100. Exposed

“……”

Back in her room, Clarisse collapsed onto the bed with a thud. Even she couldn’t explain why these feelings persisted.

But Isaac, the one she truly wanted to ask about it, was nowhere to be seen.

He laid her gently upon the bed and left just like that.

Watching him go, Clarisse felt a pang of disappointment mingled with unease.

Could he have seen something strange and caught on to something?

He was a man with an almost unsettlingly sharp intuition, after all.

Thump-thump.

‘M-My heart is racing.’

Her frantic heart wouldn’t calm down. Calmly retracing what she had done, she chastised herself for acting in such a ridiculous manner.

‘Just why did I say that?!’

She could have spent time with Prince Raphael, naturally enjoying physical contact, but she had tossed it all away with her own two feet.

She lay there on the bed for ages, lost in vacant contemplation.

Creak.

The sound of the door opening, followed by footsteps entering.

“Isaac?!”

Clarisse shot up, but the person who stepped through the doorway wasn’t Isaac, but Heirat.

“Princess.”

“Ah, Heirat. What brings you here?”

Currently, Heirat was in charge of monitoring and gathering intelligence on Dell.

He’d no earthly reason to be showing up here, was what she wanted to say, but instead he just looked sheepish, scratching the back of his head.

“Baron Logan said he thought we should switch roles again. Seems I’ll be back to guarding you… Is there perhaps… some trouble with Baron Logan?”

“Ah.”

Claris uttered the sound, her expression hardening.

“Aaugh?!”

Her face, blooming a crimson hue, she clutched her cheeks with both hands.

“aaaugh?!”

Had she ever felt so mortified in her life?

She’d wager.

Surely not.

“aaaugh?!”

“Princess?”

Claris, suddenly wishing she could burrow into a mouse hole, instead plunged headfirst beneath the covers, pummeling her pillow with both fists.

“aaaugh!”

She’d been found out.

* * *

The next morning.

Isaac was in the training yard, sparring with the Grand Master.

“Ho there, after coming here you have been giving no interest. What brings you here today?”

“…”

He knew he had no retort to that kind of jab. He had been constantly at Princess Claris’s side, assisting her.

Sharen and the Grand Master had been an afterthought.

“Ahem, well, I am still a swordsman, after all. I feel as though I’ve been too neglectful lately, so I intend to dedicate myself to training today.”

“Hmph? And with the banquet tomorrow? In truth, wouldn’t today be most crucial?”

“Prince Raphael is genuinely considering Dell’s proposition.”

“Proposition?”

“To keep Dell as a consort, and marry Princess Claris.”

“Hmm.”

The Grand Master’s eyebrows twitched. Beside them, Sharen, stretching out her legs, glanced up curiously.

“The moment he considers it, it’s already over. The marriage will likely be arranged.”

While I didn’t fully ensnare Prince Raphael, his reaction yesterday made it clear he felt a certain…pull toward Clarisse.

“So, Princess Clarisse will manage things from here on out. Let’s prepare to return.”

“Hmm?”

The Grandmaster, sensing the somewhat hasty explanation, harbored doubt, but didn’t press the issue.

Isaac clearly didn’t want to talk about it, so he let it be.

Unexpectedly, the question came from Sharen.

“Wait, so Del becomes the concubine, and the Princess, the queen?”

“One could say so, yes?”

It wasn’t exactly a concession.

The gulf between a royal princess and a mere baker’s daughter was, after all, rather… stark.

“…That feels awfully… unsatisfying.”

At Sharen’s murmuring, tinged with unease, Isaac winced almost imperceptibly.

“No, isn’t it? It feels like a compromise. Del *or* the Princess. He should pick *one*! This neither-here-nor-there business is just… bleh!”

“Hmm, it seems the day I agree with Sharen has arrived.”

Isaac offered a wry smile at their responses.

“We’re the ones who made it difficult for him to make that choice.”

“…Wasn’t me.”

Sharen immediately distanced herself.

It felt as though she possessed some inherent right to speak her mind without consequence as she continued.

“I mean, it’s a little absurd, isn’t it? Before we came, he was ready to abandon the kingdom and run away with Del, but after a few days of the Princess’s charms, he suddenly changed his mind.”

“…”

“From the start, weighing both sides and trying to have it all just feels… unappealing.”

“I’m telling you, *we* made it that way.”

“Not *me*!”

Yes, not you.

Isaac mumbled, sighing.

“Perhaps… is that how men are, Isaac?”

Sharen’s eyes widened as if struck by a revelation.

The Grandmaster, meanwhile, donned a sly, playful grin and crossed his arms.

“Ah, yes, such is the nature of men. If a woman is a blustery wind, the coat is swept away, and one is stripped bare; but if she is the sun, one takes off his coat, as one would with heat.”

“Oho.”

“Don’t be teaching me strange things.”

Sharen, about to nod as if she’d grasped something, suddenly felt a flicker of doubt and looked back at Isaac.

“But Isaac wasn’t like that, was he?”

“……”

“Even when Sylverna was all up on him in the North, with those enormous breasts, he didn’t even flinch.”

If Sylverna heard that, she’d be coming after him with a spear right this instant, yet he said it so nonchalantly.

First, he decided to set the record straight.

“Sylverna never did that.”

“Come on, I saw it happen at least three times?”

“……”

A few overlapping scenes flashed through his mind, making Isaac momentarily shut his mouth.

Seeing this, the Grand Master let out a dry chuckle, slinging her greatsword over her shoulder.

“My, my, how many a woman’s heart have you stolen? Starting with the Helmunt, called the flower of the kingdom, and the eldest daughter of Caldias–”

“Me! Include me too!”

“Sharen wants in as well? Fine, then let’s add this body to the list and make this scoundrel’s crimes all the heavier.”

“Whoa! At this rate, Isaac deserves the death penalty!”

“……”

Suddenly, he had no idea where this conversation was going.

The Grand Master folded down four fingers, then, chuckling, folded down the last one.

“Even Princess Klaris, who’s about to be married. You truly are a bad man.”

“It isn’t the Princess.”

Isaac, without realizing it, had gone rigid.

But the Grand Master, as if teasing him, leaned in and draped an arm across Isaac’s shoulders.

“Child, you are terribly bad at telling lies.”

“Don’t call me that.”

“Child, do not lie to yourself. Perhaps, at times, your overly keen perception is more of a burden, yes?”

“Ha.”

Isaac let out a dry breath and glanced sideways at the Grand Master.

She gave a wry smile, clicking her tongue with pity.

“Me, I don’t claim to know much about affairs of the heart.”

“……”

“But I have eyes to see change. The princess’s feelings for you are certainly different than they were before.”

“I wouldn’t call it love.”

“Well, you’d know best, wouldn’t you? Aren’t you the one here who’s loved the hottest, after all?”

The Grand Master grinned, teasing him.

Sharen, who had been listening to the conversation beside them, stared blankly up at Isaac and asked,

“Isaac never said anything like that to my sister, did he?”

“……?!”

“Oho? Now, that’s an interesting question indeed.”

A child sometimes asks surprisingly sharp questions.

Startled by Sharen’s question, Isaac took an instinctive step back.

“Now that I think about it, the situation seems pretty similar.”

“Indeed. Your situation with that woman, Dell, is quite alike. Given your personality, I imagine you told the Blood Rose to marry another man.”

“Umm.”

Isaac took another step back.

Then, the Grand Master slyly wrapped an arm around Isaac’s, grinning mischievously.

“Come now, tell us all about it.”

She playfully poked his cheek with her finger. Sharen, too short to reach his face, poked Isaac’s waist, giggling.

“Tell us! Tell us!”

“Haa……”

In the end, Isaac gave in to the two women’s pressure and recounted the story.

How he had told Lianna to marry another man, and that he would wait by the river.

How Lianna had responded with a resolute, ‘Absolutely not,’ refusing him.

How he was so happy with her answer that he couldn’t help but lose his composure.

After he honestly confessed everything, the Grand Master mumbled, slightly dazed.

“Did that really happen? Hoo, well now… I feel somewhat apologetic.”

“You say that after hearing everything?”

“I was just too fascinated to stop myself.”

“Wow, but you know what?”

Having heard everything, Sharen clenched her fist tightly as she replied,

“Won’t this just make the comparisons to the Prince even worse?!”

To that, both found themselves hard-pressed to answer.

“……”

“……”

“Or is it not? Am I supposed to think about it in a different way?”

Watching Sharen tilt her head in puzzlement, the two struggled to explain.

Because what she said wasn’t exactly wrong, defending the Prince was difficult.

So.

“It just means your sister is remarkable.”

The Grand Master decided to simply praise Rianna.

“My sister?”

“Yes, think of it that way.”

“My sister is quite something, you know? Did you hear? Last time she tried to cook with a kitchen knife?”

“……Rianna did?”

This was unexpected?

“Yeah, but she kept cutting the cutting board with the kitchen knife. In the end, she cooked with a greatsword.”

“……”

“Tsk, is this what one should call Helmut-esque?”

“She ended up getting chased out by the chef!”

Yes.

Becoming the head of the household, she seems to be enjoying herself, which is a relief.