Episode 59

“Alicia, thank you.”

As I left the room, I called out to Alicia.

The reason she spoke to Lord Goral the way she did earlier was probably to let the people of the blacksmith division know that I’m someone of worth.

Put another way, it was meant to get back at them or make them look again.

Such feelings had completely left my mind; I really didn’t care either way.

However, Alicia looked somewhat troubled.

“…If someone sends a condescending letter like that, it makes you feel something.”

Alicia said that with a smile.

…It wasn’t just my imagination that she felt emotionally closer than before.

She’d been helping me all this time. That feeling welled up in me again.

“Really, thanks for everything you’ve done. I’m alive like this now because of Alicia.”

“N-no, that’s not true… I’ve had a lot of help too… so.”

“Is that so?”

“…B-because my long-admired happy everyday life is walking side by side like this with Faik.”

…Th-that’s.

I almost choked at Alicia, her cheeks dyed crimson.

Since the fake engagement ended and she became my real fiancée, Alicia had begun to show her feelings so clearly like this.

That made me very happy, but also embarrassed.

“R-really?”

“Y-yeah.”

…If Alicia was embarrassed too, she didn’t need to say it out loud.

“C-can we walk a little closer?”

Alicia instinctively grabbed the hem of my shirt and looked up at me.

I couldn’t possibly refuse someone like Alicia.

“…Sure.”

“E-ehehe.”

Alicia smiled happily and snuggled up to my arm. The soft press of her wrapped around my left arm.

“C-can I be even closer?”

“…Yeah.”

This time she pressed herself against me as if to hug me.

I could feel my pulse speeding up and up; I felt like I might die from it.

We continued walking slowly down the corridor.

…If it’s like this, I could manage.

Feeling pleased at my growth—I’d become somewhat calmer compared to the beginning—

“…Yeah, I still love you.”

I almost choked. Hit with an unexpected confession, I looked at Alicia.

She said it with a happy expression, her face bright red.

“My heart still races, but I have so many happy feelings.”

“…Is that so.”

“Faik… don’t you have feelings like that?”

Even now my body felt like it would burst.

“When we’re like this, I get nervous… but it’s not a bad kind of heat.”

I conveyed just that briefly.

There was a time when I thought it would be fine to remain single my whole life.

I thought marriage was a troublesome thing.

And yet recently, being with Alicia from morning till night like this has become enjoyable. It is something I look forward to.

I used to wonder why so many couples clung to each other like that, but now I somewhat understood.

“For now, we should get ready to depart.”

“Yeah, that’s right.”

We’re heading to the Empire now.

As the husband of a duke’s daughter.

I need to dress in a way that isn’t embarrassing.