“Did you sleep well?”
“Huh?”
I had only closed my eyes for a moment, and suddenly Kyle was right next to me.
And the morning sun was streaming in through the curtains.
“Uh….”
I was sure that yesterday I had just listened to Kyle and sat on the bed for a bit, so why on earth was I in the same bed as Kyle…?
“Sophia?”
“…Yes?”
“I asked if you slept well.”
“Um… I suppose so…?”
Could it be that I dozed off while sitting?
No way, there’s no way I could have slept in a man’s bed like this with a woman’s body…
No way…
“You must have been really tired yesterday. I came in, and you were sleeping so peacefully.”
“…….”
So that’s how it was.
So now I was waking up in Kyle’s bed.
My face was heating up.
Not just a feeling; it must have actually turned red.
Even if I was tired, I had fallen asleep like a fool in Kyle’s bed.
Usually, I would tell Kyle that it was okay, not to worry, really, but the very fact of falling asleep like that made me incredibly embarrassed.
And to make it worse, Kyle was looking at me right now, which added to my humiliation.
“Please don’t look at me like that… it’s embarrassing.”
“Is that so? You were sleeping quite well yesterday, though.”
“That’s….”
I had no words to respond.
I actually did sleep really well.
Maybe it was because this bed was too comfortable, but I truly knocked out.
As Kyle said, I slept like a baby.
“Sophia?”
“Yes…?”
“It’s okay. I told you to rest. If you liked the bed, you’re welcome to lay down here sometimes.”
“…….”
This guy had begun to tease me now.
I was keeping my mouth shut because I had nothing to say, but I could tell Kyle was making fun of me.
The corners of his mouth were clearly turned up.
“Let’s get up for now. You have work to do, don’t you?”
“Yes.”
Following Kyle’s suggestion, I got out of the bed.
I felt a bit grimy considering I hadn’t showered and had just crashed on Kyle’s bed.
I still had the same shirt on from yesterday.
After parting ways with Kyle, I dashed to my room to grab some clothes and headed straight for the bath.
Thinking back, I had slept next to Kyle without even having washed up properly.
That too, in the same bed!
Recalling that fact, I felt genuinely embarrassed.
What if I was a bit smelly?
When I woke up, I realized I was closer to Kyle than I expected.
That meant the distance was close enough to catch a whiff of sweat.
“Ugh….”
What a nuisance.
Sure, I’m a private tutor, but I had the audacity to take over Kyle’s bed as a servant.
And to top it off, I had slept there while emanating sweat.
If Kyle wasn’t so nice, I would definitely have been in big trouble.
*
“You impotent brat!”
“Haha….”
“You let a woman sleep defenselessly next to you without doing anything? Are you really impotent?!”
“That’s not it….”
“Then why didn’t you do anything!!”
My magical studies with Louise had turned from proper classes into just a way to not lose my touch.
It was basically just gossip with some magic use now.
After chatting about Sophia, we often found ourselves discussing her.
Considering how close Louise was to Sophia, it was easy to talk about her.
Louise turned out to be even better than she initially sounded.
“Hey, don’t you like Sophia? So why aren’t you doing it?”
“Well, that sounds a bit forced.”
The things that man said were eerily similar to what my father would say.
He kept insisting that just one push would be enough.
I never understood why everyone liked to act so brazenly.
Even if I did like Sophia, that wasn’t it.
“I think we have plenty of time to take it slow.”
After Sophia got hurt, I changed my mind.
I decided to take my time to change her impression of me.
Thinking back to how things went when we dated, I still felt guilty about it.
I had asked Sophia out, and then she got hurt because of me.
“Honestly, I think it’s better to take it slow than to let Sophia get hurt again like last time.”
“Ugh… I really don’t get you. If I were a guy and saw a girl with those assets sleeping in my bed, I’d take action immediately!”
“Haha….”
Anyhow, I continued chatting with Louise about what happened yesterday.
As a bonus, I lightly got some advice about dating.
Louise mentioning that she’s never dated kinda stuck with me, but she’s better than I am.
I hadn’t even felt butterflies for anyone else besides Sophia.
“By the way, how did you handle that thing from last time?”
“What are you talking about?”
“You know… that thing.”
“Huh?”
I didn’t understand what she was getting at with that vague talk.
How was I supposed to get it when she wasn’t being specific?
“The boarding school.”
“Oh.”
“You asked about the boarding school Sophia attended, and I answered. What did you do with that info?”
“Haha….”
Not long ago, I had conversed with Louise about Sophia’s boarding school, so I had brought it up with her.
Since she was close to Sophia, I thought she’d know a bit about where she attended.
And that was also to get some other information.
In conclusion, I handled it well.
“That’s a bit tricky to answer.”
“…Did you kill them?”
“Not quite….”
I didn’t kill them.
I simply didn’t go that far.
I did punish those who laid a finger on Sophia, but I didn’t kill anyone.
Because I knew Sophia wouldn’t have approved of that.
So that was the only reason.
It was merely a small punishment for messing with Sophia.
“…You’re kinda scary.”
“Is that so?”
I understand why that could be scary.
From another’s perspective, it might look like a nobleman getting revenge on a servant.
And it would be quite a story, even if it happened a decade ago.
“Well, I was furious every time I heard about them. But that was legal, right?”
“Of course.”
“Don’t state the obvious. I’m the heir of a duke’s house, remember?”
“True, but it sounds like you still see Sophia as a kid.”
“Haha….”
Touché.
I couldn’t argue back.
I was trying to get closer to Sophia, but nothing had changed yet.
In reality, I could have made a move if I wanted to.
When she got hurt, I could have just taken action, and she’d have been too incapacitated to resist.
With her leg like that, she wouldn’t have been able to fight back.
Nevertheless, I held back.
Liking Sophia and wanting to jump her are two very different things.
If I went that route, I’d just end up ruining our relationship.
But everyone seemed to be obsessed with this idea of pressure.
“Anyway, you blushed in front of me today.”
“Well, that’s to be expected. A girl just fell asleep in a guy’s bed. If I wasn’t embarrassed, I’d be a lunatic.”
“….”
That wasn’t entirely false.
It’s true I was flushed because of what I did, but it wasn’t some romantic fluttering feeling.
It was just simple embarrassment.
“Well, yeah, we do have time. But do you really think Sophia will stick around?”
“Of course she will.”
“You don’t know her well enough… she’s definitely going to submit her resignation and leave once you’re an adult.”
“What are you….”
“She’s only employed as a private tutor right now, right? The truth is, she’s hardly doing any actual tutoring and is mostly acting like a servant.”
“…….”
“What do you think will happen when you reach adulthood? She’ll definitely think she won’t have a role left and will probably move on.”
“…”
That was indeed a valid point.
It was definitely something that could happen with Sophia.
But for now, I pushed that possibility out of my mind.
I had acted impulsively before, and things went south.
Since then, I decided to be much more cautious with anything related to Sophia.
“It’ll all work out.”
“Yeah, do what you want….”
*
“Ughhh….”
“Waaaaah….”
“Sigh….”
“Elinna, I’m so exhausted….”
“So am I, Sophia….”
At least on weekends, we could get a break from work.
Even if it was just for today, Sunday, the fact that we could rest was significant.
“Sigh….”
“Sigh….”
Elin and I let out a resigned sigh together.
While others casually played around, we had to work hard preparing for the coming-of-age ceremony.
If I had known this, I might have asked Kyle to let me off.
That way, I wouldn’t have to deal with all the noble brats drinking since morning.
“Sophia, we just need to hold out for one more week….”
“One week…?”
Wait, did we really have a week left?
That can’t be right.
I had worked so hard this week.
And now you’re saying we still have a week to go?
No way.
“It can’t be true…. How could I survive another week like this….”
Every morning, I dragged myself down to the territory to barely work in the hotel….
And I’ve got to keep doing this for another week?
That doesn’t make sense.
Not to mention the amount of guests we were getting was outrageous.
At this rate, I’d have to rent another hotel nearby.
“But once the coming-of-age ceremony is over, we should be able to relax, right…? Maybe get some time off and ease up on training….”
“That should be the case, right?”
Well, I would likely be fired or leave once Kyle’s ceremony was over.
But since I was hired as a private tutor, it seemed likely that they wouldn’t let me go easily.
Even if they don’t fire me, it was surreal that I, who can’t even do my job properly, am still here.
When Kyle was little, he could manage with a clumsy servant like me.
But soon, Kyle would become a duke.
Not a duke’s son, but a duke.
He would need a real servant instead of someone like me who couldn’t even do my job right.
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