Episode 83

“…Re-Refy. You were saying something weird, weren’t you?”

“Y-you heard?”

“The door was a little open… so. Maybe Refy… did it on purpose.”

Alicia, looking embarrassed, then slowly opened the door.

Alicia in her nightclothes… I’d seen it a few times before, but it still looks fresh.

“Faik, if you stay there you’ll get cold… Come over here.”

She smiled shyly and beckoned me over.

…Cute.

Alicia, who steadily chips away at my reason… is unfair.

I gave a small nod and stepped into the bedroom.

There was a double bed set up inside. The room didn’t seem originally intended for a double bed, so it filled nearly half the space on its own.

As a room it felt cramped, but if it’s just for sleeping it’s not bad.

“By the way, when did you get the bed moved in?”

“…They brought the parts and assembled it while we were on break today. Refy and Capri and the others…”

“…Seriously?”

Now that I think about it, I remembered them sneaking around—was it for something like this?

Alicia sat on the bed looking embarrassed.

I moved closer and sat on the bed. As the futon sank under my weight, Alicia looked my way, a little tense.

“There was a sleeping bag too—should I sleep over there?”

“No. The sleeping bag is a burden.”

“Well, when I was a royal court blacksmith, that kind of thing didn’t bother me so much.”

In fact, I often ended up dozing off on the job like a rough camp sleep.

A nostalgic memory.

Rather, just having a sleeping bag makes this place a much better environment.

And I won’t be forced to wake up early or anything.

As I thought that, Alicia fixed a sharp look on me.

“Faik. You seem nostalgic, but that’s not a good memory.”

“…Yeah, I guess it was.”

Thanks to my time at court, my body did get tougher one way or another, but whether I needed to acquire that ability is still doubtful.

…Somehow, watching Alicia’s reactions calmed me a bit.

If Alicia really couldn’t sleep, I should still sleep in another room.

While thinking that, Alicia sat down next to me.

Then she looked at me with her cheeks flushed vermilion and smiled.

“It’s not that I hate it, you know? I’m just embarrassed… So… with Faik, if possible I want to stay close to you forever…”

…W-well, please don’t say things like that with such a serious face.

My body, which had calmed down a moment ago, warmed up again.

“Me too… I’m a little nervous, but I don’t mind. I feel the same as Alicia.”

“…I-is that so. Good… Then, shall we get to sleep soon?”

“Yeah, let’s.”

After all, we were staying here tonight to be able to start activities early tomorrow morning.

I bit my lip to hide my nervousness and nodded.

We dimmed the Magic-stone light in the room and lay down on the bed.

Alicia immediately lay down beside me.

I lay with my back turned to Alicia and froze rigidly.

Th-this is my limit. I’ve never been this close to a woman before.

First of all, the person is Alicia, who I’ve liked for so long.

I- I can’t do this. Somebody help… No, if someone helped, I’d lose this precious happy moment.

Ah, this is bad. My head is a complete mess.

While I’m in turmoil, my back gets poked.

“Faik. I want to see your face.”

A soft voice reached my ear.

At Alicia’s whispering voice, I moved only my neck and looked toward her.

Alicia was watching me, and when our eyes met she smiled happily.

“You want to see my face… You can sleep without looking, right?”

“…I want to.”

Her voice sounded a little sulky.

…B-but I absolutely don’t feel like I could sleep if I turned to face Alicia.

While I thought that,

“Eii!”

“Whoa!?”

The next moment after I heard a mischievous voice, a soft sensation touched my back.

Alicia had hugged me.

I let out a strange sound from the shock.

Various soft parts were pressing against me, and I cried out to her.

“Alicia…!”

“Sometimes, I just wanted to cuddle like this.”

“…Th-that’s–”

“Is it… bad?”

…That’s why, saying it like that is unfair.

I let out a small breath, took Alicia’s hugging hands, and gently let them go.

Then I turned toward her.

Facing her, I realized that her face was so red I could see it even in the dark.

Still, it meant she wanted to be close like this.

I reached out my arm to her and gently embraced her body.

“…Faik.”

“…I’ve thought many times that I wanted to do this too…. Is that wrong?”

“…No, I’m happy.”

After holding Alicia for a while, she began to doze off.

Watching her like that, I too gradually grew sleepy.

Tomorrow will be early too. I surrendered to the drowsiness and closed my eyes.