Chapter 2

Lowering her glasses, Amelia continued asking questions. Somehow, she seemed slightly relieved by the fact that the other person was Edwin.

“Sir Edwin, you were a knight? No, then why would you leave aside the Imperial Palace library and the large bookstores to visit a shabby little place like this? It feels a bit strange to say this as the owner, but our bookstore is really quite pitiful…….”

“I like quiet and peaceful places. The Imperial Palace library and large bookstores are a bit too noisy to browse comfortably, but here, even if someone spends hours simply looking at books, the owner does not pay any attention at all.”

“Well, that’s because I’m too busy reading my own books…….”

Amelia answered as if it were only natural, then trailed off.

To begin with, this was not a bookstore she ran for profit. In truth, she was rich. Extremely rich, in fact. To give an example, she had enough that even if she lived a luxurious and extravagant life in a mansion fit for nobles, commanding dozens of servants, she would still remain comfortable for the rest of her life.

There was, admittedly, a rather extraordinary story behind it. Amelia’s parents were free spirits who lived by traveling the world, exploring and adventuring, and in any case, their luck was absurdly good.

No matter where they went, they never simply went and left empty-handed, and no matter what they gained, it was never something small. They had discovered, countless times, habitats of rare plants and animals worthy of being recorded in history, and had also unearthed innumerable relics long believed to have been lost to war or other disasters.

To preserve such relics perfectly, enormous rental fees were paid by the Mage Tower or museums to keep them in storage. Or the state would transfer ownership in exchange for a huge sum and certain privileges. Of course, there were also many cases in which they returned such things for free.

Amelia’s cheerful, ungreedy nature was something she had inherited directly from her parents. Since money came in even if she did nothing but breathe, she had never needed to work in the first place, and though on the outside she looked like an ordinary young lady, she was in fact a woman of immense wealth.

Even so, the only reason she had gone out of her way to open a bookstore was simply so she could freely read the books she liked—in other words, steamy adult novels commonly classified as obscene literature. It was very embarrassing for an individual to buy them personally, but buying them under the bookstore’s name with the excuse, ‘A customer was looking for it,’ was not shameful at all.

Of course, it did bother her a little that the supplier who delivered the books always looked at her strangely, but Amelia was confident. Edwin, who had been staring blankly at her, slowly lowered his gaze.

“The books…… you mean.”

Her cheeks, which had gone pale, flushed red again. Quickly hiding the book, she spoke in a hurry.

“J-just pretend you didn’t see it and forget about it! If you keep thinking about it, I might just wait for the day you come by and offer you a poisoned drink……!”

“……If you show me kindness in the future, I will be sure to remember what you just said and refuse it.”

Edwin replied with a cold sweat. Judging by that crazed look in her eyes, she was clearly serious.

He had no intention at all of telling anyone, for Amelia’s honor. But what she had done in a place where anyone might come at any time was extremely dangerous. Even more so, considering the reason he had come dressed like this.

It might have been needless meddling, but Edwin hesitated and still opened his mouth.

“Miss Amelia. Even if there are no customers, it would be best if you stopped doing that……. Um, secret sort of thing, like today.”

“Huh? Ah, I usually only do it in my room, but the new book that came in today was so interesting that I only meant to read a little, and then……. B-but I really learned my lesson from this! Next time, if my body starts moving, I’ll lock the door.”

“…….”

“……But this really is embarrassing. In books, it comes up all the time that the heroine gets caught exposing herself outside or touching herself, and then gets humiliated, so I didn’t think it would be this embarrassing. C-come to think of it, I wasn’t making some weird expression just now, was I……?”

At this point, Edwin found himself thinking that Amelia might be mentally a little off—in other words, that her mind was rather simple……? No, that she was someone whose way of thinking was different from other people’s.

Until now, he had never had reason to speak with her at length, so he had not known, but no matter who saw it, this was not a normal reaction. Otherwise, there was no way a young lady who had just been crying out in embarrassment and shame a moment ago would ask something like that.

And in truth, Amelia really was ignorant of the ways of the world for her age. It was only natural, if one thought about it. Her parents had encouraged their daughter to live freely and do whatever she wanted, and they had not particularly felt the need to educate her.

Even at her age now, she had never worked a day in her life, and in fact had been raised so preciously that she had never even lifted anything heavier than a book. Since childhood, she had liked quietly sinking into thought by herself, and as she had no friends, it was only natural that she was ‘strange.’

Most people would have shunned someone like Amelia, but Edwin’s personality was gentle and full of consideration, fitting perfectly with his kind and soft-looking impression.

Moreover, thanks to Amelia, he had been able to rest with peace of mind all this time. Thinking of that, he felt he could let this pass as a minor mistake…… or something close to that.

He smiled kindly and nodded.

“Yes. You did not look strange at all. So…….”

Just as he was about to continue by saying they should drop this topic, Amelia asked again.

“What do you mean by not strange?”

“Pardon? Ah, w-well, you just slightly, your face, was frowning…….”

Edwin had answered without thinking as he recalled Amelia’s flushed face and the heated breaths she had been letting out, but suddenly he realized what exactly he was doing and shut his mouth. Amelia, meanwhile, was smiling innocently with a soft little grin.

“That’s a relief. If I’d made an embarrassing face or sound, I would have killed……. No, I would have died.”

“…….”

When someone with a face that looked as though she could not even kill a single bug kept saying things like that, it was, in a sense, even more frightening. Amelia, who had been smiling at him, suddenly asked:

“But Sir Edwin. Why are you dressed like that today?”

“Ah, I almost forgot. A robbery happened nearby, so I’ve been going around checking the area.”

“A robbery?!”

“Yes. The thief was stealing from an empty shop, then ran into the owner, stabbed him with a knife, and fled. This place is rather deserted as well, so I came to tell you to be careful, but…….”

“Yes, I’ll be careful.”

As Edwin trailed off, Amelia quickly answered. It was certainly a disturbing incident, but she decided to take this chance to close the bookstore for a while and enjoy some happy time in her room.

Lately, books had been coming in faster than she could read them, so there was a mountain of things piled up waiting for her. She said brightly:

“Then, just in case, I’ll close the bookstore for the time being…….”

“That would be difficult, Miss Amelia. I feel more at ease and happier in this bookstore than in my own estate. I would rather not have the one leisurely day I get in a week interrupted by something like a mere robber.”

“N-no. Even if you say that, I might be a bystander at best, but I don’t want to become the victim of an incident…….”

Amelia was a little dazed by his utterly serious words. She was grateful that he liked this place that much, but she had not the slightest intention of giving up her safety for the sake of Edwin’s leisure time.

People often said the customer was king, but in Amelia’s bookstore, the king was her.

The problem was that she was not just a little but very much bewitched by Edwin’s face.

“……Then I’ll give you a spare key, Sir Edwin. I’ll rest somewhere safe, and you can stay here comfortably however you like.”

“You mean to hand a key over so easily to an unrelated man? That is…….”

“It’s fine because your status is clear. And besides, you don’t seem like the kind of person who would do anything strange to me.”

If anyone would, it’d be me.