Chapter 61
Unlike the past, many things about her had changed.
From the imperial basement to the northern Crencia Castle.
From a blind villainess to a duchess who could see.
The thought that perhaps Ritsi’s ability might have changed made her unable to resist checking.
Reina looked at Kaiden using Ritsi’s power.
It was an action expecting a surging vitality, not the lifelessly fading one from the past.
“Huh!”
Reina was startled and withdrew her power.
She even leaned her body back, causing Kaiden to make a puzzled expression.
“Why suddenly like that?”
“……Ah, nothing.”
Reina stroked her pounding heart and swallowed.
‘What is it?’
Thinking she might have seen wrong, she used her power again to look at Kaiden.
And she was bewildered by the color of his emotions still dyed in a deep pink.
‘Fi, first time seeing this color.’
The pink emotional light, which didn’t suit him at all, was burning vividly along with his strong vitality.
It wasn’t a particularly threatening color. Rather, it seemed close to being favorable toward her.
It was a color she had never once felt from those who gathered around her in the past.
Reina didn’t know that it was the emotional light that appears in ‘a person in love.’
It was natural since there was no one around her who loved like that.
Meanwhile, Kaiden stared at Reina with a dazed expression.
With Ritsi on the back of her hand, Reina’s gaze staring intently at him was beautiful.
To the point where even the divine tree positioned like a background behind her felt ordinary.
The appearance of the woman loved by birds and trees created a mysterious atmosphere like a spirit in a fairy tale.
Kaiden spotted a leaf that had fallen on her hair and reached out his hand.
At that moment, Reina was startled and fell backward.
Thud-.
“Ah.”
Reina looked at the clear sky and let out an exclamation.
She had unconsciously shown an over-sensitive reaction.
Kaiden’s extended hand was frozen as it was.
Anyone could see that it was because Reina had roughly avoided his touch.
Reina feigned ignorance.
“Ha, the sky is pretty.”
“…….”
“Kaiden, you lie down here too.”
To break the awkward atmosphere, she pulled him.
Kaiden, who suddenly ended up lying on the grass, stared at Reina, not the sky.
“Pretty, right?”
She asked while looking at the sky.
“……It’s pretty.”
He answered while looking at her.
As if the sky wasn’t in his mind at all from the beginning.
While staring at the sky like that for a while, Reina said.
“When Michael comes, we might have to act like a friendly couple.”
“Act like a couple?”
Kaiden felt displeased at the words that strangely kept distance.
Reina, unaware of this, said calmly.
“Michael still suspects our relationship. He absolutely won’t believe unless he sees it with his own two eyes.”
He was the person who suspiciously viewed the two’s marriage until the end at the emperor’s banquet.
If they acted distant after coming to the north, it might raise even more suspicion.
“So, as naturally as possible, pretend to be a couple…….”
Reina stopped mid-sentence. It was because Kaiden gently held her chin.
Only then did her gaze move from the sky to him.
The gaze staring intently at her felt particularly hot today.
With deepened eyes, he murmured lowly.
“If it’s pretending to be a couple, does that mean it’s okay to go as far as anywhere?”
“Huh?”
“Reina, I’m asking what you think is the most natural couple.”
At the question of where to draw the line of allowance, Reina rolled her eyes.
“Umm. ……It would be good to show a harmonious appearance often. Like walking together or drinking tea…….”
When she herself seemed unsure after speaking, Kaiden burst into a soft laugh.
“Reina. Isn’t that possible even between friends? If it’s that, it’s like what we did before marriage.”
“Now that I hear it, that’s true…….”
“What is the harmonious couple you think of like?”
Reina blinked at the question she had never thought about before.
Her mother died right after giving birth to her, and her father was busy using her.
Having never met proper parents, she couldn’t know how a harmonious couple lives.
Then, suddenly, her forgotten maternal family came to mind.
The Eve Count couple often took care of her in place of her mother’s empty spot when she was young.
Although contact was cut off after leaving the capital, they were still among those she missed.
Reina quietly recalled their appearance and said.
“Always holding hands while walking or doing hugs or light kisses in the morning and evening.”
A voice full of lingering.
Unaware that she was stimulating him, she was immersed in old memories.
In the meantime, Kaiden’s expression became quite serious.
He interlocked fingers with her hand and asked.
“……Like this?”
Reina looked down at the perfectly interlocked hands.
It wasn’t the first time holding hands with him.
But today, his hand felt particularly large.
Perhaps because of the interlocking?
A strange tension arose, but it wasn’t an unpleasant feeling.
Rather, it was a contact that gave a sense of stability, making her mind relaxed.
Reina nodded with a faint smile.
“Yes, that’s right. But kisses might be burdensome for you too. Like last time, on the cheek…….”
“Will that be enough?”
“Huh?”
It was the moment Reina lifted her head at his retort.
He, who had already half-raised his upper body, looked down at her and asked.
The purple pupils felt extremely close.
“Kissing on the cheek can also be seen as a greeting of affection.”
“That’s true, but…….”
Reina’s gaze went from his eyes to his lips.
As she recalled the time those lips tickled her cheek, her heart beat wildly on its own.
As Reina shook greatly, Kaiden persistently dug in.
“Can we really deceive Sir Michael with just that?”
“I don’t know.”
Since he was a man with so much suspicion, he might not believe ordinary things.
Reina asked back with an unsure face.
“Then what should we do?”
“What do you mean what.”
Kaiden chuckled as if asking what she was asking.
“Just do as you said earlier.”
“…….”
“Hold hands like this.”
Kaiden pulled her hand and naturally raised Reina.
Then, carefully embracing her, he said.
“Do hugs too…….”
His words were slower than usual. As their two gazes warmly met, it felt like her whole body was tingling.
Reina closed her eyes, anticipating what was to come.
Because to deceive Michael as he said, they had to do it properly.
She wasn’t sure if that was really all.
She just thought that if it was Kaiden, it didn’t matter.
Kaiden stared intently at Reina with her eyes closed.
Wondering if she was showing such an innocent reaction knowing what he was about to do.
It would be fine to kiss her like this pretending it’s practice.
Kaiden barely held onto his reason and separated Reina.
“Then he’ll be deceived.”
“…….”
Reina remained still without saying anything. Her eyelashes trembled lightly.
For a moment, she thought that if it was Kaiden, it would be okay to kiss.
Since he already did it on the cheek, it would be fine on the lips, she unconsciously expected.
Without even knowing if Kaiden wanted it or not.
‘Embarrassing.’
She felt a bit ashamed for getting excited alone and closing her eyes.
Reina stroked her flushed cheeks and said.
“Th, that’s right. That should be enough.”
But she couldn’t completely hide her agitated heart.
She was greatly flustered at unconsciously letting out a prim voice.
It was when she covered her view with her hand, unable to look him in the eyes.
He whispered in her ear.
“By any chance, were you expecting it?”
☆▪︎▪︎▪︎☆▪︎▪︎▪︎☆▪︎▪︎▪︎☆
By Anna 💓
