Chapter 3

Amelia shrugged as if it were nothing. He was an Imperial Knight, a nobleman, and even in her eyes—eyes known for being picky—he was a tall and handsome man who also seemed to have a good personality. She was certain that, with beautiful women surely all around him, there was no way he would take any interest in an ordinary woman like her.

In truth, what Edwin felt toward Amelia was that she was odd and unusual, and there was no other meaning to it at all. But her attitude was so utterly matter-of-fact that he was once again seized by a strange feeling.

Because had she not definitely said just a little while ago that he was handsome, that he sometimes made her heart flutter, and things like that? The expression that had turned dry and indifferent in an instant, as if she were looking at a stone fallen on the roadside, made all sorts of thoughts arise in him.

Amelia, watching Edwin, wondered if he was troubled because of his position as a knight, and spoke again.

“If you don’t want to…….”

She had been about to say that, though it was troublesome, she would just leave it unlocked, but her words were cut off by a voice hastily interrupting.

“It isn’t that I don’t want to. Thank you for your kindness.”

Edwin had hurriedly stopped Amelia because he feared she might say, ‘I’ll just close the shop, then.’ To others, it might not seem like a big deal, but to him it was truly desperate.

As he had told her, this bookstore was the only space where he could rest comfortably without being disturbed by anyone. The reason he could not rest even at the estate was because his mother was openly pressuring him to marry. Truly, to an almost relentless degree.

“……Instead, I will protect you perfectly. If I may ask, where are you living, Miss Amelia?”

Edwin thought that if he forced the matter and accompanied her to and from work, he would feel at least a little more at ease. But Amelia only blinked blankly, then broke into a grin.

“I live right above here.”

“Above?”

“Yes. I remodeled the first floor into the bookstore and the second floor into my home.”

This building was also in Amelia’s name, so the renovations had not been difficult. Thinking she might as well offer Edwin a cup of tea and hand over the spare key while she was at it, she came out from behind the counter.

“Would you like to come up with me for a moment? I have to give you the key, and I’ll give you a cup of tea too. It’s a little embarrassing to say this myself, but I make extraordinarily good tea.”

“T-thank you for the kindness, but going into a lady’s room is a bit…….”

“Ah, don’t worry! Even if I am a little dazzled by your face, Sir Edwin, I know my place. I absolutely won’t pounce on you.”

And then she even gave him a thumbs-up, as though telling him to trust her, leaving him truly at a loss for words. Amelia, finding his speechless silence absurd, took it as unspoken agreement and started walking toward the stairs.

Coming to his senses a moment later, Edwin hurriedly called out to stop her.

“Shouldn’t you lock up first?”

“Oh, I almost forgot. That’s the only entrance, so could you lock the door for me, Sir Edwin?”

“……Haah.”

He did not know whether she had no sense of danger, or whether she was simply thoughtless. She said she did not want to become a victim, and yet she was not even taking care of the minimum safety measures, which could only draw a sigh from him.

Even so, Edwin obediently locked the door, then hesitated for quite a while at the foot of the stairs before finally moving at the sound of Amelia calling him.

When he climbed all the way up the sturdy stairs—which, unlike their appearance, did not even creak under his weight—there appeared a very cozy space that was, at the same time, somehow secretive.

One end of the attic-like room was occupied by a large bed, and through a well-lit window he could see not a busy street full of passersby, but a quiet forest path, making the place feel especially still.

The bed, too, looked rather different from the sort one usually saw. On both sides were table-like surfaces where things could be placed, and books Amelia had brought there lay spread open carelessly. Of course, every single one was an adult novel.

The wide carpet laid over the floor was a top-grade item of the sort one would expect to see only in a noble estate, and opposite the bed were a fireplace and a reduced little kitchen. From the magic stone refrigerator at one side of the kitchen to the casually arranged dishes and the clean glass cups on the shelf, none of it was the kind of thing a commoner would use.

Amelia, who had come up first and was boiling water, called out to the dazedly standing Edwin with a smile.

“What do you think? It’s cozy even if it’s small, right?”

“You use the space exactly like this, without separating anything at all?”

“Yes, because this is convenient. I originally lived at an estate in the busy district, but it was so inconvenient because the unnecessary movement paths were too long. I did have renovations done, but even so, this place has a bathroom attached, so it’s convenient for bathing too…….”

“I see. Understood. I’m very thirsty—may I have a cup of tea?”

“Ah, just a moment.”

This was truly embarrassing. Having hastily cut Amelia off, Edwin rubbed his dry face as he watched her hum to herself, then carefully looked around the room again.

Books were strewn not only over the bed but across the floor as well, and when he happened to notice a novel close by and bent down, he saw the page spread wide open and froze on the spot.

「“Ah, hwaa, hwaang, n-no……! Stop, stooop……!”

“Your mouth says no, but your body is honest! Your lewd little honey pot is going wild and tightening around mine!”」

“…….”

What in the world is this. Edwin immediately straightened his back, and even though he knew it was terribly rude, he nudged the book shut with the tip of his foot. Fortunately, Amelia had not seen him.

But that was not the end of it. Edwin had excellent eyesight. As one who used the sword, he had trained himself almost to the limit, and his five senses were overwhelmingly more developed than those of ordinary people.

Enough that he could clearly make out the letters in the books near the bed.

He ended up seeing the contents without meaning to, and swallowed hard.

「“Say it with your own mouth. Where, and what, do you want me to do?”

“M-my, my p*ssy…… put your c*ck in my p*ssy, please! Stir me up inside with that big, thick thing!”」

That one too.

「“Aaaahng! Ah, ang! Hwang, ah, hwick! Ah, ah……!”

“To think you’re panting that it feels good while taking a c*ck in your back hole instead of your front one—shouldn’t you have been born a wh*re rather than a Princess.”」

That one as well.

「“Good, that’s it, such a good girl. Open your throat more…… huu, yes. Your mouth-p*ssy is quite useful too.”

“Mmuph, hng…… ah, mph…….”」

Every last one.

「The c*cks of men were inside every hole of the woman he loved. In the mouth that had whispered sweet love, in the shy petals she had hidden away, promising to offer the precious chastity she had kept for their first night, and even in the small folds of the perineum that ordinarily could not receive a man…….

The pale s*men dripping down with a creaking slickness was like a terrible nightmare. His lover was sobbing in pleasure with an empty face.」

Every one of them, without exception, was obscene reading that was hard to look at in one’s right mind.

At the very same moment Edwin, his face burning bright red, turned his head away, Amelia brought tea to the round table in the middle of the room.

“Sir Edwin, come over here. I had some cookies I received a few days ago, so I brought those too.”

“……Yes.”

He really felt as though he might lose his mind. There were so many books that, to someone who did not know better, it would seem she simply loved reading—but every single one of them…… every single one truly contained only that sort of writing.

Seeing her smiling so openly and innocently as she held out the tea, it was enough to make him doubt whether Amelia had really been the one reading those things. No, of course he had already witnessed her reading one of the novels, but that only meant the dissonance was that extreme.

Fearing that she might become embarrassed again if he let anything show, Edwin desperately composed his expression and tilted his teacup to suppress his own awkwardness.

Then the scent that touched the tip of his nose felt strangely familiar. The delicate floral fragrance spreading through the air—he had definitely smelled it recently. He swallowed the slightly hot tea without the slightest trouble. There was none of the bitter or coarse taste, only a refined flavor lingering softly in his mouth. It was an extremely rare tea harvested only in a certain region, and his mother had proudly served it once, saying she had received it as a gift from Her Majesty the Empress.