CH 35

The next morning.

I finished breakfast and was walking down the hallway of the palace towards the workshop when I noticed Yuren-kun walking towards me.

He also noticed me and waved his hand lightly.

“Good morning, Aria.”

“Good morning.”

He stopped in front of me and showed me a warm smile like the morning sun.

“You have work today too, right?”

“Yeah, what about you, Yuren-kun?”

“Yeah, the documents are piling up again.”

He looked like he wanted to say “good grief”.

It seems that the prince’s job is quite tough.

He complains that despite not going out recently, the work keeps piling up.

“Fufu, don’t push yourself too hard, okay?”

“Yeah.”

“Well, I’m gonna go now.”

“Yeah. Do your best.”

I smiled lightly and walked down the hallway faster than usual.

I wanted to talk to him more, but there is a reason why I can’t.

You never know when or where you are being watched.

It might be better to reduce my opportunities to interact with Yuren-kun outside of the workshop.

I think so, but…

In the workshop around noon.

“Oh, Onii-sama, welcome!”

“Hey, you’re doing well.”

“Yes!”

Yuren-kun arrived.

Irina-chan was happy to see him.

“Is Aria doing well too?”

“Yeah, I’m fine, but I’m a bit busy right now and can’t take my hands off.”

I put on an indifferent attitude.

If I let the conversation drag on or make him stay in the workshop, I’ll make “them” angry again.

“I see. If you’re busy, I shouldn’t bother you.”

“…Yeah, sorry.”

I’m really sorry.

He came all this way, but I can’t even talk to him.

I really want to talk to him too.

Just talking about trivial things makes me very happy.

But now, anxiety is stronger.

So I try to reduce our interaction as much as possible.

I thought that was the case, but…

“Why?”

When I entered my room after work, there was a letter on my desk.

The contents were the same as the one sent with the knife.

There was a message telling me not to approach Yuren-kun, and a scary sentence saying that we can’t overlook this anymore.

I thought I was avoiding it, but it seems like it wasn’t good enough for the other person.

Since that day, my anxiety grew stronger.

With the influence of the rumors, I always felt eyes on me from my surroundings.

Who is watching me?

I found myself following eyes to see if anyone was angry.

Conversations with Yuren-kun also became shorter and shorter.

Even when he came to talk to me, I became more and more distant.

It was heartbreaking.

Although I really wanted to talk, my anxiety always won and I couldn’t do anything.

There has been no report from Hisui-san yet.

Maybe it’s because he’s busy, but the chances of meeting him have decreased.

This only fueled my anxiety even more.

Occasionally Irina-chan is absent for a day.

Since she’s also a princess, she should be as busy as Yuren-kun.

I thought it was natural that she couldn’t come to help on days when she couldn’t due to her duties.

But the time when she’s absent, and I’m the only one in the workshop… that made me particularly anxious.

If something were to happen now…

When anxious, the door to my workshop creaks open.

I turned around and there he was.

“Yuren-kun.”

“Hey, I came to check on you.”

Relieved that he had come, I had the urge to spill everything, but I held back.

I didn’t want to cause trouble.

I didn’t want to become a burden, even though I wanted to be his support.

But he noticed my change.

“Aria, come here for a sec.”

“Huh?”

He grabbed my hand and forcefully pulled me along.

Running powerfully, we arrived at Laura-san’s room, which had turned into a storage room.

“There’s a lot of stuff here, and it can’t be seen from the outside. There’s no need to worry about being heard here.”

“Yuren-kun?”

He let out a small sigh and looked at me with a serious expression.

“Hey, Aria, something’s happened, hasn’t it?”

“Huh…n-nothing’s happened.”

“Don’t lie. You’re obviously avoiding me, and you seem afraid of something.”

“That’s…”

It seems like he noticed after all.

At first, I was able to hide it, but lately it had become more noticeable in my behavior.

It was because of the threatening messages that had been sent in a short period of time.

I know it sounds like an excuse, but I don’t think anyone could receive something like that and remain calm.

“Please tell me, Aria! I’m worried.”

“Yuren-kun…”

I didn’t want to worry him.

I didn’t want to burden him and wanted to solve it without involving him.

But in the end, I regretted worrying him.

I was also happy that he was worried about me.

“Actually——.”

If I kept quiet, he would only worry more.

So I told him about the recent events that had occurred.

“Why didn’t you consult with me earlier?”

“Uh, I’m sorry.”

He raised his voice and got angry.

Seeing him get angry, my body shook.

“If it had gone wrong, you might have been injured. I told you to consult with me about these things!”

“U-um… but… I didn’t want to cause trouble for Yuren-kun.”

“It’s the opposite. If something happened to you while I did nothing… I would hate that.”

Yuren-kun replied, gripping my shoulders.

At first, it was a strong grip, but gradually the strength faded.

“I’m glad you’re okay.”

As soon as I heard those words, my eyes couldn’t hold back the tears anymore.

Before I knew it, a single tear fell from my eyes and soaked the ground.