#382
Date Application Ticket
After graduation, having eaten jajangmyeon and sweet and sour pork, the first one to grab my wrist was Olivia.
“Oh, I’m going to use my date application ticket today!”
Olivia said, her face turning red.
She slid a coupon with “Date Application Ticket” scrawled in Korean toward me.
Seeing this reminded me of it.
This date application ticket was the reward I received for winning the ski race during winter break of our first year.
I had forgotten about it after not using it for two years—did she plan for today?
Olivia was glancing at me.
Strangely, the other heroines had no particular reaction.
Could it be that there was some heroine meeting, and they coordinated this in advance?
I had reasonable doubts.
“Uh, sure.”
Anyway, since I had promised to use the date application ticket, I nodded at her words and accepted the ticket, putting it in my pocket.
Upon hearing my response, Olivia placed her hand dramatically over her heart.
“Great! Then it starts now! D-d-d-d-d-date!!”
Olivia exclaimed, her face flushed as she firmly grabbed my wrist.
Sure. I didn’t mind that it was starting now.
“Where are we going for the date?”
At my words, Olivia flinched.
She spoke in a small voice.
“…Suyou.”
“What?”
“F-F-France’s Versailles Palace!”
Olivia shouted with a blushing face.
What?
We’re going to France?
But we’re in Japan right now?
“You’re not thinking of rejecting the date with me, the noble French princess, Olivia Napoleon Bonaparte, are you?”
Zing!
Olivia shot me a slight glare.
Going from Japan to France on the evening of graduation day?
What is this…
This crazy schedule seems ridiculous, but I can’t back out since I promised in our first year.
“Alright. Let’s go.”
“Hmph!”
At my words, Olivia puffed her cheeks and dragged me out of the restaurant.
We hopped into a limousine that was waiting outside, boarded the royal plane of France at the airport, and then took another limousine from the airport in Paris, France, finally arriving at the grand Versailles Palace.
A massive palace with a statue of Napoleon Bonaparte standing proudly at the main gate.
Every time I see it, I realize how incredibly vast and extravagant it is.
“Let’s go!”
Arriving at the palace, I was led by Olivia onto a little train connecting the main palace to the annex.
As the little train departed, the garden scenery of Versailles Palace came into view.
This sight came into view.
Glancing over.
Olivia kept staring at me with a flushed face.
“W-What are you looking at!? You fool, stupid sea cucumber sea urchin!”
Olivia shouted as our eyes met.
Seriously, her tsundere personality hasn’t changed at all.
I clicked my tongue and averted my gaze.
“Hmph…”
Olivia’s snorting echoed in my ears.
*
Versailles Palace in France.
On a train running towards the Petit Trianon.
Sitting alone in the passenger carriage with Kim Deok-Sung, Olivia felt her heart racing like it was about to burst.
Thump.
Thump, thump.
Her heart raced and her face burned like fire.
‘It’s a, a date…’
Her mind was already filled with the three letters that meant “date.”
Since she boldly declared in the first meeting of wives held the day before graduation that she would spend the night with him, Olivia’s head had been painted pink ever since.
His face, the sight of his naked body she had seen at the hot spring flashed vividly in her mind.
And that gigantic thing too.
Various pieces of advice from Bella popped into her thoughts.
‘W-W-What kind of scoundrel thoughts am I having?!’
Olivia shook her head vigorously.
Thump, thump.
Even in the midst of this, Olivia’s heart pounded fiercely.
She lowered her intensely blushing face.
‘T-This is completely perverted!’
Olivia shut her eyes tightly and denied the fantasies that filled her head.
She wasn’t a pervert.
She was a French princess, a noble bloodline of the Bonaparte family.
‘Y-Yes, as his personal maid, it’s only natural for me to be the first to serve him at night…!’
And a personal maid to Kim Deok-Sung.
So, it was only natural that she would be the first to serve him, not some other girl.
That’s right.
I’m not a pervert.
‘Plus, I have a response that I need to hear! Right here of all places…!’
Just as she completed her self-justification.
Thunk.
The little train stopped.
They had arrived at the Queen’s Hamlet set within the grounds of the Petit Trianon at Versailles Palace.
*
“Alright, let’s get off!”
After a long silence, Olivia grabbed my wrist and stood up.
The place we arrived at together was the Queen’s Hamlet.
A collection of countryside-style buildings that seemed out of place amidst the palace.
Walking through the interior of the Queen’s Hamlet with her, they saw managed fields with crops, reed beds, and quaint houses you’d expect to find in a Western fantasy.
They arrived at a small lake with a tower beside it.
Olivia sat by the tranquil lake.
“…Being here makes me nostalgic.”
Olivia murmured, looking at the lake with a flushed face.
“When you were little?”
“N-No, that’s not it?!”
Olivia stuttered in rebuttal to my words.
She blushed, extending her hand to firmly grab mine.
“…W-Well, that’s not entirely wrong. The past I’m talking about is when we came here together! You clueless space idiot!”
Olivia shouted with her eyes tightly closed.
“Ah… That time.”
Memories from that moment flooded back to my mind.
The ball held at Versailles Palace to take down William.
When it was finally Olivia’s turn, I remembered the time she dragged me outside instead of dancing.
This was the place we arrived at, the Queen’s Hamlet.
We had a conversation by this very lakeside back then.
“…Hmph. In the end, you didn’t tell me that secret with your own lips.”
Olivia mumbled, puffing her cheeks out.
She knew I was hiding something, but she would wait until I revealed it.
I recalled her saying that.
The secret she faintly guessed was that I was the reincarnated soul, but I never told Olivia that myself till the very end.
“Seriously, why didn’t I say it…”
I muttered lowly in Korean while looking at the clear, mirror-like surface of the lake.
Back then, I was terrified that everyone would turn away from the fact I was a reincarnator.
The reason I was flustered when the Messiah exposed my secret was that I thought it would be a big deal, only to find out it really wasn’t.
To be exact, this damn light novel world was too kind, and the fact I was a reincarnator was just accepted.
“Hmph. Fool. Idiot. Sea cucumber. Sea squirt. Anemone…”
Olivia pouted and glared at me.
She crossed her arms.
Her already prominent chest looked even bigger.
“…Huh? Why is it so, so, so hot here?!”
Olivia stammered awkwardly as she unbuttoned her shirt.
Hot, huh?
It was only March, and being near the lake made it feel rather chilly!
Swoosh.
I caught a glimpse of her fair cleavage peeking out from her shirt.
Not that it was uncomfortable to see or anything…
I turned my head away.
“…”
An awkward silence hung between us for a moment.
“…So, when are you going to give me that promised answer, the Universe’s biggest fool, Kim Deok-Sung?”
Olivia was the first to break the silence.
Looking at the lake, her face flushed to her ears, she asked me that.
As soon as I heard her words, I was hit with a memory from two years ago.
Near the lakeside of the Queen’s Hamlet, she had said:
[I’ll quietly wait here until you properly solve everything you’re hiding and give me a proper answer.]
The answer.
Right.
I had promised her I’d give her an answer.
After solving everything I was keeping secret, of course.
Then, Olivia bringing me all the way to France, to Versailles Palace, to the Queen’s Hamlet of all places…
All the puzzle pieces clicked in my mind.
Exactly.
Olivia brought me here to hear my answer, at the promised location.
“Seeing your most foolish expression, you finally seem to remember now. Ah, how could I have forgotten the monumental confession of the noble princess of France, me, Olivia Napoleon Bonaparte? It’s truly disrespectful!”
She placed her hand over her heart, speaking dramatically.
Olivia puffed her cheeks out in a sulking expression.
“…Sorry…”
I admitted my mistake softly in response to her words.
After all, I did forget the promise, and I hadn’t revealed my secret to her first either.
Not revealing my secret meant that I didn’t trust her.
“I can’t believe it.”
From Olivia’s perspective, it was definitely a reason to feel upset.
I had to admit I was wrong.
“Do you think I, Olivia Napoleon Bonaparte, called you here just to hear an apology?! Hmph! I’m not that petty of a woman!”
Olivia stepped closer to me.
She grabbed my hand and looked into my eyes.
“What I want is your answer. The answer to my, my my-my confession that I’ve been waiting for since that summer festival! Honestly, making a lady wait like this, you must be the universe’s number one blockhead with no mood awareness!”
Olivia said, her face turning red as she looked at me.
I couldn’t help but laugh at her words.
“W-what’s with that laugh?! What does it even mean?! This is Olivia Napoleon Bonaparte we’re talking about!”
“No, it’s just cute.”
Her face turned crimson at my words.
Steam practically rose from her head like a kettle.
Now, I could say it confidently.
Olivia is a tsundere, and that makes her cute.
Seeing her blushing face made her even cuter.
I’ve gotten used to these light novel reactions, and above all, she’s pretty.
There’s a reason for the term “face value.”
When someone is pretty, everything about them seems charming…
She has been by my side the longest, helping me out more than anyone else.
It’s impossible not to grow fond of her.
….I can’t help but love her.
As I held Olivia’s flustered hand, I leaned in and kissed her, our tongues swirling together.
The sound of our tongues and saliva intertwining quietly echoed along the serene lakeside.
Olivia’s hands and lips trembled.
When her face and neck turned as red as a tomato, I pulled back.
A silver thread connected and broke between us.
“…I like you. Now and back then.”
That was my answer.
I felt a rush of embarrassment.
I scratched my flushed cheeks.
“…..”
Olivia fell silent at my words.
She bowed her head deeply.
“Why are you silent?”
If someone speaks, they should respond.
As I pondered this while gazing at Olivia, she suddenly looked up.
Her blue gaze locked onto mine.
“I-I like you too! And, and…”
Olivia added on.
Whenever she says something like this, a bombshell usually follows.
Just as I felt a sense of foreboding.
Olivia shut her eyes tight and placed a hand over her heart, shouting.
“….Now is definitely the time for me to cross the finish line in first place, just like I told you back then!”
First place? Finish line?
I remembered that phrase.
She’d said she was confident about coming in first anytime but would wait at the finish line for everyone’s happiness.
But now?
Wasn’t the heroine race already over?
What the world…?
Just when I was confused by her cryptic words.
Olivia suddenly grabbed my wrist.
“Y-you…”
She stuttered, taking a deep breath, looking straight into my eyes that resembled sapphires.
“Let’s eat ramen! Right now!”
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