Chapter 84
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: penny
Chapter: 84
Chapter Title: The Deadline is One Week
-----------------------------------------------------------------
"Put aside the words you were about to say... just for now. Hear me out first."
I couldn't stand tall before the results that had come about in a mere week.
Every time Rike approached, the urge to back away surged within me, but Eclair somehow held her ground.
"Uh—?"
She came closer and took my hand, leading me toward the spacious flower bed inside.
As if telling me to sit here, her hand pressed on my shoulder, and we sat facing each other on the flower bed built of stacked red bricks.
"Knight. Whether I keep calling you 'Knight' or start calling you 'sister'... I don't know yet. But if you get scared and give up like this, you'll regret it."
"...Regret?"
"I can read people's emotions a bit well, but do you know how your face changes so obviously whenever it involves my brother? When you were about to speak earlier, you looked utterly depressed, like you wanted to die right then."
Embarrassing. Her words were too hard to deny, sealing my lips.
"But I know my situation coldly..."
"Your situation as a knight? What situation?"
Her face showed genuine confusion. With the desperate feeling of self-harm—stabbing my own body with a knife to make her understand—I opened my mouth.
"That the feelings I have right now are one-sided... and can never come true."
Once the words spilled out, the cruel reality made me want to die.
"Pardon?"
The young lady's expression still held doubt. In my burning desperation, like I might turn to ash, I unwittingly sought another option.
"If the lady you're seeing gives her permission... couldn't we just... just be friends with Roman? I think even this kind of relationship would be enough for me right now..."
Even as Eclair said it, her words came out so subservient that she barely grasped their meaning herself.
"I told you, right? You'll regret making that decision."
"Whether I regret it or not... won't I know once we try?"
It was an evasive statement whose outcome was obvious even to her. Spitting out words like timid rebellion, Eclair squeezed her eyes shut.
Emotions she'd never experienced in her life. A chaotic situation beyond her values' comprehension.
Harboring feelings for a man who had a lover. Like a child caught in wrongdoing, Eclair's hands began to tremble.
"Knight. Keep your eyes closed like that and think about it."
Rike took hold of Eclair's trembling hand.
"..."
"Life with my brother is completely different from what you hear about typical imperial men. When I'm preparing meals, he hovers around offering to help... On days off, we pack lunches and head to the forest or mountains for picnics. Even when no fish bites during fishing, sitting in his lap chatting away, I'm swept up in his vast knowledge and eloquence—it's so enjoyable I don't even feel the disappointment of not catching anything."
With my eyes closed, the scenes painted themselves vividly. Imagining those actions as Roman's made them feel utterly natural and clear.
"Even when I whine in my half-asleep state, he holds me gently... He tells me he loves me every day until my ears melt. Even in the bedroom, sharing love isn't just forceful release of desire and done— he holds me until I fall asleep, planning and talking about our happy future."
"...Ugh!"
At the unabashed story, Eclair's cheeks flushed red. The inexperienced virgin couldn't help but picture it with Roman substituted, making the scene dreamlike and alluring.
"You really won't regret it? If you're truly satisfied just meeting occasionally to talk about commissions, sharing a meal or drinks now and then, I won't say more. Of course, with more women, it might become once a year... or not even that. I don't know."
How could she not regret it after hearing that? The initial rejection she'd meant to voice slipped away entirely.
Instead, her tightly hidden true feelings welled up and overflowed.
As the trembling in Eclair's hand intensified, Rike pressed it firmly to calm her.
"I... I'm honestly scared. Roman sees me as just a friend... To change my mind after barely a week and confess my feelings... If he rejects me, we might not even be able to stay friends..."
What if Roman rejected her? She imagined that whenever they inevitably crossed paths on commissions, he'd pretend nothing happened, acting his best to ensure she wasn't uncomfortable.
That thought felt even more wistful and sad, bringing tears to her eyes.
"Just because the time is short doesn't make the feelings any lighter... That's what he told me when I rushed to his house unannounced. He said after just a few days, he felt like he'd die without me. I went to his home sobbing hysterically."
"In just a few days...?"
"The depth and purity of emotions aren't determined by time, right? That day, he didn't just embrace me for mere pleasure. My brother will definitely face you seriously."
Even that sounded so like Roman. She envied being able to recall hearing it directly from the past.
"I'm not forcing you to confess without thought. Excluding me right now... I'm certain you're the one he's most interested in and fond of."
Her words carried conviction, as if she'd opened his heart and checked. It felt like a sudden savior appearing, washing away the negativity at once.
The dazzling light of a lamp igniting in a dark cave. Amused at her own temptation yet human enough to hope.
"I... I'll think about it..."
At my words, she smiled as if to say no way and raised one finger.
"Decide within a week."
Her firm declaration made me spring up from the flower bed.
"...Isn't that too harsh?! Something like this needs more time to get to know each other... I've only just realized my feelings—!"
Her expression turned frosty as frost on a winter branch, a look I'd never seen. Eclair, mid-excuse, shut her mouth.
"Knight. Sorry, but I won't yield any more time to that lukewarm attitude. Isn't this enough already?"
"...."
"Taking time to get to know each other? That's meaningless, so remember that. It's just letting unmanageable feelings grow."
In the silence, as Eclair nodded, questions about Rike began to form.
"...May I ask one thing?"
"Of course."
"Don't you, as the young lady, want to... monopolize Roman or something?"
Voicing her own dark desire felt like exposing it, tangling her tongue.
"That's a question that shows none of your usual sharpness, Knight. Of course I do."
"...Then why come to me and even give advice like this?"
Without needing long thought, she replied as if stating the obvious she'd always held in mind.
"Because my brother wants polygamy. I hate just considering myself and denying what he wants."
"...That's heavy."
"Then, if you were my brother's first lover? Would you oppose him practicing polygamy?"
"No... If it's what he wants, then it must be done."
It was common even in noble society.
For a meager baron's family, if a 'Platinum' wanted it and she couldn't provide, the woman would be pointed at and die.
The young lady fiddled with her black hair, her lips curling slightly in satisfaction at the answer.
"And... though I hate to admit it, it's a fact. If something happens to my brother, you'd be more helpful than me... for now."
The words "for now" that slipped into Eclair's ears sparked ambition.
Confidence in her outstanding talent. As a fellow warrior, she was eager to see what figure she'd become in a few years.
"Once you've made up your mind, invite me to the mansion sometime. I'd like to meet Clo too... and I'll tell you a few things he likes."
"Got it..."
As if all was said, she stood and walked away step by step, then turned back with a smile to offer final advice.
"Oh! And before you say things like you're a knight first, a sword for the Empire before a woman... when thinking of my brother, please look at your own face."
Once the young lady had fully departed, Eclair rose from the flower bed.
Falling for someone was a first, and now deciding within a week? It was utterly heartless.
"Haa—"
With a sigh of lament and exasperation, she finally moved to report on her duties.
As she stepped out of the alley to blend into the passing crowd, her final words came to mind.
'My face when thinking of Roman...?'
Shing—
No hand mirror, so only one option occurred.
She drew the longsword hanging at her uniform's waist. Peering at her reflection on the well-maintained blade.
Her usually firmly pressed lips were nowhere to be found, replaced by rippling waves.
Her cheeks, radiating unmistakable heat, and her red eyes were hazy as if drunk.
"Ugh...!!"
Mortified that she'd spouted nonsense about just being friends with such a face before the young lady, she wanted to die.
One week.
What on earth should she do?