9 – 9. One and Only
Where could she have gone?
Lost in thought, she sat at her desk.
Normally, I would stroll around or wander inside the mansion to clear my head. But then again, it was the mansion of the Malbus family, and I was just a hostage labeled as a prospective groom.
Moreover, recently, the knights had started appearing inside the mansion from time to time.
So, it must be because of the close contact with her.
From the perspective of Viscount Lamber, the development of the relationship between Irene and me was definitely not a welcome thing.
Furthermore, when encountering servants or maids in the long corridors, it was quite burdensome to receive their long and intense gazes.
The movement of those eyes, which seemed to blatantly examine everything from my face to my attire, was truly peculiar.
Come to think of it, lately, I seemed to be focusing a lot on the eyes.
Where those gazes were focused, whether they were true while having a conversation, whether they were concentrating on me, what they thought of me.
The saying that eyes never lie suddenly came to mind.
Yes, perhaps this skill I acquired… is a proof of surveillance.
If that’s the case, then this skill is the same as the crimson-eyed gaze used by Viscount Lamber.
Could it be that Irene also belongs to the same category, occasionally emitting a red glow from her eyes?
But even when I looked in the mirror, there was no noticeable change.
It was a kind of light, like the eyes were shining.
“Well then…”
…Creak – and the door suddenly opened.
I flinched, but soon realized it was Irene and could relax my guard.
But it was strange that she didn’t knock.
Did she… prepare some kind of surprise?
Approaching her as the setting sun cast its glow, I greeted her.
Her upturned lips, effortlessly rising, were probably fake.
But as I observed her with my own two eyes, her face froze as if she had been struck by a winter wind.
She stood there, staring into space, as if she were looking beyond me.
Her body trembled. Trembled like a bamboo in the wind, consumed by fear, overwhelmed by an immense fear.
I couldn’t bring myself to speak. My mouth no longer moved.
The fact that she had entered my room without a word was no longer an issue.
“What’s… wrong?”
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Perhaps she heard my voice, and finally, I began to reflect in her eyes.
Slowly, ever so slowly, her eyes began to move, and her frozen body started to stir.
Of course, towards me, embracing me with all her might. If I were to express my impression – well, the pressure on my chest was particularly intense –
It really hurt. Sincerely, it was no joke. I don’t know where the muscles were in her slender body, but they really squeezed tightly, causing pain.
“Ouch – Ah, it hurts… It hurts… Be gentle…”
It hurt. Pain is not good. She seemed to accept this as a trauma of sorts.
But there was something strange about her now. As if she couldn’t hear me, she held onto my body even tighter.
“Irene… st-stop… Get ahold of yourself! Irene!”
“…If… I let go…”
I started to feel short of breath, and it felt like my head was going to explode – blood began to rush to my head.
But in that moment, amidst it all, I heard her voice, very faintly… it reached me.
Her nose buried in the crook of my neck. Her slightly parted lips.
Behind my head, where her mouth was, her voice flowed in slowly.
“If it falls… No… If I lose it… If I can’t find it…”
“What on earth are you talking about, Irene… Please! Let go of this and talk!”
“No, it can’t fall…!”
In the end, I tried to give strength to the arm holding me in her embrace, but it seemed to have the opposite effect.
Her grip on my arm tightened even more, and soon I began to struggle for breath.
“P-please… Irene, if we keep this up…”
“What’s wrong – Oh, miss!”
As my vision blurred, someone who must have witnessed this scene hurriedly entered the room and reached out to her arm.
“If this continues, your fiance will be in danger – “
At that moment, the pressure barely subsided, and I felt the air forcefully filling my lungs.
In the midst of the chilling sensation, I coughed repeatedly and shook my head from side to side to clear my blurred vision.
“Huff… Ah… Huh? Irene!”
Though my vision was still blurry, I knew exactly what she was doing.
She was choking him. With one hand, she was lifting the knight’s neck.
“Irene, let go of this. We’ll get into big trouble if you keep going!”
Her eyes were filled with determination. They were brimming with hatred.
There was no need to look closely. Her eyes were burning even more fiercely.
“Grr… Gah – “
“Irene, please, snap out of it!”
The knight wouldn’t mind if his throat were cut right now. That’s why he tightly held her arm and pushed my face in front of her eyes.
I concentrated on her with the intention of looking into the depths of her eyes –
“…Irene.”
“Cough, wheeze, cough, cough…”
Finally, the knight managed to hit the ground with his body. Still struggling to breathe.
Like me, coughing incessantly, shedding tears to regulate my breathing, and pounding my chest.
“Okay, it’s fine… Are you feeling a little better now?”
Still holding onto her arm, I met her gaze with mine.
And her eyes began to emit light. The moment our lips touched, it happened.
It was hot. Very hot. Something soft was touching my lips.
As soon as I realized what we were doing, what this act was called, my heart started pounding like crazy.
Her eyes were still open. It would be accurate to say that there was no room for closing them. At that moment, my mind was completely occupied by the sensation on my lips, unable to think of anything else.
After calming down a bit, I felt the urge to close my eyes. Wouldn’t it be more appropriate to do so during a kiss?
Her eyes felt quite burdensome. It seemed awkward to be making eye contact while kissing.
With that in mind, I loosened my grip on her hand slightly and tried to close my eyes.
“…Uh?!”
She lifted her hand and forcibly opened my eyes. Forcibly.
With one eye closed, she was trying to make our eyes meet between the forcibly opened eyelids.
I tried to turn my head, but the other arm was firmly holding my neck, preventing me from doing so.
And so, we stayed like that, with our eyes locked together for a while.
The knight rose to his feet and waited until the commotion of the knights gathering subsided.
Though it was clearly not pleasant, with a smile that seemed to lack something,
With astonished onlookers still in awe, and two red eyes gazing at me, lips shining with the gloss of a tongue,
And with those two arms that had just tightly embraced my body moments ago,
I felt fear.
*
She left with the knights.
Count Lambert called for her, saying he needed a detailed explanation.
It was certainly not a good thing. She couldn’t know what would happen to her.
No, she wasn’t important. I was.
Even though I had recently fallen deeply in love with her, captivated by her beauty…
Suddenly, my breath caught, my throat tightened in front of my eyes, saving the knight who had been suffocating,
Stealing his lips, um, damn it, this isn’t right.
It wasn’t important who kissed whose lips.
So, it wasn’t important who did it first.
At this point, like a noble contract, Count Lambert was just about to use my daughter as a long-term pawn for politics –
Suddenly, it meant that she was in love with the enemy’s son, even if Count Lambert were to be friendly or normal.
This was a matter that couldn’t be easily overlooked.
Perhaps this was a matter that could ultimately cost me my life.
As I thought about it, my hands and feet grew even colder.
I blew into my hands, overlapping my breath, and wiped away the unpleasant moisture with a handkerchief.
Nevertheless, my trembling heart showed no sign of stopping.
An alarm went off without warning.
At first glance, the number of messages seemed significant, but I had no intention of opening them.
I was on the verge of losing my life, so did I have the luxury to care about my connection points with her?
I’d rather receive some useful skills. It was a moment where I couldn’t even hope for such things.
… In the worst case scenario, it was none other than Count Lamber who was calling me.
He would peer into my heart whether I wanted it or not. And if that happened, I would die.
No, I would die of cardiac arrest before he even lifted his sword.
I had experienced that feeling of losing consciousness once before.
The feeling of consciousness being crushed by overwhelming fear was never pleasant.
Damn it, my hands froze again.
… I should check something. I can’t get through this crisis without checking.
Finally, I opened the notification window and slowly read its contents.
First of all, the connection points boasted an incredibly high number.
She designated me as “one and only”.
She declared in her heart that I was the only one to share her feelings and rely on.
… For now, it seemed that the quest would not fail, but I felt like the genre was becoming increasingly strange.
Wasn’t this supposed to be a terrible game that removed the dere from tsundere and kuudere? Since when did the genre change from megadere to yandere?
After only a few days of meeting, how much did this woman mix up her words with me –
…As those thoughts brushed through my mind, right around that time, there was a final notification that stole away my entire consciousness.
“New Skill Unlocked: Indomitable Spirit”
– Possesses a certain level of resistance against mental attacks.
– Reacts to hostile skills.
It appeared, a way to resist Count Lambert.