Volume 2 - CH 42

“Rouché! Hey, Rouché! What are those people doing?”

Lady Sophia, who had just become my master a few days ago, dramatically tilted her head to the side in puzzlement. When I followed her line of sight, feeling endeared by her gesture, I saw the knights of the Rosenberg Marquis household, training in bare-handed combat.

“They are practising jujutsu. I’ve heard that they make use of the opponent’s strength to send him flying and things like that.”

“The opponent’s strength… whoa…”

A knight of a small build flung a huge man through the air before us. Then he leaned onto his opponent, whose back was pressed to the ground, and pinned him down. As she watched this happen, the young Lady asked something absurd.

“Can I do this too?”

‘The young Lady had gotten interested in something troublesome,’ I thought, and frowned. It wasn’t unusual for young Ladies to learn self-defense. However, they started learning it when they got a little bit older. There was no way I could let a young Lady whose age didn’t even reach two digits yet learn something like self-defense. It was too dangerous.

That was what I thought, and yet-

“Cyril, Cyril! Jujutsu? Teach me!”

“As you wish.”

“As she wishes?!”

Cyril, who just happened to come out from a hallway, had immediately agreed to Lady Sophia’s request. I couldn’t acknowledge these words as those of my superior, who一although he was the same as Lady Sophia一was for some reason absurdly mature. 

“W-wait a second, Cyril, please come here.”

I grabbed Cyril’s arm and I pulled him a little ways away from the young Lady.

“Cyril, you want to teach the young Lady self-defense?”

“Rouché, I don’t mind if you address me so casually in private, but you cannot do that in front of the young Lady.2”

“I’m sorry一wait, I’m not sorry一no, I will rectify that, but that’s not what I meant. What are you thinking, saying that you will teach Lady Sophia jujutsu? That’s dangerous.”

“I don’t see any issues with it.”

“You might think that I am worrying about this without reason, but…” 

“Moreover, since I had thought something like this might happen, I already got permission from my father.”

“What do you mean by ‘something like this’?” 

I didn’t understand what he meant at all. Even though I didn’t understand, Cyril’s father was the current family head’s exclusive butler. Therefore, if he had given his permission, then there really wasn’t a problem with it-

“…Huh?”

Just when I thought I heard the sound of a grab, suddenly, the world went upside down. Although I was sure that I had been standing normally, for some reason, I began to fall, my back heading towards the ground in the next moment. Then, out of nowhere, my descent was gently stopped.

“How was it? It’s not particularly dangerous, is it?”

Cyril was looking at my face. Just as I was on the verge of asking what he was talking about, I noticed that I was lying down, my face facing upwards. No, to be more precise, I was being held in a bridal carry.

…Ah, I see. I had been thrown, hadn’t I? But it did feel like I was falling from pretty high up… could it be that I had been thrown quite high?

More importantly, Cyril’s eyelashes sure were long for a guy. He had handsome features too, and his limbs were long. His body was so firm that you wouldn’t even think that he was still a child. 

Although he was close to ten years younger than me… he was Lady Sophia’s exclusive butler at this age already, and actually, on second thought, wasn’t he extremely promising? Even in the sense of becoming someone who could be able to make a noble household flourish again… eep!

I shuddered. From the corner of my eye, I saw Lady Sophia smiling. No, I don’t think that saying ‘she was smiling’ would be a faithful description of her expression.. How should I put it…? Although she was smiling, she seemed terrifying. 

""

I realized that this was the face of a jealous young girl.   

“C- Cyril, please put me down!”

“Ah, there’s no need for you to fret like this. You’re very light, you know? Or are you feeling embarrassed about being held in a bridal carry?”

“Th-that’s not what I said!”

More importantly, there’s- there’s a dangerous aura coming from the young Lady! Look! Behind us, it’s dangerous! I’m being pierced by her eyes, why haven’t you noticed, idiot?!

…Afterwards, I encouraged Cyril to let Lady Sophia experience the same thing as I had, which did improve the young Lady’s mood, and so, somehow, I was able to survive without incident. The young Lady was the one person that I couldn’t afford to anger.

More importantly, how could Cyril not be aware of such blatant affection…?

Thank you for reading! I know that this chapter is extremely short, as I explained in the note of the previous chapter, I am using the extra time to translate and prepare the prologue that should be coming in two weeks!

I have more work and some personal stuff to deal with too lately, so please bear with me for this one week. Thank you for understanding!