Episode 63

“Good morning, Faik.”

Suddenly my name was called and my drowsy consciousness began to wake.

When I opened my eyes, the person who had called my name—Alicia—was there.

I felt a slight bewilderment at her gentle smile.

Because this was my room. We were engaged, yes, but we weren’t at the point of sleeping in the same room… we weren’t that kind of couple yet.

I rubbed my eyes in confusion and stared back at her.

“What’s up, Alicia? Do you need something?”

Thinking I might have overslept, I glanced out the window.

But the sun wasn’t very high up yet.

Time-wise, it was probably still around five o’clock or so, wasn’t it?

True, in the past I would have already gotten up and started working at this hour, but since coming to this mansion my lifestyle had completely shifted to something like an ordinary person’s.

In response to my question, Alicia scratched her cheek. From that troubled expression I could tell she had some errand.

“It seems my father is calling. I happened to be free, so I came to fetch you.”

“Is that so? Then I should get going right away.”

“Sorry. You were sleeping so peacefully.”

“Don’t worry about it.”

What mattered to me was my relationship with Alicia. Our hard-won engagement. I couldn’t afford to lose that.

Noble engagements weren’t as free as those of commoners. They were often decided by parental arrangements.

In other words, I needed to maintain as good a relationship as possible with Alicia’s father… Lord Goral.

I had to conduct myself so as not to upset Lord Goral.

As I stood up and began to change out of my sleepwear, Alicia tapped my shoulder.

“Wait, Faik. Your bedhead is terrible.”

“Huh? Ah, you’re right.”

I stood in front of the mirror in the room and checked; I realized immediately.

…I had to hurry, but meeting Lord Goral with bedhead was out of the question.

There was even the possibility they’d say, “I won’t let my daughter marry a man who can’t even take care of his appearance!”

“Heh, what a head of hair.”

“…Don’t laugh at me. Ugh, it’s hopeless… it doesn’t seem to fix at all.”

I tried to press it down with my hands to hide it, but it had no effect whatsoever.

Watching me fumble, Alicia took a comb out of her pocket.

“You can’t fix it by brute force like that; you’ll get weird kinks. I’ll fix it, so sit over here.”

“But Lord Goral is waiting… we can’t spend that much time, can we?”

“It’s fine. He asked us to come within an hour. He probably included time for morning preparations. Besides, you really should be presentable.”

I see. In that case, I’d definitely have enough time to fix my hair and change.

I pulled the chair in front of the mirror and sat down.

There was also a washbasin in front of the mirror. Hot water had already been prepared in it.

“I asked to have it prepared a little while ago.”

“…You’re so prepared.”

“When I saw the bed, there was a person with an incredible head of hair.”

…Could it be that I’d been observed rather closely?

I gave a wry smile back at Alicia’s smile and looked again in the mirror.

Indeed, it was quite a hairstyle.

When I tried to borrow the comb from Alicia, the Alicia reflected in the mirror shook her head and reached for my hair.

“I’ll do it.”

“…No, but I can handle this much myself.”

I felt bad about troubling Alicia with something so trivial, and said so,

“As a noble’s wife… part of my duties is to tidy up my husband’s appearance.”

Blushing a delicate crimson across her flawless skin, Alicia gently stroked my hair.

Her words made my cheeks flush with equal parts embarrassment and happiness.

Before I could say anything more, Alicia poked my cheek lightly.

Her fingers were faintly warm but on the cool side, and I flinched, my spine straightening.

“Wh-what was that all of a sudden?”

“Heh heh, Faik, your cheeks are red.”

I turned and looked at Alicia intently.

She smiled teasingly, but she still had a blush on her own cheeks.

In a show of defiance I raised my arm and poked her cheek.

“Hya!?”