“Umm….”
As the sunlight shining through the curtains touched his closed eyelids, Kyle let out a groan and woke up from his sleep at the faint light that had entered through the gap.
With a dazed look in his eyes, he sat up only halfway, staring blankly at the disheveled bedding. Then, a soft voice seeped into his ears.
“Did you sleep well, Kyle?”
“……?”
Not knowing why he was hearing that voice at this moment, Kyle momentarily thought he must be hearing things wrong.
Maybe he was still in a deep sleep and hearing an auditory hallucination, so when he turned his head, he saw a woman sitting neatly on a wooden chair next to the bed with her hands folded.
Her silvery hair, shining in the sunlight, and her mismatched eyes were fixed on him.
Kyle stared at her for a while. After some time, his consciousness, which had stopped, slowly restarted.
“…Silvia?”
“Hehe, yes. It’s Silvia.”
No, he hadn’t asked for her name.
Kyle blinked blankly. Perhaps it was because he had just woken up, but the gears in his head were not aligning properly, and they were grinding.
“Why are you here…”
“Why? Well, last night, you wouldn’t let me leave.”
“……?”
Last night?
Using that word as a key, Kyle’s brain slowly started to turn again, and the gears began to click into place.
“…Ah.”
A quiet sigh escaped Kyle’s lips as he continued to think.
Only then did the memory of last night, when he had fallen asleep with Silvia’s thigh as his pillow, flash through his mind like a passing scene.
So, did that mean Silvia had stayed by his side from the moment he fell asleep?
She couldn’t have moved him with her fragile body, so she must have had to call a servant. But anyway…
‘I must have been crazy.’
It was clear that the actions he had taken the previous day had been insane, so Kyle pressed his forehead with his hand and sighed at the overwhelming self-loathing.
What on earth made him do something like that?
If it had been during the daytime, he could have just taken a short nap and woken up, but to do such a thing in the middle of the night… Did he not realize that Silvia would wander around helplessly until morning while he slept soundly?
No, in fact, he had done it.
He had asked her if she was okay in the middle of it, but since Silvia smiled and said she was fine, it was as though he was entranced and had briefly borrowed her thigh.
However, that wasn’t much of an excuse for Kyle.
Even if Silvia had agreed, he should have realized it was troublesome and stopped. But going any further than that—what kind of unreasonable behavior was that?
‘Was I drunk?’
Unless he had drunk alcohol and gotten really drunk, it didn’t make sense.
Although Kyle hadn’t drunk a drop of alcohol the previous day, then perhaps he had been intoxicated by something else.
He briefly wondered if it was Silvia’s body scent that he had felt when lying on her thigh, but then Kyle shook his head.
What a crazy guy.
The scolding that was about to rise up in his throat lingered in his mouth before disappearing.
“Ah, I’m sorry, Silvia. I’ve caused trouble without meaning to.”
“Trouble? No, not at all. I had already allowed it from the beginning.”
“Even so…”
“Tsk, are you going to keep apologizing? This is the end of the matter.”
“Ah, understood.”
Kyle had been about to throw a few more words of apology, but since Silvia cut the conversation off firmly, he had no choice but to remain quiet, even though he felt a bit uncomfortable.
“By the way, Kyle, you’re surprisingly weak in the mornings.”
“Yes, a little… So sometimes I sit blankly for over 30 minutes.”
“Somehow, that’s a bit refreshing. You have such a cute side to you, Kyle.”
“…I have a lot to say, but I won’t.”
Not only was it strange for her to call him cute to his face as a grown man, but he also couldn’t understand what part of him she found cute, so Kyle was about to retort but kept quiet.
After all, he had long known it was pointless to try to interpret Silvia’s way of thinking.
However, there was something more important he had to ask urgently.
“By any chance, were you by my side the entire night?”
“Of course. That was the promise, wasn’t it?”
Oh, no.
At her nonchalant reply, Kyle had to touch his forehead again.
While he had been sound asleep, a servant must have been called to lay him down in bed, and Silvia could have just gone back to her room to sleep.
“Ah, but that doesn’t mean I couldn’t sleep. In the middle of it, I sat on the chair and took a little nap.”
“That’s not what you call taking a nap, Silvia. That’s staying up all night with your eyes open.”
“Is that so?”
‘Is that so?’ What kind of ‘is that so?’ is that, you innocent girl?
Seeing her tilt her head and ask again, Kyle suddenly felt the fog that had been in his mind clear up all at once, and he jumped up from his seat.
Then…
Suddenly…
Kyle grabbed Silvia and lifted her into the air, showing what people commonly call a princess carry.
“Wait, just a minute! Kyle…!”
“Please go back to your room and sleep. Of course, you’ll need to have a meal first, so I’ll bring it to you.”
However, it was not a sweet reason, like something out of a romance novel.
Since she obviously wouldn’t listen to him anyway, Kyle decided to resort to brute force.
The problem was that, from Sylvia’s perspective, suddenly being held in his strong arms made her heart pound, making it hard to even look up at his face.
Why does this man keep closing and widening the distance between them as he pleases?
He should just pick one—just one!
“A-Ah, no! It’s okay..! I’ll walk to the dining hall myself, eat, and then go back to sleep!”
“I will not accept any objections.”
Click.
Believing without a doubt that she was telling a blatant lie just to escape the situation, Kyle stepped outside.
“Oh, young master, you’re awake…!?”
Alf, his attendant who had been waiting right outside the door, immediately noticed his master’s presence when the door opened and was about to greet him—
But for some reason, when his eyes met Sylvia’s instead of Kyle’s, his pupils trembled like an earthquake.
At that moment, Kyle, who followed right behind her, gave a calm yet firm order.
“This is perfect timing. Alf, go to the kitchen and bring only Sylvia’s meal.”
“T-The lady’s meal? To where…?”
“To Sylvia’s room.”
“Y-Yes…! Understood!”
In truth, it was Alf who had carried Kyle to his bed last night at Sylvia’s request.
So, he already knew they had been together then, but seeing them come out together in broad daylight made it impossible not to have strange thoughts.
And now, Kyle had even personally carried Sylvia in a princess hold and was ordering food to be brought to her room?
There was no way around it—this was a done deal.
Convinced of this fact, Alf dashed toward the kitchen, shouting,
“Breaking news! Breaking news!”
Had Kyle heard that, he would have immediately grabbed Alf by the neck to silence him.
But unfortunately for him, Kyle was too busy taking Sylvia to her room to hear it.
It was just another peaceful morning.
After personally feeding Sylvia breakfast and confirming that she had fallen into a deep sleep, Kyle headed to the dining hall.
“Good morning, Kyle.”
“……Yes, Mother. Good morning.”
“Yes.”
He was slightly surprised to find his mother, who had suffered a deep wound last night, already waiting at the table.
But considering how skilled the family’s healers were, it was entirely possible.
So, he simply took his seat.
When they exchanged a brief greeting, Roxanne’s lips curled into a faint smile for a moment—
Kyle deliberately pretended not to notice and awkwardly averted his gaze.
Even now, sharing warm morning greetings still felt somewhat awkward.
“
Sylvia was feeling a bit tired, so she is having her meal in her room,” he said to his father.
“…Hmm, I see. I heard about it. She must be exhausted.”
“……? Yes.”
Kyle relayed the news on Sylvia’s behalf, expecting his father, Dver, to be puzzled by her absence—
But strangely, his response suggested that he already knew exactly what had happened the night before.
It was odd enough that Dver seemed aware of the situation without any explanation,
But what was even stranger was that, unlike usual, he avoided making direct eye contact.
‘Something about this atmosphere feels off.’
Despite his growing suspicion, Kyle picked up his spoon as the soup was served before him.
Since he wasn’t one to eat a heavy breakfast, he planned to have just some soup, bread, and a small portion of meat.
Taking a bite of bread, he lifted the warm mushroom and cream soup to his lips—
When Dver suddenly spoke.
“Now that I think about it, a letter from the imperial palace arrived yesterday.”
“The imperial palace?”
“Yes. His Majesty the Emperor has requested to meet you.
It seems the news from the other day has already reached his ears.”
“I see. In that case, I will go as soon as possible.”
It wasn’t clear why the emperor wanted to see him in person instead of just sending a letter or summoning the head of the family—
But Kyle figured the emperor had his own reasons, so he nodded without much concern.
He would prefer to go alone quietly,
But if Sylvia found out, she would undoubtedly insist on coming along.
‘It wouldn’t be a bad idea to show Sylvia the imperial palace.’
Since he always wanted to give Sylvia new experiences, it seemed like a reasonable choice.
Feeling oddly excited at the thought of bringing her good news in the morning,
Even the food seemed to taste better—
And just as he let out a small chuckle at that realization—
“…And I also heard that you spent a meaningful night with Miss Sylvia yesterday?”
“
Pffft!”
Caught completely off guard by his father’s sudden ambush,
Kyle ended up spewing the soup in multiple streams, like water bursting from a sprinkler.