Chapter 4: Tell Me, What’s the Source of Your Distress?
THE gates of the Fifth Palace opened, revealing an enchanting young man with ashen hair, golden eyes, and a smile playing at his lips. Servants stood deferentially behind him.
“Good morning, Amelia,” he greeted.
“M-Morning, Luke.”
It was morning, so such greetings were the norm. Amelia could understand that much. What she couldn’t make heads or tails of was everything else.
When you’re confused…strawberries are your savior, she told herself. You could do anything with strawberries, so she should be able to resolve the situation somehow by summoning them.
Amelia manifested a handful of small strawberries on her palm and presented them directly to Luke. “Here, have these. So… Did something happen?”
Luke was slightly taken aback, but he immediately plopped one strawberry into his mouth while looking overjoyed. “That’s a strange question. I only came here to see my fiancée.”
“O-Oh.”
When he put it like that, it sounded like an ordinary event, but the standard she’d gotten used to over four years was exceedingly cold treatment. No matter how hard she tried to compose herself, she still felt restless.
“Honestly, I’d love to sit down and have a long chat with you, but I’ve also got other business. For now, I’d like your help with a little something.”
Amelia nodded. “Sure, but with what?”
The moment those words left her mouth, two women standing behind Luke approached her. As soon as they said, “Please excuse us,” they began touching her arms and back.
Amelia’s eyes widened. “Wh-What? What’s going on?”
The women bowed at the flustered princess and stepped back in the blink of an eye. However, they never explained their actions.
Stumped, Amelia gazed at Luke. Luke’s retainer, Hans, placed the bag he’d been holding upon Amelia’s hand.
Luke said, “I’ll head back for today, but I’ll come to see you as often as I can, and if I can’t, I’ll write. See you again, Amelia.” He picked up Amelia’s free hand and gently pressed his lips against it.
“Eeep?!” Subconsciously, Amelia yelped in surprise—they were in public, and he’d done it without warning.
For some reason, Luke grinned with amusement at her reaction.
After seeing off Luke and his entourage, who’d left as suddenly as they’d come, like a tempest, Amelia returned to her residence. She sat down weakly on the sofa before flopping over with a light thump.
“What was that about…? What’s going on first thing in the morning…?”
She was elated that Luke had come to see her, but she’d never expected him to march straight in the entrance on the second morning. Furthermore, he’d even kissed her hand in front of a relatively large audience.
When she remembered, Amelia’s cheeks flushed bright red. Even pressing on them with both hands didn’t cool them down. Last time, she’d been overwhelmed and had stopped at blushing, but this time, she’d even yelped in surprise. Her practice with Helt hadn’t helped at all.
The man in question looked exasperated. “Well, well. He is doting on you splendidly.” He put the paper bag on a table.
“That’s the one thing I can’t let him do.”
“Shall we decline his requests to meet you then?”
Amelia sat up vigorously. “No! I don’t want that!”
“However, if the young Lord Klein fusses over you, there is a chance you might be murdered, right?”
“I know. But I just can’t do it. Anyone would be happy if the person they like cherishes them. Distancing myself from him is… I could never do that.” She shook her head.
Last night, she’d thought that it wasn’t an issue, but when Luke was right in front of her eyes, her longtime crush rampaged despite her efforts to rein it in. She could never bear to voluntarily estrange Luke.
“In fact,” she declared, following her heart’s desire, “I want to throw everything out the window and get closer to him instead!”
Helt sighed. “You will be killed at this rate.”
That one sentence dropped Amelia’s spirit to rock bottom. The paper bag on the table caught her eye, and she reached out. It rustled as she opened it and peered inside—there was a large block of ham.
She was speechless for a moment. “What in the world is Luke’s impression of me?”
He’d given her bread in the beginning and gifted her meat pies after that. Does he think I’m that much of a glutton? She liked tasty things, so she appreciated the presents, but she felt somewhat conflicted because she was technically a young maiden in love.
“He is aware that meals aren’t being delivered to the Fifth Palace, correct?” Helt asked. “Perhaps he is trying to supplement your lack of nourishment.”
Luke knew that Amelia could manifest strawberries and was managing a personal farm, so Helt did have a point. If Luke was going to deliver supplies, meat would have the highest nutritional value for Amelia’s diet.
“He’s even going as far as to think about my health and nutrition… He’s so kind.” Amelia tightly hugged the ham against her chest. “I’m so grateful. He’s so precious. I love him to bits.” Then, she frowned slightly. “But…there’s a chance that his doting on me is an adjustment put in place by Luke’s route, right? His true feelings might actually be different.”
Even if she went up to Luke and asked him, assuming that he was truly under the influence of the route, he’d probably say that he wholeheartedly liked Amelia anyway, which wouldn’t help clear up her doubts.
She hummed thoughtfully. “If he’s supposed to kill me after doting on me, I should start seeming like a nuisance to him midway. In that case, how about I beat him to the punch and make the first move?”
Helt confiscated the ham that Amelia had been hugging and scrunched up his brows. “Make the first move?”
“Yep. I can tell him that I’ll step aside the moment he ends up liking someone else. In that scenario, I don’t think he’d go as far as to kill me.”
“Are you…going to say that to the young Lord Klein?”
Amelia nodded. Helt’s expression grew more conflicted by the second.
Huh. I thought it was a good idea, though. Is there a problem with it?
Helt explained, “Whether there is truly this ‘adjustment’ you speak of, it is indisputable that the current young Lord Klein has special feelings for you. And I believe his affections are remarkably profound.” He paused. “Frankly speaking, I suspect that proposal might put you at risk as well, my princess.”
“Like I said, I’m doing this to avoid danger.”
That’s what I just explained to him. Was he not listening to me?
Still firmly grasping the ham, Helt dragged out a long sigh. “I must say, the way you charge in the most peculiar directions without hesitation is identical to the fifth consort.”
Amelia narrowed her eyes. “What’s with that? Is that really meant to be praise?”
“From the bottom of my heart, yes.”
She doubted it was praise, no matter how she looked at it, but it was difficult to reproach the man when he bowed respectfully.
Crossing her arms, she said, “Moving on. I’ve got to thoroughly appeal to Luke when I meet him next time that I won’t get in the way of his love life.”
“What are you going to do if he proposes that you call off the betrothal after hearing it?” he muttered in a low voice.
Amelia froze. Naturally, that could happen. If anything, calling off the engagement would make the events derail from the route, which would help protect Luke’s mind and safety.
“I’ll accept it. What else am I going to do? Protecting his free will is what I set out to do, after all. If it gets in the way of my goal, it doesn’t matter whether I’m betrothed to him…or not…” Her voice gradually tapered off.
The next thing she knew, her vision swayed and shook. Tears had built up without her knowledge—and she wasn’t going to let them spill over. She bit hard on her lip and looked up at the ceiling.
Helt’s deep sigh reached her ears. “If you dislike the idea of calling off the betrothal to the point of crying—if that is how much you love the young Lord Klein, then you simply don’t have to say such things.”
“I’m not…crying.” She sniffled.
“Yes, yes. If that is what you say.” Smiling with exasperation, Helt offered her a handkerchief.
“I’m not crying,” she insisted. “This is just my heart sweating.”
“Yes, yes. If that is what you say.”
She puffed out her cheeks in displeasure at his offhanded reply, but she still accepted the handkerchief and wiped away the heart’s sweat overflowing from her eyes.
Helt looked her over. “Goodness. You are such a handful, my princess. I am single, but I feel as if I am looking at my own daughter.”
Amelia took the cup that Helt had fetched at some point and chugged down all the water in one go. Possibly because she’d moistened her throat, her heart settled down just a little. “Helt. In the scenario I mess up, you’ll also be in danger. If I release you from your duty as my guard, you’ll be able to leave this place. It’s not too late to run away if I do that now.”
Helt accepted the empty cup from Amelia. “I was wondering what you might say, but this was not what I expected.” After letting out an exaggerated sigh, he knelt before his princess. “The fifth consort has directly assigned me the duty of your protection, Your Highness. No matter what you say—even if you end up living as a commoner on the streets—I will always stay by your side and defend you.”
“You’re a stubborn one.” Amelia’s tone was half-exasperated, half-relieved.
It appeared that Helt had also deciphered the emotions in her voice, because he flashed her a tender smile as he stood up with the ham and cup in his hands. “I would be worried sick if I left a strawberry-crazed princess like you loose to act as you please. The young Lord Klein ought to take responsibility and take good care of you—it would be egregious otherwise.”
“Hey, who’re you calling strawberry-crazed?” Amelia raised her voice in objection. “Strawberries are amazing.”
Helt only grinned as he left the room.
To Amelia, this man was her only family that had been willing to stay behind for her sake since she’d lost the fifth consort when she was ten. She didn’t want to put him in danger.
“I’ve got to work hard for his sake, too.”
Chucking the strawberry that manifested on her palm into her mouth, Amelia’s strawberry eyes glinted with fiery determination.
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