I Thought I Was Seeing Things
At first, Lucy thought she was seeing things.
No way. Why would His Majesty be at the lakeside? And with Lina, of all people.
It was perfectly fine for Lina to be at the lakeside, the so-called sanctuary for lovers. The Emperor being there was… not exactly a problem, either. But the two of them being there together… that was something else entirely.
While Lucy was desperately trying to deny the reality in front of her, the Emperor bent his head and kissed the back of Lina’s hand.
Faced with the absurd scene unfolding before her eyes, Lucy frantically rubbed at them. Yet the figures of Edwin and Lina refused to vanish.
It really is them.
What was worse, that very Emperor was smiling shyly.
What is this? It’s terrifying.
Lucy clapped a hand over her mouth in case a scream slipped out.
“Darling, what’s wrong?”
Her cute but somewhat oblivious younger lover tilted her head, watching Lucy with puzzled eyes as she suddenly began acting strange.
“Shh.”
Lucy covered her lover’s mouth—her voice had always been on the loud side—then retreated as cautiously as someone who had stumbled upon a wild animal, keeping her presence to an absolute minimum.
Only when Edwin had shrunk to the size of a tiny bean in the distance did she finally lower her hand.
“You didn’t see that, right?”
Lucy chewed her lip, anxiety gnawing at her.
A shy Emperor? Of all the things to witness.
It felt like she had seen something she should never have seen. The lingering discomfort left her feeling restless and unclean.
A chill ran down her spine despite the summer heat, making her shudder.
It was only natural. After all, Lucy had served in Edwin’s personal knight unit for six full years. She had retired after sustaining injuries in battle and switched to an office position, but that experience meant she understood the Emperor’s rumors far better than anyone else in the Inspectorate—which parts were true, and which were exaggerated.
The citizens of the empire believed the Emperor had launched his coup out of a righteous sense of justice, unable to tolerate the previous emperor’s tyranny any longer.
That’s the official story, at least. In reality…
Those who had served Edwin since his childhood, Lucy included, knew the truth. The coup had been driven entirely by revenge. Yet the previous emperor—the target of that revenge—had died far too easily. Because his thirst for vengeance had never been fully satisfied, the newly crowned Edwin had been dangerously unstable.
He had poured all his remaining fury onto the battlefields. Even as emperor, he sought out only the most perilous fronts and always led the charge from the very front. To the citizens reading victory reports, it might have sounded like the deeds of a hero. To Lucy, who had witnessed it firsthand, the impression was rather different.
It was a relief he was on our side during the war.
Honestly, she had suspected more than once that he simply enjoyed the sight of blood.
Though that wasn’t quite it.
Having watched Edwin from ages fifteen to twenty-one—the most turbulent, stormy period of his life—Lucy had found him an incredibly prickly and terrifying superior.
And now that same Emperor was dating Lina.
Lucy tried hard to look on the bright side.
Well… they’re both adults. They could date if they wanted to.
They certainly seemed to get along well.
But… why?
The question kept rising in her throat, but she forced it down.
It looks like Lina got completely taken in by that slick, handsome face.
Having reached her own conclusion about the root cause of this catastrophe, Lucy offered a brief moment of mourning.
Still, pretending she knew about this—or worse, letting even a whisper of a rumor slip—would do nothing to extend her lifespan. Lucy decided to erase the entire scene from her memory.
“What didn’t I see?”
Her lover, who had been suddenly dragged away with a hand clamped over her mouth, pouted and grumbled.
“I ran into someone from work. I didn’t want things to get awkward for either of us.”
Lucy soothed her lover while doing her best to ignore the afterimage still burned into her mind.
Hmm. For some reason, I really don’t feel like heading that direction.
It wasn’t that she was desperately avoiding His Majesty. It was just… an ominous feeling. She repeated the excuse to herself like a mantra.
Lucy scanned the area with keen eyes, searching for any spot that Edwin and Lina would have zero interest in visiting.
“That one.”
Several small rowboats were available on the lake for couples who wanted an intimate ride. It was practically a required course for visitors. However, it was midsummer, and during the hottest part of the day, the boats were far from popular.
“Darling, let’s take that one.”
“Won’t it be too hot, Lulu?”
“Summer is supposed to be hot.”
Lucy tugged her lover toward the rowboat.
“That’s true. I was actually in the mood for a boat ride anyway.”
Even though she was being half-dragged, her lover acted as though she were going willingly. It was typical of Lucy’s partner—someone who had grown tired of macho types after working in an all-male knight order and therefore tended to be rather passive about asserting herself.
The two reached a smooth agreement and climbed aboard.
It was about the time when couples who had rented boats early in the morning were beginning to return. Lucy’s plan worked perfectly. During the hottest, shadeless hour of the day, they were the only couple who had taken a boat out onto the lake.
Her date outfit—a flowy chiffon dress—and the hat decorated with a lace ribbon proved surprisingly effective at blocking the sunlight. Her scalp still felt a little warm from the blazing sun, but it was bearable. In fact, having the entire famous lake to themselves made the atmosphere even more romantic.
Lucy’s heart, which had been racing after witnessing that forbidden sight, slowly began to settle back into its normal rhythm.
Until she spotted another rowboat just leaving the dock.
“Oh, come on.”
It was Edwin and Lina.
She hadn’t expected anyone else to be boating at this hour. And she certainly hadn’t expected them.
Lina, wearing a wide-brimmed hat, stepped into the boat with Edwin’s assistance. Once he boarded, he shed his outer coat, revealing a thin white shirt. He even rolled up the sleeves.
Leaning close to Lina, he was clearly offering some excuse about how the current outfit was slightly inconvenient for rowing.
The man who used to stride around battlefields in heavy armor is suddenly complaining that a summer suit is uncomfortable?
Lucy narrowed her eyes at the blatantly obvious maneuver.
Men are all the same.
She never imagined she would one day lump Edwin in with the rest of the male knights.
As Edwin gripped the oars and began to row, the muscles in his arms swelled dramatically with each stroke before relaxing again. The thin summer shirt revealed every flex and shift in perfect detail. Lucy could see Lina’s gaze drifting, almost unconsciously, toward those forearms and the broad chest beneath the fabric.
There was no chance the perceptive Edwin had missed that look, yet he pretended not to notice and simply kept rowing with great enthusiasm.
True to his status as an aura master with natural talent for physical exertion, he had already mastered the proper technique after only a few strokes. After putting in a bit more effort, their boat reached the center of the lake—close enough that a loud conversation from one vessel would easily carry to the other.
Lucy immediately pulled her hat down lower.
Edwin and Lina seemed completely lost in their own little world and probably hadn’t even noticed the other boat, but the gesture was for her own sanity.
Having set the oars down, Edwin asked Lina if she felt hot. Not a single drop of sweat glistened on his face.
It was such an obvious ploy.
“Say you’re cold,” Lucy whispered under her breath. “Tell him it’s freezing. Say it’s winter.”
She quietly cheered Lina on. If Lina admitted she was hot, he would undoubtedly start unbuttoning a few buttons. After working in a male-dominated environment, Lucy had learned far more about men’s flirting techniques than she ever wanted to know.
Do knights really think women lose their minds over muscular bodies?
Well, they didn’t exactly lose their minds, but most women did tend to like them. Whenever her knight colleagues came to her for dating advice, Lucy usually kept quiet and simply suggested they take their shirts off. After training their bodies so rigorously, their brains seemed to have turned to muscle as well—they had the physique but zero sense.
It was an obvious, cliché move, yet it appeared to be working on Lina, who apparently shared the common preference for well-built men. Lina’s face carried a hint of eager anticipation as she admitted she was feeling warm.
Lucy no longer wanted to watch Edwin puffing out his chest like a peacock displaying its feathers.
Sigh. Just go row on the palace lake instead.
With a heavy sigh, Lucy grabbed the oars and rowed away with all her strength, fleeing the lake entirely.
“Huh? Darling?”
As a former knight, Lucy was much faster at seizing the oars than her more scholarly lover. The boat reached the dock at a far quicker pace than when they had departed.
“Darling, I suddenly feel seasick.”
Lucy belatedly put on her best delicate act.
“Oh, our Lulu got seasick, so we came back in a hurry.”
Though she looked a little dazed, her lover had such an innocent personality that she accepted the excuse without question. Lucy quickly led her toward a shady spot beneath the trees.
But it seemed their choice of date location overlapped with Edwin’s after all.
“Again?”
Lucy swallowed the crude words that had nearly burst from her lips.