CH 50

“Yaaawn.”

Mika, who sat next to me, stretched his hands as far as he could in the cramped carriage.

With the absentmindedness that I didn’t know how many times he had been doing that, I noticed that Mika really didn’t sleep last night. On short-distance carriage trips, Mika sits across from me. But on long-distance carriage trips, he wants to look in the direction of the road and often sits next to me.

As I looked away from the sleepy-faced and teary-eyed Mika, I remembered this morning.

***

When I woke up this morning, I was surprised to see how close I was to Mika… But more than that, I blinked my eyes from surprise at the severity of the dark circles under his eyes, which were unusually dark.

“You… What’s wrong?”

When I asked this without thinking, Mika remained expressionless and touched my lips with his thumb in a pressing motion again, and then he stopped moving. Mika’s eyes narrowed as he stared at me.

I wondered what was going on, then at the next moment.

My vision swung around and I saw Mika looking down at me against the canopy of the bed.

My hands were sewn into the sheets, and I couldn’t understand what was going on. I said, “Eh, huh?” A number of unspoken sounds came out of my mouth. When I was still in a sleepy and dazed state, my childhood friend, who had become curious about me, held my hands down on the bed and threw me into a state of panic. I tried to move my hand, but it wouldn’t budge.

(This…stupidly strong guy. What does he want…?!)

However…

Mika’s face became closer and closer, and then, while I was in a panic saying, “Huh, wait-“, he collapsed with a thud. And then he stopped moving just like that.

I wondered what kind of situation this is…then my eyes turned empty.

Anyway, he was heavy.

Mika’s body, which is made almost entirely of muscle, is heavy. As I was groaning from the feeling, I heard his voice close to my ear.

“Really… I won’t sleep with you anymore.”

“Huh? Ah, I-I see.”

Hearing that, I was a little disappointed. To be honest, I slept very well.

Usually, I often pass out to sleep in a daze. On top of that, after returning from death, there were many nights when I could not sleep because of anxiety, so I thought that it was not bad to have the warmth of a reassuring human body close by. Even after all that happened yesterday, my head is refreshed as well thanks to that.

It made me wonder why Mika thought of it that way.

“Did I kick you while I was sleeping?”

“…No, it was…way worse than that.”

“Huh?”

What in the world have I done to him? I was completely asleep, so I have no memory of it.

Maybe I kicked him every five minutes or did something similar and harassed him without stopping? If that were the case, I wouldn’t want to sleep with someone like that either.

I patted Mika on the head as he collapsed and said, “I’m sorry.”

However. The soft material of the nightgown, which is closely pressed to my skin, and the warm heat of his body, which is radiated through it. His scent. And then, one of his hands still connected to mine. All of those things are starting to make me feel a little weird, and it’s not good! As I thought of that… Mika quickly got his body up, so I was saved.

…And that was what happened earlier this morning.

***

Then, now.

Next to Mika, who looked sleepy and was struggling to stay awake as a personal knight even in the midst of the comfortable rocking of the carriage, I was reading a document on the Edessa defense line.

As I thought, I still felt sorry for him. I must have kicked him very hard in my sleep.

I was actually thinking about taking a little nap, but if I did then Mika wouldn’t sleep, so I’ve been fighting sleepiness for a while now, too.

But…

(We’re almost arriving there…)

After leaving this morning, we changed horses while taking a rest in a town along the way. Then it’s getting dark around us. Light pink clouds were trailing in the sky and a beautiful sunset was illuminating the area.

The sunset sea at the Côte de Marais must be a dreamy sight.

That’s right, it was when I thought of that.

Mika suddenly twitched, and then I heard a commotion from the knights who were supposed to be running outside the carriage. The carriage stopped. I steeled myself and wondered if we had possibly run into a bandit or some dangerous monster.

Mika raised his voice… However.

“What’s that?! Is it an enemy attack…? Wait…”

“Huh? W-what!? Mika.”

“…”

The knights who had followed us in our carriage were still making a commotion, but Mika stopped moving. A deep wrinkle was carved between his eyebrows, and the light disappeared from his eyes, along with a disgusted look on his face.

But in the midst of all the commotion, Mika showed no signs of trying to protect me at all.

Which means…there is a reason for it.

The sound of loud flapping wings. What is going on? When I looked out the window, the two knights around me said, “Please step back! Prince Nagi!” They were in a panic, and yet Mika remained cross-legged and didn’t move an inch.

At that moment, a laugh sounded from the top of our heads. A high-pitched laughter that seemed to come out of the abdominal muscles.

“Hahahahaha!”

“…Huh?”

I couldn’t help but lean out of the window and look up. There was a large shadow floating in the sky. It slowly, slowly descends while flapping its large wings. I thought I saw fiery red hair peeking out from the large shadow, then I instantly looked back at Mika.

Mika put one hand to his face and sighed. Then I looked out the window and I said, “No need to be alarmed!” to the knights outside.

And then—

Everyone gasped at the sight of the monster, which slowly descended a short distance from the carriage. The glistening, solid white limbs. The feathers change color as they shift from white to light blue, reflecting the pale pink of the sky. All of those things even made me think it was divine.

Its light blue eyes are as if they have been embedded with jewels.

…The appearance of a king flying in the sky.

“Co-could it be…? A sky drake?”

“Sigh… That showy old man.”

“No way, don’t tell me he…succeeded in taming a flying dragon?”

Mika opened the carriage door and I stepped outside.

My eyes light up as I look at the sky drake, larger than a carriage, standing majestically in front of me. A strand of red hair peeked out from behind the monster’s back. Unlike Mika, it was someone with fiery red hair—

“Count Chardin!”

“Hahaha! Your Highness Nagi! It has been a while!”

Jumping down from the sky drake, Count Chardin came running toward us while waving his hand widely. Every time the count takes a step forward, his curly mustache bounces.

In contrast to the full smile on the count’s face, Mika’s sigh was now so loud that it could be heard clearly, and a sense of doom is mixed into his voice. I chuckled, thinking inwardly that it was better than a triumphant return parade for him.

Count Chardin spoke.

“Long time no see! I was overjoyed when I heard that my foolish son was chosen to be a personal knight. Hahaha!”

“Yes, he’s such a dependable knight and a great help.”

I answered that way, although as usual, I felt awkward about having to speak from a higher position to older people. In the first place, it was Count Chardin who advised me when I was a child that a prince should not speak in a way as if examining the other person’s expression.

“Still, you’re so amazing. As expected of Count Chardin. I can’t believe you’ve succeeded in taming a flying dragon where no one has ever succeeded before…”

“No, I didn’t tame it. I raised it. Hahaha!”

“Y-you raised it…? What?!”

“We have a lot of trade in our territory, after all. I bought some at the harbor where it was circulating around, said to be a weird ostrich egg. Then I warmed it up, with my stomach.”

“With your stomach?!”

I almost burst out laughing, imagining in my head Count Chardin curled up in bed to warm the egg. As I was thinking that he’s really so unexpected in his thinking, no, it even went far up in the sky, more crazy information follows from him.

“I made a special belt for the egg and we were together at all times. Then at one point, there was a big commotion in Côte de Marais that I might finally be pregnant.”

“Pfft, ahaha.”

I couldn’t help but laugh when he said “Finally”.

The next possible unknown thing for the all-rounded Count Chardin could be pregnancy…? That’s probably what the locals thought. It’s amazing that even the people of his territory think of him that way.

“Though, I had to hire a specialist for it after it was born, as expected. You can try to ride it later, Your Highness Nagi.”

“A-are you sure?!”

“Yes. I know you must be tired right now, so feel free to come while you are staying here for the next few days.”

I thought it was a little scary at first. But, I immediately felt refreshed when I wondered what it would feel like to be able to fly freely. Count Chardin gave me a warm smile, as if he could see that my eyes had lit up.

He has always been this way from back then.

Count Chardin is a crazy kind of person, but he is always looking out for me and Mika, as if he were enveloping and caring for us.

Because of this, I felt so apologetic that somewhere along the way I couldn’t even exchange a word with Count Chardin anymore in my first life.

During my execution… I wonder if Count Chardin was there at that time? I had heard through the rumors that he had started to focus more on business in the Malacia kingdom.

The count is forward-looking, after all. Perhaps he was concerned about the future of Pluvia and was looking for other futures.

But…

(But it hasn’t happened yet this time. He’s still smiling at me in this country…)

To tell the truth, Mika’s face is not very similar to Count Chardin’s in terms of facial features, but their gentle smiles are very similar to each other. Smiling softly, the count asked.

“Are my foolish sons doing well? Has Mika been nagging you a lot, Your Highness?”

When I glanced to the side, I saw Mika looking at Count Chardin with vacant eyes, while saying, “Hey!”

Even if he called them foolish sons…I hadn’t had the opportunity to meet Mika’s brothers much to know that. As I thought of that, I nodded nonetheless. Basically, Mika’s brothers work in their family territory, but I hear that they also travel back and forth to the royal capital. I’m sure I’ll have the chance to greet them again at some point.

As far as Mika is concerned—

Since I returned to this world from death, I have always been trying to redo the things that I had failed to do in my first life. Still, it was because of Mika that I was able to move forward in this way. Hoping that Count Chardin would feel relieved, I smiled and told him honestly.

“With Mika by my side, I can be reckless without worry.”

“Is that so?! Please use him to the fullest.”

“Sigh…”

Mika sighed and greeted, “Long time no see, Father.” Then Count Chardin, smiling again when he saw Mika’s face, said without a hint of offense.

“Is it okay if I lead from the front with sky drake in this way for your triumphant return parade?”

“I won’t do that!”

“Hahaha! Oh, my foolish son. If I lead from the front in this way, it will be possible to let the people know that it’s triumphant without saying a word. That’s why I went through the trouble to raise a sky drake…”

“Just go home already…”

Mika, who was already grim, seems to have become even grimmer.

I see. As I was convinced that his flashy appearance was for that, I ended up bursting out laughing again. With Count Chardin that hasn’t changed one bit, there was no doubt that this stay would be an enjoyable one.

As I laughed, the count looked puzzled and said,

“Nevertheless, Your Highness’ smile is of the highest beauty…”

“Uh, well…thank you.”

“Let’s invite a painter to paint your portrait during your stay here!”

Huh, he just declared it…that’s what I thought, but I was a little interested in the painter in the service of Count Chardin, who had an outstanding sense of art. Mika said, “We came here for a relaxation trip, in case you’re wondering… Nagi is tired.” He said that for my sake, but that’s not true at all.

“Hahahahahaha!”

“…”

“Fufu.”

He’s Count Chardin, after all.