THE next day, Luke easily overthrew Amelia’s expectation that there was no chance of his visiting in succession.
Today, he was visiting with only his retainer, Hans, but regrettably, there wasn’t anything in the Fifth Palace. Amelia led them to a room with only simple sofas and a table, but naturally, she couldn’t prepare tea and snacks to entertain them.
There was one silver lining, however—Amelia had a heartening ally called strawberries. As long as it was strawberry-related, she could manifest most things as long as her imagination and mana were sufficient. The spirit of a challenger quietly burned within her heart. I’ve got to try out the strawberry-type liquids that I’ve been putting on hold!
Before she could get anywhere, though, she saw Hans handing something to Helt. Intrigued, she addressed Luke, who was sitting across from her. “What’s that?”
He smiled sunnily at her. “Tea leaves, chocolate, and meatloaves.”
“Th-Thanks…”
He was giving her meat again. Maybe, as Helt had theorized, Luke was considering Amelia’s nourishment. She didn’t find it disagreeable—in fact, she was touched by his thoughtfulness—but she still felt somewhat conflicted as a lovestruck maiden.
In the corner of her vision, Helt was preparing tea with practiced ease, but he was meant to be a guardian knight by all rights. Yet, he’d gotten thoroughly proficient at household chores, and he’d even mastered sewing to an extent.
Now that she thought about it, it was rather unusual considering his duties, and she felt apologetic. Wanting to help him at least a little, Amelia stood up, fetched small plates, and arranged them on the table.
“Luke, do you have any preferences when it comes to food?” she asked. “What kind of strawberries would you like?”
His golden eyes softened. “If you’re the one preparing it for me, I’m fine with anything.”
Her chest suddenly felt tight for some reason. She was giddy with happiness.
All righty then. I’ve got to serve him a kind of strawberry that I invest lots of effort into, she told herself.
She placed her hand over a plate and concentrated. Instantly, a dessert appeared out of thin air. It featured two flat, disk-shaped cakes with red bean paste and strawberries sandwiched in the middle.
Basically, it was what you’d call a dorayaki back in Japan. It didn’t just have fresh strawberries—there was even whipped cream. Possibly because she’d pictured a lot of delicate details, she was dizzy for a moment, but the dessert was of remarkable quality.
Satisfied, Amelia triumphantly held out the plate of strawberries and whipped cream dorayaki to Luke.
He blinked curiously at it. “What’s this?”
“Dorayaki.” She paused, realizing it wasn’t much of an explanation. “Um… You eat it with your hands, and you could say it’s a type of cake?”
“You eat it with your hands?” Luke scrutinized the dessert, looking mystified.
Seeing his reaction, she realized that a normal princess would never grab a cake with her hand, but considering everything that she’d already done, it was too late to be picky about that. Amelia wasn’t a standard princess to begin with, and he’d seen her selling strawberries in the streets. Even if she tried to keep up appearances and act all sophisticated, he’d probably expose her true nature in an instant, so there was no point minding it.
She nodded. “Yep. You bite into it like this.” She used gestures to aid her explanation.
Luke stared at her in puzzlement. “Where’s yours, Amelia?”
“Ah, well…” she muttered sheepishly. “It’s a bit tiring, so I’m fine with just strawberries and tea.”
It wasn’t that she couldn’t summon more, but she couldn’t afford to faint and collapse in front of Luke, even if the chances were slim.
Holding the plate, Luke stood up. For some reason, he settled down next to Amelia.
“Luke?” She tilted her head.
He smiled at her, picked out a strawberry wedged between the two small pancakes, and plopped it into Amelia’s mouth. She’d opened her mouth on reflex. Wait. Could this be what I think it is? She had the feeling that it was one of those “say ‘aaah’” feeding scenes, which often featured lovers getting affectionate with each other.
The moment that realization struck her, heat gathered in her cheeks. She hurriedly pressed down on her cheeks with both hands and hung her head.
Amelia fervently swallowed the strawberry, heart pounding erratically, face burning. Were his doting tendencies something imposed on him by the route? Or was Luke someone who’d naturally do such embarrassing things?
Hang on. Amelia had said she was fine with strawberries and tea. Maybe he was merely sharing a strawberry with her because of that. Yeah, that’s probably why. It has to be. Luke is a kind person. Nothing more, nothing less.
Somehow managing to convince herself, she raised her face. In front of her, Luke was frozen in place while covering his mouth with his hand.
“Luke?” she prompted tentatively.
She didn’t know why he was covering his mouth, but if she wasn’t mistaken, his golden eyes were moist. In fact, some kind of clear liquid was trembling, as if it were about to spill over at any time.
“Are you…crying?” she asked.
“I’m not!” His vigorous reply caused the tears to brim over and flow down his face.
The heat in Amelia’s cheeks had died out altogether at the sudden turn of events. She gently offered her handkerchief. “Then did you get something in your eye? Are you okay?”
While Amelia was flustered, Luke pressed the handkerchief against his eyes as he shook his head. That was when muffled laughter rang out from behind her. She turned around—Hans, noticing her gaze, cleared his throat exaggeratedly.
“With all due respect, I would like to offer my opinion,” he said. “Lord Luke is so deeply moved by a lover’s meeting with his first crush, whom he wasn’t able to interact with for many years, even through letters, that he can’t hold back his tears.”
“Hans!” Luke barked, scandalized. However, his eyes were still glistening with tears as he tightly gripped the handkerchief.
Seeing that, Amelia started finding the situation comical.
“I-I’m not crying, I swear,” Luke protested.
“Yep, I know.”
The Amelia in the past would have never imagined that she’d be able to see and talk with Luke like this one day. She was overjoyed and blissful, but she mustn’t forget that this might be the influence of the plot spurred on by Prisca entering Luke’s route.
“Hey, Luke,” she began. “There’s something I want to tell you.”
“What is it?”
Gazing at Luke, whose tears had finally dried up, Amelia steeled her resolve. “If you ever find yourself liking someone else, I’ll step aside, so I want you to tell me right away.”
As soon as those words left her mouth, her handkerchief fluttered down from Luke’s hand and fell onto his lap. His eyes widened to the point that she feared they might almost fall out, and he froze.
The next thing she knew, his golden eyes moistened again. Actually, his tears had already built up to the point of almost bursting out. If she wasn’t imagining things, he was even trembling.
Startled, Amelia stammered, “U-Um, Luke?”
“I finally… After four entire years, I finally have the chance to meet you properly, but you…” He gave her an imploring look and carefully placed his hand over hers. “Do you hate me? Am I a bother?”
“Y-You’re not!”
“Did those two say nonsense to you again?”
He was likely referring to the fourth consort and Prisca, but the actual problem was slightly different. Amelia shook her head. “Nothing like that. It’s just that I want to respect your will.”
Watching Amelia, Luke picked up the handkerchief, wiped his tears, and sighed deeply. “I see… In other words, my feelings aren’t coming across to you clearly enough,” he said in such a low voice that it was hard to imagine he’d been weeping until moments earlier.
Amelia’s shoulders jolted. “Huh? No, that’s not what I mean.” For some reason, she felt intimidated, and she tried to lean back a little. But Luke grasped her hand tightly, practically pinning her in place.
“I understand the situation perfectly. From now on, I’ll profess my feelings to you without holding anything back, Amelia.”
His golden eyes gleamed bewitchingly. Amelia realized that she’d made some sort of mistake at long last. While she was flustered and speechless, Luke gently pressed his lips to her hand.
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