“And that’s the legend! So I don’t think it’s strange that Ms. Saint could fall into the lake and become a sheep,” Karin concluded.
Lord Theodore, who had looked skeptical at first, had gradually softened. He was still holding me with both hands, staring intently at me.
“Evelyn?” he asked in a trembling voice.
“Baaa!” I answered without missing a bleat. I insisted, in fact, that I was his fiancée.
Lord Theodore’s eyes lit up with understanding. I was moved.
“What a fool I am, unable to recognize my most beloved,” he lamented. “I wish I were dead...”
Stop getting depressed and help me! I thought, bleating my disapproval.
Lord Theodore came to his senses and lifted his head.
Right! According to the legend Karin had told us, there was a way to return a cursed sheep to human form. My anxiety that I’d be stuck as a sheep dissipated.
“I see! I just need to kiss her!” Lord Theodore exclaimed loudly.
I nodded vigorously. “Baaa!”
Our problems were solved! We smiled. We gazed at each other. And then our smiles gradually faded.
“K-Kiss...her...?”
“B-Baaa...?”
We both trailed off awkwardly at the rather important realization that we...had never kissed before! Not even once!
We’ve been on dates, held hands, and he even carried me, but...
Kissing was uncharted territory. Completely unknown. I knew that when people became lovers, they sometimes pressed their lips together to express their feelings. I’d come across such scenes in books several times. They’d made my heart flutter.
I wondered what kissing felt like. Would I be elated, like the princesses in the stories? Still...
B-But, but but but, this is too sudden!
We stared at each other for a while, frozen. Our faces flushed feverishly, and I could have sworn steam was coming out of Lord Theodore’s ears.
I felt it’d be less embarrassing to kiss him as a sheep than as a person. But experiencing my one and only first kiss as a sheep seemed so underwhelming... I wanted it to be more romantic...
“Theodore! Stop staring at her and get to smooching! Mouth to mouth!” Prince Igna snapped.
“Don’t be so crass, Your Highness!” Lord Theodore protested. “Timing matters!”
Though this was extremely unromantic, I agreed with Prince Igna a little. We couldn’t be sure when thunder would start roaring again, heralding the flock. It was dangerous to dally near the lake.
Lord Theodore and I gathered all our courage and once again gazed at each other.
“A-A-Are you sure, Evelyn?” he stammered, red to his ears as he gripped my shoulder roasts. His breath gently tickled my nose.
“Baaa...”
Lord Theodore brought his handsome face closer. My neck meat worked, and I swallowed nervously. Wait, no, not my neck meat! My throat! Anyway, I closed my eyes anxiously. My heart was racing.
I waited like that for a while.
But nothing happened.
I opened my eyes, confused, and my shoulder roasts jerked as Lord Theodore vigorously pushed me away.
“I can’t do it! I can’t!” he declared, turning away.
It was a surprisingly intense reaction.
“Theodore, are you serious?” Igna asked.
“Brother...” Karin said.
“Lord Theodore...” Oz murmured.
“Theodore...” Kira muttered.
“Look, you can say my name all day long, but I still can’t do it! No way!”
Lord Theodore seemed rather disinclined to change his mind, despite everyone’s exasperation. I was in complete shock, speechless. Not that I could say anything other than “baaa,” but you know!
His rejection finally made it dawn on me, rather viscerally, that he’d never wanted to kiss me in the first place. He really was rethinking our engagement. His heart was elsewhere.
How did I get this so wrong?
What a fool I’d been to get so excited over this.
Lord Theodore brought his face closer, his expression curious. “Evelyn?”
I didn’t want him to speak kindly to me right now! That just made everything worse! And just as I averted my eyes—
“Wait! Wait, I said!”
“Waugh!”
Someone rushed in and shoved Lord Theodore away. A loud splash came from the direction of the lake. I flew through the air, straight into the arms of a slender girl.
“Lady Evelyn! It’s been a while. I must say, never in my life have I seen a lovelier sheep than you.”
A shiver ran down my spine. Oh no. She was finally here.
Lady Europa, her purple hair swaying, wore not her usual vestments but an elegant dress. A very familiar one, still caked in mud. Playfully, Lady Europa (+mud) poked my horn, smiling at me. Yikes.
“Hee hee. I borrowed everyone’s magical power to pinpoint your location and came here with the high priest and the clown prick. I was worried when Theodore and the others got ahead of us, but...I made it in time! How marvelous!”
As I cowered, a bleat of protest came from somewhere. “Baaa! (Stop!)”
Still in Lady Europa’s arms, I looked over toward the lake and saw a brown sheep paddling along the lakewater.
“Baaa?!” Could that be Lord Theodore?!
Yes. Yes it could. It was, in fact. The sheep, scowling at Europa, could only be Lord Theodore, whose proneness to falling into bodies of water was legendary.
“Baaa! (Stop it, Europa! You’re scaring her!)”
Not only that, I could understand him! Maybe it was because we were both sheep.
Sheepodore is kind of cute, I thought. Wait, that’s beside the point!
The only person who could’ve saved me had turned into a sheep too! I was about to angrily confront Lady Europa about it, but...
No. Lord Theodore doesn’t love me anymore.
Sorrowful on multiple fronts, I flailed my forelegs. “Baaaaaa!”
Lady Europa lightly gripped my stubby legs and smiled. “It’s all right, Lady Evelyn. Be at ease.”
“Baaa?!”
She can understand me?!
A shudder ran down my back. Lady Europa spoke sheep? Her depths were unfathomable. I was stunned.
Lady Europa spoke in an airy singsong. “According to the legend, true love’s kiss undoes the sheep curse. In other words, man or woman matters not! All you need is a kiss from someone who truly loves you! That’s easy!”
That was...unusually solid logic by her standards. But logical didn’t mean acceptable!
Because that means—
My bad feeling was coming true right before my eyes. Lady Europa brought her face close, her cheeks bright red.
“Now, then, Lady Evelyn. Please accept my first kiss...”
Her plush cherry-colored lips drew closer.
“Baaaaaaaaa!”