Became the Escort Knight of the Villain in the Romance Novel

13 – Festival (3)

A twilight glow surrounds it.

My body gets tired from the warm energy and the cozy sensation that seems to melt even the cold of winter, and as soon as my eyelids get heavy, I suddenly open my eyes at the thought that suddenly came to my mind.

“……”

When I opened my eyes, what I saw was a bright light shining through the curtains.

It wasn’t the magic crystal light he remembered, nor the flickering light of firecrackers and torches in the streets.

Surely, this light was the brilliance of the sun.

It is only then that the drowsy mind begins to wake up little by little. He raised his head, frowning at the growing anxiety that gripped his chest.

The bustle of noise coming from outside the door, and the bright scenery outside, unlike what he remembered.

“…Ah”

I had to admit it. He said he fell asleep while looking at the papers.

Looking at the pile of documents in front of my eyes as if saying that what I am seeing now is not a dream, I sighed and closed my eyes gently.

Sug,

“…This.”

When I saw the blanket draped over his shoulders, I burst into laughter.

It was probably worn by an escort knight who was next to him until he fell asleep.

Seeing that the glasses he was wearing were also sitting on one of the desks, it made me think that he took good care of himself.

September, the season when the leaves lose their luster and turn red. Maybe I caught a cold or did this.

Isn’t the weather quite warm for autumn to come yet?

Get up from your seat and walk towards the window.

In the transparent window seen through the rolled back curtains, people already filled the streets were marching, each holding a flag.

After looking at the black waves for a while, he sighed and looked away.

He wasn’t going to be part of that procession anyway. Aren’t the papers piled up on that desk cursing you?

Ink and Pulp drew a knife at him and raised it.

A war against work, just when you were about to start this lonely war in which only you are fighting, someone knocked on the door.

“Come in.”

Because there will be only one person trying to enter his room right now.

“Oh, are you awake?”

“Have you eaten?”

“Yes, I woke up early in the morning and ate first. I’m preparing dinner, lady, so come down later!”

“Yeah, but what about Evan?”

“Oh, you are training. You’ll probably be back soon. Because you said you left when it was dark.”

“…… It’s when it’s dark.”

Did I stay up all night? When I thought of the blanket still wrapped around my shoulders, I felt a bit uneasy.

It felt as if that warmth was permeating my whole body along my shoulders, so I pulled off the blanket and brushed it over my shoulders.

However, when the blanket was removed, what was left was a bone-chilling feeling of emptiness.

For some reason, even the warm outside seemed cold.

“My lady?”

I just stared at the window in response to Lopena’s question, and soon I heard the sound of the door closing quietly.

I close my eyes to the silence that comes before long. Focusing only on the sounds she hears, she calmly organizes the thoughts that clutter her head.

Evan Fried. Eventually, the name that came to mind broke his concentration, and his gaze turned cold.

Over the course of a month, the escort knight and himself could say that they had grown quite close.

To the surprise of the other maids and Sir Chris, she was the only one to whom she had shown such a favorable attitude.

Even he could not understand why he was softening up so much.

However, when I saw his face, it felt like my frozen heart melted, and his voice only contained warmth.

The blond hair resembling this autumn is flowing, and the bright smile like a boy of that age is like a painting.

When he smiled mischievously, his face, which seemed to contain all the innocence of the world, seemed to be in a world completely different from his own.

Come to think of it, didn’t he become quite friendly with his ladies-in-waiting after becoming an escort knight?

He was often in awe of the way he quickly became friendly with a lady-in-waiting he hadn’t seen before with just a few words.

Is it because of his tall appearance, or is it because of the brightness that always follows him?

It seemed that the kindness that a person with iron blood could not possess was now affecting him as well.

I look at the blanket that I clutched tightly as if I was regretful, and then put it on my shoulder again.

It was no different from regret. He immersed himself in the sensation he couldn’t get his hands on and felt it for a long time, until he regretted it later.

But I can’t let go of that sweetness. It’s been a long time since the thorns of the rose I already held in my hand dug into my hand.

What came in came in so easily, it burrowed into the flesh like a hook and didn’t try to escape.

Aren’t you the one who can’t even put down this blanket that covers my shoulders?

Even if he kept pushing away, telling him not to come, it was his own escort knight who eventually came.

Whenever the green eyes filled with deep emotions wavered, his heart also wavered, and in the end, he was bound to drop his pushing hand powerlessly.

But I had to let go.

I have to let go. I have to let go of this longing.

-I didn’t care. It’s just that it’s uncomfortable.

I was so resentful of myself for not being able to let go of the warmth that had come to me.

Even though you can easily let go as much as you want to let go. That’s how he was accepting the escort knights who approached step by step.

I knew it was regret. I knew that if I put more effort into it, I would eventually regret it someday.

Even so, even though I know that.

It was really not easy to let go of those lingering feelings.

“May I come in?”

“……”

A voice from beyond the door breaks my thoughts.

The low voice resounded in the quiet room, and his lips, which had been standing in a daze for a moment, moved.

I hope you don’t come in. I’d rather have a job other than being my escort driver.

This wasn’t the right place for him. Cold, harsh, and completely devoid of kindness. It was a place where people with molten iron flowing in their bodies instead of blood gathered.

Those who laugh so much now come at me with knives.

The knights he thought were loyal to him eventually belonged to his father.

All he had was this room, a couple of his exclusive ladies-in-waiting, and an escort knight. It was a reality that even that was hard to keep.

If I hadn’t opened the door and come in, I’d rather just disappear into the distance.

Contrary to such feelings, the words that came out of his mouth were brutally positive.

“…Come in.”

I couldn’t help but laugh bitterly at the thorny feeling as if it were digging deeper.

#

“Did you stay up all night?”

As soon as I entered her room, I smiled awkwardly at her words and nodded to her.

Actually, I went back to my room and tried to sleep, but I couldn’t sleep. He had left a little earlier to do the training that his body was accustomed to.

I nodded her head, and Irene, who stared at me, opened her mouth.

“It is good to get enough sleep. I will hardly sleep during this festival.”

“That’s what I want to say. It is good to get enough sleep.”

She couldn’t handle mana properly. What she meant was that, after all, she couldn’t bear the weariness of her body.

She was able to stay up all night using mana, but her body was only at the level of a trained average person.

If I continued to work excessively, it was clear that I would fall asleep again like this time.

As if it was very strange that I said it firmly, Irene stared at me, then withdrew her gaze and sat down at her desk.

Then, what suddenly caught my eye was the blanket that I was supposed to wrap the night before. Perhaps he was still awake and didn’t know that the blanket was wrapped around him.

“By the way, are you cold?”

As I pointed to the blanket and asked, Irene looked at the blanket and quickly took it back.

She looked at the action taken in the blink of an eye and smiled. Oops, maybe I didn’t know that until now.

“…There was something like this.”

“You seem to be less awake yet. Did you have dinner?”

“Did you eat anything? It looks like he just came in.”

Coming to think of it, I didn’t eat anything today either. Maybe it’s because it’s a body that’s so different from a human’s.

I don’t feel hungry like before, so I tend to eat when the time is right.

The fortunate thing was that thanks to my status, I was able to eat rice prepared by the chef here.

I shook her head, and Irene, who opened her eyes, stood up from her seat and opened her mouth.

“Let’s have a meal together. We also need to talk about plans after this festival.”

“…Sickles.”

“It’s an order.”

As an order, why did you do this to me even though you know that you can’t be sick with your status as an escort knight?

But she said that it was an order anyway, so she replied that I would understand, and Irene quickly passed me and continued her words.

“I plan to take care of all those papers within today. I plan to skip dinner, so you better eat well.”

“It’s not good for your health.”

“Having paperwork piled up like that is more harmful to my mental health. I hope you understand my feelings.”

“…If you think so.”

Why are you trying to get things done so quickly?

As if she was being chased by something, she looked at her curiously as she tried to process the paperwork.

Do you want to participate in the festival?

Hey, I thought the other day that the twinkle in the eye was going to participate in the end, even if the horse didn’t seem to have much of a heart.

Hmm.

It seemed that Irene had to keep a close eye on her so she wouldn’t collapse.

Should I force myself to sleep if I try to overdo it like yesterday?

Although she knew that in fact she had to deal with many things alone and that she was carrying a heavy burden.

Even so, I wasn’t saying that I would just wait and see if I fell asleep like this time.

Being her escort knight wasn’t just protecting her from outside threats, she had to take care of her physical condition as well.

Besides, I wasn’t too comfortable watching it.

I sighed and opened my mouth, seeing that her white skin, which was already pale enough, looked even paler today.

“…I hope you take care of yourself a little.”

“I don’t have time for that.”

Time, yes. Time has always been an issue. Because she didn’t have time to move freely about anything.

Maybe that’s why she has subtle expectations for this festival.

Tak-

I looked at the plates in front of me and narrowed my eyes.

Actually, I didn’t want to leave Irene like this. No matter how mature she was, she was 15.

At that age, she was buried in paperwork, and it was uncomfortable to watch her fall asleep after not getting enough sleep.

The fact that I couldn’t fall asleep today was largely due to Irene.

“…Are you listening?”

When she raised her head at the sound of a knife pounding on a plate, Irene looked at me and frowned.

“No, I was thinking about something else.”

“Be shameless. Wasn’t it a sickle wound to talk about after the festival?”

It’s a festival. It would have been nice if she had participated.

She should be able to go on the last day, but then it was clear that all the events of the festival would be over and there would be nothing to enjoy. At best, I’d end up watching some fireworks at the closing ceremony.

Perhaps today is the best day to enjoy most of the festival.

I smiled at the thought that suddenly popped into my head, looked at Irene and opened her mouth.

“How about going out today?”

“…Speak something that makes sense. Didn’t you see that document earlier?”

“For example, patrols to check the safety of the streets where the festival is held.”

GiGeek-

The knife used to cut the meat crashes into the plate.

Her eyes trembled as she stared at me asking if she was serious, so I smiled and shrugged her shoulders.