Pardon the Abduction, Holy Knight - It's an Emergency - Chapter 3.9

Just as the sound was getting closer I was starting to feel chills.

Whoosh-.

“Oof, eek!”

My feet left the ground.

Soon, the speed picked up to the point where I couldn’t open my eyes, and the scenery before me changed rapidly.

“Haa… Haa….”

When I came to my senses, we were near the forest where the cabin was.

“Kek. Kekeke. Master, it’s fun. Running with Master is fun.”

I sat down on the ground, panting.

I blankly looked up at Wit, who had somehow returned to his fairy form.

My heart was racing.

Breathless.

The face of young Viscount Ferial turned pale blue after checking the pouch full of stones.

I burst into laughter without realizing it.

“Pff… Haha! You’re right, Wit. It really is fun.”

“Master…!”

Moved by something, Wit threw himself into my arms.

I lay down in the grass and looked up at the sky.

It feels good…

The cool breeze blowing through the trees cooled my sweat-soaked forehead.

***

“What? Why is the house so dark?”

Has Adriel already gone to sleep?

The sun had set, but it wasn’t time to sleep yet.

As I was feeling the wall to turn on the lights, it happened.

“Where have you been?”

“…!?”

Click.

The sound of the light turning on echoed loudly in the silence.

My eyes met directly with Adriel’s, who had been sitting at the dining table watching me, though I don’t know since when.

“You… startled me. What are you doing there with the lights off? I was surprised.”

“……”

“Sir Knight?”

I approached Adriel, who somehow seemed to be in a low mood.

And I discovered the sandwich on the table, untouched as if he hadn’t taken a single bite.

“Huh? Why didn’t you eat? Was it not good?”

That can’t be, right?

Except for the first few days, he had never left anything I gave him until now.

As I asked curiously while looking at Adriel, why does it seem…

Adriel’s expression looked somewhat sulky.

“……”

“……”

…Could it be that he was waiting for me?

Nah. That’s impossible.

That Adriel? For Rosemary?

Even a passing dog would laugh at that.

“Hmm. Has the sandwich gone bad?”

Just as I was about to tear off a piece of bread to taste it.

“…I didn’t have an appetite.”

I opened my eyes wide in surprise.

“You didn’t have an appetite? Are you feeling unwell?”

“……”

Adriel quietly turned his head without a word.

Is that a yes or a no?

“Are you still feeling that way?”

“……”

“I think I have some medicine for indigestion. Would you like to try it?”

“……”

What’s this? Did he fall asleep? Why is he so quiet?

“Um, Sir Knight?”

This is frustrating.

“Excuse me?”

It’s frustrating!

Normally, I would have just let this kind of ignoring slide.

Strangely, today I felt stubborn.

So I clenched my fist and shouted.

“Adriel…!”

Adriel’s head, which had been fixed on the window outside, finally turned towards me.

His eyes, which had been full of inexplicable dissatisfaction, were now wide with surprise at my call.

But I was the one who was more surprised.

Why did I call his name? I wondered.

Faced with my bewilderment, Adriel’s red lips moved slightly.

“Again….”

I couldn’t hear his mumbling voice.

I perked up my ears to focus on his words.

“…It’s nothing.”

His ears were red as he fumbled with his words.

I stared at him silently.

Adriel slightly turned his head and continued speaking.

“I’m not unwell, so I don’t need medicine.”

“…Really?”

“Yes. I just… didn’t have an appetite.”

What? How anticlimactic.

I rubbed both my cheeks.

I started to feel embarrassed for impulsively calling his name earlier.

I glanced at Adriel while trying to cool down the heat on my face.

As if he had never been in a low mood, Adriel’s face had returned to its usual stoic expression.

But I was really curious.

I wondered why he suddenly lost his appetite.

“Sir Knight. I’m asking this just in case.”

Looking at that cold face that seems like he’s living in a world of his own, it doesn’t seem likely at all, but…

“Can’t you eat alone?”

“What is ‘eating alone’?”

“I’m asking if you can’t eat by yourself.”

As expected.

Adriel looked at me as if he had heard this question for the first time in his life.

I shrugged my shoulders as if making an excuse.

“Well, you know. You were fine until this morning, but suddenly you say you lost your appetite…”

“Yes.”

“So… What?”

“I don’t like eating alone.”

Was it really true?

I gaped stupidly.

Yet Adriel looked at me nonchalantly.

“But… Since when? This isn’t the first time you’ve been alone in the house.”

“I said I don’t like eating alone, not that I’m an idiot who can’t eat by myself.”

Is that so…?

No, what do you mean ‘is that so’.

The very fact that this man dislikes eating alone is shocking.

Was Adriel unexpectedly the type who likes to mingle with people?

While I was thinking this, Adriel’s soft mumbling reached my ears.

“So.”

Adriel closed his mouth and looked at me.

And a moment later, he demanded very confidently.

“Come home early from now on.”

I blinked blankly. Then, belatedly, I let out a short sigh, “Ah.”

“O-Okay. I’ll keep that in mind.”

Seemingly embarrassed by his own words, Adriel turned his head again to look out the window.

Somehow, the tips of his ears seemed to be tinged slightly red.

This is making me feel awkward too.

“Uh, and… Ah, right. Dinner. I’m about to make dinner. You’ll eat with me, right?”

Since you’re not alone now.

Without saying the last part, I looked at him, and Adriel quietly nodded.

“Okay then.”

Before preparing the meal, I moved to my room to change clothes.

And I found Wit glaring at Adriel as if something displeased him.

“Master.”

“Huh?”

Just as I tensed up at his voice, devoid of any humor, Wit shouted.

“Wit doesn’t like Adriel! Wit hates Adriel, Master!”

“…?”

I wondered what he was going to say.

“Wit.”

“Yes!”

“When did you ever like him?”

“Never!”

I walked into the room, letting Wit’s resounding answer go in one ear and out the other.