Misunderstanding
I opened the study door while still holding Ilia's hand.
And of course, as if it were only natural, the head maid stood waiting in the corridor with her hands folded neatly before her.
"Ah! You're finally out."
"Have you been standing out here the whole time?"
"Of course. There are still more places I need to show Young Master Roen. Besides…"
Her voice trailed off as her eyes flicked, quite naturally, to our intertwined hands. Then she covered her mouth and let out a soft, knowing little laugh.
"My. Looking at the two of you like that really brings back the old days."
"The old days?"
"Yes, my lady. Even when you were little, you always went around the castle clinging tightly to the young master's hand."
At the head maid's words, Ilia looked up at me steadily.
Then, without the slightest hesitation, she slipped her fingers between mine and laced them together completely.
Haa….
Why does she keep doing things that are so easy to misunderstand?
I'm already losing my mind as it is.
I cleared my throat and lifted our interlocked hands.
"What is this, Miss Ilia?"
"……."
Ilia pursed her lips in a tiny pout.
Whether it was because I hadn't used casual speech, or because I had deliberately raised our joined hands for the head maid to see and she was embarrassed, I couldn't tell.
Either way, she clearly wasn't pleased with the current situation.
But what could I do?
The head maid was right there; I had to maintain proper manners.
Ilia seemed to understand that as well, for she smoothed her expression and slowly unlaced her fingers.
Of course, that didn't mean she let go of my hand entirely.
The head maid watched us with an extremely satisfied smile.
"Hmm. I think I should be going now."
"What? What about the tour?"
"I just remembered something I need to take care of. Ah, and—"
The head maid approached Ilia.
"Hilda?"
The head maid leaned in and whispered something against her ear.
Ilia nodded repeatedly.
Once she had finished speaking, the head maid took a step back from Ilia.
"Very well, Hilda. I'll take over the guiding myself."
"Yes, my lady. Then I'll take my leave. Young Master, I'll see you later as well."
"Ah—yes. Thank you for showing me around so far."
The head maid gave an elegant nod and gradually moved away, disappearing down the stairs.
What on earth did she and Ilia talk about?
And with whispering, no less.
"Follow me. I'll show you around."
"W-well, actually I don't really need a tour? I already know the layout, so…"
"I'll show you around."
"……Fine. Got it."
I gave up immediately.
No one could break Ilia's stubbornness, after all.
Better to end a pointless conversation quickly and move on than keep circling it.
Ilia tugged my hand and crossed the corridor.
She stopped in front of the door directly opposite the study.
"This is my room."
"Yeah."
"And the one right next to it is yours."
"Yeah."
"My room and yours are connected by a door on the inside, so keep that in mind."
"Yeah."
…Yeah?
Hold on.
Something feels off.
"And also…"
"Wait, wait. What did you just say?"
"Hm? About what?"
"That the rooms are connected?"
"Oh, that? You're my bodyguard knight from now on. I had it arranged so that if I'm in my room and I need you, or if something dangerous happens, you can come straight into mine."
"Hmm…"
"Why are you looking at me like that?"
"No. It's nothing."
It's only natural for a bodyguard knight to keep watch over their lord's presence day and night.
But is it really necessary to go this far?
Does she have some other intention?
Like keeping me under surveillance, maybe.
But even under my suspicious gaze, Ilia didn't so much as flinch. She simply blinked at me with that same expressionless face, as if asking whether there was even a problem to begin with.
When I just kept staring, she pulled me along by the hand and moved on to the next room as if it were the most natural thing in the world.
"This is the bathroom."
"Ah, right. Your bathroom, I assume."
"No. It's our bathroom now?"
"……What?"
Our bathroom?
What, are we supposed to go in together or something?!
I feel like I need to dunk myself in a cold bath right this second.
I'm breaking out in cold sweat way too much today!
"No. Are you serious…?"
"About what."
"The 'our bathroom' part."
"Mm. Honestly, I thought the tub was a bit big for just one person."
"…Just one person?"
"We'll take turns washing. It's my private bathroom, so there's no separate men's and women's side."
"Ah… r-right. Haha."
I let out a quiet sigh of relief inside.
I was getting way too worked up.
I must really be tired.
Considering how many weird thoughts keep popping into my head.
"That's the end of the tour."
"…You only showed me three rooms?"
"You only need to know my room, your room, and the bathroom. Those three are enough."
"Ah. Yes. Of course."
Well, when you think about it, she isn't wrong.
The layout of the Grand Duke's Castle hasn't changed at all since nine years ago.
And the places a bodyguard knight like me would actually need to go are limited anyway.
The training grounds, the dining hall, the library—that would be about it.
"Roen."
"What? Is there actually something else I need to know?"
"Yeah. It's lunchtime now. Let's go downstairs to eat."
So that was all she meant by 'something to tell me'?
Still, I was genuinely hungry.
I had forgotten about it while being dragged around by Ilia, but I hadn't even eaten breakfast this morning before coming here.
Maybe that was why all these strange thoughts kept surfacing.
"Alright. Let's go eat already."
"Okay."
Our joined hands showed no sign of coming apart as Ilia and I headed down to the first floor together.
A meal at the Grand Duke's household wasn't anything particularly special.
If anything, it was so unadorned that it almost looked plain at first glance.
Not that I had any complaints about the food.
The table at my own home wasn't much different.
The North had always been notorious for its barrenness.
It was an environment where luxury simply couldn't be entertained.
Support supplies and food did arrive regularly from the South every month, but even those were distributed to the territory's people first.
As a result, what actually reached the nobles was far less than one might expect.
And so the northern nobility had settled on cuisine that was just refined enough to still let them call themselves aristocrats.
Well, that was fine, wasn't it?
Thanks to it, the loyalty of the northern people was unmatched anywhere in the empire.
On the other hand, right now—
Something rather unpleasant was unfolding at the Grand Duke's table.
"Miss Ilia."
"What is it, Roen?"
"Before you boldly ask 'what,' perhaps you should first take a look at what you're currently doing?"
Why was there a mountain of roasted carrots piled on my plate?
As if someone had carefully picked every last carrot off their own plate and diligently relocated them.
Apparently the person sitting across from me thought I was a rabbit.
"I hate carrots."
"So I see. You don't even need to say it—your plate is already testifying."
"A bodyguard knight should know how to dispose of carrots on behalf of their lord."
"……."
I couldn't exactly explode with the maids and butlers watching.
And putting the carrots back on Ilia's plate would have looked like childish bickering, which would only lower my dignity further.
So I gave up and crunched my way through the carrots one after another.
With the Grand Duke away on business, the highest authority at this table was Ilia.
She was a full-blown tyrant.
"My lady? You mustn't be a picky eater."
Just then my savior, the head maid, approached Ilia.
"I'm not being picky. I'm simply relocating this precious ingredient to someone who will enjoy it more."
"What kind of nonsense is that, my lady! The young master has only just arrived and you're already putting on this disgraceful display? Until yesterday you ate everything without a single complaint!"
"Yesterday Roen wasn't here, so I forced myself."
Even while spouting that absurd logic, Ilia kept her fork busy, transferring every carrot from every plate onto mine.
And the head maid's complexion was shifting, moment by moment, into the exact same color as those carrots.
I needed to cut this off before the head maid exploded.
"Miss Ilia."
"What is it, Roen?"
"I hate picky eaters."
The moment those words left my mouth, the fork that had been hunting for its next sacrificial carrot froze mid-air.
"…That's the first I've heard of it."
"Of course it is. Back then you ate everything without complaint, so why would I have said anything?"
"……."
Ilia's fork carefully changed direction and edged toward my plate.
Don't tell me she's trying to take the carrots back?
Absolutely not.
I stretched out my own fork and blocked hers.
"Roen?"
"I'll take full responsibility and finish all of these. In exchange, you will eat every remaining carrot on your plate. Understood?"
"U-uh. Okay."
Ilia obediently withdrew her fork, speared one of the leftover carrots on her plate, and put it in her mouth.
Despite all the earlier talk about being forced to eat them in front of the head maid, she quietly chewed with her small mouth and swallowed.
I really can't figure her out.
Anyway, the situation had calmed down, so I turned my head, thinking the head maid might have cooled off a little—only to find her looking at me with a peculiar expression.
"Why are you looking at me like that, Head Maid?"
"No reason. I was simply… thinking that you're quite something."
"Me?"
"Look around you. I suspect everyone else in this dining hall is thinking the exact same thing I am."
At those words I rolled my eyes while still holding the fork in my mouth and glanced around. Sure enough—
The maids and butlers lined up along the wall were all looking at me with the same eyes as the head maid.
Eyes that seemed to be freely judging the nature of my relationship with Ilia however they pleased.
"It's a misunderstanding. Whatever it is you all are imagining."
"Yes. Of course you'd say that on the surface. Heh heh."
Hmm. The atmosphere has been strangely off since the very first day.
No, seriously—was getting Ilia to eat her carrots really that impressive?