“…Kyle.”
“Yes.”
“Didn’t we clearly say to take it slow with the whole marriage talk?”
“…We did.”
“But…”
We had talked about it before heading back up north, and every time the topic came up, we reached that same conclusion. The tentative agreement was to think it over slowly, maybe after summer and by autumn it would be a good time to seriously consider it.
After all, marriage was a pretty big deal.
So I had told Kyle that we should take our time to think about it.
“Why is the Duke and even Miss Adela asking about marriage?!”
“…I don’t know about that…”
“When I was suddenly cutting steak, and Miss Adela brought that up from behind, you can only guess how surprised I was!”
“…”
I was really surprised. We were having a meal just the two of us, and hearing someone bring up marriage from behind me made the shock even worse.
Suddenly I heard, ‘Sofia? Are you going to marry your brother?’ and you can’t imagine what that did to me.
“What on earth are you saying in your usual conversations?”
“…I just said that I’m getting along well with Sofia, and there are no problems.”
“Then why is everyone suddenly talking about it…?”
“Well, you do look happy.”
Kyle’s comment was hard to argue with after a long time. I mean, I was trying hard not to laugh at Adela’s comment back then.
When the topic about Kyle came up, I couldn’t help but stifle my laughter. I was extremely happy, but it was a little embarrassing to let everyone see it.
Just a little.
“Well… I guess it could be nice. Don’t you think so?”
“I never said I didn’t.”
Even though there was suddenly a lot of talk about marriage, neither of us hated the idea.
If anything, we could even admit we liked it.
I wasn’t sure, but… maybe this was what it felt like to be in the spotlight like those popular kids?
Not to mention that it was all about a really good thing that people were talking about. It wasn’t just the Duke and Adela; Elin and Louise had also said similar things quite often.
Maybe… even the Knights were discussing it.
Of course, I didn’t know the internal matters.
“Well, it doesn’t really matter since the parties involved aren’t thinking about it right now.”
“That’s true. And if we do get married… we would have to invite Sofia’s parents too.”
“Oh! Right?!!”
“…”
I had totally forgotten about that. Of course, my parents had to be there for the wedding!!!
“Wow… if I hadn’t realized that, it would have been a disaster…”
“Sofia…”
“N-No, it’s just that I’ve been really busy lately! So I must have just blanked out!”
I really felt wronged. With the Duke and Adela nagging me so much lately, it was just a momentary lapse of memory. If Kyle had been in my situation, he would have probably reacted the same way!
“Tch… I feel like my treatment of my girlfriend has gotten worse lately.”
“I don’t think it’s that different from usual.”
“That’s not true! In the past, I would’ve covered for you, saying, ‘That’s understandable. I forgot to mention it first.'”
Of course, it must have happened because Kyle and I had gotten closer.
In the past, he had to treat me as the teacher first.
There was a clear difference in how you treated someone as a teacher versus a woman…
“Just kidding. Don’t look at me with that silly face.”
*
“Kyle, try this on.”
“…”
I casually handed a piece of clothing to Kyle.
Where we were… well, it wasn’t exactly a clothing store.
In fact, this wasn’t even my clothing; getting something to fit Kyle needed a real high-end tailor.
These weren’t the shabby clothes of commoners; he was a Duke, after all.
So obviously, he needed something extremely expensive and incredibly nice.
“Come on. Just change quickly and come back.”
“Alright.”
Kyle entered the fitting room as I instructed.
To be more precise, we were in a room where Kyle’s clothing was stored.
Of course, it felt like there was too much to just call it storage.
There were so many clothes that it was hard to count.
If I tried counting them, it wouldn’t be finished in a day.
“Whoa…”
Anyway, Kyle just changed and came out quickly.
Back when Kyle was pretending to date me, I never understood why he always wanted to dress me up, but now I think I get it.
Dressing up a doll or something… it was sort of fun.
Sure, Kyle wasn’t a doll, but there was definitely that kind of enjoyment.
“Stand up straight over here.”
I directed Kyle, who was hesitating.
He stood properly in front of the mirror after listening to me.
I started straightening the edges of the clothes he was wearing.
“Wow, your shoulders are really broad…”
Just touching the clothes to fix them made me realize again.
His fit was ridiculous.
For a man, there were about three important factors when wearing clothes:
Face, height, and proportion.
Among those, proportion creates an enormous synergy when combined with height.
Maybe that’s why?
“Let’s try some different clothes.”
I suddenly wanted to dress Kyle in more outfits.
Normally, Kyle didn’t have a great variety of clothes, even though he wasn’t a one-outfit kind of guy.
He wasn’t one to let the cold bother him and disliked uncomfortable clothes.
“Anyway, you usually just wear shirts and pants. This time, try something else.”
“…”
“Quickly.”
“Alright.”
Kyle went back inside to change again.
It was just more fun because he looked different from what I usually saw.
He was tall and handsome, so seeing him in something other than just a shirt felt really different.
Certainly, most of the clothes he wore were upscale and had that luxurious vibe that nobles would wear.
“They really look like the kind of clothes nobles would wear.”
“I wish you would dress nicer sometimes.”
It was a bit awkward to say anything since he always insisted on comfortable clothing.
He liked comfortable clothes, so I couldn’t force him to wear a waistcoat over a shirt.
Besides, I couldn’t exactly make him wear them if he didn’t want to.
“Kyle, can’t you wear something like this more often? It feels really… different seeing you in something other than a shirt.”
“Really?”
“You look good.”
“…”
I hardly ever say things like that, but this time, I couldn’t help but say it.
Kyle looked just too good in the different outfit he changed into.
*
“…Kyle, from now on, just wear shirts when you come downstairs.”
“Why are you saying that this time…?”
We had come down to the estate.
I had been berating Kyle so much yesterday, so he came down looking a bit more polished than usual.
His hair wasn’t just messily dried like always; his uniquely white hair was styled a little more than usual.
And the outfit… he was wearing a fancy black coat.
He’d never come down to the estate looking like this before.
He always just came down in a shirt and with his hair roughly arranged.
Was it because he was all dressed up this time?
Women were definitely staring at Kyle more today.
Of course, it wasn’t that there weren’t looks usually, but today the frequency was clearly higher.
“Just… when you’re coming down to the estate, just dress normally. Got it?”
“I got it, but stop glaring at the girls around you.”
“…”
It was inevitable since they kept staring at Kyle.
Logically, how could I just ignore someone constantly looking at my boyfriend?
I genuinely believed I hadn’t done anything wrong at all.
“If you see another guy looking at me, you’d do the same.”
“…”
“Right?”
Kyle couldn’t argue with that.
It was utterly normal.
It was common sense, and it would be odd to just let it slide.
At least I’m not the type to lend my boyfriend out; that’s just crazy.
I mean, if I did have that kind of preference, am I even human?
Isn’t that what they call… NTR?
Not that I really remember what that is, but anyway, I absolutely didn’t have any strange desires to have Kyle taken away from me.
For real.
“Let’s stop the weird talk here; why did you suddenly come down today?”
“Sofia, do you remember the ring I showed you before?”
“Um… the ring?”
There weren’t many rings that came to mind when he mentioned a ring.
The one that stood out the most in my mind was the ring Kyle gave me before.
He had chosen it thinking it was a jewel for a princess, but it really belonged to me…
Looking back now, it felt a bit foolish to think of that ring.
That ring was the one Kyle had offered when he first confessed to me, but I hadn’t accepted it at the time.
“What about that ruby ring?”
“Yes.”
“Why did you bring that up all of a sudden? Did you lose it or something?”
I was really curious why he suddenly mentioned the ruby ring since I hadn’t seen it even once since that day.
“I only made one back then.”
“Oh… so you’re trying to make another one!”
I’d long since escaped the level of being completely clueless.
Of course, if it had been about three months ago… I’d probably have been dumb enough to ask, ‘So why?’ back then.
Now that I think about how frustrating it must have been for Kyle to deal with me back then… I do feel a bit sorry.
“Yes, after all, rings… look the most beautiful when both of them are worn together.”
“That’s true. But do you still have that ring?”
“Of course. I’m keeping it safe for when I’m finally able to give it to you, so don’t worry.”
I tilted my head a little to hide how big my smile was from Kyle.
After all, I must’ve looked completely foolish with joy thinking about wearing that ring together.
Support me by donating at least $10, and you'll have the right to request any novel from Novelpia (excluding 19+ content) using a newly developed tool.
