Restless
"Ilia?"
"……."
We turned our steps back toward the Grand Duke's Castle, only to run straight into a serious problem.
—Snort.
Only the black horse I had brought stood calmly in the blizzard, puffing steam from its nostrils. The white horse Ilia had ridden earlier was nowhere to be seen.
"My horse…."
"It must have bolted when it heard you fighting my sister."
Skill tests or not—after a brawl that loud, it would have been stranger if the thing hadn't run.
"But yours is still here?"
"This one's just unusually dull."
I had thought he was simply a well-trained, gentle mount. Turns out he was just completely indifferent to the world.
Still, we were incredibly lucky. If this one had fled too, we would have had no choice but to walk all the way back to the Grand Duke's Castle through the blizzard.
I had heard the East used magical tools for long distances. They could have at least supported us with something like that—instead of hiding behind flimsy excuses about "technology leaks." As if the North even had enough people who could use magic for anything to leak in the first place.
"Looks like we have no choice but to ride double."
"Ride double?"
"Yeah. Why so startled, Roen? You weren't seriously planning to take the horse by yourself, were you?"
"No, it was just sudden."
If we rode together, it was obvious our bodies would end up pressed against each other in places. Did Ilia really not mind?
"Are you sure you're fine with it? Or you can go first. I can walk alone."
"Who said you could."
"Huh?"
"I'm fine, so stop talking nonsense and get on already."
"Ah. Right. I should obey my liege's orders."
I swung lightly up into the saddle and reached down to pull Ilia up after me. She squeezed in ahead of me and settled into place.
This arrangement was better, honestly. If she had sat behind me, she would have been pressed against my back in all sorts of ways—and even through the fur cloak, that would have been… a lot.
"You're not uncomfortable?"
"…No. I'm not. It's pretty warm, actually. It's fine. Let's go."
"Okay."
I stretched both arms forward to take the reins. Naturally, that meant my arms wrapped around Ilia's shoulders, folding her snugly into my embrace.
Well. Nothing to be done about that.
I took the reins and turned the horse. Our bodies began to rock in a steady rhythm. Once we broke into a real run, Ilia seemed worried she might fall—she leaned back into me and clamped both hands tight around my thighs.
Somehow that touch felt a little… sticky. Probably my imagination.
And the way those hands kept creeping higher…
"Ilia."
"What?"
"Could you move your hands down a bit?"
"Ah. The inside was warmer, so I did it without thinking."
"Without thinking," my foot. She had moved them up on purpose.
Ilia quietly returned her hands to their original position, then—apparently still unsatisfied—started kneading my thighs over and over. Not that there was anything soft there for her to squeeze.
"Hm? Oh my, oh my."
The one who greeted us upon our safe return to the Grand Duke's Castle was the head maid, wearing a meaningful little smile. Her eyes sparkled as if she found the two of us dismounting from a single horse endlessly fascinating.
"And where has the other horse gone, that the two of you arrived stuck so closely together?"
"My lady's horse ran off. There was quite a commotion at the guard post."
"Ah. So that was it."
Her interest vanished on the spot; her eyes returned to normal. If she had been as invested in me and Ilia as usual, she would have seized on this as fresh material for gossip. Not this time. I was done with rumors.
Of course, word of the clash between Ilia and my sister at the guard post would still spread plenty through the mouths of soldiers and knights. But this defeat would not stain Ilia's reputation. When the opponent was none other than Erika Kraus, every warrior in the North would simply nod and understand.
"Hilda."
"Yes, my lady."
"I'm going to wash right away, so please prepare the bath."
"Ah, of course. I'll see to it at once. Is there anything else you need?"
"No. Thank you."
"It's nothing."
The head maid hurried off with quick little steps. Once again, only Ilia and I remained. She took my hand and rested her head against my arm.
"I'll wash first, so go rest in your room."
"Ah. Right."
Was I only imagining the oddly suggestive nuance in her words? Whether she could read my thoughts or not, Ilia was already starting to walk away.
"Oh—and Roen."
"Yeah?"
"Do not leave your room under any circumstances."
"Why?"
"…If you're going to rest, don't go wandering around. Stay quietly in your room. That's an order, so you are not allowed to break it."
"What kind of order is that? Fine, I got it."
It was a sudden, odd demand—but then again, this was hardly the first time Ilia had done something like this. I nodded along, let it slide, and matched her stride as we climbed the stairs. Under the quiet whispers and stares of maids and butlers, we reached the third floor in no time and parted for our respective rooms.
The moment I stepped inside, I stripped off my uniform and belt and tossed them carelessly over the back of a chair. Maybe I should just lie down for a bit. All that coming and going had been surprisingly tiring.
I flopped onto the soft bed and was about to close my eyes when that door caught my eye again.
You know the one. The door that connected straight into Ilia's room.
It bothered me every time I saw it. There wasn't even a lock. If I felt like it, I could walk into her room whenever I wanted. Of course, unless a genuine emergency broke out, I would never open that door—so what really worried me was the other way around.
The thought of Ilia barging into my room while I was completely unguarded made me uneasy. I had privacy too, you know.
So I would just forget it existed. Pretend it wasn't there.
Useless fretting like that mattered less than what came next. The conditions for stopping the massacre ending.
First up was the social ball that would soon open in the capital. The main story of the original novel The Saintess is Obsessed Over Today as Well began with the heroine, Lilian Claire, attending that ball.
The exact date still hadn't been set, but the imperial family was surely already busy preparing the event by now. And since Ilia had said it would be "soon," it really couldn't be far off.
Once we attended the social ball, the heroine would—
Click.
"…!"
The instant I heard a doorknob turning, my eyes snapped back to the door I had been trying so hard to ignore. Thankfully, it wasn't that one. Ilia must have opened her own room door on her way to the bath.
"Haa…."
Relief and embarrassment hit me at once. I buried my face in the mattress. After telling myself to forget the door even existed, this was a pathetic look.
Right. Get a grip. Right now, figuring out what to do with the heroine mattered less than persuading Ilia. The problem was, I still had no idea how. Spilling the whole truth would only leave her confused.
And if I just told her to follow me with no explanation at all, she would never come. One way or another, Ilia was the Grand Duke's daughter. She was not some lightweight who could wander around as she pleased.
Hmm… I needed to think this through a little more—
Splash.
"Huh?"
Splash, whoosh—.
What was that sound?
Trickle, slap.
"……."
I sat up on the bed without thinking and pressed my ear to the wall as if drawn by a spell.
Tap.
Drip-drip.
Water sounds carried through the wall. My heart tightened in the quiet. The room right next to mine was the bathroom—and the person inside it right now was Ilia.
Water sliding down her pale skin, the surface of the bath lapping every time she shifted—images bloomed in my head with unbearable clarity. Sweat started pouring down my forehead like rain.
Why was this wall not soundproofed at all?!
I slowly pulled away and covered my face with both hands. The scorching heat of my cheeks bled straight into my palms. I wanted to bolt out of the room that second. If Ilia hadn't ordered me to stay put, I probably would have already.
Wait.
More importantly—why had Ilia ordered me not to leave, and to stay quietly in my room? Was she trying to burn the fact that she was bathing right now into my brain somehow? She was getting more and more blatant. Don't tell me this was…?
Knock-knock.
— "Sir Knight, are you in there?"
I jumped at the sudden knock from outside.
"Y-yes! Yes, Head Maid!"
— "Ah. Good, you are in. May I come in for a moment?"
"Yes! Please come in!"
The door opened and the head maid entered. Both her hands held a basket full of towels and various bathing supplies.
"I wanted to deliver these to you, Sir Knight, before my lady finished in the bath. …But why are you like that?"
"W-well…."
I carefully pointed toward the bathroom wall. Her gaze followed my index finger.
"Why the bath—"
Splash, whoosh—.
"Ah. Aha~."
At the unmistakably vivid water sounds coming through the wall, the head maid finished sizing up the situation in an instant and let out a long, knowing sound. She quietly set the bathing supplies on the desk, then came to my side and whispered in a conspiratorial tone.
"Judging by this, my lady gave you a strict order not to leave your room under any circumstances, didn't she?"
"H-how did you know?"
"Because if she hadn't, there would be no reason for you to still be in this room, Sir Knight."
Sharp as ever. You needed that much to serve as Ilia's head maid.
"Hearing my lady bathe is embarrassing you, is it? Your face is that red."
"Ah, well… yes. I never dreamed the soundproofing would be this bad…."
"But isn't that strange? If you were that embarrassed, you could simply cover your ears. Why leave them wide open and only hide your face?"
"Th-that's…!"
She had a point. I could have just plugged my ears and buried myself in the bed. Why had I been stupidly covering only my face?
"You were embarrassed, Sir Knight—but deep down, you rather wanted to focus on the sound of my lady bathing, didn't you?"
"……!"
"Or was it that you simply couldn't bring yourself to cover your ears?"
"Uh, um… that's a misunderstanding."
"Heh heh. Then shall I cover them for you instead?"
"…What?"
The head maid's two hands slowly approached my face. And then—
"There."
My ears went muffled in an instant.
"Is… this better…?"
Her voice came through her palms as a faint, blurry murmur. If even the voice of someone standing right in front of me sounded this hazy, there was no way I would still hear the water that had been tormenting me. Of course not.
Looking down at me with a faintly mischievous smile, the head maid somehow made the heat that had been roaring through me settle into a quieter calm.
"But really… you… quite…."
"Pardon? Head Maid, what did you just—"
"Ah, nothing at all!"
She hurriedly averted her eyes. What exactly was "nothing at all"? Judging by the strangely pink flush on her cheeks, asking would get me no answer.
And so the head maid and I had to stand there like that for quite some time—until Ilia finished her bath and came out.