Chapter 152

The Princess (3)

No matter that it was Katya, if someone right next to her immediately evaluated her as ‘strange’, she would at least frown first.

It was something she herself knew better than anyone without needing to be told, so there was no reason to go out of their way to make her confirm it.

She was not foolish enough to be unaware that she would look that way.

But in her current state, if someone were to come up to her and say such a thing, it was clear she would not have much confidence in denying it.

At the very least, she herself could tell that this was not a normal condition.

“…….”

On the train returning into the Empire, Katya quietly wriggled by herself.

To anyone watching, it might have seemed as though she was doing so out of boredom, but rather than that, it was closer to an unconscious reaction because simply keeping her body still was difficult.

There was too much information.

When each and every one of her senses had been breaking down, she had been closer to forcibly ‘filling in’ the missing information with overflowing divine power as she accepted the world. But now, so many sensations were pouring in that it felt as though her head would burst, and it was overwhelming to process them.

Her body was so sensitive that she could even feel the texture of the air.

The world was full of vivid colors, sounds covered everything in every direction, and even things like temperature were felt in their finest strands.

“…….”

Katya barely managed to draw in a breath and pressed hard against her temples.

Even so, she had somehow endured taking the train from the Holy Crown Kingdom back here.

There had been moments when she nearly fainted along the way, but it was certain that her superhuman resolve not to show such a disgraceful sight in front of Noel or Aiden had prevented her from collapsing into that state.

Barely holding onto her trembling body, Katya pouted her lips.

‘……Was it this violent.’

The world was more beautiful than she remembered.

So much so that, even though it was terribly painful, it was worth enduring and engraving each and every piece into her mind.

If someone were to ask whether she was happy or not, then of course it was the former.

This was a gift left behind by the Pontiff, who had burned away his final life force. There was no way she would accept it negatively.

But it was also certain that the process of growing accustomed to it felt quite difficult right now.

As a result.

She was currently in her private cabin, wriggling alone under a blanket pulled over her from head to toe.

“………….”

……Even she thought it was embarrassingly dreadful, but it was also true that if she did not look like this, she could not properly rest from the overload.

The problem was—

“……Y-Your Highness Princess. Are you feeling a bit better—”

“I know you do not require food, but I will at least leave some porridge here—”

The moment word spread that she had taken to her bed, people lined up almost in a queue to visit her.

If I tried to send each of them back, saying that I was fine, it was such an ordeal that I could only groan and wave my hands weakly. In the end, they would return wearing even more worried expressions.

To the servants who had grown accustomed to seeing me dash all around the Capital Government Office with what could be generously called free-spirited behavior and, less generously, sheer recklessness, my current state must have looked as though I had fallen gravely ill.

To begin with, I was the sort of person whose wish was to die and who would throw myself headfirst into anything just to feel even the slightest sensation. If someone like that had taken to her bed, even I could not protest being treated as if I were terminally ill.

If this had been the Holy Crown Kingdom, such treatment would have been unimaginable, but the people in the Capital Government Office tended to see me as something like a troublesome, wild youngest daughter….

‘I suppose they’ve grown attached to me.’

Even as I struggled under the overload of information, that thought surfaced in my mind and I smiled faintly to myself.

…To think that, in my life, I would form relationships like this with others.

Before I even had time to dwell on the thought, someone knocked softly on the door of the private room I was using.

As I could not answer because I was still groaning, there was a brief silence, followed by the careful sound of the door opening.

I assumed it was another servant who had come after hearing that I had collapsed, so I was about to slip just my hand out from under the blanket and wave them away.

But this time, it was clear that I could not simply send this person back as I had the others.

“Katya?”

The moment I heard Aiden’s voice, my entire body stiffened.

“…….”

“Are you alright?”

As soon as I heard those words, my heart seemed to drop with a thud.

Until now, whenever I saw this man, it had practically been my daily routine to cling to him to the point that even Aiden would firmly declare that he was tired of it. But after I regained my senses, I had instead been the one avoiding him.

The fact that his voice was filled with concern right now proved as much. He was probably genuinely asking out of worry for my condition….

“…………! --!!”

And that fact truly made me happy.

That was the problem.

Clutching at my chest, which was thrashing like an enraged beast, I pulled the blanket even further over myself.

My heart hurt too much.

By ordinary standards, it could probably be described as nothing more than severe pounding, but to me, it felt as though it were racing so violently that it might simply stop altogether.

“……Are you in a lot of pain?”

I was.

Mainly for reasons that were difficult to explain out loud.

“……Yes.”

And the moment I tried to explain that it was indeed the case, I saw Aiden’s movements freeze completely.

“……Could it be a side effect from your senses returning?”

That was correct.

It was, but.

More precisely, it was not that.

It was just that this man being by my side was somewhat harmful in itself.

“……No, it’s just, when you’re here, it’s a bit—”

“Pardon?”

“…….”

The instant I heard Aiden’s utterly flustered voice, I flinched.

I had been groaning because it was difficult, but I still retained enough reason to understand how what I had just said might have sounded.

Hadn’t it come out as though I were blaming this man for the state I was in right now……?

“……No, no, that’s not what I meant!”

So I shot upright in a hurry to make an excuse.

The moment I moved so abruptly, a storm of information crashed over me as if my head were splitting apart, but I did it anyway because I needed to quickly take back my slip of the tongue.

In truth, it was quite a serious mistake.

Aiden, wearing an even more worried expression than before, had come right up close to me.

“…….”

Ah.

What.

Why are you so close.

I feel like I’m going to die at this rate.

With unfocused eyes, I blankly strung those thoughts together.

That last thought, of course, came from the overwhelming tension surging through my entire body, something I could no longer handle.

It felt as though someone had poured flames into my veins. Earlier, I had struggled to control myself because of the excess of information, but now it was purely the heat dwelling in my whole body that made it impossible to stay still…….

“Now that I see you up close, your face is definitely bright red.”

“…….”

“Could it be that you have a fever? Even if your regeneration ability and such remain intact, your body might not be able to accept such a sudden change—”

While Aiden’s words flowed into one ear and out the other, I continued to stare at him blankly.

He had always been handsome, but was he this handsome to the point that it was hard to keep looking at him? Why were his eyelashes so long? And why did his body seem even better than before……?

As I kept turning those thoughts over in my mind,

suddenly Aiden leaned his head even closer. It looked as though he was worried and trying to check for a fever. But to me, nothing seemed more dangerous at that moment.

No, hey.

You could just check with your hand.

Did you really have to bring your head that close, like lovers about to kiss?

Those thoughts flashed rapidly through my mind, but before I could properly voice them, Aiden’s forehead made contact with mine.

“------!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!”

……It was clear that my heartbeat had gone beyond merely racing and had entered a level where I genuinely wondered if it might burst.

I began to gasp for breath.

Wow, damn.

How was I supposed to handle this? At this rate, wouldn’t I really die from high blood pressure or cardiac arrest or something? Cause of death: Aiden Kellermain.

To make matters worse, this man had his eyes closed and was gently holding the back of my head. Logically speaking, I wasn’t sure what was so dreadful about that, but right now the mere gesture of drawing me closer to him was fatal…….

“…….”

……No.

I mean.

Isn’t this pose exactly that?

If we get just a little closer.

Like when he did it with Noel in front of others before.

That thing people in love were said to do, something I had never done even once in my life.

For someone like me, whose entire life had passed without even proper experience in romance or a decent friend of the opposite sex, a kiss was undoubtedly such a stimulating act that in a situation like this, I could barely even bring the word itself to mind.

And when one kept going through such confusing situations while both body and mind were not normal, it was only natural that one might commit at least one strange act without realizing it.

“……Katya?”

When I came to my senses, I found that I had unknowingly shut my eyes tightly and craned my neck long toward Aiden.

My tongue had stretched out even further, licking across his face.

Like a pet expressing affection toward its owner.

“…….”

“…….”

“…….”

“……Katya?”

At the same time Aiden called out to me again in a dazed voice, the sense of reality that had been drifting far away in the air swiftly returned to me.

……And the awareness that I was doing something so embarrassing it was dreadful even by my own standards came flooding in.

“…………-----------!!!”

Before Aiden could even try to stop me, I let out a sound somewhere between a shriek and a scream and charged straight at the window beside the bed.

Smashing through it entirely and escaping the room—well.

……With my senses restored, it hurt terribly, but compared to the shame pounding against my entire head, it was nothing.

……It was the very moment when an anecdote was born—one that would be recounted like a legend—of the Princess throwing herself out of a high window at the Capital Government Office.

▣

“……So you’re saying she’s been committing such bizarre acts.”

Aiden—

And after hearing the entire situation, Abigail’s evaluation was exceedingly simple.

“……Are you an idiot?”

“……Pardon?”

“There’s nothing to say except that you’re a fool for not realizing it.”

“…….”

“Just go die.”

The Pontiff ran a hand through his hair with a sigh.

“…….”

No.

What.

Aiden tilted his head blankly.