I Didn't Do Anything
The next day.
As soon as class ended, Elina came over to my seat.
"Lord Leon."
"Yeah."
"About what I mentioned yesterday."
"Ah."
The swordsmanship thing. Yesterday, Elina had said there was something she wanted to ask me about, and Serena had invited herself along.
I got up from my seat, and as naturally as breathing, glanced to the side. Serena was already packing up her bag.
"We going?"
"Yeah."
"Right behind you."
She followed as if it were the most obvious thing in the world. There was no reason to argue this time — the plan had been for the three of us to go together from the start.
We left the classroom together. Elina walked up front, with me and Serena behind her.
But we'd barely taken a few steps when something brushed the back of my hand. I glanced down. Serena's pinky finger.
"What are you doing."
"I haven't done anything."
"You touched me."
"Coincidence."
Her finger touched mine again. Tap.
"……"
"Another coincidence."
"Twice?"
"I'm lucky, I guess."
Serena smiled.
That smile had become the thing I hated most in the world. I slid my hand silently inside my cloak.
Serena stared at the hem of my cloak for a long while. Like someone seriously calculating how to get through it.
Fortunately, she seemed unable to find a way.
Then Elina, walking ahead of us, turned around.
"You two really do get along wonderfully."
"We don't."
I answered instantly.
Serena said nothing at all. She just smiled.
Elina looked at Serena for a moment. Serena didn't deny it. She simply kept smiling. Elina's gaze came back to me, then drifted to Serena again.
"……I see."
Her face said she'd understood something.
"Understood what, exactly?"
"Nothing at all."
Elina turned to face forward again.
And then—
The distance she kept ahead of us had grown by about half a step from before.
Beside me, Serena laughed softly.
"What's so funny?"
"Nothing."
"What do you mean, nothing?"
"I'm in a good mood."
"Why?"
Serena didn't answer. She just walked beside me.
The promised spot was a small training yard behind the academy. There was hardly anyone around.
Serena pointed at a bench at the edge of the yard.
"I'll watch from here."
"……Really?"
"I won't get in the way."
That was unexpected. I'd fully expected her to glue herself to my side and spectate. But Serena actually sat down on the bench like a model student, folding her hands neatly in her lap.
I turned to Elina. "So what's the question?"
"Ah, yes. It's about recovering my stance after a thrust."
Elina picked up a wooden sword and demonstrated. It wasn't bad. Her fundamentals were solid. But after the thrust, her body tipped slightly forward.
"You're putting too much weight on your front foot."
"My front foot?"
"Watch."
I picked up a wooden sword myself and ran through it a few times. Thrust, recover, thrust again. Elina watched intently.
But every so often—
Glint.
Her eyes flicked toward Serena. While I was explaining, glint. Even mid-movement, copying my form — glint.
Finally I asked. "Elina."
"Yes?"
"Why do you keep looking over there?"
"Me?"
"Yeah."
Elina flustered for a second. "Ah, that is… I was just worried Her Highness might be bored."
"Don't worry about it."
I turned my head. Serena was sitting right where she'd been, the whole time. Not interfering. Not butting in. Just—
Watching me.
Our eyes met. A beaming smile.
"……"
"Serena."
"Yes?"
"What are you doing."
"Looking at you, Leon."
"Why?"
Serena tilted her head as if I'd asked her something truly bizarre. "Because I wanted to look?"
"……"
I should have known better than to ask.
Elina gave a small cough beside me, her ears turning a little red.
"……See? That's just how she is."
"Ah… I see."
But the look on her face wasn't one of someone tuning it out. If anything, she seemed even more self-conscious than before. I decided to let it go.
"Try it again."
"Yes."
Elina raised the wooden sword. Thrust. Recover. Her body tipped forward again — and this time her wrist was bent, too.
"Your wrist's bent too much. Like this."
I took Elina's wrist to correct the angle.
In that instant, Elina went rigid. Then she whipped her head around — toward Serena. I followed her gaze.
Serena was still watching me. Chin propped on her hand, not taking her eyes off me for a second. It wasn't an angry face. It wasn't a jealous face. It was just — the face of someone perfectly happy that I existed.
I'd seen that face hundreds of times since we were children. So familiar that it had never once occurred to me how it might look to other people.
Elina quietly slipped her wrist out of my hand.
"……I think I've got it now."
"Already?"
I was a little surprised. "Good instincts. Just mind your wrist on the recovery."
"Ah, no, that's not what I—"
"Hm?"
"……Never mind."
Elina started to say something, then stopped and closed her mouth. She lowered the wooden sword.
"Lord Leon."
"Yeah."
"I think this is enough for today."
"Already?"
"Yes."
It was much faster than I'd expected. "You said you had more to ask."
"I do, but…"
Elina paused. And then—
She looked at Serena again.
This time, she looked properly.
"I'll ask next time."
"Sure."
I answered without thinking much of it. "Then we can all come together again next time."
The moment those words left my mouth, Elina's expression stiffened strangely.
"……"
"What?"
"Nothing."
That was not the face of nothing.
Elina hesitated a moment, then asked carefully. "Lord Leon."
"Yeah."
"If it isn't too rude of me to ask—"
"Ask."
Elina's gaze came to me. And then it went to Serena, sitting on the bench.
"The two of you… you truly aren't lovers?"
"We're not."
I answered instantly again. And then I waited.
Normally this was the point where Serena would cut in.
'Not yet.'
'We will be again.'
'That's what I think, anyway.'
She'd done it on our first day at the academy. I was sure she'd say something.
But—
Nothing. Silence.
I turned slowly to look at Serena. She said nothing at all. She was just—
Smiling.
"……Serena?"
"Yes?"
"Why aren't you saying anything?"
"What is there for me to say?"
"Well, normally you'd—"
"You said we weren't, didn't you, Leon?"
"……"
Unexpected.
"So you're staying quiet because of that?"
"Yes."
And then, quite naturally, she added:
"I've decided to do less of the things you hate."
For a moment, I had no words.
That business about being better than her past life. That business about making me grant permission myself. She really was trying to keep her word.
"……Right."
I looked back at Elina. But her eyes had gone a little wide. The way she was looking at Serena was different from before. How to put it—
It was the look of someone pitying something. Or else—
The look of someone moved.
"What?"
"It's nothing."
"Why is everyone acting weird today?"
"It truly is nothing."
Elina let out a quiet breath. Then she walked over to the bench and bowed politely before Serena.
"Your Highness."
"Yes?"
"I was being dense."
Serena blinked. "Pardon?"
"I won't disturb your time together again."
"Disturb? What do you mean?"
Serena said it with a smile. "I just came along, that's all."
"……Of course."
Elina bowed once more, her face full of some new certainty. Then she turned back to me.
"Lord Leon."
"Yeah."
"Thank you for today."
"I didn't really do anything."
"And—"
Elina paused, choosing her words. Then she said it with eyes that carried a faint trace of reproach.
"Please… take better care of Her Highness."
"……Huh?"
"Good day."
Elina didn't wait for my answer. She simply turned and walked away. A few steps on, she stopped. And looked back.
It seemed like she was looking at me — but she wasn't. She bowed lightly to Serena one more time.
And that was it. Elina walked off into the distance.
"……"
I stared after her for a while.
Something was off. Something—
Something was very off.
"I was going to tell her to just ask whenever she has more questions."
"What a shame," said Serena at my side. At some point she'd risen from the bench and come over to me. Her face didn't look remotely disappointed.
"Leon."
"Hm?"
"Let's go home too."
"Hold on."
I looked at Serena. "What did you do?"
"Me?"
Her eyes went round. "To Elina?"
"I didn't do anything."
"Really?"
"Yes."
Serena sounded a little put-upon. "I was sitting right there the whole time, wasn't I?"
That was true. Today, Serena really hadn't done anything. She hadn't interfered with Elina. She hadn't cut off any conversations. She hadn't latched onto me.
She'd even held her tongue when Elina asked about our relationship.
"You really didn't do anything."
"See?"
"……Then why is she acting like that?"
"Who knows."
"And what was that about taking better care of you?"
I frowned. "What have I ever failed to give you?"
Serena pretended to think for a moment. And then she said, with a very serious face:
"You haven't slept with me."
"Hey."
"You don't hold me, either."
"That's obviously—"
"And you haven't held my hand once today."
"……"
"It's true."
Serena nodded solemnly. "You're so cruel to me, Leon."
"That's not what Elina meant."
"Then what did she mean?"
"……I don't know."
I genuinely didn't know. Serena smiled faintly. Then she looked down at my hand.
"Leon."
"What."
"We're done now, right?"
"Yeah."
"Then can I hold your hand?"
There it was. Her docility always had an expiration date.
"No."
"I really was good today."
"What does that have to do with this?"
"A reward."
"Who said anything about rewards?"
Serena's face fell into a sulk.
"Just a little."
"No."
"One finger, then."
"What kind of—"
Serena held out her pinky. "Just this."
"……"
She really would negotiate over anything.
"Fine. Just that."
Instantly, Serena's whole face lit up.
"Yes!"
Her pinky hooked around mine. She smiled as if that alone had made her day. And—
She truly didn't ask for anything more.
So we walked through the academy grounds like that, connected by a single pinky finger. A few passing students looked at us and smiled.
"Classic," someone murmured.
I didn't ask what was classic about it.
After we'd walked a while, I asked:
"Why are you so well-behaved today?"
"I'm always well-behaved."
"Don't lie."
"It's true."
"It's really not."
Serena laughed. Then she slowed her pace slightly, and — with her finger still hooked in mine — gave it the faintest little shake.
"Today, I've had enough."
"Enough of what?"
"Just… enough."
That phrase again.
"Enough of what, exactly?"
"Secret."
"……"
"Leon."
"What."
Serena looked up at me. She was wearing an incredibly happy face.
"Thank you for letting me come along today."
"We agreed all three of us would come from the start."
"Even so."
She said that, and smiled as if it were nothing at all.
I didn't ask anything further. I just thought — she did seem to be in a good mood today, for some reason.
And—
Right up to the end, Serena never said a single word about Elina.
That night.
Serena lay in bed, and thought back over the day.
Elina's face. At first, cautious. Then, flustered. And at the very end—
Apologetic. Toward her.
Serena smiled up at the ceiling.
She had done nothing at all. She had simply refrained from denying it.
Today, the only one who'd said "we're not" was Leon.
And the more Leon denied it, the more people thought:
How patient Her Highness must be.
How shy the young lord must be, to act that way.
Between these two—
No one must dare intrude.
"Take better care of her, I told him."
Serena rolled the words around in her mouth. It felt good. It felt really good.
Looking natural in other people's eyes — that had been enough, at first. But now it was going beyond natural. It was becoming obvious. What people saw with their own eyes was becoming more real than Leon's own words.
Serena hugged her pillow to her chest.
"Everyone clears the path all on their own."
No need to tear anyone away by force. No need for threats. Unlike her past life—
This time, there was no need for any of it.
"God Himself—"
She hugged the pillow tighter. "—and all the people too."
And then—
"—say that I'm the one who belongs at Leon's side."
She smiled happily.
"Leon."
She buried her face in the pillow.
"I love you."
A little tighter.
"I really, truly love you."
And then—
She whispered, very softly:
"I love you enough that I want to keep you in a room no one knows about."