“Sophia.”
“… Yes.”
“No, you should say, ‘uh.'”
“…”
Morning came.
Kyle suggested stopping whatever work he was doing and focusing on his temporary girlfriend.
So, we ended up having tea time together since the morning.
Rather than tea time, it was just a time for the two of us to talk.
Honestly, I was super nervous.
The situation was so nerve-wracking that I couldn’t even find words to say.
“Um…”
My heart wasn’t calming down at all.
Even though I’d said it would feel weird if we did it right after yesterday, I was still completely on edge.
It was a bizarre situation where Kyle had woken me up in the morning.
Totally different from usual.
“Young Master…”
“Kyle.”
“…”
“You should call me Kyle.”
Maybe it was because I’d shown up without even washing up in the morning.
Or maybe it was just being awake and looking at Kyle’s face from the get-go.
I just couldn’t calm down.
“Kyle…”
It felt like it was the first time calling him Kyle since arriving in Eristirol.
Um, had I done it once before?
I don’t remember.
Right now, that wasn’t what mattered.
What mattered was that calling him Kyle felt incredibly strange.
It was a completely different feeling from calling him ‘Young Master.’
Even though it had fewer letters when I said it.
“What should I do…? Or should I not?”
“Right? What do you want to do?”
Kyle answered me with a smile.
He seemed super cheerful about something.
Is being with me that happiness-inducing…?
“I…”
The reason I ended up pretending to date Kyle was simple.
I wanted to know how I really felt.
I wanted to be sure if I thought of Kyle romantically, liked him, or loved him.
Otherwise… I would just remain indifferent.
Just a story where Kyle liked me, but I wasn’t into him.
“I want to go on a date together.”
Date…? I’d gone down to the territory with Kyle so many times.
I must have easily crossed into double digits.
Yet, it was entirely different from any date we’d had before.
“Really?”
“… Yeah.”
Until now, I had only gone because Kyle asked, and he thought of those times as dates.
To me, it was just heading down to take a break.
So this felt like a completely different thing.
“Let’s go together.”
I took the initiative to ask Kyle out for a date, and our objectives were totally different this time.
Honestly, I was curious.
What would a date between lovers feel like?
Since I had never experienced it, my curiosity couldn’t be helped.
“Should we go together tomorrow? Or right today?”
I didn’t really need to ponder what to do.
The answer was already set.
“Let’s do it today.”
“Alright. I’ll prepare right away.”
There was no need to postpone it for tomorrow.
After all, it was starting today, and Kyle had said he’d take care of my convenience.
Actually, it seemed better to do it today than to put it off until tomorrow.
Today was a nice day, after all.
“Then please change and come, Sophia.”
“Uh….”
After saying that, I distanced myself from Kyle and returned to my room.
It was for changing clothes as Kyle had suggested.
Since I wanted to wear something he would like when he saw me dressed up for our date.
Something super feminine.
Pretty clothes.
I didn’t know about sexy, but anyway something that looked good.
“What should I wear?”
If I were a guy… What outfit would I think looked pretty on my date?
Would my heart race?
“Um…”
I spent some time in slight contemplation.
Since Kyle hadn’t told me to come out right away, I thought it’d be okay to take a little time… Or maybe not…. I picked out an outfit from my closet and came back out.
It didn’t take up to ten minutes.
Regardless of how much Kyle would wait, that wouldn’t be polite.
“Kyle…. I’m back.”
“Oh, you came?”
As always, we met in front of the castle gate.
Kyle’s outfit wasn’t too different from what he usually wore inside the castle.
Just black pants and a white shirt on top.
Since his base looks were great, he looked good in anything.
“How do I look…? This is the outfit you bought for me last time….”
I said while twirling my skirt.
Kyle looked curiously at my unusual outfit, much more intently than I expected.
Would it suit me?
What if it didn’t look so good?
I felt a bit anxious.
It was the dress Kyle had bought for me before, but seeing it now, I wondered if it might not be that nice.
“It’s beautiful. How about not just wearing formal clothes but outfits like this more often?”
“R…Really?”
I got a compliment…
It was an off-shoulder top that Kyle had bought me.
It felt a bit embarrassing since my shoulders were exposed, but I wore it because it was from him.
It didn’t look bad in my eyes.
And the bottom was a miniskirt that went above my knees.
That was even more embarrassing than the off-shoulder.
“Should we hold hands?”
“Yeah.”
Kyle extended his hand to me, and I took it.
Holding Kyle’s hand was just a warm feeling.
So warm that it felt hot.
Even though I’d held his hand several times already, I couldn’t help but feel like that every time.
So, holding Kyle’s hand, we left the castle and headed down to the territory.
Unlike last time, we didn’t take the carriage to go down.
I didn’t think it was necessary.
Though the weather was cold, I didn’t feel that cold thanks to the warmth from holding Kyle’s hand.
Plus, the off-shoulder fabric was warm too.
It was all fine.
-Thump thump…
Holding Kyle’s hand as we walked down, we didn’t have any special conversations.
More precisely, I didn’t start any at first.
The conversation flowed with Kyle starting and me responding.
The reason was simple.
My heart was racing and refused to settle down.
Even though I had held Kyle’s hand several times.
And even gone on dates before.
Still, this situation made my heart race so much.
Did Kyle feel the same?
I had no idea.
I wasn’t Kyle, nor could I reach out to feel his heartbeat.
“But today you put on makeup?”
“Yeah, I did.”
Today, I wore makeup.
Normally, I only did basic makeup or skipped it altogether, yet I purposely did it today.
This was basically our real first date.
Before, only one of us thought of it as a date.
“It’s pretty. You’re prettier than usual.”
“Really…?”
It had been ages since I properly put on makeup.
I’d only done it for a graduation ceremony or when other commoners were doing their makeup together, besides that, I rarely remembered putting on makeup like this.
“Then… should I do it regularly?”
“If Sophia wants to.”
“If you like it, I’ll do it…”
I felt a bit shy saying that.
Especially while walking down the street holding hands.
Well, anyway, that was how it went.
*
“Sophia, would you like to try this?”
“Yeah.”
So we arrived at the restaurant with Kyle.
Unlike our last date, this was a fancier restaurant.
The ambiance was great and perfect for a date!
Was it because I complained last time that we kept going to the same place?
That place was fine too, though.
“Open wide~”
“….”
Anyway, following Kyle’s instructions, I opened my mouth to eat the steak he offered me.
For some reason, Kyle seemed a bit reluctant to feed me, but regardless, he managed to put it in my mouth.
The taste of the steak was pretty good.
No, let’s say it was delicious.
It felt slightly different from the steak we had in the castle, but I couldn’t deny it was tasty.
“It’s yummy. Thank you.”
I expressed my gratitude to Kyle for bringing me to such a nice place.
Even if we were just pretending to date, it was only polite to appreciate that.
I’d raised Kyle to have manners, so it felt wrong for me to act poorly.
“Then I’m glad to hear that. It’s my first time here too.”
Thinking about such things while being in a romantic relationship felt weird.
It seemed strange to say I raised or taught someone, but I couldn’t help it.
Because it was true.
What was clear was that I must have raised Kyle really well.
“I’ll take you to an even better place next time. Somewhere you would like.”
“Yeah….”
I didn’t know if there would be a next time, but I was looking forward to it.
If this place was so good, how much better would the next restaurant be?
“Sophia, don’t just sit there quietly, eat and talk at the same time.”
“Oh, right….”
I inadvertently had my hand on the steak I was eating.
Maybe I was just enjoying the conversation with Kyle…? Probably.
His considerate tone made it easy to talk.
“Sophia.”
“Yeah?”
“You said you’d quit your job last time, right?”
“Yeah, I did.”
Last time, when I came out with Kyle, I hadn’t considered it a date at all.
Not during the day under the sun like now, with a completely different relationship from today.
It was just something I had to admit eventually.
I wondered why he brought that up all of a sudden.
After all, if I became Kyle’s girlfriend or married him, I would ultimately be staying in Eristirol anyway.
“What were you planning to do after quitting?”
“I was thinking of going back home first.”
“Home?”
“Yeah.”
My primary goal was to return home to reunite with my parents.
Somehow, I hadn’t seen them for over ten years… so I was feeling a bit nostalgic.
Separately from the occasional letters we exchanged.
“Where is your hometown?”
“It’s a town called Hoentol, somewhere in the central region.”
“Ah….”
Did Kyle know it?
It wasn’t a huge city, but it wasn’t that small of a town either, so he might have heard about it.
Not that it mattered if he knew it or not.
“I left when I was in my early teens. I think I should meet my parents at least once.”
“So….”
“What about it?”
“Shall we go visit them together next time?”
“Eh…?”
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