Chapter 17

⁕⁕⁕

“Seems like colds are going around these days.”

“What colds?”

“The commander and Tewiller both have colds. Everyone’s getting sick.”

Anasha muttered while looking up at the clear, cloudless sky. Chris, who was stretching near a tree at the training ground, casually brought up a topic.

“So what happened with that friend of yours?”

“Which friend……? Haha, do I only have one or two friends?”

“Stop pretending! It’s so obvious!”

His eyes said, “Do you think you can deceive me?” Anasha pressed her lips together and just silently glared at him. Regardless, Chris continued with his annoying remarks.

“That friend seemed interested in you.”

“H-how does uncle know that?! Did you hear it from Tewiller? No way!”

“You have such good intuition in other areas, but why are you so dense when it comes to this……”

Chris clicked his tongue, saying it was obvious. This is why she couldn’t date.

“At least to my eyes, he doesn’t seem like a bad guy, and he’s diligent too.”

“I know Tewiller isn’t a bad person.”

“Then face it properly. What’s the problem? I’m not saying you have to try hard, but at least give it some thought. He seems quite sincere.”

“I don’t know either. Don’t ask, about that.”

“Oh? Are you being shy? Tomorrow the sun will rise from the west—ack!”

Chris yelled as a small stone hit the center of his head. Anasha was standing under the tree, glaring at him intensely. No one knew when she had come down.

“I’m already dying of confusion!!”

“That doesn’t mean you throw things! Are you a child?”

“Why a child! I’m not as old as uncle yet!”

Anasha, who had been huffing, turned around and ran away. Looking at her disappearing figure, Chris muttered, “Still a child, a child,” while rubbing his throbbing head.

⁕⁕⁕

“How is it that I don’t have a single person to give me advice……”

Sitting on the dormitory roof, pathetically staring at the moon, Anasha muttered out of habit. She had never dated before and didn’t know much about it. She needed a friend who could advise her on these matters. With only uncles or male peers around, it was frustrating.

Come to think of it, why don’t I have any female friends? Anasha sighed and wrinkled her nose. There hadn’t been any opportunities to meet them in the first place. What percentage chance was there to meet a girl her age in this dusty knight order?

‘Should I ask someone to introduce me?’

After thinking for a while about which uncle might know girls her age, Anasha clapped her hands.

‘I should ask the commander!’

He would surely be bringing a young lady as his ball partner. She imagined helping the commander and his lady while naturally becoming friends with the lady herself. Thinking about it again, it seemed like a perfect plan.

I’ll ask him tomorrow. Having neatly resolved her concern, Anasha slipped into her room through the window.

As they say, strike while the iron is hot. The next morning, as soon as the sun rose, Anasha barged into the commander’s office. He hadn’t arrived yet. Anasha lay comfortably on the sofa, deciding to catch some sleep until he arrived.

After dozing off for about an hour, the office door opened. Anasha opened her eyes at that small sound. It was almost like a wild animal’s reaction.

“Commander!”

“…Good morning, Sir Asha. Did you spend the night there?”

“No. I only slept here for an hour. More importantly, I have a favor to ask you!”

Anasha rushed headlong toward Rihirt, who still looked surprised. He took half a step back as he was entering. The door closed behind him.

“Who’s the Miss you’re taking to the ball?”

“I haven’t… decided yet. Why do you ask?”

“Then that’s great! I want to help you! If there’s a Miss you like, I’ll go and subtly push things along for you.”

Anasha grinned, making a pushing gesture with her palm. His blue eyes watched her face, then slowly lowered.

“That won’t be necessary. There’s no need for that.”

“What? Why not? You need to find a partner too, Commander.”

“…You received a partner request.”

“Pardon?”

Rihirt had to slightly furrow his brow at the words that spontaneously left his mouth. Even he didn’t know what he had intended to say. He just strongly felt that he had made a big mistake.

As he quietly observed her face, he saw an expression that didn’t seem to understand what he meant. Rihirt felt a momentary deep relief.

“It’s nothing. My mind has been complicated since yesterday, so I misspoke.”

“Ah, I see……”

Though she answered like that, Anasha’s mind was working quickly for once. The moment the word “partner” was mentioned, considering the disappointed look that appeared on his face, it led to one conclusion.

‘Could it be… that things aren’t going well with the Miss he wants as his partner?’

While feeling sorry for poking at what seemed like a painful wound, his appearance strangely overlapped with Tewiller’s in her mind. Anasha shook her head vigorously. As she scolded herself for thinking of Tewiller at a time like this, she suddenly noticed his gaze on her and looked up.

“Oh, why are you still standing?”

Rihirt, who had been watching her every small movement including the shake of her head, finally walked past her and sat at his desk. As he started working with his usual expressionless face, Anasha also climbed up to the ceiling.

After flipping through documents for a while, when everything became quiet, Rihirt reached for the drawer below.

The red velvet-covered file was still deep in the drawer. There was about a week left until the ball. He needed to decide by tomorrow at the latest, but he silently pushed the drawer closed again.

He couldn’t make a rational decision. His heart just felt strangely constricted.

⁕⁕⁕

As the ball day approached—a day she had thought had nothing to do with her—Anasha withered like a prisoner nearing execution day. Chris secretly clicked his tongue, while the knights who didn’t know about this just worried about her.

Regardless, Anasha sat in a field on a sunny day, plucking all the plants around her.

‘He likes me, he doesn’t like me, he likes me, he doesn’t like me, he likes…!’

Anasha didn’t even pluck the last leaf but threw it away immediately. The madness continued.

‘I’ll go… I won’t go… I’ll go, I won’t go, I’ll go, I won’t go……!’

Her eyes widened as if she had finally reached a satisfactory answer. Of course, as her thoughts naturally shifted to how she should phrase her rejection, she fell back into a depressed state.

She needed to give an answer to Tewiller, who was probably waiting, but she couldn’t come up with an answer herself. Her plan to make a female friend to discuss this with had long since failed.

“…If the ballroom collapsed, the ball might be postponed……”

“Completely crazy, insane. Next thing you know, she’ll be committing imperial treason.”

Chris, who had been watching from nearby, shook his head. If such irrational thoughts came to her one more time, she seemed likely to seriously recite theories of doom.

“This is all uncle’s fault! You said those weird things!”

“What did I do?”

“You told me to face it, and said he seemed quite sincere!”

“Well, that’s how it looked to me.”

Chris answered halfheartedly. Anasha glared at him and stood up, and he simply turned his head to look at her directly from his position.

“You received a ball partner request, didn’t you?”

“……!”

“Don’t try to deceive me.”

“How did you know?”

“How many years have I known you? You’ve been on edge lately whenever the ball is mentioned.”

Chris just looked amusedly at Anasha, who was already sharply on guard.

“So, you don’t want to be his partner, is that it?”

“It’s not that I don’t want to. I wanted to go to the ballroom, and it would be fun to go with Tewiller. The problem is… I don’t know if Tewiller is taking me as a woman he likes, or just as a friend.”

“Then go ask him.”

“How can I ask that! If I could ask, I would have gone and asked already!”

It seemed impossible, even for someone as thick-skinned as her. When Anasha shouted with a reddened face, Chris burst into mischievous laughter. Only when she checked if there were any stones nearby did he stop laughing.

“Hmm! I’m sure that friend didn’t mean to pressure you. So just talk to him comfortably. Would a ball partner be a place to bring a friend in the first place? Just make up some excuse and reject him tactfully.”

“I guess… that’s right? That’s what it is, right? I’m not just being delusional?”

“I was once nicknamed the mind reader. Given that friend’s personality, I don’t think he’ll make you feel uncomfortable if you reject him, but if he does, just kick him hard! That’s not a friend!”

“…Uncle. For once you’re actually helpful… thanks.”

“I feel like I just heard something really annoying.”

“No, thank you.”

Anasha slyly smiled and moved on.

It seemed good that she had opened up to her uncle. Now she had a clear sense of what to do. It’s amazing that there are days when uncle’s words can be helpful, Anasha felt strange.

Since they were heading in the same direction, Anasha walked with Chris toward the knight order’s main building. The conversation continued on the same topic.

“I guess it’s better to finish quickly once I’ve decided, right?”

“Of course, what good would dragging it out do? Life is about practice, and one shot.”

“That sounds so old and tacky. Anyway, I’m going to give my answer today! I’ll wait for Tewiller until he finishes work at his workplace.”

“That seems like it would be burdensome. Just go a bit late, around when his shift ends.”

“Phew, even though I’ve decided to answer, I’m still nervous.”