His Highness grabbed the man who was about to leave and, speaking gently, seized him by the collar and lifted him into the air.
“If you harassed someone so carelessly, shouldn’t you take responsibility?”
The person who had been struggling and trying to put on a childish show of bravado flinched at the voice that was gentle to the point of feeling discordant with the hand gripping his collar. Soon after, I felt pheromones containing displeasure subtly flowing from His Highness as a warning.
‘I didn’t know he would react this strongly.’
I’d mostly only seen him neatly hiding his pheromones, so this was the first time I’d seen him use pheromones as a threat.
‘Well, when I was Tienas, I couldn’t sense pheromones, so even if he had used pheromones that showed his displeasure like this, I wouldn’t have known.’
The passerby, being an alpha himself, immediately tried to respond with pheromones, but it wasn’t much of a threat. Feeling from the outset that he was no match, he tried to at least shake off the hand, but was helpless.
“Wh-what kind of strength. Urk.”
The other variant types nearby also sensed something wrong and began turning their gazes toward us. Some kept their distance but craned their necks to watch, as if expecting a fight to break out at any moment. Even so, it didn’t seem like His Highness would use force against an ordinary person, but I thought I should intervene for the other person’s sake as well.
“We’ll handle this.”
Sir Ken spoke, representing the guard knights who had been tense beside us. It seemed he judged it better to moderate the situation than to escalate it and draw attention, but he stepped forward realizing it was already too late.
“I-I didn’t know you were people of high standing. I-I’ll never do such a thing again. *huff* Will you forgive me?”
Realizing there were even guards, his face turned deathly pale as he begged pleadingly. His Highness didn’t react to either the guard knights or the passerby, still expressionless. Thinking it wouldn’t be good if the crowd grew larger than now, I lightly tugged at his garment. Before I could say it would be better to move, the hand gripping the passerby dropped.
“Make sure to teach him well not to molest anyone carelessly.”
“Yes. I apologize for not stopping it beforehand.”
His Highness, who had gestured with his chin to Sir Sepiel, turned his back without giving the man any more attention. Now he was holding my shoulder rather than my hand. The onlookers also read the atmosphere and cleared the area on their own.
“Are you all right?”
His Highness’s expression as he half-embraced me was still cold. Though it was partly because the recent incident had been quite unpleasant, it seemed the sensitivity from imprint symptoms was greater.
“Well.”
At the negative answer, I was about to suggest we return quickly, thinking it would have been better to rest after all.
“Even dressed so carelessly you’re cute, and even with your face covered by a hat like this, people still cling to you, so it’s truly troublesome. I wonder if everyone rushes over because your soul is pure?”
His Highness smiled while pressing the hat down deeper. While it was regrettable that I could only see his lips because it was pressed too deep, I was fortunate to be able to hide my deeply flushed face.
“I reacted strongly because the smell was irritating, so there’s nothing to worry about. There are fewer people near the lake than this, so let’s go that way.”
“Good.”
After walking for some time, we arrived at a corner of the large lake that divided the town.
There were indeed hardly any people, probably because the crowds had gathered in the downtown area. With only three or four people passing by, the swans leisurely crossed the water surface as if boasting it was their territory.
“There’s a separate place popular for tourism because flowers bloom around the lake, so hardly anyone bothers to come here.”
“I didn’t know that.”
The water scales floating on the lake receiving the sunlight rippled here and there, and leaves fallen from trees occasionally settled on top of them. My wavering heart also became calm with the lake’s leisureliness. Though I knew it was only for a short while, I was satisfied.
“Want to try swimming?”
“I’d like t—. No, I don’t.”
“If you want to, you don’t have to hold back. I’ll make sure others don’t see.”
Though I desperately wanted to, I didn’t know if Aila’s body was capable of swimming. I knew that even if you knew it in your head, there were cases where the body had absolutely no talent. In fact, among knights, there were often cases where they taught their children to swim while they themselves couldn’t float in water.
‘I’ll have to ask Ian when I go to the Caesius family later.’
It would have been good if I’d checked various things when I visited the Caesius family last time, but my head had been too full with talk of authority to have that leisure.
“It’s fine even just to dip my feet in the water.”
“All right. Do as you wish.”
His tone suggested he would recommend things but wouldn’t command. Being in a position with continued choice felt both awkward and troublesome.
“Your Highness, will you…?”
“Just watching is enough for me.”
It would be strange to say now that I’d stay outside together then. After neatly removing my shoes and carefully dipping my feet in the lake, the cool water tickled my feet. It felt like the cool energy climbing up my feet was transmitted all the way to my head. I rolled up my clothes slightly and entered to where my calves touched. His Highness, who had been standing at the water’s edge watching me, let out a low laugh.
“You really do like water.”
“Do I?”
“Aren’t you smiling right now?”
When I reflected on whether I liked water, it seemed I really did.
‘With a gentle breeze blowing overhead and splashing water underfoot, wouldn’t anyone be happy?’
It felt like my worries were being washed away and dissolved by the water. Thinking carefully, it seemed I had often swum whenever I had the chance even when I was Tienas.
“Living near a lake later wouldn’t be bad either.”
As I was pondering when this “later” His Highness was speaking of might be, I momentarily misstepped. Because the mud collapsed under my weight, my center of balance shook.
“Huh?”
I tried to steady myself with my other foot, but that foot was also stuck in mud and wouldn’t move as I wanted. The moment I worried I might fall like this,
“Aila!”
His Highness, who truly called Aila’s name for the first time in a long while, grabbed my back and flipped my body over. Thanks to that, I ended up in a position on top of His Highness. Moreover, the water wasn’t deep at all, so even though we were both almost lying down, I was thoroughly soaked but barely submerged in water.
“Are you okay?”
“Yes. I only stepped on mud. It wasn’t even deep.”
“That’s a relief.”
His Highness murmured as if I had truly experienced something dangerous. After the bewilderment faded, I noticed that even though we hadn’t swum, we’d both become like drowned rats. Even though it wasn’t a situation that warranted it, laughter came out as if someone had tickled me. Though it was irreverent, our current appearance somehow looked foolish, which was amusing.
‘We must look strange.’
I tried to quickly stop laughing and apologize, but once the laughter burst out, it didn’t stop easily. Not long after, I heard laughter resonating from below. Realizing it was His Highness’s laughter, I opened my eyes wide.
Though I had often seen His Highness laugh lowly or gently, it was extremely rare for him to let out sound like this. His slightly parted lips were distinctly visible to a miraculous degree, and his wet blonde hair shone even more brilliantly.
‘What is this?’
In that fleeting moment, the image of when I first met His Highness flashed over his face. That appearance when he hadn’t yet completely shed boyhood seemed to still remain now. Like then, I stared at His Highness as if entranced.
As if responding to human sounds, a swan made a clear cry nearby. Only then, realizing this surreal sight wasn’t a dream, I hurriedly came to my senses. His Highness had already stopped laughing aloud and was looking up at me.
“Shall we get up now?”
“Y-yes. I apologize.”
Realizing I’d been continuously on top of His Highness, I frantically got up. Looking closely, though I was wet too, it was nothing compared to His Highness who was soaked from head to toe.
“If you’re really not going to swim, it would be better to change clothes. It would be terrible if you caught a cold.”
His Highness would never catch a cold, so it seemed he said this out of concern for me.
“I don’t want to show this appearance to others either.”
His Highness’s gaze dropped slightly downward. Wondering what he was looking at, I followed His Highness’s eyes down and saw my white shirt clinging to my body, wet with water. It wasn’t particularly unusual since it wasn’t once or twice that I’d seen knights completely undressed together, but being in front of someone I liked, heat rose to the back of my neck.
“Yes.”
As I lowered my head deeply, long fingers brushed back my wet hair and then gently touched the back of my neck. As if confirming the mark that was there. When I slightly shrank my neck at the ticklishness, my eyes met directly with His Highness who was looking down at me. Though we didn’t say anything to each other, we kissed like people who felt the same thing simultaneously. At that moment alone, I felt neither the water under my feet nor the blowing wind at all.
We were like people who could do nothing except kiss.
