And unlike the noble world where they subtly showed off their physique through the size of their war horses or the enormity of their armor, the common folk were direct. Being direct made it explicit, and being explicit made it certainly stimulating.

“How is it? Worth watching, right?”

Darielle’s eyes were full of mischief as she whispered.

“Of course, for Madam who sees our master’s body, which is surely a hundred times more excellent, every night, this might not be very impressive…”

“……”

Whenever Darielle said things like this, certain images would automatically come to mind.

Like the sight of Constantine leaning toward her while taking off his robe, or the shape of muscles writhing under her palms whenever she had to grab him on the bed with nowhere else to hold.

These intimate memories that played back suddenly, beyond her control, were very unsatisfying yet she couldn’t help her face heating up.

“But sometimes things like this are fun too, right?”

Darielle covered her mouth while laughing.

“Oh, that tanner’s son is faster than expected.”

“Right. He seems quick on his feet.”

By now the introductions of the competition participants had ended and the contest had begun.

“Hans and Tommy are neck and neck! Oh! Tommy is getting a bit faster!”

“Waaah!”

“Now then! The participants who’ve made it need to carry these wine barrels and run to that point! Oh my! While Tommy stumbled with the wine barrel, Hans is catching up again!”

The participants earnestly ran around the marked area carrying large wine barrels. As sweat began to flow over their bulging muscles, the people’s (especially women’s) cheers grew louder.

‘…This is quite exciting, isn’t it?’

After initially feeling embarrassed by the display of flesh, Saena found herself absorbed in watching the front.

Beyond just the muscles, the competition itself was quite a spectacle. Before she knew it, Saena was intently watching while making her own predictions about who would win.

“Now then! Keep it up! Only the final lap remains! The final lap is carrying a woman while running! Do you have a maiden you’ve been interested in? Is there a woman you wanted to impress with your masculinity? This is your chance!”

“Waaah!”

“Oh my! Goodness!”

This time, the cheers from both men and women were equally loud.

“Susan! Susan!”

It seemed that a woman named Susan was quite popular at the front. Several men began approaching to court her.

“What does it matter if you’ve just met the woman today! Let’s gather our courage and approach! However, you can only carry her if she permits, so be mindful of your request if you haven’t been on good terms!”

Even if someone came in first, they could instantly end up last if the woman refused.

Saena’s mouth fell open at this unexpected challenge.

Carrying a woman while running. It seemed commoners really did engage in free romance as she’d heard.

But then…

“Oh my, it’s the tavern’s youngest son.”

It was the participant Darielle had been admiring for his beautiful back muscles. For some reason, he approached their direction.

“Miss, may I carry you while running today?”

Before she could wonder why he was coming this way, the participant stopped in front of Saena and asked this.

“…Eh?”

“Oh no, you can’t! This person is…”

Darielle started to speak but stopped abruptly.

She probably wasn’t sure if it was alright to suddenly reveal her noble status while pretending to be a commoner. Moreover, she wasn’t just any noble but the Duchess of Kramer, the territory’s master.

“Please.”

The man said to be the tavern’s youngest son had quite a pretty face. As he smiled brightly and extended his hand to her, surrounding gazes gathered.

Though surprised by the unexpected request, it was obviously impossible.

Just as she opened her mouth to refuse.

“That would be difficult.”

Someone spoke before she could.

“Look for another woman.”

An aura that silenced everyone around just by speaking.

“Hic!”

Darielle made a choking sound.

Saena turned around with wide eyes.

‘…Constantine?’

How did he appear here?

Though he wore a hood, the tavern’s youngest son seemed to sense something unusual and quickly departed with an apologetic “Excuse me.”

“…Did I interfere?”

Constantine wore a somewhat displeased expression. No, perhaps it was an anxious one.

“Interfere?”

“Perhaps you wanted to accept… But if the hood came off while running, it would have created an awkward situation. You might have been disgusted by the man’s sweat smell…”

The words he rattled off like excuses sounded exactly like excuses.

Was he acting this way worried she might scold him for suddenly interrupting?

“No. I was going to refuse anyway.”

“That’s a relief– I mean, I see.”

Constantine covered his eyes with his palm for a moment after responding, then asked.

“I didn’t know you… liked this sort of thing.”

Rather than liking it, well. It was certainly interesting since she’d never seen it before. If forced to choose between like and dislike, there was no reason to dislike it either.

“Right. It’s fun, isn’t it? The spring festival in Kramer territory is…”

Saena chose her words carefully.

“Quite substantial.”

His eyes seemed to waver for a moment before he asked.

“Have you… seen everything?”

“Pardon?”

What did he mean by everything? The finest man competition? Or the various men’s upper body muscles?

“I haven’t seen who wins yet.”

“…Do you want to see more?”

Noticing Saena’s glance turning back toward the participants, Constantine asked in a strangely urgent tone.

“If it’s for viewing pleasure… wouldn’t I be better?”

“What?”

“If you need more, you can look at mine tonight.”

“Wh-what are you saying?”

Saena was flustered.

Though she had been seeing his body every day lately, wasn’t that because of the translation work?

She felt somewhat guilty since she often had self-indulgent fantasies while looking at his body, but Saena strongly denied it.

“…You’re saying strange things.”

“……”

Somehow feeling stubborn, Saena pretended to watch the participants more intently.

Though her attention had been entirely captured by Constantine since his arrival, leaving everything else a blur, she outwardly maintained the appearance of earnestly observing the competition.

“…Saena? The competition is over…”

And much later, Saena snapped back to awareness as if she’d been living in a different time despite having her eyes open. She had been so focused on Constantine that she hadn’t even noticed how the competition ended.

And this appearance seemed to others as if she had been deeply immersed, disconnected from reality due to being too caught up in the lingering impression.

“Ah, it’s over.”

“……”

Though that wasn’t actually the case.

Coming to her senses, she saw the competition had ended, and Saena could tell who won by seeing a participant joining hands with the announcer and raising them in the air while exchanging thanks.

It was the man named Hans who had received the most calls from the beginning.

Since she had picked the tanner’s son as her winner prediction, she had failed in her forecast.

“What a shame.”

“……”

Thinking she wasn’t very talented at betting, Saena vowed, ‘I must never gamble.’ She didn’t notice how her words “What a shame” were gradually making Constantine’s face stiffen.

When she came to her senses, she noticed Darielle was gone.

“…Where did Darielle go?”

“She left you in my care and went ahead.”

She hadn’t even noticed when Darielle disappeared.

‘Ah, I really need to fix this bad habit.’

Saena had a habit of completely forgetting her surroundings and getting lost in her own world when she focused on something. She thought it only happened when studying Arlesian, but apparently not.

She let out a shallow sigh.

“I see. Shall we go then?”

She left the crowd of spectators from the finest man competition with Constantine.

An awkward silence flowed between them.

What should they do now?

Should they return to Castle Cream?

Then, Constantine asked.

“Are you interested in theater?”

“Theater?”

“A touring company requested to visit the territory for the spring festival. I approved it.”

Nobles usually watched opera.

Compared to opera, theater was considered unrefined, more raw. To the nobles, that is.

Since plays were mainly performed by traveling troupes, there was also a perception that they were vulgar.

Though Saena had watched many with Yuri when she was young. No, thinking about it, she might have seen more plays than operas.

“It seems they’re performing over there. If you’d like, let’s watch before we go.”

She thought they would return straight to Castle Cream, but he made this unexpected proposal.

Finding it surprising given how he had been avoiding her lately, Saena agreed.

“Yes. I’d like that.”

In terms of quality and stage effects, such traveling theater troupes couldn’t compete with opera. But the joy of live performance was clearly greater here. Since the audience was closer to the stage, it naturally felt more vibrant, and since the stories often depicted commoners’ daily lives and love stories, they were easier to relate to and immerse oneself in.

The actors would become more invested in their roles or show exaggerated reactions based on the audience’s response, making it enjoyable as two-way communication rather than one-way.

‘I wonder what this play is about?’

Pure curiosity began to rise.

As they made their way through the crowd with Constantine carefully clearing a path, the play was already well underway.

“Mac. Do you love that woman?”

“I do.”

“Love… Humans often speak that word, but what exactly is it?”

On stage were two people, a man and woman, and a figure entirely in green from head to toe whose exact symbolism was unclear.

“It’s the most sublime emotion one person can have for another.”

“Emotion?”