CH 7

Walking down a dark staircase.

Memories of a past I don’t want to remember weigh on my mind and my feet naturally slow down.

“Aria?”

Yuren-kun notices and calls my name with a worried, gentle voice.

“Is something wrong?”

“No, it’s nothing.”

I snap out of it and return to walking at a normal pace as if nothing happened.

It was obvious that it was unnatural, but Yuren-kun didn’t probe further because I acted nonchalant.

He looks ahead again and takes my hand, leading us down the stairs and onto a straight, dark path.

As I gaze at his back, I think to myself.

It’s rude to think of them as the same.

Yuren-kun is different from that person.

I thought they were both kind people.

But I never thought they were similar even once.

Despite having the same kindness, they are completely different.

If I had to say only one thing, that person’s kindness was fake, and Yuren-kun’s kindness is genuine.

Yuren-kun’s voice, face, and heart… everything about him is kind.

The hand that grips mine to pull me along doesn’t apply too much force, and I can feel only a gentle touch.

Even the pace of the walk naturally adjusts to my slower pace.

That’s just how this person is.

It’s been that way since we first met.

My life has been a repeated series of setbacks, and good things rarely happen to me.

Still, I can’t help but feel truly happy that I met him.

I grip his hand.

He grips mine back with the same strength.

We walked straight ahead for a while.

It was dark and scary at first, but that feeling disappeared along the way.

His presence by my side made me feel secure and I stopped feeling afraid.

And once again we reach the stairs.

This time, we’re going up step by step instead of going down.

“When we reach the top of these stairs, we’ll be in the basement of the royal palace.”

“O-Okay.”

In exchange for my fear going away, nervousness gradually rises within me.

I’ve heard of it before, but I’ve never been to the neighboring country.

That royal palace.

More than wanting to know what kind of place it was, I became worried about how I would be perceived.

“Don’t worry about it. It’s still the basement even if we come out, and it’s too late today. I’ll introduce you properly tomorrow.”

“R-Really?”

“That’s what I was planning to do. But if Aria wants to go see my father today, shall we go straight there?”

“N-No! Tomorrow is fine.”

I shook my head hurriedly.

If I suddenly met the king, I would feel even more nervous than I do now.

Perhaps because many things had happened today, I also felt like I wanted to calm down and take a rest.

If he says tomorrow is okay, I’ll take him up on his offer.

“We’ll be there soon.”

“Okay.”

As he said that and climbed a few steps, I could faintly see the square door, just like the entrance, in the darkness.

He slowly opened the door with a clanking metal sound.

The area beyond the door was still dark.

Even though he had said it was the basement, the atmosphere was not much different from the stairs we had been climbing.

It felt like a prison, and I couldn’t imagine it was a part of the castle.

“This basement was a room for the people in the castle to hide during the war in the past. It’s been several decades since then, and now there’s no more war, so it’s not used. As you can see, it’s barely guarded and almost abandoned.”

It seems that Yuren-kun noticed what I was wondering about.

Before I could ask, he answered the question I wanted to know.

The reason it looks like a prison is that the walls and ceilings are made of durable minerals.

It’s also because there is no light at all in the dark.

My doubts were resolved and I felt relieved.

Thanks to that, another question arises that I wanted to ask.

“Hey, Yuren-kun. We’ll introduce ourselves to the king tomorrow, but what about tonight? Won’t it look suspicious if an outsider is suddenly in the royal castle…”

“Well, that would be suspicious.”

“You just say that so casually…”

I thought he had a plan, but maybe he didn’t?

“It’s alright. I know the security at this time, so you can go to my room without being seen.”

“Oh, I see. That’s good… Huh?”

“Hmm? What’s wrong, Aria?”

“Umm…about Yuren-kun’s room right now…”

I thought I heard something, but maybe it was just my imagination.

When I ask again, he answers as if it were obvious.

“Yes. Tonight you will stay in my room.”

“…Eh.”

Eeeeeeeeeeee?!

As I am shocked, I can’t find words, and only a non-verbal scream echoes in my head.

Yuren-kun takes my trembling hand and, deceiving the eyes of the security guards, leads me to his room without making a sound, like an assassin.

If you were to just look at it sideways, you would not think he was a prince of a country.

After that, we proceeded without any problems, and we arrived at Yuren-kun’s room in no time.

“Okay, I guess we’re good for tonight.”

“Y-Yeah.”

We arrived without any problems.

As I came here in a bit of a rush, I am both out of breath and my heartbeat is racing.

I can’t tell which is which anymore.

Taking a deep breath to calm down, Yuren-kun speaks to me.

“Are you tired today? You can use my bed however you want, so please rest well.”

“Huh? Then where will you sleep, Yuren-kun?”

“I’ll sleep on that sofa over there.”

With that, Yuren-kun sits on the sofa.

At this point, I realized that Yuren-kun had not considered this kind of situation.

I felt embarrassed that I was the only one who had thought about it, and my face turned red.

At the same time, I felt sorry for using the bed.

“No, Yuren-kun, that won’t do. This is your room, and you’re a prince, after all.”

“The title doesn’t matter. It’s even more embarrassing to let a girl sleep on the sofa while I sleep on the bed.”

“B-But…”

“Just go ahead and sleep. We’ll be busy starting tomorrow, right?”

“Okay.”

At times like this, Yuren-kun can be stubborn.

He’s been like that since we were kids.

Feeling apologetic, I decide to use the bed.

Even though we were apart, II still slept in the same room with a boy.

Thinking about it that way, I found myself getting nervous on my own.