she knew he was staying, and besides, it was out of selfishness… He seemed to make even the most nonchalant person uncomfortable.

It’s a relief if she’s just uncomfortable, but then she could have returned a cold reply saying that he had no reason to stay longer. He knew that those words would hurt more than any other rejection, and he didn’t want to create a situation where she would say something like that.

So Dante was, at times, fortunate that she was dull. He was grateful that she didn’t know even though his heart resented it, and he hoped that if possible she wouldn’t know until he made up his mind.

As time passed, he wondered if it was possible to organize his mind, but the important thing was that he made an effort.

If there’s one thing Dante doesn’t think of here, it’s that Dante hasn’t had to hide these kinds of feelings in over 100 years, and that’s why he hasn’t even tried to hide them until now.

This was like saying that he was very bad at hiding the fact that he liked someone.

Dante was hiding it in his own way, but, well. Did his clumsy trickery really work on her?

His misfortunes here were only two. That she was just pretending not to know, and that she was a much more direct person than he thought.

In the end, Dante comes up with an excuse and takes a sip of cold water when he hears unexpected words.

“Are you going to keep showing that you like me that much? Even a rabbit in the forest knows that.”

It was an instant for the cup to slip from Dante’s hand.

Crack. There was the sound of a cup breaking.