Translator: Elisia
Editor/Proofreader: TempWane
━━━━━━♡♥♡━━━━━━
It seemed like there was something alive inside.
Amelia appeared to have the same thought as she immediately approached Harvey.
“Lady Grattanmount.”
“Sir Harvey.”
The two exchanged polite greetings with each other.
“…Could it be that what’s inside…?”
“It’s the item we discussed this morning.”
Even Harvey wouldn’t openly admit that he had caught someone spying on us.
Still, it wasn’t exactly a lie. After all, a person could be considered an item in certain contexts. Well… if you consider it as ‘a person inside an item,’ then it’s still technically an item. An item containing a person.
“Sir Delkis.”
And in the midst of all this, someone called out cheerfully.
“Prince Evan. No, I suppose I should address you as Crown Prince now. It’s been a while.”
“You haven’t changed.”
The Crown Prince, who had been wearing a rather stiff expression as if he hadn’t had the chance to say what he wanted to me, now looked unexpectedly cheerful as he struck up a conversation with Harvey.
Had they perhaps grown closer at some point? In a world where men and women rarely mingled socially, I had no idea what kind of time Harvey and the Crown Prince might have spent together.
Or maybe it was just the Crown Prince acting friendly one-sidedly.
After all, most of the time, the relatives who approached you at weddings with a “Do you remember me?” were the same ones you last saw when you were about five. This seemed like a reverse situation of that.
“I’ve heard about Delkis’s situation. It seems things have improved since I left. That’s good to hear.”
“Of course, Your Highness. All thanks to His Majesty the King.”
“It’s thanks to the efforts of the people of Delkis.”
Nodding a few times, the Crown Prince eventually shifted his gaze toward the sack Harvey was holding.
“By the way, what’s in there that makes it look so heavy?”
Well, it’s heavy because there’s a person inside. Even if it were a petite girl dressed as a ninja rather than a hulking brute, it would still weigh several dozen kilograms.
And it was far more likely to be the former than the latter, which would make it even heavier.
“Ah, that’s…”
“It’s the item I requested to be retrieved. It seems Sir Harvey happened to obtain it while passing by and was waiting to return with us,” Amelia quickly responded to prevent Harvey from getting into trouble.
“Ho.”
The Crown Prince narrowed his eyes.
“I thought it might contain a person, given its size. It seems I was mistaken.”
“….”
No, saying it like that makes it sound like you’ve figured it out.
Or… did he really know there was a person inside?
Unless the person who planted someone to follow us was the Crown Prince himself, he wouldn’t know that the one inside was our stalker. If he did, he’d have told us beforehand.
Someone who’d learned the Delkis way wouldn’t behave like that.
“Isn’t that right?.”
“Indeed. There’s no way I would ask for a person to be procured in such a manner.”
‘ha ha ha,’ Amelia and the Crown Prince exchanged a brief laugh as they stood facing each other.
…From the Crown Prince’s demeanor, he definitely seemed to know what was inside. Yet, he didn’t appear to have any intention of revealing its contents.
“…I suppose you must be eager to confirm what’s inside. I won’t take up more of your time.”
“Thank you for your consideration.”
Amelia bowed her head slightly in gratitude at the Crown Prince’s words.
It seemed she was eager to leave immediately, but before she could, the Crown Prince leaned slightly toward her.
“Could you let me know later what’s inside?”
Amelia flinched and took half a step back as he whispered softly to her.
“…Depending on the situation, I might inform you.”
“That’s reassuring. If it turns out to be what I suspect, it might overlap with what I intended to discuss with Lady Delkis today.”
“….”
Before Amelia could ask what he meant, the Crown Prince straightened his posture.
With a bright smile, he turned to Harvey and spoke.
“Then, if time allows, let’s go hunting together next time. Though the beasts around here aren’t as large as the northern ones, so it might not be as thrilling.”
“Thank you for the invitation. If the opportunity arises, I will be happy to join.”
At Harvey’s polite response, the Crown Prince nodded with a satisfied “Hm.”
*
“Thank you for giving me a ride today as well. I’m sure you must have urgent matters to attend to…”
Adele spoke as she glanced toward the back of the carriage.
There, Harvey was riding a moose.
…A moose with one antler broken.
Moreover, it was equipped with stirrups and a saddle—things typically not used on a moose. This was probably to avoid drawing too much attention by riding the moose unadorned in a major city.
Still, wouldn’t it have been better to break the other antler for balance?
Well, even without antlers, a moose wouldn’t suddenly become a horse.
I could guess why Harvey rode a moose. Considering his size, riding a horse might have seemed too burdensome for the animal.
When Harvey smiled faintly and nodded, Adele’s cheeks flushed slightly.
Despite his enormous size, which seemed to defy the concept of realism, Harvey’s proportions and features made him the very image of a prince.
Naturally, for someone like Adele, who had the usual sensibilities of a young woman, he must have appeared incredibly dashing.
…Although, judging by the fact that Harvey never spoke a word to Adele, he seemed to be exceedingly shy.
If those two ended up together, I wouldn’t need to worry about Adele and Amelia ending up together.
As I mused over these trivial thoughts—
“Then, shall we meet next week? We have some matters to attend to this weekend, so it would be better to postpone the swordsmanship training until then.”
“Yes, thank you so much for today. And thank you as well, Lady Delkis.”
They were having such an exchange.
“Ah, no.”
Having been distracted by my own thoughts, I hurriedly replied and bowed my head slightly.
“Rather, we are the ones grateful for Lady Carlins’s friendship.”
When I said this, Adele blushed slightly and lowered her head deeply.
…For some reason, Amelia shot me a glance.
*
The ride back in the carriage was incredibly awkward.
Amelia, lips pouting, hadn’t said a word—likely sulking at my antics today. The atmosphere wasn’t strained enough to indicate a serious rift in our relationship, but the silence was undeniably uncomfortable.
Still, I didn’t know how to break the ice.
Fortunately, the time it took to travel between Adele’s house and ours by carriage wasn’t very long.
When we arrived at the guest room, Amelia dismissed the servants and spoke.
“Then, first… Shall we see what’s inside?”
“Yes, understood.”
Harvey nodded and opened the sack he had been carrying so effortlessly, dumping its “contents” onto the floor.
“Oh my.”
Amelia let out a small exclamation of surprise at the sight.
I was equally taken aback.
Contrary to my expectations, a young woman was inside.
Although her frame was somewhat slender, she was fairly tall—likely a little taller than Amelia.
She was dressed in black clothes that looked unmistakably like a ninja outfit, far from the burly man I had envisioned. She was strikingly pretty, a sharp contrast to the image I had in mind.
Her black hair was cropped short, but it did little to conceal her femininity.
Well, if she was skilled at handling aura, she wouldn’t need substantial physical strength to get the job done.
As long as her opponent wasn’t someone from Delkis, that is.
“Mmph, mmph!”
With a thick cloth gag in her mouth and her limbs bound, she squirmed energetically, making us seem like villains.
Had she remained passive in the sack, expecting no resistance?
…Judging by the bruise on her forehead, which stood out even against her slightly dark complexion, she might have been unconscious and only just woken up when she was dumped onto the floor.
“Shall we remove the gag?”
Amelia, who had been pouting earlier, seemed intrigued by the situation.
And why wouldn’t she be? This character wasn’t mentioned in the original story or the novel.
Even so, given the current circumstances, she seemed poised to play a “significant role.”
“Understood.”
Harvey replied and cut the gag tied at the back of the ninja girl’s head.
“Kuh, just kill me…!”
“Pff!”
At the sound of her voice, Amelia quickly covered her mouth to stifle her laughter.
I…… understood the sentiment. It was such a textbook line that it was hard not to find it amusing. I barely held back my own laughter.
But laughing in this situation would make us look like the villains, wouldn’t it?