The place Iella headed straight to was the tent where the knights who had participated in today’s preliminaries would be gathered. Normally, she should have been stopped before even approaching since she wasn’t related to the event, but perhaps due to Ailexia’s reputation, no one stopped her. They just whispered among themselves.

‘Has he already left?’

Iella ignored it all. In fact, she had no time to care.

As if she had forgotten that originally, she had no intention of coming to the arena, especially to the back area crowded with knights who would be well aware of Ailexia’s notorious reputation.

“Excuse me, perhaps…”

“No! I don’t want to! Please don’t!”

It was only after she approached someone nearby when she couldn’t find even a strand of Aster’s hair, and was treated like a pervert, that she belatedly realized her concern for Aster had preceded her reason, making her body move first.

Nevertheless, Iella didn’t give up and tried a few more times.

“No, that’s not it!”

“Please! My family has failed to enter the imperial knights for three generations, so I must get in this time!”

However, when she ended up hearing about a stranger’s family circumstances that she hadn’t even been curious about on her fourth attempt, she could only stand there blankly. Though she had no intention of devouring anyone, tears of frustration clouded her vision.

“Kuk.”

At that moment, a sound like someone trying to suppress laughter came from somewhere. Feeling ridiculous that she was being mocked while already feeling wronged, she quickly turned her head toward the direction of the sound, when a hand suddenly reached out through the tent cloth, grabbed her, and pulled her inside.

“You shouldn’t be harassing a knight who’s been trying for three generations.”

“Aster!”

Iella, who had been pulled in without being able to resist due to the sudden situation, looked up at the familiar scent of winter forest that reached her nose and the voice she heard.

Aster was looking at her with a mischievous smile.

Irritated by his happy face when he didn’t understand her feelings, Iella repeatedly pressed her index finger against his upturned corner of the mouth while scolding him.

“Don’t laugh. Do you know how desperately I was looking for you!”

“Oh my. I can’t give up the tournament and enter a harem because I have someone to protect. Please.”

“You…!”

But he didn’t stop joking; instead, he went even further. Finally, it was the moment when Iella stood on her tiptoes to grab both his cheeks and rub them vigorously, as she often did at their secret place.

“Ah!”

As her foot caught on her dress and slipped, her body tilted completely toward him. Before they could do anything, the two bodies fell backward together.

“Ah, Aster, are you okay?!”

Iella hurriedly raised her head to check on him. She felt no pain thanks to his firm embrace. But it could be different for him who had fallen backward. If his head had hit something hard….

Just thinking about it made her face turn pale. She squirmed and hurriedly got up. She was about to check on him.

“Wait, just a moment.”

But Aster quickly embraced her tightly. A very urgent voice followed.

“Stay still. Please. I’m fine so….”

“No, I need to check your condition…… Huh?”

As she was just fidgeting, not understanding what was happening, suddenly something hard touched her thigh. As her dress had rolled up during the commotion, she felt it directly on her bare skin.

Iella reached out her hand, wondering if it was a sword. If so, she thought she would move it aside so it wouldn’t hurt him more.

“D*mn it……”

But as soon as her hand touched it, her vision flipped in an instant. She might have heard his curse brush past her ear, or maybe not. She felt something soft against her back.

Iella looked at him, who had somehow taken position above her, with a dumbfounded expression. Her round eyes blinked innocently. Looking at her clear eyes that didn’t match Ailexia, Aster buried his face in her neck with a deep sigh.

“Haa…. I feel like trash.”

His voice, muttering as if to himself, was low enough to sound sensual.

Iella, who didn’t immediately understand his words, caught a glimpse of something passing through her mind and quickly glanced down before rapidly looking back up. Her cheeks burned hot.

Iella rambled without even knowing what she was saying.

“This, this is a physiological phenomenon…, so……”

But as her voice gradually grew smaller, laughter finally burst from Aster’s lips. He raised his head, looked at her staring blankly at him, then turned his head and chuckled.

Not understanding why he was laughing, Iella raised her voice, wondering if this was another of his pranks.

“Why are you laughing!”

“No, kuk, hmm. Because you’re cute.”

“Liar. You’re thinking of teasing me again…!”

The strange atmosphere disappeared in an instant, and their usual comfort returned. It was around then that footsteps suddenly sounded from beyond the tent.

“Shh, wait.”

Aster, who had keenly heard the sound, placed his index finger over his lips. Following his words, Iella also closed her lips and held her breath when she felt the footsteps stop right in front of the tent they were in.

Soon a voice was heard.

“Duke, I’ve come to inform you about tomorrow’s match. Is that alright?”

“Wait.”

Fortunately, the tournament official didn’t seem to have any intention of coming inside. Thinking it was fortunate that their current situation wasn’t discovered, Iella quickly grabbed Aster’s clothes as he got up after gesturing for her to wait.

She had instinctively realized that the official had come to inform him about the penalty he would receive tomorrow.

“It’s okay.”

Perhaps her worry was completely visible on her face. Aster smiled as if to reassure her and patted the hand holding his clothes a couple of times. Then he went outside the tent.

The two voices could be faintly heard conversing right in front, but not clearly enough to make out the content. Iella got up and fixed her clothes and hair.

As she was looking around the tent, Aster came in. He placed a folder of documents next to where she was sitting and knelt on one knee in front of her.

It was because he had seen small dangling feet in high-heeled shoes.

“Your feet aren’t scraped.”

The gesture of placing her foot on his knee, removing her shoe, and checking her heel was quite natural. Aster knew better than anyone that she often got scrapes when she occasionally wore high heels instead of the flat shoes or low-heeled shoes she usually wore.

At such times, he always checked if there were any wounds on her feet. Otherwise, she wouldn’t say she was in pain even if she was.

“Hmm, what did they say? The official?”

Iella looked at him for a moment before quickly changing the subject. His careful touch on her feet felt somehow embarrassing, perhaps because it had been quite a while.

However, after putting the shoe back on, Aster paid no attention and grabbed her other foot that was trying to hide.

“Just basic instructions.”

“……They want you to cover your eyes?”

Aster, who had been carefully removing her shoe and examining for wounds, momentarily paused. Iella didn’t miss that moment.

“Today you held the sword with only your left hand.”

“You were watching closely.”

“Aster.”

“Was it half successful? I deliberately made eye contact before the match to make you worry about me.”

But he kept changing the subject. Even after putting her shoe back on and raising his head, he didn’t give an exact yes or no answer.

Then, when their eyes met and he saw Iella’s face full of worry and guilt, he reached out and cupped her cheek.

“It’s nothing.”

“……”

“Even if I use only one hand, even if my eyes are completely covered, even if my hands are tied, even if no weapon is given, the result won’t change. So covering my eyes is obviously nothing.”

“……”

“And it’s what I chose to do. I think I know why you’re feeling this way, but Iella, you don’t need to blame yourself.”

At his words that seemed to see through her thoughts, she blinked, and he wiped her eye area with his thumb. The calluses on his hand could be felt through her skin.

“How did…, you know?”

“How could I not know? Just as you know me, I know you too.”

But it didn’t feel rough at all. Like his kind voice and gaze, his touch was infinitely gentle. Aster always embraced and cherished her like that.

He was truly a friend she was grateful for, almost undeservingly so.

“As you say, I won’t blame myself. In return, don’t get hurt, and don’t overdo it. I’ll try to get back quickly too.”

“……”

“Aster?”

“Ah, yes. I understand.”

Iella spoke while looking at him with eyes full of affection for her friend. But he, who had been responding well until just now, was quiet. When she called him with a puzzled voice, only then did he respond.

Wondering what was wrong, she quietly watched him, and he bowed his head deeply and muttered something incomprehensible. From what she could faintly hear, it sounded like “when…” or something like that.

She was about to ask what he meant, but before that, Aster, who had let out a deep sigh, suddenly put both knees on the floor and spread his arms wide. Though it was unexpected, Iella understood the signal he was sending and hugged him tightly without any objection.

It was she who had first promised that whenever he needed someone to lean on, she would always offer her embrace, on the day she first heard about his past.

“Is this enough?”

“No. But for now, this is the best I can do. So I’m trying to be satisfied.”

“I don’t understand what you mean.”

“I’m saying this is enough.”

And Aster hugged her tightly. He gathered the sunshine that promised to embrace him into his arms. Though it was bitter to see her eyes still viewing him only as a friend, it was still good.

He, who could never be weak and should never be weak, could only put down everything within this embrace. He could be comfortably vulnerable.

Aster quietly buried his face in her neck and closed his eyes. As always, he restrained himself not to be impatient.

Because to him, she was a being so precious that the word “love” alone was insufficient to explain everything.