205 – How I Take Care of Her -3-

Watching the falling stars, my lady and I were gazing up at the dawn sky.

“He he he…”

It must have been the anniversary of the day the seeds of hope sprouted, because my lady was smiling so pleasantly, making no effort to hide the corners of her mouth as they turned up.

“Hee hee hee…”

Lying in bed, my lady continued to laugh as she looked at me. I looked at her with a small smile as her gaze, heavy with the expectation of praise, fell upon me.

“Why are you staring at me like that?”

“He he he… Just because.”

My lady flared her nostrils, waiting for the answer she desired. She stared at me as I turned my head away, pretending not to know, and then she snorted once more and spoke.

“He he he… Do you think I’m great, Ricardo?”

The question came out in a singsong voice.

I smiled slightly at my lady’s guileless expression and nodded.

“Yes, I do.”

“How great do you think I am?”

“As great as the heavens and the earth.”

“Oooooh…! As great as the heavens and the earth!”

My lady smiled broadly and muttered softly, “I knew it…” It always made me laugh to see how honest my lady was about her own feelings.

A warm current and a sense of emotion rose in my lady’s room as a cold wind blew in.

To others, it might seem like nothing, but to us, it was like a never-ending homework assignment.

Without a deadline.

An assignment that seemed to have no end.

I don’t know what kind of analogy I should use, but to us, it felt like a miracle, as if we had gotten a hint for a question that we hadn’t made any progress on for two years.

Hehehe…”

The euphoria didn’t easily subside.

Every time I came out of the bathroom, the young lady who had been watching me shyly remained trapped in a feeling of satisfaction, and showed no sign of being able to easily free herself from it.

“Hehehe… I’m amazing.

I looked at the young lady who was running her hand through her hair and said with a small smile.

“Aren’t you laughing like a villain? If someone saw you, they’d think you were a civil servant who had succeeded in smuggling.”

“It’s such a big deal that I can’t help it.”

“That’s true.”

I liked the young lady’s honest answer. The young lady’s words, which were not shy and spoke directly, removed the feeling of burden from me as I answered her. I liked talking to the young lady, who would tell me anything honestly.

I rubbed my tired eyes and looked out the window. The sky was still dark and had not yet brightened, so it seemed like it would be a while before morning would come. One thing for sure was that if I slept now, I would oversleep.

I carefully asked a question that would elicit the answer I wanted in order to legitimately declare to the young lady that she would starve in the morning.

“Ha… Should I sleep in late tomorrow… No, today?”

“Umm… Yeah.”

Lost in deep thought, the young lady blinked her fluttering eyes and furrowed her brow. Judging from her sparkling eyes, it seemed like she still had some energy left. She was a young lady who was very sensitive to urgency, as she had figured out that I was trying to trick her.

“Insufficient sleep has a negative effect on skin health, you know.”

“My skin is good.”

I nodded as the young lady touched her cheek and then grabbed my hand and rubbed her cheek with it.

“That’s certainly true.”

As expected of the world’s most beautiful woman, she was a young lady who had nothing to criticize when it came to the topic of appearance. There was a lot that needed to be fixed about her on the inside, but I guess the world is fair. I once again made plans to legitimately play Lupin the 3rd.

“Ooh… ouch!”

The lady’s head moved around loosely as she shook her hands. The lady, who was blowing air into her cheeks and spitting, had a smile in her eyes as if she was feeling good.

Perhaps it was after a while that her hands became wet with saliva. The lady, looking satisfied, released her hands that she had been holding with a smile and made a refreshed expression.

“Whew…!”

The lady wiped the corner of her mouth, where saliva had gotten on it, with her sleeve and put her thumb up.

“Ricardo is tasteless!”

“What! That’s!”

“It’s an insult.”

“…?”

“Ricardo has red hair, so I thought he’d taste sweet, but he’s sour.”

“Isn’t it strange if a person tastes sweet?”

“Hehehe… that’s right.”

Just as before, it seemed that my lady’s thoughts were hard to fully understand with the mind of a foolish commoner.

My lady began to wipe the saliva on my hand with her clothes while smiling pleasantly. In the past, she would have left me alone to wipe it off myself, but I was quite touched by the sight of my lady, who had realized the steward’s consideration.

My lady spoke carefully, touching the teeth marks on the palm of her hand.

“…Ricardo.”

I swallowed my breath as I touched the callus.

“…”

I exhaled as I looked at the small scar remaining on my finger.

My lady, who had been touching her fingers without saying anything for a long time, carefully opened her mouth in a quiet voice that would not wake the birds at night.

“…Does it still hurt now?”

“Pardon?”

“Your hand. Doesn’t it hurt anymore?”

“If you’re asking me if it hurts because you bit me…”

The young lady unbuttoned her sleeve and spoke softly.

“Not that… this.”

The scars that used to make the young lady cry began to fill her vision.

Her forearm, still bearing faint black marks from the recent rehabilitation, wasn’t a very pretty sight. They would fade away in time, but it would take a day or so for them to disappear completely.

The young lady opened her hazy eyes and examined the scars, her eyes full of concern as she spoke to me.

“Do they still hurt a lot?”

Without a moment’s hesitation, I answered honestly. They didn’t hurt anymore.

“No, they don’t.”

“You’re lying. They still look so sore…”

I stroked the young lady’s hair as she pouted, looking upset, and smiled.

“No, really. They don’t hurt anymore.”

“How could they hurt with you taking such good care of me? It would be strange if they did.”

I stroked the young lady’s hair as she sadly caressed her wounds and replied in a gentle voice.

“In fact, I feel like I could almost joke about it now.”

The scars were unsightly to show others, but having a beautiful woman worry about them was more than enough of a trade-off.

Upon hearing my reply, the young lady pouted and replied in a sullen voice. She called me an idiot.

“Ricardo really doesn’t take care of himself.”

“Who else looks after their body like I do? I even secretly make and take supplements, you know.”

“I don’t need to take them because they taste bad.”

“I was going to make you take them too, but I failed.”

“Hehe… I don’t like things that taste bad.”

The young lady’s eyes, which were smiling faintly, didn’t seem to want to leave my hand.

I couldn’t tell what kind of emotion it was, but I thought it was probably because of guilt. I didn’t know how she found out, but the young lady knew the reason why I got this scar. To be honest, this kind of worry was burdensome, but it also felt nice.

I didn’t do it expecting to be treated like a hero.

Feeling embarrassed, I didn’t know how to react to the young lady’s concern, so I just silently accepted her careful touch.

The young lady repeated what she had said to me before.

“Don’t get hurt.”

“…”

“If Ricardo gets hurt, I get hurt too.”

“…”

“Do you know how much my heart ached when you said you were hurt last time…?”

“I’m sorry.”

The young lady held my hand tightly and hung her head. Seeing the young lady not lifting her head as if she was embarrassed by what she had said, I felt a warm feeling.

“If you’re hurt, you have to say you’re hurt.”

The young lady held out her pinky and asked me to sign the contract. I’m someone who doesn’t easily sign contracts like this, but I smiled faintly and signed the fraudulent contract.

“I understand.”

“Don’t lie like you did last time.”

“I’ll try my best.”

“Ugh…”

“…Promise.”

She wasn’t the type to be swayed easily.

I yawned as I looked at the rising sun.

“Then, Miss. Can you sleep in today?”

“Hmm…”

“And skip breakfast.”

“Hmm…”

“The butler is sick.”

I fastened the buttons on my sleeves and smiled faintly.

“You promised.”

Unable to bring herself to answer my request to skip breakfast, she nodded sullenly at the word ‘promise’.

“Fine. I’ll allow it.”

She really is a kind person.

I stood up carefully from my chair to return to my room and said,

“How about we go on a trip this Thursday?”

The young lady, who had been looking downcast at the mention of a trip, slowly raised her head and looked at me.

“A trip?”

“Yes.”

“Where…?”

She seems excited about the first trip in a long time. I hope she doesn’t have too high expectations.

I smiled slightly and spoke to the young lady.

“Let’s go anywhere. We can decide slowly after we wake up.”

The excited young lady didn’t seem to have slept much.