Chapter 61
After a year, DeArc was still as beautiful as ever.
It would have been perfect if Killian were here.
Still, since Adele was with me, it wasn’t all that sad.
“Alright! Sparring on the beach!”
The moment we got off the carriage, Adele noisily stretched and pulled me along.
“Huh? All of a sudden?”
“I haven’t had enough chances to train on soft sinking sand. You’ll do it with me, right, Tia?”
“No, Adele… The holy knight you’re trying to become—are you sure it’s the kind of holy knight I know?”
After awakening her divine power, Adele secretly continued training for a while, but eventually she couldn’t hide it anymore.
Well, no wonder—she once unconsciously healed a priest who collapsed on the street.
Fortunately, her status as the Marquess of Rewendiff’s daughter made even the temple wary of her.
If this were the original story, they would’ve just drained her divine power dry.
I don’t know what kind of master she met in the temple, but ever since Adele started training seriously as a holy knight, she’d gotten a bit rougher.
Kind of like a special forces soldier.
Dragged along by Adele, I suddenly screeched to a halt.
“Let’s at least change clothes first, Adele.”
“A true knight isn’t picky about clothes! I’ll do it just like this.”
“Who is your master, anyway? What kind of lunatic taught you such nonsense!”
I crossed my arms and glared. Adele burst into laughter.
“Oh my, our Tia is so cute!”
That bastard Killian, missing out on this sight. Serves him right.
Adele, a whole head taller than me, scooped me into her arms and said,
“My master is a truly remarkable person. They opened a new world for me. So you don’t need to worry. Now then, shall we?”
“No matter how I think about it, it’s suspicious. Should I just check with the temple myself? Hm? My sunshine Adele feels like she’s turning into a full-blown warmonger.”
“No, Tia. Really, I’m fine. See? Don’t I still shine like sunshine?”
Adele spun gracefully in place. Just one twirl, but it felt like starlight rained down with a sparkly BGM.
“Argh! My eyes!”
“See? Still fine, right?”
“…That’s true.”
“Your sunshine hasn’t gone anywhere.”
Joking around, Adele grabbed a wooden sword from her luggage and led the way.
“You’re seriously going like that?”
“Tia, you should change. If you trip over your dress hem, it’ll be bad.”
“Oh! You dare provoke me?”
“Will you accept my challenge, Your Highness?”
“I shall accept, young lady.”
I snatched the wooden sword Adele tossed and followed her to the beach.
“The more you hide, the more suspicious it is.”
“Hm? What was that, Tia?”
“Nothing, Adele. Nothing at all.”
Yeah, right.
As soon as this trip is over, I’ll have Jeron dig up who Adele’s master really is. Whoever corrupted her like this—I’ll make them pay.
With that resolve, I gripped my sword.
“The sun’s setting.”
“Perfect! Night-vision training, too!”
Seriously, what is she… At this rate she’ll end up hunting snakes in the mountains.
I gathered up my cumbersome dress skirt in my left hand and faced Adele.
“Shall we begin?”
“Yeah. Loser skips dessert!”
“Sounds good.”
Adele charged straight at me. I deflected her sword with the hand holding my dress and spun, aiming at her side.
“Whoa! That was fast, Tia!”
“Shut that mouth of yours!”
Dodging playfully, Adele went for my ankle this time.
Even though my dress was summer-weight, it was still heavy, and the sinking sand slowed me down. Wanting to end things quickly, I kicked up sand at her face.
“Pff! Blegh!”
“It didn’t get in your eyes, did it?”
“Even if it did, I’d be fine. Sparring blindfolded sounds fun.”
“Tell me who your master is, Adele. While I’m asking nicely. Or else I won’t let this slide.”
“Hehe. Ooh, scary.”
Our swords clashed endlessly as we attacked and blocked.
“Want to stop? You look tired.”
“As if! No way!”
Panting hard, I gripped my sword with both hands, fueled by her taunt.
The hem of my wrinkled dress fluttered.
“It’s not over until it’s over!”
“Such spirit! I love it, Tia!”
“You’re teasing me, aren’t you?”
“How could I?”
I charged at her. Something like aura glimmered faintly at my sword’s tip.
“What the—Tia! Aura?”
“…Maybe?”
Adele didn’t miss the moment I paused and easily knocked my sword aside, bouncing on her toes excitedly.
“It was aura, wasn’t it? Amazing! I knew you were incredible, Tia!”
“Is that even possible all of a sudden?”
“All of a sudden? Don’t be so modest! Your swordsmanship is amazing.”
Well, she wasn’t wrong.
I wasn’t tall like Killian or Adele, but hey—small peppers are spicier.
Using my past life’s taekwondo skills as a base, I had developed my own unique swordsmanship.
Just recently, I even beat six royal knight trainees at once.
If I can really use aura now… perfect! It’ll help a ton with my “Three-Year Disappearance Plan.”
After sparring, we trudged back to the villa—well, I trudged, Adele was still full of energy.
“The orange trees have grown a lot. You’ll plant more this year too, right?”
“Of course. Even if Killian isn’t here…”
“Again! Again with that! No sulking allowed!”
Adele wrapped an arm around my shoulders.
“Next year we’ll come together. I’ll drag that bastard Killian here no matter what.”
“Adele! Bastard? Really?”
“Man, I’m starving. Let’s eat already!”
Rubbing her belly, Adele raced ahead into the villa.
Hopeless. Totally hopeless.
“Adele, wait for me!”
She stuck her tongue out at me and smiled brightly, reaching back her hand.
“Ugh, I’m stuffed.”
“Same. I ate till it reached my throat.”
The carriage meals from the last three days had been surprisingly good for convenience food, but nothing beat the villa’s chef cooking with fresh DeArc ingredients.
And after sparring on the beach, washing up in warm water, and eating right after—it tasted even better.
Leaning back in my chair, I patted my round belly when Adele asked:
“Tia, dessert?”
“I couldn’t eat any even if I hadn’t lost the match. My stomach’s full.”
“Yeah, me too. Look at this. Is this even a human stomach? How could it stick out this much?”
She puffed her belly out, and we both burst out laughing until we nearly threw up from laughing too hard. Then we laughed even more at how identical we looked doing it.
Later, when I went upstairs to change into comfortable pajamas, Adele knocked on my door.
“Tia, can I come in?”
“Of course, Adele.”
When I opened the door, Adele slipped inside, hiding something behind her back, grinning like she had a surprise.
“What’s that behind you?”
“Gift!”
“Gift?”
“Ta-da! Pajamas!”
Bouncing with excitement, she showed me frilly pink pajamas straight out of a girly dream.
“Eek! Adele! What is this?”
“Something for our very own pajama party. Like it?”
“I love it! It’s so cute!!!”
I quickly unfolded it and held it against myself. Pink checkered pattern, white lace frills along the neckline, sleeves, and hem. The fabric was soft and cool, perfect for summer nights.
“You got the same design?”
“Yup. Only one difference—the buttons.”
Looking closer, I saw hers had purple buttons, mine had light green.
“Ah! The colors of our eyes?”
“Exactly! You’re so sharp, Tia. I knew you’d notice right away!”
Adele squirmed happily.
“But Adele…”
“Mm?”
“There’s one more difference.”
At my words, her eyes suddenly turned sharp, glaring at the pajamas as if she’d tear them apart.
“What? Impossible. I ordered them to be exactly the same. Where is it? Show me. Did the stitching go wrong? Those damn tailors—if they took my money, they’d better have done it right! Hand it over. I’ll tear them to shreds myself.”
Yikes. I didn’t think she’d get this serious. My fault, totally my fault.
I rushed to smooth things over.
“Here, Adele. Look.”
I laid both sets side by side on the bed.
“The length. Yours is much longer, mine much shorter. Why?”
“Hahaha! That’s because little cutie Tia is shorter than me, of course. Hohoho!”
Her expression softened again, and she made silly hand gestures comparing our heights.
“Ugh, you!”
“Children of the new nation must sleep early and wake early to grow tall. Shall we go to bed, little princess?”
“You! Really!”
I hurled a pillow, but Adele dodged, hugged me, and laughed.
It wasn’t like this before.
Back then, I was the one doting on her.
Now everything had changed—completely.
And yet, strangely, I didn’t dislike it at all.
Hehe.
