If All This Were a Dream (4)
Princess Elenoa was a notorious troublemaker. The number of incidents she'd gotten into was simply too many to count, and the knights and maids serving her had been driven to compile an official manual just to cope with her.
One entry in that manual read as follows:
[15.] If you spot the Princess leaving the castle, report it as if you saw nothing. She'll find a way out regardless.
The instruction was straightforward: if you caught her slipping out of the castle, pretend you hadn't. After catching her a few times, she'd simply learned to evade detection entirely, so this clause had been added as a matter of practical surrender.
And this time, she wasn't sneaking out alone — she was accompanied by the Swordmaster, the Spear King's most treasured guest and the pride of the kingdom. The knights, wanting the two of them to have a good time, deliberately turned a blind eye and loosened their guard just enough to let the pair slip away.
Once they were clear of the royal castle, Elenoa tapped her brooch a few times. A jet-black robe instantly draped over her body.
"That's..."
"An identity-concealing robe! It makes people unable to recognize me!"
"I know. I just thought Carnelly was wearing the same thing."
"Yeah! Exactly! I had Carnelly make me one too, at the same time."
Relieved to learn she hadn't actually stolen Carnelly's outfit, Evan let out an awkward laugh.
Elenoa, sensing something odd about his laughter, tilted her head and pressed him.
"What's with that laugh? Why are you laughing like that?"
"No, nothing."
"Hmmph — still not telling me?"
Playfulness bubbling up, Elenoa pressed her chest hard against Evan's back. Her soft breasts squashed against him.
For a young boy who had only recently come to understand women, this would be far too stimulating. Before long, Evan would surely blush and do whatever she told him to... or so she thought.
"Ah — Elenoa. Don't move so much. It's hard to carry you."
"...Huh?"
"We're almost there. Just hold on a little longer."
"Oh, uh, okay... got it..."
The beauty trap had failed. Elenoa was genuinely shocked by this fact. It had been months since she'd had Evan sleep with her knight Monica — surely he'd grown accustomed to such tactics by now.
She was deeply disappointed that one of her available moves had been taken away. But in reality, that wasn't the case at all.
'Such a nice scent...'
Evan was thoroughly enjoying the weight of Elenoa's breasts pressing against his back, and the sweet fragrance that wafted toward him each time she leaned in was stimulating his central nervous system.
If Elenoa's breasts hadn't ranked as the fourth-best among the women Evan knew —
If Evan hadn't already experienced all sorts of things with other women like Penelope and Rainia —
He would have been completely captivated by her right now, a puppet doing whatever she said. She certainly had the charm to do it.
"We're here."
"Hmm — oh, then let's go to that shop."
"Shouldn't I set you down?"
"It's an identity-concealing robe, remember? People won't know I'm the princess, so it's fine!"
"No, that's not what I meant."
Evan realized this princess was surprisingly naive about how the world worked. It wasn't really his place to say so — he himself had only recently left the countryside and was still learning — but she was, if anything, even more sheltered than he was.
'Does she not realize that a man carrying a woman his own height around will draw attention...?'
The identity-concealing robe was irrelevant. Even if she took it off, no one would think she was a princess — because no one could imagine a princess wandering around without even a single guard.
The one drawing attention was Evan.
"Hey, um..."
"No way. It can't be."
"Who's that person you're carrying around...?"
'Oh, this is embarrassing.'
Evan's face was far more recognizable than the princess's. After several incidents where people failed to recognize him, the Spear King had gone so far as to spread word of him, produce newspapers, install portraits, and even erect statues — making it impossible for anyone to not know Evan's face.
Right in the center of the capital stood a statue of the Spear King alongside one of Evan — a statue that looked exactly like him.
And here Evan was, carrying Elenoa around with no identity-concealing robe whatsoever, so all eyes were fixed on the two of them.
"...Um, Evan? Something's weird. Why are people staring at me?"
"They're not staring at you. They're staring at me. I'm the one without the robe, remember."
"Oh."
Only now realizing the situation, Elenoa finally climbed down from Evan's back. She carefully reached out from beneath the robe and took his hand.
As Evan's hand was grasped by hers, he felt her soft fingers fill his palm — and at the same time, some unknown energy wrapped around his entire body.
"I think this will work. I'm still a little shaky on my feet, so you can't let go, okay?"
"...Alright."
"Great — let's go!"
Elenoa said this and began walking forward with vigor. As a Transcendent, Evan could tell from her gait alone that she was perfectly fine — that the impact he'd absorbed had completely dissipated.
But he made no point of mentioning it. He didn't want to ruin the princess's mood with useless words, and honestly, Evan himself was enjoying this situation quite a bit.
'This feels like the first time...'
Had he walked around cities with other women? Many times.
Had he gone shopping with them? Many times.
But walking through a city holding hands like lovers? Never. This was the first time.
And so, the princess took one of Evan's firsts.
"This is the market where lots of people walk around!"
"This is the capital's top performance venue! Mages and circus troupes put on shows every day!"
"That's Artisan Street! Craftsmen from other countries fled here after being defeated by Transcendents abroad, and they built this place!"
As befitting a princess of the kingdom — or perhaps even more so than befitting one — Elenoa knew the capital remarkably well. It wasn't strange for a royal to know these things, but she seemed just as familiar with commoner culture as anyone.
Evan himself had only been here once, so for a moment he laughed at himself for ever thinking he'd be the one teaching her about commoner culture.
'Who's teaching whom...'
"Here! Evan!"
"Ah, thanks."
Evan took a chicken skewer that Elenoa handed him. She'd bought it with her own allowance, and throughout the process she showed no sign of being unfamiliar with the value of money or fumbling over it.
She was different from the princess he knew. So different. A sheltered, innocent princess who didn't understand the world was something that only existed in fairy tales.
'No, wait — maybe not.'
Watching Elenoa's profile as she smiled brightly and observed the crowd, Evan found himself staring blankly with his mouth hanging open.
"Hm? Ahaha — Evan, what's with that stupid look?"
"Huh, what?"
Swallowing the drool he'd only just realized was dripping, Evan wiped his mouth and turned his head toward the chicken skewer in his hand.
He hadn't even noticed his mouth was open. Was this what it felt like to be entranced? It wasn't the same feeling he'd had when he'd been bewitched by Rainia, the former head of Nine Lives who was a nine-tailed fox.
While Evan was berating himself with his head turned away, Elenoa — having figured out why he was acting strange — smiled slyly and tapped his leg with her foot.
"Evan. Have you had a lot of experience back there?"
"...Experience?"
"Yeah. Monica told me. She said she had her first time with you back then. That she's not a virgin anymore."
"—Ah. That..."
Only now recalling the situation from that time, Evan gave a bitter smile.
It had been his first time. Back then, he'd thought it was real sex. It was a mishap that had happened when he had zero sexual knowledge.
Now he knew it hadn't been real sex at all. Real sex was a bit more slimy, and came with a certain kind of sparkling pleasure.
"I didn't even do it with that knight in the first place."
"...You didn't? What do you mean..."
"I didn't have much sexual knowledge back then. With Monica, we just held hands and slept. We didn't even take our clothes off."
"No, no — what? What do you mean..."
Elenoa let out a nervous laugh, as if to say how on earth could something like that even happen. Right — Evan could be excused for being clueless back then, but how could Monica, of all people, have no sexual knowledge?
The idea that a princess's personal guard knight would be less sexually knowledgeable than the princess herself was absurd!
'Wait, hold on.'
After thinking for a moment, Elenoa realized it was entirely possible. A princess was supposed to be pure in both body and mind. The head maid who oversaw her education had been so afraid of any lewd presence near her that she'd even assigned a guard knight with zero sexual knowledge.
'Monicaaaaa...!!'
Only now understanding the truth, Elenoa clenched her fists and ground her teeth at her personal guard.
Evan, unaware of any of this, simply tilted his head. He was wondering if the topic had been too stimulating for a conversation with a girl...