Was that why he stayed by her side until late at night, without making a sound?
Eren himself was completely calm.
“I will simply stay here, so please do not mind me.”
It wasn’t exactly a presence one could ignore.
No matter how spacious the room was, if a large, dark-clad man occupied one corner so conspicuously, her eyes were bound to be drawn to him.
On top of that, the chair she normally used was so small that Eren’s knees stuck out.
He looked almost crammed into it, which made her uneasy for no reason.
‘At least sit more comfortably…’
As long as the assaillants were using the Word of Command, Liselotte couldn’t be harmed.
Of course, during the carriage ambush, they had been wielding blades, so physical harm couldn’t be completely ruled out.
Liselotte wasn’t without fear herself.
However, Virki was pouring his efforts into new defensive magic stones, and many of the knights of House Keilos were doing their part.
Many of the vassals were striving not to repeat the same mistakes as in the past.
That was also why all inspections coming in from outside had recently become much stricter.
Liselotte scribbled on a blank sheet of paper.
She wrote down the attacks she had experienced so far, one by one, in order.
‘Putting them all together, there were more than I thought.’
As if he had read her thoughts, Eren’s low voice quietly spoke up.
“If I were them, I would launch full-scale attacks starting now.”
The man who had been looking only at documents slowly lifted his head.
His calmly settled demeanor felt unfamiliar. He had always been taciturn, but the unusually grave atmosphere was unfamiliar.
“Since House Diconu was mentioned in today’s trial as well, they will have more or less grasped the situation.”
“It would become troublesome if they start searching the village.”
“In the current situation, isn’t the easiest method intimidation?”
“That is right. All I would need to do is withdraw the lawsuit.”
If a request to withdraw the complaint were filed and the other side accepted it, this trial would be over.
From House Gloria’s perspective, it could be the easiest way to resolve the case.
Since the other side could also use the Word of Command, there was no chance any evidence would remain.
After thinking it over, Liselotte rubbed between her brows and asked,
“Were the ones using the Word of Command people from House Gloria?”
Anix was a person whose thoughts were plainly visible.
If he were any more cunning, he wouldn’t have let the situation grow this far.
‘If anything, Diana was the one who used her head more than Anix…’
Because of her frail body, she couldn’t act actively herself, but she was highly adept at hosting banquets and moving people.
Compared to Anix, she at least gave a much stronger impression of thinking things through.
Above all, her way of immediately tucking her tail and pretending not to know whenever she sensed danger was completely different from Anix.
‘Is Anix just for show, and is Diana actually the one pulling the strings?’
Even the rumors had always spoken of Diana and Anix as separate figures.
They were clearly both people of House Gloria, yet Diana, frail and kind, maintained the position of a merely loving child being victimized by a cruel father.
‘Then that means Diana could abandon Anix…’
But the two of them were members of the same House Gloria. It wasn’t something where responsibility could be divided.
Eren lightly set the documents down on the table and replied coolly in a low voice.
“What is certain is that Duke Gloria is involved. So even if it is uncomfortable, let us live together for now.”
“Surely… you are not saying you will be there when I sleep too, right?”
Eren, who had been answering without fail until now, shut his mouth tightly.
Watching quietly, Liselotte’s eyes grew wider and wider.
“…You will be there? Really? While I sleep? With my mouth open, snoring, and drooling?!”
“You do not snore or drool.”
“How would you know that?!”
“I saw it.”
Just as she was about to ask when he had seen it, she remembered the time she had slept in his room.
Faced with that perfect rebuttal, Liselotte was left with nothing to say.
Even if he didn’t phrase it eloquently, what he meant in the end was simply, “I’m worried, so I’ll stay with you.”
‘Come to think of it, everyone really has been paying a lot of attention.’
Things she had forgotten while being busy just getting by began to look different.
Sitting at the desk, Liselotte set the documents she had been reading down with a sharp tap.
“Eren, I am going to sleep.”
“Please do so.”
When she staggered over and lay down on the bed, his gaze followed her persistently.
Pulling the blanket up to her neck, Liselotte closed her eyes and pretended not to notice.
But it felt as though a persistent gaze, like being pricked over and over by needles, was pressing against her skin.
‘…How am I supposed to sleep like this…’
Even during a meal, if someone stared at her unblinkingly from across the table, she was bound to get indigestion.
All the more so when someone was watching her sleep, there was no way it could be comfortable.
Liselotte had never experienced someone staying by her side twenty-four hours a day.
‘I don’t know how everyone else manages to keep escorts with them so easily…’
Lying there and ignoring him to the end, Liselotte suddenly kicked the blanket away with her foot and asked sulkily,
“…Eren. Aren’t you uncomfortable?”
“I am not one to sleep deeply to begin with, so please do not mind me.”
“No, um… the chair.”
“Ah.”
Only then did Eren glance over the chair once and let out a short sigh.
“You use this furniture, do you not, Liselotte? Then that is enough.”
“Why do you try to adjust everything to me?”
If he insisted that something was necessary, she was willing to grant him that much.
But Eren always adjusted himself to her instead.
Eren replied as if it were nothing.
“Does it bother you?”
“…A little.”
“That is not bad.”
‘What kind of answer is that…?’
If he was adjusting himself just to get on her nerves, the cost-effectiveness couldn’t have been worse.
Uncharacteristically, Eren let out a small laugh.
“Then please keep being bothered.”
Was this some kind of new torture?
Wondering if it was a method developed to stage some sort of protest against her, her eyes narrowed.
When she continued to glare, Eren stood up from his seat and blew lightly, extinguishing the candle and the light-emitting magic stone.
In an instant, darkness flooded into the room.
With the sudden darkness, it was hard to see.
Liselotte asked toward where she assumed Eren was.
“Are you… trying to make me uncomfortable?”
“No. I want you to be more aware.”
For a moment, she couldn’t clearly understand what he meant.
She was already fully aware of him. But it seemed the meaning he intended was completely different from the definition recorded in a dictionary.
Recalling the knight commander she had seen earlier that day in the courtroom, Liselotte replied.
“Among today’s presiding officials, there was the knight commander, right. Looking at her, she really resembled you a lot, Eren.”
“In what way? Our appearances are completely different.”
“Just that bluntness, and the feeling that she would strictly follow principles and rules?”
Step, step. The sound of him moving could be heard.
Her vision, still not adjusted to the darkness, couldn’t yet find him.
Just as Liselotte narrowed her eyes and searched for him, she spotted his golden eyes flashing in the dark.
Startled, Liselotte pretended not to notice and drew in a breath.
Once she had found his golden eyes, his figure illuminated by the moonlight slowly took shape in her vision.
“You must have been mistaken.”
“Did it offend you?”
“No. What you said about me only following principles and rules.”
Lowering his head, he quietly brushed his hand through Liselotte’s pink hair.
That touch was unexpectedly gentle, and for some reason her heart began to race.
The hand that slowly brushed past her forehead lightly traced the bridge of her nose and her lips.
Before long, the back of his hand moved languidly along the slender line of her neck.
Even though she had already brushed against him several times before, she found it hard to breathe.
With a strange sensation making her spine itch, Liselotte was seized by the urge that she had to say something.
Otherwise, it felt like he would hear the sound of her heart.
“But up until now, you really did seem that way…”
Eren, who had been slowly caressing her cheek, whispered in a low voice.
“If you order me to, I can break principles as well. That is how it has become.”
