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Translator: Vine
Chapter: 11
Chapter Title: An Unexpected Morning
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“Gasp!”
I was sleeping soundly when I suddenly woke up, my eyes flying open.
I’d only meant to sleep for five minutes, but I felt so refreshed that it couldn't have been true. Confused, I tried to sit up, letting out a groan.
“Ugh, I feel like I'm dying.”
Falling, getting hit, being grabbed by the collar... My body must have been exhausted from last night, because every inch of me ached.
As I sluggishly moved my creaking body, groaning all the while, I fluttered my eyelashes at the complete darkness before me.
“What? Why can't I see anything?”
Blink, blink.
No matter how many times I closed and opened my eyes, it was still pitch black.
“Hmm... Is it still nighttime?”
I felt strangely refreshed, so I thought I'd slept deeply, but maybe not?
“Well... maybe I'll sleep a little longer?”
My resolve to just close my eyes for a moment was long gone as I stealthily shut them again.
And as I tried to subtly drift back to sleep, my pillow felt terribly uncomfortable.
“Ugh, why is this pillow so hard?”
The best thing about this room was the pillow, stuffed full of fluffy cotton. Why wasn't it soft?
While I was wondering if someone had swapped my pillow for a wooden block while I was asleep, the pillow shifted slightly.
“Ahem.”
Then, with a low, rumbling laugh, the darkness before my eyes brightened.
“Did you sleep well?”
“Huh?”
Squinting my eyes against the light, I heard a voice that shouldn't have been there at this time, in this place. I was so taken aback that I couldn't believe my ears.
“Don't tell me... Your Majesty...?”
“If you're awake, would you mind getting up? My arm is starting to go numb.”
“Gah!”
To my dismay, my worst fear was confirmed; the languid, low voice was all too familiar.
The person laughing above my head was, with a very high probability, Enoch.
Faced with this trial the moment I woke up, I snapped my eyes open and, startled by the sturdy arm muscles supporting my head instead of a pillow, I shot up.
“Wh-what is this? Why are you here?”
Even though I was fully clothed, I instinctively pulled the blanket up to cover myself. Enoch, who was leaning his upper body against the headboard and rolling his shoulder, narrowed his eyes.
“I know what you're imagining, and it's not that.”
“Wh-what am I? I wasn't thinking anything...”
As I slowly lowered the blanket, a sense of déjà vu washed over me, and I clapped a hand over my mouth.
“Your Majesty...”
“?”
Covering my gaping mouth with my hand, my face crumpled as if I were about to cry.
“Don't tell me I did something to you again?”
“You didn't do anything. You just slept. Soundly, at that.”
“Really? I really didn't, like, grope you all over like last time?”
“No. You did not.”
“Oh, thank goodness. I thought I'd gotten drunk and made a mistake again... Phew.”
Watching me sigh in relief, Enoch shook his head and tapped his own cheek.
“Is your face all right?”
“Oh, right! My cheek must be really swollen, right?”
Finally remembering my red, swollen cheek, I quickly grabbed a hand mirror.
Bracing myself for a ruined face, I looked into the mirror, and my eyes widened.
“Huh...? It's not swollen at all?”
I was sure it would be bruised blue or badly swollen by this morning.
Except for the faint trace of a burst blood vessel, my face was in pretty decent shape.
She didn't look particularly sturdy on the outside, but maybe Riana's body is tougher than I thought...?
“Does it not hurt?”
As I stared intently into the mirror, fascinated, Enoch's hand touched my chin.
His hand, large enough to cover my whole face, gently lifted my chin, belying its size. My gaze naturally followed, meeting his gray eyes as he inspected the injury.
A color that seemed cool, yet gentle.
After gazing at that mysterious color for a moment, I gave a small shrug.
“Not really.”
“That's a relief.”
“Your Majesty.”
“Yes?”
“Thank you for your help yesterday.”
As I offered my belated thanks, Enoch gave a faint smile but continued to examine my injury without a word.
“Still, it seems the burst blood vessel and your lip will need treatment.”
As he turned my head this way and that, subjecting me to an unexpected physical examination first thing in the morning, something rustled behind me.
“Mmmwa... Abwa...”
Then, Ariel, her eyes barely open, wriggled over me, settled in the middle of the bed, and yawned with her small mouth.
“Ariel, you slept here too?”
“Mmhmm.”
Still drowsy, her nodding head lost its balance, and her small body tumbled forward.
“Oof.”
The little jolt seemed to wake her up. She rubbed her protruding forehead, lifted her head, and gave a shy smile.
“Momma, Dadda. Good!”
As I stroked her fluffy, bed-headed hair, surprised that she wasn't being fussy for once, I lifted Ariel up, and my eyes widened.
“Huh?”
She felt a little heavier than yesterday. I put her down and started measuring her height with my hands, tilting my head in confusion.
“What are you doing?”
Curious about my reaction, Enoch leaned his head down, and his black hair brushed against my eyelashes.
The tickling sensation, like a gentle breeze, made me unconsciously raise a hand to rub my eye. Enoch's eyebrows furrowed in disapproval.
“Doesn't it seem like she grew overnight?”
“Hmm. She does seem a bit bigger than yesterday.”
“Mmm?”
Watching me continue to touch my eye, Enoch interlaced his fingers with mine to stop me from rubbing it, then shot a suspicious look at Ariel, who was feigning innocence, her round eyes darting about.
“By the way. It seems she can say some words now, so why does she still call you 'Momma'?”
“I think it's because my name is difficult for her. She keeps calling me that. It must be hard for her to pronounce.”
“Is that so?”
“Yes. Would you like to see?”
Seeing the unconvinced look on Enoch's face despite my explanation, I met Ariel's eyes.
“Here, Ariel. Repeat after me.”
“Mhm?”
“Ri. A. Na.”
“Ubaba?”
Hearing the child's completely garbled pronunciation, I gave Enoch an 'I-told-you-so' look, and one of his eyebrows shot up.
“Hmm... Strange.”
“Oh, come on. What is?”
I couldn't understand why he was looking at such a cute child so suspiciously.
Ignoring Enoch, who was now watching Ariel with his arms crossed, I held the child and patted her back, then noticed my damp palm.
“Huh? Ariel, are you hot? Why are you sweating so much...?”
“... U-ubaba! Kyaa!”
...I think she just avoided my gaze.
It couldn't be, but the child seemed to be sweating bullets. I narrowed my eyes at her, and just then—
Drrrr. With a buzzing sound, something on the tea table began to vibrate loudly.
“Huh? What's that sound?”
“Ah. It's mine.”
Enoch, looking annoyed, got off the bed. I trotted after him, and a bright light appeared, projecting an image into the air.
[“Your Majesty!”]
“Ugh.”
Two old men, who looked like they could be headmasters at some magic school, shouted, and Enoch quickly covered his ears.
[“Where were you last night?”]
“As you can see.”
[“...The Little Marquess? Don't tell me you spent the night at the marquess's estate?”]
At Enoch's gesture to his side, the old men finally noticed me, and their pale eyes widened in surprise.
But they quickly lost interest and began to press Enoch, stomping their feet in agitation.
[“That's not what's important right now! What in the world have you been doing!”]
In contrast to the fretting old men, Enoch calmly took a sip of water, shrugged, and looked at me.
“Aren't you hungry? With the cut in your mouth, you couldn't even eat properly last night.”
“Uh... I'm fine. But Your Majesty, I don't think this is the time to be talking to me.”
One of the old men, who looked like a mad scientist from how much he'd been tearing at his hair, suddenly thrust his face forward.
[“Your Majesty, you didn't... lay a hand on Duke Herington, did you?”]
“Hmm?”
The large hand that had been pressing down my messy bedhead paused.
“Ah.”
[“...What is that reaction? Don't tell me... you really did something?”]
“Well, rather than 'doing something,' I took something from him and sent him somewhere.”
[“What do you mean by that? You have to explain in detail for this old man to understand!”]
“Mmm...”
Unable to withstand their nagging coming through the projection, Enoch gave a rough explanation, and the mouth surrounded by a white beard began to fall open.
[“B-but you're usually not interested in what the Duke does, so why all of a sudden...?”]
The old man in the projection, about to say something more, grabbed his head as if in pain and let out a deep sigh.
[“...Haa. For now, please return to the castle, Your Majesty. The Little Marquess, too.”]
***
“Your Majesty, are you done changing?”
Having been unexpectedly summoned to the imperial palace alongside him, I watched the shimmering shadow behind the partition.
Enoch had been about to head straight to the castle, but Ariel had poured milk on him, so he was now changing into clothes the butler had hastily procured.
I could see the elegant, curved shadow slipping an arm into a shirt, as if about to put on the new clothes.
“You're not in trouble because of me, are you?”
“Not at all. If we're assigning blame, it's my own selfish actions, not your fault. And I'm not in any trouble.”
“Still... Ugh! Ariel, wait a moment.”
As I hesitated in front of the smoothly moving shadow, I had to hop around to avoid Ariel, who was crawling busily at my feet.
“...? Is something wrong?”
“No, just a second. Ariel is again—wait, just a second. Ariel, if you do that, I'll—”
She was always mischievous, but was I imagining it, or was she even more so today?
As if pouring milk on Enoch wasn't enough, Ariel succeeded in tying a ribbon around my foot, then clapped her hands and giggled.
“Aah! Your Majesty, move!”
Thump, crash.
In the end, thanks to her, my body lost its balance and fell toward Enoch's shadow. In an instant, my vision swam.
“Ugh...”
And when I opened my eyes again, what I saw was...
“...Oh, my...”
Enoch's bare chest—as white as snow and just as firm—something I never thought I'd see again.
