Early morning.
Elisa still couldn't sleep.
For the past few days, she had been thinking about the same thing. Avoiding Dorothy, who admired Silas, was simply wrong.
Nor should she project Dorothy's affection onto Silas.
I'll do it!
I'll ask him personally if he... likes me.
If he does, then I'll reject Dorothy fair and square.
And then...
I'll just accept it or something.
Wait, no.
If I accept as soon as he says he likes me, where would my royal dignity be?
A-At least!
He should get down on one knee, kiss the back of my hand, and swear a knight's oath. Then, I'll give him a little bit at a time.
There is absolutely no way I'd let him pin me down all at once.
He already has zero respect for the fact that I'm royalty; if he knew I... had feelings for him.
'So, Miss Elisa is a masochist?'
It was easy to imagine Silas saying that.
She didn't want to be teased.
But then again, how did things turn out like this?
"..."
Elisa looked at her toes pressed together.
It was that day.
When she thought something would happen to her, but he just carried her to bed.
And then, she thought she'd just say the embarrassing words and show her gratitude, but it turned into being pinned down and fiercely taken.
"He's not gentle at all!"
"Even if I was the one who started it... he should have gone slowly."
"..."
It should have been a deeply humiliating thing.
But it had turned into bashfulness.
It couldn't be helped; she was royalty, after all, so she must have extraordinary charm... it was understandable that he became so uncontrollable.
Besides, he's somewhat interesting.
If they could go back to the cave to live together... ah, no, I don't want to live in a cave anymore.
With him looking after her, living in a normal estate should be fine too. He probably doesn't know yet, but because she swallowed so much of his "stuff"... she can now stay under the searing sun for over an hour.
At this rate, she would eventually become like her mother—no one would be able to tell there was anything wrong with her constitution.
"..."
Elisa took out the family heirloom. The last thing her mother gave her.
Her mother's final words weren't about restoring the kingdom.
'You've grown up; you must learn to live independently.'
'Take this. When you meet someone you can trust, give this to him and tell him everything you've been through. Elisa, loneliness is not scary. Having no hope for the future is the scariest thing.'
'I believe you won't let Mama down.'
Mmh.
From beginning to end, her mother hadn't demanded that she restore the family's glory.
She just wanted her to live well.
Revenge, restoration...
All of it came from being unable to bear the loneliness; the more she relied on beautiful memories, the more she was consumed by them.
Then, her aunt's letter became the fuse.
The Elisa royal family was a thing of the past; glory could never be restored.
Now she needed someone to laugh at her unrealistic dreams.
He would be the perfect candidate.
"..."
After all, he wouldn't look down on her from the bottom of his heart. Last time, when she broke down and cried her eyes out, he still brought her back.
Anyway!
He's working so hard investigating the Church just to pursue me... if I reward him directly, he shouldn't have any complaints, right?
Ugh.
Did the servant not surrender, while the master surrendered first?
But her mother also said: a master who ignores the lives of their subordinates is not a competent royal.
Knowing there are such terrifying things inside the Church, this isn't surrendering. It's having self-awareness.
Knock, knock.
Hearing the knock on the door, Elisa quickly slapped her face.
Okay.
I must say it today... he doesn't need to use hypnosis, I can help him with my hands. I also have to tell him that if he wants to pursue me, he has to reject Dorothy first.
But if I say "pursue" directly, will he think the difficulty is too high?
How can I let him know that as long as he rejects Dorothy, pursuing me will definitely be successful?
So annoying.
If I'm already willing to use my hands to make him feel good and he still doesn't get it...
"Teacher, are you asleep?"
"..."
Elisa's thoughts were interrupted. The person who came wasn't Silas. It was the noble girl she most wanted to avoid.
"Ugh, the teacher really hates me now, doesn't he? Can you tell me what I did wrong?"
"I'll change everything..."
"..."
Elisa originally wanted to play dead.
But hearing those soft sobs made her chest feel tight.
Click.
The door opened.
She saw a tearful Dorothy.
"Miss Michelle... is the teacher... not here?"
"Mmh."
"Haa..."
Dorothy wiped her eyes forcefully. "Sorry, I-I'll come back another day then."
"Um... please come in. Maybe you can talk to me."
"..."
Elisa knew letting her in would be painful. But she couldn't just ignore her.
She was starting to feel like a bad person.
"I can't even see Teacher Silas lately. In the academy... he always stays so far away. Every time I offer to do something, I get rejected."
"Is he really that busy?"
"..."
Elisa sat on her floor mat against the wall, hugging her knees. "Mmh, really busy. See, I sleep here all by myself."
"That's good. Ugh... I thought Teacher Silas just hated me, so he kept making excuses."
"He wouldn't."
"I... I'm sorry."
"?"
Elisa didn't understand why she was apologizing.
"For a while... during class... Teacher Silas always spent more time teaching you. Even behind your back... he seemed more interested. It felt like your relationship was more than just uncle and niece."
"!"
It is not!
That's just him intentionally using that hard thing to bully me because I can't resist in that situation!
"Michelle, your breasts are really beautiful."
"Eh?"
Elisa's chest was suddenly touched.
"So soft. Mine are a bit smaller... feel them if you don't believe me."
Then her hand was pressed against the other girl's chest.
"In every way, you're like an exquisite porcelain doll. Your skin is so white, your eyelashes are so long... even your toes are so pretty."
Elisa wasn't used to being touched by others. Come to think of it, she had only gotten used to Silas touching her.
Even though it was a girl touching her now...
"So, Michelle, do you really only see Teacher Silas as an uncle?"
"..."
The question finally came, didn't it?
Meeting those eyes that were still filled with tears, Elisa felt an extreme tightness in her chest.
"Mmh. I hate him. He makes me clean every day. I have to wash his clothes too."
She wasn't lying.
After the hypnosis ended, to keep him from noticing, she had to spend a long time restoring the room to its original state.
"Hehe, Teacher Silas is usually very busy. It's normal for him to be too tired to clean when he gets home."
"But, once I move in here... I'll do the housework."
"..."
"I'm sorry for saying that. But I'm really a bit scared... if Michelle liked Teacher Silas, I wouldn't have a chance at all."
"I don't. I don't like him at all. Once I graduate, I'm moving out. I never want to see him again."
"Then Michelle should come live at my place."
"...Eh?"
"Girls always have all sorts of troubles, and living with a man can be inconvenient. Occasionally people in the academy whisper that you and Teacher Silas are actually more than relatives. My room is very large, and there are plenty of girls' things. No one will care what we do. Teacher Silas must be very strict with you usually, right? Treating you like a child."
"..."
Why did it feel like she had already moved in and was kicking her out?
But it was fine.
If he and Dorothy were to get married, they'd have to do those "squelching" things. Her staying here... would be in the way.
"Thank you, Michelle. In the future, even if I marry the teacher, you don't have to call me Auntie... just call me Dorothy. We'll always be best friends."
"..."
Why did she have to say that?
What "Auntie"?
Dorothy left, and Elisa was the only one left in the somewhat spacious room.
She curled up in the corner.
Hugging her knees tighter and tighter, she unknowingly realized her cheeks were wet.
"I... am an idiot."
She was terrible at handling these things. And she had put on such a generous front.
Yeah.
Dorothy liked him first.
But there was no rule... saying she couldn't like him too.
She wanted to run away.
She didn't want to stay here anymore. Because Dorothy just said this would be their wedding home. Why should she be best friends with her?
It wasn't until her heart started aching.
She realized the real problem wasn't how to let Silas know that pursuing her would be successful... but how she was supposed to express this feeling that could never be spoken again.
Knock, knock.
Was there more to say?
I already said I don't like him, what else do you want?!
I'm moving out!
"..."
Elisa suppressed her emotions and opened the door, but this time it really was Silas.
Half his hair was burned away.
He was wrapped in a tattered cloth he must have picked up from somewhere. His entire body gave off a burnt, charred smell.
"W-What happened to you?!"
"It's complicated. We need to move... to that wild boar cave outside the city to hide."
"...?"
She watched Silas walk in and close the door. He tore off a bedsheet, revealing deep wounds hidden beneath large patches of red burns.
"Since you treat me like a child, why didn't you stop my ridiculous ideas instead of helping?!"
"...Elisa?"
Her little tears were falling quite hard. Since when did their relationship get this good?
He never treated her like a child anyway—what little girl has breasts that plump?
"I'll do as you say!"
Elisa wiped her tears. She thought that maybe now was the time to make up her mind to give up and leave the Holy City.
"..."
Silas didn't think too much.
Damn it, all the free simulation attempts were used up. He finally managed to learn through X-Ray vision that the Archbishop's neck was relatively fragile. He won by using the simulations to predict his moves.
He won, but no one said that after the thing's head was cut off, the rotten flesh inside could help stick it back on. Was it a draw? The Archbishop fled holding his head. Silas couldn't catch up and fled too, exhausted to the limit.
How long would that thing need to recover?
For himself... with the help of Elisa's blood, it shouldn't take a day.
He was just a bit surprised—when did this little chef get so strong? She really could carry him and run this fast.
Whatever, he'd leave the business of finding a place to hide for the night to this little survival expert. The Archbishop shouldn't be able to catch up now. If the wounds he took weren't heavy enough to require time to recover, there would have been no need for him to flee so pathetically in front of Silas.