Pardon the Abduction, Holy Knight - It's an Emergency - Chapter 3.4

“If you didn’t get it… Are you saying you committed theft, my lady?”

“What?”

I let out a laugh of disbelief.

“Ha, really. What do you take me for? Why would you say that? I just… well, you know.”

“What do I know?”

“I mean… h-home! I brought it from home, okay?”

“You could have said that from the beginning. Why are you avoiding eye contact suspiciously?”

Why do you think? Because what you’re thinking is correct.

Adriel sighed softly at my silence.

“I suppose it’s something you brought when you ran away from the Ferial Count’s estate.”

“…How did you…”

Adriel gestured towards the newspaper on the windowsill in response to my look that asked how he knew I had run away.

I brought the newspaper over and opened it. In a corner, there was news about searching for the young lady of the Ferial Count family. When did he see this?

“Ah, yes…”

I nodded glumly.

“My lady, you…”

What? Why again?

“You’ve done something reckless. To run away and even commit theft because you wanted to live with me.”

Do you like me that much?

Adriel’s expression as he said this was really…

“Sir Knight.”

“I’m listening.”

“You know you’re being really annoying right now, right?”

“……”

Adriel’s handsome brow furrowed as if to ask what I meant. No, I’m the one who’s about to burst.

Honestly, isn’t it about time for that man to admit it? That I don’t like him, I mean.

After all, my actions since kidnapping Adriel were certainly not something one would do to someone they liked. By now, he should have accepted that I don’t like him…

It’s one of two things. First, Adriel is seriously oblivious. Second, he’s been through so much with Rosemary that he can’t believe it. The fact that Rosemary doesn’t like him.

Ah, I don’t know. They say strong denial is strong affirmation. If I try to explain, I might just deepen Adriel’s misunderstanding.

I shook my head and changed the subject. I might as well ask what I’ve been curious about while Wit isn’t here.

“Sigh, never mind. Since we’re on this topic, there’s something I want to ask.”

“Please, go ahead.”

“Who is Oberon?”

Was I too direct? Adriel hesitated for a moment.

“Why are you asking me that?”

“Huh? Well,”

“Wouldn’t you know better than I do about that?”

Why are you asking me about the identity of the necklace in your house? That’s exactly what Adriel meant.

I shook my head and replied.

“I told you. I took it from home without even knowing what it was, didn’t I?”

“……”

“Really. Until then, I was just thinking of selling it for a high price… I never imagined it would be something like this.”

Adriel silently scrutinized my face. As if trying to gauge my intentions. Yeah, look all you want, look. I have nothing to hide.

Even as I met his gaze confidently, Adriel didn’t withdraw his suspicious look.

“I don’t know. Even if I did know, what reason would I have to trust you and tell you, my lady?”

Lies. The day Taro invaded my house. The things Adriel said weren’t something someone who didn’t know about Oberon would say.

“Sir Knight. Why are you suddenly like this?”

“What do you mean?”

“Well, you know. You were fine sharing stories about your past with me before, but now you suddenly can’t trust me?”

At my words, Adriel stumbled as if he’d been hit on the back of his head.

“That, that day…”

“What? You suddenly can’t remember this too? Should I help you remember? That day, you were crying and sniveling, clinging to me and not letting go.”

“When did I ever…!”

Adriel’s nape turned red as he flared up. He chewed on his lower lip as if feeling wronged, then abruptly turned his head away.

“I don’t know anything about it. Please don’t ask anymore.”

Why. Why don’t you know? You know it well. But Adriel, as if he was thoroughly upset, wouldn’t even look at me.

Ugh… As I was racking my brain trying to figure out how to change his mind, I decided to switch tactics.

“I’m anxious, that’s why.”

“……”

He slowly opened his eyes and looked at me, having closed them while turning his head away.

“If, as you say, Wit and Taro are demons, then this necklace is something that repels demons. I can’t sleep because I’m anxious about why such a terrifying object was in the Ferial Count’s mansion, and whether I might have some connection to demons. Even though I ran away…”

I glanced up at Adriel. Seeing his red eyes trembling slightly, I inwardly smiled a victorious smile.

“Won’t you help me, please?”

I lowered the corners of my eyes and mouth to look as pitiful as possible.

But was this strategy not working either? Adriel’s expression gradually hardened.

Sigh. Fine, fine. I’ll just ask Wit to call Taro again. That would be faster.

I was about to give up when…

“Do you think I’ll fall for that kind of face?”

…?

“What’s wrong with my face?”

“That…”

For some reason, Adriel couldn’t continue his sentence. His expression looked quite complex as if something was very confusing to him.

And why are his ears red again?

As I stared at him strangely, he furrowed his brow while looking at me, then lowered his head. After rubbing his forehead for a while as if deep in thought, Adriel finally spoke.

“Oberon is the king of the fairies.”

“The king of the fairies… Do you mean the king that Wit and Taro were looking for?”

Adriel became serious.

“That’s probably not the case.”

It’s not?

“If the king they were looking for was Oberon, they wouldn’t have put that name on the necklace.”

Well, that’s true, isn’t it? Taro even shuddered, asking if Adriel and I were followers of Oberon.

Then what is it? Between the fairy king, Adriel is talking about and the fairy king Wit and Taro are talking about, which one is real?

“Then why do Wit and Taro…”

“I’m puzzled about that too. Why those demons are calling themselves fairies.”

So Adriel doesn’t know this either. What exactly are Wit and Taro? Fairies? Demons? Just looking at their appearance, they don’t look like the fairies we commonly think of.

“Perhaps they’ve been deceiving people in this way.”

I nodded at Adriel’s words and asked.

“Then where is this king of the fairies you’re talking about now?”

“He died long ago.”

He died?

“I heard he lost his life in a battle with demons hundreds of years ago. After that, Oberon and his descendants vanished without a trace, as if they had never existed in the first place.”

Fairies. And a war with demons. So if Wit and Taro are demons, there was a war between Oberon and them? The demons won the war, and now these demons are pretending to be fairies?

This seems more complicated than I thought…