37
“…What exactly do you want me to take responsibility for…”
“If I ask you to play with me, you’ll play with me.”
“……”
“If I say I can’t sleep alone, you’ll sleep with me.”
“What?”
“If I say I’m lonely, you’ll hug me.”
“No, what are you saying! Why would I!”
I hurriedly cut off his words. Without realizing it, I had recalled the day we both caused trouble together and ended up shouting in surprise.
‘Ah.’
I overreacted too much.
I could feel my face turning bright red, so I pressed my lips into a tight line and glared at him for no reason. Cedric subtly lifted the corners of his mouth.
“It’s a joke.”
“……”
“You don’t have to hate it that much.”
“……”
So once again, I had nothing to say.
My heart felt heavy. I felt sorry too. It felt like only I kept getting lost, unable to escape from past events.
“Sorry for shouting.”
“……”
“I’m going to get some sleep, so wake me up when we arrive.”
In the end, I cut off this conversation first and closed my eyes. Cedric fell quiet after giving a single response that he understood. I wondered if I’d be able to sleep with all this on my mind, but at some point I fell into a deep slumber.
“Eddie.”
Not long after, a quiet voice came along with my shoulder being shaken. When I opened my eyes, Cedric’s face was close to mine. The sun had already set beyond the window, and the carriage had stopped in front of a villa mansion.
“We’re here.”
“Mmm…”
While I was blinking my heavy eyes and letting out a big yawn, Cedric opened the door first and got out.
The salty, cool air rushed in from outside, making me feel like the drowsiness clinging to my eyes was clearing up a bit more.
“I’ll help you.”
As I was getting out of the carriage in a half-awake state, Cedric extended his hand to me as if to escort me, so I hesitated for a moment.
I felt a bit sorry about shouting earlier, and it would be awkward to refuse his kindness, so I eventually took his hand and used it for support as I got down.
“You don’t have to do this kind of thing for me.”
“I’m doing it because I want to.”
…Honestly. Such an unnecessarily kind guy.
I glanced at him sideways.
Cedric was breathing in the breeze and taking in the ocean scent. Come to think of it, he had said this was his first time seeing the ocean.
“…There are lots of local specialties sold only around here.”
“I’m curious.”
“Let’s unpack quickly and go look around.”
When I pulled my luggage first and crossed through the gate, Cedric promptly followed behind me. After telling the coachman where his room was located, we decided to use separate rooms on the second floor.
After unpacking appropriately and coming out to the hallway, I ran into Cedric, who had finished preparing early and was waiting by the door.
“Finished?”
“Yeah, let’s go.”
As soon as we went outside, an evening scenery and atmosphere quite different from what I usually saw came into view. For a moment I really felt like I was on a trip, and I got excited too.
“Where should we go first?”
I stepped forward toward the village first. Then something caught on my finger. I paused and looked back to see Cedric had hooked his finger around mine and was holding my hand.
When I looked at him with eyes asking why he was doing that, Cedric avoided my gaze and came closer to my side, then eventually matched his walking pace with mine.
“I don’t know the way around here.”
“Mm.”
“What if I get lost?”
While saying that, he held my hand tightly…
“……”
Suddenly, that became very distracting.
The firm sensation touching my fingertips, body temperature slightly higher than mine – it felt unusually vivid and somehow uncomfortable…
But I couldn’t coldly shake him off, so I had no choice but to stay connected like that. My heart was racing strangely for some unknown reason – whether it was anxiety or what – and I could only keep wetting my drying lips.
‘We’re just friends holding hands.’
So there’s nothing to worry about.
He probably doesn’t have any particular thoughts about it either.
While my head was spinning around in complex circles making me feel unsettled, Cedric, who had been walking with light steps, let out a small exclamation after a while. When I raised my head, we had arrived at the village.
“It’s bustling even at this hour.”
“…Right.”
Even though it was evening, the village was full of life.
There were many residents and tourists walking around even at this time, and the taverns and inns were especially crowded. The village streets were lined with foods made from seafood from near the ocean, filling the air with their distinctive smell.
My mind, which had been lost in thought, was pulled back to reality. As I looked around, I spotted what I had been looking for and quickly pulled Cedric’s hand.
“Ah, there it is.”
The embarrassment I had felt from holding hands with him instantly evaporated and disappeared.
“You have to try that when you come here. You’ll eat it, right? It’s street food, but it should suit your taste too.”
“…Yeah.”
I got a somewhat delayed response from Cedric, but I quickly dismissed my puzzlement.
I was completely absorbed in the thought of having this Grand Duke family young master, who probably had never even encountered common people’s food, try the street food of this tourist destination.
“Welcome, welcome!”
“Two please.”
“Yes, please wait just a moment.”
The kind-looking shop owner lady stuck skewers into well-prepared fish and started grilling them. The smell of the fish sizzling as it cooked with plenty of seasoning was very savory.
“The bones are already removed, so you can just eat them as they are.”
Just as saliva was naturally gathering in my mouth and I was about to lick my lower lip with my tongue, the lady handed over two well-cooked fish skewers. I paid and received them, then held out one skewer to Cedric.
“Here, yours.”
“You’re buying it for me?”
“Yeah.”
And one went straight into my mouth.
‘Mm! This is the taste.’
It’s so delicious that the corners of my mouth naturally lifted.
The lady struck up a friendly conversation.
“Hehe, how is it?”
“It’s delicious.”
“Did you two come here traveling together? Where are you from?”
“Ah, we’re…”
I continued the conversation, pretending not to be nobility and being appropriately evasive. Then I waved my arm at Cedric, who was just staring at me, urging him to hurry up and take his skewer.
Only then did Cedric reach for the stick with his hand… but instead of picking it up, he leaned his face forward.
I stiffened in surprise at the suddenly narrowed distance. While my breath caught, his mouth moved. A bite of fish from the upper part was nibbled away. He then casually wiped the corner of his mouth with his thumb and gave an indifferent evaluation.
“It’s delicious.”
And reflecting on the situation, I realized that my action just now had, even though unintended, ended up being me affectionately feeding Cedric.
“……”
My mouth felt parched.
Though Cedric stepped back and the distance opened up again, I could still feel the sultry air from when we had been close.
Even remembering that we had been holding hands until just before made my heart feel very unsettled.
Somehow my emotions were all over the place and it was hard to stay still, so I thrust the skewer toward his face as if I was going to poke him with it.
“You, you hold it and eat.”
“I got it, so don’t wave it around dangerously.”
Cedric smoothly took the skewer stick. He suddenly curved his eyes in a smile and wiped around my mouth with his other hand.
…Ah, I must have had seasoning on me.
Seeing this, the lady smiled warmly, but the meaning of that smile was quite meaningful, making me feel uncomfortable, so I quickly left the spot.
“Why are you in such a hurry?”
Cedric, who was following behind me, grumbled like that. Not knowing why I was hurrying to leave. I glanced at Cedric for no reason.
“Don’t do things like wiping for me.”
“Don’t do this, don’t do that.”
“……”
“You complain even when I help you.”
“……”
“I wiped it thinking of my friend’s reputation.”
“……”
“Don’t go around getting it all over yourself messily then.”
Grumble grumble from behind. Just because I scolded him a bit, he’s become a complete sulker and grumbler.
‘…Friend.’
Right. He was just being considerate of me as a friend. I’m the one taking it too seriously. I’m the one arbitrarily overinterpreting and feeling awkward about it.
‘I don’t want to be conscious of it, but I keep becoming conscious…’
If there was a problem, it wasn’t Cedric – it was me.
‘Maybe I shouldn’t have agreed to go out together.’
My heart felt heavy and I barely held back a sigh that was about to escape.
‘This is trouble, really.’
An inexplicable emotion resembling anxiety was sticking thickly to my chest and wouldn’t come off.
For the next three days with Cedric… would it be okay?
What should I do?
* * *
After suppressing my restless feelings and wandering around the village with Cedric for a long time, I only returned to the villa after the sun had completely set.
After eating dinner together with Cedric, I was getting ready for bed when someone knocked on my door. Though there were quite a few management staff residing at this villa, the only person who would come looking for my room would be Cedric.
“Come in.”
A moment later the door opened and Cedric peeked his head in. With his bear-like large frame only sticking his face in, he looked quite cute, stirring up complex emotions in me.
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
