To cut a long story short… I did choose.
The wedding dress.
Although it was partly by my own will and partly due to external pressure, I chose it nonetheless.
It was a dress that had some of Kyle’s preferences… well, not entirely, but somewhat reflected them.
Honestly, it had a revealing neckline and a back that was quite low, which made me think it was a bit too risqué for my taste.
In reality, I only chose the design, so the completed dress hadn’t arrived yet.
“Now… what’s left?”
“Waiting?”
“Um… We still have over two months left, so… Yeah, there’s really nothing left but waiting.”
Kyle was right.
All we had left was just waiting for the wedding day to arrive.
We’d be waiting for the wedding dress to be made, waiting for our parents to arrive, and maybe a meeting for introductions…?
To be honest, I had a lot of thoughts about whether being a noble was more of a hassle than anything else.
Since I had more responsibilities than regular folks.
Regular people just work, eat, sleep, and pay taxes, whereas nobles seemed to have a plethora of different tasks to juggle.
But… in this instance, it was incredibly convenient.
I could just leave everything to the castle servants, and that was just blissfully easy.
“Hehe…”
“Why are you suddenly giggling?”
“Well, I think I’ve figured out why girls are so captivated by successful men.”
“What?”
“Nothing major. Just… I discovered a perk of having a noble boyfriend.”
It really wasn’t anything significant.
It was just a fleeting thought that could easily be brushed off.
“Kyle.”
“Yes?”
“Um…”
I was lying down with my chin resting on Kyle’s chest, holding his hand.
It was slightly firm, but ultimately a human body, feeling warm and a bit soft, which I found comforting.
“Do you really like my chest that much?”
I asked Kyle.
Honestly, I was pretty curious about it.
Whenever I made vague requests, it always somehow ended in deals centered around his chest, and they succeeded every time.
Could it be that the chest held that much importance?
Even my previous life self wouldn’t trade for something so trivial.
“Do I… have to answer that?”
“Ooh…”
For once, Kyle seemed bashful, casting his gaze my way.
It looked like even Kyle had moments of shyness.
This was a different reaction from what I was used to.
I thought he would simply say he liked it, but instead, he hesitated to respond.
Was this what they call a gap?
“Are you going to be shy after all that groping yesterday?”
“…. That…”
“You don’t dislike it, right? Just say it’s nice and be done with it.”
“….”
“Heh…”
Kyle continued to stutter and looked embarrassed.
I found his unusual reaction amusing because usually, I was the one being teased by him.
It wasn’t bad to be occasionally made fun of by Kyle; he didn’t actually dislike me, just took pleasure in seeing me flustered.
“Then why won’t you just admit you like it~?”
I lifted my chin from his chest and adjusted my position to tease him, resting my chest on his.
“Hey? Weren’t you all over it last time, gazing while you touched? Now you’re pretending to dislike it?”
“No, that’s not it.”
“Then why aren’t you answering?”
Even now, I could see Kyle shifting his focus to my chest.
He definitely didn’t dislike it.
In fact, he seemingly liked it a lot.
“It’s just… saying I like it is a different matter. I mean, come on, it’s embarrassing to brag about it.”
“Is it?”
“Yeah.”
“But you do like it, right? That’s why you chose a wedding dress that shows off so much.”
“…. Yes.”
Seriously… even at this age, he had a charming youthful side to him.
It was amusing; he was once very shy, but now he mostly appeared gallant, though remnants of his younger self occasionally shone through.
“Want to touch?”
“…. Yes.”
How cute.
“Crazy girl.”
“What of it? You’re just as crazy.”
“I’m in a better state than before, and you’re steadily losing it.”
“Yep, whatever~”
For the first time in a long while, I found myself chatting with Louise one-on-one.
Originally, Elin was supposed to be present too, but she had a knight’s schedule arise today, so it couldn’t be helped.
Had there not been a sudden training schedule, Elin would have probably been sitting here drinking tea with us by now.
Aside from being a knight, Elin liked feminine things quite a lot.
Whenever I discussed anything related to Kyle, she would be the most engaged in the conversation.
Anyway, this was a rare moment of just me and Louise.
“You used to act like you wouldn’t let any man touch you. Now you let them fondle your chest?”
“That can happen. I wasn’t even an adult when I said that.”
“True… that makes sense; it has been nearly ten years.”
“Right?”
I had known Louise for quite a long time.
I met her before I met Kyle.
We crossed paths when I was just starting out as an adventurer, and it’s led us to this point.
“We were so young back then…”
“Well, we were in our teens.”
We both chuckled quietly while sipping our tea and looking at each other.
It felt amusing that we managed to maintain this friendship for so long.
“When we first teamed up, we fought the entire day while doing quests.”
“That was because you couldn’t cast magic worth a damn back then.”
“What was asked of a beginner mage was way over the top!”
“Were we?”
“Yeah.”
We really were young back then.
I had just earned my freedom after graduating from a strict academy and was being a real handful.
And Louise was also fresh out of the Mage Tower, not very worldly at all.
The two of us formed a beginner’s party and embarked on quests together.
Naturally, we were mismatched and ended up squabbling.
“But it was still kind of fun, wasn’t it?”
“If it wasn’t fun, I’d never have stuck around this long.”
“Hehehe… That’s true. It was fun.”
We started reminiscing and laughing about old times.
We hadn’t even picked a specific topic to discuss when we bumped into each other while wandering the castle’s hallways, but here we were, chatting away.
Even our initial encounter had been a casual run-in, which somehow led to a conversation, and then to forming a party.
“Hah… It’s ridiculous to think that girl would end up getting married.”
“I’ve heard that way too many times.”
“Then tell me again. You need to see it from my standpoint.”
“Well then, you should see it from my perspective.”
“No, thanks. My type isn’t a big, muscly guy like Kyle.”
“What?”
Muscly??
I knew Louise wasn’t feeling well, but this was a bit much.
“Kyle is not muscly at all!”
“Sure, sure.”
“No, it’s the knights who are muscly, not Kyle!”
“That’s just your infatuation talking.”
“No, it’s not!”
She hadn’t even had a proper relationship, yet she was happening to talk so much.
Anyone could see that Kyle had a well-balanced physique.
He was the furthest thing from ‘muscly.’
“You’ve never even seen Kyle’s body.”
“…Huh?”
“Am I wrong? Have you ever seen Kyle naked?”
“…When did that happen?”
“Uh-oh.”
Oh boy.
“Kyle, a letter has arrived.”
“Is it for me?”
“No, it’s for me.”
We were having dinner together after wrapping up our schedules.
After all, it was dinner time.
“It’s nothing special; Mom just said she’s on her way.”
“Oh…”
“She’ll probably make it before the wedding.”
“Then there will be plenty of time to chat with Dad.”
“That’s right.”
Kyle and I had decided to marry.
Currently, the most common conversation among the servants was about how exhausting the wedding preparations were, not that they were a pain in the neck…
Of course, related tasks would only increase as the wedding approached, but… hey, I wasn’t exactly a servant anymore!
“I just realized that we decided to marry without even an introduction meeting.”
“That does seem a bit odd.”
“Right?”
“It seems Sophia wasn’t wrong after all.”
“Exactly?!”
It struck me that the process leading to our wedding felt awfully hasty, but wow, it really was!
Common sense dictated one should at least have a formal introduction with the parents before tying the knot.
I wasn’t overthinking it; it was just a normal thought!
“Well, neither of our parents seem like they’d suddenly oppose this.”
“That’s true. My dad has made it clear he won’t interfere, and Sophia’s parents didn’t object last time either.”
“Well, when they arrive, we can talk then.”
“Sophia, you didn’t forget to tell your parents to dress warmly, did you?”
“…Kyle, I know at least that much.”
I was starting to feel like I was losing some of my seniority.
In the past, Kyle used to show immense respect and admiration toward me.
Of course, I didn’t want to see that level of formalities in our romantic relationship.
I was happy just being as comfortable with him as we are now.
“I do know. Just saying.”
“Hmph.”
I didn’t particularly care about being treated like an older figure anymore.
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