Chapter Two Hundred and Forty-Three: Their Room
“Please keep this door locked at all times.”
Karen had been exploring the room with a beaming smile when Julius pointed to a door with an inner lock and spoke.
“Beyond this door is a room for a married couple to use together. It connects to my room as well. Naturally, it’s not something to use before we’re even married.”
“Kyaaa!”
“Don’t try to open it so eagerly, Karen.”
“Sepl and Urte are here with us! Right?!”
Julius, who had been holding back Karen as she tried to latch onto the door with shining eyes, looked with exasperation at the two supporters who were leisurely sitting on the sofa, drinking the grape wine that had been in the room.
“Can you two really protect Karen like that?”
“You want us to come between you and Little Karen acting all lovey-dovey? Give me a break; she is like a niece to me.”
“Do you want us to support her even in the marital bedroom? Ahahahaha!”
Urte was slapping her knee and laughing. She might have been weak to alcohol.
“Mr. Julius, I’ll just look! I’ll just explore a little, okay?”
“It can’t be helped. Please make absolutely sure to keep it locked normally, all right? You must never go inside, and certainly never leave it unlocked.”
After reiterating the condition, Julius allowed Karen to enter the couple’s room.
Karen excitedly unlocked the interior lock and went inside.
The room was at the end of the hallway, connected to both Karen’s and Julius’s rooms, which faced each other. A canopied bed larger than the one in Karen’s room, a fireplace, and a comfortable-looking sofa. And—
“A portrait of Mr. Julius and me…”
It was similar to but different from the one the Ehlertt painter Irene had done last year.
“My clothes, they’re an alchemist’s outfit…?”
In the painting Irene had done before, Karen, standing close to Julius, had been wearing a dress.
Since she had worn a dress provided by Ehlertt when attending the New Year’s Festival, Irene, who had only seen that, had painted Karen as she was.
But the Karen in the painting hung in the bedroom wore an alchemist’s outfit, while Julius wore a knight’s clothing.
“I thought this attire was most like you, and most like me as well.”
Saying this, Julius smiled mischievously.
“Do you like it?”
“…Very much!”
Being an alchemist was the self she could be most proud of, and it was precisely because she was such a Karen that Julius stayed by her side and tried to fight alongside her. If they had lived lives suited to entirely different roles, they would never have met.
Karen was entranced by the portrait for a while. Finally, Julius indicated another door.
“This door leads to my room. —There’s no lock on my side. So while it’s always open, I will never visit from this side.”
“Even if I don’t lock it, as long as you don’t come in, isn’t that enough?”
“…I can’t trust my own reason when I’m intoxicated by magical power. You know about that, don’t you?”
“Kyaaa!”
“Karen, that’s not a place to let out a cheer.”
Julius pinched Karen’s cheek with a squeeze. Though it didn’t hurt, being forcibly made to make a strange face left Karen feeling sour, but Julius chuckled softly.
“For my sake, as I wish to cherish you, please guard yourself carefully.”
At Julius with his shadowed smile, Karen, her cheek released, tightened her loosened lips.
“And you’re correct—it would be enough if I simply restrained myself. I’m sorry.”
Julius showed a smile too beautiful, as if trying to conceal his inner feelings. Karen would no longer be completely fooled by that beauty. But looking up at Julius’s smile, she pretended to be captivated by it. If he was trying to hide it, he probably didn’t want her to know.
Either way made no difference to Karen. But for Julius, the thought of his reason-deprived self doing things far removed from his ideal must be unbearable.
“If you say so, I’ll keep it locked. Although premarital relations are normal for commoners, you know. Right, Uncle Sepl, with your shotgun wedding?”
While trying to keep her tone light, Karen called out to Sepl waiting in the next room. So that no matter what happened in the future, Julius wouldn’t be hurt.
When Karen and Julius returned from the bedroom, Sepl said while scratching his cheek:
“That’s quite a polished way to say it, but well, it’s true.”
“Yes, I got married after the fact too. It’d be a problem if you only found out you weren’t compatible after marrying.”
“So yeah, better to check compatibility before marriage, right?”
Though Urte and Sepl answered matter-of-factly, adventurers were among the less chaste of commoners. But to Julius’s ears, it seemed to sound as if this was normal for commoners, and his face visibly changed.
“Are you saying that if, after checking, this ‘compatibility’ turns out to be poor, even an engagement would be broken off?”
“Well, that’d be natural.”
“Otherwise there’d be no point in checking.”
“—If that’s normal for you all, then all the more reason I will never lay a hand on Karen until marriage.”
“Does that mean once we’re married, it won’t be so easy to call it off?”
In other words, he wouldn’t let her escape.
As Karen let out a gleeful squeal at being loved that much, Urte frowned:
“Don’t you want to cherish Karen? And yet you’re planning to trap her so she can’t leave easily? If there’s some problem with your male function—”
Just as the sound suddenly cut off, Karen realized Sepl had gently covered her ears. Urte seemed to be scolding Julius about something for Karen’s sake, and Julius was being overwhelmed. By the time Karen’s ears were finally freed, the two had finished their argument. Urte was breathing hard through her nose, while Julius looked exhausted.
“That conversation was too stimulating for you, Little Karen.”
“I’m already an adult, you know? I’m twenty as of the New Year, you know?”
“Karen.”
The one who called Karen’s name as she tried to complain about the unfair treatment was Julius with an uneasy expression on his face.
“I understand well that there are differences between noble and commoner common sense. But I still want to act according to my own perception and not do anything that would feel like treating you roughly. Can you understand?”
“Yes! It’s fine!”
“Of course, I don’t intend to make only you endure. I promise that when the time comes, I will make every effort to dispel your anxieties.”
“Either way, a delicious future…!”
Though Julius himself had been frowning anxiously, seeing Karen trembling with joy made him relax and smile. Seeing Karen happily oblivious to his inner struggles, Julius looked relieved.
Looking up at such a Julius, Karen pledged in her heart to properly keep the door locked.
A quiet resolve was also born within Karen. She wanted to eliminate any obstacles to ensure her engagement—and eventual marriage—with Julius would proceed smoothly.
—First, the knight order.
“By the way, Karen, aren’t you interested in my room as well?”
“Of course!”
“You should see it while your supporters are here during the day.”
Invited by Julius, who seemed to have resigned himself to the fact that Karen’s curiosity couldn’t be stopped, she visited Julius’s room from across the hallway rather than through the bedroom.
And there, a huge portrait was displayed far too brazenly.
“Gah!? Isn’t this the Mr. Julius I drew!?”
It was supposed to be Julius holding a single rose and winking. A year ago, it had looked much better, but now it was beyond doubt that the figure looked like every bone in his body was broken.
“Take it down right now! Or you’ll have nightmares!?”
“On the contrary, when I look at this painting, I sleep well… ahahaha, hahahahahaha!”
“What are you laughing at!?”
“Heh, hehe. Because I got to see that face of yours, Karen.”
The portrait Karen had assumed someone had discarded had apparently ended up in Julius’s hands.
Though he had looked gloomy just moments ago, now that his prank had succeeded, Julius was smiling brightly—and Karen found herself speechless, just like the time he had brought his face close to hers.
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