CH 52

The light pink sky seemed to melt into the sea.

The floating clouds were tinted in a deep blue and the fantastical sunset was as if slowly inviting us into the night. As we walked through the city, we just watched that scenery in a daze.

The sound of the waves crashing against the shore reached the ears pleasantly.

(It’s so beautiful…)

That’s the only silly, simple thought that comes to mind.

It’s a sight you won’t be able to see in the royal capital. Moreover, it’s probably a hidden gem kind of place. There was not a soul in sight except for Mika and I. We stood side by side, just admiring the sunset from the beach.

When I looked to my side, I could see Mika’s face was tinged with the colors of the sunset. It made me want to burn that scenery in my mind.

However, Mika did not look anywhere, he was looking across the sea. Indeed, even this quiet time without conversation feels comfortable if I’m with Mika, and I feel like I want to keep on spacing out.

But… It still bothered me a little.

I tried asking Mika.

“Did something happen?”

“Huh?”

“…You look somewhat lonely.”

Since coming to this city, Mika has seemed to be much happier and freer than usual. But, it also has given me a strange feeling of a stronger shadow following behind him. Just like the stronger a light illuminated something, the stronger shadow it produces.

He still smiled with his mouth wide open, but for a moment, he would stare at me or look into the distance.

“Ehh?” Mika said, tilting his head in confusion.

“Nothing happened. I just thought that I’m happy to be here in this town with you again, Nagi.”

“Y-you’re exaggerating. It’s only been a few years. From now on, we can-…”

That’s right, from now on.

I tried to say it and I realized.

Five years from now, and even in the future, I will be back in Marais like this. Because I want to relax and look at the sea together with Mika. That’s why I’m doing my best now. That’s also why I stopped myself from saying, “We can always come here together again.”

When I turned my head, Mika was there, and I could see a soft, fake smile on his face.

I can’t help but notice that fake smile of this flexible man, which other people wouldn’t have noticed.

(Being childhood friends is a troublesome thing…)

I’m sure that Mika is also aware of my every move. It has both the good and the bad.

But I’m not as adept as Mika who can think ahead of time, or observe the other person to see what they are up to. So, I had no choice but to ask.

“Why are you making such a face?”

“…What kind of face does it look like to you?”

“It’s…”

Mika seemed to have returned to his usual self a little, he said, “Huh?” or, “Hmm?” to me. Hearing him say that while tilting his head, I thought.

What kind of face, he asked. It’s like…

He thinks he can’t come back here anymore… that kind of face.

And then, the thought reminded me of the moment I was burned at the stake.

Wait, that’s not it.

I’m not sure why he thinks of that, but this is not the time to get hung up on Mika, who is suddenly exuding an air of listlessness. I have a noble purpose. If I give up at this point, both Vivienne and my brother will be executed.

I don’t know how much changing myself can change the future. Still, there is no time to worry about the future five years from now. Therefore, this is not the time to be sullen together with my knight and be consumed by a weird atmosphere.

If Mika doesn’t want to give me a reason, Then I… I’m just going to do what I can do.

While imitating the irritated face that Mika has had since returning to this city, I said in an irritated tone to him.

“You’re making a face like you were thrown into the air by a plubear, hit your head somewhere, and fainted. Then when you woke up, you were surrounded by a large number of wriggling slugs!　But, while saying that he was sorry for earlier, the plubear took all the slugs off and helped you to make it up. However, the bear has to go to the mountains, and you have to go back to the city. That’s why the bear said that your friendship with him is over and you got rejected… that kind of face.”

“That’s… awful.”

Perhaps my brilliant metaphor was conveyed to him, Mika said, “That kind of face?” Then he tilted his head with his hand on his chin. I felt like Mika started to go back to his usual self a little. I stared at Mika from the side, resting my cheek on my raised knees.

Then I stretched out my arm and squeezed his cheek. I looked at Mika as he said, “Ouch,” there’s no way that this is going to hurt, I thought.

We have a difference in status, we’re now in an exclusive master-and-servant relationship, and I’m a prince to begin with… but, we’re also childhood friends.

(My one and only…)

The feelings that I have just admitted inadvertently with realization earlier are still things I will never say from now on, and for the rest of my life. I want to forget about it for now.

I wonder what this guy is so worried about that I didn’t know.

I chuckled as I looked at Mika’s scrunched face as I pinched his cheeks, with my head still resting on my knees.

“Don’t make such a gloomy face. —The world is so beautiful after all.”

I narrowed my eyes and smiled.

After all, I didn’t even realize that five years ago, in my first life.

The blue of this sky, the blue of this sea, the beauty of the sunset, the other cities, the smiles of the Ackersons whom I thought were enemies, and the comfort of having someone I can trust next to me.

This world was beautiful and vast, and that was something I could not have known even if I had been reading a book alone in my room in the royal castle.

The waves sounded as they washed over.

I think Mika should just smile like an idiot like he always does, instead of looking downcast. As I stared into Mika’s jade eyes that were tinted in pale pink, he stared at me in a daze and said.

“You’re right. It’s so beautiful.”

As Mika said that while looking at me intently, my heart skipped a beat because it made me think he said it to me.

He’s talking about the scenery.

I pretended I didn’t notice the sound of my heart starting to beat rapidly. But I couldn’t take my eyes off Mika as I was caught in his straight gaze.

Mika’s hair that was sticking out fluttered in the sea breeze. His jade green eyes, casting the shadows of the night to come, looked more subdued than usual.

Memories of the fun I had when I used to visit and play at this place came rushing back to me along with the sound of the waves.

I ended up thinking about it.

(Ah… I like him.)

Sigh.

Those words finally came to mind.

There was no mistake that the rest of my life from here on is going to be difficult.

I would keep the guy I love by my side more than anyone else, marry someone, and then have kids with someone. If I marry some noble lady from somewhere, I will probably take good care of that person. But while cherishing them, I’m sure I will think of the guy who is behind me.

(That’s the worst betrayal…)

I felt like apologizing to someone I hadn’t met yet, and my eyebrows dropped.

No, that’s not it. Right, it’s different. Now is not the time to be worrying about a noble lady I haven’t met yet. After all, I didn’t have a fiancée even five years later. For now, I have to focus on these five years.

Before that, I have to save Vivienne by next year and save my brother by three years from now.

When I made up my mind to do so, my hand that was pinching Mika’s cheek was squeezing him tightly, and he told me.

“…Wanna kiss?”

“…What? What are you talking about?”

“It was that kind of atmosphere.”

I thought he was joking, but he came so close to me with an unexpectedly serious face that I was in a state of confusion.

It was that kind of atmosphere… What the hell does that mean?! I won’t stand being kissed in such an atmosphere. I’ve never done that before except when bumping into him, I thought while creasing my eyebrows. Why would this guy say that all of a sudden… My stare turned blank.

I don’t really know, but if at this moment I said things like, “Sounds good! Yes, I would love that! Let’s kiss!” If I had said that, I’m not confident that I would be able to take care of the noble lady I had not met yet in the future.

It would be the end of the world for her if her husband is a man who is unfaithful to the knight behind him. That’s the worst.

I don’t understand the mindset of wanting to kiss someone just because there was someone a little too close at a little too nice dusk, at a little too nice beach. That reminds me, he has been touching my lips a lot since the other day.

I gasped in realization.

“You… is it really just because my lips are nice to the touch…?”

“Haha. Maybe. I didn’t expect a man’s lips to be so soft like this.”

This guy… How much did he play with women without my knowledge? There is no reason for me to know, and I’m not alluding to that. But the fact that I was compared to a woman made something inside me flare up as a man.

Then I blurted it out.

“No way I’d kiss you.”

“I guess so.”

I turned my eyes to the sea and buried my face on my knees again.

At that time, I tried to pull my hand out of his grasp as well. But for some reason, Mika wouldn’t let go, so I wondered what was going on, and then he made a voice as if he had noticed something.

“Ah, Nagi. Hold on.”

“Eh?”

Mika pulled my hand hard toward him, and when I looked his way he was right in front of me.

Mika’s face was just before my eyes.

A sharp sensation, like a mixture of panic and embarrassment, stabbed me in the chest for a moment.

My heart beat loudly.

(…Huh?)

I felt a sensation of something brushing my lips.

His red hair pours into my vision. Even his long, closed eyelashes were a beautiful reddish brown color, I thought. His lashes rose slowly and his jade-green eyes, emerging from beneath them, turned towards me as if challenging me.

(…What?)

It was as if time had stopped.

I also forgot to breathe.

However, Mika’s eyes narrowed in front of me as I blinked my eyes. I heard a kissing sound and then the heat left me.

I was still stunned and frozen, but I gently touched my lips with my fingertips.

(……Eh? What was that…? What?)

Just like when I saw Mika in the city, he smiled softly as if he were looking at someone he loved.

I was stunned, and I asked him.

“You… What are you doing?”

“It was soft.”

“Huh, what?”

“Isn’t it fine? It doesn’t matter even if we did it once or twice. Summer is almost over anyway, doesn’t it make a nice memory?”

I don’t know why. But at this moment, my heart finally sensed an emergency.

Thump, thump, thump, thump, thump. Suddenly, with incredible force, the heat rises all at once in a burst, pushing blood flow throughout my body.

(Eh, what? What? Huh, what does he mean? Eh? What?)

There is no sign of my scattered thoughts clearing up. The only thing that goes through my head is unspoken, unintelligible sounds, and they are not going to come together as words. But when I could no longer formulate words, I picked out a single letter among the scattered thoughts that clearly described the current situation.

“What?!”

About the incident from my childhood, I was fine because I thought of it as an accident. But what about this? Isn’t this a very different thing? And then, I thought.

If I were to put my situation in perspective, I would say that I just offered my lips as a memory of this red-headed knight’s one summer day, just because they were soft.

No, that’s wrong.

I didn’t offer it. It was stolen without my permission.

I don’t know if it’s normal for friends to joke around like this with each other. Not to my knowledge. I have never confirmed such an occurrence. But even if that were true, even if it’s normal for friends to fool around like that, I think it’s still a different thing for me.

(Because… doing this kind of thing… with someone I li-like… What?! W-what’s wrong with me?! I don’t get it…!)

What I thought I would never do in my life suddenly happened to me. And it was just because this guy wanted to know the softness of my lips! I don’t know how much Mika is accustomed to women. But, for me this is…!

I feel like tears are slowly welling up in my eyes. But I’m a man, so I won’t cry.

I gritted my back teeth, then clenched my fists and punched Mika. My right hand landed on Mika’s cheek.

I’m sure Mika will be able to avoid my clumsy punch, which means he must’ve been fooling around a little too much. “Sorry,” said Mika, with a troubled smile on his face. Seeing him like that made me wonder why he wanted to know the softness of my lips so much that he didn’t mind getting punched. As I thought of that, I touched my lips with my fingertips again.

I don’t think they’re that surprisingly soft.

(I don’t! Get it!)

After that…

I, still pouting, and Mika, looking troubled, left the beach and returned to Count Chardin’s mansion. Mika repeatedly said, “Sorry,” but he didn’t say a word on the way home.

However…

Upon returning to the mansion, the butler handed Mika an ostentatious letter and a black box.

Both Mika and I tilted our heads in confusion when we saw it, but then Mika opened the letter and stopped moving.

“…Nagi, I’m sorry. It looks like the summer isn’t over yet.”

“…Huh?”

Mika flipped the letter over and pointed to the sender.

“…It’s an invitation from the Duke of Marcotte.”

——What?