Hikaru's Deflowering 1
In the thick of the Halzy Archipelago conquest—his very first campaign—a lone girl frets over Victor.
To Victor, she was the first woman he'd known in this reincarnated world.
It's been half a month since Lord Victor set out on his first campaign.
He mentioned conquering some distant islands called the Halzy Archipelago, but I wonder if he's safe... if he's doing okay. I'm so worried.
This is the lower mansion, Lord Victor's private residence in the city of Crystal Bay, the Togo Earldom's capital.
It's called the lower mansion because, compared to the castle, it's close to the commoner districts. The other mansion sits about halfway between here and the castle, so that's dubbed the upper mansion.
The lower mansion became Lord Victor's private home when he was six and I was seven.
As the legitimate heir to the Togo Earldom, I always thought he had no reason to use a place so near the commoner streets.
But at the time, he was also president of the Development and Promotion Corporation. The corporation had been operating on a small scale inside the castle until some of their inventions took off, making the space too cramped. So they renovated an old military barracks and warehouse in the commoner district into offices and a factory.
That put the corporation too far from the castle for Lord Victor's liking, so he made this lower mansion his private residence.
I lived here with the old man who tended the garden and stables.
When it became Lord Victor's home, I went to greet him. Despite being a noble, he was kind to us from the start. Whenever he stayed at the lower mansion, we'd play together, he'd invite me for tea inside, take me to meals, or sneak out to wander the city with us. He was always so good to me.
I turned ten and started working here as a maid.
I was thrilled—I could stay by his side whenever he visited. Lord Victor was always busy here, holding meetings with the corporation staff, tinkering on research and development, negotiating with merchants.
Running errands, helping him out—it made me so happy.
When Lord Victor turned fourteen, his first campaign was decided.
I was terribly worried. Wasn't he scared?
And I was scared too—that gentle Lord Victor might disappear forever.
A week before departure, he came to the mansion and called me to his room.
He sat me beside him on the sofa and said,
"Hikaru, will you be my first woman?"
I'm a year older than Lord Victor, fifteen at the time.
I knew what he meant, and it made me overjoyed.
But I told him I was just a lowborn commoner girl, unworthy of him.
"I've never cared about status when it comes to you, Hikaru," he said softly, sounding a little lonely.
That's when I realized I'd been wrong.
Lord Victor had never once looked down on me.
Realizing that, I asked him,
"Lord Victor, are you sure you want someone like me?"
"I want you, Hikaru."
I burst into tears—I was so happy.
"Lord Victor, the truth is, I've always adored you."
"Really, Hikaru?"
"Yes. So I'm thrilled you chose me as your first."
With that, he pulled me close and kissed me.
I was so embarrassed, but he must have been too.
These things are embarrassing, after all.
But he mustered the courage to confess his feelings to me.
And that made me truly happy.
"I hear you're heading out on your first campaign soon, Lord Victor."
"Yeah. I might die. That's why I have to hold you first, or I couldn't go."
"Ah, Lord Victor, please don't say such sad things."
I understood everything then. He was scared too.
That's why he came to me.
I'm not scared anymore. I have to be of use to Lord Victor.
I have to comfort him.
"Lord Victor, promise you'll come back from your first campaign safe and sound. And hold me again then, okay? Promise?"
"I promise. I'll come back alive. I won't make you sad, Hikaru. I won't let any other man have you."
That was enough. Maybe I'd been living just for this moment.
I'm just a worthless commoner girl with no talents,
but in that instant, I felt there was something only I could do.
I stood from the sofa and faced Lord Victor.
"Lord Victor, will you undress me from my maid uniform?"
Having learned of Victor's resolve ahead of his first campaign,
Hikaru—his childhood friend, the girl who'd long harbored feelings for him—
responded to his plea with a resolve of her own.
Another page turns in the continent's history. lol