I... Got Scolded...

A few hours later, I was told preparations for the bath were complete, so I headed to the room Shitoen and Eaton were using.

After Mone and Roze had finished choosing the dress and accessories and taking measurements, then left the residence saying, “We will deliver the outfit to the royal palace,” Eaton had apparently collapsed into bed from sheer exhaustion, and Shitoen had said to me, “I would like to take a hot spring bath and relax.”

It was nighttime.

It was not quite midnight, but the visibility was nowhere near as good as during the day.

After conducting a patrol just in case, checking for anything dangerous, and stationing the members around the area, it was finally time for Shitoen’s bath. When I told her, “Please wait in your room until that’s finished,” Shitoen had replied, “Thank you,” and withdrawn to her room.

“Shitoen. It’s ready now, you know?”

After knocking three times, I called out like that, and at once came a “Yes,” and Shitoen emerged carrying a cloth bundle with her change of clothes and such inside.

“And Eaton?”

“She still seems tired…”

Shitoen gave a wry smile. It seemed the battle with the snow leopard had been quite something. But she had done well. Thanks to her, Shitoen was safe.

“How was it on Roze-chan’s side?”

Carefully closing the sliding door behind her, Shitoen hugged the cloth bundle to her chest and began walking.

“She got into a fight with Raul, so it was a whole ordeal.”

“My. On my side as well, Mone-san and Eaton started arguing.”

The way she gave a small shrug was adorable.

“In any case, go soak in the hot spring and relax. It’s clear tonight, so I think the night sky should be beautiful. I’ll be waiting on the men’s bath side, so if anything happens, just call out to me. There are guards posted besides that too.”

I explained it like that to reassure her, and Shitoen’s face turned red and she started fidgeting.

“Um…”

Then she looked up at me timidly.

“What is it?”

As I said that, what suddenly crossed my mind was Roze’s earlier, “Want to go in together?”

C-Could it be.

Huh.

Am I being invited?

I’m being invited!?

No, wait!!!!!!

Should I be the one to invite her!!!!!??????

Which is it!!!!

Somebody tell me…!!!!!!

Is it better if I’m invited, or if I do the inviting!!!!!

Am I supposed to invite her!!!!??????

Is this the kind of moment where the man is supposed to speak up!?!?

M-Maybe that’s it. Maybe I should say it.

My mind ran through frantic simulations.

Shitoen. Come into the hot spring with me…

“Did you ask Father why this hot spring belonged to the royal family…?”

Completely, utterly not that!!!!!!

That was way too close! I barely made it by not saying anything!!

I would have gotten scolded with a, “We are still in the middle of official business!”!!!!

“No… I didn’t ask.”

As I answered, sweating coldly, Shitoen hugged the cloth bundle tightly and made herself smaller.

Hm, what was that, what was wrong?

“Um… it seems that for generations, it has been used by the queens…”

“I think I heard that the previous queen used it.”

“Each hot spring has its own effects, you see.”

“I know. Like how it makes your skin beautiful, or how it makes horses energetic.”

Shitoen’s face kept getting redder and redder, and as if to hide it, she raised the cloth bundle higher and higher.

“It’s not just that. This hot spring is apparently a fertility spring…”

The reason I ended up staring blankly was partly because I did not understand “fertility” for a moment, and also…

Huh? I thought it was supposed to make horses energetic. Did that mean energetic like a horse? And the thing about making skin beautiful—what, for that purpose? Those kinds of thoughts crossed my mind.

“Not only from Father, but from the King of Tania as well… um, I was told I should do my best properly…”

At this point I could barely tell what she was saying at the ends of her sentences, and more importantly, Shitoen was pressing her face into the bundle so hard that she absolutely could not be seeing what was in front of her.

“That is exactly why I hate men of that age! They immediately start saying things like that…! It’s like they have no delicacy at all, or whatever…! Especially my father, honestly, ever since I came back home he has done nothing but say unnecessary things…!”

It was so unusual for Shitoen to speak so sharply while criticizing Lord Balimore that I somehow panicked, feeling like I had to cover for him.

“No, well, Father-in-law must have his reasons for thinking about such things…”

“I’m angry because he is thinking about things he does not need to think about!”

“T-Then… then I’ll do my best! So that Lord Balimore and the King of Tania won’t worry!”

The moment I blurted that out enthusiastically, Shitoen jerked her face up from the cloth bundle.

Even though she had not yet entered the bath, she glared at me with the face of a boiled octopus.

“We are still in the middle of official business! What exactly are you going to do your best at? Honestly, I cannot believe you!”

I… got scolded… I got scolded by Shitoen while trying to defend Lord Balimore and the King of Tania…

While I stood there dumbfounded, Shitoen strode away.

I hurried after her going, “Ah, ah, ah, ah, ah…,” but without even turning back, Shitoen rushed straight into the women’s bath and shut the door sharply right in front of my nose.

Aaaaaaaaaaaaaah… Shitoen is angry…

I half-ran into the men’s bath.

It was night.

The atmosphere was completely different from when I had looked at it together with Roze during the day.

The surroundings were wrapped in dim darkness, and only the orange light cast by the stone lanterns illuminated the area.

The basic structure was the same as the women’s bath.

Only reversed left to right.

Also, I guess there was no curtain partition between the changing area and the hot spring section. Well, there was one, kind of, but only about two screens.

So the first thing that caught my eye was Raul’s back, crouched by the hot spring and peering inside with obvious curiosity.

“Raul…!”

“Captain… wait, whoaaaah! W-watch it! I almost fell in!”

When I suddenly clung to Raul from behind, we nearly dove into the hot spring together from the force of it.

Apparently, at the last second Raul had managed to stop us by clinging to the granite stonework in a way that was almost like piggybacking me.

“Raul… Shitoen hates me now…”

“What are you talking about? The strange thing was that she liked you at all up to now.”

“That was incredibly awful for you to say so casually.”

“What did you do?”

“This place is apparently a fertility spring.”

“…Huh.”

“And then Shitoen got angry at Lord Balimore and the King of Tania, saying, ‘Men of that generation immediately start saying things like that,’ so I said, ‘I’ll do my best so Lord Balimore and the King of Tania won’t worry’…”

“You’re an idiot, aren’t you?”

I had been clinging to his back, but at the exasperated voice falling on me from above, I looked up.

Still letting me lean against his back, Raul twisted only his neck and looked down at me with the eyes one would use for a deeply disappointing child.

“Why would you say something like that?”

“I was defending Lord Balimore and the King of Tania!”

“The person you should have been defending and worrying about was Princess Shitoen. Anyway, once she gets out of the bath, why don’t you apologize properly? And for now, just be careful about next door. Look, she’s bathing.”

With a “heave-ho,” Raul stood up, so I was forced to stand as well as he dragged me up with him. Even then I kept drooping against him like some kind of clinging spirit, and then I heard a small splash.

No, to be precise, it was not the sound of water, but of hot water.

I let go of Raul and looked toward the bamboo fence separating the next bath.

Naturally, I could see nothing.

The barrier towered there, far taller than I was, blending into the darkness of night. Only the steam drifted softly over this way on the breeze.

I heard the rushing sound of hot water flowing, then the sound of a body sinking down into it.

It seemed Shitoen had entered the bath.

After that, I heard nothing more.