Take Me, Escort Knight! - 6
"Nox!!!!!"
The moment the dream magic took shape, Lucia burst through the door with all the force she could muster.
I put on a startled look at her dramatic entrance.
"It's been a while. You seem to be in excellent spirits — has something happened?"
"I— I! Paul and I are dating!"
"Oh! Congratulations!"
I already knew, of course, but I had no desire to interrupt Lucia when she was this excited to tell me.
She recounted everything from the night we had shared that bottle of wine up through today. Aside from her insistence that she hadn't really been all that drunk, most of it was already familiar territory.
"—and so! Paul and I started going out!"
"Congratulations once again. What a wonderful story."
At my words, Lucia grinned with a bright little hehe.
"Then what do you plan to do with your sweetheart from now on? If it isn't too forward of me, I'd love to hear what kind of dates you have in mind."
"Hmm, well. Paul and I have already done most things together, you know. I should probably talk it over with him once I get back."
"Well, you did say the two of you have known each other a long time."
Lucia agreed, then let out a thoughtful hum and turned her gaze toward empty air. She was probably running through everything she and Paul had already done together — trying, I supposed, not to overlap with their first proper couple's date.
If she kept dawdling and fretting like this, though, she was going to be late for the proposal.
For the first time, I found myself grateful that time flowed differently between the dream and the waking world.
"Well, that's something I'll have to discuss with Paul. Do you have any good ideas, Nox?"
"Hard to say, when I don't know what the two of you have and haven't done."
"Ahaha, fair point."
Lucia sat with the thought a little longer, then shook her head and rose from her seat.
"This is something I should work out with him myself after all! I'll be heading back. Thank you so much for listening!"
"Safe travels, my guest."
Now the proposal begins, I thought.
After receiving a few more thanks and farewells from Lucia, I dissolved the dream world.
Under my influence, Lucia woke in the small hours of the morning and decided to take a short walk around the estate.
Paul was already up when I checked — whether he was always an early riser or not, I couldn't say.
On his way to Lucia's room, he arranged a carefully staged "chance" encounter with her.
He was dressed in his usual coat, as if to announce, I was planning to go out anyway.
"Lucy? You're up early. Or did you not sleep well?"
"I don't know. The bed felt off somehow — I just couldn't get deep rest."
A flicker of a smile crossed Paul's face. It was so faint I might have imagined it.
"Heading out somewhere?"
"Yeah. I was thinking of taking a little walk. Want to come?"
"I do. Let me just throw on a coat real quick."
"Alright. I'll wait."
Lucia rubbed her eyes and headed back to her room. Paul walked briskly to another door, knocked three times, and spoke through the crack as it slid open.
"Rose. Just waking you. If you're going to tail us, figure it out yourself."
A one-sided notice. Come to think of it, Rose had asked him to wake her yesterday.
Something like a pained groan drifted from the other side of the door, but Paul didn't so much as glance back as he returned to his post. I vaguely figured it was the sound of Rose wrestling with sleep.
Fortunately, Lucia still hadn't returned, so Paul was able to wait right where he stood.
"Sorry I took so long. I should've brought more layers."
She had swapped out her sleep pants and come back wearing a white outer coat. She looked properly awake now — she'd stopped the yawning that had plagued her until the moment she put the coat on.
Good. At least we won't have the nightmare image of her yawning through a proposal, I thought.
"You know, Paul, you're always up so early."
"I don't know — I think you're just the one who sleeps too long."
"I'll blame it on the vampire blood, then."
They traded small talk as they left the estate and set off in the direction Paul suggested.
"Do you have a destination in mind, Paul?"
"I was just thinking of a light stroll. Is there somewhere you'd like to go?"
"No reason. It just felt like a familiar path, so I asked."
"Now that you mention it — isn't this the road we walked the first time we met?"
"Now that you say it, maybe it is. Sorry, though. All I really remember is meeting you at the fountain."
"Then, while we're on the subject, let's walk as far as the fountain."
He's managing to stay remarkably calm, I thought.
Well — Paul did keep checking his own pulse now and then, but Lucia didn't seem particularly suspicious, so it would be fine.
"I remember this stretch. We're almost there, right?"
"Yeah. Just around this corner."
I slipped ahead of them and glanced past the bend — and there it was, the fountain, just as promised.
The proposal is really about to happen. The thought made even me tense up.
Paul sat with Lucia on the edge of the fountain and quietly began to speak.
"The first time we met, you were lost."
"I only meant to take a short walk, but I got lost in thought and somehow ended up all the way here."
"I was watching you wander around. Seeing a little kid like that — it was cute. I spent forever trying to figure out how to look like a decent person."
"You did seem calm back then. So that's why you didn't help me right away."
"Exactly. We were strangers. If I'd scared you off, I'd have felt guilty about it. Anyway… after that, as you know, I passed the escort knight exam, and we stuck together like we were one person."
"Honestly, the whole escort knight thing was half an excuse. I could already take care of myself just fine, then and now. I just needed someone to talk to."
"Back then, you felt like a little sister. A much younger little sister."
"I got that feeling too. You definitely weren't treating me like an employer. What kind of knight pats his charge on the head and says 'good job'? Especially a bodyguard."
"You really were admirable, though. The way you practiced magic just to show me — it was so obvious."
"Can we stop talking about this…? That was so long ago."
"Ahaha, alright. One last thing, then. Lucy — when did you first start liking me?"
"…You go first."
"I don't remember the exact moment, but I realized it on your birthday. The details are fuzzy, but when I gave you your present, it hit me. I like Lucy."
"The reason, too. Tell me the reason."
"Everything you did was just cute. It was nothing special — just a doll — but you hugged it like it was the greatest treasure in the world. And then you smiled so prettily and thanked me. How was I supposed to not fall for that?"
"…I've liked you longer, then."
"Yeah. I figured. Your turn now."
"You and those uselessly sharp ears… A long time ago — a really long time ago — there was that time someone picked a fight with me. I was just going to let it go, but you stepped in with some pretty rough language to protect me. That was why. It felt strange, like I'd seen a side of you no one else knew. I think that was the first time I ever saw you angry. It was new. That's the reason I make you call me 'my lady' at every official function, you know. I want to be the only one who gets to see you all soft and loose."
"I didn't know that. I'll try not to show that side of myself to anyone else."
"Just keep being like you are now. Just like this. As long as I know you like me, that's enough."
"…I'll apologize for that again. I had no idea I'd put you through so much."
"It's fine. You didn't do anything wrong."
"I just… I wanted you to know how much I like you too. I haven't been good enough at showing it until now. I'll make sure you feel it from here on."
"You're being so forward now that we're dating… You're making me a little shy, you know…?"
"Lucy."
"What?"
"Honestly speaking — living together just the two of us in Peltwin, we've already done pretty much everything a couple would do. We've gone out to eat, we've seen plays together. What was it called… magical target shooting? We've done that too."
"That's true. We're doing the same things — only the labels have changed."
"So…"
Paul slid down from the fountain's edge and sank to one knee in front of Lucia. Then he drew out a ring.
"Lucy. Will you marry me?"
"W-what…?"
"Forgive me if I'm not the best with words. Our marriage will definitely involve a lot of fighting, and times when we hurt each other."
"W-wait a second…"
"We've already seen so much of each other that the spark might fade. Someday we might have a fight so big we can't even look each other in the face. But I believe that if it's us — if it's you and me — we can get through all of it. Marriage might not look all that different from the life we already share. But wouldn't that be alright too? Honestly, Lucy, you've already woven yourself so deep into my life. My other half, my other soul — that's what you are to me. And anyone would want to make someone like that happy, right? Let's get married when you graduate. I'll make you happy. I promise."
"Is this… real…?"
"Of course it is. Will you marry me?"
"Of course… of course I will…!"
A single tear slipped down Lucia's cheek — and before she knew it, a ring had settled into place on the ring finger of her left hand.
Paul had been stroking Lucia's back; when she finally drew a long, steadying breath, he let his hand fall away.
"Okay. I think I'm done crying."
"You've been crying a lot lately."
"And every single time, it's your fault."
With the proposal successfully behind them, Paul sat back down on the fountain and they talked — though not before he'd spent a while carefully coaxing Lucia through her tears.
"We haven't even been a couple for a full day, and we're already engaged… What a rare experience."
"I barely remember what I even said. I must have been more nervous than I thought."
"Well… the second I saw the ring, my mind went completely blank."
It hadn't been a bad proposal. That was my assessment as a third party, at least.
Walk her through the memories from your first meeting to now, then talk about the future… Ordinarily, a proposal structured like that would give the whole mood away long before the ring appeared. But as Lucia herself had said, they'd only been dating for a day — of course she hadn't seen it coming.
"But isn't this a little soon? There are still so many things we haven't done."
"Like what?"
"Things like kissing? That's something you only do after you become a couple—"
In that instant, Paul gently turned the face of the girl sitting right beside him. Lucia seemed to catch on at once; color flooded her cheeks in a rush.
"…Just like that? Right now…?"
"Do you not want to?"
"It's not that I don't, but…"
The space between them shrank by degrees, and Lucia let her eyes fall softly shut.
The distance closed until their lips met — and then it held, for a long, unhurried moment.
I watched their kiss with quiet satisfaction, barely managing to keep myself from whooping congratulations on the spot.
How much time had passed before their lips finally parted?
"So — what else haven't we done?"
"Th-there's one more thing… but we can't do that here…"
Lucia covered her mouth with the back of her hand and looked away from him, out to the other side. Whether she was trying to hide her flushed face or simply couldn't bring herself to meet his eyes, I couldn't say. If hiding her face had been the goal, though, I could say with certainty that she'd failed — her ears were every bit as red as her cheeks.
When Lucia turned her head, Paul checked his pulse again. Whatever reading he got must have startled him; he let out the faintest huff of laughter.
"Hey, Paul…"
"What is it, Lucy?"
She was still facing away, and he made no move to turn either. Apparently they intended to keep talking just like that.
"Should we… tell people we're engaged…?"
"We'll need to ask Teo and Lily for their blessing first, at least."
"I'll talk to Mother. You go to Father. …The way I got his permission yesterday was a little pushy, so facing him right now feels a bit awkward."
"Well… I'll figure something out."
Paul scratched his head lightly with the same hand he'd been using to take his pulse. Right on cue, Lucia drew a small breath and slowly turned her face toward him. Her gaze settled on his face and stayed there, as if there was something else she wanted to say.
"Even though Father's a vampire, he gets up early to match Mother's schedule, you know? So even if we go back right now, we'd still have to wait for him to wake up."
"Right. So we've still got quite a bit of time…"
"Th-then… do you want to do it one more time…?"
The moment the words left her, Lucia reached for Paul's face. When her fingertips found him, she murmured quietly, "This time, I'll…"
And with that soft whisper as the last sound between them, their lips drew close once more.