In the time it took to blink once, the scene in front of me had changed entirely. I was fairly sure I had been with Isabel just a moment ago, and yet…
I stood where I was, blinking in unconcealed surprise.
Is this teleportation? Did I have this ability all along…!
I gaped at my own hidden gift for approximately half a second before turning to assess my surroundings.
Why did I come outside again…
What was I doing just now?
…
No matter how hard I furrowed my brow and thought about it, the memory wouldn’t surface — as though something had drawn a curtain over it.
But the effort didn’t last long.
Finding the whole thing too tedious, I gave up almost immediately.
Oh — there’s a pond!
My thoughts swung to a completely different direction.
Eyes roving around, I spotted a small pond not far away and began making my way toward it, setting each foot down with deliberate care to keep my unsteady balance.
When I reached the water’s edge, a memory surfaced and I clapped my hands together.
Oh right! I think I lost something here…!
Chasing the thread of the thought, I blinked my eyes wide open.
That was it — I came here to find something I’d lost!
A flash of sharpness lit up my eyes — and then, just as immediately, sputtered out. My thoughts went blank again, like a light being switched off.
My head tilted slowly to the right of its own accord, and my eyes drifted in long, lazy blinks.
My mind turned over with all the speed of waterlogged cotton.
…But what was it I came to find. I can’t remember.
I stared hard at the pond, hoping the memory might float to the surface if I looked long enough — and that was when someone spoke to me.
“Ah… Lady Melberine.”
I turned toward the voice. Two young noble lords were standing there.
What?
As soon as our eyes met, the one with broccoli-green hair went red in the face.
In an instant the broccoli had become a tomato.
I stared at this fascinating transformation, and the other one elbowed the broccoli, prodding him with what was clearly meant to be an encouraging signal.
Unable to watch any longer, I spoke first.
“What is it?”
“That — well, the thing is—”
He hemmed and hawed, and eventually the other one stepped in on his behalf.
“It’s nothing alarming, my lady — there was something we wished to ask you, and we followed you out here at some cost to our dignity.”
“What about?”
I tilted my head, watching them. The second one was just about to speak when—
“I — I like you, my lady!”
The broccoli, who had been silent this whole time, squeezed his eyes shut and shouted.
The friend beside him stared at him with an expression that said very clearly: you absolute idiot.
But he wasn’t finished. Any silence he had previously maintained was thoroughly abandoned as the words came pouring out.
“If — if you would allow it, my lady, might I ask for a chance? A chance to stand at your side?”
“A chance?”
“Yes. A chance to stand beside you.”
I looked at the completely red tomato before me and blinked slowly. I tilted my head to one side.
A chance to stand beside me. What would he need that for?
He could just come and stand there. I narrowed my eyes slightly.
Is he perhaps a bit slow…
He couldn’t even look directly at someone standing right in front of him. The theory felt well-supported.
The brain of a person three drinks in arrived at that conclusion and gave a solemn nod.
Ah, so that’s what’s going on…
I was looking at him with something like sympathetic understanding when whatever expression I was wearing seemed to be interpreted very differently by him — because he looked back at me with urgent, beseeching eyes.
“I — I’ll change! Whatever your ideal type is, my lady, tell me and I’ll — I’ll become that person entirely!”
His friend, at the end of his patience with the slightly unhinged behavior, jumped in to assist.
“My lady — might I ask what your ideal type would be?”
“Ideal type?”
It felt vaguely familiar, like a question I had been asked before though I couldn’t place when.
I opened my mouth and answered slowly.
“Someone kind.”
Faced.
There was no need to even think about it.
Both of them looked genuinely thrown off by my answer. As though they hadn’t expected anything of the sort.
“K-kind?”
Well, ideally a kind face in the full range of ways a face could be kind — but above all else, the face itself needed to be kind.
Into the bewildered atmosphere, the friend broke in with a laugh and a very smooth recovery.
“Goodness. What a stroke of fate! You may not know this, my lady, but this friend of mine is actually famous in our circle as the kindest person around. I have never in my life met anyone with a more genuinely good-natured character.”
“Fate? He’s kind?”
“Yes, absolutely. Kinder than anyone. That I can guarantee without hesitation!”
He said it with confidence, eyes fixed on me.
Fate-level kindness.
I blinked, and then turned to look at the broccoli’s face again. He had at some point gone back to being completely sealed up, staring anywhere but at me.
The back of his neck and his ears had gone bright red.
Hmm…
Not sure about the kindness, but the longer I look at him, he is a bit cute…
I took one step closer to get a better look at his face —
And suddenly, everything in front of me went dark.
…Hm?
I looked up, and saw what had blocked my view. A broad, wide back, filling my entire field of vision.
Blinking in bewilderment, I registered a cool voice seeping into my ear.
“Who decided this was fate?”
…The audacity of the word fate.
Who exactly is fate with whom?
He had absolutely not intended to insert himself like this — but the moment he heard them say the word fate, Axel found he could not hold back.
It was, plainly, an instance of emotion acting entirely before reason.
The sudden appearance rattled both of them visibly.
“G-Grand Duke—!”
But the darkness of Axel’s mood showed no sign of lifting.
In particular — when that green-haired one had stared at Judith with a face gone red — he had experienced something that could only be described as his insides twisting.
These two needed to be removed from his line of sight, immediately, before his mood could improve at all.
Axel stepped closer to the green-haired one and repeated the question.
“I believe I asked who determined this was fate. Are you ignoring me?”
“H-hic…!”
Winter had apparently arrived. The voice was perfectly glacial. From Axel, poorly concealed killing intent seeped steadily outward.
He looked down at the one who was hiccupping with terror and thought: pathetic.
That this person dared to approach her…
The fresh surge of irritation was just beginning to boil when the friend — who at least had some presence of mind — moved quickly to salvage the situation.
“…W-we, Your Highness — I believe we have blundered quite badly without understanding the full picture. We most humbly ask that you forgive our ignorance.”
At the respectful tone, Axel raised one eyebrow.
“Do you have anything further to say to Lady Melberine?”
The implication was clear: answer yes, and the consequences would be dire. The friend gulped visibly and produced a survival-level response at speed.
“N-no! Not at all. Absolutely none. We shall take our leave, Your Highness.”
Not everyone, however, was quite so quick on the uptake.
The green-haired one had gathered himself, set his jaw with the look of someone reaching a decisive resolution, and opened his mouth.
“I — I—!”
This was beyond a mistake. It was approaching a kind of suicide. The friend moved instantly, clapping a hand over the green-haired one’s mouth.
Axel’s eyes narrowed further.
“Mm—mph!”
“Ha-ha! I think my friend isn’t quite himself today. Well then, we shall take our leave, Your Highness.”
On those words, he practically fled — dragging his companion away at full speed.
Even after they had vanished completely from sight, the unpleasant feeling in Axel’s chest did not abate.
Because he knew well enough that those two were hardly the only ones who had taken a liking to Judith.
It had been clear the moment she entered the banquet hall — a remarkable number of male gazes had followed her through the room.
And that was just today. The thought of how many more would approach her going forward made the number unimaginable.
Axel’s fist closed tight. Deep regret settled over him.
…Damn it.
