The Female Knight Who Rejected Me But Was Actually Hopelessly Hung Up On Me Was Just Too Cute (Part Two)

A barrier powerful enough to prevent anyone from passing had already been erected at the entrance to the underground staircase leading to Black Hawk, and even some of the most skilled members of the Royal Guard were unable to dispel or break through it.

Considering how difficult it would be to construct magic of this scale on the spot, and alone at that, she had probably infiltrated the knight order some time ago—though I had no idea when—by disguising herself as one of its members and preparing everything in advance for this moment.

And of course, her objective was me—

“Haru, I understand how you feel, but restrain yourself. I’ve contacted Madeleine as well, and I’m having her come here with people from the Magic Research Institute.”

Logically, I understood. If I let my emotions take over now, I would be playing right into Henri-san’s hands after she’d carefully prepared all of this and waited for me.

If I thought about it calmly, I knew the standard course of action was to wait for Madeleine-san to arrive, have her properly dispel the barrier, and then deal with the situation carefully using the entire Royal Guard.

But—

【…Ah…!】

“Karen-san!!”

Every time Karen-san’s screams occasionally reached my ears, they stripped more and more of the calm from my mind.

Even while I stood here helplessly doing nothing, Henri-san might be hurting Karen-san.

The moment I thought that, I could no longer stand still.

“! Haru, wait! Don’t use your 【Anti-Magic Sword】! If you forcibly destroy the magical barrier, we have no idea what might happen to Karen—or even to the knight order and the palace above us!!”

The instant I reached for my magical sword, the Commander immediately grabbed me from behind and restrained me.

“Let go of me, Commander! I have to save Karen-san—the only person who can rescue Karen-san from Henri-san is me!!”

If it was for Karen-san, I could bring out my full strength.

In fact, my body felt incomparably lighter than it had during today’s mission, and power was pouring endlessly out of me.

In this state, no matter how powerful Henri-san’s Mystic Eyes were, there was no way I could imagine losing.

And of course, that didn’t apply only when Henri-san was my opponent.

“Let me go, Commander. Otherwise, even if it’s you—”

“U-Ugh…!!?”

The Commander’s restraint, which had been pinning me down with his entire body, was gradually being forced apart.

The hold that should have perfectly locked my shoulder joint had somehow slipped free, and my thin, almost girlish arms effortlessly began pushing back against the Commander’s strength, many times greater than my own.

Once the obstruction was gone, there would be nothing left to stop me.

All I had to do was immediately dispel the barrier, head straight for the captain’s office where Karen-san was being held—and take Karen-san back from Henri-san.

Henri-san would undoubtedly resist, but in that case, I only had to eliminate her.

There was no need to worry about taking her alive—

“—Hold it, you stupid brat.”

Just as I broke free of the restraint and tried to swing my Anti-Magic Sword again, a light impact struck the top of my head—a karate chop.

When I looked, Madeleine-san, Karen-san’s best friend and also someone I owed a great deal to, was standing there glaring at me angrily, her naturally upturned eyebrows raised even higher than usual.

“Are you going to stop me too, Madeleine-san?”

“Of course I am. There’s no way I’m sending you in there when you’ve so obviously lost your composure.”

Why…

Why was even Madeleine-san saying that?

She of all people should have understood better than anyone how much I loved Karen-san.

“…Emotionally, of course I want to let you go. Wanting to save the person you love with all your heart, wanting to become that person’s one and only hero—I don’t dislike that sort of thing either.”

“Then why—”

Why can’t I?—I was about to say, when Madeleine-san wrapped her arms around my body.

Warm and soft like feathers—

It was something I had never felt before in my life.

“Because I’m worried about you, obviously. Sure, I can’t exactly be proud of the reason I first approached you. But even so, I genuinely enjoyed messing around with you. I never had any siblings either, so I guess that made me fuss over you even more.”

“That…”

I understood.

Otherwise, she never would have defied Gares-san’s orders and told Karen-san and me the truth.

“Then, Haru—if I feel that way, you should understand that Karen worries about you in exactly the same way, right?”

“! Ah…”

“Haru, from our perspective, you’re incredibly cute. You’re a little cheeky sometimes, but you’re honest, you always rely on us, and you constantly flash that adorable smile of yours—I admit it, if I weren’t married, I might’ve eaten you up myself while Karen was still taking her sweet time.”

That confession surprised even me.

When she was around me, I didn’t remember her ever showing any particular signs of feeling that way.

“—Karen, you see, grew up just a little twisted. There’s the part of her that tries desperately to become an adult and live up to her parent’s expectations, and the part deep inside her that never wants to forget the innocent girl she used to be. Haru, do you know what she did the night after she rejected you? Karen came to my house and woke me up while I was sleeping. She poured more alcohol into herself than I’d ever seen before and cried her eyes out. She barely explained why, and just kept saying, ‘I’m sorry, Haru, I’m sorry, Haru’ over and over—that was practically all she said.”

I couldn’t betray Father—

I had more or less understood what Karen-san had been feeling when she told me that that night, but she probably hadn’t truly accepted her own decision.

Maybe she had wanted to keep me with her a little longer instead of transferring me to White Cross.

Maybe she’d even thought that all the rumors were too much trouble and she should just make them true.

Her father, my origins, our age difference and positions—

She wanted to be selfish, but she’d grown too old to feel she could allow herself to say so.

That was why Karen-san had tried to cut away the girl inside herself and become an adult.

She had tried to abandon every feeling she’d held since childhood.

But she couldn’t, and she’d remained hopelessly attached instead.

Both Mulberry and I, the people who were always looking out for her, belonged to different units now, so she had probably fallen apart in the same way as before.

And while she was like that, Henri-san, who had unfortunately succeeded in infiltrating the place, had taken advantage of her—

“Haru-kun—you certainly are strong. Strong enough that people say the knight order will be secure for decades because of you. But that’s only if you grow properly. If you keep going like this, someday you’ll break yourself. You’ll sacrifice yourself, and only yourself. We adults can’t simply stand by and allow that to happen.”

“Madeleine-san…”

As Madeleine-san gently admonished me like a mother, I could feel the agitation gradually draining from my body.

Before I knew it, large tears were running down my cheeks.

The tension that had been stretched tight inside me finally loosened, and at some point I found myself sobbing against Madeleine-san’s warm chest.

“—Hehe, looks like you’ve calmed down. Then, Haru-kun, let me ask you again—what do you want to do now?”

She asked me the question again—

And after being shown Madeleine-san’s and Karen-san’s completely honest feelings, my answer was—

“Madeleine-san… please lend me your strength so I can save Karen-san.”

“…That’s the answer I was waiting for, Haru-kun.”

Madeleine-san ruffled my hair as she answered with eyes full of affection.

“Madeleine, are you serious? Why would you let Haru go? At this rate, everything will proceed exactly according to the culprit’s plan—”

“It’ll be fine, Commander. We’re going to work together now to make sure things don’t go the way she wants. —Don’t you agree, my cute female knight from White Cross?”

“Indeed! Now that I’m involved, I’ll see this through to the end with you, Haru!”

Mulberry, who had apparently followed after me, stepped into the circle between me and Madeleine-san.

Madeleine-san, and Mulberry, who now looked incredibly dependable.

If I had those two with me, and if I could use my abilities normally, there wasn’t much we couldn’t do.

“…You do have a plan, I assume?”

The Commander, who had been left outside the conversation and looked somewhat awkward about it, asked that question, and Madeleine-san gave him a fearless smile.

“Of course. Considering the characteristics of the culprit’s Mystic Eyes that Haru-kun told me about—it’ll come down to a single attempt, so I suppose you could call it a gamble.”

“Hmm…”

The Commander placed a hand over his mouth, and after only the briefest pause,

“…Very well. Do it. If anything happens, I’ll take responsibility.”

He decided immediately.

Since he often tended to think rigidly, I’d wondered if he might reject the idea.

“Surprised, Haru?”

“No, not really… um, Commander, I’m sorry for overstepping so badly earlier.”

“No, I’m the one who should apologize. I had begun to mistakenly think of you as though you weren’t even human. You’re still just a young boy.”

Clinging to Madeleine-san’s chest and crying without caring who saw me had been embarrassing, but if it had changed the Commander’s view of me even slightly, perhaps it hadn’t been such a bad price to pay.

“All right, then. Let’s go save her. For old times’ sake, I suppose we should let Karen enjoy feeling like a princess for once.”

At Madeleine-san’s call, Mulberry and I responded with firm nods.