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“The whole castle was buzzing with talk about dragons.”

For a moment, this also made the members of the Punishment Unit somewhat popular.

Curious maids and soldiers who had seen the brought-in dragon corpse rarely missed a chance to hear stories from the boy soldiers who had witnessed the hunt.

“I swear, I saw it with my own eyes…! That Kyle was flying in the sky…!”

“Oh my, oh my…!”

This tale was particularly popular among the maids.

I didn’t expect it, but strangely, the story of the dragon capture spread more excitingly among the women than the men.

Perhaps this is why knights crave such honor.

The boy soldiers, already brimming with teenage hormones, worked hard to bond with the maids based on these stories, and a few even achieved their goals.

Sometimes, boy soldiers who had spent quality time with the maids approached me, thanking me with a nod.

“Kyle, if you have anything tough going on, just say it…! I’ll definitely help!”

“…”

I had an idea of what they meant, and found it a bit creepy, so I was always busy pushing them away.

My treatment among them had changed considerably.

This was also a major change among the maids.

In the past, many maids who used to frown at me now greeted me first or even gave me flirty smiles.

The distance had closed so much that fewer maids would quickly walk away in fear when I approached, and some even seemed to walk at my pace.

Just yesterday, a maid around my age waved at me and then ran off with a blush on her face.

I didn’t dislike the feeling of animosity turning into kindness.

Of course, that didn’t mean I could get close to the maids.

I didn’t have the intention either, but Vivian’s attitude was becoming a problem.

‘…Who told you to take care of Kyle Allen?’

Everyone remembered the anger Vivian displayed when Rona offered to change my bandages.

She usually wasn’t one to get that angry, so the maids must have been doubly shocked.

Even Rona, being big and far from feminine, cried later after returning to the lodge, so…

…what a crazy woman.

I thought of Vivian.

Was changing the bandages such an awful thing to do?

I had saved her from a dragon—did she think I couldn’t do even that?

Was it such a huge mistake that I held her, shivering in the cold? Did I have to change my own bandages too?

Shouldn’t I be rewarded for the trouble I took in coming back alive?

It’s a given in any family to be generously rewarded for slaying a dragon.

But not only did I get nothing, I had to tend to my own wounds too.

No matter how much I was held captive as a hostage, isn’t this going a bit too far?

Knowing that it was Vivian leading this charge made it all the more annoying.

Yet, while I was this annoyed, nothing about Vivian had made me completely hate her, which was beyond frustrating.

Why on earth did I not hate that crazy woman?

When I think back to catching the dragon, it wasn’t that I was courageous and acted bravely.

I did it because I thought Vivian might die if I didn’t.

It was always like that. I wasn’t moving out of bravery, but out of fear that she’d die if I didn’t.

It’s always frustrating, yet my body is always moving.

…I was seriously beginning to doubt whether this was a curse placed upon me.

These doubts were gnawing at me.

Recently, Vivian had been busy.

I often wondered what she was discussing with Robert Rondore, as they spent a lot of time together.

At times, I found it hard to contain my curiosity and loitered near the meeting room where they were, but as the eldest son of the Allen family, of course, I wasn’t allowed to overhear their meeting.

If Vivian’s retainers were the same as usual, I would have pushed through somehow.

But Robert’s retainers were tougher and more stubborn, so I always had to back down.

It had been ten days since the expedition ended.

During that time, I couldn’t even talk to Vivian.

At most, we’d eat together.

Even then, Robert had shown some displeasure, but Vivian calmed him down to some extent with her words.

“Kyle Allen is ensuring that the food doesn’t contain poison on my behalf. It’s a proper act for the eldest son of the Allen family, don’t you think?”

Of course, I knew that it was all lip service from Vivian.

She had told me long ago I didn’t need to check the food.

However, for some reason, hearing such a thing without resolving the hostile atmosphere that lingered between us, I was certainly annoyed.

Vivian would sometimes glance my way as if checking my mood, but that never eased the frustration.

I was wandering through the Castle of Rondore.

The expedition ended and the Punishment Unit was granted a break disguised as a reward, and with no more training, I was living a tranquil daily life.

Vivian’s retainers weren’t bothering me, probably because of the extra work from Robert.

It was peaceful. If only I didn’t think of Vivian.

“K-Kyle!”

At that moment, someone called for me from ahead.

It was the maid I’d seen waving at me recently, looking like she was around my age.

She had brown hair, a fair amount of freckles, a youthful appearance, and was slightly shorter than me.

Behind her were older-looking maids who seemed to be whispering something to the freckly maid.

The maid took a deep breath and, with a determined expression, approached me.

But when she stopped in front of me, she couldn’t look me in the eye again.

With her face turning red, she spoke up.

“Th-this…!”

And she extended both hands to offer me something.

In her hands were two cookies she had fumbled together.

“I-it’s something I made myself. H-having a snack when you’re feeling peckish…”

“…”

I had heard something through Willas.

Yanes had said something similar.

I had heard that maids sometimes approached boy soldiers this way.

I could remember the faces of my comrades who had excitedly shared their experiences.

…But oddly, I didn’t mind this maid’s approach at all.

I was just astonished by her boldness.

Had she not heard anything about Vivian and Rona?

There was nothing good that could come from Vivian finding out about this.

I stared at the cookies and spoke.

“I don’t even know your name.”

“Ah…! Ah!”

She fumbled as if she realized her mistake, nervously tucking her brown hair behind her ear as she shyly replied.

“M-my name is Serena… I-I’m 16 years old.”

Just like Willas and Yanes, I didn’t feel an urge to do anything with the maid who introduced herself as Serena.

But I didn’t want to rudely throw away the genuine kindness I was feeling for the first time in the Castle of Rondore.

So, I gave a formal smile and accepted the cookies.

“Thanks. I’ll eat them during training.”

“A-yes!!”

With my smile, Serena’s face brightened, and her lips curled up.

She turned to leave but seemed to remember something as her fellow maids waved from afar and she looked back at me.

“Ah, right… that…!”

“…?”

Serena couldn’t even bear to look at me. Her face was so red.

Covering her eyes slightly with her hand, she trembled and asked.

“I-if… Tonight… if you have time… could you… meet me in the st-stables?”

“What’s going on in the stables?”

At that moment, a familiar voice intruded between us.

I turned to see where the sound was coming from.

Red hair.

A breathtaking appearance.

A recently grown taller stature. Recently elongated legs.

…And, slowly rounding curves of a figure, Vivian Rondore approached me, staring at me from afar.

There was a coldness in her eyes.

I couldn’t understand what had made her so angry.

No, I did understand.

It was probably because she didn’t want to see the son of the man who had killed her father and brother living comfortably. But I didn’t know whether that was enough to warrant such a serious expression.

The maids attending to Serena fled upon Vivian’s arrival.

Serena also realized she was in trouble, her expression went stiff as she didn’t know what to do.

Vivian calmly walked up to me and looked up.

Her red eyes looked like they were burning.

“…Why.”

When I asked her, standing silently, Vivian averted her gaze.

And she turned to Serena and asked.

“What’s your name?”

“S-Sere…na, My Lady…”

Although she referred to Vivian as My Lady, it didn’t save her from Vivian’s wrath.

“…Didn’t I clearly warn you to keep away from Kyle Allen?”

…Did she really do that? I was flabbergasted.

Vivian’s voice grew more fierce.

“…You mean to tell me that you’re taking care of the son of the man who killed my father and brother without my permission?”

“B-But, Vivian!”

“Do I need to consider you a traitor to the Rondore family? Is there truly an idiot who still doesn’t understand my hatred for the Allen family?”

“I-I’m sorry! I’m sorry! Just give me a chance…!”

Vivian looked for somewhere else to direct her irritation and then looked at my hand.

-Smack!

She snatched the cookies I had received and tossed them out the window.

Serena’s cookies soared through the sky in an instant.

The cookie flying pathetically made me chuckle a bit even in such a situation.

I let out a hollow laugh and asked.

“…What are you doing?”

At my question, Vivian seemed to come back to her senses.

She looked out the window, calming her emotions, and then told Serena.

“Get out of here. Don’t you ever do something like this again. And tell the maids. Even though I’m letting it slide this time, if they continue to disrupt the decorum of the Rondore Castle… I won’t forgive them anymore.”

“Y-yes!”

Serena hastily ran away upon Vivian’s instruction.

Vivian looked up at me.

There was a warning in her voice.

“You keep forgetting… These maids are the maids of Rondore, not your maids.”

“I haven’t forgotten.”

“Then why…?!”

“Did it seem like I ordered her? She approached me.”

“…”

I asked her.

“Why are you acting like this?”

Vivian was taken aback at her own words.

“Was holding you such a terrible mistake? We’ve already touched each other several times.”

“Wh-what?”

“I even saved you from a dragon, are you going to be annoyed just for that? Didn’t I say it was cold? Didn’t I say you were trembling? I’d done all I could to help, and you put it all on me?”

“…It’s not like that.”

She looked away, denying my words.

“It’s not? You’ve been acting weird since that day.”

“I said it wasn’t…! I just…”

Vivian looked at me. There was no trace of her trying to hide something in her expression.

Only a clear confusion was visible in her face.

She spoke.

“…I just… I get angry when I see you smile. I don’t want to see you happy.”

“…”

Vivian shook her head lightly, looking up at me as if accepting one fact.

“Didn’t I tell you not to think about being happy in this land? Have you already forgotten? How many times do I have to tell you that you should be unhappy?”

She then flushed and demanded.

“Did you think you could have a sexual experience? G-gross. Do all men think like that? Even if you are adult, have you already started swinging like a monkey with lust?”

“…Who said I wanted that?”

“W-Whatever. It’s dirty. Crude. Barbaric. Disgusting.”

“…”

Her open hostility left me speechless.

The grudge between us was no secret. Perhaps it was a natural reaction.

Upon reflection, maybe it was my fault for thinking we were getting closer.

But it’s strange that seeing me smile makes her angry. How should I even react to that?

“…”

I opened my mouth and closed it again.

I was about to say something, but then I hesitated in anger and stopped due to annoyance.

I had nothing to say.

I stared at Vivian intensely.

…What a crazy woman.

Even after all this, I didn’t hate her.

I was really losing my mind.

I honestly didn’t know if it was me or Vivian who was crazy.

On top of that, I absurdly thought that Vivian’s hair looked really soft today.

Eventually, I had nothing more to say and turned to leave.

“…Where are you going…?！”

Vivian called out after me irritably, but I ignored her.

…

That evening, I faced Vivian again.

The awkward atmosphere from earlier in the day lingered between us.

Today, Robert Rondore wasn’t at the table.

He decided to have dinner with his retainers for once.

It turned out that Vivian was in a situation where she had asked Robert for financial help.

As the lord of a port city, Robert seemed to be relatively wealthy.

In exchange for this aid, he had requested something from her—permission to become regent, but I had heard that Vivian was currently refusing that offer.

It was an uneasy proposal.

Did he really want to be regent out of concern for the Rondore family, or was there another intent behind it?

I found the latter highly probable.

However, Vivian didn’t share such political talks with me.

The information I’d heard just now was ultimately extracted from the info broker, Nesto.

Vivian didn’t confide her genuine thoughts about reviving her family to me as she used to.

“…”

“…”

I continued eating while wholly ignoring Vivian.

Vivian also consumed her meal while completely ignoring me.

Though we were both ignoring each other, it couldn’t have been more apparent how much we were conscious of one another.

Each and every action echoed through the corners of my vision.

Then Vivian opened her mouth.

“…A guest will come in a few months.”

“…Again?”

The place was already bustling with Robert’s people.

Vivian nodded.

“…The daughters of the Dubos family will be visiting as guests.”

The Dubos family.

One of the subfamilies who pledged loyalty to the Rondore family.

Their arrival must be a setup to start social interaction.

“So? What’s the reason for telling me they’re coming?”

“I heard they are both beauties. Sisters.”

I couldn’t grasp why Vivian was saying this.

She looked up at me, our eyes meeting.

“…If you dare to interrupt me during my meeting with them, like you did tonight…”

“…Are you crazy? Did I even call a maid to the stables? Stop talking nonsense.”

-Thud.

As I placed my spoon down in warning, Vivian immediately fell silent.

I couldn’t understand what she was learning in class, as she was getting increasingly knowledgeable about the castle.

And it seemed she harbored some insane assumptions, regarding me oddly.

…Of course, while it was known that boy soldiers and maids often got involved,

but I was greatly annoyed that she kept insisting on connecting me to that.

Perhaps it could also be that the fact Serena called me to the stables had shocked her.

Is this why she reacted so strongly to the hug?

It was hard to believe that such a pure-looking person like her would entertain thoughts like that.

In any case, she continued to eat, pretending not to know in response to my comment.

I wiped my mouth and stood up.

Once again surfacing irritation, I attempted to leave her side.

“…Kyle.”

But Vivian called out to me.

She wasn’t even looking at me.

Vivian pulled something from her pocket.

Two cookies unexpectedly appeared.

“…”

“…”

She silently handed them to me, wiped her mouth, and stood up.

And then she left the hall before me.

I quietly stared at the hand of reconciliation she had left behind.

…

Three months passed.

I had finally caught up to Martin’s height.

I had nearly been in this land for two years now.

I turned 16, and Vivian turned 15.

We were gradually growing up.

And just like that, the daughters of the Dubos family arrived to visit Vivian, who was slowly turning into an adult.

 

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