Episode 17

Having arrived at the dining hall with Alicia, I felt a deep sense of emotion as I looked at the meal set before me.

It’s been a while since I’ve had a meal like this.

On the journey up to this point, we often ate something like camp food.

Because of that, as I sat down and it became breakfast time, I bit my lip tightly.

I reached for the loaf of what looked like freshly baked bread placed before me. It was soft and squishy. …Come to think of it, there had been the pleasant smell of bread baking before we moved to the forge in the morning.

I wonder if they bake it every morning?

I did my best to observe the basic manners I learned after starting work at the court as I ate.

I popped the bread into my mouth. A soft texture. Then a gentle, fluffy warmth spread throughout my mouth.

…Delicious—too delicious.

“Wh-what’s wrong…?”

“Huh?”

“Y-you’re crying…!”

Alicia leaned toward me with a worried look. She wiped the tears running down my cheek with the handkerchief she had.

“…S-sorry. It’s just that it felt like a long time since I was able to sit and eat slowly like this…”

And with someone else, too――

I often stayed overnight working at the blacksmith division, and it wasn’t uncommon to have days when I didn’t have time to eat.

Even when I did eat, it was only something I could swallow quickly. Or I ate while working…

I couldn’t savor my food; recently I had been eating only out of necessity to survive.

When I said that, Alicia wiped the tears from my cheek.

“That must have been rough.”

“Y-yeah. Thanks.”

“Mm… take your time eating. There’s plenty.”

I nodded repeatedly at Alicia’s warm smile.

After enjoying the delicious breakfast, I left the manor with Alicia.

She was going to show me around the town.

Alicia, who was beside me, wore a hooded garment to walk around outside.

It was to hide her appearance, at least somewhat.

Not everyone in town knew her, but since she occasionally greeted people at festivals with her father, some townsfolk who lived there remembered her face.

I wondered if she would really be recognized like that. As an ordinary commoner, even the lord’s face was vague to me.

But apparently Alicia’s case was different.

Due to her beauty, Alicia was apparently popular among the townspeople. Refy had told me that.

When I glanced toward Alicia, our eyes met.

Alicia looked up at me and smiled gently.

“I-it’s a date, right?”

A date, huh. Indeed, this situation was a date as Alicia said.

While I felt embarrassed, I also had some doubts.

“Yeah, I suppose. But is it really necessary to go this far?”

“Eh…?”

For some reason, Alicia looked positively despairing.

I hadn’t expected her to look like she might burst into tears at any moment. A sense of guilt crept over me.

I hurriedly tried to explain what I meant by my earlier remark.

“I mean, we’re fake fiancés, right? So, I was thinking, is it really necessary to take up Alicia’s time for dates and stuff? I thought that if I worked hard at smithing, maybe Lord Goral would come to accept me.”

…In short, that’s what I meant.

Alicia didn’t want to be married off to some stranger, so she chose a marriage with me.

I thought there was no need for her to go out of her way to have dates.

And Lord Goral’s refusal to accept me probably wasn’t about doubting whether there was love between us or anything like that.

To Alicia, I was ultimately just part of a sham. I couldn’t see what benefit she would gain from going on dates.

“W-well, that is――”

Alicia looked flustered. She was thinking of something with a desperate expression.

“Lord Goral did say he wanted to marry her to a skilled smith, but he was also somewhat concerned for Alicia. He wanted Alicia to be able to have a marriage with love. So this is an appeal to Lord Goral, in other words.”

“Whoa!?”

Refy popped up from beside us.

…I’d heard she’d been watching from afar as a guard, but I didn’t expect her to suddenly speak to us here.

“Y-yeah, that’s it. S-so this date is important to me too. So please, don’t worry about it.”

“O-okay.”

Because Alicia poured her words out like that, I was simply swept along.