“E-Ed!”
Amy’s surprise at Ed’s entrance was much more exaggerated than the situation required.
Getting so worked up over someone who was supposed to be here anyway… Something must be wrong with me!
“I’m really glad you came!” Ed said, taking her hand without a second thought. “Come this way.”
“O-Okay… Thanks…”
He led her inside the room, past the partitioning screen.
The room was furnished with a simple sofa and a low table. There were also racks for weapons and armor. It was bigger than she had anticipated.
“You must have been so busy yesterday. Are you feeling all right?”
“I-I’m fine! I feel great!”
Edward’s clothes were very casual—only a shirt and pants. He must wear this before he puts his armor on, Amy realized. A few of the buttons below his collar were undone.
Alexander was wearing similar clothing, but Amy supposed the difference between how they usually dressed was starker with Edward. She was so unused to seeing him like this, she started to feel panicked and flustered.
“Are you sure? You don’t look pale or anything, but…”
Too close, too close, TOO CLOSE!
Edward had leaned in to get a better look at her face. Amy froze at the absurdly close proximity. To make matters worse, Edward put his other hand against her cheek, just like that time!
Unlike the evening carriage ride, it was perfectly bright inside his waiting room. Drawing closer and closer, Edward’s gray eyes looked completely silver. Amy’s lungs felt paralyzed, and her face immediately went scarlet.
Noticing this, Edward’s thoughts seemed to go down a different track.
“You’re red…” he said. “So you do have a fever, after all.”
Amy’s mouth flew open, but she was too flustered to form any coherent words.
“Ed,” Alec chided. “Did you do that on purpose?”
“Do what?”
“Can you really be that obtuse?” Alec asked, shrugging his shoulders and looking amused.
Amy tried to communicate a request for help with her eyes, but the tears threatening to spill over probably made it hard for him to understand.
“Anyway,” Alec continued, indifferently changing the subject, “this will be the first time Amy meets Kevin, right?”
“O-Oh, yes!” said Amy.
She had only heard his name before.
He was the grandson of the famous General Riley and Edward and Alexander’s mentor in swordsmanship. The three of them would be going out as a team in their group match today.
Although Amy had visited the palace frequently, she almost always went straight to the riding grounds, so she had actually only met a few people who worked at the palace. Her acquaintances with military personnel were limited to some of the guard knights that escorted her.
Alexander’s question seemed to have jogged Edward’s memory.
“You’re right! I’ll introduce you two. Kevin…”
“Good grief! Here I thought you guys had totally forgotten about me.”
The voice, which sounded slightly offended but playful, came from high above her short frame.
Edward finally removed his hand from her cheek and gestured out into the room. Amy’s eyes followed his hand and landed on a very tall man.
He looked to be the same age as Harold. He had short, dark chestnut hair and hazel, almond-shaped eyes. He looked quite strong but not very hot-blooded. He looked more like a military officer or something…
Wait, is this the “Knight”?! What a time to have finally unlocked all the characters!
He looked almost exactly like the character she remembered from that game… If he had armor and a helmet on, they would be identical.
Amy knew his grandfather, General Riley. Their hair and eye colors were the same, but Kevin gave off quite a different impression than the magnanimous general. If the general had resembled his grandson more, Amy might have seen this coming.
“It’s an honor to meet you, Lady Amy Northland. My name is Kevin Riley.”
“I-It’s nice to meet you.”
As Amy’s mind was scrambling, coming to grips with this new information, Kevin clicked his heels together and gave her a military salute.
“I’m glad you’re here. Prince Edward has been waiting for you most eagerly.”
“What?”
“It may just be superstition, but I think Edward was quite worried about it.”
“Kevin!” Edward protested.
“What?” Amy asked again involuntarily.
Kevin smiled mischievously as he tried to pacify Edward’s objections. That was the exact smile of the knight from the opening screen of her otome game.
But that wasn’t what had caught Amy’s attention.
Does that mean Ed was waiting for me? For the lover’s encouragement?
Assuming she had misunderstood, she looked up at Edward for an explanation, but all she saw were his ears blushing furiously.
Amy opened her mouth, hoping she could explain away her wandering gaze. But she had no idea what on earth to say. Her entire head felt hot. She could only see one course of action—running away.
“U-Um, actually, I… I have to go see Harold… S-Scott!” she called out abruptly.
“Yes, milady,” Scott replied, sounding amused. “Shall we go?”
At this abrupt turn of events, Edward’s eyes widened in panic.
“Amy?”
“Um… I wish…”
“Amy, wait!”
“I wish you luck!”
Amy wasn’t even sure if she had finished saying the standard well-wishing phrase before she had turned on her heel. Just as she started to run, someone grabbed her hand from behind.
Amy stopped with a surprised jump, and Edward stepped out in front of her. His hand was very warm.
“Ed…”
“I know you’ll probably be busy when the matches start, but if you can, I was hoping you could get away from the first-aid room for a little bit to watch my match.”
“Y-Yes. I want to cheer for you.”
“I’m glad.”
Standing so close together, Amy couldn’t see anyone else—her entire field of vision was filled with Edward.
I wonder if that’s why I feel a little more at ease…
The words she couldn’t properly say before now spilled from her lips easily.
“I wish you the best of luck. Please try not to get hurt.”
“I will. Thank you. I’ll try to make you worry as little as possible. But you will heal me, won’t you, Amy?”
“Yes, I’ll heal you, but…”
Of course I’ll heal you. But I don’t want you to get hurt in the first place!
She had told him as much sometime before, when they had all had that lunch together in the lounge, but now she wanted him to get hurt even less—she didn’t want him to even get the tiniest scratch.
She’d rather him lose, uninjured, than win with a serious injury.
How selfish of me! I must be a terrible person!
Amy’s selfish wish totally ignored Edward’s hard work—all the training he had done in preparation for this…
After the shock of discovering these feelings of hers, she suddenly felt depressed and disappointed in herself. She felt the color drain from her face in shame.
Edward looked at her, frowning with concern again.
“Amy, you really are sick, aren’t you?”
“I-I’m not, really.”
Today, he would be competing not only in front of the king but also the queen and the Crown Prince. Edward would show everything he had accomplished in his training in front of his family, maybe even for the first time.
Even before such an important match for him, Edward was worrying about another person—Amy. He noticed everything about her.
Amy felt guilt-ridden and sad, but also…happy. Her chest tightened painfully, so much so that she understood what her heart was trying to tell her.
What should I do…? I’m scared…
Amy was frightened of acknowledging her own feelings.
She had met all the love interests from her game and had come to realize that things in this world weren’t exactly the same as they were in the world of her otome game. And yet, perhaps the fact that she couldn’t take that last step was proof that Amy was still enslaved by the game…
She felt like she was going around in circles, being consumed by a whirlpool of unanswered thoughts.
Like she was being pulled into the depths of a dark ocean at night…
Then suddenly, she was pulled back from her reverie by the feeling of someone taking her hand. She wondered hazily what it was, blankly watching Edward’s movements, when he raised her hand. Amy felt something soft against her fingers.
It took a few beats before she realized what her fingers had touched.
H-His…LIPS?!