CH 183

[A Morning Affair]

“Ha! Ha!”

Today was the last day of the winter break.

While doing my morning practice, I looked back on the party yesterday.

For starters, the Ehrenbergs’ party had ended in great success.

Tayte and I had progressed to the next step in our relationship, and I couldn’t wait to meet her again at the academy.

–Unfortunately, the party had also presented me with a problem.

Namely, my notoriety outside the academy.

It wasn’t unsalvageable, but it wouldn’t be easy to recover. Mainly because, being a student, I wouldn’t get many chances to go outside the academy.

I still hadn’t come up with a concrete way to tackle this problem.

Also, it had nothing to do with the party, but Reina’s graduation was steadily approaching.

I had thought she would get married to her fiancé, Mr. Abel, right after graduating, but nope. She was going to join the knight order.

It was the same in the original storyline. They weren’t married even after Barrett graduated and started traveling as a hero.

She’d longed to be a knight ever since she was little. That was why she had been training so hard until now, and Mr. Abel showed understanding for that. I admired his broad-mindedness.

“Phew…”

I stopped swinging my sword to take a break then.

“Good work, Young Master.”

Marina said as she held out a towel to me, appearing out of nowhere.

“H-how long have you been here…?”

“From the start. As your maid, I must be watching over you at all times. Now, please wipe off your sweat before you catch a cold.”

“Y-yeah, thanks.”

I didn’t sense her at all. Her abilities never ceased to surprise me… Anyway, I grabbed the towel and wiped off my sweat. It was in the middle of winter, but with how much I had been moving, I’d sweated buckets.

“…Young Master…”

“What’s up?”

“Thank you very much.”

“?”

She thanked me all of a sudden.

I should be the one thanking her for bringing me the towel here, but… seemed like she wasn’t talking about it.

“At the party last night, Lady Tayte said it had been a joyful year for her, didn’t she?”

“Oh, y-yeah.”

They had been eavesdropping from the start, huh?

I had only noticed them after a while, but… going by what she said, it seemed that they had been following me and Tayte from the moment we left the party hall.

I braced myself for her teasing, but…

“We, your personal maids, feel the same way.”

…it turned out my guess was off the mark.

“W-what do you mean…?”

“You have come to treat us kindly. And thanks to that, this year has been a pleasant and memorable one for us,” Marina said, her eyes narrowed gently.

…Oh, right.

They were also victims of the original Barrett.

“…I’m just trying to live right.”

“That’s what makes us happy.”

Marina said matter-of-factly.

Man, it was kind of embarrassing when she gave it straight like that.

“L-let’s head back inside. We’ve been out here long enough.”

“Indeed. Any longer, and someone may suspect us of having an affair.”

“A-affair?!”

“It’s just a joke.”

Teehee, Marina giggled.

…I knew it.

In the end, she teased me, after all!
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