Of course, since it was caused by some kind of power, I narrowed my eyes and glared ahead.
Sure enough, there was a presence that had stirred the wind.
It was Raymund, glaring with terrifying eyes, who had been hiding in the shadow across from me.
Ha!
Aries let out a bitter laugh. He had expected Raymund to come looking like this.
He had even deliberately hinted to his servant that he would go to Seiana and cause trouble.
The timid servant must have been more afraid of things spiraling out of control later than trying to cover his own guilt, so Aries had planned everything anticipating Raymund’s confession.
‘According to the original plan, I was going to meet him and show him Seiana, who had gone mad, and tell him not to be fooled so foolishly.’
I was going to tell him to snap out of his delusion, but everything went wrong because, contrary to Aries’s expectation, Seiana was a real gem, not a fraud.
Aries stared fiercely at Raymund. Raymund looked as if he was so angry his eyes were rolling wildly.
Raymund barely noticed Seiana, who was in Aries’s arms.
She slightly waved her hand, and Raymund’s head and shoulders bowed down as if crushed.
“Snap out of it!”
Using his ability, Aries tried moving his lips to Raymund, who was still glaring at him.
It was a reminder of who was in his arms.
Only then did Raymund seem to come to his senses, startled, and immediately stopped the wind.
“What’s with the wind…?”
“Seiana!”
“Ray…?”
When the wind stopped, Seiana lifted her head and saw Raymund running toward her, her eyes wide open.
Then, realizing the wind had messed up her hair, she hurriedly tried to fix it, her face flushing red.
Aries didn’t like that.
‘He’s the one who made it like that.’
There was no need for her to look good!
While glaring resentfully at Raymund, Aries helped fix Seiana’s hair.
Raymund, for his part, didn’t just sit close beside Seiana but gently stroked her hair, his eyes burning with intensity.
“Seiana! Are you okay?”
“Uh? Yeah, I’m okay. The wind was a bit strong though.”
At those words, Raymund’s mouth tightened.
It was only natural since it was his doing.
“Foolish,” Aries mocked Raymund’s foolishness. Raymund got angry again at that reaction but just glared at Aries while watching Seiana’s reaction.
“Did he bother you?”
“Him..?”
“Oh my! Are you talking about me? Me? To my Seiana? Why?”
When ‘my’ was added before Seiana’s name, Raymund seemed even more enraged.
It was natural since his treasured secret had been discovered.
Aries sneered and lightly hugged Seiana.
Even among the same gender, physical contact could be conservative, but the boundaries were much looser than with the opposite sex.
Aries enjoyed this advantage, feeling triumphant.
‘You haven’t even done this, right? Even though you met her before me.’
Had he just touched her hand?
On the first day Aries met Seiana, they held hands, linked arms, and hugged.
Feeling superior, Aries looked down on Raymund, who reacted angrily, which was truly satisfying.
“I came here wanting to be friends with Seiana~ Why would I bother her~ Right, Seiana?”
“Uh? Yeah…?”
“Oh right, you asked how I knew? Actually… I shouldn’t have, but I peeked at the letter… Sorry…”
With a tearful, truly remorseful expression, Aries spoke.
Seiana was startled but couldn’t say a word to Aries, who was putting on a pitiful act.
“Sorry… I know I shouldn’t have… He keeps bragging that he has a really close friend.”
“When did I…!”
“I don’t have any friends… I was so jealous that I wanted a close friend too… Sorry… sniff”
Raymund was stunned at Aries’s shameless sobbing.
Aries didn’t care one bit.
Focusing all her attention on Seiana, Aries watched her reaction, worried she might be upset and push her away.
“Uh, uh? I’m okay…”
Contrary to her worries, Seiana nodded with a dazed expression, perhaps overwhelmed by the two’s chaos. Aries’s face brightened with that approval.
“Really? You forgive me?”
“Uh huh…”
“I’m so happy!”
Even as Aries hugged her tightly, Seiana still looked embarrassed.
***
I was completely out of my mind.
Esteban’s princess, who had been scolding me like she was about to explode, suddenly changed her attitude and clung to me saying we should be friends.
Then Raymund appeared out of nowhere, just like that.
As the situation rushed like a storm, I felt something strange inside.
‘What is this…?’
Something kept bothering me.
Esteban’s princess looked fierce at first glance, but her personality was more like a puppy.
Not an insult—she was really gentle and charming.
Her cat-like appearance was a twist.
I found her love of physical contact a little overwhelming but not unpleasant since she was the same gender.
Still, I strangely disliked her.
‘She’s clearly being nice to me…’
Why did she feel so awkward to me?
Watching Esteban’s princess and Raymund glare at each other, I realized: Ah…Through all my life, the only person I could call a true friend was Raymund. That must be why I thought so highly of him.’
‘I had an unfounded confidence that I was his closest friend, but I found someone who got closer to him than I did. He never showed me that side of himself.’
The way Raymund and Esteban’s princess narrowed their eyes and glared at each other seemed very informal.
At first, it looked like they were enemies, but thinking differently, it seemed they were close enough not to be offended by such behavior.
Raymund, who always acted mature and spoke cautiously around me, seemed like a peer when with Esteban’s princess.
It was… uncomfortable.
My chest felt tightly squeezed as if I had overeaten, making it hard to maintain my expression.
Someone whispered in my head, ‘What are you, an adult, being jealous like a kid?’
I had never felt this way even with Pedro.
Ah… Thinking of Pedro naturally made me wonder if those two might even be engaged.
The Esteban dukedom was one of the noble houses close to the royal family, and the two were about the same age, so it was natural.
It was normal for nobles, but my chest felt even more uncomfortable than before.
Feeling like something was about to spill from my mouth, I pressed my lips tightly.
“Why did you sneak a peek at my letter without permission?”
“I already apologized—to Seiana, the letter’s owner.”
“But not to me.”
“So what? I’m already forgiven. Why keep bringing up something that’s over? You’re really petty.”
“Petty..! What?”
Watching those two chatter, I felt a blackness paint over my heart—not just black but sticky and unpleasant.
My mood sank like sinking in a swamp, and something inside my throat kept wanting to come out.
Seeing the two, who weren’t exactly close but seemed somewhat familiar, I finally couldn’t hold back.
“Hey.”
Just one word, and their chatter stopped abruptly.
They turned their heads and stared at me, making me shiver slightly.
Could I ask this question?
But if it was true?
How should I treat them?
Even as I worried, the words slipped out.
“Are you two… engaged?”
Even as I asked, my heart trembled hoping for a ‘no.’ I suspected maybe Esteban’s princess wanted to be friends as an excuse and was actually trying to keep an eye on the girl close to her fiancé.
That seemed like a natural assumption.
They gave no answer. I thought, ‘As expected,’ and looked at their faces…
“Uh……??
That was strange.
The two of their faces were filled with a mix of absurd disbelief, as if they had just heard something utterly ridiculous, and shock at how someone could say such harsh things.
For a moment, I wondered if I had accidentally cursed instead of saying the word ‘engagement.’
Their reactions were so strong that I didn’t know what to do and just rolled my eyes, when Princess Esteban shouted back.
‘Seiana! How can you say such harsh things!’
‘Huh? S-sorry?’
‘Why would I be engaged to that guy!’
‘That’s what I should be saying!’
Just moments ago, they were both barking at each other, but now they grabbed me and were barking at me instead.
‘Even if he’s the only man left in the world, I would absolutely! Absolutely! Never be engaged or married to him!’
‘I won’t get married to him, even if the world ends.’
‘Ha! I won’t hold his hand even if the world ends!’
‘Who said they’d hold it for you?’
‘This one!’
They didn’t punch each other, but their words were like punches, and I just stared with my mouth agape.
This wasn’t a made-up situation — you could really see their faint hatred for each other.
‘Seiana… why on earth did you have such a terrible thought?’
Rei, who had been fighting with Princess Esteban, lowered her eyebrows and asked in a sad voice.
Her voice was filled with the injustice of being tied to such a harsh thing.
I stammered an excuse.
‘Because you two looked close.’
‘No!’
‘Not close at all!’
‘And our families are close. We’re about the same age. So I wondered just in case.’
‘The families are close, not you two!’
‘Right! And mentally, I’m more mature. Look at how childish they are.’
Watching their desperate protests that they hated each other, I felt the discomfort I had been holding inside slowly fading away.